how to take a road trip with young kids.

It's that time of year again, when everyone is planning summer trips.  We'll be headed on a road trip sometime this summer, so I've been pulling out my trusty master lists to get prepared.  This week, I'll be reposting a series of road trip posts I wrote, in case it helps anyone else prep for their own vacations!

The first year we made our annual trip to South Dakota, Atticus was two and Penelope was 16 months old.  (The other kids were but a glimmer in Todd's eye, so we had tons of leg-room in the van.)  Penelope spent six hours each way screaming her tiny head off, and approximately forty minutes total sleeping.  Considering it was a sixteen-hour drive (one way!), it got really long, really quick.  I was all, NEVAH AGAINNNN!

But the draw of getting to spend so much time with Todd's parents each year kept pulling us back, and we've now made that long drive four or five times.  It has actually gotten easier each time, even though we add a new kid to the crew pretty much every year.  I have gotten much better at preparing for and organizing our trips, and it has made a world of difference, so I thought I'd spend a couple of posts sharing some of the wisdom I've gained from the School of Road Trip Hard Knocks.  Today, let's talk about what to actually have in the van to make it more likely everyone survives the day.

Car bags: I pack a bag of stuff for each kid (and myself!) to keep everyone as occupied as possible over the long-haul.  Usually I let the kids pick one or two toys and books of their own to take, but then I fill the rest of the space in their bags with dollar store items that are kept a surprise until the morning we leave.  Here are some of the items that have been winners for our kids:

*Coloring books and crayons
*Pencils and notebooks
*Stickers

*Window stickers

*Barbies, dolls, action figures
*Where's Waldo? books
*I Spy books

*Board books or chapter books, depending on the age of the reader


Food and drink: On an all-day trip, we usually eat a simple breakfast in the car, a picnic lunch at a park on the way, and dinner from a drive through or restaurant.  We also shake up our normal routine a little and allow for a snack or two throughout the day.  I try to pack food that doesn't smell, rot, stain, or melt if spilled, and I try to limit the carbs, since everyone gets crabby if they're chowing down sugar and starch all day.  Things like beef jerky, hard boiled eggs, fruit and veggies, nuts, deli meat, string cheese, Larabars, and a limited amount of raisins, chips or crackers have worked well for us.  I will do a more in-depth post soon about this, including how to road trip while grain-free.

Latching pencil cases make great road trip plates.  You can load them up with food, and then close them in order to pass them back and forth from the front to the back of the van without spilling stuff everywhere.  Plus, they're easily washed, and they stack pretty flat when not in use.

I only let the kids have water in the car, for two reasons: 1) if it spills, it doesn't stain or smell, and 2) they don't "bored-chug" water.  They really only drink when they're thirsty, so then we're making fewer unexpected pee breaks.  For lunch, I usually pack each of them a small soda.  They almost never get soda the rest of the year except for occasional little sips of mine or Todd's, so they really look forward to having their own, and it's become a special road trip tradition.  I've loved packing those little mini cans of 7-Up, or small bottles of real-sugar New York Seltzer.  Whatever it is, I make sure it's clear so it doesn't stain their clothes if it spills.

Entertainment: we do pack DVDs, but we really try to push them as long as possible before putting one in.  If you start the DVDs too soon into the day, they get super bored and antsy and grumpy.  Since we try to drive in two- to three-hour stretches, we let them spend the first stretch without a movie, which usually goes well.  They spend the time eating breakfast, then digging through the new stuff in their bags.  But then the second stretch is 'movie time,' and we alternate the stretches this way throughout the day.  We don't put a movie in after lunch, since the kids are more likely to fall asleep if they're not watching something.  We make sure to pack full-length movies and episodic stuff.  This year, the kids really liked watching the old 60's episodes of Batman.

Bring a really wide playlist of music everyone in your family likes.  Don't just pack those horrible preschool singsongy tunes.  Our whole family loves Family Force 5, if you're needing some inspiration.  We spent hours listening through their albums on this last trip.

Other necessities: Pack a potty chair and some plastic bags to line it with.  You probably won't need it, but on the off-chance you do, you'll be super grateful you have it.  Even big kids can use it in urgency/emergency situations.  Don't forget toilet paper and flushable wipes!

