what's up weekly. (Guests and Valentine's Day.)

Happy, happy Friday!  I honestly can't believe we're already at the end of the week again already.  It has just FLOWN.  Somehow we're inching our way closer and closer to Spring Break - I had braced myself for this time between Christmas and break, knowing it would be the longest uninterrupted stretch of school we've ever done.  Literally.  In nine years of homeschooling, I have never even endeavored to make it this long, much less actually accomplish it.  And yet, here we are - two school weeks away from break already.  The kids have worked really hard and kept good attitudes, but I know we'll all be ready for a bit of a breather.  I should start thinking about a few fun things to do that week.

Enjoying our Wednesday afternoon Laura Ingalls fix.

Okay, anyway.  Let's jump in to the news of the week.

Last Friday, our friends Kendall and Laura came from Illinois to spend the weekend and join us for church.  Once a month, our church gets together for a Friday night Psalm Sing, so they met us there.

We spent Saturday just laying low and hanging out, and they joined us for our Saturday night Sabbath dinner.  For bedtime, we set up guest space in the bedrooms downstairs and had the boys come upstairs to sleep.  Their G.I. Joes kept watch over the boys as they slept.  Creepy or comforting?  You decide.

On Sunday morning, Lolo woke up with the barfs, so I stayed home with her and Oey while the others went to church.  She had such a rough go of it.  She spent all morning so, so sick and miserable, then slept most of the afternoon.  Luckily, she woke up on Monday feeling much better, and none of the rest of us ever caught it.

Tuesday was VALENTINE'S DAY!  We have really grown to adore this holiday - it's so fun to have so many people to love!  Lolo asked me what my favorite part of Valentine's Day is, and I realized it's the color.  I love decorating with all the bright, springy colors in the dreariest stretch of the year.  I love the fun heart-shaped decorations and felt banners and brightly colored plates.  I love wrapping presents in our Valentine's Day bags.  I love the flowers.  It's all just so fun.

We don't let the kids get each other gifts (they love getting each other gifts, but it can become all-consuming), this is just a holiday for us to give to them.  The girls each got something fun that reflected their personalities and interests, and the boys all got matching toy shotguns.

We had waffles for breakfast and a cheeseboard for dinner. 

Then Todd and the boys got all the girls flowers. 

Not an even remotely flattering shot of me, but look at all those other beauties.  You'll have to do a Search and Find for Callista.

Walmart's rose game was strong this year so Todd bought THREE DOZEN.  They smell so good and look so nice and can it be Valentine's Day all year please?

Then we popped popcorn and watched Princess Bride.  It was such a great day.

I have still been sticking pretty closely to Whole 30.  I did eat some paleo chocolate last week, but have been otherwise sticking with it.  But I started off Whole 30 planning on officially "breaking" the fast with our Valentine's Day cheeseboard.  It had been a long time since I'd had cheese and wine and chocolate made with real sugar, and it was really good.  But now I'm back into the swing of Whole 30 again and feeling good.  I'll probably keep at it until Finneas' birthday in a few weeks and then reevaluate.  No need to fix what ain't broken, and it's working for me right now.

Ophelia got to try waffles for breakfast.  Other than communion, this was her first time eating grains.  She seems to feel about them how we all do; find yourself a Valentine that looks at you the way Oey looks at her waffle.

Anyway, enough about that.  The rest of the week has been good.  The kids got to spend time outside riding bikes in the sixty-degree weather at the beginning of the week, and cuddled on the couch watching All Creatures Great and Small at the end of the week because the ground had been covered with a thick layer of snow-ice when a storm system came through.  Ahhh, February.

I also spent time this week canning up a few batches of chicken broth, and beginning to prep the rest of the potatoes I haven't yet canned.  We will pick up our beef order on Saturday, and I'm hoping to spend next week canning quite a bit of that.  I'm finding that I really enjoy canning (at least, when I can find a convenient time for all the noise it makes, and when it's not to bothersome to heat up the whole house...).  I think it's because it's such a practical hobby that needs very little on-ramp time before the end product is actually useful.  As opposed to, say, knitting.  I would love to know how to knit sweaters.  I think that would be such a beautiful and practical use of time.  BUT - before a person is good enough at knitting to make a sweater, they must first make many handmade knitted potholders and scarves and other items that I really have no interest in.  I don't like them, I don't want them, and I don't want to waste time and materials on them   But with canning, there is no "gradual improvement over time."  If you know how to boil water, you have the necessary skills to can.  

