what's up weekly. (I Love Gifs. I Love Nagging. I Love Lucy.)

Well, the biggest news this last week was that IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY, and what I want to know is why you didn't get me a present.  You got some 'splainin' to do.

To voice my disappointment, I am going to nag you with I Love Lucy gifs all through this post.  You'll be sorry.

Anyway, last Friday I went grocery shopping, and came home to a surprise party thrown by the kids in my honor!  They had decorated the house, baked me an apple crisp and some snickerdoodles, and made me handmade gifts.  In fact, they had been cooking up the scheme for days. It was so sweet that they remembered and wanted to celebrate.

On Saturday, we had friends over for Sabbath dinner, and I made pasta carbonara, which was fantastic if I do say so myself, and it was like my own little birthday present to myself because I made a truly unreasonable amount and ended up having enough to serve for dinner on Monday night, eliminating the need to cook.  Happy Birthday, Me!

Sunday was my actual birthday.

It's March 26.  Write it down so you don't forget next year.

We went to church, enjoyed the fellowship meal with friends, came home and napped, and then had popcorn party for dinner while we watched Anne of Green Gables (my pick for family movie night).  It was a great day!

Real footage of me getting ready for my Sunday nap.

Monday was made easy because I had leftovers on hand to serve for dinner, like I mentioned.  On Tuesday, we took everyone out to a Mexican restaurant in honor of Atticus' birthday (in December I promised him we could go out for Mexican food for his birthday... and it has only taken four months to make good on it.)  So again, I didn't need to cook.  Last night we were invited to dinner with friends at their house, and tonight is pizza night, so other than Wednesday, my evenings have been streamlined this week by not needing to cook!  I spent the extra time digging up our flower beds in front of the house and getting them ready for some plants, since the weather has been beautiful.  I also had some help, so some of my outside time was spent sitting in a lawn chair reading a book while someone else dug up the flower beds.

And I guess you're also here to hear news of the kids, which I find a bit rude when you KNOW it's my birthday week and therefore it's only fair you make everything about me, but whatever. 

We started our third term of school this week, and have nine more weeks to go.  Gosh, that feels like such a stretch once the weather gets nice and I'm getting itchy to call it quits.  But we started so late because of the move (we didn't start school until the first week of October), so we'll need to go until the last week of May to get everything finished.  Definitely do-able, but the weather is telling me that's actually unreasonable and we should just call it quits now.

Atticus made a Dutch baby for breakfast yesterday, and it turned out amazing.  He really likes baking and cooking and is good at it.

And here are a few more random photos from the week.

Penelope fashioned a chicken leash so our hens could go on a little stroll to the front yard.

The younger kids got swept away playing Ingalls Family.

Penelope managed to somehow be both very old and very young in one photo.

Atticus worked on his graphic novel version of the Light Brigade.

Well, there you have it.  I hope you are sufficiently ashamed of yourself for not buying me a present, but I suppose I can be a big enough person to forgive you and move on.  Here's real footage of me, headed into the weekend holding no grudges:

Happy Friday!

what's up weekly. (Family Photos and Fake Facial Hair.)

Well, it's Friday (or, technically Thursday night as I write this) and here I am, skipping book club so I can chat with you guys.  You better be grateful.  (I'm clearly kidding, though not about skipping book club.  It has been a busy week and I was peopled out.  So I decided to spend my time... peopleing with you.  Somehow that's different, though.)

On Friday after Todd got off work, we piled into the Kraken for a quick trip to Iowa.  It was my stepdad's birthday last week, and my mom threw him a surprise party with all the kids and grandkids.  So since the party wasn't until Saturday, and we were arriving Friday night, we couldn't stay with them or the surprise would be ruined.  Luckily, the house next door to my sister just so happens to be a huge Airbnb that just so happened to be available that night, so that was pretty perfect.  We stayed there overnight, and then had breakfast at my sister's in the morning.

Airbnb.  This is where we stayed up until 2 a.m. playing Scrabble.

