Week in Review: A Piano Competition, A Running Race and A Confirmation in Christ

Happy Friday!  

Last Saturday was a busy day for the Martins.  Brendan had his annual piano competition up near Boston, to which Phil brought him.  He played his song to his best ability in the Non-Classical 9 & 10 year old group...

... and he won FIRST PLACE!  We are still waiting for his trophy because it was a two-day event and the award ceremony didn't take place until the next day.  We will get it somehow!

While Phil and Brendan were piano-ing, the rest of us were either running or volunteering at the school's first 5k race:

Runner, Volunteer, Volunteer, Runner

The Ice Cream Cottage was a sponsor, so we showed up in full force :)

Xander (14) and Declan (newly 12) didn't really train except for one or two runs in the past couple weeks, but they still did awesome.  Imagine if they actually trained?!?

Looking a little nervous pre-race

He didn't know if he could throw the cup on the ground, so he held it - too cute!

Principal Haley giving out awards

Declan came in 24th out of over 300 runners, and Xander came in 41st.  Declan was the first kid to finish and won the category of 1st place Student which then allowed Xander to win the category of 1st place Youth (age 17 and under).

They do not get their speed from us :)

We all went home and showered and changed for the vigil Mass, then took advantage of the nice weather by doing one of our favorite evening activities - porch sitting!  Maggie took this photo and then interviewed me for a school project...

... which was well-received by her Theology teacher ;)

We actually remembered to complete every day of the Divine Mercy Novena this year (an Easter miracle!), then went to Confession on Sunday night, followed by some Divine Mercy Sundaes (ok fine, they were McDonald's McFlurries because the line at the ice cream shop was too long).

Clean Soul Club

The beginning of the week was spent packing and preparing for the cruise, then a Confirmation rehearsal and on Thursday night - CONFIRMATION FOR XANDER!

We went out for Chinese food (Xander's choice) before the Mass because it would have been too late afterwards, and then Xander became Alexander Blaise Nicholas Martin, with Maggie as his sponsor.

Maggie found our friend's baby

It was a beautiful evening, and we are very proud of our new adult in the church.  May God bless him always.

Have a wonderful weekend everybody, and enjoy your vacation week if you live around here!