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!

We were so happy to find out that Mags will be the Secretary of the National Honor Society next year, along with her bestie, the other Maggie.  

Speaking of elections, our 8th grade Vice-Presidential candidate Alexander Martin did not win.  Womp womp.  What a courageous kid for running and giving a speech even when he knew it most likely wouldn't pan out in his favor.  Thatta boy.  We eased his sorrows by telling him that we are taking them to Great Wolf Lodge soon.  He is now a happy camper and all is well.  You win some, you lose some!

On Sunday, there was an Irish Festival at my favorite summer restaurant and we went with some friends and JP was also able to meet us there after work.  It was a lot of fun!  Good Irish music and some Irish dancers and really good craic.  Slainte! 

Underclassmen Awards Night was on Tuesday and Phil and I attended after going to the wake of a former coworker's husband who died of cancer at the young age of 58.  He leaves behind his wife and two daughters and it was a sad wake but they have strong faith and his wife ended up comforting me in the end.  

Anyways, it was extra nice to leave that and go sit and laugh with my two high schoolers and listen to them be recognized for their hard academic work.  Eamon (Junior) and Maggie (Sophomore) both got lots of awards for having above 95 averages in their classes. Maggie found out that she is in the Top Ten of her class and Eamon received a Book Award from St. Michael's College.  I snuck a rare photo of Eamon with his smarty-pants girlfriend next to him, who is also in the Top Ten of their class.  These kids work so hard and are so humble and were blushing the whole time, it was so sweet.  Now these high schoolers are taking finals and will be done by Tuesday.

JP and Andrew have been killing it at The Cottage, we seriously could not be open without them as they work the day shifts while Phil and I are at our normal jobs.  Once school gets out next week, Phil will be there every day, but they are doing more than their fair share right now.  They are also both taking classes online, JP is taking a MicroBiology class that he thinks he will need for PA school applications, and Andrew is taking three(!!) science classes with labs this summer so that he will have a chance to switch into the nursing program at Franciscan (he was a Bio major for Freshman year).

The littles had their Field Day on Tuesday and reported back that it was lots of fun!

Declan in the hot pink shirt

Xander leaning over in the balloon toss

Brendan in the dark purple shirt getting the residual splash

And then, just like that *snaps fingers* Wednesday was their last day of school for the 2023-2024 year!

Goodbye 7th, 4th and 2nd grades!

Hello summer break!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend celebrating the fathers in your life.  We will have a Father's Day dinner for Phil and my Dad and our priest friend (priests are Fathers too!) who is leaving our area and we will miss him so much.  Goodbyes aren't always so good, are they?  Hug your loved ones tight :)