{SQT} The Mother's Day Edition

The professional photographs from Margaret's First Holy Communion became available so I updated my blog post with them. They are so very beautiful and I invite you to check them out: click here!

1. Garage Sales

Last Saturday, we enjoyed our tradition of shopping at our annual neighborhood garage sale. We don't carve out time to "go garage saling" any other time of the year, but it is sure fun to check out all the sales of our neighbors.

This is not Chris' preferred pastime, so he was contented this year to have the excuse of having to take Mary to a music competition while I drove around hunting for bargains.

David was now all better from fever-and-misery, but poor Thomas had caught it as of Friday night. But, as there were no bodily fluids involved, he was very contented to be given an iPad while he rode around in his car seat--a foreign concept since we don't hand out electronics in the car!

Our most exciting purchase was humorously dull: 22 perfect mullions! Mullions now go by the more Plain Jane name of "window grids." Our brood of children have broken virtually all the mullions in our entire home over the last decade, but they're shockingly expensive nowadays, as they are no longer made. One searches eBay for mullions and finds them at $40-50 per window!

Well, you should have seen how quickly and sharply I whipped my 15-passenger van to the side of the road when I saw that gleaming white stack of mullions. Apparently the couple had replaced all the windows in their home (a home just like ours, with windows just our size) with the fancy new kind with windows embedded in between two panes of glass so that wretched children cannot break them. Her husband had told her just to throw away the mullions--"nobody will ever want those!"--but instead she priced them at one dollar apiece, and I quickly took them off her hands and sped off in a cloud of dust before she realized how much more she could have charged.

2. Royalty

Meanwhile, Chris had taken Mary to the state-level Royalty Competition. After two years of Mary coming in second in our local division, she had placed first at the locals and now was representing our geographic division, of which there are three in our state.

And the winner was . . . MARY!

Grabbing a bite to eat

After the competition, the winners from Royalty and from the previously held Federation-hosted events all performed at the Winners' Recital and received their prizes.

We are so proud of her diligence. At nine years old, Mary now manages her own practice. Even though she'd won a first place earlier, she didn't rest on her laurels. When her teachers told her there was room for improvement in her dynamics, she spent the week working her song backwards, measure by measure, and then forward, starting at a very slow beats per minute and increase five beats at a time, as well as playing it only with her right hand, only with her left hand, and, obviously, together. Methodical, scientific practice at great length.

3. Yet More Sickness

Back at the homestead, by late afternoon, a third child had fallen sick with David's bug.

And by the time Mary got home from the competition, she was sick too.

I find myself meditating on those experiencing truly serious medical struggles.  I have a friend whose infant spent this week in the hospital being fed by tube while they ran tests, another friend who had to take into the hospital her profoundly disabled daughter for tests, and on Saturday prior to Mother's Day I received a prayer request for Baby X. who was hit in the head by a falling tree limb from 100 feet up and whose prognosis was not good: the next day, that three-month-old died.

There are always sufferings and, pretty often, there are others with sufferings far worse than ours, even if it is a dreaded vomiting virus sweeping through a large family for a couple of weeks (No! We haven't had that in months!). I've been Catholic for ten years and I'm still trying to learn how to offer things up, to accept my crosses, and to remember others.

4. Mother's Day

Over Mother's Day, half our kids were in various stages of this 48-hour fever sickness, so that threw a little wrench in things. Nonetheless, they presented me with homemade cards and a lovely Tiffany-style lamp as a gift for the bedroom table where I usually sit and read aloud to the children.

I got to take an early morning walk and Chris made us a feast of French-toast croissants (inspired by those at Metro Diner).

I caught the sickness going through our home before the day was out!

Bonus reading: "A Little Mother Prevents Big Brother" by Stella Morabito

5. David Is Nine Months Old!

David turned nine months old last week, which I forgot amidst the hustle and bustle.

He's crawling speedily, pulling up, cruising on furniture slowly, and letting go of furniture so he stands alone for a second or two.

What he is not doing is eating solids without gagging hard and vomiting, so we met with a feeding therapist this week and made some helpful discoveries already. We'll be working on some techniques that I think will get David on track. (Below he is experimenting with the texture of banana.)

6. May Crowning 2018

Chris and I hosted the May crowning for homeschoolers on Wednesday. I've got a system for it after all these years, and I'd be happy to send my notes/instructions to anyone who wants to host a May crowning at her own parish. It's a beautiful tradition.

The two first holy communicants

Procession into the church

Praying

Margaret crowning the statue

Praying

Ice cream social

7. Miscellaneous

I remember years ago visiting with large families and being amazed that they had enough children to play group games together. I think we haven't quite "arrived," but we "are arriving." The top four children now regularly play baseball and soccer in the back yard, as well as various kids' tag games (all of whose names and rules I cannot keep track).

It can be challenging to find peace and quiet for studies in a large family, so during the loud mornings, certain children very much like to sit outside to study. (Then after lunch, it is Quiet Time and actually very quiet in the house.)

I know that the deer inhabit our neighborhood like rats, but I do so enjoy them anyway.

Summertime "life hack" that I'm trying . . . 

I bought cheap 16-oz water bottles and I'm assigning each child to drink a certain number of bottles per day. I'm calculating water thus:

body weight divided by 2 = ounces to drink

Example: 80 lbs divided by 2 = should drink 40 oz water per day

The water bottles can be used for days or weeks or however long they might last. I wrote the child's name and number of bottles to drink (e.g., "John 3") on each one. Double win to reduce anonymous cups being left around, abandoned, and I have no idea whose they are. We shall see if this helps!

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