Week in Review: Smiles, Servers and a Softie

This past week was our first full week of summer, no school for anyone, and you can tell by the size of their smiles that they were happy campers.

Sixth Server

Speaking of camp, our church had their Altar Boy Boot Camp where new servers are trained, but mostly it's a fun three days filled with Mass, sports, food and a big field trip on the last day.  This year they went to Archery Games in Providence, RI.  Andrew (19) and Eamon (17) were able to help with the training during the camp, and Xander (12) and Declan (10) attended and Brendan (7) became our last little altar server:

You can bet I shed some tears (and chuckles at the mistakes) at his first Mass serving this morning.  How blessed are we to have SIX altar servers.  God is too good.

Steubenville Conference

Speaking of God (and I hope I always do) Maggie and Eamon went with our diocese to the Steubenville Youth Conference last weekend and Maggie sent me lots of photos and they both said they had such a great time:

Sweet Readers

Remember last week when I told you that we were joining with our library to give away free ice cream to anyone who signed up for Summer Reading?  159 cones were given out!

Evening Swims

The YMCA's in our area opened up their outdoor pools and Phil and I took the littles two nights this week.  They would have gone every night but we had other things to do...

... like Track Club which started on Wednesday and is held twice a week for the next month. 

Shotput Stars

Xander and Declan were there too, but I only have video of them doing long jump.

 

Guys, it is so cute when they learn how to throw field events with safe equipment.  I could tell by how quickly they picked up shotput that it must be hereditary on the maternal side, as I threw shot in high school :)  Hey, when you have a strong arm from scooping, you might as well use it for good.

Softie Not Spoiled

And when you make money from all that scooping, you save up for a new phone like Maggie did, after first getting breakfast with her dad:

She is now the owner of a pink iphone 15 and about $1000 poorer.  I recommended an older/cheaper version of the iphone, but her dad who apparently is a softie for his only daughter, told her that she works hard for her money and to get what she wanted.  What can I say, we balance each other in this parenting game, and Maggie is the furthest thing from spoiled so you do always want to treat those kind of kids :)

Have a great weekend everybody!!

Week in Review: Adulting, Retreating and Praying

Happy Friday party people!  There's nothing like that Friday feeling knowing the summer weekend is about to start :)  Of course to my kids on summer break, everyday is like the weekend, those lucky lads and lassie.  Let's see what's happened at the Martin casa this past week.

JP started a real-ish job!  He's working full-time, Monday through Friday from 8 - 4:30 at a medical center as a Documentation Specialist (or what used to be called a Medical Scribe).  It's not the type of job he would typically get with a Biology degree, and the pay is barely above minimum wage, but he is able to get patient care hours to apply for PA School.  He just found out the doctor that he works for will be retiring next month, so he will (God willing) be transferred to another office, and he's hoping for orthopedics.  He comes home at the end of the work day, changes and goes to exercise/hang out and tells me how tired he is.  Um yeah dude, adulting is hard.  School is much better!  Soon you'll be buying life insurance and a house and your own groceries and then you'll really have something to complain about :)

First Day

This was Maggie on her last day of finals.  I will never understand fashion as I would have rather died than wear socks and sandals when I was a teenager but yet here we are:

A Quick Getaway and Happy Father's Day!

Last Friday, Phil and I played hooky from work (ok we used our Personal Days) and took the littles to Great Wolf Lodge for a night.  On our way, we had to stop by one of our favorite ice cream places for professional purposes, obviously:

If Mocha Chip is on the menu, mocha chip is what I get!  The kids all got mocha chip as well because I've trained them right.  Phil had Chocolate Mint Oreo.  We had Kiddie sizes which were huge and cost $5.95 (The Cottage charges $4.50 for a similar sized small...just saying!)

These are the only two photos I got of our stay but just know that they had a good time :)  

Hey guys, stand awkwardly next to each other.

 I think it may be our last stay at a waterpark of this size because the kids are getting a little too old to enjoy it like they used to, which is a sad ending to that chapter of life.  They all still have tons of fun at huge outdoor waterparks, so the book is not quite finished.  Phil and I were thinking that the next time we go to GWL might be when we take our grandkids which is craaazy to think.

On Saturday after the Vigil Mass, we had our Father's Day dinner with lots of good food that I knew the fathers in particular would love.  

Father's Day minus two offspring (one was scooping and one was gallivanting).

We had to say goodbye begrudgingly to our priest friend (and Maggie's godfather) who is taking a new assignment as a professor and chaplain at Ave Maria Law School. Maggie packed him up some food and wrote a message:

The brussel sprouts did not convince him.

