what's up weekly. (Family Photos and Fake Facial Hair.)

Well, it's Friday (or, technically Thursday night as I write this) and here I am, skipping book club so I can chat with you guys.  You better be grateful.  (I'm clearly kidding, though not about skipping book club.  It has been a busy week and I was peopled out.  So I decided to spend my time... peopleing with you.  Somehow that's different, though.)

On Friday after Todd got off work, we piled into the Kraken for a quick trip to Iowa.  It was my stepdad's birthday last week, and my mom threw him a surprise party with all the kids and grandkids.  So since the party wasn't until Saturday, and we were arriving Friday night, we couldn't stay with them or the surprise would be ruined.  Luckily, the house next door to my sister just so happens to be a huge Airbnb that just so happened to be available that night, so that was pretty perfect.  We stayed there overnight, and then had breakfast at my sister's in the morning.

Airbnb.  This is where we stayed up until 2 a.m. playing Scrabble.

Breakfast with the cousins.

Then we headed over to their studio for the party.

ALMOST everyone is smiling.  So close!

We got some individual photos of the kids, and I love them!

Rocco, 7

Finneas, 11

Atticus, 14

Penelope, 12

Laurelai, 9

Callista, 5

Juni, 3 (and every bit of it)

Ophelia, 15 months

After partying it up for a bit and having some lunch, we hopped back in the car and headed for home.  We made good time, so we swung through Price Chopper (yes, that is a real grocery store; someone actually named it that), grabbed a few things, and still made Sabbath dinner happen, with tablecloth and candles and everything.  I was shocked we were able to pull it off with very little stress, but I guess it really is true that one can cook all pork chops quickly through Christ who strengthens one and all that.

On Sunday, a homesteading friend at church lent me a book on Mini-Farming - you know, suburban yard-scale food production - so you know that between that and the fact that the weather has been nice, my mind has been in full-blown hamster wheel mode.  This is the part where I announce I'm going off the grid, except for the actual 'going off the grid' part. 

I do think that this summer I'd like to get some rain barrels set up in the yard, along with a small raised bed and a couple of narrow tilled beds along the outside perimeter of our back fence.  But we will see.  Best laid garden plans and all of that.

We have completed a (mostly) normal week of school.  We did have a bit of catching up to do from last week when I had to go to court, and today we'll miss our table work time since I need to go grocery shopping.  I still haven't figured out the best system for fitting grocery shopping/errands in, so for now I just go once every three weeks, skip schoolwork for the morning, and try to get it all done during Ophelia's morning nap.  I usually do a quick pick-up at Walmart, a full trip through Aldi, and then I usually have at least one other place to stop - Price Chopper/Home Depot/Tractor Supply.  I will also often pop into the library if I have time, but that's in a different part of town so I don't always have the time.  It's a tight squeeze but it works okay for now.

Our evenings this week have been a little more full.  We had our normal milk pick up on Tuesday, then after dinner an elder from church stopped by for a bit, just as part of our shepherding model.  Then on Wednesday we had friends over for dinner, so by last night I wasn't ready to sign on for another evening of commitments. 

And so, here we are.  Another Friday reached!  This weekend we have some friends joining us for Sabbath dinner, I have some homeschool organization to do, and I desperately need to clean the bathrooms and mop the floors.  Should be a grand old time.  Saturdays are supposed to be a cleaning day, but when we're gone on the weekends like we often have been lately, things really get behind very quickly.  So this should be a good opportunity to catch up!

I found stick-on mustaches at Price Chopper.  These are one of my very favorite things to buy, bar none.

So, anyway.  I'm off to grocery shop and clean and school the kids and continue to really like this life.

what's up weekly. (Mommy Dates and Court Room Drama.)

Hey hey hey!  We are back into the swing of things with school and everyone is healthy at the moment (knock on wood), so this week was full and productive and held some noteworthy news items.

First, let me head all the way back to last Friday.  I did another day of Mommy dates with the kids that hadn't yet gotten their turns.  First, I took Callista to breakfast at a restaurant in an old train depot.  It was so cute - they hadn't changed the building at all, and even some of the seating in the waiting area was original.  All the doors and windows and rooms and floors were original.  It was cute, it was better than IHOP, it was a good trip with an adorable lady, so everyone wins.

