what's up weekl

Life is a pendulum: sometimes it's up, and sometimes it's down.  And when a lot of life is happening under one roof, often the ups and downs are happening at the same time.

Take a look at what I mean.  Here we have High Highs: a table full of happy kids, drawing their own Harry Potter illustrations, without a care in the world.  

And here, we have Juni, living her best life.  She discovered where we hide the Movie Night treats, and she also figured out how to open ziplock bags.  

She looks pretty proud of this week's accomplishments.

However, what you can't see here is that we've had a pervasive tummy bug in our midst.  Laurelai came down with it first about eight or ten days ago: it starts with the barfs, nausea, and a general feeling of yuckiness.  Then it goes away.  Then it comes back.  Then it goes away and comes back in a constant cycle for about five days.  Also, it is drawing itself out nice and leisurely-like through the kids. 

 

Penelope then came down with it on Saturday and fought it until Tuesday morning.  Callista started it up on Sunday night and fought it until Tuesday.  Atticus fell sick Wednesday night and is still really fighting.  Rocco seemed to have had it last week, though his was just a gurgly belly and only lasted a day, so maybe it was something different.  Finneas and Juni are the last men standing in the juvenile set, but I have set my expectations low that they'll fly under the radar.

Not well, but as good natured as he can be.  Yes, he's in the girls' bed (it's closer to the family than his own room, but not right in the thick of things like he would be on the couch) and yes, he's wearing his hat.  That hat is his bosom companion, even when sleeping - "it keeps my head warm, Mom."  And just like that, he's parenting me through appropriate headwear.

I've already started a blog post about how to care for sick children - including how to care for our attitudes when caring for sick children - and I'll post that next week.  The long and short of it is, today's mothers are woefully uneducated in caring for the sick.  We have not been taught, because our own mothers never taught us.  Well, I am here to tell you at least what I have learned - I still have a long way to go, but I am grateful for the example and the instruction of older women who are kind enough to write on the subject, as well as plenty of experience dealing with sick kids, so I'll be sharing the little that I do know.  Brace yourselves; I have thoughts on all this.  (Did you really think I wouldn't?)

Anyway, beyond sickness, very little happened this week.  We had to reschedule plans with a friend because of the barfs... and then reschedule the reschedule because of more barfs.  In a weird lull (by Wednesday morning, no one had been sick or had a fever for over 24 hours), we had a friend come over to cut my hair, and we had guests for dinner.  We realized we weren't totally done with the bug when Atticus threw up after everyone left.  Whoops.  We had chiropractor appointments yesterday, although I left Atticus home with Todd rather than taking him with us.  Our chiropractor is wonderful and loves seeing the kids, even when they're sick (did you know spinal adjustments boost your white blood cell count and help you kick bugs faster?), but the best place for Ad was at home.

And that was our week!  Wish me luck with any future barfers, including potentially myself (knock on wood that doesn't happen!).

what's up weekly.

Another Friday, another What's Up.  God is in His heaven, and all is right with the world.

We finally made the full transition out of Christmastide this week.  Penelope and Laurelai took all the ornaments from the tree, and then organized them by owner, and I spent ten minutes wrapping them and placing them in their proper boxes.  I can't tell you what a blessing it is to be in the second decade of parenting, having so much help.  Those early years are so, so sweet, and I wouldn't trade them for all the money and bread in the world, but these recent years are something so different and yet equally sweet.

I also packaged up our nativity sets, our advent candles, our lights, our stockings, our wooden shoes, our banners.  And when Callista got up from nap, after all of this activity was finished, she was mortified.  "Where did Christmas go?  Why did you take Christmas?"  And then, on Tuesday, when we watched the garbage truck dispose of our tree, she had a full-on Cindy Lou Who moment.  She looked at me with those cartoonishly big eyes and said, "Why they taking the Christmas tree?  WHY?!"

She stared at the Grinch and said, "Santy Claus, why?

Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why?"

