what's up weekly. (two weeks of news, none of it strictly current.)

Okay, folks.  I'm still trying to play catchup from the weeks when I didn't have time or internet service to post, but I still had a lot of stuff to report.  So today, I'm going to cover the two weeks between September 2 and September 16.

If you remember, we had moved into our new house on August 31, and Laurelai's birthday had been on the 29th.  So my parents came down and we christened the house with a birthday party the first Saturday we were here. 

Laurelai LOVES good cheese, so Juni got her cheese for her birthday.

The following night, we had our first family movie night (A Knight's Tale! Obviously.) and our new house further developed the distinct Van Voorst atmosphere.

The following Monday, my sister and her family came to visit, and they helped us unpack and fix a few things that broke on the moving truck.  They also helped us a hang our new TV, which looks less rinkydink on our basement wall than the old one did.

Flying a drone with Uncle Austin.

See?  Much better.

We started to unpack the Book Room (soon to be called the Conservatory, once I get things put away in there so I can bring in a piano and set up a sewing table).  The kids are loving having access to their books again.

In addition to spending time reading, they've been spending SO MUCH TIME outside.  Our outdoor space is fantastic - they can play on the deck while I'm making breakfast, or they can stay on the grass inside the fence if just the little kids are out.  If the big kids are out, they can head to the big field behind our yard and climb trees, play football, or just run.  (They have been sleeping like rocks since we got here.)  We have also made quick friends with the neighbors across the street, so they often go over their to ride bikes/scooters/power wheels/hover boards/what have you, and they've also gotten to play on the swing set.  The neighborhood is full of kids, and our across-the-way neighbor even keeps his freezer stocked with popsicles that he offers the kids, so it's basically Kid Heaven.

Our dress up clothes have become permanent indoor-outdoor attire.

Now we have TWO Scooter Boos in the house.

Biker Gang.

The neighbor bought the kids squirt guns.  We live in the most friendly neighborhood on the planet.

At night, all the lanterns along our street (every house has one) all light up at the same time, and the street is illuminated in such a cozy way.  Our street forms a closed loop with the next street over, and there is no through-traffic, so it is so neighborly and quiet.  There is a block party going on tomorrow night, and everyone knows everyone else.  We feel so at home already.

All the time outdoors has also meant lots of specialty creatures making their way inside, and lots of time on the Google (or the Off-Brand Google, for privacy and principle reasons) trying to identify our finds.

We've also celebrated a few milestones already since we've been here.  Finneas celebrated a half birthday.

Ophelia turned nine months.  This is always such a weird monthly milestone - it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that she was in my belly as long as she has now been on the outside.  So weird.  She celebrated by sprouting another bottom tooth.  (That takes the count to three on the bottom, two on the top.)  She still swims her way everywhere, though she does spend a lot of time getting her knees under her and rocking like she's going to attempt crawling at some point.  I halfway hope she doesn't; she is so cute mermaiding her way through the house.  She eats every tiny bit of anything she finds on the floor, which is a lot of tiny bits in a household like ours.  Her head is so fuzzy and warm, and her little self is so squishy, I just can't even stand it.  She is our Scooter Boo, our Pheedee Belle, and we love her to bits.  We all fight over who gets to hold her.  I am so glad that as her mom, I hold the trump card, or I'd never get a turn.

I can't find my curtain rod brackets, so a quilt is nailed to the wall.  Classy stuff, Paige Van Voorst.

We started celebrating our Sabbath a little differently since our move.  We start on Saturday nights with a big, pretty meal.  I have to say, I don't hate it. 

The kids have really pitched in and helped in so many ways.  Here you see my middle set making taco fixings for me, and Atticus building a bookshelf.  Can I just say I love having bigger kids?

They prepped all this food on Tuesday afternoon, because I need something I can easily get on the table right away when we get home from our milk pick up after work on Tuesday nights.  Get this: our milk comes from Jerseys and is about 25% cream.  Insane.  I really really miss our Amish runs like crazy, but the milk down here is gooood.

That quart jar holds just the cream I skimmed off this one gallon pitcher of milk!  So far I have made ice cream and butter and white sauce and coffee creamer... just to try to keep up with the cream!

Whew, and I have one more bit of news to chronicle.  We had our windows professionally washed by a friend from church and I am officially addicted to having clean windows.  It makes such a huge difference.  He did a great job, even with the peanut gallery breathing down his neck the whole time.  If you're in the area, I fully recommend Kansas City Local Window Cleaning.  That's not paid or incentivized in any way; I'm just super happy with the results!  Thank you, Kevin!

Aaaaaaaand that's all I've got in me to write, and I'm guessing it's all you've got in you to read.  I will keep working my way forward and maybe I'll catch up to the present soon!  In the meantime, I'm going to go live my life the way these photos make me feel:

It's a good, good life you guys.