Gloria in Excelsis Deo: {SQT} A Big Week in Music!

1. Illness

It turns out that my 48-hour illness that started in Tennessee spread to the majority of the family, mercifully one kid per day. While it wended its way through our family, I was simply exceedingly grateful we've gone this long without illness. I don't even know if we've experienced a stomach bug in the entire last year and maybe only one or two mild colds, all of which I have to chalk up to our not being in any kind of co-op or nursery setting this year, as those are Petri dishes of illness for young children. I think large families have to weigh carefully whether wonderful co-ops and schools are worth the educational benefit because said benefit starts to be lost fast if the family is cycling through a half a dozen or more lengthy illnesses per school year.

Mary (8) reading for an hour to her sick brother Joseph (6)

I had to chuckle that even the 6-year-old knew to label his cups to reduce chances of anyone drinking out of his when he was sick.

The baby got hit hardest by far, as it was a quick (12-18 hours?) and mild bug for everyone else.

A vignette only peripherally related to illness . . . this week I actually had a well-child check scheduled for one child and I had to take along the little ones with me, so they received lollipops. Back at home, Thomas (3) came to me solemnly and with grave announcement, "Mama, my tooth is stuck in the lollipop." I asked him to show me what he meant, so he retrieved said lollipop and pointed to the white stub embedded . . . which turned out to be the stick, not his tooth! He was much relieved when I told him.

NOT a tooth

2. Back to School

We were back to school after two weeks of Easter break and I was, once again, grateful for homeschooling which allows schooling "in the cracks" even during illness.

Running Latin flash cards, baseball mit at the ready

Playdough day!

2. Sinfonia Strings spring concert

On Monday, Mary (10) performed violin with Sinfonia Strings at the Youth Orchestras of Charlotte spring concert. I greatly look forward to these kind of events, as my life as a housewife doesn't get me in a fancy auditorium on a university campus but once in a blue moon. However, David (21 months) was the one going through the illness on that day. A baby needs his mama! I cancelled our babysitter and sent Chris and the oldest two children to watch their sister Mary, so you can imagine my joyful surprise when the doorbell rang and I received these gifts and apology note "from David."

And that wraps up our orchestra season! We'll see our orchestra buddies again next fall!

3. Guild

John and Mary auditioned for the American College of Musicians Guild for the fourth year in a row. Mary had prepared ten memorized piano pieces (national level) and John fifteen (international level), so you can imagine how my heart sunk when John got his turn at this illness about 18 hours before he was due to perform. He is aiming to earn a Paderewski Medal, which requires auditioning for Guild for ten years, so he was highly motivated not to miss this year! My boy rallied, medicated, put on a smile, and performed those songs for the judge! The Sympathetic Mommy in me just wanted to coddle him at home, but the Adult in me was so proud of his increasing maturity and toughness during a challenging time.

And this wraps up our music competition season! Nothing more till next fall or winter!!!

4. Wholesome, Old-Fashioned Fun

The children's grandmother gave them all nice, heavy weight yo-yos when we were in Tennessee and the oldest two especially have been all about yo-yos ever since. You know how many of us adults walk around clutching our smartphones like we're addicted? That's how these kids are walking around with their yo-yos (which are way more wholesome than smartphones).

They've watched a few instructional YouTube videos with their dad, already know a bunch of lingo which is 100% more than I know, and they're working on some great tricks. I love wholesome fun!

We don't watch sports on TV and I don't even think the kids know that baseball is a spring season sport, but with the spring zephyrs in the air, they have hauled out all the baseball gear this week and played it at every opportunity. There have been many opportunities to work through conflict and big emotions, but they has also been loads of fresh air fun.

And guess what? When you're out playing baseball by 6:30 a.m. (which they were on numerous days), you might just be in the back yard when a herd of deer calmly amble by!

A herd of deer on the other side of our fence

On Thursday night, I had my feet up on the back porch reading "Leaving Boyhood Behind" by Jason Craig when John (12) rushed up to me, having discovered anew a rocket kit handed down to us and left on a dusty garage shelf. Chris wasn't even home yet (aren't rockets a dad thing?!) and every fiber of my mother's body wanted to say that there is risk in launching rockets, so we just won't do that. But here I was, ensconced in this excellent book (superior writing by the author!) about boys right around 12 years old needing to separate from their mothers and do physically challenging and dangerous activities in order to grow into true manhood, so what was I to do?

I loaded us up and walked us over to the rec club field (where Chris ended up joining us on his way home).

Turn your volume up to hear commentary by Thomas (3) right as the rocket was launching--ha!

6. Birds: The Conclusion

The finch eggs never hatched after 22 days, well past the incubation period for finches, so decisions needed to be made. On Friday, we encouraged the two birds out of their pendulum nest where they have been happily ensconsed for weeks and caught them, which was heartwrenching because they behaved like two parent birds defending their babies. Once they were safely in their cardboard boxes, we "candled the eggs" and discovered that they had never been fertilized at all. Now we've removed the pendulum nest, which we are reading should probably be enough to discourage any future mating between these birds, and allows us to leave the bonded pair together.