what's up weekly. (I'm a deadbeat.)

Hi, folks.  Sorry I didn't show up last week.  It was break week, and I'd had big plans - remember when I told you I had a whole list of things to accomplish, like cleaning out the chicken coop, and building a compost bin, and cleaning out the garage, and pulling out fall clothing, and sealing the wood on my garden bed?  There were probably more things on the list, but those are the things that I know of off the top of my head that most certainly did not get done.  I just couldn't show my face around here knowing I had squandered my time so wantonly.

Because squander it I did.  I did literally nothing.  I took full advantage of the break and went into full deadbeat mode.  I rarely changed out of pajamas.  I didn't exercise most days.  I laid on the couch and read two entire books.  I threw daily popcorn parties at lunchtime and watched an entire season of All Creatures Great and Small with the kids.  We were all total lushes, and I was at the helm of it all.

The weather was great, though, and at least the kids got plenty of time to play outside.  They've invented a new game called Voorst Ball.

I will say, I did make it to the library to pick up a few holds, and we went to Home Depot one afternoon so I could buy the wood for the compost bin.  But that is as far as I've made it into that project, and I don't know when I'll have the time to actually do the building now that school is back in session.  Oh well.  Que sera, sera.  Look how flexible and flippant I've become after just one week of unrestrained indulgence.

Todd was a busier bee than I was - he got a few projects tackled around the house.  First, the kids broke the hardware on the banister, so he got some new hardware and got it all squared away.  Then, he spent a morning troubleshooting the fireplace. The pilot light had gone out, and after it was relit, it wasn't turning on when the switch was flipped.  But now that's all fixed, too, and not a moment too soon because some of the school mornings this week were chilly, so it was nice to be able to light the fire for the kids to warm up by.

Kool and the Gang.

The return of our school days was a weird comfort after our week off - I'm glad to be back in the routine and to have less free time, as weird as that sounds.  It's nice to not have to make decisions about how I will spend my time, or to rely on willpower alone to get things done.  School just kind of moves us all along in a great sweep, and the important things get done by default without much thought.

We had a couple milestones to celebrate this week, in addition to our school days.  The kids each celebrated a baptism anniversary - Atticus celebrated five years, Penelope six, and the younger kids all celebrated the first anniversary of their baptisms.  We got them gifts - the girls each got a necklace with their initial on it, and the boys got leather carabiner straps for their belts.  I bought a leather stamping kit, so I'll hopefully get their initials stamped on those soon.

Juni turned four and a half, and cried because she didn't get a present for it.

Ophelia has not only mastered walking on flat land, but is now also the Stair Master.

The kids had their first screening of The Lord of the Rings (well, so far just the first one), and loved it.  We recently finished reading through the books for the first time, so it was fun to start the movies together.

Todd hosted Men's Beer and Books this month, so some guys from church came over to hang out in the backyard one evening, and Penelope and I stayed up late that night, watching Little Women. 

We are loving putting our firepit to good use this fall and had a family Sing Out in the beautiful, changing weather.  I'm ready for Fall this year - now, if someone would just tell it to officially arrive.  We haven't gotten any frost yet, and my tomato plants are starting to produce a few tomatoes again.  My tabasco peppers might just have time to ripen.  And also, it's the middle of October and it feels weird.  I'm ready for summer to call it quits.

And those were our weeks!  Not very productive when averaged out, but still full of good, fun things!

what's up weekly. (In Which I Slow to A Crawl in Preparation of Fall.)

Whew, you guys.  This week has been a mental fight.  I think the shortening days are getting to me or something; I just don't have much gumption to get at 'er lately.  If I could, I think I'd maybe just opt to lie in bed watching Meg Ryan movies.  Well, maybe I wouldn't, but life just keeps trucking and Meg Ryan movies aren't free, so I guess we'll never know.  

The big kids are doing an amazing job of keeping up with their heavy workload.

BUT TODAY IS FRIDAY and we have a lot to look forward to: we're hosting Men's Beer and Books tonight, so the guys from church will be sitting out in the backyard around the firepit, smoking cigars and singing hymns and talking about all kinds of things.  The kids and I will probably watch a movie (though nothing with Meg Ryan) and then hit the sack.  Tomorrow will be our first Saturday home in nearly a month, so I will probably spend it dusting the living room, but since it desperately needs it, it should be enjoyable.

