what's up weekly.

And...we're... BACK IN THE GAME.  The school game, that is.  After our break week last week, it was time to jump back into our normal routine.

Last Friday afternoon, Todd took the kids for a walk in the afternoon.  On Fridays when the weather is nice, he gets them out of the house for a bit and I stay home while Juni naps.  It makes for a quiet, restful afternoon for me, and and adventurous afternoon for the kids, so everyone loves it.

First, how cute are my kids, holding hands?  Second, how does Atticus look like a full-grown adult?!

Playing on the nearby playground

Sunday was Todd's birthday!  No birthday photo of his handsome mug (yet), but just know this: he just keeps getting better with time.  More wise, more fun, more up for adventure, more chill.  And, obviously, more bearded.  More widely read, more deep in his thinking, and more interesting to talk to.  More patient.  Just more Todd.  He is ever graduating further on the "Todd, Todder, Toddest" spectrum.  He's going to be so fun to continue to grow old alongside.

We jumped back into school the next day, and on Tuesday I picked up groceries and made a special dinner to celebrate Todd's birthday.  

Wednesday I laid low, and yesterday we had a chiropractic appointment over lunch.  We ordered takeout to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of getting engaged.  The Van Voorsts: Power Coupling since before the Wii existed.  That's a long time.

Other highlights of the week: 

1. Juni still doesn't go in the potty.  She stays dry, and I can even confidently take her in public now, but she will not actually ever use the potty.  She just holds it until she's in a diaper at nap time.  This girl has an incredible amount of self control and will power... that's the 'bright side' way of looking at it.

2. I am now about 33 weeks.  Time is starting to snowball and I am becoming increasingly aware that I will have a newborn in our house again soon.  But I also jacked up my back this week (by, you know, just standing upright), so I've been in a lot of pain the last few days, especially when I sleep.  I have such mixed feelings about whether or not I'm ready to be done with pregnancy.

3.  Relatedly, I am making headway on prepping food for the postpartum days.  I bought some beef from a local guy this week (local, 100% grassfed beef is currently cheaper than the grocery store prices!, which is both exciting and depressing), and am planning on getting it all squared away in the freezer this weekend.  I like cooking and seasoning ground beef, then freezing it in meal-sized quantities so I can thaw it and make tacos or chili or whatever pretty quickly and easily.  I'm also going to try prepping whole chuck roasts: I'll season and sear them, then package them up with broth and my regular pot roast seasonings, and when I'm ready to prepare one I can just pull it straight out of the freezer and dump the whole thing in the Instant Pot and cook it from frozen.  

I also made a large dinner-sized lasagna, and some individual-sized lasagnas for easy lunches, to go into the freezer.  I cooked up some chicken that I will cut up and flash freeze on a cookie sheet so I have cooked chicken breast on hand to add to soups or rice.  I made a gallon or so of chicken broth, and I cooked a big batch of onions, carrots, and celery to have on hand for soups and casseroles.  If you can't tell, I don't do a ton of freezing entire meals - I find pre-prepping often-used ingredients is the best fit for how we actually like to eat.  So headway is being made.

4.  I've been experimenting with gluten the last couple of weeks, after having been strictly gluten free for the last seven years (and more casually GF for almost five years before that).  I am finding that sourdough seems to work well for me - I tried some I made from heirloom wheat grown by a local guy, and I also tried my hand at my first loaf of einkorn sourdough.  I didn't react poorly to either one, though I didn't love the taste of either one either.  So I think I'll keep experimenting. But I'm at the point where I would like to see if I can start eating real bread again.

Unrelated to anything I've written so far, but Atticus finds basically anything he can to doodle on - napkins, scraps of paper, paper plates.  It's always such a fun surprise to reach for something deeply practical and find it has been elevated to art.

And I think that is basically all this week entailed.  The next time I talk to you it will be NOVEMBER, if you can even believe that.  I know I can't.  Bring on feasting season!

what's up weekly.

And somehow, just like *that*, Break Week is over!  Luckily, we made the most of it, but still - how do these weeks fly so fast?

