Last Saturday was busy, but super fun. We headed up to the Amish early, so that we could get back in time to do some trick-or-treating at Shelter Gardens in the afternoon.
Little Red Riding Hood, an unconvinced and unhappy Mr. Peanut, a soldier, Dorothy, Abe Lincoln, and a bumble bee.
Same as above, except here you can really taste Mr. Peanut's displeasure, and you can also see the first Van Voorst to age out of trick-or-treating. Excuse me while I go cry about the cruel passage of time.
Juni got a pen with her trick or treat bag, and it was an instant love affair.
This was the first year Atticus didn't dress up, and it was kind of sad. The end of an era.
Sunday was Reformation Day, marking the culmination of our October readings on influential reformers, and also marking the beginning of our big season of feasting! We kicked off the night with a cheeseboard...
... and finished it off with some popcorn and a screening of Luther.
Early in the week, the big boys had speech therapy consultations. We were seen at a new clinic, and they seem pretty confident the boys just need three or four appointments each to teach them how to say their R sounds a bit more clearly. That seems unrealistic to me, but I suppose we don't have anything to lose by it.
Also, I would just like to offer my two cents here and say I find it outrageous that the speech therapist expects them to copy her tongue, lip and cheek motions when SHE IS WEARING A MASK AND THEY CAN'T SEE HER FACE. (She even tried to show them specifically how she wanted them to stick out their tongues... with her mask on, and then tried correct them by DESCRIBING how she wanted their tongues to look.) How can they copy her "R" sounds when they can't hear her properly? I'm sorry, but when are we going to call a spade a spade? This is ridiculous and unnecessary. But Atticus is almost 13, and our current strategy of "waiting until the Covid insanity blows past" has lost us nearly two years of time we could have used for improvement, and shows very little sign of sobering up anytime soon, so we're going to go now anyway, to see if it helps at all. However, we might start looking into things I can do myself to help them from home, and we can continue to extricate ourselves from the idiotic medical establishment as much as possible.
After their appointments, we stopped into Salvation Army to look for stuff for the new baby. I don't like buying used baby clothes, but I do find nice flannel sheets and pillowcases, wool blankets, and other things that can be used to fashion more practical baby items. This time I found a soft, thick, quilted cotton pillow sham that is the perfect size to use as a sheet on the bassinet mattress. We also found a toooonnnnnn of great chapter books for the kids - lots of biographies, Newbery Medal winners, classics that are assigned by Ambleside... and maybe a Martha Stewart Christmas book or two for me.
Today I have a midwife appointment in the afternoon. I am coming to the end of things, and I feel it. I am big, and achey, and spend a large portion of my time lying in bed. I am getting bad pregnancy brain - I must have left a cast iron pan on my (heating) stovetop to dry after washing it, and forgotten to turn it off when we left for the Amish, because three hours later we returned to a house full of smoke and the blaring of smoke alarms. I say "must have" because I still don't actually remember washing it or putting it to dry, but there it was, so I must have?
I am starting to gather supplies for the home birth. It's a bit staggering to try to think of all the things that the hospital usually just has on hand that I now need to be responsible for myself. Food, clothing, bedding, cleaning supplies... but I'm honestly enjoying thinking through it all. As long as I have time to gather it up before labor begins, I think I'm mentally ready for birthing at home. As ready as I can be, anyway. (In some ways, it feels like a first delivery, though!)
Lastly, we had a few fun opportunities to celebrate!
Penelope turned eleven-and-a-half!
Todd conquered aging.
And Rocco turned SIX!
This brother is a highlight. He is a delight to be around, and he is just so darn easy to like. He is easy going, good-natured, joyful. He is soft spoken and funny. He is smart and articulate. He is both tough and gentle, and he is unafraid of almost everything except the basement bathroom and the neighbors' Halloween decorations. He is affectionate, and his bones are filled with concrete, and he is almost never found far from Finneas. Those two are thick as thieves. I am forever grateful for this little one's presence in my life, and just can't get enough of him.
For breakfast he asked for donuts, so I ran to the store to get some fresh ones from the bakery yesterday morning, and when I returned he was already complaining of a stomach ache. Visions of chocolate-frosting-sprinkle-donut barf danced in my mind, but luckily Penelope was on hand to talk his stomach off the ledge, and everything ended up being fine.
He requested homemade alfredo for lunch, and Cheddar's for dinner.
And last but not least, Atticus, Finneas and Callista being very Atticus, Finneas and Callista:
This kid is Entirely Legs.
Finneas used up three entire rolls of scotch tape, and also as a side project made himself a mask.
Listening to Jumanji for the seven kajillionth time.
And that was our week! Now that I've been upright this long to write this post, it's time for me to go lie down again. It's a rough life I do lead. See you next week!
2 comments :
That is ridiculous that the speech therapist wears a mask!! We just completed speech therapy for my oldest at the end of summer and we had found a place that required me to wear a mask early on but then once Des Moines dropped their mask mandate in like May, no longer required them at all. They ended up being a very like-minded place. Maybe keep looking? Or I know our place did do virtual appointments. That strikes me as more meaningful than meeting in person with masks.
business really picks up this time of year in general and all the more so with a new baby on the way. i love feast season. no cheese boreds here. :)
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