Kids' Dramamine, a barf bucket (with a bunch of plastic bags for easily-disposed-of liners), and an old towel have also been necessities for us. This year, we also had some success with Altoids for the littler kids, and letting them sniff peppermint essential oil.  I think next year, I'll try adding child-sized Seabands and ginger chews to our arsenal.  (Update:  I'll be doing a new, separate post this year on what our carsickness toolkit looks like now.)  The last things you want in the van are sad, barfy kids and the pervasive, wafting scent of vomit on a long drive.  Ask me how I know.

Scissors, quart-sized ziplocks, paper towels, and plastic grocery sacks can cover a multitude of travel problems.  Pack more of each than you think you'll need.

Surprise Fun Attacks: I like to pack some special things in my personal bag for when some of the stretches get really, really desperate.  Usually, this happens on the way home.  Everyone is tired, and grouchy, and sick of being in the car.  At this point, I'll pull out some funny items I've packed for this very reason.  Some of the things that have been hits with our kids:

*Nose glasses
*Paper crowns (the kids spent over an hour covering these in stickers)
*Stick-on mustaches
*Glow sticks and glow bracelets
*Glittery, holographic or bubble stickers

But most importantly, keep calm yourself.  Pack yourself some coffee and chocolate.  Road trips with kids can be really, really fun, and they're making great memories, but it's also chaotic to organize it all.  See the funny in stuff - just laugh about it as best you can.  Because that's the stuff you'll remember - I remember laughing so hard my stomach hurt, and my face ached, when Finneas was sitting on that potty chair in the Badlands.  Yeah, it meant we had to carry a turd in a plastic bag in our van for a few hours before there was an available trash can, and we had to throw his undies away, and everything kind of smelled like poop.  But daaaang, that photo op was hilarious.  Your kids will feed off of your mood, and you can set the tone for a really fun day - or a really crappy one.  So choose to have a blast!

Tomorrow I'll be posting about great road trip snacks and foods for kids, including the gluten-free and grain-free set.  Thursday, I'll give you a run-down of the master packing list I use to make sure nothing gets forgotten when packing for a large family - but it's easily adapted to smaller families as well!  Stay tuned!

'what's up' weekly.

Last weekend kicked off with Todd heading to an overnight leader's retreat, so I ordered in Jimmy John's and the kids and I laid low.  Saturday morning, we went shopping for kids' clothes and grabbed McDonald's for lunch. (You can tell when I'm pregnant, and tired, and Todd's not home, because I spend way too much money on really crappy food.  However, during the week when Todd is around - but I'm still pregnant and tired - it's not much better.  For dinner this week, we had chicken nuggets and fries TWICE, and once we had hot dogs and mac and cheese.  The way I'm feeding my kids (and husband) is really becoming concerning.

Saturday night, I rounded up a sitter for the kids so Todd and I could go to dinner with some of the other leaders and their wives, and I chose to get dressed up.  This proved to be a mistake for three distinct reasons:

1. I wore a white dress and immediately spilled strawberries on it.

2. Said dress required wearing Spanxx because (pay attention, because they don't tell you this) pregnancy makes a person really lumpy.  Like, you think you're signing on for just the one big lump in the front, but with it comes all kinds of smaller rolls and bumps and mounds in weird places which need to be smoothed out.  But they also don't make Preggo Spanxx, which I think is motivated by the pure common sense that says pregnant ladies shouldn't wear shapewear.  So I attempted normal-lady Spanxx.  Spoiler: it was a terrible idea.

3.  I was the only one who dressed up, so I felt really overdressed.  Until I spilled strawberries on myself, like I said, which really brought the whole look back down into the realm of 'very casual.'


Sunday evening, we had a member's celebration at church.

Sunday was the first really sunny day since last weekend when Penelope turned seven, so Todd took her "7" photos.


Monday, I had a midwife appointment, where she told me everything is progressing just fine.  But I'm still pretty overwhelmed by the unknowns of having a baby in this hospital system, so those fears weren't really alleviated at all by being weighed and sent home.  I think I need to schedule a hospital tour.

Tuesday was my first completely free day in a long time, and I was so looking forward to it.  We're on break from school, Connection Group is on break for the summer so I didn't have to clean, and I didn't have anything on the agenda.  I didn't even change out of my pajamas the entire day.  And, wouldn't you know it, I had no idea what to do with myself, and even now, I'm not totally sure how I spent it.  I know I spent time reading... and answering old emails.... but like, that might have been it?  Fail.

