Happy 13th birthday to our son, John! He's the child who made me a mother and now he is our very first teenager!
Birthday morning
We think he's a pretty fantastic fellow: a loving brother with a big sense of humor, a classical pianist who excels at improv, and a ice hockey player who loves serving Mass weekly and attending more often, all things about animals (catching critters in our yard, maintaining his 40-gallon fish tank), cooking, discussing politics and economics, reading classic literature, and playing board games. He is responsible for our lawn care and much of our daily pool care and he does landscaping work for neighbors, always hatching his latest entrepreneurial plan. We can't wait to see what the next years bring for John!
Congratulations to John for earning a Superior performing the Concerto in C Major by Haydn at the CPTF Concerto Competition last Saturday! We are so proud of his dedicating daily work to this for six months.
Lunch out with Dad afterward
2. Advent 2018
Advent and Lent have gotten simpler and simpler each year in our home as I have more children to care for and more grades to teach. We have a few sacrifices we are making. We switched the songs we're learning during home choir time to "Veni, Veni Emanuel" (learning it in Latin this year). We have the candle to light and Advent calendar to open. I set out the nativity scene and the Christmas books selection and just hope for the best, like setting out bird seed and hay in snowy winter for the animals to forage themselves.
The list of all the Advent activities we have cut due to an overwhelming lack of time since the earlier years would make for a more lengthy paragraph. I hear so many of my large-family friends talking about what holy books they've chosen to read over Advent in order to nourish their souls while I haven't picked anything because I haven't had time to read a book in months and months, says the woman who read a fat book per week for most of her life.
Mama is filled with self-doubt about it all.
Thomas is enjoying climbing up onto this ledge (with his healed collar bone!) to 'read' the Christmas books I set there for the season. He does not want the books to be brought down so he can sit in a chair or on the floor!
2. John Turns 12!
Happy twelfth birthday to our firstborn!
We had a small, family celebration this year, as we tend to limit Birthday Party Propers to the "big" numbers (e.g., 5, double-digits 10, 13 teenager . . .).
John is a cause of much frivolity and joy. He takes things in stride and one of his favorite pastimes is making interesting conversation with people of all ages, especially adults. This year in school, he has been making great strides in learning much more serious study habits, time management, and being able to carry a heavier workload, and we are proud of his efforts.
4. Christmas Caroling
On Monday night, our parish Fraternus (boys) and Fidelis (girls) groups went Christmas caroling, apparently for the fourth year in the row. This was our first year eligible to join and a record-breaking crowd of 60 young people (grades 6-12) showed up! It was heartwarming to see. (Families of the students were allowed to join in, but mostly it was just the students, not people with little kids like mine. Ours was the only stroller there.)
No one will be surprised that our Mary made sure she was the one to go ring the doorbell at each house to announce our arrival.
My little boys hung in well until about 8:00 when they could no longer hold in their wailing and tears at being out so late. We were done caroling by then, but I pulled my older kids early from extended time eating treats, drinking cocoa, and generally socializing. There was some upset reaction, but this gave us all an opportunity to practice gratitude that we got to go caroling at all since Daddy was out of town on business and unable to be the "nighttime outing parent" as usual, and that I sacrificed my littles being out past bedtime for the sake of the olders: and now the olders have to sacrifice a little for their younger sibs by going home early.
It had actually been a humorously frenetic afternoon with Mama doing it all in Chris' absence.
I taught a full school day up till the last minute we had to depart
Having laid the boys down a bit early for nap, I woke them after only a short time, which would be especially tough knowing that they'd be awake two hours late due to the caroling
2:45 I delivered John to CCE school at our parish
Dropped off at Goodwill and drove home
4:45 I delivered Mary to girls' choir practice at our parish
I unloaded all the children and went inside to sign some mandatory paperwork for the next semester
I visited our friends for a play date, as they live right near the parish
6:15 I returned to the parish to pick up John and Mary
I drove us all to Chik-Fil-A for dinner
7:00 We returned to the parish just in the nick of time for Christmas caroling
9:00 Tired, crying children home and tucked into bed
5. St. Nicholas Day
My two girls baked gingerbread cake for us the day prior, and made an extra large batch so we could freeze some extra cakes for the Christmas season.
On the eve of St. Nicholas, I was just about to read aloud about the saintly bishop to our younger children when the baby broke a Corele plate: they're durable until they finally break and then they shatter into approximately ten thousand pieces which bounce into every conceivable corner of the kitchen, including around corners and into other rooms and upward to land on counter-tops. So, while I spent a lengthy time sweeping, I assigned Mary to read aloud to the boys.