Breakfast with the cousins.

Then we headed over to their studio for the party.

ALMOST everyone is smiling.  So close!

We got some individual photos of the kids, and I love them!

Rocco, 7

Finneas, 11

Atticus, 14

Penelope, 12

Laurelai, 9

Callista, 5

Juni, 3 (and every bit of it)

Ophelia, 15 months

After partying it up for a bit and having some lunch, we hopped back in the car and headed for home.  We made good time, so we swung through Price Chopper (yes, that is a real grocery store; someone actually named it that), grabbed a few things, and still made Sabbath dinner happen, with tablecloth and candles and everything.  I was shocked we were able to pull it off with very little stress, but I guess it really is true that one can cook all pork chops quickly through Christ who strengthens one and all that.

On Sunday, a homesteading friend at church lent me a book on Mini-Farming - you know, suburban yard-scale food production - so you know that between that and the fact that the weather has been nice, my mind has been in full-blown hamster wheel mode.  This is the part where I announce I'm going off the grid, except for the actual 'going off the grid' part. 

I do think that this summer I'd like to get some rain barrels set up in the yard, along with a small raised bed and a couple of narrow tilled beds along the outside perimeter of our back fence.  But we will see.  Best laid garden plans and all of that.

We have completed a (mostly) normal week of school.  We did have a bit of catching up to do from last week when I had to go to court, and today we'll miss our table work time since I need to go grocery shopping.  I still haven't figured out the best system for fitting grocery shopping/errands in, so for now I just go once every three weeks, skip schoolwork for the morning, and try to get it all done during Ophelia's morning nap.  I usually do a quick pick-up at Walmart, a full trip through Aldi, and then I usually have at least one other place to stop - Price Chopper/Home Depot/Tractor Supply.  I will also often pop into the library if I have time, but that's in a different part of town so I don't always have the time.  It's a tight squeeze but it works okay for now.

Our evenings this week have been a little more full.  We had our normal milk pick up on Tuesday, then after dinner an elder from church stopped by for a bit, just as part of our shepherding model.  Then on Wednesday we had friends over for dinner, so by last night I wasn't ready to sign on for another evening of commitments. 

And so, here we are.  Another Friday reached!  This weekend we have some friends joining us for Sabbath dinner, I have some homeschool organization to do, and I desperately need to clean the bathrooms and mop the floors.  Should be a grand old time.  Saturdays are supposed to be a cleaning day, but when we're gone on the weekends like we often have been lately, things really get behind very quickly.  So this should be a good opportunity to catch up!

I found stick-on mustaches at Price Chopper.  These are one of my very favorite things to buy, bar none.

So, anyway.  I'm off to grocery shop and clean and school the kids and continue to really like this life.

what's up weekly. (Mommy Dates and Court Room Drama.)

Hey hey hey!  We are back into the swing of things with school and everyone is healthy at the moment (knock on wood), so this week was full and productive and held some noteworthy news items.

First, let me head all the way back to last Friday.  I did another day of Mommy dates with the kids that hadn't yet gotten their turns.  First, I took Callista to breakfast at a restaurant in an old train depot.  It was so cute - they hadn't changed the building at all, and even some of the seating in the waiting area was original.  All the doors and windows and rooms and floors were original.  It was cute, it was better than IHOP, it was a good trip with an adorable lady, so everyone wins.

After that, I took Atticus to the Army museum on base here.  It was really interesting - there was a lot more information and more exhibits than I had anticipated.  I learned a lot about Lewis and Clark, the movement west across the frontier, etc.  I also learned some details about Sacajawea I had never known - she had been purchased as a preteen by the Frenchman who eventually became her husband; she not only carried a baby on her back on the expedition with Lewis and Clark, but she had actually delivered the baby on the trail; she had only been around nineteen on the trip, and she died around the age of twenty-five.  So crazy to try to wrap your head around all of that.