Wednesday was normal - my trip to the Amish, a stop at the library, and a last get-together with my Wednesday college girl before she leaves for two months on a missions trip to Vietnam! 

Thursday's big news is that I made my very first sale of something I listed on a B/S/T page.  I have to say, I was weirdly freaked out by the prospect of having a stranger come to my house to pick it up.  But it went really well - I didn't get murdered or pillaged, in case you were wondering.  Now here's to praying our loveseat and jogging stroller sell, too, so that I get some space in the garage cleared out.  I'm wanting to move our clothing bins out there and install a family closet in our laundry room, but it all kind of depends on the big stuff in the garage selling first.  (Hint, hint: anyone local in need of a loveseat, or a jogging stroller/bike trailer?)

Which brings us to today.  I'm wanting to focus on getting the basement cleared out.  The carpet guys are coming to install our new basement carpet on the 30th, and sometime before then, I need to get the whole basement cleaned out so that we can just move the furniture out of the way the day before.  But this means cleaning out the deep freeze so it can be unplugged, and finding storage space for a bunch of books and décor in the meantime.  I'd also love to finally haul away the dead washing machine that's been sitting in my laundry room for months.  And a friend is giving us a bunk bed set for the boys' room, so I'll have some rearranging to do in there.  So, lots to do before the 30th! 

Wish me luck!

how I store kids' clothes.

So, I walked you through how we buy kids' clothes, but the natural next question arises: what do we do with it once it's home?  Short answer: we try to get it organized into storage as soon as possible.

Long answer: When we head out for our yearly shopping trip, I'm primarily going for the biggest two kids' next sizes.  For instance, Penelope is currently in a size 6, so most of our recent shopping was for clothes in a size 7.  This way, we're prepared ahead of time.  So I make sure to have empty, labeled bins on hand for when we get home.  This picture is hard to see, but it's a photo of my 'Girls 7' and 'Boys 8' boxes, which were basically empty before our shopping trip.  I leave them out so that once I get home, I can just dump stuff right in there, check off the list I keep right in the bin, and then put the bins away until they're needed.

We also purchase some 'straggler needs' items for the other kids as we go, such as replacement 5T shorts for the ones Atticus totally destroyed, and that Finneas will need soon, etc.  If there is a lot of stuff in these other sizes, or if I'm feeling particularly motivated, I'll pull out all the necessary bins and just pop stuff in them at that point, too.  Though I'm often not that motivated, so I frequently just dump them in our 'everything' bin, which I'll get to in a second.

On the off-chance that we bought a few items that were even bigger than the next size up (like that time when Atticus was four, but I found a pair of killer size 7 jeans on clearance at Old Navy for 47 cents!), I keep a single bin labeled, "Too-Big Clothing."  (I realize my use of English when labeling isn't great, but it gets the job done.)  I put all those items in there to be sorted later, once I have individual bins dedicated to those sizes.  (Again, janky photo.  Fluorescent lighting in a windowless room.)

However, sometimes random stuff comes trickling in - say, a few hand me downs from a friend, or just buying a single item in one size - and I don't feel like pulling out the proper bin just to sort one or two things.  (You can see in the top photo that all my storage bins are kind of precariously stacked on top of each other, so it can be kind of a hassle to get one out every single time there's something to put away.)  For those instances, I have an open bin (the 'everything bin') I just dump stuff into all willy-nilly, and once it's full, I'll take an hour or so to sort through it and put stuff where it goes.

I basically do the exact same thing with shoes - I have labeled bins for each gender and size, and one large bin for shoes that, for whatever reason, need to be sorted later.

I also like to keep two other lidless bins close on hand - one for winter items to take to consignment/Goodwill, and one for summer items.  That way, as I'm putting outgrown clothing away and I find something that never really got worn, or that I didn't like seeing the kids in for whatever reason, I just stick it right in there, and it's ready to haul at donation time.

And that's basically how we keep clothing from overrunning our life.  If you want further clarification on our storage bin system, you can check out this past post.  The photos are from the storage area in our last house, so the room I'm currently working with is different, but the overall organizational system has stayed the same.

my not-so-secret weapon for efficient kids' clothes shopping.