After that, I took Atticus to the Army museum on base here.  It was really interesting - there was a lot more information and more exhibits than I had anticipated.  I learned a lot about Lewis and Clark, the movement west across the frontier, etc.  I also learned some details about Sacajawea I had never known - she had been purchased as a preteen by the Frenchman who eventually became her husband; she not only carried a baby on her back on the expedition with Lewis and Clark, but she had actually delivered the baby on the trail; she had only been around nineteen on the trip, and she died around the age of twenty-five.  So crazy to try to wrap your head around all of that.

We also got to see a carriage that Abraham Lincoln rode in while he was here at the fort, and you know that, apart from the way he enlarged the power of the federal government and introduced fiat currency, I can't get over my celebrity crush on him.  Why do girls always like boys that are so bad for them?

After looking over all the displays, we popped into the gift shop, which weirdly had a great 'used book' section, and was running a sale on them, so we had a heyday.

After that, I dropped Atticus off at home and took Finneas to lunch at a retro little drive-in diner.  It was really cute: it reminded me of this shake shack that was in a nearby town growing up.  Vintage simply because it had been there doing its thing for a while, not because they were going for anything kitschy.  That's what this diner was like, and I liked it.  Hot sandwiches, milkshakes, coffee, pie.  That kind of thing. 

That evening, since everyone had remained healthy, we went to the Psalm Sing.  This month it was in a chapel fellowship hall on the army base, which I weirdly preferred to having it in folks' homes like we typically do.  We are just at the point where there are close to 100 people each month, and tons of kids, so finding a location is becoming more challenging as we grow!  It's a good problem to have to navigate.

Saturday I took Rocco out to lunch at the train depot restaurant, and then to the antique carousel.  There is a museum there, and it was just as 'meh' and depressing as you might expect, but the carousel itself was super fun.  It WHIPS around.

In answer to a couple questions I've gotten about Mommy dates: I don't get to do them very often; maybe once a year.  I don't really plan out what we talk about, my goal is to just interact with them as individuals.  It's funny how they all shine differently when it's just them.  Finneas, for example, had me in stitches the entire time until he asked what was wrong with me and surmised maybe I'd had too much sugar in my soda.  Rocco held my hand like the whole time because he is just so cuddly and has zero desire for physical distance ever, and he finally got my undivided hand holding.  Atticus got to tell me what he knew about many of the weapons we looked at at the museum and I was honestly impressed at how much knowledge he had tucked away.  Lolo didn't know what to do with all the attention so she went all Ricky Bobby and got kind of awkward and punch-drunk.  Penelope loves talking about her future, and making plans for how she will do things when she's an adult, so we got some time to do that as we walked around talking about groceries and crafting and gardening.  They just get to be themselves as individuals.  It's fun to be around!

Sunday evening, our neighbor came by to pierce Ophelia's ears.  (For those of you clenching up, your concerns have been preemptively noted and filed.  Thank you.)  I usually like to have their ears done younger than this, but time got away from us.  Everything is healing well and didn't even seem sore by the next morning, but I do think I still prefer having it done when they're younger.  Noted for next time.

Not sure what is going on.

Still having no idea what Miss Tabby is up to.

Decidedly not a fan.

Luckily, like I said, the discomfort was short lived and as of the next day, she was completely over it.  She lets me clean and turn them without even really noticing, so I know they're not still sore.  And she looks so cute!

Monday, we jumped back into school after a break.  The week was going to be a full one because everyone else was on break this week and wanting to make plans, plus the trial for the dog attack was scheduled for later in the week, so I knew our schedule wouldn't run perfectly but we got done what we could.

Wednesday night we had friends come for dinner, and this morning I have another friend coming over to chat, so we've just adjusted our schedule to accommodate those plans. 

Yesterday was the dog attack trial.  It ended up going pretty smoothly once I got there.  

So, just as a recap for those of you who are new around here: a month or two ago, there were a couple of pit bulls that got loose in the neighborhood that maliciously chased our kids, killed one of our chickens, and attacked a gal and her small dogs who were walking on the street.  The owners were contesting the charges from animal control, and even found the attacked woman on Facebook and started threatening her.  It has been a whole thing.

Unexpectedly, the owners pled guilty, which made the trial go much more smoothly and quickly.  The judge was great and sought to uphold the law as it was written in our city codes, so the dogs have some really severe restrictions put on them, but won't be put down.  I do hope the owners keep better track of them than they have in the past, or someone will likely end up getting hurt again.

