what's up weekly.

So.  Judge me all you want for not blogging on any sort of timely schedule.  But I'm here now, and we can figure this out together.

I will tell you that last Friday, I started working out.  And by "working out", I mean a whole whopping ten minutes per day is my goal.  I think you can tell that when it comes to goal-setting, I like to shoot for the moon, so that if I fail, at least I'll land among the stars.

I'm actually not hating my new exercise routine, for two reasons.  Primarily because I found an app with free barre workouts, and it kind of lets me pretend I'm ballerina-ing again, which is a good feeling and gives me hope that my cankles can be flexed back into submission at some pointe.  (That's a little ballet/spelling joke for you.  Aging ballerinas are known for their lighthearted humor, if you hadn't heard.)  Secondarily, I watch Jimmy Fallon hashtags on YouTube while I walk on the treadmill to take my mind off of the mind-numbing, thigh-burning agony that is walking on the treadmill after having lived a very sedentary lifestyle for the last twelve years.  Thank you, Jimmy Fallon, for being there for me during this trying time.

So, with my newfound ten-minute-a-day regimen, I expect to be totally shredded in the next 4-6 weeks.  Watch for me on the cover of Fitness World soon.

We are still plugging away at school and life, and things are getting easier.  Finally.  We switched up our school schedule, and we're now done for the day once lunch dismisses at 1:30.  The kids are then typically done with their after lunch chores, and the littlest kids laid down for nap, by 2:00, and I've been loving having such a long stretch free in the afternoons.  In fact, this is the first time in six years of homeschooling that I have not had to use naptime for any schoolwork.  It's amazing.  I've been trying to use my free time to take care of the house a bit better, read a bit more, and watch through Anne of Green Gables (the old one with Megan Follows) with the kids.  It has taken a lot of troubleshooting, but it seems we have found a very sustainable daily and weekly schedule, and I'm breathing SO much easier.

Oh, you know.  This is just how we dress when we do math.

Now that life is easing up on me a bit, I'm hoping to be more regular around here. My goal in March is to post a blog each weekday - hold me to it!

In other news, we have been focusing on fattening Juniper up, which has also made our days go a bit more smoothly.  Because she's eating more, she's staying awake longer and consolidating her naps better.  We were supposed to head into the doctor for a weight check this week, but with the rampant influenza going around, I kind of didn't want to take my kids into that disease percolator, so we cancelled her appointment and I weighed her at home.  She has gained nearly 1.5 lbs in the last six weeks!  Go Juni!  She eats tons of egg yolks, baked salmon and mashed potatoes, and drinks some raw milk.  (She's still getting the hang of the sippy cup, but she does like the taste as long as it's served cold.)

And speaking of eggs and milk, we are now DONE WITH WHOLE30.  (I did let the younger kids drink milk throughout, and by the end of the thirty days, we were going through fourteen dozen eggs and nine gallons of milk per week!)

Our last day was Wednesday.  So I may have eaten a Snickers bar for lunch on Thursday, but who's to say for sure?  Anyway, we finished, which I am really, really proud of.  It was not easy, and it continued getting harder the farther we got into it.  The last week killed me.  So I'm glad we did it, but I'm glad it's over, and I don't anticipate attempting it again anytime soon.

Wednesday night, Meghan and Josiah joined us for dinner and brought us our last Whole30 meal.  (The very first meal in the entire thirty days that I didn't have to prepare myself.  GLORY.)  They're getting ready to move to Washington D.C. next week, and it was so sweet to spend one last dinner together before they go.

And honestly, that was our week.  Sounds relatively uneventful, but I'm wiped out.  I'm going to go eat some microwave popcorn and drink a glass of wine before jumping back on the healthy-eating train (woo.  woo.) tomorrow.  (Or maybe the day after tomorrow...)

via GIPHY

Since we're about to cross the threshold into March, I will see you here on Monday, friends!

what's up weekly.