I'm not lying when I tell you that I've got shopping for kids' clothing down to a science.  A streamlined, efficient science that doesn't make me want to blow my brains out. 

Here's my secret weapon: a master list of the year's clothing needs for each kid. 

(PDF of the Boys' List)

(PDF of the Girls' List)

Once a year, I assess what we will need for the upcoming year of sizes, and once I'm all organized, we head out for the year's single shopping trip.  That's right, we only go once a year to buy kids' clothes - on Tax Free weekend before school starts in the Fall.  Almost of the warm weather stuff is
still out, and deeply discounted on clearance, and all the cool weather stuff is out and on sale for back-to-school shoppers.  Plus, they don't charge sales tax that day.  It's really the best time we've found to do it all at once.  I do usually have to go back and purchase coats, boots and snowpants at a later date, but often Old Navy and Gap give out Super Cash (or something similar) for use online later when you purchase a certain amount, so I can often just order the remaining items from home with the coupons I earned in the store.

We typically hit Old Navy, Target and the Gap in one trip.  Before we leave, I make sure to tally off anything we already have on hand in the targeted size.  As we hit each store, I continue to tally off the items that have been purchased.  When we've purchased as many of each item as we need, we stop buying.  It keeps us from overspending and being overrun with a bunch of unnecessary stuff down the road.

You may notice that we don't purchase much of each item, all things considered.  This list provides us with enough everyday clothing to last each kid around a week and a half.  Part of my secret is that, because we homeschool and aren't seen in public every day, I'm fine with them wearing the same item of clothing a couple of times before washing (as long as it's not physically dirty or stained).  There's a fine line between efficient and lazy, but I like to think this falls on the side of efficient - less money spent on clothing, less money spent on water and energy, less time and will-to-live spent on doing laundry.  Plus, stuff doesn't wear out as quickly if it's not washed every single time, so I don't have to replace it as often.  Everyone wins.  (One more boon of homeschool life - less laundry!)

A couple further tips for using this list -

1.  Put a fresh print-off of the list in each storage bin as you're putting away outgrown sizes.  That way, if you know the next kid who will wear this size will need a few new pairs of jeans to replace the ones that got trashed by the last kid, you can make note of it then and there, making life so much easier for you when you get that bin out next time and gear up to go shopping again.

2.  If you're more of a 'gradual' purchaser than an 'all-at-once' purchaser, you can still get use out of this.  One year, I just wrote out each kid's list on an index card and kept it in my wallet - that way I knew what I had and what I still needed whenever I'd come across a great deal in the clearance section or something.  I'd just mark it off as I went, and avoided overpurchasing items I already had plenty of at home.


Tomorrow, I'll show you how I store all their out-of-season clothes, and clothing sizes that aren't currently in use, to keep this system from overtaking our lives (and our house).  (Thanks for the post idea, Lissa!)

why we don't typically buy used kids' clothing anymore.

Now, don't get me wrong.  There are so many things about used kids' clothes that I adore.  First and foremost, the price.  Obviously.  But beyond that, there's great stuff out there that has a lot of life left in it, but just needs to be passed along to a new home.  We love accepting hand-me-downs from friends and family (many of whom dress their kids way better than we do, so our kids actually look trendier in their hand-me-downs than in their new clothes).  We also love passing along what we have on hand that is in good shape, but not a great fit for our family for whatever reason.  (Atticus WON'T wear skinny jeans, which I learned the hard way after buying him like six pairs in one size.  So... down the road they went.)

We used to rely exclusively on used kids' clothes.  For the first few years of child-rearing, I would make out the year's list of clothing needs, budget about $75 per oldest kid of each gender, and garage sale throughout the summer for all of it.  It's a beautiful thing, being able to get the entire year's wardrobe for all the kids covered for less than 200 bucks.  It's a beautiful thing to pay a quarter for a shirt from the Gap that still looks brand-new.

But the more kids we had, the more overwhelming garage sale-ing became - driving around for an entire morning, in and out of car seats, trying to keep tabs on everyone while simultaneously trying to find what I was looking for... it was totally exhausting.  Then I'd get home and realize that, because I'd been distracted, half the stuff I'd purchased had stains or holes or something.  It was super demoralizing after all that time and effort.

