what's up weekly (with Callista's birthday!)

This week was a strangely low-key week.  Even though the kickoff was kind of strange, with Todd being gone at a leaders' retreat Friday night and all day Saturday, the rest of the week was pretty business-as-usual.... with the single exception of CALLISTA'S SECOND BIRTHDAY on Wednesday!

I really have no idea where the time goes.  Wasn't she just a tiny baby with massive eyes?

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Oh, Lord. There is nothing sweeter than this.

A post shared by Paige Van Voorst (@theminivanvoorsts) on Sep 8, 2017 at 8:06pm PDT

Now she's a tiny toddler with massive eyes.

She is so full of life.  Everywhere she goes, she leaves her mark.  Nothing is the same after she's touched it.  Books are colored in, the fridge is colored on, every last bit of food is devoured, whether sanctioned or not.  She's a little tornado, leaving all kinds of destruction in her wake.  She is feisty and wild and climbs on everything.  But she is so soft, too.  She cuddles, and loves to read books.  She loves to trade pacifiers throughout the day like they're accessories to her outfit.  She comforts anyone who is crying with a pat on the back and a "hukk."  She loves to help set the table, and  when I tell her things like, "Put this by Lolo's seat," she knows exactly where to put it, even when the bigger kids aren't around.  She knows who they all are, and where they all sit.  She loves to stand on a chair to watch them when they play outside.  She is so much joy and blessing, all wrapped up in tiny little shorts.  I could not possibly love her more, or my heart would explode and I would die.

After that exciting day, the week has seemed pretty dull.  I am still struggling to keep my head above water.  With so many half-finished projects around the house, plus our continued homeschooling routine, plus organizing the upcoming school year, plus trying to stay on top of regular daily tasks (like wiping the mud off the walls, and floors, and shower curtain, and walls again, because it's summer and everything is always filthy), plus the sometimes-draining pace of breastfeeding, I do get a bit overwhelmed at times.  Luckily, all these adorable sisters are here to take my mind off things:

Off to a fantastic weekend of birthday partying and naps!

what's up weekly.

Well, well, well.  Fancy meeting you here again.

It's been a full week.  But I suppose that's true of any week anymore.  Since Juniper's arrival, I feel like life is just very full all of the time.  It's definitely a good full, not an overwhelming full (most of the time), there is just very little room for margin.  I'm finding I'm only reading 5 pages or so of my current books per day, if that tells you anything.  I am hoping to find a bit more breathing room soon.

Because it's been a full week, I'm going to try to keep the length of this post (somewhat) contained by using bullet points.

1.  The girls and I got flower seeds planted in the garden, and our front yard is still looking amazing.  With the cooler weather we've had so far this summer, and the progress our yard is making, being outside is actually a joy!  (Until the kids show me all the nasty slugs they keep digging up in the yard.)

2.  Last Sunday was Father's Day.  Todd preached at church, which made for a great start to the day.  Then I burned our celebratory Father's Day steaks to hell.  Literally.  Hellfire is really the most fitting comparison for what happened to these poor, poor steaks.  The kids and I still ate them, because they were expensive and food is food.  But Todd was so demoralized by the incident that he ate a bagged salad instead.  That's some pretty deep demoralization.

3.  I kind of made up for my misteak with some decent Father's Day gifts.  What do you get the dad who has everything?  An interlinear translation of Beowulf, derrr.

4.  We've had lots of folks over for afternoon chats and/or dinner.  It has been so, so great, since we really haven't done much hosting or visiting recently, but it was also really tiring.  I really have no idea how we kept up the pace before.  I haven't been doing weekly one-on-one discipleship times in over a year, and I forgot how much energy and strategic scheduling went into all of that.  So this week was an amazing chance to catch up with some people we dearly love and haven't hung out with in a while... but it was also a good reminder that we don't have enough energy to juggle it all in this season of life, and that this past year has held so much much-needed rest for us, even in the midst of pregnancy and newborn days.