Is this not the spitting image of Lissy Lou Who, only with hair?

So we've been working through our grief this week.  At least, the kids' grief.  I am surprised by how ready I am for the fresh start that January brings.  The house is less cluttered, and am I feeling All the Pulls toward productivity.  I have started back on the Healthy Eating Train, which is not a thrill ride but it gets you where you're wanting to be.  It has basically consisted of a casual adherence to Trim Healthy Mama principles, casual but consistent commitment to exercise, and (less) casual calorie counting.  I'm casually expecting results to roll in at a leisurely pace eventually.

I'm also eyeballing new endeavors.  First, I want to learn a new creative skill this year, like cross stitch or quilting.  (Cross stitch seems more likely since I can do it while sitting on the couch and watching/listening to Victorian Farm.)  I'm also wanting to expand my productive domestic know-how this year: pipe dreams are of chickens or beehives.  (Who am I kidding?)  I am definitely going to plant a full garden this year, and perhaps try some new canning/preserving recipes.  I want to also keep honing my sourdough skills and try more new cheese recipes - perhaps attempt aging some.  I have big plans for the year, folks.

Anyway, what else happened this week?  We logged our second full week of school since Christmas.  I am always flabbergasted by how the time just keeps marching along.  (Just yesterday, I said something about March and realized it's only six weeks away... I just picked up the first seed catalog of the season up at the Amish this week.  There's a light at the end of the tunnel.)

And other than that, our week has been pretty normal: lots of get-togethers with friends, errands, an Azure drop (okay, that's pretty not-normal, but it was fun), cleaning, and playing outside in the beautiful mid-fifties weather.  No complaints here!

Lolo got a little Bible story/song player for Christmas, so she has spent lots of time blasting out her eardrums listening to songs about getting along well with siblings.

In case you didn't see, I posted every day this week!  So go back and take a peek if you haven't already.

2020, in the books.

Well, 2020 is finito. I would say "hallelujah," and then hire a million angels to turn themselves to gifs and sing about it, but part of me wonders if we might not look back on the 'good old days' of 2020 at some point. Hopefully because of the nostalgia ("'member that time when Todd got to start working from home and we all got a year to cocoon?") and not because this is a tame harbinger of seven lean years to come. Knock on wood.

But whatever the case, I can tell you one thing is certain about 2020: I read some really fantastic books. (A few stinkers, too.) So let me tell you about them.

Me, unwashed and furrowed, expressing my consternation at the treatment of one Young Oliver Twist;  Juni, radiating pure joy because she doesn't understand the implications of what has befallen Young Oliver Twist.  Mostly because she doesn't understand Dickensian English - his sentences are too long, or she'd be more bummed.

First, here they are. Titles in bold are first-time reads that I adored and will likely go back to read again sometime. (Even just looking at this list is making me want to go start Peace Like a River rightthisverysecond.) Titles with asterisks are books I've read before, which means that at some point in the past, they themselves were probably "bolded" books on the list, or I wouldn't waste my time reading them again. So, if you're looking for book recommendations, the bolded/starred books are where I'd start.