Last Friday, Juni turned two-and-a-half.  I wish you could see her waterspout ponytail; it would kill you dead.  (Actually, since there actually is some risk of that, I'm glad you can't see it; I value your friendship - and your life -  too much to play it fast and loose with toddler ponytail photos.)

That same day, Penelope celebrated the fourth anniversary of her baptism.  Todd often says that "you cultivate what you celebrate," so we try to make sure that milestones like baptism are made much of in our house.  Gifts are involved, which really speaks to my gifty girl.  This year she got a real leather purse, and she basically hasn't taken it off since she received it.  How grown up does she look?

We finally busted out some cooler weather clothing this week because the mornings were chilly, though the days were still really warm.

On Sunday, we made a day trip to Christ Church Leavenworth in Leavenworth, Kansas.  Throughout all our travels this year - to the Fight Laugh Feast rally in South Dakota, and Grace Agenda in Idaho, and then the Fight Laugh Feast conference in Tennessee - we kept meeting and connecting with various members of this church, and as it's "only" 2.5 hours from us, we decided to go visit them for church one weekend.  I'm so glad we went - it was a great service, and it was great to see people we'd met over the summer.  The travel made for a long day, though, so the Van Voorst girls were at their most glamorous on the drive home.

Monday kicked off our Break Week, so I took the boys out on individual, one-on-one "dates".  Rocco decided to get breakfast together at IHOP (or, as people around here say, "IHOP-Pancakes," to distinguish it from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.  Now I can't unhear "IHOP-Pancakes."  It's becoming a problem of conscience for me, as I firmly believe IHOP-Pancakes has the right to the automatic default assumption, by honor of seniority and more universal recognition, and everyone should rather have to clarify when they're talking about IHOP-Prayer.  But here I am, calling it IHOP-Pancakes anyway.  How did I get here? Is this really how a person of integrity lives their life and distinguishes their IHOPs?).

ANYWAY.  Rocco chose IHOP-Pancakes for breakfast.  He got a smiley-face pancake, and I learned my lesson from last time and did NOT order the omelet (why is there gluten in an omelet, I ask you?) and we were both very happy with our breakfasts and our time together.  The kid knows how to carry an interesting conversation, I can say that for him.  I really enjoyed getting to talk to him one-on-one.

I dug out some of his winter items, and he LOVED his outfit.  "When we get home, can I leave these clothes on?  I like how they feel."  I don't blame him - he looked so awesome.

Finneas chose to go with me to Walmart, where he picked out a root beer and a pack of gum, and then to the Dollar Tree to buy the remaining Christmas gifts on his list.  He is so funny and fun, and he had a great time going and doing something together, even though it was just small errands.  He is so polite and comfortable around people - I was really impressed by how he spoke with the cashiers and others.  He is comfortable in his own skin, and he is a pleasure to be around.

Atticus chose to go to the mall for lunch and then to browse the graphic novel section at Barnes and Noble.  We were both unimpressed by the selection they had ("It's all weird horror stuff and Marvel - where's the good stuff?"), so he bought a nonfiction "Chronological Timeline of World War II" book to pore over instead.  He is getting so mature in his thinking, but he is very quiet and introverted, so I don't often get to hear his thoughts.  It was so nice getting to sit across the table from him and hear him talk about Big topics like justice, and his longing to see the New Earth, and evangelism, and bravery, and learning to discipline himself to do the right thing.  I didn't need to say much, it was a pleasure just to listen.  And a woman at the table next to us leaned over to tell us how handsome she thought he was - that made his day!  ("You tell me stuff like that, Mom, but it's different when it comes from someone else."  I can understand that!)

So that was our Monday.  On Tuesday, I started potty training Juni.  She has been ready for a good long while, I think, but I just haven't had a convenient window when we had a long stretch of free time, and no looming road trips.  So this week was The Week.  She has done so well - only an accident or two the first couple of days, and no accidents yesterday, but she's still not actually going in the potty.  She's just holding it until she gets in a diaper at naptime or bedtime.  But - the bladder control is a good sign.  I think we'll get there in the next few days.

Watching that perennial potty training favorite, Elmo's Potty Time, while sitting on a towel.