And then the end product is just so darn useful - it is literally homemade fast food.  It allows you to source the best quality ingredients for less money than crappy fast food.  No joke.  Even with grocery prices being sky-high right now, I got organic potatoes for $1.19 per pound.  You can't get a pound of french fries for $1.19.  The ingredients are better, the price is lower, and it's faster to grab a jar off the shelf and heat it up than run through the drive through.  And you know that the way to my heart is through efficiency, nutrition and a great deal.  So there you have it: the many reasons I have fallen in love with canning and why you should, too.  My Canifesto, if you will.

Annnnnnyway.  Sorry to go off on a cangent.  I think reverting to puns is my surefire sign that I should wrap this up and go seek out some human interaction.  At least someone loves me, puns and all.

Gosh I love him.

what's up weekly. (Potatoes for Dayzzzz.)

Hello, hello, hello.  I'm back with a much milder week to report than last week.  Not a single dog attack happened, so put that in the 'pro' column.

Last Friday, Todd drove me out to our closest Azure drop so I could get a few bulk items I'd been waiting to order.  I still don't drive out of town, and the closest drop is half an hour away on curvy country roads, so I'd been putting off ordering because I wasn't sure how I was going to make it out there.  But Todd kindly drove me, so I was able to pick up fifty pounds of flour, fifty pounds of potatoes, five gallons of laundry detergent, twenty pounds of apples... you know, the way normal people buy their groceries: mess hall quantities of supplies off a truck in the Uhaul parking lot in a town named Tonganoxie.

I have been very domestic this week.  I think I've figured out how to keep up with laundry at this house, and I'm growing increasingly fond of having our laundry machines right in the kitchen.  I used to think that eventually I would move our machines out to the garage and convert the laundry space into pantry space, but now I'm not so sure.  Atticus called the kitchen my "office" the other day, and it seemed pretty fitting.  It's nice to just be able to move laundry over while I'm heating up a pan on the stove or waiting for water to boil.  So anyway, all that to say, I have been really on top of that aspect of life and even have stayed caught up on sheets for the last six weeks or so.  Look at me go.

I also busted out the canner and canned up twenty-five pounds of the potatoes I bought from Azure.  They turned out really well, so I'll be canning the rest of them the same way.  I think I'll try some of the apples next - maybe a few quarts of apple pie filling?  I'm not sure yet.  But those shelves filling up with pretty jars kind of end up starting a domino effect in my heart, and now I feel a primal urge to Can All The Things.

I clearly miscounted the men here.  It was late and I'd been staring at potatoes for days.

This week, some friends are bringing us some pork, and the half cow we ordered recently will be ready... our freezers will be full and I will start canning some of that as well.  Look at me, I'm a regular ol' Ma Ingalls.  (Or young Ma Ingalls, if we're simply comparing birthdates.)

I also found a working Food Saver at Goodwill for $8 and all my food preservation endeavors are about to level up even higher.

Everyone has been healthy this week, thank the Lord, and the weather has been warm (though we did get really warm, wet, heavy snow on Thursday, so it hasn't exactly been spring-like).  This February has been pretty gentle on me.  We are making headway through our school year, the weather has allowed us to get outside most days, and after a very busy stretch of moving, I have been grateful for a slow season.  I'm actually really enjoying this post-Christmas stretch, if you can believe it.

Our neighbor just had back surgery, so Atticus shoveled his driveway after the snow.  Another neighbor saw him out there, and came over to show him how to use a snow blower.  He lent him the snow blower and just had him return it when he was done.  Have I told you before how wonderful our neighborhood is?

I technically completed my Whole 30 this week!  I'm going to keep at it for a while - I do feel better, I am finally starting to lose some of the baby weight that has been very stubborn this time, I am not nearly as exhausted as I usually am, and I think the discipline has been really good for my mental state.  I feel like my life is... orderly.  The rhythm of life feels really manageable and positive right now, and I do think that choosing choosing discipline has had a big effect on that.  So anyway.  I do think I'll allow some paleo chocolate to sneak through every once in a while, but other than that, I don't really feel much of a need or desire to change things up too much for now. 

