This, friends, is what seasonal swap-out looks like at our house. And this is only the laundry for five of the kids; I have since worked my way through two more kids, and only have Ophelia's left to do. (I keep putting hers off because I'm in denial that she's getting bigger.) I pull everything out of their drawers from the previous season, wash it, fold and sort it, and get it into bins, and pull their current season stuff out of bins and get it into drawers. I go through everything and make lists of what I need to replace, and what I need to buy for the biggest kids if they've outgrown what we own.
My laundry taunting me.
I have washed and folded most things, and ordered the big kids' clothes, but still have to sort and bin everything, so there is still a ton of stacked laundry in the pit of despair my bedroom waiting for my time and attention and all I can do is whimper in response to its presence. Maybe someday, in a month or two, this will all be done and behind me, and then I will have a couple sweet months of freedom before I get to do it all again.
But even though it is still there giving me the stank-eye, I couldn't miss two weeks in a row of blogging, so it's just going to have to wait while I tell you what we've been up to the last couple of weeks. Two weekends ago was Easter, so let's start there.
We kicked off Good Friday with a cheeseboard, and then Saturday morning Todd and Atticus went shooting with some friends from church. The rest of the day was full of Easter prep: ironing fancy clothes, prepping a simple Sabbath dinner, and getting as much of the food for Sunday ready for easy cooking and cleanup.
Unfortunately, early Easter morning, we were awakened by Atticus coming into our room to tell us Finneas was barfing. (An extra scary way to learn such disappointing news, as Atticus is now basically the size of a full-grown man, as you can see above, and it's disorienting to wake up to him standing over your bed.) So that was how we learned that some of us would be staying home from church. Laurelai and Rocco were also feeling pretty terrible, though they weren't barfing, so I stayed home with the sick kids and Oey. But not before sending all the healthy ones off with Easter breakfast, the prettiest meal of the year!
When they got home, we had our big Easter dinner and then headed to nap.
After naps, the big kids hid eggs for the littler ones to hunt for, and then we did a cheeseboard and then went into a food coma and died. The end.
In all sorts of post-nap fashion.
Lolo found some real eggs in addition to the plastic ones that were hidden in the chicken coop.
Just kidding, we watched a movie together and then went to bed.
The kids were at least feeling well enough to keep plugging away at school, and no one seemed to get super sick after that initial day. But there has been a low-grade ick circulating since then. This has been a hard spring for us - it just feels like it has been one thing after another for the last couple of months and I, for one, am starting to feel a little fed up.
Luckily, we were all healthy for Juni's fourth birthday celebration!
Birthday breakfast pancake man.
This little girl is the chunkiest, bowling ball-iest, funniest little thing. She is so cuddly and heavy and warm and affectionate. I just can't get enough of her. She is like if God drew a cartoon of a kid, but then made it real life. Everything about her is just an exaggerated amount of cuteness.
Discovering Lolo got her her very favorite food - zucchini ("boo-keenee") - for her birthday
"My gwamma gave me TWO MONIES!"
For her birthday dinner, she requested to play at the Sonic playground. I brought along the same claw-hand I took to Atticus' birthday dinner. This must be the beginning of a beautiful new tradition. (Actually, Todd asked us to smile for the camera while my mouth was full of cheese curds, so I was too busy trying unsuccessfully to make my face look natural that I forgot to not let my hand look freaky.)
I have still been plugging away at yard work. It turns out that we have approximately one hundred bajillion dandelions in our front yard instead of grass, so that's a project we're working on tackling. My hydrangea and boxwoods seem to have survived this week's heavy hail, but my blueberry plants don't seem to have been so lucky. A neighbor showed Atticus how to tune up the mower, and he has already had a ton of mowing jobs in our neighborhood and for church family. He's a hard worker and good at what he does; I'm really proud of how he's jumping into his work with enthusiasm and excellence.
In other outside news, Callista learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She just kind of... got on and did it all of a sudden.
We have had a couple of bird stories unfold at our back windows as well. First, a little guy (whom the kids later named Bumper) flew into our window and was stunned. We left him alone for a few hours to recover, at which point he tried to fly away, fell off the deck, then was attacked by another bird, so we brought him inside. At first it seemed like he might make it, but eventually he succumbed to his injuries and all the love that was bestowed on him, and we ended the afternoon with a bird funeral.
Later in the week, another robin decided she was really into our back door for some reason. She would perch on the roof of our fireplace, gaze at the window for a minute, then fly directly into it. She would return to her perch and try again a minute later, over and over, for days. At first we thought she was trying to attack or maybe mate with her reflection, so Callista made a sign to cover the glass.
"Callista. No Hitting the Door."
But even that didn't work, even though the sign was very clear and discouraging. Over and over and over for a couple of days, this bird would fly directly into the same corner of the same window for some reason. She eventually gave up and flew away, and I'm glad for her sake. That can't be recommended behavior for optimal beak health.
We didn't just hang out with birds, we also hung out with human friends this week.
Neighborhood game of pick up.
"Party on the rooftop, top of the world, and we're dancing on the edge of the Hollywood sign." I mean, we're eating ice cream on the back deck with a family from church.
Yesterday, Todd took a day off work and we headed to Columbia for chiropractic appointments and a run up to the Amish. My friend Irene had a baby a few weeks ago and I wanted to meet her! (And she named her Susan. Baby Susan. I die.) We got some butter and milk - I'm going to experiment with freezing the milk for making yogurt later; wish me luck. I also got a few garden seedlings, though I was hoping the greenhouses would have more on hand already. And that was our day yesterday.
Lolo, dressing the part in a costume I found at Goodwill.
Unfortunately, we all seem to be sick again, so please be praying for us, and that I didn't spread it to Irene's baby. (And thank you to those who prayed for Oey's teeth - the top one popped through, and she hasn't seemed to be bothered by the lower ones at all now, so she is much happier!)
Signing off! Have a great weekend!
