The Last First Communion of the Martin Family

Our last Martin family First Communion took place yesterday, and it was beautiful.  Brendan Joseph, at the wee age of seven and a bit on the smaller side, borrowed a suit from one of Declan's friends that he had worn to his First Communion.  He looked very sharp and was so excited to receive Jesus!!

Phil is the Director of Religious Ed at our parish, and had one of the parents take these professional photos, which was such a great addition.

Brendan did the second reading and Eamon was serving the Mass (along with Xander and Declan) and making sure the readers got up on the step and close to the microphone.

At the end of the Mass, each child received the Brown Scapular and then sang Ave Maria as a group, which was as adorable and emotional as you might imagine.

Now for all of the lesser quality phone pics!  

Maggie was the sacristan (setting up the altar before Mass) so she went with Phil and Brendan to the church early and took some great photos of the big guy.  First a few at the house:

Then at the church:

Before Mass started, I took this photo of my parents and Maggie in the pew:

Then Maggie and I tried to take a selfie and my dad saw and insisted that he and Maggie take a selfie:

Which Maggie and I thought was hysterical and couldn't stop giggling.  Whatta guy.

After the (kinda long, kinda hot) but beautiful Mass, we went outside for some fresh air and some photos.  

Brendan with his godparents:

Good old Mom and Dad:

My side of the family that came to the church (some family members were only able to come to the house after):

Gammy and Grandpa, looking snazzy and dare I say ~ Coastal Grandparent-y, with their last grandchild to receive First Communion:

We sent photos to JP and Andrew who are still at Franciscan taking finals.  Andrew sent this text:

Gosh I miss them so much...only two more days!!

Then it was time to go home and party!  Since it was Cinco de Mayo, we celebrated with mexican food...enchilada casserole (I add black beans), chicken fajitas, beef tacos with all the fixings, spanish rice, hot mexican street corn dip, chips and salsa, a salad and churros.  

Funny story - I spent Saturday cooking and cleaning, and when I was done, I realized that one of my press-on nails had come off.  I don't normally wear these type of nails, but I put them on for the school gala and left them on for First Holy Communion.  For the whole party, I kept expecting someone to be chewing their food and then yell out "What in the world is this" as they pulled my nail out of their mouth.  Phil said we should buy a scratch ticket and whoever found the nail got the ticket.  In the end, nobody ate the nail so I guess it fell off during the cleaning portion of my day.  Phew!  Also, with the way I clean and cook, you can see why a nail may fall off, heehee (sneaky video by Maggie, but hey you gotta dance like no one's watching videoing!):

For dessert, nail-free cake and ice cream!

Then it was present time!  I got Brendan this First Communion sign:

It took Declan a few minutes to realize it spelled out Brendan :)

 along with an Owala and an electronic cube game.  He also received a beautiful First Communion box from the Holy Land to store his rosary beads and other treasures, a statue of St. Brendan, a balloon game and cold hard cash.  I said that I would put most of the money in his savings account because it was pretty empty, and he said "well my wallet's pretty empty too".  That kid :)

All in all, it was a great day and we were all able to be present in the moment and have fun at the party, which is always the goal when you're hosting.  Thank you Jesus for the gift of your love and all of our lovies we've been blessed with, especially our little caboose on his special day.  Congrats Brendan!