MAYCEMBER Part 1 {school gala & orchestra concert, Mother's Day, soccer champions}

as our kids get older and more involved in school activities, May has truly become a whirlwind! it was quite the month so I'm splitting this recap into two parts! 

1) School gala, orchestra concert, and art show. the school threw their first ever fundraiser gala this year and it was delightful! it was held at one of Pittsburgh's iconic restaurants, Le Mont, which sits on the crest of Mt. Washington and overlooks the city skyline. we had fun dressing up and it was especially fun to see our friends in all their finery, too. 

Greta joined the orchestra this year and has been following in my footsteps with her viola. beginning strings is a tricky ensemble to direct and I was fully prepared for their one and only concert to be somewhat grating to the ear. once again, our music director pulled off an amazing feat and they sounded great! 

Greta is on the far left

after the concert, we all walked over to the school hall for the upper school art show. I was impressed with the variety of mediums the students used. I never see art projects come home with Greta so I didn't quite know what to expect. the 7th and 8th graders had created some exquisite pen and ink drawings; one graduating 8th grader drew very lifelike portraits of several of the faculty! 

these rooster portraits are in honor of the chickens the school acquired this spring -- the kids got to snuggle them as chicks and now they hold court in a pen across from the school building!

4th grade students' sunflower art, inspired by Van Gogh

2) Mother's Day. another busy weekend, and quite special as one of our Oratorians was ordained to the priesthood the day before Mother's Day and celebrated his First Mass on Mother's Day itself. Nick put together beautiful music for the liturgy.

after mass, we all went out to eat at none other than the Chinese buffet (in this season of life, it's so perfect for the kids -- and it's a guilty pleasure for the grownups too). then we relaxed at home while I enjoyed a gorgeous bouquet from Nick -- the girls pilfered flowers from it to make their own bouquets -- and handmade cards and daycare art, my favourite!

photo from the daycare app

I failed to get a picture of the original flower arrangement intact -- even after the girls removed half the flowers for their own little bouquets, it's still impressive!

that afternoon, I laid down on the couch with my book and ended up taking an unexpected nap while the babies napped too! that alone was priceless. then, that evening I had tickets to my final theater performance of the season. this month's show was The Kite Runner. I remembered reading the book in college and knew that it was sad but overall that I had liked it. but oh, my goodness, I did not remember the specific subject matter or the dark twists in the storyline, and it was certainly a sobering way to end the day. towards the end of the play, you could have heard a pin drop in the theater. after a moment when yet another soul-shattering tragedy seems imminent, there was a miraculous reprieve, and the audience audibly gasped in collective relief. although it wasn't exactly a celebratory way to end the day, the performance was a moving tribute to Afghan culture and the resilience of humans after experiencing untold trauma (note: there are very mature themes including racism, assault, and trafficking -- definitely not a show for kids). 

the stage setup was very creative with the bowl shape and multiple levels. an Afghani musician played the tabla set of drums at the front of the stage throughout the play.

photo taken at intermission ... before I cried all my makeup off. kidding but not.

3) Soccer champions. on the same day as the musical weekend, Cecilia's soccer team competed in the diocesan league spring tournament. you may recall that they won their division at this tournament in the fall! several of our family friends were split with one child up at the soccer fields 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh and one child at the school in the south suburbs for the musical performance. Nick and my sister Kira drove Cece up for the first game at 8:50 AM, which they won. they were guaranteed to play twice more, at 11:30 and 11:55, but Nick was playing for weddings starting at noon that day and I was going to see Greta's final musical performance at 1 PM, so I arranged in advance for one of my fellow soccer mom friends to keep an eye on Cece while I checked the team standings on the diocesan website from the school before and after the musical. sure enough, they won both of those games and progressed to the semifinals at 1:40 PM, and then won that game too so I loaded up the babies in the van and hightailed it up north to catch the final game at 3:10. (meanwhile, Kira stayed behind at the school with her car to bring Greta home after the cast party! it takes a village!)

the kids were hot and tired after being out on the field all day, but they played their hearts out and clinched the championship title again, just as they had in the fall. what a day! 

pointing in excitement: "we scored again!"

so proud at the medal ceremony

[note: I left this draft up on my computer and came back to find Cece herself had added the following lines: "they won first place of course! we loved seeing our daughter being so exited about winning!" all true!!]

that evening we went out to dinner with Nick's parents and Kira to celebrate the soccer win and the close of the musical, and of course, we had to stop at Antney's on the way home for some much-deserved ice cream. we enjoyed spending time with Kira that night and the next morning, too, before she started her drive back to North Carolina.

this is for you, Colleen ;) I went with coffee stracciatella; the black raspberry cookie butter was also delicious

Sunday morning shenanigans -- drawing portraits of each other

part 2 to come!