Another thing I was finding as we had more kids was that garage sale clothes just weren't holding up through all of them.  Clothing that was already 3-5 years old, and had been previously worn by at least a kid or two, doesn't last long being then passed down the line in our family.  (I just switched out sizes for Rocco a couple of weeks ago, and came across garage-saled items that I had purchased for Atticus that are easily 12 or 13 years old at this point, and have been passed through four or five boys!)

And last, spending one afternoon a week looking up garage sales and trying to plan an efficient trip with a high yield, and then spending the next morning driving around to all the good sales, was such a time-suck.  Everything costs something, often either money or time, and as the number of V.V. kids grew, I had less and less time to spare.

What about thrift and consignment stores, you ask?  I tried these sources, but often the quality of stuff at these places is comparable to many garage sales, but the prices are higher.  And honestly, I get wayyy overstimulated in stores like this.  The sheer amount of random, individual pieces all nestled together in a sort of organized, hanging pile, triggers some kind of Bells palsy episode in myself.  Not sure why garage sales didn't do that to me, but stores set up this way give me serious anxiety.  So I actively avoid them.

So a few years ago, we just decided we were going to buy new, for a few reasons:

1. We knew everything was going to end up being passed through a bunch of kids of our own, so it would end up holding up better through that process and not needing to be replaced as frequently down the line.

2.  If we ended up somehow overpurchasing, or something didn't fit right or had some kind of defect, we could return it for a refund.  And if an item ended up being something that didn't work overall with our family, we could consign it much more easily, or pass it on to friends without feeling like we were giving them stuff that was already totally trashed.

3.  This is really dumb, but everything color-coordinates when you buy it at the same time.  Stores tend to put out clothing that all looks really good together in the store - all the colors and patterns work well together.  It's a sales tactic, and it works.  And it all still looks that good once you get everything home.  If I buy Atticus four button-up shirts and three layering sweaters for church, they will all work together, and I can mix them up in endless outfits.  Plus, whatever I put Penelope in for church will likely look good with Atticus' outfit, without being matchy-matchy, since it was also purchased at the same time and at the same store.  It's a small thing, but I really, really like this.

4.  We could easily purchase everything we'd need for the year, basically in one day.  Yeah, seriously.  One day.  Compared to the time I'd been spending before, this has been a total dream.



Tomorrow, I'll tell you more about what time of year we typically go in order to minimize how much we're spending, and I'll share with you my 'master list' for each kid that helps me ensure we're covered for the whole year.

clothing shopping ugggggggggh.

Well, after procrastinating for the last one million months, I finally went and bought clothing for the kids.  I have been switching out their seasonal clothing, washing everything, going through their clothing bins, getting rid of anything unused or in bad shape, and inventorying what all we need at this point.  It seriously took me like six weeks to gear up for this shopping trip, and it was time.  The kids all needed summer clothes to some extent, but especially Atticus, who only had one pair of shorts that fit him, and that were needing to be washed 2-3 times per week to keep up with how quickly they were getting muddy or otherwise unpresentable-to-the-public.  It was time.

Todd was at a leaders' retreat Friday night through Saturday, so Saturday morning I braved the stores by myself with the kids.  First, we stopped at consignment to sell back some stuff that hasn't gotten much use.  I caved to the pressure to buy Atticus a pair of khaki shorts there that he had fallen in love with.  I was all, "They look decent.  They're a decent brand.  They cost three bucks.  Sure."  And then we got to the car, I let him try them on, and the zipper all-out broke as he was zipping them up.  And I was like, BURNED AGAIN! NO MORE CONSIGNMENT STORE CLOTHING!  (Not that I'm opposed to buying used, we've just implemented a general policy of investing in new clothes - I'll tell you why tomorrow.)  I mean, they had only cost three bucks, so that was nice, but still.  It was a bummer that we hadn't even owned them for ten minutes when they broke.

So we headed over to Old Navy next, where I knocked out most of my list, which now included a replacement pair of khaki shorts. 

After getting what we could there, we headed to Target to fill in the gaps of things we weren't able to find at Old Navy.  This week, Todd will make a run to the Gap Outlet store to fill in the last few straggler needs.  And then all the kids should be prepared until at least fall.