Sunday came and it was Father's Day!  Phil got some nice cards and gifts and felt all the love he deserves.  I thought Declan's 4th grade school-made tool box card was quite cute and clever:

Week in Review: Fun Runs, Field Days, Awards Nights, Irish Festivals and Goodbyes

Happy Friday Thursday!  Wrapping up the school year certainly means lots and lots of events on the calendars!  The youngest three boys ran in the Youth Mile race in our town, and I walked them over to the track for their warmup.  They were "sponsored" by The Ice Cream Cottage - meaning "mom and dad told them to wear their Cottage shirts" and definitely had people talking.  Free marketing is the best kind of marketing :)

I was so proud of them because they all beat last year's times for some new Personal Records.

Brendan (age 7) won 1st place in his age group with a mile time of 7:57.

Declan (age 10) won 1st place in his age group (and overall fastest time of all the runners) with a mile ran in 6:26.

Xander (age 12) ran a 7:23 mile, and made it look easy.

I think this is the scientific proof we were all looking for; ice cream makes you run faster!

Andrew and Maggie came to cheer them on, and Andrew told them to bite their medals:

Maggie was babysitting our neighbor's daughter so she walked her over in the wagon.  Maggie had snacks for her and toys and had applied her sunscreen and then took her over to the little playground to play after.  I snapped this photo of her leaving and sent it to her as I sang the Reba lyrics:

"A single mom who works two jobs

Who loves her kids and never stops"

Maggie always loves to sing that song when she has to help with the littles or around the house, you know, because her life is so hard.  Ha!

Father's Day Gift Ideas 2024

Airpods - because music makes everything better :)

Ice Cube Trays - we keep a few "ice balls" in the freezer to make fun drinks

Shorts - it's summertime!

Electric Pepper Mill - we have this and love it, so easy to get fresh pepper

Crocs - to take out the dog or do some yard work or work at the shop

Under Armour Tshirt - again, summertime!

Pickleball Racquets - a current obsession

Manly Body Lotion - rub on a little of this after a shower and the scent lasts a long time

Peter Kreeft's new book - a favorite philosopher in our house

Running Shoes - for the Father's Day 5k race and all of the runs before and after :)

Week in Review: Pushing His Button, Heated Elections and Keeping Husbands Alive

This week was the 2nd Grade Wax Museum.

The kids dress up as someone famous, make a poster board (at school, God bless that teacher) and write and memorize a speech about their lives.  Brendan chose Buzz Aldrin because this ain't our first rodeo and we told him to pick a famous person who could wear a costume we already had.  Declan was Neil Armstrong two years ago, so Brendan said he would be an astronaut. Declan demanded that Brendan pick a different astronaut so that he wouldn't copy him and ruin his life, and hence our little Buzz Aldrin was born.

 At school when they have their Wax Museum, students and parents come and press a fake button and the wax museum figures have to recite their speech.  Brendan Buzz Martin's speech was verrrrrry long and so I overheard him telling Declan and Xander that morning:

"When you come to my button, just keep pushing it so I have to keep starting over and I don't have to say my whole entire speech."

That Buzz is a smart cookie!  I did manage to record him practicing his speech the night before:

 

My phone made this, so cool!

Alexander is running for Student Council Vice President for next year, and he made these signs to hang up all over the school:

He has his speech ready for Monday and we keep telling him to keep his hopes high but his expectations low because he is running against one girl and one other boy which means the girls will probably vote for the girl and then the boys vote will be split.  He really wants to win because all of his older siblings all held positions either on Student Council or the National Junior Honor Society when they were in 8th Grade.  Poor Xander has big shoes to fill and as a 5th child myself, I empathize for him so!

Phil sent me this funny-because-it's-true-meme:

 

Other than that, lots of end of school year things going on, lots of ice cream scooping and pickleball playing - my big kids are obsessed, and of course cheering for the Celtics...let's goooo!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Life Lately: Unexpected Gifts, Field Trips and Silver Linings

Hey June!  This weather is staring off very wonderfully summery and though I personally prefer temps in the 50-60 degree range, The Ice Cream Cottage is thriving.  Look at what a talented customer dropped off:

Isn't that such a beautiful painting?  I can't get over how nice people are.  I will treasure this painting forever.

I've always liked Two Good yogurt, and this new Key Lime flavor is so good.  I just realized I'm also drinking Lime seltzer, so I guess I have a thing for limes.  No scurvy here!

My workout wrapup for the month of May:

Currently Phil and I wake up at 6 am and walk the dog for 45 minutes before work, then I walk or go to the gym later in the day (either on my lunch break or while the littles have swim team in the evening).  Then I eat lots of ice cream to make sure it's not poisonous for our customers.  What I'm saying is:

This weekend, Phil and I rode our bikes down the bike path in our town.  It goes 5 miles each way and is so gorgeous.  Seriously, every time I do it, I feel like I am on vacation.  We took the kids on a walk the next day there (they can't all manage riding the full 10 miles yet) and it was so fun!