July 2020 Videos

 Here are a few leftover videos I found in the July folder.

Edie lost a BUNCH of teeth in a short span of time. First the bottom two in the middle, then a month or so later (before those those had even grown in all the way), she lost the top two in the middle within a few days of each other. All of her older siblings lost their first teeth in the second half in their fifth years, so I wasn't surprised that Edie lost these at 5, but I think she's the first one to be missing so many at the same time, and especially those conspicuous top two middle teeth at the same time. This is a video she asked me to take and send to Gigi, but I couldn't find any pictures specifically of her toothless smile so this will have to stand in. I'm sure Gigi doesn't mind sharing her video.

One of my favorite things is watching plump toddler hands hard at work developing fine motor skills. I could watch them for hours. I've been working on some embroidery projects and Agnes always wants to help, but she's super bad at it, so I set up a big dull yarn needle with some yarn on a plastic flower shape. It kept her occupied for about 9 minutes, which is a very impressive attention span for a toddler.

I think there were some pictures in an earlier post of the kids playing at the little skate park where Catherine had sand volleyball practice all summer, but they insisted on a video as well. Edie is always game to try and keep up with her brothers!

July 2020: An Historic Confirmation

 While church was open throughout the first summer of covid, capacity was limited and seating was spread out and most non-Mass functions were still banned. Catherine was among the group of kids who had been preparing for sacraments for the last year (or two) and had missed them in the Spring due to church closures. Normally our class of second graders would have one Mass where they all took their First Communion together, but that would have put us way over capacity limits at Epiphany, so Michael had each family pick one Sunday and they had to split up the class that way; not too big of a deal. Confirmation for the 7th/8th graders is usually an even larger gathering, as this sacrament is administered by a bishop, not a priest, and there are only a few bishops in the archdiocese. Normally a group of parishes schedules confirmations for their kids together at one of the parishes and the bishop does many at once. To avoid that type of gathering this year, the archbishop granted the priests temporary faculty to administer confirmation. That meant Michael would be able to confirm Catherine, and he was really excited about it because it is very likely a once-in-a-lifetime event for him to be given that faculty, and it happened the year Catherine would be confirmed. We quickly scheduled a Sunday before anyone could take it back!

Catherine chose Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati as her confirmation saint. If you read a little about him I think you can see that he is a great fit for her (here's a brief biography: https://frassatiusa.org/frassati-biography). Our family friend Christina is her sponsor. 

We couldn't have a big group at church or too big of a party afterwards, but I think Catherine was ok with that. We got boxes of donut holes from the best local donut shop and gallons of chocolate milk and celebrated with those who were able to attend Mass in the church courtyard afterwards. 

I've probably written this before, but when I only had two or three very young babies and toddlers, I was terrified of them growing into big kids, let alone teenagers. It seemed impossibly difficult to not have completely ruined them by that point. Now I can't imagine not knowing them as tweens and teens and near-adults. I marvel often at how such a kind, beautiful, pure-hearted, delight of a human as Catherine has grown in our midst in spite of all our shortcomings. I could go on but Catherine will probably already yell at me for putting this much in writing. Congratulations on your confirmation! You're my favorite eldest daughter!

Happy 12th Birthday, Mary!

The Hermann farm continued to be a ready refuge for normal life throughout the summer. Since most things were closed, Mary asked if she could take a friend to the farm for her birthday, so we picked up our old neighbor Sofi and headed out for a fun overnight. 

I don't often get swimming pictures since I'm usually in the lake with Agnes now, but since everyone is wet and there are towels everywhere and it was July, it's safe to say we spent a good part of our time swimming.

Michael likes to bring his bike and ride it around the farm when he's not out on a gravel trail with Daddy.

Agnes picks a different favorite sibling from day to day and week to week, but if you happen to be in charge of candles, cake, and presents, it's a guarantee that Agnes will be picking you as Supreme Sibling for the day.