Anyway.  It was my first, and hopefully last, experience in a court room.  It was not my favorite.  ALTHOUGH, I will say:  I was chatting with the bailiff, and he said his grandmother was one of twenty-eight children!  All biological siblings, only three sets of twins.  When her mother (the matriarch of all these children) died at age 98, there were so many people attending the funeral - so many children and spouses and grandchildren and great-grandchildren - that there had to be three separate services. because they wouldn't all fit in the church.  Incredible.

Well, I think that pretty much sums up the excitement, except for this little item of note: Lolo got sick again at some point this week.  I'm ready for a lot more 'boring' next week.

Applesauce with two charcoal capsules mixed in.  Worked like a charm but did not look appetizing.

Happy trails, y'all.

what's up weekly. (Mommy dates, Spring break, and Finneas turns eleven!)

Well, howdy y'all.

This week has been full of high highs and low lows, so I am currently sitting in a dimmed room while I write this, as I try to come to grips with the fact that our break week is officially about over.  It has been such a weird week, and I'm still a little surprised that we've even begun it, much less used it all up.  Let me give you the highlight reel.

Last Friday night, Todd and Atticus went to Kansas City for an evening of "beer and books" with the other men in our church.  I knew it would be late when they got home, so I planned on trying to stay up to wait for them.  (Todd and I almost never go to bed without each other.  "Oneness" is a priority we really value and try to reinforce whenever we can, including having one bedtime, one show we're watching together, one bank account, you know. That kind of thing.  Strong marriages are made up of small decisions made every day, and that's what we work for.  End of soap box speech you never asked for.)

Anyway.  The plan was to wait up.  But then I started running a fever and feeling like absolute walking death, so I had to tap out early.  (They got home at 1:00.  I never would have made it that long.)  I woke up the next morning with no fever, but still not feeling 100 percent, but we had a birthday party planned for Finneas and I hated to cancel it if we didn't have to.  We drove up to Iowa and Finneas had a great time partying it up with family for his birthday.  We got home around 9:00 that evening.

Unfortunately we forgot the camera, so there aren't many photos of his party, but here's one where he looks so happy!  I love this smile.

Through the night I was sick again, so I stayed home from church on Sunday.  

The biggest news Monday held was that it was Finneas' ELEVENTH BIRTHDAY!  Or, as Todd put it, our Eleven turned Eleven!  (We call him our "eleven" because he lives life full-throttle, like if life had a volume button that went up to ten, Finneas would be running at eleven.  He plays hard, sleeps hard, jokes hard, loves hard.)  He chose Lucky Charms for breakfast, sandwiches and chips for lunch, Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner, and root beer floats for dessert.  He likes to live life on the edge; the edge of prediabetes, I mean.

Oey got eggs for breakfast, because I feel she is a little young to die of a blood sugar coma.

There isn't enough room to tell you everything I love about him.  Finneas is hard to capture in a nutshell - he is so many things at once.  He is so funny and extremely quick-witted.  He is flighty.  He has an amazing singing voice, and I wish he'd sing more.  He is so tender and affectionate with Ophelia.  He is glued to Rocco's hip.  He is competitive and loves to win - even against hypothetical people.  "Mom, am I taller than other kids my age?  Am I heavier?  Are my feet bigger? Do I eat more?"  He takes it hard when he loses.  He has a keen eye for beauty and "rightness."  He has a special heaviness on his heart for making sure unbelievers hear the gospel - his grief over the thought of people going to hell is real and deep.  He is comfortable being the center of attention and loves the limelight.  He is brave and confident and doesn't worry too much about what others think of him.  He is just Finneas- he will take a lifetime to know entirely.

These are Finn's Boots.  He loves them.  I swear they're way too small for him, but he won't say so because he knows I won't let him keep wearing them if he's officially outgrown them.  So I got him new boots for his birthday, though they're not this stylish.

I tried my best to enter into the birthday festivities, but I was still very sick on Monday.

Trying to get some sunshine without catching a chill, and looking like a steaming cup of death.

Also, I decided to learn to knit Monday night, so that's new.

The cutest little backseat knitter.

By Tuesday I was kind of on the mend, but still really fatigued.  I started taking all the supplements I was on during Covid, since my lungs were really what was taking the worst hit and I figured it couldn't hurt.  I'm wondering if I have some remaining injury or scarring from the blood clots or something.  My lungs still feel sticky and raw when I get sick.  So I might start looking into how to heal that up; any reasonable thoughts for lung support would be welcome.

