Halloween 2017

This year, Chris scored about 500 Parenting Points when he oh-so casually replied to a child's inquiry about when we were going to carve pumpkins: "Carving? Oh no, we're coloring them this year. Yeah, it's great." 

The child simply accepted this news as fun and novel, grabbed the Sharpie pens, and ran to the front porch to begin coloring.

Lug all the pumpkins to the newspaper-strewn kitchen table? Saw open pumpkins till one's forearms ache? Scrape out pumpkin guts--and who can ever get them all out anyway? It is not fun to have four or five kids simultaneously grabbing knives and risking losing a finger while this Mama races around trying to help everyone . . . and this year I was going to have an infant strapped onto me while performing this feat.

Soon other children heard that there were Sharpies on the front porch and they just all ran out there, colored their pumpkins cheerfully, and it was fabulous. A little tempera paint was added for vibrancy and the job was done, with nary a lick of work from the parents.

We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We assembled costumes from many pieces I had already sewn in years past, with additions and adjustments this year.

St. Sebastian 

 

The red cape was from an old costume. John, Margaret, and I all sewed the green Roman soldier "skirt" (what does one call that?), and John sewed his shin guards and wrist guards.

St. Juan Diego

An old costume I decided fit the two-year-old right before we walked out the door.

St. Joan of Arc

I sewed sparkly tulle directly onto a black shirt to look like a chain mail vest. The battle standard I sewed out of white cloth and sparkly ribbon, and used fabric paint for Joan's motto.

Queen Esther

I used the gown I sewed for a Shakespeare play several years ago with a $2 rhinestone circlet for her crown.

St. Michael the Archangel

I sewed sparkly tulle on grey fabric to make a chain mail tunic. I bought iridescent poster-board to create wings, which I attached with shimmery gray ribbon.

A Duck

The duck costume was my only purchased one--at the consignment store for $5.

He was an unhappy duck, wailing his heart out because we were going outside for trick-or-treating right at his bedtime.

He felt a whole lot more content when he fell asleep in my sling.

The Whole Gang of Saints

Keepin' it real: I almost lost my mind this last week trying to sew these costumes. I certainly lost my composure too often--and with all the serious problems in this world, it sure isn't very Christian of me to lose my peace over costumes. David at two-and-a-half months old is still in arms most of the time and this week decided that last week's wonderful progress at taking consolidated naps on the bed was 'old news,' and this week he is never going to sleep longer than 15 minutes unless he's in my arms.

When Chris and I were kids, Halloween meant going home straight after school to dig around in the bureau drawers for something like a hobo costume (oversized clothing, smudged makeup on face), grabbing a pillow case for loot, and scooting out the door to trick-or-treat in our small towns without parents even accompanying us beyond the very youngest of years. Now, I start planning a month ahead, and spend two weeks sewing in all my spare time (which really amounts only to a few hours cumulatively, but that's all the spare time I have), and this year I took this entire week off of homeschooling in order to prepare for (and recover from) the All Saints Party (tomorrow).

Next year, the kids may really have to assemble all of their own costumes!

{SQT} Too Much Wonderful

For the past week or so, it has felt like our family has been going 75 miles per hour and I've been reduced to heart-pounding moments of anxiety. The gift in all of this is a reminder from God that Chris and I don't want to live like this. Our lives have been "full of wonderful" this week, but too much wonderful still means that our home has become like a pit stop, we're constantly eating junk or restaurant food, homeschooling becomes an angry rush to finish a to-do list, the house is a pig sty, everyone is short on sleep, and the Laundry Queen (me) actually ran out of pants for one of her children.

We will be seeking to slow down the calendar.

1. Fishing

It's a good thing Chris and John got in some relaxing fishing last Sunday before our Very Busy Week.

2. Arts and Crafts

The children and I have been much busier than usual with arts and crafts. The girls' floor is covered in a confetti of thread, notions, scraps of fabric, and pins scattered about haphazardly, and let's not even talk about the state of affairs in the Bonus Room.

First, the two girls created Preschool Scouts for my four-year-old boy, and are busy guiding him in making a bow and arrow and quiver, and sewing countless handkerchiefs, with plans for more activities. Joseph also earns badges (which he will proudly show you) for completing lessons like Climbing Trees or Racing Around. I vacillate between feeling like such a loser of a parent--because I am not doing those crafts with child #4 like I did with children #1 and #2, nor am I signing him up for something like Boy Scouts--and feeling warm at the fruits of having a large family: the older children form strong bonds with the younger ones and there is a 'trickle down effect' of all that the older children learned before.

Additionally we've also been using all our "spare" moments to sew and assemble costumes for the All Saints party and Halloween (which involved an outing to Michael's Art Store this week from the Mama Who Does Not Go on Errands). It's not so easy to sew with an infant alongside, so the children are doing a lot of their own sewing. (Again, cue vacillating feelings . . .)

3. Social Events

On Tuesday we celebrated Chris' birthday with a pancake breakfast and gifts, my having my first emotional meltdown day of the week, and a later-than-usual evening out to have dinner at a restaurant.