Another day, another installment of Skeeter Wars.

But let's back up to last weekend.  We headed up to Iowa for my niece's birthday and spent the day playing, eating, and running around with their chickens and ducks.  We came back in time for dinner, and Todd made the kids Brinner, which was clearly a genius parenting move.  

On Monday we kicked off our fourth week of school, and I can officially say WE HAVE MADE IT TO FALL BREAK!  After lab science this morning, and a little Little Town on the Prairie this afternoon, we will be on break for the next week.  I have big plans: I need to build a compost bin, clean out the chicken coop, switch out fall clothing for the kids, clean out the garage, take Atticus to retake his driver's test, can up a bunch of stuff that's been waiting in the freezer, and seal the wood on my garden bed before the weather turns cold.  

Think I can get it all done?  Normally, I would bet on myself and say, "Yeah, it will take a push, but I can do it all."  But after the lethargy of this week, I'm starting to think I need to get a little more realistic and pick just a couple of things to tackle.  I definitely have to do the chicken coop, and by default build a compost bin for somewhere to put the old bedding.  But beyond that, we'll see.

Back to this week.  What else happened?  We had friends over for dinner Wednesday night, which was fun.  I found a great deal on beef, so I canned up some stew meat, and a friend gave me a free bushel of apples, so I made apple butter.  The canning shelves are getting full, but I'd like to get more protein and starches put up - meat, broth, potatoes, beans - because right now my cabinet looks pretty fruit- and salsa-heavy.  Which is fine, but doesn't help a ton with meal prep, which is my favorite reason to can - it makes dinnertime SO EASY when the ingredients are prepped and ready.  Maybe I can at least get some meat canned up over break week.

And... I think that's it!  Ophelia would like you to know she is officially walking now, so she will see you out.

Have a good weekend!

what's up weekly. (A Trip to the Art Museum)

Did this week feel slow to anyone else?  I felt like once Monday hit, it just draaaaaggggged.  Not sure why.  But somehow it's Friday again, and I'm ready for the weekend!

Last weekend, we met my parents at a nearby art museum to explore with the kids!  Other than an insane monitoring from every single staffer on payroll, it went well.  (I think the staffer:Van Voorst ratio was pretty close to 1:1, so I'm pretty sure they were playing man-to-man defense every single step of the way.)  The kids did great, and were engaged and interested.  There were Egyptian, Roman and medieval displays that were really amazing, and lots of paintings by artists we recognized.  

This lion sculpture was carved by someone who had never seen a lion in real life.  I call that mostly impressive.

Our parenting motto is "kill it before it dies," so once Oey started getting whiny about an hour in, that was our cue to exit stage right.  You never want to wait until kids are melting down or begging to leave; you never want to be 'pushing' kids to stay longer in public if you can help it, or by golly you will reap what you sow.  So we hightailed it out of there to go recharge with a picnic lunch.

Unfortunately, it was pouring out, so we parked at a nearby park and had a picnic out of the back of my mom's car.  It was an adventure, and I think the kids had a good time!

That evening my parents stayed for Sabbath dinner before heading out.

How huge is Atticus?!

This week was more of the usual: full days of school.  I wish I had more to report here; is there anything specific you'd like to know about our school days?  

And that was literally the entire week.  One more week until Fall break already!

south dakota 2023: day 2, pure unadulterated joy

Okay, I'm back with another installment from our trip to South Dakota, and I don't really think these photos need a whole lot of commentary.  The joy is palpable.

This photo kills me.

The boys brought their airsoft guns along.

Cuddling with Papa Tony.

Here, let me zoom in on this one...

Oh, Juni Cartoony.  Everything she does is cute.

I think they look happy.

That looks like it was a pretty successful day, no?  And just because I can't get enough of it, here is that same photo of Juni driving the Gator again.

You're welcome.

what's up weekly. (School. Only School.)

What did we do this week?  Spoiler: only school.

We got to look at things under a microscope, and play with fire.  I think science lab is going to be a hit.

I literally had nothing else on the agenda.  We're still getting used to our rhythm, and I don't have much downtime for anything else anyway, so I didn't even attempt to plan any extras and all the week held was our school routine.  BUT!  That was good.  I'm actually enjoying our new routine and feeling like it's really good for us.  The kids have said the same thing - they're glad to be back in routine, even if it is a bit full.  