I also have been taking TRS for about two weeks now, and my sense of smell is finally returning after having lost it during Covid over a year ago.  So that has been a bittersweet development.  That's what I was hoping for, but it turns out there are a lot of bad smells in my life that I was blissfully ignorant of for a long time that are now asserting their presence once again.

And lastly, I just need to draw your attention to what the kids' snugglies did while we were at church on Sunday: they had their own Snuggle Church Service.  All the families even dressed in coordinating outfits.

And now here is our precious bath time Oey Girl to send you off into the weekend with a smile on your face!

Happy Friday!

what's up weekly. (attack zone!)

Good morning, folks!  I apologize for not being here last week: I typically write these posts on Thursday nights, but I just joined a book club with the women at my church and it started last Thursday.  It has been a long time since I've done anything at night (I had to call Todd from the driveway and ask him how to turn the headlights on in the van), and I forgot that Things At Night always go later than you thought they would, and leave you more exhausted than you thought you'd be, and therein lies my excuse.  I was Booking and People-ing last Thursday, and therefore had no energy for Typing and Jokesing.  But this is a hiatus week for the book club, so here I am today!

And here is the book that kept me from you:

Okay, jumping right in.  One of the gals from church brought me a sweet gift!

We got some actual snow that hung around for a few days, and it was the perfect, wet snow for making snowballs and snowmen!  The kids logged many hours traipsing around outside, and I logged many hours mopping up mud and washing outerwear.  

Wednesday afternoons are one of the best times of the week - we turn on the fireplace, curl up and read from the Little House series.  We just finished Farmer Boy and began Little House on the Prairie.

Laurelai planned a tea party for all the sisters, and made a cookie cake to serve.  She even washed all their little tea time dishes and put them in a doll-sized strainer.  It was adorable.

Prior to baking.

And, speaking of Laurelai, let me get to the juiciest news of our week: there was a pit bull attack in our neighborhood.  The kids were outside playing in the field behind our house, when they saw a couple of stray dogs come charging at them.  Finneas yelled, "DOG! RUN!" to Laurelai, who thought he said "STOP!", so she couldn't figure out why her legs were running and wouldn't stop!  She turned around, and the dogs were right on her heels and gaining.  She didn't have time to get into the yard, so she tried climbing up over the fence but got stuck.  She just hung on, screaming and crying, while they charged at her.

Luckily, our chicken coop was nearby and it caught the dogs' attention.  They charged the run, busted in the door, and ran off with a chicken to a corner of the field.  It gave Lolo enough time to get into the yard, and then into the house.  In the meantime, Todd went out to chase them off and attempt to close up the chicken run before more chickens got out, but the dogs charged at him and then, after he got back into the yard and closed the gate in their faces, ran off down the field toward the street.

After making sure Lolo and the other kids were all okay, we went back outside to close the remaining chickens up in the coop (we were missing two at this point).  There was so much noise still happening - I thought it was just the neighborhood dogs all going crazy (which they were), but Todd was pretty sure he was hearing screaming from the street.

Once we got to the front, it was clear the dogs had done more damage.  They were being chased down the street by a neighbor, and a woman was lying on the ground, screaming, and clutching her two small dogs.  She had been out walking them, saw the pit bulls come running at them up the street, and scooped her dogs up in her arms to protect them.  The pit bulls jumped on her, pushing her to the ground, and each pit bull grabbed a small dog from her and started yanking them from her.  Her hands were cut up where she hadn't let go of the leashes, and her dogs were pretty beat up, but luckily both little dogs seemed to be okay-ish, so far at least.  (One of them had its jaw broken in two places and wasn't doing great the last we heard, but no news since then.)

So anyway.  Our week included multiple visits from neighbors as well as Animal Control.  It's been a whole thing.  Our kids are all thankfully okay, other than a little bit of nervousness right at first to play outside our fence.  One of our missing chickens actually returned!  We think she ran to the front and hid under our van the whole time.  We never saw the other one (Little Princess) after the dogs ran off with her.  We are so grateful that she gave her life distracting them from Lolo.  What a noble way for a chicken to go.