5.  My kids are amazing.  Case in point:

6.  Here's a fun anecdote: on my trip to the Amish this week, I was hunting down a source of raw goat's milk for a friend.  I got a lead on a place, but when I asked if they had any, they responded that they weren't sure.  So they sent one of the little boys to the dairy room to check if there was any milk.  After a couple of minutes, I saw him pop out and wave me over... and when I got there, I saw he had actually rounded up a goat and had gotten it into the milking stanchion.  I held the quart jar while he milked directly into it!  Crazy times.  And it cost me a whopping forty cents.

7.  Juniper had her two month checkup, and is doing well!  She's in the 61st percentile, and has a "beautifully shaped head."  Also, I parked the van in a parking space, and backed out of it, without incident.  Look at me, taming the Kraken.  And they said it couldn't be done.

See that beautifully shaped head, being loved on by its bigger sister, who also has a beautifully shaped head?

8.  I'm making a mad dash to plan our upcoming school year.  In my mind, I was like, "I don't have to start logging again until July, so I've got about six weeks."  And then Todd poured an ice-cold bucket of reality over my head when he told me July is in like ten days.  So.  I'm scrambling.

9.  New Mom Brain is hitting me hard, y'all.  I'm constantly forgetting important things.  Things like watching the steaks.  Things like turning off the stove.  Pray for us.

10.  I got new initial charms for each of the kids.  I'd had a charm necklace for a while (I think I got it after Laurelai was born), but the Etsy store we purchased from closed, and I was having a hard time finding a good match when it came time to order a charm for Juniper.  So Todd got me a whole new set of charms, so that all the kids' initials matched each other.  How pretty, right?!

11.  If you've ever wondered if we're a 'booky' family...

12.  And lastly, Atticus has had some deep emotions lately in connection with his growing personal faith.  This week, he was moved to draw this picture of Jesus, pulling him out of the Dark River and welcoming him into the Celestial City.  He was weeping as he showed me, and we spent time praying together, during which time he prayed that all his siblings would come to trust in Jesus, as well as all his children and grandchildren.  It was enough to just burst my mama heart into a splattery mess.

This is the life.

a cinderella story, in which the fairy godmother is actually a tree removal guy.

We've lived in our current house for a little over three years now.  When we bought it, the outside was... well, it wasn't horrible.  It had vinyl siding and shutters, stone facing on the foundation, and a new garage door.  Also, that was all it had going in its favor.  In all, it was NOT GREAT.

The rest of the yard was super janky.  First, taking home the prize for Most Jankiest, was this random ring of bricks smack-dab in the middle of the yard.  We assumed some well-intentioned-but-lazy previous owner had removed a tree and put a flowerbed over the top as a way to cover the stump.  When we bought the house, it had nothing growing in it, but the owners did throw a solitary, festive yard flag in it.  For curb appeal and all.

(We found out upon removing it that it wasn't actually hiding a stump.  Someone actually chose to put a flower bed there for no other reason than because they thought it should go there.)

We had other weird stuff going on, like this stuff plunked down in a marching band line: Mailbox. Rock. Light Post. Tree. Front Step.  Front door.  All in perfectly linear formation.  Why?  Because why not.

(A couple months ago, Finneas suddenly went, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR MAILBOX?!" And I had to break the news to him that's how bad it always looks, he just must not have noticed before.)

Also, Big Old Ugly Evergreen.

Anyway.  Yadda yadda.  Recently, a cascade of events took place to turn all this around.  First, the neighbors across the street removed their own weirdly placed tree.  It opened up their yard and looked amazing.  The very same day, I texted our friend Keaton who does tree work.  That night, he came over to give us a bid.

When we heard that the tree work was surprisingly (almost criminally) affordable, we decided to go ahead and just book it.  Then, a few days later, a couple friends of ours surprised us by showing up at our house to help us with yard work.  They ripped out the evergreens along the foundation, removed the brick planter in the middle of the yard, sprayed for weeds, raked and bagged a bunch of leaves, and hauled away a lot of brush and branches that had been sitting along the side of the house for years.  So by the time Keaton came to remove the trees (we also had him remove a pear tree that was squished between our house and the neighbors', and was poised as an insurance claim waiting to happen), our yard was already looking better.

The bricks and foundation plants were removed.

But once Keaton got here, it was only an hour or so before our whole yard was looking significantly different.