I tried to keep my schedule and expectations wide open during her "awake" stretches, because I have learned to make potty training the only thing on the schedule or I end up frustrated and disappointed so quickly, but during naptimes I tried to get a bit done around the house that is hard to do when school is in session.  I did some sewing and cooking with the girls, I cleaned up the yard and put the hoses away, I brought in the house plants and am working on figuring out where they all will 'live' in our house through the winter (we have very little natural light in here), I cleaned the living room and the basement family room, I washed the walls, and I did a little batch cooking for the freezer to prepare for postpartum.  

Sewing with Callista.  She picked out some Minnie Mouse fabric and decided she wants to make a teddy bear for the new baby.  

She is pretty excited.  The bear is sewn, and button eyes have been sewn on, but I still need to stitch a nose and mouth.

Lolo, cutting carrots for me to sautee and put in freezer bags for quick, easy soup assembly in the postpartum days.

I just had to include this photo for size context.  She is itty bitty.  She is eight years old and in 5T clothing, and with the rate at which Callista is growing, they're about to be in the same size.

Also, how pretty is her hair?!

She wanted to surprise the other kids by clandestinely making a cookie cake for dessert one night, so we mixed one up and, in this photo, it's getting ready to go into the oven.

I also had a midwife appointment yesterday, and I'm measuring about a week and a half ahead, which is very unusual for me.  This baby has consistently measured 1-2 weeks earlier/bigger at any given point than my other kids did by the same methods of measurement.  We'll see if that ends up having any bearing on when I go into labor.  I have my guesses, if anyone wants to start a pool.

Totally glam Kraken shot, but this was taken in Leavenworth so the Kraken earned its presence in the photo.

And, just to launch you into the weekend on a great note, here is BatJune eating ice cream.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

what's up weekly.

Hello, friends!  I'm afraid I don't have much for you today.  This week was uneventful.  I feel like I'm in a weird place with this pregnancy, where I'm close enough to the end that I'm wanting to slow down and lay low, but not close enough to the end where baby prep picks up, with washing baby laundry and prepping meals and getting out gear.  I've been laying on the couch a lot, complaining about how uncomfortable I am, and reading the occasional snippet of a birth book.  I did also cook a few extra batches of ground beef a few days ago to put in the freezer, so I guess that's something.

A friend of ours saw us at church on Sunday and was like, "You're due any day now, right?" to which I had to answer, "No, I still have about ten weeks."  It felt good to know I look that big, though.

The main thing grabbing my attention this week was ordering Christmas presents.  Yes, Christmas presents.  In early October.  But because the baby will be born during Advent, and because it's already a busy time of year, and because they're anticipating shipping delays and shortages as the winter progresses (oh, goody goody), now was as good a time as any to just get it done.  So it has been a whirlwind week, trying to even figure out what I want to get the kids, and then getting it ordered, and then also juggling all the kids' orders for each other.  (The kids all enjoy using their allowance money to order small gifts for each other, but it ends up being over fifty separate gifts to help them pick out and order, and then keep track of their arrival, and organize once they're here... plus my own gifts for everyone.  It becomes quite the ordeal.)

I still have a couple gifts I need to decide on, and a couple I have decided on but need to pick up, but it's mostly done.  Whew.  

Now I think I need to mentally shift to birth prep: making more meals, gathering the items I'll need for the home birth, that kind of thing.  I also need to plan out meals for Thanksgiving, Christmas and all of our feast days between now and January, so I can make sure to make or prep things as much as I can in advance.  I'd also like to do a little yardwork and a fall cleaning of the guts of our house... you know.  Just a few small, manageable, realistic goals.

Oh, I also started a quilt for the baby I'm hoping to complete before her arrival.

And I wonder why I feel so scattered.

Luckily, next week is a break week.  I'm planning on taking the boys out for one-on-one activities on Monday, and then starting potty training with Juni on Tuesday.  I'm hoping that I can get a few things done during naptime once Juni lays down on those days, so we'll see how that goes.  Maybe I'll feel a bit better and more prepared by this time next week.