We were handed down these little kid ski goggles and our three-year-old has been wearing them much of the time, including that night when he said he wanted to sit on the ledge (as usual) and "read mine own books."
After the littles were tucked in, I filled their shoes with chocolate coins, oranges, candy canes, and I set out our family presents.
The girls and boys each received a beautiful new crucifix for their bedrooms and they were truly actually quite excited by that gift, about which I'm so grateful. We also gave three new books: "An Orange for Frankie," "Candy Bomber" (about WWII), and a collection of Charles Dickens' five Christmas tales, as I want to read aloud "The Cricket on the Hearth" this season. Lastly, a new figurine of St. Nicholas joined our crew.
There have been fancier breakfasts over the years, but this tired mama is flagging, especially when one's husband is gone two weeks in a row, so I served pancakes (made in a double batch last weekend and frozen for this purpose) with sausages and homemade whipped cream (that was the fancy part), around which I wrapped Christmas ribbon. Not quite "Martha Stewart."
6. Profound Thoughts
I haven't written anything deep, no essays, nothing thought-provoking on this blog for what seems like months, maybe this whole school year. I really do have numerous essays in my head running. I have blog drafts of a couple of big topics I've been researching to share. Every week, I have deep meditations I want to share.
But there is never time to get back to my computer and dash them out, and come early Friday morning when I try to get out a Seven Quick Takes, they're all gone.
7. Miscellaneous
For the last two weeks, my Margaret and Joseph have been the only ones to show up for tennis class, so the coach has happily let our three-year-old be involved, too. Then when my John and Mary show up an hour later for their class, all the Lauer kids join together for a game of "Happy Feet" before I take the younger set home, and that's very fun.
The sweet, red-headed baby who made us parents turned eleven on Monday!
Our John is nothing if not jovial, ready to break the tension in any room with humor, and a willing helper at home. He loves reading non-fiction--and fiction if it's truly an adventure classic, like falling in love with Jules Verne this year--learning about science and all things mechanical (replacing a tire, tinkering with devices), and this year he's taken up the hobbies of both fishing in lakes and keeping an aquarium of pet fish.
We celebrated on Sunday evening with gifts, his requested meal of homemade fettuccine Alfredo, and Baskin-Robbins ice cream cake.
Sister knitted him a rug
Siblings gave him AirSoft gear
John is really into chemistry this year
In a fun turn of events, the ice cream parlor made us the entirely wrong cake, so they gave us the correct cake as well: two cakes in one week, making for some entirely delighted kids!
On John's actual birthday Monday, we made French toast for breakfast and he got to take sweet treats to altar boy practice at night to share with his buddies.
Our son is growing to be a wonderful young man. He is an honest person, a friendly goofball, and a peacemaker soul. John likes serving at the altar (which he does between one and three times weekly), playing sports with his friends, wrestling with his brother, Scottish dancing, and playing Legos, and his favorite subjects are history and science. He is an early bird like his mama, so many a dark mornings we spend talking about some of John's current favorite subjects, such as cars, Airsoft guns, and his ideas for inventions.
Opening gifts in the morning before breakfast
It is a milestone for child and parents to have one's firstborn reach the ten years mark. I am realizing that all these long years, these many days that felt (feel) like they'll never end and for which I don't have the energy to get through, are really just flying by and--poof!--they're gone. It didn't occur to me last year when John turned nine that (theoretically) half our time with him at home was by then gone, but that truth is causing somber meditation for me this year.
Breakfast menu: French toast, sausage, eggs, strawberries
One of the gifts John received was a five booklet instruction course in Spencerian handwriting, so we got out our fountain pens and gave it a try (making photocopies of the practice sheets). It was quite meditative and I was amazed to watch all four children (down to the three year old) silently writing letters for many minutes on end.
Adding the final touches to the homemade rolls
Dinner menu: Italian sausage, fettuccine and homemade Alfredo sauce, sauteed mushrooms, green salad, homemade whole wheat bread rolls
John requested a homemade Oreo cheesecake for dessert, so I read up all about the techniques to make a cheesecake: it's no simple process! I warmed the cream cheese, whipped the batter at length, used my spring-form pan, cooked with a water bath, cooled the cake in the warm oven, and moved it to the refrigerator overnight. The cheesecake was a big success!
Ten years old!
I offer a retrospective of many fond memories covering our first decade of parenting and John's first decade of life!
