my little halloweenies.

As everyone and their mom has already posted a million pictures of their kids in Halloween costumes, I figured I should probably jump in and do the same now that you're totally sick of that noise.  I'm nothing if always fashionably late.  But it works in my favor - now that everyone else's kids are out of your system, you can really focus on just how adorable my kids are! (Joking/notjoking.)

My mom makes all of their costumes, which has been quite an undertaking over the years.  Luckily, it seems we're now getting to a point where most of the kids have previously made costumes they can wear!  Even the bigger kids didn't need new costumes this year, as last year's still fit.  Juniper did need one, as we weirdly didn't have one in her size, and my mom had promised Finneas that he could pick out a new one for himself, as he was kind of getting sick of hand-me-downs.

So, I introduce to you...

...a fisherman, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a baby mouse, a ninja, the Hamburglar (minus the mask, as it made her cry.  Halloween is hard), World's Saddest Garden Gnome, and a Buckingham Palace guard.

Callista made it known that she found the beard neither feminine nor comfortable, and altogether unsatisfactory.

Once we got to Shelter Gardens to trick or treat, she was at least partly convinced her world wasn't ending, though she still looked pretty uncertain.

Every year, Shelter hosts a trick or treating event on the grounds for employees' families.  I love it, because it's during the daytime so photos are better, I don't have to figure out how to get all the kids dressed in costumes at dinnertime like on Halloween night, and it doesn't interfere with our Reformation Day celebrations.  I think this might be our main Halloween activity from here on out.

Another "plus" to the day was that my parents and my sister were all in town anyway for Rocco's birthday party and Juniper's dedication, so we all got to trick or treat together!  Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold, but we braved it.  (And Halloween night ended up being even more miserable, so in a weird way we lucked out only having to bundle up this much.)

Everyone, meet my beautiful niece, World's Prettiest NonVanVoorstBaby.

Juniper was pretty happy...

...until the face painting booth.  This was just the final straw.

She was happier once I carried her wrapped in my coat.

The other kids were better sports about it.

Rocco got a couple new big teeth.

Other than just getting candy, there were lots of activities available for the kids to participate in, like tossing a ring around a witch's hat, which Penelope and Laurelai slayed, and playing Plinko, which Atticus enjoyed and was really good at.  (It was fun for him to find something he was excited to do - I think he's getting to the age where he's starting to feel a little self-conscious about participating in Halloween.)

There's a big pot of candy toward the end of the walk that is "guarded" by a big hanging spider toy.  A guy in a mascot costume raises and lowers the spider at random times. (Weird sentence.)  Last year, Penelope was way too freaked out to try getting any candy, but before we left the house this year, she said, "I'm not going to be a chicken this time.  I'm going to be brave by the spider!" And she was!

HH from the VV's!

rocco is four today!

Happy birthday, Littlest Brother!

You, my friend, are nothing but a joy.  You are cheerful and accommodating.  You are helpful and sweet.  You follow the big boys around and 'man up' the best you can in order to keep up.  You like playing soldiers and knights... and also Paw Patrol.  And also sometimes Barbies.  You have so many friends around here, all with their own favorite games, that you like to keep your options open.  You never live a dull moment!

You are a big fan of Juniper, and often stop in your play to go talk to, cuddle and play with her.  Sometimes you get kind of rough, shaking her head around and jiggling her body.  We're working on being gentle with babies :).  But she doesn't seem to mind - she loves you as much as you love her!

You are Rest.  You are sweetness and comfort and a crooked little smile.  Every night after you brush your teeth, you come and ask me with bared and gritted teeth, "DO DEEZ LOOK CLEEEEEEEN?"  You are very specific about what you think makes you look handsome, and prefer not to leave the house not looking your best.  You like your hair to be "Atticus Hair," which I still have not gotten entirely right, according to your specifications.  (I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong!)  You are always ready with a hug and a sweet word to say about how pretty you think I am.

You often ask when you're going to be a big boy, which I love, because it is such a little boy thing to say.  You are, in your words, "a little big boy."  And I love that about you.

You've still got Toddler Hands and Toddler Bod - big, soft, chubby hands and a big, round belly.  But you don't let that fool anyone - you are strong.  You can do full-on pushups and sit ups, and have formidable ab muscles.  At your recent well check, you were the first and only Van Voorst to measure larger on the weight chart than on the height chart.  You are solid.  I am confident you are going to use your strength and sturdiness to great ends - you already do such a good job of serving, providing and protecting!