1. Forget Me Not: Loving God’s Aging Children by Elisabeth Elliot (1/04)
2. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (1/07)*
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling (1/20)*
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling (1/28)*
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (2/2)*
6. Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (2/16)
7. Angels in the Architecture by Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson (2/17)
8. Are Women Human? By Dorothy Sayers (2/18)
9. Feeling At Home by Alexandra Stoddard (2/29*)
10. Liver Detox: Energize Your Life by Rhody Lake (3/1)
11. God’s Hotel by Victoria Sweet (3/2)*
12. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (3/13)*
13. The Bible (finished read-through) (3/14)*
14. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan (3/21)*
15. The Metabolism Reset Diet by Dr. Alan Christianson (3/22)
16. Castor Oil: Its Healing Properties by Beth M. Ley (3/28)
17. The Lost Continent:Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson (3/29)
18. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish*
19. Bone of my Bones by Doug Wilson
20. Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
21. Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
22. That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis (5/16)
23. The Miracle of Natural Hormones by David Brownstein, M.D. (5/17)
24. True Spirituality by Francis Schaeffer (5/23)
25. L’Abri by Edith Schaeffer (5/26)*
26. Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck (6/26)*
27. Common Sense Christian Living by Edith Schaeffer (6/26)
28. Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (7/10)*
29. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (7/11)*
30. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington (7/17)
31. Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture by Anthony Esolen (7/23)
32. Anne of Avolea by L. M. Montgomery (7/31)
33. The Art of Natural Cheesemaking by David Asher (8/2)
34. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (8/5)*
35. 1984 by George Orwell (8/7)
36.  The Fruit of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson
37. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (8/16)*
38. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen (8/21)
39.  Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery
40. Anne of Windy Poplars by L. M. Mongomery (9/8)
41. Rooted in the Earth,Rooted in the Sky: Hildegard of Bingen and Premodern Medicine by Victoria Sweet (9/18)
42. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (9/28)
43. Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery
44. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (10/14)*
45. Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington (10/31)
46. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers: The Story That Inspired the Sound of Music by Maria Augusta Trapp* (11/11)
47. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass* (11/14)
48. If I Perish by Esther Ahn Kim (11/16)
49. You Who? Why You Matter and How to Deal With It by Rachel Jankovic (11/16)
50. Heaven Misplaced by Douglas Wilson (12/28)
51. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (12/30)
52. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver* (12/31)

Next, I also did a lot of reading with the family this year, both as part of our schoolwork and as part of our nightly read-aloud time. These are the chapter books or classics we started and finished, in their entirety, together this year.

1. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. The Green Ember by S.D. Smith
3. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
4. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s Farm by Betty Macdonald
5. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
6. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
7. Call of the Wild by Jack London
8. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
9. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
10. The Incredible Journey by Sheila Bumford
11. The Ocean of Truth by Joyce McPherson
12. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
13. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
14. Paul Revere’s Ride by Longfellow
15. A Book of Golden Deeds by Charlotte Yonge
16. The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter
17. James Herriot’s Treasury for Children by James Herriot
18. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
19. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
20. King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
21. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
22. Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
23. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by CS Lewis
24. Always Inventing
25. Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
26. The Silver Chair by CS Lewis
27. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
28. Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
29. The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis
30. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
31. The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis

Oliver really draws a crowd.  Though only two are required by the Ambleside overlords to sit in on this one, all six conscious children gathered to listen.  Unheard of.

So, as you can see, this was quite the year. I was bummed that I didn't quite beat my record (last year holds my record of Most Personal Books Read in a Given Year, at 54 books) but I still think it was a good showing. I do think that my capacity for reading is influenced by how much time I spend pregnant in any given year, which was "none" both last year and this year. (That's a very strange thought.) So I think that's why I've been able to log such high numbers. I'm grateful for the time of rest and stability, but it's definitely not a trade I'd want to make all the time. It's an indicator that life is too dull if I have that much time to sit around and read all day.

Well, anyway. There it is - my yearly book report!

snow day in missouri, and Atticus owns his own truck now.

*I need to clarify that these photos were taken a couple days after Christmas, not today - today's high was 55 degrees and the kids were complaining that outside and inside felt like the same temperature, and therefore they were all bummed out because they weren't allowed to make hot chocolate after coming inside.  But in my defense, they had sweat dripping into their eyes as they were asking for hot chocolate.

*I also need to clarify that it is the middle of January and I still made them wear coats outside on principle, hence all the head sweat.  Ma Ingalls wouldn't have cared that it was 55 degrees; she would look at the calendar, see that it is indeed still January, and make the children bundle up anyway; and then, when the inevitable and yet still unexpected afternoon blizzard hit, and they were all saved from the icy hand of death because of her foresight, they'd appreciate her and immortalize her in print.  Oh, to be Ma Ingalls.