We also got to see a carriage that Abraham Lincoln rode in while he was here at the fort, and you know that, apart from the way he enlarged the power of the federal government and introduced fiat currency, I can't get over my celebrity crush on him.  Why do girls always like boys that are so bad for them?

After looking over all the displays, we popped into the gift shop, which weirdly had a great 'used book' section, and was running a sale on them, so we had a heyday.

After that, I dropped Atticus off at home and took Finneas to lunch at a retro little drive-in diner.  It was really cute: it reminded me of this shake shack that was in a nearby town growing up.  Vintage simply because it had been there doing its thing for a while, not because they were going for anything kitschy.  That's what this diner was like, and I liked it.  Hot sandwiches, milkshakes, coffee, pie.  That kind of thing. 

That evening, since everyone had remained healthy, we went to the Psalm Sing.  This month it was in a chapel fellowship hall on the army base, which I weirdly preferred to having it in folks' homes like we typically do.  We are just at the point where there are close to 100 people each month, and tons of kids, so finding a location is becoming more challenging as we grow!  It's a good problem to have to navigate.

Saturday I took Rocco out to lunch at the train depot restaurant, and then to the antique carousel.  There is a museum there, and it was just as 'meh' and depressing as you might expect, but the carousel itself was super fun.  It WHIPS around.

In answer to a couple questions I've gotten about Mommy dates: I don't get to do them very often; maybe once a year.  I don't really plan out what we talk about, my goal is to just interact with them as individuals.  It's funny how they all shine differently when it's just them.  Finneas, for example, had me in stitches the entire time until he asked what was wrong with me and surmised maybe I'd had too much sugar in my soda.  Rocco held my hand like the whole time because he is just so cuddly and has zero desire for physical distance ever, and he finally got my undivided hand holding.  Atticus got to tell me what he knew about many of the weapons we looked at at the museum and I was honestly impressed at how much knowledge he had tucked away.  Lolo didn't know what to do with all the attention so she went all Ricky Bobby and got kind of awkward and punch-drunk.  Penelope loves talking about her future, and making plans for how she will do things when she's an adult, so we got some time to do that as we walked around talking about groceries and crafting and gardening.  They just get to be themselves as individuals.  It's fun to be around!

Sunday evening, our neighbor came by to pierce Ophelia's ears.  (For those of you clenching up, your concerns have been preemptively noted and filed.  Thank you.)  I usually like to have their ears done younger than this, but time got away from us.  Everything is healing well and didn't even seem sore by the next morning, but I do think I still prefer having it done when they're younger.  Noted for next time.

Not sure what is going on.

Still having no idea what Miss Tabby is up to.

Decidedly not a fan.

Luckily, like I said, the discomfort was short lived and as of the next day, she was completely over it.  She lets me clean and turn them without even really noticing, so I know they're not still sore.  And she looks so cute!

Monday, we jumped back into school after a break.  The week was going to be a full one because everyone else was on break this week and wanting to make plans, plus the trial for the dog attack was scheduled for later in the week, so I knew our schedule wouldn't run perfectly but we got done what we could.

Wednesday night we had friends come for dinner, and this morning I have another friend coming over to chat, so we've just adjusted our schedule to accommodate those plans. 

Yesterday was the dog attack trial.  It ended up going pretty smoothly once I got there.  

So, just as a recap for those of you who are new around here: a month or two ago, there were a couple of pit bulls that got loose in the neighborhood that maliciously chased our kids, killed one of our chickens, and attacked a gal and her small dogs who were walking on the street.  The owners were contesting the charges from animal control, and even found the attacked woman on Facebook and started threatening her.  It has been a whole thing.

Unexpectedly, the owners pled guilty, which made the trial go much more smoothly and quickly.  The judge was great and sought to uphold the law as it was written in our city codes, so the dogs have some really severe restrictions put on them, but won't be put down.  I do hope the owners keep better track of them than they have in the past, or someone will likely end up getting hurt again.

