Gloria in Excelsis Deo: {SQT} Winners All Around!

1. Royalty Competition

For the third year, Mary was invited to compete at the North Carolina Federation of Music Club's Royalty competition. She performed Bach's Invention No. 8. She has come in second place for two years running . . .

. . . but this year took first place!

She'll head to compete at the state-level of Royalty a month from now, which means another month of our hearing the Invention played at least 20 times per day. I get asked, sometimes, about a child being "just so gifted" in music, but really, most of it is an excellent teacher and incredibly hard work. As Suzuki himself said of practice, "After ten thousand times, understanding begins."

2. David at 8 Months Old

Aaack! I note that David turned eight months old on Wednesday and I forgot to take a picture with his cute little "8" sticker.

Easter eggs make great toys.

Milestone: David's first bath in which he did not cry!

David now crawls everywhere and speedily. We have to re-train everybody to shut the bathroom doors because David likes to crawl in there straight for the toddler potty (ew!). He can climb up the stairs out of sunken den, so you know it's only a matter of time before he finds the stairs going up-up-up!

Hangin' out with Mama while she reads in the grass

3. Joseph

I look forward to teaching Joseph in Kindergarten next fall. He's five now and ready to learn, if only I could carve out time to teach him.

Joseph doing Snap Circuits

Photo of Mama by Joseph

In between CCE recitations, I had Joseph jump on the trampoline, reminding me of the last five-year-old son I taught: John six long years ago! These boys are JUMPY and FULL OF ENERGY. Just call Joseph 'Tigger.'

4. Growing Up Fast

These kids are growing up so fast. My Mary (9) is an incredible domestic help to me, so often a second pair of eyes spotting needs and filling them. When Mom and Dad say 'no' to something, Thomas (2) now goes and asks Mary's permission!

Mary posing in her tennis outfit--The Long Back Panel Skirt from French Toast makes a modest sports skirt!

One morning, Mary made our family French toast from start to finish!

How pleased I was when John spotted a string trimmer on sale and requested--begged!--to be allowed to buy it with his own money, so he can add edging to his business services available, along with mowing (bagging or mulching) and blowing. I so often question our parenting choices and trying to figure out what we're doing, but it seems like a Good Thing when an 11-year-old wants to work and earn money toward a goal, and wants to put his own investment into it. ("Mama, I want to pay for this because I'll make more money than it costs because now I can charge for edging.")

5. Outings

On Sunday, we tried a restaurant in hopes of booking it for my mom and stepfather's upcoming funeral reception, and it passed the test.

We had our usual tennis and Scottish Dance lessons, plus I even took six kids shopping in public with me . . . TWICE. I took them to Play It Again Sports--buying used is the way to go!--and grocery shopping at Aldi's--and then I vowed I'd never do that again. There were crabby adults actually staring, pointing, and making commentary at us as I had to keep five kids still, having sent one child to go get a store employee, because my two-year-old had thrown a bottle of applesauce on the ground and smashed it everywhere. I made a chain of safety across the very slippery mess and directed people around it, lest anyone slip, while we waited. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the tiny martyrdom of shoppers staring, and then laughing out loud, "She even has a baby on her back!"

Ice cream we paid for

I tried this year to take the children for a free cone at Ben and Jerry's on Free Cone Day, but even pulling into the parking lot, the kids starting exclaiming, "Mama's never going to stand in that line!" They were right, as the line snaked far through the parking lot. Instead we drove over to Baskin-Robbins and paid for our sweet treat, causing me to wonder whether Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's results in higher ice cream sales at other stores.

6. Outdoor Fun

Mary hung a new swing in the tree-bushes in the front yard, so the kids have been enjoying that new area of fun. They've also been drawing extensively with their Easter basket sidewalk chalk, and playing a lot of hopscotch with said chalk.

Now that the kids have taken five weeks of tennis lessons, we finally tried simply going to play tennis on our own for the fun of it.

On Thursday, upon finishing school work early (motivation!), we took the stroller and made our way to the tennis courts, where two kids at a time took turns playing singles (because we own only two rackets right now!), while three other kids ran around pell-mell and I walked laps around the court with the baby. It was a wonderful way to get in some exercise as a family!

7. Final Day of CCE

Catholic Classical Enrichment wrapped up for the 2017-18 year! Our last day consisted of memory testing, presentation of certificates of accomplishments, the choirs singing their songs, and a potluck.

The choir: Pre-K, K, 1st

Margaret earned one certificate, Mary three, and John two. My sweet Joe couldn't quite earn the certificate he was going for, but that falls on his mama who hasn't been able to carve out any time to teach him this year. How different will be his Kindergarten year when his job the last two years has been to "go and play!" while I teach the older ones, as compared to John and Mary who had done daily dedicated school with me for two years before starting Kindergarten? Other moms of large families seem to be able to manage more, but this is what it's like around here: keepin' it real.