On Wednesday, we enjoyed a beloved family coming over for a play date.

4. Bishop Athanasius Schneider events

Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan came across the world to our wee parish on invitation of the Charlotte Latin Mass Society to say a Pontifical Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form, which was the first time in 30 years in this diocese. 

As my husband founded the Charlotte Latin Mass Community and remains on its Steering Committee, he and I were included in a small, formal dinner to welcome His Excellency. The women who hosted it (not me) did a superior job and I laud them. One bishop, eight priests, and about 16 lay people--plus my infant!--enjoyed the event. I publicly thank those--especially my father--who drilled etiquette into me as a child so that whatever I've retained helped me get through the evening without utter embarrassment.

I felt like Lowly Worm for all I merited or could offer to the event, and I got about five sentences out all night, but David received two special blessings from the bishop, so maybe that is the sole reason why God allowed me to be there.

Blessing Joseph

After that late night on Wednesday, we had another late night on Thursday because we took the whole family to the private reception before Mass to meet the bishop, the Mass, and the public reception after the Mass. We had practiced role-playing at home (during which there was much giggling), and my heart was happy when my four-year-old and upward each said solemnly, "Your Excellency" while kissing his ring. My two-year-old gets a pass for staring silently with big, solemn eyes.

Blessing David

This was perhaps our first attempt at taking all the children to a night Mass. I do not think we will be doing it again for some time unless there is a compelling reason . . . and next time I will notice on the calendar that the night is followed by a very early waking!

John missed the photos with the bishop because he was already vested for Mass . . . but his was the greater honor to get to serve with His Excellency than simply to be in a photo!

Click here for beautiful photos from the Mass.

After Mass, John got to meet the bishop at the reception.

Our typical attendance for Mass is 200-250, but there were more than 650 people at this Pontifical Mass. Our parish wasn't even properly prepared for such success!

Chris and I had taken two cars so I could leave early, so when I tried to take the little ones home at 9:00, I discovered I was boxed in by cars double-parked. The children were all wailing in the dark in the van while I just sat there and waited for someone to drive away or for my husband somehow to rescue me, and eventually both things happened, but we still didn't get them all in bed till 10:30.

5. New Home, Sweet Home?

After getting the kids tucked in at 10:30 on Thursday night, they were up bright and early for CCE the next morning. A bunch of crabby children and bleary-eyed mama got the first hot cocoa of the year.

We departed immediately after CCE to go tour for the second time a home we're looking at buying (yes, that is an announcement of a potential big change!). Will we take the plunge and move out into the boonies on our own little acreage? (This stressful but exciting process of trying to buy a house has been going on in the background of our life this last month.) Stay tuned . . .

John and I walking the property line through the woods

6. Reel Scottish Weekend

And Friday night and Saturday, half of our crew will be attending the Reel Scottish Weekend: performing violin and piano in the Friday night concert and taking Scottish County Dance classes with expert teachers all day Saturday.

Mary played 'Scotland the Brave' on violin and 'Jig' on piano (no video on the latter).



John played Etude Op. 47 No. 8 by Stephen Heller on piano.

7. Fatigued

This week has made me feel like Thomas looks in this photo:

Asleep for random nap while wearing his sister's head band

I wished I could hide somewhere, like in a bush:

For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.

{SQT} Fall Weather Has Arrived

N.B. I really miss being able to write thoughtful essays about parenting, Catholicism, and femininity, like I used to do on this blog. I remember a distinct shift a couple of years ago when my load of duties became too big for me to organize my thoughts anymore and all I could manage were quick shots of our life on the blog. The below blog post, which should have taken fifteen minutes to assemble (I can't even call it "writing"), took me an hour because of all the interruptions from children. (And, of course, therein lies my failed spirituality because the blog is the interruption, not the children.) Maybe someday God will permit me the time to write again, but there are no promises in life.

1. Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend involving two big potluck get-togethers: fun but tiring!

2. Neil's Birthday

Tuesday would have been Grampa Neil's birthday and I was more tearful that day than any other since the week of his death. I kept hiding in closets, the pantry, and laundry room crying and felt very angry about his passing.

3. Speedy School

The last two weeks have been really fantastic, which I attribute to my implementing anew a schedule (click here).

Last week, the children were getting their sea legs learning the new schedule--during which I also added back in the subject of Latin--and they stayed on task and got everything done by two o'clock: win! This week--when I added back in the subject of Grammar--the children embraced on their own initiative the concept that they could start working on their seat work as soon as they woke up and squeeze those subjects into all the cracks of time between subject blocks in our schedule, and thus be completed way earlier than normal! My fifth grader, with the heaviest work load, finished before noon each day, instead of not finishing till two or three! No nagging, no fights. It was beautiful, so beautiful.

4. Cuties

Thomas (2) got a hold of my phone and took a series of photos while he was walking down the stairs. It's pretty frightening to see the view from the top of the stairs from a toddler's perspective.

Mary sometimes supervises tummy time for David, which is good because I certainly don't have time to do that. (Never fear: wearing a baby in a sling builds the core strength of an infant beautifully, so my babies don't seem to suffer from the fact that I rarely put them down for the first six months.)