So anyway.  The court date for the dogs (who were eventually caught and retained by Animal Control) is next Thursday.  Call me politically incorrect, but they should be put down.

Okay, enough of that buzzkill.  Here are a couple things keeping our spirits up this week:

- Beautiful weather

- Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: I watch this while I walk on the treadmill.  I am a couple episodes into the first season and Johnny Cash has already been sheriff, so I think this is going to be a show I can stick with, as long as they don't start spinning off into weird Hallmark love story lines.  I just want to watch a British lady with good hair trying to raise up some orphans and do a little doctorin' in post-Lincoln Colorado, okay?

- All Creatures Great and Small, the modern PBS series - it is so good!  The kids and I started it on Wednesday of this week, after our fireside Laura Ingalls time, and it was seriously the best day ever.  

- Working out: I've been trying to be more consistent with getting exercise in most days, and trying to work a little harder than I'm used to.  I walk on the treadmill, then I do some barre exercises from my ballet days, and then I lift weights.  (One weight.  I lift one weight.)  I've been fitting it in over lunch break.

- Whole 30.  Or, more honestly, being nearly done with Whole 30 is what's keeping my spirits up.  Today is Day 26.  It hasn't been too terribly hard, and I think I'm going to extend it past thirty days, though I'm not sure how far past thirty days.  But dang, I am having a hard time not having chocolate.  Most other things are easily lived without or substituted, but there is no substitute for chocolate.  I miss it.  It makes me think I'll potentially be done sooner rather than later just so I can get some chocolate; we'll see.

- These flowers: 

Todd knows February tends to be my least favorite month, so for the last few years he has gotten me flowers and made me a card on the first day.  It really does help me face February with more optimism!

Todd and Oey were both sick-ish with a cold this week, so no one really slept very well.  Todd seems to be on the mend now, and Ophelia is getting there, too, but has a really chesty cough that is lingering.  I ordered some mullein and some oregano and hopefully those will knock out any remaining ickies so she can get to feeling better.

And I think that was all of this week's news!  Here are our surviving hens to welcome you to the weekend!  Happy Friday from Howitzer, La Papa, Megadeath, Debbie and Rhoda's safe-and-snug behinds!

what's up weekly. (saying farewell to the Christmas season.)

Hello, hello!  It's Friday and I'm feeling good.

I know I failed to post last week.  I'm sorry.  I just... could not.  The stretch that was Christmas had finally caught up with me, and I just needed to lay around in a dark room by myself watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman instead of blogging.  I know you've been there too.

So let me back up just a bit to give a fly-over of what was happening the week I didn't blog.  Friday the 6th was Epiphany, so we made a day of it.  We had a cheeseboard for dinner, and I baked a King Cake with a bean hidden inside, the lucky finder of which would get to be king or queen for the rest of the evening.  The lucky Queenie Beanie ended up being our very own Lissa Lou.

Here they are asking her what her first command will be.  She refused to demand anything of anyone.  She had one opportunity to be top dog without a fight and she squandered it.

The next day, my family came down from Iowa and we got to celebrate Second Christmas with the grandparents and cousins!  We had yummy food, opened gifts, and the kids celebrated the arrival of a surprise from my sister and her family: a basement piano!

Girl Cousins table.  Lissy is not thrilled to be wearing jeans, even though she looks so cute in them.

Oey and Yaya cuddling in a chair, S-I-T-T-I-N-G.

Rocco trying out his new binoculars.  Anything he ends up seeing will have definitely seen him first.

The following Monday we were scheduled to start school after three weeks off, but I just couldn't.  There were still Christmas trees and decorations and pine needles everywhere, and I knew I wouldn't have time to get it all taken care of once school started.  So we took Monday off to clean and organize the house and store away our Christmas things.  It was a huge job - the kids had decorated their rooms, we had decorated both the living room and the family room; there was stuff everywhere and it took a surprisingly long time to get cleaned up.  I suppose that is the sign of a good party!