In weekly news that doesn't involve my petty griping, Atticus had quite the week.  He kicked it off by ordering the hottest wings on the BWW menu - they're seasoned with Carolina Reaper peppers.  They came with a warning label.  He ate them all.  

He also celebrated the third anniversary of his baptism yesterday.  We celebrated with a small gift and an impromptu photo shoot. 

Today marks Penelope's fourth baptism anniversary, so you'll get a chance to see her pretty face next week.  (With a fresh haircut!  A friend came over and gave all of us girls cuts this week, and wow, does our hair look a million times better.  I didn't realize how bad it had gotten!)

And lastly, we added a new member to our family.  Everyone, meet Goldie Honda.

Some friends of ours got a new car, and gifted us their old car.  It is kind of an adjustment going from driving the huge Kraken to tootling around town in this little fella.  But I also kind of love it.  It will be perfect for trips where I'm by myself, and for teaching Atticus to drive when he gets his learner's permit next year.  (Yes, he will be driving next year.  Dang.)

And those were the highlights of this week!  We will finish up school today and then be off for break, so I feel like I'm crossing a finish line, or at least reaching a milestone.  It's going to be a good day!

what's up weekly. (and the baby now has a name!)

Hello, everyone! For once, I can honestly say I think this post will be short and sweet.  It was a short, sweet week without much going on, and without many pictures, with the exception of our weekend and the photos we took at my niece's birthday party.

We had a full Saturday, heading up to the Amish first thing in the morning, then back to town to drop off our milk and eggs, and then back north.  We headed to Iowa for the weekend to celebrate my niece's first birthday!

My sister and brother-in-law have a studio space for photo shoots and styling jobs, and isn't it just so perfect and cute?  Also, aren't my kids so perfect and cute?

A "small party for family" is actually quite the blowout.  SO MANY COUSINS!

At this point in pregnancy, my stomach looks remarkably like this balloon in  girth, color, and belly button presence.  If only the balloon had stretch marks to complete the look.

Baby Cora had quite the rapt audience.

Juni has decided she likes birthday parties.

We got home a little before bedtime Sunday night, so we just called it an evening and hit the hay to get ready for the morning.  This week ended up being full of school and rest and play, but not much out of the ordinary, which is unusual but welcome!  We visited a friend on Wednesday, I sprayed the yard for poison ivy (because it is STILL COMING UP) and watered to hopefully get the baby grass to grow before it gets cooler out, and Walmart changed its online grocery ordering app (for the WORSEWORSETERRIBLEHORRIBLEWORSEWORST), so I spent a lot of the week cussing at my phone.

We also started ordering Christmas gifts this week - between all the shipping delays they're anticipating in the coming months, plus the fact that I'll be spending November filling the freezer and getting our house ready for a home birth and a newborn, I figured it would be good to move our Christmas shopping up a month, but man - the seasons are starting to confuse me.  Temperature forecast in the upper 80's this week, but also lots of talk of Fall coming, but also getting ready for Christmas... it's a bit disorienting.

I can tell I'm in the throes of third trimester, since I cried about not having enough noodles in the house for dinner one night.  I also can barely rouse myself from the couch between the nausea, heartburn, and difficulty breathing.  I'm hanging in there, but I'm doing it with less grace and dignity than I was able to muster before.

In other pregnancy news, I am thirty weeks, and we can now stop calling the new baby The Snicker Bar Baby (her bones will be made of nougat if pregnancy cravings dictate things like that) and start calling her by her new, real name: Ophelia Belle.  Ophelia means "helper," and Belle means "beautiful."

We have your bed ready for you, Baby Ophelia!

And that was our low-key week.  Today I need to take "First Day of School" photos, as I only just remembered yesterday that we're five weeks in and I haven't done that yet.  Whoops.  (At least, I'm pretty sure I haven't? I also need to put it on my list to actually check our photos - maybe I did take them, and just forgot?)  I feel like I didn't really share much this week, but if it indicates that we had a relaxing, restful school week, (oxymoron much?), then I can't complain!

what's up weekly.