I left off last Friday by telling you that we were headed to the Amish that day, and that I would be grading papers.  Well, I did neither of those things because first, Rocco ended up barfing that morning, and second, I didn't want to. (Respectively.)

We have been dealing with some kind of lingering virus, I think.  It seems like one or a couple of the kids will fall sick for a few hours, and then everything will be fine for a few days, and then the same thing happens again.  Mild fevers, sore throats, belly issues, headaches and vomiting all rear their heads for a bit and then go dormant again.  It's so hard to tell if/when we're actually healthy, or whether it's just gone back into hibernation for a few days before coming back.  Super weird.

Juni's been eating more and more table food, though I'm not convinced she's growing at all as a result.

All that to say, I was starting to get a bit stir crazy.  Because of sickness and weather, I had been stuck in the house pretty much every single day except to venture out for church once a week.  So by the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was ready to get out of the house for some time out.  I ran to Target and then parked myself at the library for a few hours.

Saturday mornings are bath mornings here, and Penelope has been taking it upon herself to get the littler girls clean.  She washes them (including their hair), dries them off, and even rediapers Lissy.  It's amazing.

On Sunday, Todd had a meeting before church, so I got all the kids ready to go on my own.  We made it but, ooh child, I would not be cut out for doing that every week. (Yet one more line item under "Why We Don't Do Vocational Ministry:" I am not a robust enough Christian to endure Sundays by myself.)

On Monday, we jumped back into our school routine.  We are now on the downhill slide: we are past the halfway point in the year.  Glory, hallelujah!  And also - the big kids have now logged enough school hours that I can stop recording their hours for the rest of the year.  Finneas still needs another month or two of logging, but I am almost out of the woods.  I could not be more excited to not have to keep track of that nonsense for a while.

Can you tell she has brothers?

But even though she can hold her own with the boys, she is also incredibly maternal and always makes sure she has at least one baby tucked in bed somewhere in the house.

Tuesday, Todd took the day off work to drive Atticus to Kansas City for his orthotropics appointment.  Things are looking good, and they actually removed his appliance.  We'll see if his teeth stay in place as his missing adult teeth continue to grow in, but his jaw development is looking good.

While they were in KC, I took the other kids up to the Amish.  Wednesday was projected to snow yet again, and as we'd missed going up there for three consecutive weeks already, we decided to go up a day early so we could guarantee cooperative weather.  It was a fun trip - and a busy one.  Since starting on Whole30, we have been going through eggs like gang busters, so I needed to track down fifteen dozen of those, plus I needed to run a few extra errands: stocking up on our favorite ointment for curing headaches and swollen lymph nodes (Unkers! It's not crunchy, but it works like you wouldn't believe), picking up goat dewormer for my friend Irene, and driving around to find extra gallons of milk.  (The littlest kids are still drinking raw milk, regardless of Whole30.)  Then we had a grocery pickup after we got back to town.

Finneas has really been getting good at drawing lately.  He drew Dudley Doright without even looking at anything for reference!

Wednesday was a really full day.  We squeezed in a whole day of school, and then some friends came over to watch the kids so Todd and I could get a date night in.  We are the best kind of boring, and we ate at the mall food court and then tried on clothes at Express until the mall closed.  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Seriously though, my favorite dates are ones where we just get to be friends and humans together.

Back to school!

Yesterday, we missed some school because we had a chiropractor appointment in the middle of the day, which always throws things off.  After we got home, the kids sat and made Valentine's Day cards, and I was reminded once again why I never succumb to the pressure to craft.  There is nothing like crafting that convinces me that I am not cut out to be a parent.

After the kids went to bed last night, I wrapped a few little gifts for Valentine's Day and strung a festive garland.  I am excited for them to get up today and party the day away.  Our V Day traditions are so fun.  I'll fill you in next week!

Signing off for now!

what's up weekly.

