Our Weekend - The One with Field Day and Jacob’s First Communion

Whew.  What a busy weekend!  Busy but oh so good.

Friday was Field Day at the kids’ school and the weather ended up being wonderful even though rain was expected to ruin it originally.  This was the first time I was able to attend so I was just about as excited as the kiddos were, so I was pumped when it turned out to be sunny and gorgeous! 

It was held on the football field and Jacob and Olivia were out there at the same time, so I was able to go back and forth between their activities all morning.  They did all of the traditional relay races, plus a huge parachute, plus bouncy houses, and they ended the day with an ice cream party and noon dismissal. 

We were able to meet B and my FIL for lunch down the street after school let out, and then the kids and I went to the main library in town to see the Maurice Sendak exhibit that’s in town.  The kids loved seeing all of the props and original drawings from Where the Wild Things Are. 

We ran a few errands after that and then headed home to relax for a bit.  When B got home it was time to round everyone up to go to practice for First Communion at the church.  That lasted about an hour and then we headed to our favorite pub down the street with several of our friends who have kids in Jacob’s class and were also at practice.  The kids played in the arcade all evening while the adults shared a couple of pitchers of beer, and we had the best time hanging out with them all evening.  Before we knew it, it was after nine and the kids were all exhausted from the long day, so we headed home for bedtime.

Saturday morning Jacob had a soccer game and they ended up losing yet again, Lol.  This time 7-3.  We’re struggling pretty hard this season, y’all, but Jacob has fun so that’s all that matters!  They don’t even technically keep score at this age, but B and I always do.  Haha.

Right after Jacob’s soccer game was over, Olivia and I ate lunch in the car on the way to a birthday party for one of her friends at school.  It was at a gymnastics place, and Olivia had fun bouncing around and flipping and playing while I hung out with some of the mommas and chatted.

After the birthday party she and I met back up with B and Jacob at home and we got the front porch and the garage cleaned out.  Our garage faces west, and the wind typically blows from the west, so we always end up with tons of dirt and leaves in there.  We had so many leaves in there this time that I couldn’t even see the ground, so it made a HUGE difference to have it cleaned out!  And it really didn’t even take that long either!  It’s like a whole new garage!

Since Jacob had First Communion on Sunday, we didn’t attend our usual 5:30 Saturday evening mass which meant we had an entire evening wide open.  The weather was just perfect in every way, so we headed downtown to eat at this cute, hipster, open-air barbecue restaurant that’s been open for several years.  We’ve eaten there before and we really enjoyed it the first time, but for some reason we just haven’t been back.  Jacob has been begging to go because he loves that they have huge garage doors that they open when the weather is nice, and I honestly couldn’t think of a better place to go given the weather. 

B and I had a couple of Mules (Irish for him and Kentucky for me) and we shared their famous pimento cheese wontons with bacon jalapeno dipping sauce to start.  B got a pulled pork sandwich with mac n cheese and bacon and I had a salad with pulled pork, lots of toppings, and housemade ranch.  It was SO. GOOD.  Almost as good as the awesome atmosphere!

We took a little stroll around downtown after we were done eating.  There are several new murals in town that we wanted to visit, two of which are by the famous Kelsey Montague!!!!  I still can’t believe that we have our very own angel wings by her right here in our home town!  So fantastic!

We also have a new candy shop that opened downtown and they sell pretty much every single flavor of saltwater taffy and soda that you can imagine.  It was our first time in there and I think the kids would have stayed in there forever if we would have let them.  They had every candy you could ever think of along with lots of novelty items and gag gifts.  It’s a really cool place.

We stopped in one of the sitting areas in the median to let the kids eat some of their candy and to listen to a street musician, and then we headed to the famous angel wings… LOVE LOVE LOVE!!  Y’all get ready, because you’ll probably see this here on the blog a lot!  Haha.

Not one of the murals... just some random graffiti that the kids always ask to take a picture with.  Lol.

Sunday morning I was up and at ‘em to do all the things before First Communion – breakfast, getting ready, planning Sunday dinner, picking up the cake, grocery shopping for dinner, getting stuff in the slow cooker, cleaning the house, making a quick lunch – WHEW.  We’re used to Sunday mornings being verrrry sloooow so having one so fast-paced was definitely a change!

First Communion is typically held during a separate mass on Saturday morning, but this year, our new pastor decided that he wanted it to be a part of the regular Saturday and Sunday masses.  All of the kids who are members of our school were assigned 12:30 PM mass on Sunday because it’s usually the least busy mass.  We had so many kids receiving in the two second grade classes that we needed the least busy mass since the families of the First Communicants would take up the majority of the church. 

We all got dressed in our Sunday best and headed to the church around noon to grab some professional pictures of our little Boo before the big event.  Mass ended up being so, so special and I promptly teared up when all of the kids came processing down the aisles.  Brian and I were able to go up to the altar to stand with Jacob during his First Communion and then I received communion while B received a special blessing since he’s not Catholic.  I teared up so many times I can’t even count… what the heck am I going to be like during graduation and their weddings?!

For whatever reason, our pastor had decided to only give the First Communicants the bread, and not the wine at the altar, but we had the option of sending Jacob back through the line to receive the wine when the other family members went, so my mom took him up for that. 

After mass was over, we headed outside for more pictures, and then it was time to head home to prepare for our Sunday dinner celebration.  

Now for the professional pictures:

I made Chicken and Ranch Pasta in the slow cooker and served it with Emily’s Pesto Sweet Potatoes (SO GOOD), broccoli, and some strawberries and grapes.  The usual Sunday dinner gang all came to our house around 6 and we spent the evening drinking wine, eating dinner, spending time on the back porch, and celebrating our little Boo with cake and gifts. 

He received his first rosary and a devotional for kids from us, a bedtime bible stories book from Nana and Poppie, and a little trinket box and some Saint matching game cards (hehe) from Pop and Cokie.

We are so proud of him for taking the next step to grow in his faith and I’m excited to see what comes next!  We are just so proud of him!  It was a weekend for the books, for sure!

Happy Monday, y’all!  Thanks for following along!

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