what's up weekly.

This week has been a good balance of social and restful, which I think I needed after such an intense stretch of social engagements last week.  It means that this week's news swings pretty wildly from mundane to unusual and back again, but that's fine by me!  Just enough unusual to make it interesting, just enough mundane to keep it sustainable.

I mentioned last week that Rocco took a metal bar to the face in an ill-chosen game of "bat the snugglies" with a sibling.  A day or two later, he took a toy truck to the eyebrow in an accidental around-the-corner collision with the same sibling.  Same eye and everything.  Poor, poor kid.

On Friday night, my sister and her family came down to help celebrate Juni's birthday the next day, so the kids all bunked in the boys' room and gave the cousins the girls' room.

The next morning, my parents also arrived for the party, and we all celebrated Baby June.  (Correction, she is no longer a baby.  Except that she's my BAYBEEEEEEEEEEE and I just can't get over the fact that she is TWO YEARS OLD.  She is the sweetest-slash-surliest, chunkiest, cuddliest, most agreeable thing on the planet.  I could just squoosh her all the livelong day.)

She's seen a few birthday parties in her day, and knew exactly what to do when the candles arrived.

After cupcakes, she opened presents.  The kids had all bought her treats at the ding-and-dent store, so she's been having a grand time snacking all week on expired animal crackers and fruit snacks.  Atticus made her an awesome set of wooden blocks - he sawed them to length from a 2x4, enlisted Finneas to help sand the rough edges, and asked Penelope to help him paint letters and pictures on them.  They are so cute, and all the kids have logged tons of time playing with them this week.  What a sweet gift.

Juni's on the move, on the move, hallelujah

After we laid Juni down for nap, Penelope got to open a few gifts as well, as her birthday is in a couple of weeks but we won't be able to have everyone come down for it then.  So we celebrated a bit early!

I spent some time getting some flowers in the ground, just in time for it to randomly drop below zero and snow all day on Tuesday.  We'll see if my flowers survived.  (I obviously still need to mulch.)

One of the gifts Penelope got for her birthday was a Harry Potter cookbook, so she decided to make dinner and dessert for us on Tuesday.  She made French onion soup with homemade croutons for dinner, and blueberry muffins for dessert, and they were so good.  She was so proud of herself.

Kids just keep getting better and better with time.

Other than all that, it was kind of a lowkey week.  I got the kids' winter clothes stored away, and their summer clothes out and organized, which is always a major job.  And then I got to hunt back through the winter clothes again when we had a cold snap.

We watched Tudor Farm while I attempted to get caught up on laundry (ha).  I finally got my room picked up a little bit - it has been a dumping ground for way too long, and it's still not CLEAN, but there's at least a bit of visual improvement.  I attempted to clean up the garage.  I ordered the kids' summer shoes.  (Both Penelope and Atticus are now in adult sizes.  Whoa.)  We attended a going away party for our friend Christy, who had the audacity to leave us for greener pastures.  (Oh, and also a great job and living closer to her actual non-Van Voorst family, but those are small excuses and we rescind our acceptance of reality.)  And I'm still right on the cusp of finishing The Order of the Phoenix-  that book is so long, you spend dayzzzzz in what appears to be the "almost done" zone.  So I'm still "almost done."

And that was our week!  I plan on doing as little as possible this weekend - all this "daily life" stuff really takes it out of a person.

what's up weekly.

Well, whoopsie daisy.  I didn't manage to post last week, so this is going to be a two-weeker!

So, last time I filled you in, we were all taking turns with the stomach flu.  Todd had fallen sick the day before, and I was hoping we would all be healthy by Easter.  Unfortunately, I'm not that lucky, and neither is Penelope - she came down with the crud early Saturday morning and spent the day sprawled out.

Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you, just paddling my (clean, unused) barf bucket up the wide Missouri.

The girls took the first chance they got to copy Penelope and pretend to be sick themselves.

So on Easter, we cancelled our plans and we hunkered down.  Luckily Penelope was feeling somewhat better by then, so she was able to join in the festivities to a limited extent.  I made mimosas and bagels and lox for breakfast, because nothing says spring and new life like brightly colored food!

After breakfast, we gathered downstairs in the family room for church time,  then we headed upstairs again for cheeseboard.  (I was starting to have PTSD flashbacks to last year, when Covid stole Easter from everyone and I made up for it by cooking all the livelong day.  I channeled my anger at the world into my delicious ham, and it seemed to work.  Righteous indignation is the best mustard.)