Anyway.  It was my first, and hopefully last, experience in a court room.  It was not my favorite.  ALTHOUGH, I will say:  I was chatting with the bailiff, and he said his grandmother was one of twenty-eight children!  All biological siblings, only three sets of twins.  When her mother (the matriarch of all these children) died at age 98, there were so many people attending the funeral - so many children and spouses and grandchildren and great-grandchildren - that there had to be three separate services. because they wouldn't all fit in the church.  Incredible.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up the excitement, except for this little item of note: Lolo got sick again at some point this week.  I'm ready for a lot more 'boring' next week.

Applesauce with two charcoal capsules mixed in.  Worked like a charm but did not look appetizing.

Happy trails, y'all.

what's up weekly. (Mommy dates, Spring break, and Finneas turns eleven!)

Well, howdy y'all.

This week has been full of high highs and low lows, so I am currently sitting in a dimmed room while I write this, as I try to come to grips with the fact that our break week is officially about over.  It has been such a weird week, and I'm still a little surprised that we've even begun it, much less used it all up.  Let me give you the highlight reel.

Last Friday night, Todd and Atticus went to Kansas City for an evening of "beer and books" with the other men in our church.  I knew it would be late when they got home, so I planned on trying to stay up to wait for them.  (Todd and I almost never go to bed without each other.  "Oneness" is a priority we really value and try to reinforce whenever we can, including having one bedtime, one show we're watching together, one bank account, you know. That kind of thing.  Strong marriages are made up of small decisions made every day, and that's what we work for.  End of soap box speech you never asked for.)

Anyway.  The plan was to wait up.  But then I started running a fever and feeling like absolute walking death, so I had to tap out early.  (They got home at 1:00.  I never would have made it that long.)  I woke up the next morning with no fever, but still not feeling 100 percent, but we had a birthday party planned for Finneas and I hated to cancel it if we didn't have to.  We drove up to Iowa and Finneas had a great time partying it up with family for his birthday.  We got home around 9:00 that evening.

Unfortunately we forgot the camera, so there aren't many photos of his party, but here's one where he looks so happy!  I love this smile.

Through the night I was sick again, so I stayed home from church on Sunday.  

The biggest news Monday held was that it was Finneas' ELEVENTH BIRTHDAY!  Or, as Todd put it, our Eleven turned Eleven!  (We call him our "eleven" because he lives life full-throttle, like if life had a volume button that went up to ten, Finneas would be running at eleven.  He plays hard, sleeps hard, jokes hard, loves hard.)  He chose Lucky Charms for breakfast, sandwiches and chips for lunch, Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, and root beer floats for dessert.  He likes to live life on the edge; the edge of prediabetes, I mean.

Oey got eggs for breakfast, because I feel she is a little young to die of a blood sugar coma.

There isn't enough room to tell you everything I love about him.  Finneas is hard to capture in a nutshell - he is so many things at once.  He is so funny and extremely quick-witted.  He is flighty.  He has an amazing singing voice, and I wish he'd sing more.  He is so tender and affectionate with Ophelia.  He is glued to Rocco's hip.  He is competitive and loves to win - even against hypothetical people.  "Mom, am I taller than other kids my age?  Am I heavier?  Are my feet bigger? Do I eat more?"  He takes it hard when he loses.  He has a keen eye for beauty and "rightness."  He has a special heaviness on his heart for making sure unbelievers hear the gospel - his grief over the thought of people going to hell is real and deep.  He is comfortable being the center of attention and loves the limelight.  He is brave and confident and doesn't worry too much about what others think of him.  He is just Finneas- he will take a lifetime to know entirely.

These are Finn's Boots.  He loves them.  I swear they're way too small for him, but he won't say so because he knows I won't let him keep wearing them if he's officially outgrown them.  So I got him new boots for his birthday, though they're not this stylish.

I tried my best to enter into the birthday festivities, but I was still very sick on Monday.

Trying to get some sunshine without catching a chill, and looking like a steaming cup of death.

Also, I decided to learn to knit Monday night, so that's new.

The cutest little backseat knitter.