We definitely survived the outing, and there wasn't a single meltdown.  (I'm really the only one at risk of melting down in these scenarios; the kids are much more mature.)  I didn't exactly set myself up for complete success, either - I had only taken the double stroller, so while Rocco and Laurelai were contained, I still had three moving pieces to keep track of.  Looking back, I should have put Finn and Laur in the double stroller, and put Rocco in the Ergo on my back, or let Penelope push him in the umbrella stroller.  I now know for next time.  The kids did so great, but there are so many of them, and anything that requires concentration is difficult to accomplish when I'm so distracted making sure they're all accounted for.  But it really did go well, all things considered.

Later this week, I'll tell you why we don't typically choose to buy second-hand anymore, even though we used to purchase used clothing almost exclusively.  I'll share with you why (and how) we typically manage to only go shopping once a year for all the kids' clothing - and then we're done shopping until the next year.  And lastly, I'll show you my master list of yearly clothing needs for each kid, and how I use it to streamline organizing my storage bins and my purchases.  So stick around this week if you're at all curious about any of this!

the weekly 'what's up.'

Well, we have wrapped up another full week of life and school!  We finished the six-week stretch that constitutes the first half of our third trimester, meaning after next week's break, we only have six weeks left.  This may seem like no biggie, or it may seem like we're finishing late, but 1) we do year-round school, so we're actually finishing right on time, and 2) we're so close to finishing. 

We have never actually reached the end of a school year, because of moving or newborn craziness.  It has helped that, in the past, we haven't really had to - I am a huge proponent of waiting to get truly serious about formal school until a kiddo is six or seven, so we were never falling behind.  But now here we are, so very close to the actual end of a school year, and feeling really good... also, feeling a bit panicked because we appear to need to really push hard to meet our year's required hours.  Not impossible, it will just necessitate some intentionality in these last few weeks.

So, all that to say, we are headed into a break week, which I'm excited for, and which coincidentally pairs with finals week at Mizzou.  The week seems to promise a bit of a lull, which is desperately needed.  Granted, I will hopefully be spending it cleaning out the basement and garage, but that's still a lull in my book.

Okay, but enough about next week... let's move on to telling you about the rest of the past week.  Prepare for a bunch of random photos interspersed throughout.  Like this one, that documents the outcome of Rocco's newfound climbing skills:

Last Friday found me grocery shopping with Penelope, so we could round up the last few things we needed for her birthday party.  She's such a great buddy to take along on errands.  I love getting to know the kids in one-on-one settings - it's much different than knowing them only as part of 'the group.'

Saturday was her seventh birthday, and my parents and my grandpa came down for her party.

Sunday was standard: church, lunch, naps, dinner, movie night.

Monday, I watched a friend's kiddos in the morning and did a Facebook Live chat in the evening on the topic of Babywise.  Now it is no longer a secret that I am basically just a nonchalant Babywise mom, while there are a few of its principles that I will cling to with a white-knuckle grip.  I'm nothing if not an enigma.

Tuesday was our last official Connection Group until June.  It was simultaneously sad and a huge relief.  My house is going to turn into such a pit without a weekly cleaning deadline! 

Wednesday was super normal: trip to the Amish, meetup with a college gal.

Yesterday was super not-normal: in the morning we headed over to Kingdom City to pick out our new basement carpet.  I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED.  It is going to look KILLER.  Maybe if I'm feeling especially techy and motivated, I'll post a photo of the sample on Instagram today.  (Maybe.)  The guys will be coming to install it on the 30th... so. piping. hot. excited.

Then last night, Todd's company threw a big family fest, and we had a great time.  They had Chik-Fil-A cater it (OKAY!), and there were lawn games, and fire trucks, and police officers, and a guy dancing around in a very mangy-looking Tiger suit, which the kids weirdly liked the best of any of it.  There were sno-cones, but as it was fah-reezing cold, and they'd spent the better part of the evening being plied with breaded chicken nuggets, and fruit, and cookies, and soda... I was all, CARB EMBARGO.  (I want to make a Sno-Cone/No-Cone joke, but it's just not coming together as seamlessly as I'd like.)

And in addition to all that, Rocco turned 18 months.