Little tip from me to you:  How do I get stains out of my vintage tablecloths?  Blue Dawn dish soap, and lots of it.  I use so much Dawn in my laundry in general - usually a big squirt per load, and extra if it's a stinky load - but it is seriously the best pre-treater in the whole world.  (I have a high efficiency top loader and have never had issues with too much sudsing, and I honestly use a LOT of this.)

After cheeseboard, everyone napped for a bit, and Penelope put together Easter baskets she had schemed up as a surprise.  I threw dinner in the oven (this year, instead of righteous indignation, I seasoned the ham with brown sugar and actual mustard, and it still turned out okay) and set the table.  I'm convinced Easter is the prettiest feast day of the whole year. 

All through Monday, Penelope was still really low-energy, but everyone else was feeling fine.  I was hoping we were out of the woods and that Atticus, Callista and Juni just wouldn't end up getting the stomach bug.  But then Monday night Atticus started throwing up (after I made the amateur decision to make taco soup for dinner), and he was sick through the day on Tuesday.  Penelope still wasn't feeling great, so they spent a lot of time resting together, Penelope reading to Atticus, or both of them sitting outside in the sunshine.

By Wednesday, no one was sick at the moment, so we headed up to the Amish.  I'm not going to lie, I still am having a hard time driving.  It didn't help that it was raining, either, which has always been a driving stressor for me anyway.  But we got there and back safely - the more uneventful trips I can get under my belt, the sooner I think I'll mentally get past the accident, but in the meantime I'm still struggling.

I spent Thursday packing and doing a final test-run of hair and makeup for a wedding I was going to be in over the weekend, and then in the evening my friend Christy watched the kids so Todd and I could go on a date.  (Then we stayed up way too late talking, which is why I didn't blog last week.  No regrets.)  By the end of the night on Thursday, no one had gotten freshly sick in over three days, so I cautiously considered us out of the woods.  The littlest girls never got it.  So weird.

On Friday of last week, I headed out of town with a couple of friends for a wedding in Iowa.  (Actually, funnily enough, it was in my hometown of Mt. Pleasant, even though the friend getting married isn't a friend from high school and actually only picked it because it was halfway between her family in northern Iowa and his family in central Missouri.  It was strange but really sweet to be back "home" for the first time in years.)

While I was gone, Todd took the kids on some adventures.

The wedding was a success, but I was so glad to arrive home late Saturday night.  I am not ever away overnight without my people - I don't think I've spent a night without another Van Voorst with me since Atticus was born.  Hopefully it's another twelve years - or more - before I have to do that again.  I like my life, so it was hard to leave it, and it was nice coming back.  Todd and the kids had picked up the house and made me a Welcome Home banner.  

This week has been full of dinners with friends, since we were kind of on social hiatus there for a couple of weeks.  Our Easter dinner with our friends Josh and Megan was changed to a taco dinner and rescheduled for Monday, then a missed date night from a few weeks back was rescheduled for Tuesday, so Todd and I went up to Moberly for Mexican again while Christy watched the kids.  (Yes, if you're counting, that's twice in the span of a week - we're the 1%.)  Then on Wednesday, some friends from our Candeo days came over and brought dinner.

Then yesterday was Juni's birthday!  SHE IS TWO!  My littlest baby is two!  We celebrated by pulling out the 2T clothing.  I think that's a record: pulling out the new size the literal DAY she turned 2.  I'm killing it at being a mom.

Other items of note:

Juni's favorite game last week was "playing sick," where she would get a book and a blanket, and cuddle on the couch making pathetic noises.

Rocco took a metal pole to the eyelid this week, and I'm thankful he has fast reflexes or that would have been the end of the eyeball.  The perpetrator of this violence was apprehended and duly sentenced.

And here's a gift from Callista as you head into your weekend.

what's up weekly.

SO.  I have now been 35 for a full week, and I can tell you that, surprisingly, it feels good.  I think I'll keep "35" around for a while.  Maybe even more than a year, and I'll just refrain from ever turning 36.  Okay?  Okay.  Sounds good to me.

My birthday was so, so fun.  It was a low-key, but still really special, day - and that's my favorite kind.  I slept in a bit (Fridays are a 'late start' morning for us), and then for lunch we did a popcorn party while we watched Tudor Monastery Farm.  (My birthday, my TV choice.)  