Remember how they say that, for infants, "sleep begets sleep"? Well, I'm finding that, for me, structure begets structure.  I think it's because I really have to intentionally manage my time, and stay focused on the best use of the moment I'm in.  But it's paying off - I am in a daily exercise routine, have been keeping up with Bible reading, am on day 19 of Whole 30, have been on top of meal planning and laundry and daily housework, we're getting up earlier and going to bed earlier, and I'm schooling more kids than I ever have... and things feel good.  We really seem to have hit the sweet spot for our current capacity, and it feels good.  Knock on wood that it all stays this easy.  (We all know it won't because life is seasonal, but let's pretend, shall we?)

This is our "touch base" time after lunch: I do spelling lists with the kids, then we go through all the work the kids have done in the morning.  I grade math, check handwriting, read written narrations, and make sure everyone has completed all their assignments.  They say you can't expect what you won't inspect, and ain't that the truth.  Things don't slip through the cracks as easily when I'm making sure to get eyes on things every day.

It also helps that I have scheduled in plenty of breaks, so our first break is actually in two weeks already.  I already have a list of things I'll need to tackle, because school weeks have no margin for extras, but I'm not stressed about it because I know there is an opportunity to get to those things soon.

I tried a second photo session for Oey, since she was not vibing it the other day.  She seems to have changed her tune.

Anyway, though.  It seems smooth weeks make for boring weeks, and I don't have much else to say!  Sorry things aren't spicier around here.  I'll have to stir up some chaos this coming week so I have more to report.  In the meantime, have a great weekend! (And in case you missed it, I posted the first installment of our vacation series earlier this week!)

south dakota 2023: day 1, the drive

Okay, folks; as promised, I'm here to document this year's trip to South Dakota.  There were so many things about this year's trip that made for a really smooth, easy go of things.  The first thing is that we now live significantly closer to our destination than we used to, cutting hours off our driving time.  We were able to get up somewhat early (but not painfully so), make all our usual stops, and still get there before bedtime.  It was glorious.

Additionally, it is an anomalous year when I am not pregnant, or have a nursing baby or potty training toddler, which situations all really slow down travel, or at least make it less enjoyable.  This year provided such an anomaly, so we made really good time.

Our first stop was in Sioux City at a favorite park.  We started going there a number of years ago, when we would take our trip earlier in the summer.  Now that we have been going later, it is becoming a bit less enjoyable, as it is hot.  Can someone please take a second to explain to me why children's parks are now designed with heat-radiating rubber flooring, and no trees to shade the play area?  This isn't the only park designed this way - almost all of the parks that have been built in the last 20 years seem to be designed the same way.  Bring back the trees, I say.  And some grass would be welcome as well.  And I feel like this wisdom could be generalized to address some of our more pressing cultural and temperature concerns, while we're talking about it.

Anyway.  For a modern park, it does have a lot of fun stuff to do, even if it is blazing hot.  (I literally had big patches of back sweat all over my dress at 8:30 in the morning.  It was not cute.)

After playing for a while, we hopped back in the car to make it to Pizza Ranch by lunch time.  This is such a random family tradition, but we have to stop at Pizza Ranch on our road trips.  The kids love the buffet, they actually have to walk around to get their food (which helps them recover from the road), and my morale is always dramatically influenced for the better by hot food.  Don't ask me why, but hot food is like a love language to me.  I could probably single-handedly solve the migration crisis as long as I've had some mashed potatoes first.

After that, we hopped back into the car for a long stretch to the Badlands, where we had a picnic dinner and did a little rock climbing.

The classic.

Someone somehow parked their truck in such a way that it drove itself, unmanned, over the curb and headed down into the valley.  "Luckily," it ended up capsizing before it got too far down.  I do not envy them the pickle they were in.

Oey loved it.  She was still not walking at this point (and only now takes a few steps every couple of days), but she was enjoying standing up and looking around, and finding rocks to throw while yelling, "BALL!"

After the Badlands, there's only a short stretch until our destination, so we got there in great time.  Such a fun day to kick off our trip!

what's up weekly. (Back to School: WITH PHOTOS!)

Well, this week was a doozy.  It was packed to the gills, and I am now just about dead on my feet.