Anyway.  It snowed some time ago, and beside its unconvincing presence, there are two other items of note about that day.  First, CALLISTA IS THE CUTEST LITTLE BUDDY ON THE FACE OF GOD'S GREEN EARTH:

Subnote 1: I bought this gender-neutral coat at a garage sale for $2 when Atticus was a baby, and she is now the sixth VV kid to wear it.  I think I got my money's worth.

Second, Atticus, et. al., found it to be the perfect day to start building a truck.

Atticus has had this vision in his head for months of a truck he wanted to build out of lumber.  He had diagrams.  He had plans.  He had dreams.  But he didn't have lumber, or tools, or any way to actually make a truck out of lumber.

I told my mom about his dilemma when we were discussing Christmas gift ideas, and for Christmas she showered him (figuratively, because ouch) with pallet wood, and a hand saw, and a bunch of woodworking tools.  He is in heaven.  

 

These are just photos of Day One of his build project.  I'll have to share updated photos with you soon - he has bought industrial wheels for it.  It has a steering wheel, and a truck bed, and a hood, and a ladder rack.  It also weighs about forty kajillion pounds.

I am amazed by his skills and creativity.  I am also a little worried about how likely he is to bust a hole in the chain link fence once this boulder goes rolling down our (very steep) hill at warp speed.  But I suppose we'll cross (and fix) that bridge when we come to it.

super easy, yummy, pretty bread for guests. or Christmas. or Christmas guests.

Because I've missed out on covering so many things over the last couple of months, I'm going to be bouncing around a lot over the next few weeks as I try to tell you everything I'm hoping to.  So, today, we're discussing Christmas Eve.  Specifically, Christmas Eve Breakfast.  More specifically, Christmas Eve Breakfast Burrito Bread.

I realize that most people would call this like a bread boat, or a breakfast casserole, or something like that.  But I am not most people, and therefore I call it Breakfast Burrito Bread.  (Actually, I just call it that because that's what it smells like.)  I'm pretty sure it tastes better than a breakfast burrito, but as I can't actually eat this myself, and I haven't had a breakfast burrito in nearly a decade, I can't put money on that.  

I can tell you that it gets rave reviews, that the scrambled egg "guts" are delicious even without the bread, and that it definitely looks better than a breakfast burrito.  (I really should not be writing about breakfast burritos while hungry.  Thanks a lot, New Year's Resolution to Stop Eating Like 35k Calories a Day.)

Anyway, looksee: see all that cheese and bread?  You already know this is going to be good.

Okay, without further ado, the bread that has allowed me to sleep in on Christmas Eve morning every year for the past... well, two.  But I just know this is going to be a lifelong keeper.  My children will ask me for this recipe when I'm on my deathbed.  (Actually, I'm never going to die; and also they should have read my blog by then anyway, so if they haven't, they deserve to go breadless for a while to think about what they've done.  Then they can look it up in the archives.)

Okay, without further further ado.

Breakfast Burrito Bread from the Minivan Voorsts, adapted from BHG

• 2 large loaves of unsliced Italian or French bread* 
• 1/2 lb ground Italian or breakfast sausage
• 1/2 of a red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 c. sliced green onions
• 10 eggs, beaten
• 2/3 c. heavy cream or half-and-half.  (I'm sure you could probably use milk of whatever fat content you prefer and it would turn out just fine, but didn't your mother teach you better than that? Embrace the fat.)
• Some chopped fresh sage OR basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.5 c. shredded cheese - any kind that melts well will do.  This year's combo of cheddar, colby jack, and mozzarella was fantastic.  I recommend shredding your own, but it's your life.

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Using a serrated knife, cut a wedge into the tops of the loaves.  Hollow out the center of each loaf, leaving a large cavity, but making sure you don't puncture the crust.  Place loaves on the parchment paper.