While we were downstairs watching, Todd slipped out to grab me flowers and a coffee.

For dinner, Todd surprised me with a really fancy, really huge, really uppity aged steak from the fanciest restaurant in town, and some really good red wine, and crème brulee cheesecake for dessert.  YES PLEASE.  I'm headed into Year Thirty-Five very happy, and in much larger pants.

The kids and Todd all shared things they love and appreciate about me (such as, "I'm glad you spank us, Mom, so we don't turn out horrible," and "I like how you know how to make our home a place I like to be.  You make it pretty and just... home." I also got lots of compliments on my cooking, which just testifies to the Lord's patience with, and miraculous work in the life of a poor, sorry sinner/cook like myself).

After dinner, I got to open presents from my dearly beloveds, and it was a highlight.  I got original books with hand-drawn illustrations, homemade cards, a very imposing hand-whittled knife/harpoon, and plenty of candy.  (Heavier and heavier I become by the paragraph...)  Todd gave me the green light to order a new rug I've been wanting for the living room, which then sent me into a tailspin of "Am I CERTAIN this is THE rug??!" and then a days-long hunt through the archives of Rugs USA, just to be on the safe side.)  It was obvious I am well-known and well-loved.  

I have been given the gift of lots of people who know me, and see me, and love me for who I am.  "He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children."  Barrenness, emptiness, loneliness, lostness - all these things have been taken from the old me, and in their place I find  joy, peace, fullness, abundance.  What a fantastic birthday gift from the Lord who knows me and loves me.  I am genuinely content with my life and my people.  How many folks get to say that?

Anyway, not to get too sappy on you.  That happens in old age; you're just going to have to bear with me.

The next morning, our friend Ellie from Cedar Falls came for a visit!  She has been serving overseas for the last few years, and just came home a few months ago.  It was so wonderful getting to see her, and the kids were SO thrilled - she babysat them every week for a long time, and they were so excited to show her all around the house and yard, and catch her up on what they've been up to.

Here, I'm seeing photos of her absolutely adorable new house, and her stellar decorating taste.

And, in my best Nacho Libre voice: "And THAT... is a crazy lady."  Good gravy, I look like the Joker.

Finneas was VERY excited to see Ellie.  Everyone else was just pretty excited.

Not the most flattering angle for Atticus or Juni, and Callista is picking her nose, but this is what you get.

Saturday evening, we had friends over for dinner who have four kids of their own, and the vibe at the dinner table (KIDS ONLY - grownups banished to the living room to eat tacos off plates in their laps) was so very Third Grade Summer Camp that I could almost feel the mosquitos buzzing around my head.  It was so, so fun.  The kids played dress up all night, and there was an endless stream of knights and princesses and police officers and construction workers through the living room.

On Sunday, we went to church and sat with our dear friend Meghan, who is only in town briefly while her husband Josiah is in a training school with the Marines.

It was wonderful it was such a great weekend, because once we hit the week, things got a little rockier.  Monday, Finneas had the stomach flu.  Tuesday, Lolo and Rocco got it.  Wednesday, I had it and was LAID OUT.  Todd took the afternoon off of work so he could drive up to the Amish for me.  Then, because life is just a turd sometimes, what does he get for his efforts?  The stomach flu.  So that was yesterday.  Curious to see who will fall today.  Praying we're all healthy by Easter.

And let me just answer the questions you may have at this point: Yes, I do realize we seem to be sick all the time in the late winter/spring.  No, I don't know why.  No, I don't need help getting to the bottom of things.  This is just the season of life we're in now, and I've learned to accept it for what it is.  

And to end this post on a cheerier note, I would like to introduce you to Finneas' new best friend, who appeared to be nearly albino.  They're two peas in a pod.  

Also, Callista basically stole the limelight this week with her cuteness.

First, she loves to crash anyone's Bible time she can.  She is the most adorable Bible pal.

Second, most mornings she asks Todd if she can get out her Choo Box (jewelry box) and look through it.  We have gotten each of the girls nice jewelry boxes, and are slowly working on building them each a collection of nice, classic pieces that they can wear when they're older - and Todd writes notes to the girls and tucks them into many of the small boxes.  She sits by him while he works and just looks at her jewelry and notes.

And there you have it! Life with the Van Voorsts this week.  Tune in next week!