We all love you so much, Rocco.  You are one of my favorite people on earth, and I'm so glad God gave me you!

'what's up' weekly... kind of. not really. but Juniper has big news.

Well, well, well.  Fancy meeting me here.  I know it seems like the last place I show my face anymore (or, anyway, my face for radio, as I mostly just let my words be my face around here, and thank the Lord for that.  Did you know you should start using anti-aging products before the age of thirty-three, or your neck will start to fall off?  If you did, that makes one of us).

I have a lot to tell you about - two weeks of a lot, to be exact.  I tried uploading the photos, but to be honest... there were seventy of them, which some people (e.i., duds) might think is too many.  SO, here's my plan: I am going to blog every weekday in November.  Yes, I know, it's a stretch goal, and I often am not as consistent as I'd like to be, but I have a plan to make this happen.  I'll go back to sharing photos, thoughts and recipes gradually instead of just dumping everything out on Fridays.  Sound good?  Sounds good to me!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with some of our cutest/saddest/most optimistic news.  Juni turned the Big 0-6 recently, and we are starting to transition to a more sustainable sleeping arrangement.

Long, long ago, she had been sleeping through the night consistently - twelve hour stretches, every night.  But then that dastardly four-month sleep regression hit, and we still haven't recovered.  She was back to eating every 1.5-2 hours overnight.  And it wasn't like she was going to start soothing herself back to sleep anytime soon - she would wake up in the middle of the night, and because she could see me over the top of the bassinet, she would just stare at me and cry until I fed her.

So this past week, we moved some things around.  Rocco moved out of the girls' room into the basement bedroom with the bigger boys, Callista moved into a pack and play in the girls' room, and Juni got the nursery.

See her in there?  Doesn't she look so tiny?

I was so worried that in moving her in there, she'd feel alone overnight.  After all, she's six months and she knows when I leave the room, and she knows to look for me in the middle of the night.  She surely would be aware of the change, and probably wouldn't be happy about it.  But I was so wrong - she has loved it.  She doesn't cry when I lay her down or leave the room, and she's been sleeping so much more soundly, often going 3-4 hours at a stretch.

We still have a ways to go before I would say we're in an ideal sleep routine, but progress is being made, and we're both super happy about it!

what's up weekly, and juniper at six months.

The seasons are changing!  I mean, like, I know.  But we're finally feeling it around here, and this week was a nice cozy week of hunkering down.  I like that about this time of year - I know I gripe enough about winter, but this year I'm actually looking forward to the change of pace and everything that comes with the changing of the weather.

Last year we really started getting intentional with observing liturgical and family feast days, nearly all of which fall during the stretch between October and May - seven of our nine birthdays, all liturgical feasts, Reformation Day, baptism anniversaries, regular cultural holidays, and more. It makes for a very full stretch of months, which on the flip side means that 'ordinary time' (the liturgical season between Pentecost and the beginning of Advent) is pretty uneventful for us. It has been a long stretch without much reveling, and I'm getting really excited to jump into party season.

So now the crisp air has me thinking ahead to all of our feast days, and I'm starting to stock up the pantry.  I love having things on hand, at the ready, for pulling together cheeseboards and baked goods.  I've started keeping my eye out for sales on candied nuts, chocolates, nice crackers, olives, etc., and I've been eyeballing a few pretty serving pieces to add to the collection.  I've also been hunting for my vintage lace tablecloth that I seem to have lost in the move... pray I'm able to find it!

So anyway, much of our activity this week was related to acknowledging it's Fall.  I washed the living room windows, since the lower western sun is making it apparent that I've let that grime go on far too long.  I've dug out coats and warmer shoes, and spent an hour matching a pile of socks I've been ignoring for the past six months.  The kids' beds are all cozied up with warmer blankets, and I need to get out the down comforter for our bed soon.

I finally got the girls' curtains hung.  Next goal: a bedskirt.

Also, we've been watering the grass nonstop to help get the grass seed started before winter, so our grass is looking crazy healthy and green, which seems incongruous, but I'm okay with it because we now actually have grass.  It's an autumnal miracle.