And that brings us to today.  I HAVE NOTHING ON MY AGENDA.  Not a blessed thing.  No one is coming over, we're not scheduled to go anywhere, the forecast holds sunsunsun... it's shaping up to be a great day of Friday school, rest, and catching up on some reading with the windows open. 

It's a good day to be alive.

penelope's birthday party.

Saturday was Penelope's seventh birthday, so we threw the standard V.V. party: a few decorations, a cake, taco salad for lunch, and fun with extended family!

I let the kids pick out what we eat on their birthday, so Penelope picked pancakes.  I attempted to make a pancake lady for her, which ended up kind of looking like my elementary school girl scout leader, which wasn't the look I was going for, but Penelope didn't seem to mind.  (Please ignore the terrible lighting in the house - we live in a cave-hole-burrow-house, plus it was raining outside.)

Penelope had requested a butterfly-themed party, so Todd found a set of wings for her to wear, and I made her a butterfly cake, which she got to b'dazzle herself.

For lunch, we did our standard taco fare (although, this time I caliente'd things up with some Tecate beer with limes for the non-gestating adult guests).  I love taco salad bar for guests because everything can be made in advance (I just put the meat in the crock pot overnight with some beef broth, and it's ready to be drained and seasoned in the morning), and can be cleaned up pretty quickly, and it can easily accommodate a variety of different food allergies/sensitivities if necessary.  Just a little tip from me to you.

Here's a flattering shot of me, slouching and chewing with my mouth open.  You're welcome.

After lunch was cleaned up, we got to dig into the butterfly cake. (Once Penelope blew out her candle, of course!)

Then we opened gifts.  In this photo, you can tell Penelope opened a Lego set, because the boys are all up in her grill to see it.  They did not act this way when she unwrapped the Farmer Barbie.  (Which, by the way, and on a side note, was a gift from Atticus, and the sweetest gift ever.  He went to Walmart with me to pick it out, and spent SO LONG deliberating about what to get her - he finally decided on the Barbie and a My Little Pony figurine... and when he got up to the register, he wanted me to tell the cashier he wasn't buying them for himself.  He was too shy to tell her himself.  Then when we got home, he had so much fun picking out the perfect bag, and the perfect tissue paper; he wanted everything to be exactly what she'd want.  IT WAS SO STINKING SWEET I COULD DIE.)  Anyway, photo of the Lego Swarm:

And an extra item of note: Laurelai made herself some butterfly wings out of party hats.  Because she's adorable.

And that was Penelope's birthday!

and we FINALLY have a name to announce!

No, I'm not leading you on.  Yes, I do mean we've named the new baby.  No, I will not pull shenanigans like I did last time and tell you we'll be naming her Kevin, or Brian, or Kyle.  Her very real and actual name will be...


Callista Janelle.

I would go into tons of wordy wordiness explaining why and how we came to the decision, but Todd wrote this beautiful email to her with all of that, so I'm just going to copy and paste that, since it's way better written than anything I could muster.

"Subject: the story behind your name

Team Van Voorst is proud to present…

Callista Janelle Van Voorst

Callista means "most beautiful" or "lovely." It is not a generic beauty like the type that people aspire to selfishly obtain or possess, it is of the highest, most honorable, and unique kind that inspires a person to aspire to live in a way that rises to match its splendor. It is a beauty that inspires gratitude rather than greed. It compels the onlooker to be grateful for the privilege of partaking. It is a sunset, an ocean view, a waterfall, a grand canyon, or any other of the things which photographers attempt to capture. The joy of setting your eyes upon it is enough. It makes you feel safe and scared all at the same time. It connects you to the depths of who we are and disconnects you from the mundane in which we often swim. It is a beauty that calls one to rise within oneself, to be honorable in response to observing honor, to be noble in reaction to seeing nobility, to be grander because there exists in actuality grandeur. This is the essence of the name Callista and God has granted women the unique opportunity to be the muses of a fallen world. There is a cheap beauty that men clamor to click on and then there is a beauty that causes men to pause and consider their ways, a beauty that arrests their attentions and calls them to be more than for what they have settled. Callista, may you remind people that there is a God and in such a way that inspires people to godliness by grace through faith in Christ alone, who is the very image of the invisible God, the beauty, the grandeur, the majesty that rallies souls to drink deeply the draughts of divine reality. 

