Bard's Saturday morning rehearsal and Houdin's evening concert took us north into the bigger city today, and we decided to make the best of it. We all rose early for breakfast, got dressed and packed up the Jeep for a day away.
The plan was to drop Bard off at her practice, then head to GoodWill for some winter clothes shopping (success! spent $40, found all of the clothes they'll need for the winter, plus two pairs of snow boots for Sweetheart, a pair of clogs for her, and two pairs of Doc Marten loafers for me...for $1.50 each!), then drop off some baby finches to my friend T, and then over to our friends S&B's house to do some cleaning. A few weeks ago, We were at S's house when she found out that she was pregnant with their fourth child, and then she was with us at our gathering just after she had found out that the baby had died in-utero. It was so good to be able to be with her and to have so many of her friends around her to keep her spirits up. One of her favorite activities is to listen to our husbands play music together, and she was able to sit listening for the evening and absorbing the love of her friends and family. Today, we had hoped to go by her house while she was having her D&C and do some cleaning, but her dear husband and daughters already had it covered. Of all the women I know, S has such an amazing love for children that her loss just breaks my heart. I keep reminding myself that there is a greater plan.
After our other stops, we decided to visit a corn maze that had been part of a homeschool group field trip we'd missed yesterday. The maze's theme was the goldrush, and the goal was to find all of the clues in the maze as well as make it to the exit. Bundled against the cold and shielded from the wind by the corn, we trekked the trails collecting clues. One of the cool things about the theme is that the gold rush took place around the time of Little House in the Big Woods, which is the book we're currently reading as a family. The clues in the maze weren't simply trivial, but were actually informational and historical tidbits that were very interesting.
Another part of the adventure was the hidden rocks. All along the maze were small tumbled river rocks whose bottom sides were each etched with a number. If you found one of these rocks, you could take it to the stand and trade it for a prize. Sweetheart was determined to find these rocks for herself! Out of the five rocks we found, Sweetheart found three on their own, and they were not easy to find! :-) Each of the children were able to take a rock to the shop and claim their prize. The shopkeeper applauded them, saying that no one had brought more than two at a time! She allowed the children to choose caramel corn, small gourds, indian corn and pumpkins to take home. Sweetheart is thrilled with her winnings.
This evening, Houdin took part in a children's choral festival, which was quite a show! Packed to the gills. Dr. and Mrs. Jacobs sat near us and asked if they could come visit sometime. He was very sorry that they weren't able to attend the Open House, as he plays upright bass and thought the opportunity to play would have been fun, but they were in Indianapolis on a choral-related visit. Since Bohemian also played upright, they had a nice conversation about music, and they hope to visit soon. They asked if Bard might want to stay with them next week since she will have four choral events between Monday and Saturday. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for Bard to spend time with her director, but I think she will likely stay with her friend Ash for the week.
I also stopped by a bookstore to pick up the next Italic Handwriting book for Houdin and Sweetheart and found a Latin-root vocabulary workbook for Bard. She's mentioned several times that she would like to learn Latin, and this looked like a good start. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!
We ended the evening with dinner together, then went to pick up Bard from her evening with Ash at the hayride, and a long drive home, me nodding off most of the way.
And now, for a bath and a long, long rest, curled up in bed with my dear husband and my sweet baby.
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