in Stitches

 Drew's friend got staples in his head in the middle of one of the camp outs for their troops.  The very next meeting, while some boys were climbing on a kind of a rock wall, a rock was kicked loose and hit Drew right in the forehead.  Brian called me to tell me what happened when he was already on his way to the Urgent Care for stitches.  Poor guy!

May is here already!

What!  It's May already?

Even my most enthusiastic learner is over this whole school thing and ready for summer.  He used to be the first one with his school work out each morning and now he's saying he doesn't want to do it anymore.  I hope it's just spring burn out and a summer break will renew his excitement.  

Birthday Dinner at Gold Feather
She wanted chicken and waffles, and, boy, did she get it!  She got Red Velvet Waffles and Chicken with gravy.  

 Genevieve turned 15 at the beginning of this month.  She is dying to get started on Driver's Ed and get her permit, but she wants to finish up finals before adding that to her schedule.  The weekend before her birthday I took her shopping and we got her some make-up which is the 15 year old privilege.  She wants to go to Fiesta Texas with a couple friends after school is over in lieu of a birthday party.

For Mother's Day I was blessed to be able to see some long-time friends from college (two from out of town) for dinner the night before.  

Before Mass on Mother's Day, I was showered with home-made cards and some flowers and a card from my husband.

You might not be able to tell, but he drew me Thor.  

And Thor's hammer!

My Mother's Day card from Isaac.  He loves to make pop up cards for me.  He said this card took him more than two hours. ❤❤❤

The next week it was talent show time!  My three home-schoolers got to perform in the talent show.  All three played the piano (Bob's been learning from Genevieve.) and Bobby even did a stand up comedy routine with cat jokes he read and memorized from a book.

Judah was so focused during his piece.  After he bowed, he got a "deer in the headlights' look and didn't know what to do.  I had to whisper-yell for him to get his book and wave him off stage.  :) 

What a tiny peanut!

The cat jokes were a huge hit mainly because he was so adorable I think!  I was very proud of him for being so brave.  When we first took our seats before the talent show began, he whispered to me that he didn't want to do it anymore.  I told him that I'd walk him up there, and he agreed pretty easily.

I got a video of Drew and he was too fast to get off stage and I didn't get a picture of him playing.

The very small group of kids this year that were able to come and participate

Second Semester School Updates *edited with a few more pictures*

We started back to school the week following New Year’s Day. We had a slow start because they had been on a light schedule during December. They are all ahead in their work, so we took the opportunity to do art projects and read books together about Advent and Christmas. They did a little bit of Grammar and math flash cards so they weren’t completely off track. The long “break” has made it harder to get back into the swing of things.

Judah (2^nd grade) is getting so distracted by everything from his pencil to his brothers, and he is getting work done at a snail’s pace.  

Bobby (Kindergarten) is adding numbers up to twenty in his head like a boss now and he is reading very well too. He’s read over 20 early readers to me since finishing his 100 Easy Lesson book. I’m adding in word searches and extra math books to slow him down a little and keep him busy.

Bob is perfecting his reading with massive quantities of comic books: Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, and Zita.

The other day around 4pm, I found him reading comic books for the fourth time and asked him if that's all he'd done all day.  His response, "Well, I did my school too."  At that point I shooed him outside until dinner.  Only in our house do you have to force kids to stop reading and go play outside.

Drew (3^rd grade) is getting the hang of long division and still working on his cursive being natural. He and Judah are starting Latin this semester and we are trying a new program, Classical Academic Press’s Latin for Children. So far the grammar has proved challenging, but I’m not concerned that they fully grasp that yet since they are starting young. I mainly want the exposure and vocabulary so they can see it again and again and it be easier in the upper school years.

The big kids are back in school for only about a week now.  Hannah had grown quite accustomed to distance learning, but the other two were sick of the computer, missing the social interaction, and losing focus and determination in their schoolwork.  They had an independent study project that they all completed just before going back to school.  We are still adjusting to the new norms of traveling to school and back everyday.

Basketball season is wrapping up here in a week.  The girls are both on Varsity together, but they lost a lot of girls this year .  Their team is mostly ninth graders playing against juniors and seniors.  It has been a humbling and challenging experience.  It is fun to see my two daughters playing together again.  I am team mom and I have been running the books/clock this season for all home games so that I can attend the games.  My sister and I played on the same team in high school and my dad used to do the books for my games in high school.  It brings back memories.

This is what this year's support of their sisters looked like...

All Saint's Day: 2020 Corona-style

Our All Saint's party was moved to the First Friday to follow Mass and have a picnic, share desserts and dress up like your favorite saint.    We had it outside the church under the pavilion.  It was not the same caliber as our normal party with games and prizes, but it was something during a time when "something" isn't even always possible.

