what's up weekly. (Did you think I died of Canning? I almost did, but I made it through.)

Time to blog! Let's kick this pig!

You know us: we've been keeping busy the last couple of weeks.

When I last left you, we'd just celebrated Halloween and Reformation Day.  The kids weren't quite ready to give up the costumes yet, so we spent a few more days dressing up.

These two girls have been thick as thieves lately.  Thieves who sometimes get along, but often spend their time screaming at each other.  The way thieves do.

We've also had little Indians in our midst.  They built a teepee in our yard and fought tribal wars in the rain.  Is this not the stuff wonderful childhoods are made of?

I had also mentioned last time that I'd been canning like a madwoman.  I finally finished up the spiced apples and now am done with canning for a bit, though there's always something I could be putting up.  (Meat and beans are next on my list, but it might be a while before I want to get my canner out again!)  I had a lot of help getting the rest of the apples done.  Another 17 quarts for the shelves!

That Monday was Rocco's ninth birthday!  

This brother is funny, and silly, and sweet, and so smart.  He adores the babies and is so good with them.  He sticks like glue to Finneas.  He's good at school, but he double-checked with me the other day that firemen don't have to do much math, because he doesn't want to spend his whole life doing math.   He plays hard and sleeps hard.  He's a keeper.

He requested going to the Mexican restaurant for his birthday dinner.  It was our first restaurant outing with the babies, and my first evening outing with them in quite a while, so I was a little apprehensive, but it ended up going so well.  (Last year, we came to the same restaurant for his birthday, but he was sick and ate like one nacho, so the fact that he got to enjoy it made it better from the get-go.)  The waiters were so kind and friendly.  They brought the babies limes and orange slices to try, and Knox went nuts.  He loved it.  

The next day was Election Day, so we took the kids to the polling place with us.  In the evening, we stayed up way too late watching election coverage.  The next day we did mapwork for school, and the big kids colored in theirs by memory, according to the electoral results that we had so far at the time.  (I would show you, but my phone is refusing to send photos right now, I'm not sure why.)

In the afternoon, we jumped into Little House in the Big Woods again.  I love reading the Laura Ingalls books in the fall and winter.

The next day I went wild and had Todd cut my hair.  It had been nearly six months since it had been cut, since before the babies were born, and my hair always grows fast, but especially this past pregnancy with all that extra twin-pregnancy estrogen pumping.  So I had nearly six extra inches that were driving me bananas.  It was so heavy it was waking me up at night.  But I still haven't found a hair gal here in Leavenworth, and even if I had, it is hard to get away from the babies for appointments.  So Todd came to the rescue and offered to cut it for me.  And do you know what?  I love it.  He did a great job and my hair looks and feels so much better.  (Though I will say that the girls are disappointed - they were loving how long it was.)

Some of those pieces look about as long as the scissors!

 I keep trying to convince the girls it's still long, but it really is much shorter than it was.  That's how much hair I was dealing with!

Last Saturday, we threw a Van Voorst Exclusive birthday party for Rocco.  He had requested a ninja party, but Walmart didn't have any ninja-themed party supplies, so we made do with a couple of simple crafts.  They turned out pretty cute, I think!  The kids all got him gifts and made him the center of attention, which he both hates and loves.

I had spent the morning cleaning and setting up for the party, so I was still in my pajamas by the time we did the cake.  I asked Todd to be the one in the photos, and we realized that this was the first time in our fifteen years of parenting many kids that he got to bring the cake over!  I love these photos!

On Sunday, we had some sick kids so I stayed home from church with them.  When Todd got home, he had a big bag of cloth diapers from a friend.  I had mentioned in the church women's chat group that Knox kept leaking out of his diapers and had asked what brands they'd had success with.  A couple gals suggested cloth, and one offered to pass her diapers along to us.  We had done cloth with the oldest two kids, but it became too much for me when Finneas was born, and I'd never revisited it.  But the ones she was sharing were all-in-ones, much simpler and nicer than the prefold/shell situation I had done before.  All-in-ones are basically just like disposable, only they're cloth.  They're all one piece, with no need for pins or snaps or separate pieces.  The whole diaper goes on, the whole diaper comes off.  Piece of cake.  I am loving them.  They don't leak, so I am washing fewer sheets and outfits, so the laundry situation really isn't much more to manage than what I was already juggling.  

This is only a very small portion of what she sent.  There are about 35 all-in-ones, and probably another 35 pocket diapers.  These are twin-and-then-some quantities of diapers.  I am so thankful for her generosity!

Plus, LOOK AT THESE BABIES IN THESE DIAPERS.  COULDN'T YOU JUST KEEL OVER DEAD FROM CUTENESS?! 

Our past week hasn't held much more of note.  We are getting so close to Thanksgiving break I can taste it.  (And no, it doesn't taste like turkey.  It tastes like the time and opportunity to Mom Purge their rooms.  Sweet, sweet Mom Purging.  It must be done.)  A couple of the kids have still been fighting off whatever we came down with over the weekend.  Luckily, the babies haven't caught it, because it's been pretty nasty for some of the bigger kids, with fevers, nausea, major congestion, and extreme fatigue.  The congestion is what worries me most around the babies - babies who can't breathe through their noses can't eat well and can't sleep well, so everyone is miserable. 

Speaking of sleeping well, the babies have regressed a bit so I am tired.  They're still waking up at 11:00 before I go to bed, but they're also waking up again in the middle of the night.  Luckily, though, they're sleeping in and I've been able to wait until 7:30 or 7:45 to start their day, so I suppose it's all a tradeoff.  We're hanging in there.  I can't believe they'll be six months old in a few days.  Half of the first year is already gone!  I tell myself on the hard days that I'm already halfway - I can do the exhaustion for another six months; six months flies by!  But golly.  The tiredness is real!  

Luckily, I get to wake up to all these people every day.