By Tuesday I was kind of on the mend, but still really fatigued.  I started taking all the supplements I was on during Covid, since my lungs were really what was taking the worst hit and I figured it couldn't hurt.  I'm wondering if I have some remaining injury or scarring from the blood clots or something.  My lungs still feel sticky and raw when I get sick.  So I might start looking into how to heal that up; any reasonable thoughts for lung support would be welcome.

Taco Tuesday helpers - you can see all my supplements there on the left side.

Fewer supplements, more faces in this shot, so this is clearly the superior content you come for.

By Wednesday, I was feeling well enough to start taking the kids out on Mommy Dates, which is what they said they were wanting to do over Spring Break.  First, I took Juni to IHOP, where I had the most disgusting omelet of my life and the 40-something hostess had nary a tooth in her skull, but Juni's cupcake pancake was a big hit.  

Then Penelope and I went to Walmart to browse.  I got her some of her own knitting supplies, and we breathed fresh hope in the garden section - the plants are coming!  She bought me a blueberry plant for my upcoming birthday that I am hoping to get planted within the next few weeks.  I'm not yet sure if I'll plant it in the ground or in a pot; we haven't lived here through a spring and summer season yet, so I don't know where there is sunshine and shade during the growing season.  I have a feeling we have a lot of shade - for a small lot, we have a weirdly high number of trees.  Something we may remedy in the long run, but for now it might dictate where I'm able to plant things.

Anyway, after our Walmart trip, we swung through Starbucks for coffee, then I went home to drop off Penelope and pick up Laurelai.  She wanted to go to a bakery, so I found one downtown that served sandwiches.  After we ate our lunch, we went to the counter to pick out a baked good.  It was quite the deliberation, as there were a lot of items to choose from, so I kind of half-apologized to the guy behind the counter for taking so long.  "Oh, this is nothing.  Some people come in and take forever.  One family came in last week with six of those - " (pointing at Laurelai) " - AND had their elderly parents with dementia with them.  You have no idea what I go through in customer service sometimes."  And I was like, wow.  That sounds really hard for you.  How dare they deign to ask you to serve them cupcakes for ten minutes of your life, like you're paid to do?  However do you bear up under the burden of living?  Has anyone offered you a raise and a televised award?  (I obviously didn't say any of this, but he would have deserved it if I had.  I wish I had; the silence was awkward.  He has no idea what I go through dealing with customer service sometimes.  Someone needs to give me a raise and a televised award.)

She doesn't seem too shook by our unpleasant interaction.

Wednesday afternoon, I let Callista stay up from nap to listen to our Little House on the Prairie read-aloud time, but she got a killer headache afterwards, which I chalked up to missing sleep.  But then Juni woke up from her nap with a raging headache as well, and she spiked a fever.  So I put both girls in the bath, then Juni went to bed early.  

They woke up yesterday feeling better, but Penelope came down with the crud.  She barely got out of bed or ate anything all day.  So we shall see what today holds.  I am hoping to take some of the other kids out for their Mom time.  Callista wants to go out for breakfast (though I am going to have to break the news that we will NOT be returning to the Worst IHOP on the Planet and will have to find an alternative), Atticus wants to go to the military museum here in town, and Finneas wants to go to the drive-in burger place.  Hopefully they all feel well enough for it.  There is also a Psalm Sing tonight, so we will see if everyone is able to go or if some of us will need to stay home, and then Rocco wants to go to the antique carousel tomorrow.  Lots of unknowns at this point!

Lastly, I sewed Laurelai a skirt yesterday out of some fabric she got for Christmas.  It turned out pretty well, but I forgot to take a photo- I will try to remember to do that.

Anyway, that was our week - at least we can say it was memorable!  I didn't get to some of the things I was needing to do, like making sure I have a plan in place for starting back to school in a couple of days, but how important is that really?  ...Actually, pretty important.  I should probably go work on that now.  I don't have any more time to sit around chitchatting with you riffraff, I've got stuff to do.  Later, gators.