My Sunday Best (and Her Sunday Best)

This morning, my husband and I attended 8:30 Mass at our new parish in VA with our oldest son's wife and four young daughters (two 6-year-olds, a 4-year-old, and a 2-year-old towheaded fashionista).

These five precious beings have been staying with us since the beginning of September while our son is living temporarily in FL, training for his new career in aviation.  Their family had all been living together down there in the sunshine state, in an airbnb apartment; but after about a month in those tight quarters it got a bit unbearable for them, due to the guy in the apartment downstairs who let it be known--by thumping on his ceiling loudly and often with a broomstick--that the girls were making too much noise.  (How do people raise families in apartments?  It must be so hard!)  They were planning to come up here at the beginning of October anyway, to start house-hunting in the area (since our son's new job will be bringing him to DC).  They have already put money down on a rental house about 20 minutes from where we live, and they'll be moving in there around mid-October. But until then, they're with us.

It is a very sweet experience to share a pew with these affectionate granddaughters.  They like to lean against us and nuzzle our shoulders.  (They also like to take sniffs of us, which I've talked about here at the blog before.)

They're very into wearing dresses these days, all the time; so the four of them looked really pretty for Mass.  But the youngest, City Girl, had a Sunday Best outfit on today that was just too good not to share here at the blog.  For her trip to God's house today she wore a beautiful white dress, with embroidery embellishments and pin-tucks and lace...and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle socks...and pink Crocs.

It was a killer ensemble, as you can see.

My own outfit was not nearly as notably fashion-forward.  I just wore a Kelly-green fit-and-flare lace dress that I got many moons ago on clearance at JC Penney, paired with a 3/4-sleeve flowered cardigan from Target.  (Target really does have some very cute, very reasonably priced cardigans, don't they?)

I don't know what to do with my hands!

Better?

I am a big fan of this front hallway at our new house.  We had that sign above the door hanging up in our family  room back in NH for decades, and I just love it.  On the upper left is a circular piece of wood from the Holy Land with a cross and a house blessing on it; this was a gift from son #1 and his wife.  The small blue glass Crucifix from Venice on the left and the painted clay cross from Mexico on the right are both gifts from son #4 and his wife.

I did  not wear Ninja Turtle socks to Mass; instead I chose nude opaque tights from Walmart.  (Boring!)  And instead of Crocs, I chose some camel-colored flats that also came from the sale rack at JCP; they are by Liz Claiborne, but I believe they're supposed to resemble a style of shoe by a much more expensive designer.  (Tory Burch?  I'm not sure, but I think if I asked some of my daughters-in-law, they might know.)

After Mass, the parish had coffee and doughnuts in the church hall.  (Huzzah!  And the people rejoiced!)  The two younger girls enjoyed theirs right away, while the twins attended their CCD class in preparation for their First Communion next year.  Rest assured, though: the big girls got to eat their treats later at home.  And we all had that Sunday staple (in this house, at least), BACON.  (Huzzah again!)

This is what our breakfast table looked like on this glorious autumn Sunday.  The table décor around here is, shall we say, a little more interesting these days.

Kind of like City Girl's Mass outfit.

And that's it for this busy Grammy. But if you want to see what other bloggers (or their significant others) are wearing this fine Sunday, head on over to Rosie's.