Taco Tuesday helpers - you can see all my supplements there on the left side.

Fewer supplements, more faces in this shot, so this is clearly the superior content you come for.

By Wednesday, I was feeling well enough to start taking the kids out on Mommy Dates, which is what they said they were wanting to do over Spring Break.  First, I took Juni to IHOP, where I had the most disgusting omelet of my life and the 40-something hostess had nary a tooth in her skull, but Juni's cupcake pancake was a big hit.  

Then Penelope and I went to Walmart to browse.  I got her some of her own knitting supplies, and we breathed fresh hope in the garden section - the plants are coming!  She bought me a blueberry plant for my upcoming birthday that I am hoping to get planted within the next few weeks.  I'm not yet sure if I'll plant it in the ground or in a pot; we haven't lived here through a spring and summer season yet, so I don't know where there is sunshine and shade during the growing season.  I have a feeling we have a lot of shade - for a small lot, we have a weirdly high number of trees.  Something we may remedy in the long run, but for now it might dictate where I'm able to plant things.

Anyway, after our Walmart trip, we swung through Starbucks for coffee, then I went home to drop off Penelope and pick up Laurelai.  She wanted to go to a bakery, so I found one downtown that served sandwiches.  After we ate our lunch, we went to the counter to pick out a baked good.  It was quite the deliberation, as there were a lot of items to choose from, so I kind of half-apologized to the guy behind the counter for taking so long.  "Oh, this is nothing.  Some people come in and take forever.  One family came in last week with six of those - " (pointing at Laurelai) " - AND had their elderly parents with dementia with them.  You have no idea what I go through in customer service sometimes."  And I was like, wow.  That sounds really hard for you.  How dare they deign to ask you to serve them cupcakes for ten minutes of your life, like you're paid to do?  However do you bear up under the burden of living?  Has anyone offered you a raise and a televised award?  (I obviously didn't say any of this, but he would have deserved it if I had.  I wish I had; the silence was awkward.  He has no idea what I go through dealing with customer service sometimes.  Someone needs to give me a raise and a televised award.)

She doesn't seem too shook by our unpleasant interaction.

Wednesday afternoon, I let Callista stay up from nap to listen to our Little House on the Prairie read-aloud time, but she got a killer headache afterwards, which I chalked up to missing sleep.  But then Juni woke up from her nap with a raging headache as well, and she spiked a fever.  So I put both girls in the bath, then Juni went to bed early.  

They woke up yesterday feeling better, but Penelope came down with the crud.  She barely got out of bed or ate anything all day.  So we shall see what today holds.  I am hoping to take some of the other kids out for their Mom time.  Callista wants to go out for breakfast (though I am going to have to break the news that we will NOT be returning to the Worst IHOP on the Planet and will have to find an alternative), Atticus wants to go to the military museum here in town, and Finneas wants to go to the drive-in burger place.  Hopefully they all feel well enough for it.  There is also a Psalm Sing tonight, so we will see if everyone is able to go or if some of us will need to stay home, and then Rocco wants to go to the antique carousel tomorrow.  Lots of unknowns at this point!

Lastly, I sewed Laurelai a skirt yesterday out of some fabric she got for Christmas.  It turned out pretty well, but I forgot to take a photo- I will try to remember to do that.

Anyway, that was our week - at least we can say it was memorable!  I didn't get to some of the things I was needing to do, like making sure I have a plan in place for starting back to school in a couple of days, but how important is that really?  ...Actually, pretty important.  I should probably go work on that now.  I don't have any more time to sit around chitchatting with you riffraff, I've got stuff to do.  Later, gators.

what's up weekly. (beef, canning, and a family reunion.)

Well, hello there, friends!

Long time no chat, am I right?

Last week was a book club week, so I didn't show my face around here because I ran out of time and energy.  But look at me now, full of time, full of energy, so let's jump right in!

Lots has happened, starting with a trip to Columbia to pick up our order for a half beef!  This is our first time purchasing meat in bulk, and so far I'm loving it.  It is much higher quality meat than what I can find (or afford) at the store.  I love knowing that my money is going to a Christian who is producing an excellent product, and that our food is grown nearby, keeping our supply chain short.  I like personally knowing folks that are actually producing food, so that we depend less and less on whatever the grocery store can get its hands on at any moment.  I like knowing we actually wouldn't even have to go to the grocery store for months if it came to that.  I anticipate learning more about how to cook different cuts of meat I've never tried making before.  And honestly, it just tastes amazing.  All in all, it has been a great experience.'