So we finally jumped back into school the next day.  It has gone really well.  I think everyone was ready for some more structure to our days, and to pick back up in so many stories that had been waiting for us.  The last two weeks have really been smooth sailing, all things considered, and we are enjoying our days.

Our basement library/book room/"conservatory."  It has a long way to go - I would like fresh paint, maybe a sewing table and another cozy reading chair, and new carpet down the road - but the piano is such a great addition in here and is being played constantly.  The kids have really loved having a piano they can play whenever they want.

I have been trying to impose a little more order and structure over my own personal time as well.  I've been trying (imperfectly, but still trying) to get back into the Bible reading plan that Todd, Atticus and Penelope are keeping up with.  I am twelve days in to Whole30 and it's going super well.  I've been trying to look at my phone less and read actual books more.  (I'm currently in Gone with the Wind, The Knowledge of the Holy, and A Woman After God's Own Heart.  I also need to get a couple of chapters read in Ruler of Kings for a new book club that will be starting next week.)  I took some stuff to Goodwill, cleaned out our basement storage room, and Todd helped me get the treadmill set up in there this week so I've been trying to get back into walking when I have a few minutes to spare.

That isn't me, that's Penelope, but she has also been taking time to walk on the treadmill.  She feels a lot better when she can get her body moving through the day.

Also, I have been watching Dr. Quinn while I walk because I've never watched through it before and I'm enjoying it, although it is inspiring me to want to decorate with more barrels.  So I think that's my sign I'm watching too much Dr. Quinn.

And in Oey news, she is still adorable.  She turned thirteen months and has discovered the joys of playing with (and hugging and kissing and snuggling) baby dolls.  I literally just can't even take it - she is so cute.  She decided about two weeks ago that she would start sleeping through the night, so I have actually started catching up a bit on sleep as well!  She also has dramatically decreased the amount of time she wants to spend nursing, so I'm only nursing her once or twice a day at this point.  The rest of the time she sits with us at mealtimes and drinks raw milk and eats food (well, she eats meat. Only meat.  She never wants anything but meat) and is just another run-of-the-mill adult by now.  

She woke up with the barfs yesterday morning, and was running a fever at bedtime last night, so we'll see how the day goes.  There are very few things as sweet and pathetic as a sick baby.  How she feels will determine how the day plays out because you better believe I'm not giving up a moment of the opportunity to snuggle a cuddly baby if she wants me to!  She nursed a little more through her fever yesterday so maybe she'll want to do that again today.  I'm not complaining.  As I have more babies, I am struck more and more by just how fleeting it all is.  I am in no rush to make it go faster than it already does.  I really want to enjoy every single baby day I am given because there will come a day that is the last one.  The last time I ever nurse, the last time I ever get up in the night to feed a baby, the last diaper I'll ever change.  There will be an element of relief that comes with that for sure, the way anyone who has worked hard welcomes rest, and it definitely is hard work, but it's satisfying work and I'm in no hurry to see it end sooner than it has to.

Anyway.  Enough sap.  Now, on a completely unrelated note, here is Santa, wishing you a very merry but official farewell to the Christmas season.

Ho, ho, ho, merry January!

Happy Epiphany, friends!  It's the twelfth day of Christmas, and our last feast day for a while.   (Whew!)  Feasting is hard work, and by the end of the holidays I am ready for the finish line.  We will have a cheeseboard tonight, and a King cake (a bundt cake, which is crown-shaped, with a dry bean baked in - whoever finds the bean gets to be king or queen for the rest of the night)!  And that will cap off our stretch of winter holidays.  We will do another feast day on Valentine's Day, but nothing between now and then.

I am planning on starting a Whole30 on Monday to squeeze it in between celebrations.  I think my body composition is just cheese wrapped in skin at this point.  My brain feels like cheese, my legs move like cheese, my stomach looks like cheese, my breath smells like cheese.  And while I know it sounds glamorous, I think I need a little break.  A little austerity.  A little temporary cheeselessness.  So Whole30 it is. 

I won't be making the kids join me this time, which they are glad about.  And I'm just going to keep it really simple and not attempt too many out-of-the-ordinary recipes or snacks; just modify what we normally eat.  Wish me luck.