Hey hey!  Long time, no see.  You can now rest easy, knowing I am, in fact, still alive.  (You're such an alarmist.)  I know it's been a minute since I last filled you in, and I'm planning on writing and backdating a couple of posts about the previous few weeks, but for now, let me just cover this past week.

On Saturday, Todd and the bigger boys joined our friend Josiah on a trip to the WWI Museum in Kansas City - it's the largest WWI museum in the country.  (Who knew Kansas City was home to anything even remotely notable but Worlds of Fun?  I surely didn't.)

The boys are both in awkward smiling stages.  Because all kids everywhere are always in awkward smiling stages.  WHY DO KIDS DO WEIRD THINGS WITH THEIR FACES I ASK YOU.  Luckily, our kids are definitely cute enough to overcome these shortcomings.  I'm not saying yours aren't, but I'm also not saying they are.

I stayed home with the rest of the progeny, and we had the most quiet, restful Saturday in the history of ever.  Once the littlest three were down for nap, and only Laurelai and Penelope were still up and around (and coloring quietly at the table), it struck me that some people only have two kids.  Two big kids.  Two big, quiet, girl-kids who sit and color quietly at the table all afternoon while their mom sobs her way through the last Harry Potter book.  Weird stuff.

This picture, taken in the wild, sums up what it's like being a girl mom right now:

Girly book with a girly cover on a girly bed, left there by a girly girly.   

Also, I bought a dust ruffle for the girls' bed this week (the word "girl" is really starting to weird me out the more I type it  - girl. girl.  Isn't that a weird word?) and it is white eyelet and the granny-est thing I've bought in a while, so you know it did my soul good.  Then I used a staple gun to attach it to the bed frame, which you should also know did my soul good.  (Now "good" is starting to get the side-eye.)

Janky phone photo, but that's the best I could do.

And yet more pictures of the prettiest parts of life: daughters!  Here is Juni, rocking a headband AND a tutu AND cable-knit tights.  (Finneas bought her this dress for Christmas; is that not just the most adorable thing you've ever heard?!)

We have been on break from school this week, which means lots of rest, reading, and hanging out with friends and college gals.  On Monday, it was 70 degrees out, so the kids spent most of the day playing outside.

On Tuesday, I cleaned out one side of the laundry room because no nightclubs were open that early but I was in the mood to party.  (As I was scrubbing down a cabinet in there, I was wondering when the last time was that that particular shelf had gotten wiped down, and at that exact, precise, very moment my sponge knocked loose a receipt from 1974.  I guess that answers that question. Gross.)

My laundry room is nothing special, but I do like being in here when it's clean.  PTL for this Urban Outfitters rug and the Picasso Print That I Will Try To Smuggle With Me Through the Pearly Gates When I Die.

By Wednesday, it was in the twenties and we were totally snowed in, so again, the kids spent much of the day playing outside, but in very different conditions.

We're shooting to make it up to the Amish today, since we haven't been able to get out before now.  I should probably also grade papers, which I should have done on Monday but I've been procrastinating because *shudder*.  Also, I plan on spending the entire day feeding the kids, because Whole30 has ramped up their metabolisms so much that all they do is win win win.  I mean, eat eat eat.  (Plus, Juniper is now eating solids at the table with us, in an attempt to fatten up, so literally all I do all day is make food for myself, then the big kids, then breastfeed, then feed Juniper at the table, and then start the whole process over again.)

One more picture of pretty Juni, just because this is my blog and I get to call the shots.

See her beautiful double chin?  That is a soon-to-be-fat baby right there.

And, just because, here's what's been capturing my attention lately:

Reading:Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Angels in the Architecture by Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson
Liver Rescue by Anthony William (who is a certifiable nut)
Bone of my Bones by Douglas Wilson
The Green Ember
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

Watching:
The King's Speech, which is so beautiful it hurts
Frasier (with Todd, because we're fogeys)
Scrubs

And there you have it.