We've spent lots of time snuggling up with books, I brought the houseplants inside, and I pulled out Junie's fleece jammies.  I just love a baby in fleece footie jammies.

Speaking of Junie, she turned six months old this week!  A half a year has gone by since this nugget was born.  HOW THO?  She is just incredible.  She has moved herself to a four-to-five hour schedule during the day (I wake her up so that she doesn't go past four hours, but she would sleep longer if I let her).  She's awake for about an hour before wanting to go back to sleep.  Nights are a bit harder, with her waking every 2-3 hours, which makes me think she's reverse cycling and getting most of her nutrition at night.  I'm hoping to get her moved out of our room and into the nursery soon, at which point I'll be night training her, and her daytime stretches might shorten, which is fine if I can start getting a bit more sleep!  I'm really noticing my short-term memory is still pretty spotty due to weird sleep.

She laughs, rolls both ways, and loves watching the big kids.  She's been working on getting her knees up under her, and I wouldn't be surprised if she starts crawling within the next month or so.  Her hair is growing so quickly, as is the rest of her.  Her favorite way to go to sleep is to grab the fringe of her fleece blanket and suck it along with her thumb.

She tried a bite of sweet potato recently and seemed to love the taste, but couldn't seem to swallow it easily, so we'll be holding off longer before attempting any more babyled weaning.

This girl is such a ray of sunshine.  Penelope said the other day, "I'm so glad that we got Junie.  We could have gotten any baby at all, but God gave us the best one."  Which is the sentiment we all hold!  Callista can't say Juniper, so she calls her Pepper, and we've all latched onto the nickname as well - she's our little sweet Pepper.

The big kids each celebrated the anniversaries of their baptisms this week - Atticus marked one year ago on Monday, and Penelope marked two years ago on Tuesday.  We celebrated with presents.  Next year, I would like to put more planning into making these days big events at our house.  Todd often says, "you cultivate what you celebrate," and I want to cultivate a love in my kids for being a baptized member of the global body of Christ and getting to take communion with other believers, as well as showing the younger kids that it's something exciting to aspire to.

Callista was not thrilled at Atticus' party.  You can't see her in the above photo with Atticus because she's hiding behind Finneas, but let me give you a blurry glimpse of what was happening in her world at the time:

Life with toddlers, am I right?

Unrelatedly, you know you live in a house with boys when your houseplants become jungle hideouts for the likes of Private Blobface.

And lastly, these handsome fellas received haircuts.

Seriously, though, how handsome are these brothers?

I'm looking forward to continued opportunities to cloister away with these sweet babies of mine this fall, so bring on the cooler temps!

'what's up' weekly.

Happy Friday, friends!  (Or, Fried Egg Friday, as the kids call it.  Not because I typically make fried eggs especially on Fridays, but because I cook eggs so often that, statistically speaking, pretty much every day is Fried Egg Friday.  Today, for instance, is actually Fried Egg Friday.  That was a lucky coincidence.)

This has been break week at St. Anne's on the Hill (i.e., our homeschool).  Ooooh buddy.  I needed it.  I'm glad I had it.  I'm ready for it to be over.

It was supposed to start Monday, but I kind of jumped the gun a bit on Sunday and started organizing the kids' portfolios from last year.  I don't typically do stuff like that on Sundays, I just couldn't help it.  I was ready to get some stuff accomplished.  Unfortunately, the rest of the week didn't exactly pan out that way for me.

On a totally unrelated note, Callista found photos of her doppelganger, Toddler Penelope.  Seriously, how are these not the same baby?  They're even wearing the same outfit.

But let me back up first.  Last Friday, we spent our usual lunch hour at Shelter, having a picnic with Todd and walking through the gardens.  When we got home, I had the kids sketch in their nature journals and listen to this term's composer, but I was kind of mentally on break at that point, so we didn't get to mapwork or artist study.  Oh well.  We like to party in the Van Voorst house, as you can see, so I didn't sweat it.

On Saturday, I spent time out in the morning, but instead of heading to Shelter Gardens like usual, I headed to Lowes to get grass seed and fertilizer for our front lawn.  I stopped at Caribou afterward to try to get some Bible reading in, but they were blasting Shania Twain, which seemed less than conducive to trying to mine out what Hebrews is getting at.  So I headed home and spent the afternoon doing my Bible reading on the couch, and prepping the lawn for seed.