Janelle means "Yahweh is gracious." Many will say it means, "God is gracious," which is true, but it refers to a particular God, not just generically to any being one might choose to call "god." It refers to the one true, Triune god, Yahweh. He is gracious. It not only states this as an emphatic fact of reality, but also, in a way, makes it clear that He ALONE is gracious. Grace is unforced and undeserved and only the one, true, uncreated God is in a position to give it as He alone is forced by no one. The god made by the hands of men owes its life to his creator. All that to say, the only God Who is, is gracious because He wants to be. The one, true, unforced, uncaused cause of all forces is the God who gave His one and only Son to save sinners because He wanted to. Janelle also happens to be the middle name of Paige's sister, Lauren, who is an exemplary woman of God who relies entirely on the mercy and grace of God provided in Jesus Christ alone and is in her own right, the kind of woman who inspires those around her to rise up and be more like Jesus.

Callista, you were not named casually or by mere cutesiness. It was with full intention and contemplation that your mom and I strived to find a name that would reflect a glimpse of what we believe with all our hearts, "our greatest joy is found in giving our entire lives to make much of Christ" Your name reinforces that reality. There is no greater aim than to know, love and obey Jesus by being known, loved and blessed by Him."

So that is how she came to be named.  We are so excited to meet her, and so happy we were able to find yet another perfect name. 

plans for a family closet.

So, I'm starting to hit that late stage of pregnancy where everything feels very imminent, and I get that 'thing' (nesting?) in me that tells me I need to do All the Projects and paint All the Things.  Last night, we were all sitting around watching a movie for family movie night, and I just kept staring at the basement ceiling, wondering how many weeks it would take me to paint the ceiling, trim, and walls of all 1000 square feet down there... and if it was realistic to hope to accomplish it before the baby comes.

I realize it's not.  I also realize it's in no way necessary at this point in life.  But I just get so itchy.  Like, I'm also currently dying to just cut a big hole in the dining room wall and put in a sliding door.  Also not realistic or necessary, even though I WANT TO SO BADLY.

So I'm turning my attention to an actual problem that needs an actual solution sooner rather than later: clothing storage.  Right now, the kids are sharing three dressers between the five of them, and there is no room for another kid's clothes.  We also don't have room for another dresser in the house.  (In fact, Todd's dresser is currently housed in the garage because we can't fit it in here.)  Conundrum. 

But you know what I do have room for?  A family closet in the laundry room.  WHAT?! Wouldn't that just be the best?  A single place to keep all the kids' clothes - one area, one piece of furniture, right next to the washer and dryer?  Angels, people.  I hear angels.

But the thing is... here is the side of the laundry room that I've set my sights on:

It's already full of bins.  So, the simple solution is to move the bins.  But this is my only storage area, so I can only move them to the garage.  Even once I've reconciled myself to the possibility of mold and mice getting into them if they're stored out there, I run into the problem of not having a ton of space there either.  But I could make space... if I take the old loveseat to Goodwill, and sell the jogging stroller and single stroller, and give our old coffee table away, and buy some shelves to get the rest of the boxes off the floor.  Simple enough, right?  Realistic to accomplish in the next few weeks?

And then I could actually set up the closet system.  I almost never hang any of the kids' clothes, so I only need to worry about getting drawers or tubs for everything.  (Their church clothes are hanging in an upstairs closet, which would probably just stay the same.)  I'm thinking I'll set up this:

via

And for drawers, I'll label these with each owner's initial and the intended contents:

via

Clothes for Rocco and the new baby would still be stored in the nursery, so I'd currently only need to use four rows of the five available.  I'd give Atticus the highest row, and down the line, and use the uppermost row for storage of right size/wrong season clothes for each of them.

You guys, I'm basically foaming at the mouth thinking about this.  I need to make this happen.  And I have basically no time in the next couple of months in which to clean out the garage, move bins, make a trip to Ikea, set it all up, move the kids' clothes into it, and set up a streamlined system before the baby comes, but I am praying hard that it can somehow miraculously happen.  I need this, people, or I'm a-scary-amount tempted to take a sledgehammer to the dining room wall.


*For some more family closet inspiration, I do have quite a few related things (and some unrelated things) pinned on this board, if you're curious.