Drew wanted to be St. Andrew AGAIN for at least the third year in a row.  Judah was St. John of the Cross, utilizing St. Helen's cross from years back, a t-shirt as a cowl, a cape from year's past, and an old brown tunic (that may have been way too short).  Bobby was St. Michael the Archangel.  Check out those wings!  Isaac was St. Michael years and years ago, so we had that whole costume ready to go.  

They got very shy when it was time to announce their costumes.

 It was a beautiful day and it was nice for the kids to see their friends and make some new ones.

Drew's Nine Year Old Birthday

Holding Hannah and Genevieve's cards for his birthday!

 

Drew turned 9 on a Sunday back in September.  Unfortunately for him, we were dealing with Isaac having really scary high fevers still on his birthday.  So, only some of us went to church in person that day.  We had to cancel our family Sunday dinner plans.  (Isaac ended up going back to the ER on Monday morning because he was still having high fevers and our family doctor would not see him in person.  She recommended I take him to the ER and get COVID and strep tests done.  The COVID was negative and the strep was positive.  Antibiotics did do the trick, but I was never convinced he had strep since he had no throat symptoms at all.  Thankfully, he did get better though!)

Anyway, poor Drewy's birthday plans were delayed.  We stayed home watched a movie, played a family game, made some brownies, and watched his baby videos.  He had a good day and never once complained that it wasn't special or a fun day.  I'm so glad we were able to make it special for him under the circumstances.  He got some seriously nice cards from his immediate family members.

Since he wanted a Green Ember cake, I made his card to match.  In case you don't know, Green Ember is a book series about rabbits with swords that he has read and reread all summer long and continues to do so.

Although, hard to see on the screen, it is adorable and had to be put on here.  This is one side of Bob's card for Drew.  It is a picture of me (mom) and Drew holding a baby.  That is because the 9 year old privilege in our home is to hold babies while standing or walking.  This is the first time there hasn't been a baby in the house when one of my kids turns 9, so it was a bit of a let down for him.  The other privilege is a special talk/date with mom or dad which he'll get later in the year. 

So the delayed family "party" was the following weekend at the beach.  I baked and decorated this cake before we left for our one month beach trip and we took it with us.

I wrote "Till the Green Ember Rises" around the sides of the cake.

Happy birthday, my sweet huggable Drew!

Another Hike and a Big Haircut

We went on a hike with another big family early one morning shortly after Bob's birthday.  We had 10 kids altogether and some hikers asked us, "Where is your group from?"  Meaning, I supposed, what organization are we with.  I answered that we were "just two moms with their kids out for a hike."  

This was an old lookout tower, watching for the Comanche Indians.

Later in the week I took the boys to get haircuts at my salon.  Brian had agreed to go a little shorter for Drew than last time.  His idea and mine, I guess. were different.  Brian wasn't too happy I got rid of all the waves in the back that he still called curls, but I felt like it was not working anymore and way too hard to keep tidy looking.  This is a cute, trendy cut, and Drew loves it.  He kept telling me how long his neck was now.  :)

Judah's haircut was similiar to the way we've been getting it cut, and Bobby's was exactly the same baby curly hair style.

Combined Boy Birthday Party: No girls allowed!

The seven year old privilege is to have an all boy (or all girl,depending) birthday party, but last year Drew didn't have many friends yet since we had just moved here.  So, we postponed it until this year.  I couldn't avoid it any longer.  He opted for a bowling party and agreed, very lovingly, to allow a triple birthday celebration with two of his brothers, Isaac and Judah.  They each wanted a different cake/cupcake decoration which complicated things a bit, but how can I complain when the cakes and invitations where really my only jobs after setting this up at the bowling alley.

Judah's Flash mini cake

Drew's Spiderman Cupcakes

Isaac's guitar cupcakes

I made chocolate melt guitars on wax paper with a basic outline drawn underneath.  Hardest part was actually keeping them from breaking afterwards.

Brian ran the youngest lane of bowlers and Bobby enjoyed himself thoroughly!

Isaac and his friends got a lane to themselves.

Judah was in the middle lane with Drew and their friends.  He's not quite strong enough to bowl regularly.

The girls stayed at home and took in the quiet house while Brian and I took the boys to the bowling alley.  I was so proud of myself for making it there with candles and cakes on time.  When I walked up to the counter to ask where we go, they informed me there were no birthday parties scheduled that day at that location.  They suggested maybe I was at the wrong location.  I sorta panicked at this point.  Thankfully, it was only 7 minutes drive which is just crazy because in San Antonio everything's far.  We made it to the party only a couple minutes late. 

The boys had three lanes organized according to age.  My family was able to come, and my sister and brother bowled in their own lane.  The kids had pizza and lemonade.  The kids got cards for the arcade and we sang Happy Birthday before eating cake.  It was a fun time.