The kids are all fully aware that while we haven't experienced any serious illnesses in our immediate circles, there are plenty of families suffering from this virus. But someone will always have it better than you, and someone will always have it worse than you. We have been careful to make sure the kids know that those comparisons neither invalidate their personal successes, which objectively might not be as grand as others', nor their personal struggles, which objectively might not be as difficult as others'. To an outsider, their sufferings look insignificant: having your first ballet recital cancelled, your first volleyball season cut short, not being able to go to church, not seeing your friends, your soccer season wiped off the calendar, sharing your friends' anxiety when they can't go to school or their parents lose their jobs. But we will never tell them, "You shouldn't feel bad about those things - just be grateful no one you know has died from this!" Because they can be grateful for those blessings and mourn the little pieces of their lives they are missing at the same time; it doesn't have to be one or the other. So the longer these restrictions go on, the more grateful I am that we are able to find ways to do things like celebrate birthdays in a fun way that they love, even if it isn't the same as it was. 

All that to say, We love you Mary! Happy 12th (Pandemic) Birthday!! 

July 2020: Fun With Agnes

Agnes loves to help in the kitchen. As soon as she sees me doing anything in the kitchen she drags her stool over to the counter and starts looking for ways to help. Most of the time her help is decidedly unhelpful, but I've discovered that she is pretty good at stripping herbs, or at least whatever she does to them doesn't really hurt them, so I usually try to occupy her with that.

When she gets tired of that it's usually easiest to distract her from the food we're making with food to eat.

In July I'm pretty sure the playgrounds were still closed but the parks were open so we took a little field trip with Dema to Forest Park to find some water to play in.

Agnes got super wet immediately, obviously.

I don't have pictures of the other kids except for Edie, who really wanted a picture of her perching on this rock.

Agnes if full into the mini-me phase. Anything a big brother or big sister or mom or dad are doing, she has to do, immediately. Good thing she's adorable in a hair wrap after a bath!

July 2020: Sand Volleyball

In her first year of volleyball, Catherine had no interest in supplementing the summer with sand volleyball. But since the court season was cut short in March and we honestly had no idea if they would be allowed to play inside again come the new season in November, she decided a couple months of sand volleyball would be good. The team was mostly her same club team with the same coach, so the only new thing to learn was how the play in sand is a bit different than on the court. You can't jump as high, or run as fast, so it was a good chance to focus on anticipating where the ball would end up as quickly as possible. Plus you can practice diving without worrying about tearing up your knees.

You might not be able to jump as high in sand, but that's still pretty high for Catherine.

It was nice just to be able to do thing with friends!

July 2020: Flowers, Mohawks, and Selfies

One thing I continued to love about our open schedule all summer was the chance to truly appreciate the garden and the way it was planned to have blooms from early Spring all way through to Fall. Here are just a few of the flowers that bloomed in early July.

We watched this little bunny grow up in the feathery ground plants for about a month. Luckily it seemed to eat only one of the flower plants we really like.

The different varieties of lilies continued to bloom well into July. These freckled ones are one of my favorites.

A Teddy Bear Sunflower! The plant is shorter than a normal sunflower and it has a full, feather globe of a bloom. They were really fun!

The oak leaf hydrangea just got better and better for a full couple months. The blooms that started out light green, and then grew larger and turned white, eventually developed this deep pink color and stayed this way without wilting or browning for weeks. They were also great to cut and bring inside.

Catherine and Mary enjoy styling Agnes's hair. What else are big sisters for?

Edie did a good job keeping up with her ballet after her classes were cancelled using online videos and watching livestream ballets. She can even dance in too-big shoes.

Agnes is well into the toddler phase where she must do every single thing she sees a big brother or sister doing.

Edie might not think this is the most flattering picture in 20 years, but for now, she loves to take selfies with my phone and she loves the result every single time.

Agnes is closing in on 2 years old but still takes a lot of her naps in the ring sling, and enjoys side-eye selfies.