5. New Fish Friends

We obtained new fish friends: a guppy and a neon tetra. Wish us the best.

6. Pumpkin Patch

On Wednesday afternoon, we went as a family to a pumpkin patch. They were all long ago "picked out," and had repopulated the field with store-bought pumpkins, but our children didn't mind! They got to play on the extensive playground and eat apple cider doughnuts.

7. MiraVia Banquet 2017

On Thursday we attended the MiraVia annual fundraising banquet, which counts as one of the times I can count on one hand that I leave the house in the evening over the course of a year.

Our two oldest began coming with us last year. Upon being asked by #3 this year, we decided that it was a rule that one at least had to be receiving one's First Holy Communion to come along--plus have very good table manners!

I attend the banquet every other year: I go when I have a portable baby-in-arms, and I stay home when I have a toddler too active to come but too young for me to want to leave at home (the one year olds). David was my easiest baby yet because he is only 2-1/2 months old, so he nursed or slept the entire time. The tradeoff is that I haven't lost any baby weight yet--I like to wait a whole year before I bother, ha! (note the sarcasm)--and felt like I had nothing appropriate to wear (note the First World Problem).

We had an interesting conversation while walking to our car. I was fondly recounting each baby's attendance: how 10-month-old Mary who charmed any crowd stayed awake the whole time and was the life of the party, but how 5-month-old Margaret was miserable and screamed in the hallways the whole time, where I walked her and missed the entirety of the banquet, so that I cried and was very frustrated. Mary asked mystified why I was crying and unhappy (just because I had to pace the halls with a screaming baby for three hours and missed my once-annual nice outing)?

I realized that, while I am no perfect mother (believe me), I was much more impatient at Baby #3 than I am at Baby #6. I explained to Mary that I was a less experienced mother then and "I still wanted to get my own way a lot more than I do now."

I was reminded by her innocent question of when a mother of many tried to encourage me one time when I was so angry at having to stay out of the sanctuary every week during Mass because of tending to tiny tots. She said kindly, "I missed Mass for ten years straight." I was so angry, I was livid: She did not understand! She was belittling my sacrifice! Well, yes, she understood more than I could understand then, and now I'd say the same thing because I have: except for some occasions, I've missed Mass for ten years straight (and by missed, I mean be entirely unable to pay attention because I always have a child under two in my lap, and maybe more than one). A peace has come over me about it by now, and I really can see that it's just a season, even if the season is going to last several more years. One could write a long, thoughtful essay on this quiet peace that finally begins to settle over a mother of many, if one had longer than the length of drinking one cup of coffee in the six o'clock morning hour to think and muse (which is what I promised my awake-right-now-children was all I would take away from them).

Maybe some day I can write that essay . . .


For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.

{SQT} Our Lady of Fatima Edition

1. Six Babies

Chris has updated our comparison of six babies when around one-month-old. (I'd next love to see a comparison of six-month-olds, since they look so much like their future selves at that point.)

David is two months old now (click here for an update).

2. R.I.P. Fishies

Our carnival goldfish died after three weeks, which is a testament to the dedicated and loving care by John. Numerous of our parish friends reported that their goldfish died within 24 hours.

Everything I had read about came true: Goldfish are dirty fish who put out a lot of ammonia (which is deadly), so each teeny weeny fish is supposed to have 10 gallons of water to itself. So, even if you buy your two 14-cent goldfish a fancy 5-1/2-gallon tank with an air filter, and you change the getting-cloudy water more than once weekly, as well as rush off to the pet store multiple times to test the water and ask questions, that isn't anywhere near enough. The ammonia reached toxic levels and our sweet fishies breathed their last. It's a sad end for fish that can actually live ten years and grow up to a foot long.

Two fish funerals were held. Prayers were said and tears were shed.

Now we cleaned the tank (again), filled it with water, water conditioner, and good bacteria, and now we're letting the 'bacteria bloom' grow for three weeks or so before we put in new fish (who will not be goldfish). Apparently letting the bacteria bloom grow is something people "in the know" about fish like to do before introducing fish friends, so we're trying it this time.

3. Scheduling our School Time

I tried putting us back on a schedule for school (click here) and it went very well! I will be repeating it next week, God willing.

4. Getting Fresh Air

First Ergo sighting!

I try, try again to get my body moving a little bit.

5. Starting Them Young

Thomas (27 months) is exemplifying my guideline that if he can climb up it himself, the toddler is allowed to climb up it. Generally, mine haven't gotten into trouble that way because it's self-limiting.

Barefoot climbing is best

6. Bookworms Unite

Stopping to read on our evening walk

7. Our Lady of Fatima

Exactly today is the one hundredth anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. I didn't participate in most of the celebratory events at our parish because I was flying solo this week with Chris away on business.

However, after CCE on Friday, we enjoyed Eucharistic Adoration, a procession with the homeschooled children, and then eating sun-themed sweet treats (to remember the miracle of the sun).

For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.