This week has been a strange one.  I have felt myself slowing waaaay down all of a sudden: needing more rest, not being able to push myself as hard, suddenly falling asleep at weird times.  I can tell I have left the second trimester behind, which is always a bit sad.  There seems to be a freefall from order to chaos from now until the baby is around seven months or more, so here begins the next year of entropy.

Last Friday, Todd took the kids on a walk to a park.

Rocco mastered the monkey bars for the first time.

There is an extremely long, steep hill by our house - this photo was taken probably about halfway up already.  It's not such a bad thing on the way down to the trails, but not so easy to persevere up on the way home.  Rocco calls it The Hill Difficulty.

Callista seems to agree with Rocco. 0/10 would not recommend.

But I say it's been a strange week because, at the same time I'm slowing down, we also had a busy week.  We got some grass seed laid in the back, which I'm grateful for, and I had a lot of help with it from the big boys, which I'm extremely grateful for.  Atticus hauled twenty 40-lb bags of soil from our van to the back yard, then he filled in a lot of the collapsed areas from last spring's rain.  Then I overseeded everything, which wasn't too much bending so it wasn't too bad, but then we needed to put straw mulch down and oh my dear heavens.  I was not up to the task.  Thankfully, both Atticus and Finneas came to the rescue and did the majority of that work for me.

We had a lot of space to cover, so I'm so glad the boys were able to help.

Early in the week, we also finalized our decision to do a home birth this time around, so I got a last-minute appointment scheduled with my new midwife.  I've spent the last few months going back and forth about it - I have always hated the hospital environment, but the idea of doing another birth without pain meds makes me feel so anxious that I've just bitten the bullet in the past.  But with all of the Covid nonsense happening, I absolutely do not feel comfortable spending any unnecessary time in the hospital right now.  Staff shortages, vaccine mandates, mask mandates, visitor restrictions, mandatory testing... just NO.  

So here I am, doing something I never thought I'd be doing: preparing for a birth at home, preparing for another unmedicated birth... and actually increasingly looking forward to it!  I really like my new midwife, and the quality of care is already so dramatically better than anything I've ever received from a hospital midwife.  I am genuinely loving that aspect of it, and I feel so confident that it will be a less risky, stressful experience than I'd have at the hospital right now.

In addition to my afternoon spent with the midwife, I spent the next morning making a special trip to the Amish with a friend.  Todd and I have been trying to order a new dining room table for what seems like forever, but every time we stop at the furniture store, the guy in charge of pricing and ordering is out.  First, I stopped in on a weekday, and was told he was only there on Saturdays.  Then I stopped in on a Saturday, and was told he is only there on weekdays.  So I stopped in this Wednesday, and was told he was usually in on Wednesdays but was at an auction that day.  So... we'll see what happens with that.  

But while we were up in the Amish settlement, I got to go to a kitchen supply store, a surplus store, and a greenhouse that I often don't have time to stop at when we have all the kids in tow, so it was still a fantastic trip.  After I got home Wednesday afternoon, a friend with a new baby came over for a bit to chat about mom-things.

Todd and the kids brought me flowers to celebrate the sixteenth anniversary of my baptism!

"This is my house.  I have to defend it." - Kevin McAllister, "Home Alone"

Finneas whittling a knife for Rocco's upcoming birthday; Rocco looking on, having no idea it's for him.

This kid CRACKS ME UP.  "Why do you have those raisins on the counter? Oh, is it just for good measure?"

Atticus made himself a rifle out of scrap wood.  If you're sensing a "TO ARMS!!!" theme this week, you wouldn't be wrong.  Don't you dare tread on us.

Callista hasn't been feeling quite herself lately - extra tired, and complaining of bellyaches and headaches after she eats dinner in the evening.  No fever or other problems; I'm not sure what's up, but I'll gladly take the extra cuddles as long as we both still fit on the couch.

Juni, watching Thunderbirds with the brothers.

Then Thursday morning, we all had chiropractor appointments.  And we crammed all that in with a full week of school, so it has been a very full week.  

School time.

I'm tuckered out.  We finish school early on Fridays, and I think I will take a nap in my extra free time this afternoon.  Or make a Fall wreath for the front door.  Either/or.