{This and That}

So first, a little news: in my summer school post, I didn't share the most important thing I'll be doing this summer...

That's right--sweet Baby #8 is on the way and will be joining us first thing in November, God willing.  I am finally through the all-day-nausea-and-exhaustion stage and am back to my usual self, so I'm hoping to knock out a bunch of posts that have been languishing in my drafts folder over the next few months as I grow this little one! 

And yes, that means this will be yet another school year with a newborn in tow.  But let's just say we've been through that once or twice. ;)

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I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day!  We went to a beautiful Mass in honor of Our Lady with my oldest son serving and my daughters as flower girls in the outdoor rosary procession.  Nothing sweeter!  Except maybe these:

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On Saturday I spent most of the day on the sofa reading.  I can't even remember the last time I did that.  Bliss.  I read The Girl on the Train from start to finish (as a new release, it was due back to the library) and also savored a few more chapters from Pilgrim's Inn, which has been sitting on hold for the last couple months.  The Girl on the Train definitely didn't live up to the hype: the perspective was intriguing (an eyewitness with compromised memory), but it was rather formulaic otherwise.  And I'm sure I'm not the only one that gets tired of inappropriate content thrown in for "grittiness."  (Sigh.)  Now Pilgrim's Inn on the other hand--so good!

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A couple great articles from the past couple weeks:

Our Bleak Exile of Nature
The Church as Culture

And if you're looking for more reading: the May edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is up at Amy's!

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Every once in a while you get a peek at how all those readings really are clicking somewhere in there:

Gianna: You know it's kind of sad--Clara [the 2yo] wants chapstick the most, but she's the only one that's not allowed to have it.

Me: Well, I think that's why she wants it the most.

Gianna, chuckling to herself: Oh yeah, it's just like Much Ado About Nothing.

Me: Huh?

Gianna: “For it falls out

That what we have we prize not to the worth

Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost,

Why, then we rack the value, then we find

The virtue that possession would not show us

While it was ours.”

Me, attempting to be nonchalant: Yeah, I guess you're right. (!!)

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We had a birthday here a few weeks ago: a sweet boy turned five.

This particular newly-five-year-old loves wrestling with big brother and Daddy, horse racing, nature drawing, climbing trees, folding and taping piles of paper into swords and spears...and vanilla ice cream with chocolate and strawberries, apparently, because that's what he chose for his birthday treat!

I have to remember to share his birthday books another time because one in particular I would highly recommend to all of you with nature-loving kids.  (How's that for a teaser?)

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Since it is the month of May: Kimberlee just announced her annual Marian ATC swap!  We participate every year and it's lots of fun.  Go check it out!
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I'll be back tomorrow with the Keeping Company link-up for this month, so get your posts ready! :)