in pursuit of wild things

Middle Boy is currently shuffling through old sheet music looking for his copy of The Entertainer. He has until the first of July to relearn the song for a recital. I’m not sure about pushing him into playing for a recital so soon but I guess we’ll see how it goes. I ended up helping him look for the sheet music which was dispersed over four years worth of folders and papers. He ran through the song a couple of times and we were both surprised how much of the song came back to him. We’ll be living to The Entertainer around here for a while.

The boys went to the opening game of the Lexington Legends last week…or maybe the week

before. Sparkles and I stayed home. She isn’t really a big fan of baseball games. I would have loved to go but getting up at four in the morning for work really puts a stop to night life. She didn’t want to go out to eat or anything so I picked up a new movie for us to watch together. I bought Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The movie was wonderful and I think I enjoyed it more than the Harry Potter movies. J.K Rowling really knows how to break your heart. I hope the baker returns in the next movie…I really liked him.

We went to the zoo in Cincinnati a week or so ago. The crowd was a bit much since it was

Spring Break up there but the tulips were gorgeous.  We enjoyed watching the red panda even if the little cutie would not pose as we wished to get a picture. The nocturnal animals were very active too. They usually just lounge around; except for the sand cat. That animal never stops pacing the enclosure! I always wonder if it is unhappy and then I feel guilty for being at the zoo. We like visiting the zoo but I think this will be our last year to purchase passes. While in Cincinnati we also visited Chamoda’s Candy Cafe.

Holy Week was unusual for me this year. I was hyper aware of the days and their representation to my beliefs. I worked through most of the week and on Easter Sunday. This is the first year I

have not attended Easter Services in many years. It was a strange week for me and I felt a sense of disquiet and a longing for the Holy. My husband did run into his niece and her husband at the ball game. When he learned they were not going home for Easter he invited them to our home for supper. I made some cookies after getting home from work and he made a fabulous homemade spaghetti and meatball dinner. They are about to graduate from the pharmacy program at UK. They are young and have such a wonderful adventure together ahead of them. I almost envy them…but not quite. My life is beautiful now with all its imperfections and I would not return to the inner turmoil of my twenties or early thirties ever. Wisdom comes at a high price and is more valuable than youth.

Last weekend Oldest and I worked at the Beautiful Feet Books booth in Cincinnati. This is my

fourth year to attend the GHC and my third with BFB. I think the attendance has decreased some each year. After my first year I did not want to go back. Several of the talks I attended left me feeling demoralized. In subsequent years I have only returned for BFB. I like to work at the booth and talk with my fellows. I loved chatting with several ladies from Instagram! Connecting with Russ and Rea was amazing. They are both filled with such wisdom and grace. I always wish they could be a deeper part of my life. I did get to have brunch with Rea and that was my favorite moment of the week. As she shared about her children all I could think was how blessed her family is to have her. I can hardly wait to hear her speak at Wild+Free in Franklin.

Oldest had a wonderful time! He met Dave Stotts from Drive Thru History and Mr. Schwabauer from Cover Story/One Year Adventure Novel. He ate more food than I was prepared to

purchase! I will send some fiber rich foods with my husband when they travel to Texas in a week or so together. I think he also enjoyed staying up late watching movies in the hotel room while I slept. Oldest also bonded with the fella from Applied Inspirations. He learned to solder during one of their workshops and built a time delayed color changing LED circuit (I have no idea what that means!). I am really impressed with the quality of his materials and instruction. I am always on the look out for curriculum for project week and this is at the top of my list. Speaking of project week…I was really disappointed that Timberdoodle was not at GHC this weekend because I usually purchase a number of materials from them for our project weeks. Nicely, their catalog arrived while I was away.

I came home with several biographies published by YWAM Publishing including one on Ernest Shakleton which I purchased for myself. Mr. Shakleton is mentioned quite a bit in the Gavin Francis book I am reading and I desire to learn more about this explorer of the Antarctic. I also made a large purchase from Simply Charlotte Mason for our art, Shakespeare, poetry, geography and penmanship studies. I found several gifts for the kids at the Rainbow Resources booth and found a new to Sparkles book series from Shawn Lamb. Sparkles spends so much time in bed reading because of her illness that I am always on the search for good books for her. She told me that she forgets how bad she feels while reading these…tiny moment of bliss for me. I didn’t make my purchase from BFB but will do so in Franklin later this year. I know that I will be getting the modern American history set and their new (not yet published) around the world study. Rea told me enough about it that I cannot wait for it to be published. I’ll also get the updated character set that will be published very soon.

Yesterday Middle Boy’s expander was removed at the orthodontist’s office. My heart broke when I saw him after the procedure because I could see the suffering he endured in his eyes. He also received his new upper braces and wire and has been miserable the past couple of days. He’ll get accustomed to the discomfort and hopefully it will all be over in November. Sparkles has two years of braces ahead of her beginning sometime this fall.

Today we worked in the school room that my husband finished painting this weekend. He also added hardware to the cabinets and drawers. The room looks amazing and I am happy. I also see the love and faith he put into our chosen lifestyle every time I walk into the room. Today I cleaned up the room and took a few pictures. We worked on math today and then spent an hour or so

working on our art lessons. Today was the first time I got to try out my new watercolor pencils I purchased earlier this month. I am very happy with them and hope to learn a few more techniques very soon.  I plan for us to start nature journaling this fall after we finish our current art course.

Currently I plan to get caught up on my temperature blanket and start writing a post for BFB on combining three of their guides. I’ll be home from work next weekend and plan to write the bulk of my post then. My husband and Oldest will be away attending the Texas Frightmare convention in Dallas. They get to go with a family friend that has an insider’s experience with the entertainment industry. This will be my husband’s third trip to the convention and Oldest’s first. I think they will have a blast together.

baseball game

Zoo

Easter Egg hunt

Poetry tea time

Baseball game

BFB’s books

on our wat to GHC

set up

the way home

snuggles with Littlest