We spent our whole morning totally enthralled with the whole process.  Not to be creeps or anything.

WELL.  Tell me this doesn't look so much better already:

After that, it was clear the stupid lamp post needed to go.  Luckily for my brother-in-law, who offered to remove it, it wasn't secured with anything.  It was literally just a metal post in the ground with a live wire running to it.  It just pulled right up.  As did the mailbox, later that same day.  It's a good thing for the removal process that no one had thought of using concrete to any fruitful ends when this stuff was going in, but I really have to wonder why.

Anyway.  Lamp post gone.  Mailbox gone, and a new one set up in its place.  Or... kind of in its place.  I moved it slightly over so it didn't line up directly with the boulder.

Then my sister, brother-in-law and I (with the supervisory assistance of my 7-month-old niece) planted and mulched the flower beds.  I chose boxwoods and hydrangeas, and will be adding hostas soon.  (Yes, I went with purply-pink hydrangeas instead of white.  I like to live on the edge.)

Our yard is looking so much better.  Like I said, I still have hostas to plant - down the back side of the flower bed, and in front of the stoop.

 I'm also thinking some grasses and salvia around the boulder and mailbox, and we'll obviously be seeding over the huge bald patches in the yard once the stumps are removed.  (The stump guy is waiting for the ground to dry out a little before coming, but it's been raining nonstop, so I'm not sure when that will be.)

I am loving it so much already.  So much more sunlight makes it into my living room, and our yard is beginning to look less and less like Boo Radley's.  And any step in that direction is a step in the right direction.

juniper at two months.

You guys, I love this kid so much.  She is among the best things in life right now.

She is super chill and, with a little bit of training, has fallen into a predictable sleep routine.  She wakes up, eats, and hangs out for about 45 minutes or so, at which point she gets fussy and is ready for a nap.  I put her down, pop her paci in, and she sleeps for about an hour.  At which point we start the cycle again.  She makes life with a newborn so easy.  How does she do it?!

She has mastered the social smile and lights up when she locks eyes with anyone.  She is adored by everyone in the house, and is constantly being fought over.  We all want to be the one who gets to hold her.  When she's not being held, she likes to just chill on the couch.  She hasn't really taken to the bouncy seat yet, and isn't a huge fan of being worn, though she'll tolerate it.

She sometimes needs a little encouragement to remember how to smile.

She still wakes up once or twice a night to eat, but has sorted out her days and nights, so she's never up for long stretches overnight.

She is super strong and can hold her head up like a champ when on her tummy.  Some mornings I open my eyes and look over at her pack and play, to see her eyes peering at me over the rail because she's pushed herself up so high with her arms.  Her legs are really strong, too, and she loves to stand up (assisted, obviously) on my lap.

The kids love helping out with her - they will often want to hold or rock her if she's fussy, and Laurelai prays for her before almost every nap.  Penelope even changed her diaper for the first time yesterday, and did an amazing job.

For better or worse, Juniper is never alone.  Everyone loves her.

Lissy wanted her own baby to get in on the photo action.

Juniper is such a bright light in our days.  I can't even tell you how grateful I am, or how madly in love.  She is such a precious member of our family, and I don't know how I lived life without her for so long.  Here's to many more months and years getting to know and love this sweet girl.

'what's up' weekly.

This week was SO. FUN.

On Friday, my sister and brother-in-law, along with my sweet niece, arrived for a weekend stay.  It was their first time meeting Juniper, and... I barely got any photos.  Why am I such a failure at life?  I did capture Juniper's enthralled-slash-surprised gaze at her Uncle Austin.

On Saturday, we got to spend the morning looky-looing our friend Keaton while he REMOVED TWO TREES FROM OUR YARD.

Guys.  This is major news.  First of all, our yard was kind of an eyesore.  Second of all, our house is really dark, and this particular tree was standing sentinel right smack dab in front of the window.  While I loved watching all the little squirrels and birds while I sat on the couch, I really, really, really need any indoor natural light I can get.

