in pursuit of wild things

The rain poured the first part of the week and intermittently the rest of the week. We did find one dry-ish afternoon to wander down to the river. After two and a half solid days and nights of rain the river was swollen and raging. The roaring of the rapids was constant making it impossible for me to hear anyone unless they were right next to me. So I didn’t hear much of the family’s conversations. Littlest in his Indiana Jones hat tagged along with Oldest most of the time. Middle boy constructed a boat with an old hollowed out small log and some

leaves. My husband had to throw it into the water for him to get it into the rapids. Sparkles bounced about and fussed over the poison oak and Littlest getting out of sight. She worried too much. I was hoping not to pass that part of my nature onto any of the children…sigh.

I climbed out as far as I could into the river on dry rocks. Since I couldn’t hear that well I just watched the water flow. I took pictures of anything and everything. The kayakers were fun to watch in the rapids. A couple of them even went back upstream so they could rush through the rapids a second time.

On Periscope Julie Bogart hosted a Poetry Tea Time. She read poems to us and talked about teaching children to appreciate poetry. The last poem she read brought me to tears. Naturally, that was the moment my husband arrived home from work! On Tuesday the kids and I enjoyed our first Poetry Tea Time in the new house. I still haven’t unboxed my favorite books of poetry so we looked through the books on hand and read anything that looked like a poem. Oldest chose to

read Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. Sparkles and Middle Boy read from Shel Silverstein. He is one of my childhood favorites and I had to read a few of those aloud too. Littlest picked out a Dr. Seuss book and I read that one aloud too while we sipped tea (or juice). I made cinnamon scones for the occasion and they turned out pretty good. I had never made scones before and found them easy to throw together at the last-minute. I made this recipe from Serious Eats blog.

Wednesday, Littlest turned five!! Where have the years gone? How can he be five already?! I baked his cake that morning and then while the kids and I were at church my husband decorated it for him. Littlest requested an Angry Bird cake with King Piggy and Bomb Bird. He couldn’t wait

to get home to see his birthday cake and told everyone at church the very same thing.

The kids and I also rearranged the school room. We didn’t like the writing board blocking the window. My husband put up the blinds but we’ll likely keep them open most of the time. I still need to get the maps on the wall, a carpet, a

storage ottoman for our art and science gear and some valances to soften the window. The room needs some color. I spend a chunk of my day in there. I need beauty and color. Maybe even a nice art print above the computer…

Halloween was this weekend. Oldest stayed home with me this year to pass out candy. I was a bit sad that he didn’t want to go Trick or Treating. He did say he might go next year. All the kids were talking about going as Doctor Who characters this year and making their costumes. But that is a year off and I’m sure they will change their minds a dozen times before next Halloween.

This Sunday morning was lazy. I really wanted to stay in bed and just skip church. But I didn’t. Middle Boy and Littlest were out of bed way before the rest of us. They had already had breakfast and were knee-deep in Legos before I opened my eyes! Middle Boy took care of his little brother this morning and I am sooo grateful!

I took the crew to their Sunday School classes and then went for a walk. I wasn’t in the mood to be the new person in class this morning. I explored the area around church, found an open coffee shop and took lots of pictures. Other than church bells, downtown was mostly quiet. I found a few places I’d like to browse through during open hours. I think just walking around there with my husband would be an excellent date night…just need to find a sitter.

I walked back in time to collect the kids from their classes and go to Sunday service. Today was All Saints Day. The pastor handed out lovely white roses to family in remembrance of church members who had died the past year. I cried for the widows and remembered the lovely people I knew who passed away this year. I tried to hide my tears but then just wept openly when a bag-piper slowly marched through the congregation playing Amazing Grace. I cry every time I hear that song on bagpipes.

I didn’t realize how full our week was until I went through the pictures.

Linking up with: Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Sparkles making red candle

making candles

George Washington’s breakfast for lunch

Sparkles helping in the kitchen

shave off some crayon to change the color of the candles