I had to put topsoil over the crater where the tree was removed, and break up the hardpack soil where the """""""planter""""""  (read: sterile pile of dirt inside a decorative ring of horrendously ugly bricks) had been in the middle of our yard.  The Kraken looked on in solidarity and approval, as he usually does.

While I was out there with the shovel and my bared-and-ready Flabby White Mom Arms, King Hosta got the axe.  It was a kindness to him - he was hanging on by a thread.  Every time I'd walk past him, I swear I'd hear him wheeze, "I just want to go home."  It was time.

On Monday, I woke up bright and early and ready to tackle a bunch of projects over the course of break week.  I started with photo editing.  "Should be easy.  Just buckle down for a few hours and send the year's photos to be printed."  Um, no.  I spent the entire day culling and editing photos, and got two and a half months done.  (I haven't been totally caught up with this task since 2012; I don't know why I thought it would be easy and quick.  I'm starting to suspect I'm a verifiable idiot.)

So then I was grouchy and disheartened.  Things weren't going as planned.  I was already behind on the week's goals, and it was only Monday.  Tuesday was about the same, running into a bunch of obstacles that I didn't anticipate while working on decorating the girls' room.

The project: hanging curtain rods and curtains in here, and removing the miniblinds.  The projected timeline: 1 hour.  The actual timeline: 3 days.  It involved a saw.  Don't even ask.

On Wednesday, after we returned home from the Amish, I got lunch on the table, and then our friends Brock and Bridget texted to see if they could come over in the afternoon to seed the yard for us.  The plan had been to do it in the evening, but once we settled on a time in the afternoon instead, I took the hint that the week was just going to be different than I'd planned, and I'd just need to roll with it.  It was super freeing.

So yesterday was much more relaxing than the first part of the week.  I squeezed in some reading, I finished cutting down the curtain rods and hanging curtains in the girls' room, I ordered winter clothes for Atticus, I got winter blankets on the kids' beds, I took a nap, and I even did some baking with Atticus.  It turns out I can get a lot done when I'm not trying to get much done.

The kids had the opposite experience this week - the first half of the week went swimmingly and everyone was loving break, but then yesterday the doldrums hit - they just get bored and jittery when there's not enough structure.  It didn't help things that it was rainy, so they couldn't play outside!  I think they're ready for school to start back up again, whether they'd admit it or not.  Though they did discover the joys and sorrows of playing Monopoly this week, so I suppose that's a life skill under their belts.

This is the photo for the Monopoly commercial.  From Hasbro!

This is the photo for the cynical-but-true photojournalism spread on Monopoly: someone's mad, someone's frustrated, and someone else quit halfway through to go read a book.

And that brings us to today!  I still have some things on my list I'd like to get done before the week is out, but I'm allowing the day to just be what it is.  We have a lunch date at Shelter, so I'm hoping the rain clears up by then!

In the meantime, I will be watching these kids live their most adorable lives.  Juniper has been spending the week getting up on her hands and knees and rocking, like she's getting ready to crawl or something, like she's getting older or something.  The rest of the kids have been spending the week oohing and aahing over every single thing she does, like she's World's Most Adorable Baby or something.

And that was our week!

'what's up' weekly.

It's Friday, and here's how I feel about that:

via GIPHY


Before I say anything else, I would just like to state for the record that this was the week I discovered I wish I lived in the Shaun the Sheep farmhouse, but I don't know what that says about me.  At the very least, it says I need to watch more grown-up TV.  (Or less? See, it's confusing.)

Anywho.  Here's Juniper to cheerfully remind me to get to the point.

Because we like to party, we did almost nothing out of the ordinary this week.  We kickstarted the weekend on Friday with a trip to Shelter Gardens for lunch.

Todd and Atticus tried to see how far out on the branch they could walk their hands.

Rocco did not want to try.

Then friends came over for pizza for dinner.  I just love Fridays for so many reasons.  First, school is super fun that day: mapping, updating our Book of Centuries, art, music, tea time, lunch at Shelter Gardens, nature journaling.  All the best school stuff happens on Fridays.  Second, I barely cook.  Like, at all.  I usually have pre-made oatmeal ready and waiting for breakfast, and then the kids slap together some PB sandwiches to take for lunch (hold the J - I'm not about to add 'stain treating the laundry' to my Friday to-do list).  Once school is dismissed Friday afternoon, all I have left to do is tidy up the kitchen and the house a bit, and then I'm freeeeeeeeee for the rest of the afternoon, because Todd brings home pizza and I don't have to prep or clean up dinner.