I'll tell you more about the day next week, but suffice it to say that the tree removal started a cascade of yard events that made life look even rosier than it usually does.  Once the tree was gone, Todd started wondering what it would take to remove the ugly light post from the yard.  But to remove the light post meant we needed to fix the porch light so we weren't completely without exterior lighting.  Once the porch light was fixed and the lamp post removed, our ugly mailbox was giving us the stank eye.  And once the rest of the yard was taken care of, why not just plant the front beds?

I'm so glad Lauren and Austin were here.  They have way more giddy-up than we do when it comes to just starting projects.  Also, they have know-how.  Also, they have raw DIY chutzpah.  All things we have zero of.

Saturday afternoon, Todd took Atticus, Finneas and Laurelai to a wedding in Kirksville.  (Penelope was supposed to go, but her stomach was 'off' that morning, so I didn't want to put her in the van for three hours in fancy clothes with only one adult on duty... it just seemed like a recipe for disaster.  So she stayed home... and ended up feeling fine.  Go figure.)  So Austin and Penelope fixed the porch light while Lauren and I sat together on the couch and nursed our respective babies.  It was so fun.  I have waited a whole decade to get to mother alongside my sister, and I can tell you it is cracking up to be everything I hoped.

Once Juniper was down for a nap, Lauren and Austin offered to hold down the fort so I could get some time alone!  I went to Lucky's, where I grabbed an iced coffee (and also some toothpowder, because I have a hard time not doing something practical if I have kids-free time) and sat at an outside table reading The Tapestry.  It was so great.

Sunday morning we headed to church, and afterward Penelope and I met Lauren, Austin and Baby Hyler at Menards to get supplies for the yard projects.  We spent that afternoon edging the flower bed, planting boxwoods and hydrangeas, putting down mulch, and setting and staining the new mailbox post.

Sunday was also Pentecost, so after all the other Van Voorsts were up from naps, Lauren and I headed out to get stuff to throw together a quick feast day charcuterie board before they headed home.

Is next weekend too soon to invite them back down?

The week itself was actually pretty mundane.  I fought off a very mild cold at the beginning of the week, which shouldn't be even remotely notable, except that it totally exhausted me.  Life feels very full right now - not too much, not like I'm drowning, but like I have very little margin.  I'm always nursing, or schooling, or laying Juniper down, or getting Juniper up, or prepping dinner (which is still fresh, since meals were covered by friends and family for the first couple of months).  I'm also in the middle of a few bigger projects, and I'm starting to lose a bit of steam.  So we honestly just spent the week trying to keep our heads above water, which for the kids meant a lot of outside time in the beautiful weather, and for me meant trying to keep my eyes open.

Last night, we had dinner at a friend's house.  They have horses and a huge dog and a toddler and a hammock, so the kids kept themselves entertained all night!

And we have somehow found ourselves back at Friday again already.  I have big plans for the weekend: getting caught up on laundry, maybe taking some clothes to consignment.  If there's one thing Paige Van Voorst knows how to do, it's party.

the big burr oak.

Right outside of town, there's a huge oak tree that we've visited a couple of times.  And by huge, I mean huuuuge.

And by 'a couple of times,' I really only mean a couple of times.   It's a tree.  There's not exactly a ton of stuff to do there, other than ogle the tree, but it's an oddly satisfying experience, so we've gone at least once each summer that we've lived here.  The kids really love it, and would spend all day walking around the base of it, fitting themselves inside knots in the trunk, finding all kinds of little caterpillars and ants that make their homes there, and generally marveling at how big it is.

And we'd probably let them spend all day there, if the ground beneath the tree wasn't littered with millions of shards of miscreants' broken beer bottles.  I can tell the general populace shares our reverence for the life of this tree.

It's estimated to be about 350 years old.  Think about that for a hot sec.  When the War for Independence was raging on the other side of the Appalachians, this tree was already old.  If this tree could talk - well, honestly, if it could talk, it would probably say something like, "I just kind of stood around with my friends in a peaceful forest for a couple hundred years, and then there was this kind of Western expansion or something, and now I'm all by myself, and I stand three feet away from a paved road, and hooligans like to spray paint expletives all over my trunk.  The trajectory of my experience seems to be on a steady downhill."

Well.  I'm glad the tree didn't decide to just give up the ghost when that first Cretan brought that first can of Krylon along.  We're all pretty happy this fella is still here for us.