2.  In a large skillet, cook sausage and most of the chopped pepper over medium heat until the sausage is cooked through.  (Keep a few little bits of uncooked pepper back.)  Drain off the fat.

3.  In a large bowl, combine eggs, cream, sage/basil, most of the green onion, and salt.  Stir in sausage mixture and 1 cup of cheese.

4.  Pour egg mixture into bread shells.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese, then the remaining chopped peppers and green onions.

5.  Bake 35-40 minutes, or until eggs are set and cheese is nice and bubbly.  Let stand 5-10 minutes before slicing.

NOTE: steps 2 and 3 can be prepped the day before, and the liquid mixture can be kept in the fridge overnight.  Then, in the morning, you can just hollow out the bread, fill it up and top it off, and pop it in the oven. Bingo bango.

*I only fill one bread boat, and scramble the rest of the egg mixture in the skillet.  It's a great, easy way to make a gluten-free option, AND that way you can feed the leftovers to the turtle, too.  

Look how happy this bread has made us.

Print this off, even though it is not formatted for ease of printing, and tuck it away in your recipe binder under "Feasts and Holidays."  You do have a binder, don't you?  And a section for Feasts and Holidays?  Oh, dear.  Maybe I need to show you what you're missing.

we have so many gals in this house, we host our own women's events.

I think I have mentioned before that the kids sometimes host their own church services on Sunday nights: Biblica Church has a worship team, rotating pastors, pre-printed programs, communion, an offering box, and has even done baptisms.  It's all very involved but surprisingly well executed.

Biblica has just added its first extra-Sunday ministry events: Friday night Women's Events, where all the Van Voorst ladies get to sit around under soft, ambient lighting, drinking tea, singing worship songs, and listening to a teaching.  The event's host/leader/teacher is none other than Penelope, who has taken on all the planning and execution of each event.  She has has thought through and prepared a teaching each time - my favorite was one she gave on three different kinds of women: soft (weak) women, hard women, and Biblical women.

What a privilege it is to have daughters, and what a blessing it is to have a daughter who organizes things like this for us to do together.  The current plan is to hold these events every other Friday night, and I am so excited to see this new tradition grow as the girls grow, and for the memories that I'm sure we'll be storing away!

what's up weekly: abbreviated and yet far-reaching.

HELLO.  So... a lot has happened since we last chatted: Christmas, New Year's (*marks self safe from 2020*), the imminent collapse of the country, etc. etc. 

I hate to do this to you, but I need more time.  I am making an ironclad commitment to blog each day next week to hopefully catch up on news around here.  If I don't, you can assume I probably got Zucked; so in case I don't have time to say it to you later, it has been nice to be your blog friend and perhaps I'll see you in the real world sometime.  You are the wind beneath my wings.

Little Fattykins, taking after Big Fattykins and sucking down iced black coffee as though that's what generates lifeblood.  We are both still carrying a little bit of Holiday Chin at this point.

what's up weekly.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I had originally planned to do school this week, but by the end of the weekend, it became clear that the house was in desperate need of some TLC before all the chaos of Christmas ensues.  So we (I) declared a work week, and that's what we spent a lot of time doing.

In addition to doing things like deep cleaning the bathrooms and the basement, cleaning out cupboards, reorganizing the laundry room, wrapping gifts, batch baking sourdough loaves, getting the furnace fixed, grocery shopping and running errands, I have also been feeling 'nesty', so we've done a lot of decorating - Christmas, and otherwise.  I started sewing pillow covers for our basement couch out of some flannel sheets.

We got the tree decorated.

We attempted applesauce-cinnamon dough ornaments...

 

...but they turned out to be a complete and total failure.  I'm still not sure what went wrong, but once they were dry, they all crumbled to powder.  Christmas fail.  So I stuck some cloves in an orange and hung it in my kitchen to ease my grief through scent.