I usually spend the afternoon reading or working on some kind of household project I don't have time for during the week.  This afternoon, I have made a date with Penelope to play Monopoly (we've had an ongoing game for the last three months or so).  I should probably also get a jumpstart on some of the many projects I'm hoping to tackle next week.  Because, oh yeah, next week is break week.  How have we already logged SIX WEEKS of school?  That is just crazy to me.  But we have, so next week will be school-free.

We're reading through the 100 Cupboards series as a family, but Penelope has started back at the beginning and is also reading it on her own.  She has had her nose in a book all week.

My list of projects to get to next week is ambitious: I want to put together the kids' portfolios from last school year (no, I still haven't gotten around to this yet), work on the girls' room (shortening and hanging some curtain rods in there, hanging some art, scrubbing the walls, cleaning out the closet, and finagling a bedskirt), grading and filing math papers, cleaning out the garage and laundry room, selling some stuff on Facebook Marketplace, prereading all of the upcoming chapters for the next six weeks, and finishing a few books.  Likelihood is that I will only get a few of these things accomplished, but my hopes are high.

Anyway, back on topic.  Saturday, we just decided to lay low.  It has been a long stretch of lots of hospitality and community activity, and we were all feeling the disconnect.  I did take the morning off, as I've been doing, and headed to Shelter Gardens for a couple of hours to regroup with my Bible, some books, my planner, and some journals.  I took a weird amount of pleasure in the fact that all my stuff seems to match.

On Sunday, Todd preached on Genesis 27, which you can listen to here.  I am so proud of and impressed by how much he is growing in his gifting.  Onward and upward, Todd Van Voorst!

"Mom.  My eye howts because I poked it wif this highlightow, like this.  Ow."

On Monday, I took Atticus grocery shopping with me.  I can't believe how big he is.  He is so mature and helpful.  He carried groceries, returned the cart, and asked thoughtful questions.  Whenever I take a kid shopping with me one-on-one, I buy them a small treat, because it's such a special occasion to get alone time together.  (I only grocery shop every three weeks, so each kid gets to come with me about 3 times a year.)  He chose a stevia-sweetened root beer because he's personally decided to eat mostly sugar-free, and spicy turkey sticks.  He just kept repeating over and over how glad he was that he chose what he did, though I could have lived without the stench of root-beer-and-jerky burps filling up my van.  But I'm glad he was so happy, and I'm so glad I got the time with just him.

Exercising that Van Voorst brain power.

On Tuesday, we skipped Morning Basket to run to the store for some last-minute items I needed for a meal train casserole I was putting together.  The kids also got Meal Train Casserole for lunch as a result, so they thought Tuesday was basically Mardi Gras.

Wednesday was our full day this week.  First, we picked up a Walmart order on the way to the Amish.  Then we stayed a bit longer up at the Amish then we usually do - one of the gals we visit up there had her seventh baby four weeks ago, and her whole family has had the flu for the last week and a half, and she was absolutely exhausted.  So I stayed for a bit to help her with a little light housework and baby care before heading out.  Then we came back to town and hit up the library sale - it's Classics month!  I was hoping to find more than I did, but that should be expected - the sale was packed, and trucking the kids through the rows of books and people doesn't make for easy browsing.  But I did come home with a few beautiful hardcovers.  Then in the afternoon, the older woman from church who has been mentoring me came over for a visit, and then in the evening we had friends come over for dinner.  (They brought us all the food!)  It was a full day, but it went much more smoothly than I had anticipated.

Rocco wrote his own name without help!  Someone get a mop, I'm just a puddle on the floor.

Which brings us to yesterday.  Todd taught at Salt Co. in the evening and took the four big kids with him, so once I got the little girls to bed, Rocco and I snuggled on the couch and watched Shaun the Sheep while I folded mountains and mountains of laundry.  Once it gets put away tomorrow, that will be the first time I'll have been completely caught up on laundry since we left for vacation in mid-August.  It will be a glorious, though fleeting, feeling of victory.