So far, I've canned about thirty pounds of ground beef, and I hope to get some stew meat preserved pretty soon.  I'm hoping to primarily just have steaks and roasts in the freezer and have the rest of it ready for use on the shelves.  In the meantime, though, we bought a second freezer, since the other deep freeze is full of pork, chicken, bread, and a stockpile of raw butter from the Amish.  I'm basically a homesteader now.

I also finished up canning those 50# of potatoes I bought from Azure a while back.  I ended up getting 38 quarts of those on the shelf.  I've been keeping a canning journal this year, tracking how much canned food I get per pound of fresh, how much I'm paying for ingredients, and calculating how many quarts of each item we actually end up using over the course of the year.  All those preserving guidelines tell you to start by calculating how much of something your family uses, but the stupid thing is that I am never really sure.  I'm going to try to change that this year.

A canner load of potatoes, and a couple canner loads of chicken broth.

Okay, I get that not everyone is thrilled by food storage the way I am, so I guess I can find something else to talk about.

 

Okay, what else?

We've been hitting a lot of milestones, such as this one...

...and this one...

Yes, that's right.  Atticus is as tall as Todd, and if you'll notice, Todd is wearing slippers while Atticus is barefoot.  He has slightly surpassed Todd.  This is a weird stage of parenting.

As a punitive consequence for growing too quickly, he now has to give Todd allowance.

...and this one.  

This may not be quite as obvious a milestone, so let me clarify.  We have been spending so much more time playing outside without coats or sweatshirts; I think we are finally headed into spring.  Our neighbor said that it will be about two more weeks of up-and-down weather and then we can consider ourselves out of the woods.

I have been spending an inordinate amount of time dreaming of where I'm going to put some garden beds, and flower beds, and fruit trees on our property.  I also am dreaming up what I want to plant in our weirdly bare front planting beds, which I'm sure you have already guessed is making me want to paint the whole house a different color.  Obviously, because that's how my decorating plans spiral.

The painting will probably need to happen at some point since all of our siding, other than the stone on the front, is wood and it is starting to chip and peel, but that won't be for a while yet.  This year I will be happy with a little tiller action and a few plants.  So I tell myself.  My brother-in-law and sister said they will come and help me with some of that for my birthday, so I'm excited that there is actually a plan in place.  I am great at dreaming, not so great at executing, so it's always helpful to have doers-of-things on my side.

Speaking of Lauren and Austin and family, they made an impromptu visit this past weekend and it was so wonderful.  We usually only get to see each other when holidays or birthday parties or some other kind of event is happening, so it's rare we get to sit down and just catch up and let the kids play.  So this was just the best opportunity to spend a lowkey day or two with nothing on the agenda.  They came Friday evening, and stayed through Sabbath dinner on Saturday before heading home.

Why am I always so bad at remembering to take photos with friends and family?  This was literally the only photo we got together.

I love that our house has enough room for more than one table.

I made a pretty salad and I would like to immortalize it, thank you very much.

We will get to see them again tomorrow, since it will be Finneas' birthday on Monday and we'll celebrate in Des Moines this weekend.

Other than that, our week has moved along nicely.  We wrapped up our last week of school before Spring Break, and are officially free as the wind blows once read alouds are done this afternoon.  Then Todd and Atticus will head to Kansas City this evening for a Beer and Books gathering with the men from church.  I think next week is going to be super fun - I will try to get Mommy-kid dates on the schedule, we have a playdate with a family from church, Finneas' birthday and birthday meals will be the highlight of Monday, and I think the weather is supposed to be sunny, if not particularly warm.  Our neighbor, a massage therapist who works at a spa/salon, has offered to pierce Ophelia's ears, so that might finally happen.  (I have never waited past seven months of age to pierce the girls' ears before; I'm bummed for Oey's sake that she is older.  Please be praying it goes smoothly.)  It should be a pretty fun week!  (For everyone but Ophelia, that is.)

And other than that, all I really want to show you from the week is Atticus' art setup.  He is ever and always Very Atticus.

And here are the sisters to cuddle you into the weekend.

You're welcome.  Happy weekend!