But anyway, back to our cheese-logged existence for a little longer.  Last weekend was New Year's, and you know what that means: cheeseboard.  Friends of ours who are currently stationed in North Carolina were in the area for the holidays, so they stayed the weekend with us.  Of course we got a photo of the food, but no photos with the friends.  Because that's how cheese-muddled our brains are at this point.  I am still kicking myself over it.  But it was a super fun time, even if no photos were had.

Mmmm.  Food photos after dark under overhead lighting.  You're just going to have to trust me that this was a pretty epic spread.

Every year on NYE, we have a 'talent' portion of the evening in which some of us present drawings of our family as it was that year, or poems about what the year held for us.  This is Finneas' drawing.  Callista, Rocco, Lolo and Atticus also drew family portraits but I don't have photos of those for some reason.  

 

On Monday, we took advantage of Todd's day off work for the New Year and drove back to the Columbia area for some errands.  We first hit up the chiropractor, then headed to Natural Grocers and Aldi.  Why Aldi, you ask?  Don't we have one here?  Why, yes, we do, but Kansas grocery stores aren't allowed to sell wine because the state government thinks that's a reasonable and necessary and helpful restriction.  So while I could go to a liquor store to buy wine, and I have, it is just not nearly as cheap and wonderful as Aldi wine.  And it is feast season - we go through wine, and I'd rather not pay $14 for what I can buy at Aldi for $8.  (True story.)  So I went through the Aldi checkout with three bags of chocolate chips and nine bottles of wine and I really do wonder what people who saw me thought my life is like.  While I was shopping, Todd took the kids over to drive past our old house.

After the grocery stores, we dropped off a Christmas present at my friend Megan's, then headed to my friend Jen's so that the girls and I could get haircuts.  It had been a hot minute and we were all kind of looking like Fraggles.  While she cut our hair, her husband taught the boys to shoot.  A grand time was had by all.

After that, we headed up to the Amish.  I was able to stock up on some of our bulk items like oats, honey, salt, coffee and canning lids, and I found some good deals on a few ding-and-dent items.  Then we stopped at my friend Irene's house and bought six gallons of milk.  We currently buy eight gallons a week from our local farmer, but that's just enough for our drinking/cooking/butter-making needs.  I haven't made yogurt or cheese since we've gotten here because I just don't have any extra to work with.  So I'm excited to make some yogurt and paneer this week.  (Just in time for Whole30... I guess I will be experimenting with freezing paneer.)

But anyway.  That was our trip on Monday.  I should add that we left at 7:30 in the morning, didn't get home until 9:00 at night, it was crazy foggy the entire day (until after dark, when it started pouring down rain), and Todd was battling a killer headache the majority of the time.  It was a day.  But I'm really glad we went - it felt really good to visit the familiar.  I feel like this move has been really gentle on us and we are settling in surprisingly quickly, but I do still feel a little displaced sometimes, so it was nice to feel 'placed' again for a little bit.

On Tuesday, a friend and her kids came from Kansas City to visit for the afternoon.  I have known her from back in our Ames days, and lots of life has happened in between (they lived in China for a while, we have moved all over the place, and now here we are, forty-five minutes from each other).  It's been fun to make a new, old friend.

Not related to what I was saying above, but here is how you can find Atticus 90% of the time: prowling the exterior perimeter by himself.

On Wednesday, I got really serious about finally starting to clean out the storage room.  That has been my biggest goal to tackle this break, but I was sick for most of the first two weeks off, and then this week has been pretty busy, so I hadn't even started yet.  I still have some progress to make down there yet, but I did get a lot done in one afternoon and I'm really glad.

Yesterday was spent menu planning in anticipation of today's grocery trip, and procrastinating on folding all the laundry.  Our laundry system in this house is in a state of constant hiccup.  All of my previous houses had basement laundry, which is its own inconvenience, but I'm having to figure out a new way of doing things and I haven't quite solved the puzzle yet. 

Okay, well, I'm off to bake the King cake and take in the beauty of our Christmas decorations for a little bit longer.  We always leave them up until Epiphany (or, in the case of last year, February) and then they come down.  I will leave them up through the weekend since we're celebrating Christmas with my family here tomorrow, but then they'll get put away until next year.  I feel... ready/not ready for Christmas to be over already!