I also got caught up on some 'couch work' - things I can do while sitting and watching a show.  We watched through the Victorian Farm Christmas Special on Prime while I did things like hand mending a few items that needed a bit of stitching, sorting through papers, folding laundry (and more laundry, and more laundry), and supervising the kids while they sorted out their 'cubbies.'  (Each kid has a storage cube in which they can keep whatever papers, feathers, rocks, stickers, etc. they think are special or important, but they tend to get overrun and need to be sorted out every so often to make room for new things - the rule is that everything they keep has to fit in the box!) 

Today it's supposed to be beautiful out, so I'm going to rake more leaves and build some shelving in the garage.  I'm hoping that soon, everything in our house will have a proper home.  It has taken a long time to get everything settled in here. My mother-in-law told me once that it takes five years to really feel at home in a place, and I remember being shocked at the idea of it taking that long.  Well, it turns out she was right - we are coming up on five years in just a few months, and I'm only now getting to the point where I'm feeling like everything has an intuitive place where it 'goes'.  And sidenote, this is the longest we've lived in any one home in the entirety of our marriage.  Nuts.

Anyway.  All that to say, we've gotten a lot of work done around here this week, and will hopefully continue to make progress over the next few days.  I am so grateful - we really needed this!

We've also spent time this week doing "Adventy" things - we're going through a daily devotional listening through Handel's Messiah, we bought our first advent wreath this year, and we've been limiting our screen time to just Christmas movies.  We let the kids watch Home Alone for the first time this year, and they loved it.  (How could they not?! It's only one of the top 5 Christmas movies of all time.)  We also read through a devotional written by Penelope five years ago, and God Rest Ye Merry by Doug Wilson.

And last but not least, the big kids were under the weather this week.  Sore throats and mild fevers that lasted a couple of days.  And Juni spent one night this week awake and crying most of the night, but I still don't know why.  She isn't sick or teething or constipated, and it only lasted one night.  But it was a great chance to get to snuggle her close while we both dozed in bed, and it was weirdly enjoyable.

Thankfully, everyone is feeling fine now, and we're looking forward to spending lots of time out in the sun today!  I would definitely take a warm Christmas over a snowy Christmas any day - I am loving this weather!

what's been up for weeks and weeks and weeks.

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

It has been a hot minute, yes?

So, first I missed a week because it was Thanksgiving and I was in Iowa.  Then, I missed posting last week because our internet was out for like 10 days and I just can't blog from my phone.  I can barely text like I have opposable thumbs.  (My texts come out looking like I was attempting to communicate with you while wearing baby mittens.)

So now here I find myself, at home, with internet, and just not even capable of sorting through the 500 photos that have been taken since we last talked.  (Yes. 500.)  Things like Thanksgiving, Atticus' birthday party, Atticus' actual birthday, Penelope's new Women's Events, the advent of Advent, St. Nicholas Day, getting our tree, decking our halls, plus general, all-around Living the Good Life have all made life so much fun (and so newsworthy) lately, but it's a bit paralyzing to go back and chronicle it all.  So I'm going to start slow and give you a few teasers of what life has looked like lately:

On my headstone, it will say: "Paige Van Voorst: Grower of Babies, Bagger of Leaves. She enjoyed being one of those things."

The Affection Votes Are In: Lissy is ready to certify, Cora appears to want an audit.

Atticus' 12th Birthday Party: The Truck Tablecloth of a Boy, the Candles and Incredibly Broad Shoulders of a Man.  Seriously, though.  His shoulders.

And just like that, the Kraken effortlessly hauls a double stroller, a seven-foot Christmas tree, and the larger-than-life/van presence and ripped physique of a full-grown man.  Just like it ain't no thang.

The Good Lord really blessed me with one of the faces in this picture.  It turns out you can't read Oliver Twist without aging into a Victorian landlady while you do so.  PTL for Juni's sweet countenance.  Shakespeare was right - you better have kids, or there will be nothing beautiful to look at after a while.

Everybody Loves Atticus.