Last Friday night we had some friends come from Columbia to visit and join us for the Psalm Sing that evening.  They brought their three boys, and a bunch of food from the Amish for me.  Jen cut my hair.  We sat and visited.  It was so wonderful.  We also had a couple of other friends drive up from Columbia just for the Psalm Sing and head home the same night.  It was so fun to see so many friends this weekend!

The City of Sisterly Love

After our Sabbath rest on Sunday, I threw a bunch of apples from the Amish into my big roaster to cook while we slept, and I spent the early part of the week getting them sauced and canned.  Over the weekend, I had already canned up a bunch of pineapple that I had found on sale at Walmart, so this was apparently going to become the Week of Unprecedented Canning.  It wasn't intentional, it just happened that way.  I put up 19 quarts of pineapple, 19 quarts of applesauce, 7 quarts of apple juice, and 1 quart of tomato sauce.  (This was my first time making tomato sauce, and maybe I concentrated it too much or something, but goodness gracious, ten pounds of tomatoes turned into 2 quarts of marinara!  Canning yields are such a conundrum to me.)

This was all done between Friday and Wednesday - by far the most I've ever done in a week.

Monday morning, we started the school year!  And look at me go, I ACTUALLY REMEMBERED TO TAKE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PHOTOS! (Albeit, these were taken on the second day of school, but that's pretty punctual compared to when I usually get it done.)

Someone is not ready for summer break to end.

I never got a cheerful photo of her by her sign; I'll try again soon.  But for now, here's her "Cheese!" smile, and I think you can see why we call her Baby Shark.  I swear she has already sprouted every last tooth she is ever supposed to get.

After running our new schedule for a week, our days are clearly very full, and pretty tiring, but seem to be doable.  This is my tenth year homeschooling, and I'm finally starting to learn my limits.  I'm trying to avoid being overly ambitious, and we don't regularly schedule things on the list that others would probably find essential, but I'm learning what works for us and what doesn't.  My current daily schedule looks like this:

7:30 - I'm up and making my own breakfast, helping the little kids with their math and handwriting

8:30 - 10:00 I tackle my Bible reading, dinner prep, and any housework I can get to while the kids eat breakfast and do their chores

10:00 - 11:00 I spend 1:1 time with Callista, working on phonics and doing Read Alouds.  Juni often joins us, as does Rocco, if they feel like it.

11:00 - 12:00 Read Aloud time with Rocco

12:00 - 1:00 I exercise and shower while the kids eat lunch.  Penelope watches Oey for me for the first half hour, until Oey goes down for nap.

1:00 - 2:00 Touch base: we do spelling at the table, and I go over the kids' work from the morning.  I have found I really have to tackle this daily or it doesn't get done.  I have them read me their written narrations, I look at their handwriting, and I check their math (or ask the older kids how they did on their computer math).

2:00 - 3:00 Read Alouds with Finneas and Laurelai

3:00 - 4:00ish Read Alouds with Atticus and Penelope, although we aren't doing much of this together this year so we have been finishing a bit earlier than this.

4:00 Pass out in a post-school coma

Wednesdays are a bit different: we focus on table time in the morning, where we do grammar, dictation, maps, math drill, timelines, and memory work.  Then in the afternoon we read something fun together as a big group - right now we're working our way through the Little House books.  Fridays, my little kids don't have morning school, and I use that time for science lab with my big kids.  You will notice I don't have music, art or foreign language squeezed in there; we just don't have the time.  I'm okay with that.

This is table time.  Oey was not a fan, so I taught standing up.

Big group read alouds.

Atticus and Penelope working on their Latin.

It's tiring, but we can get it done without too much headache or stress.  Maybe eventually I can cover a bit about what each grade is tackling this year.  Or maybe I can't.  We'll see!

While we were doing school the first morning, our new dishwasher arrived! We have been without a dishwasher for months.  The kids have been cheerful about handwashing, but stuff wasn't always getting as clean as I'd like, and there were always dishes all over my counter - if they weren't dirty on one side of the sink, they were drying on the other side.  So this has been a verrrry welcome blessing.

Installation fees are literally almost as expensive as a dishwasher itself at this point; it's crazy.  So I could get a lower-end dishwasher and pay to have it installed, or I could pick a nice one (my top priorities were a stainless steel tub and a food disposer, from a reputable brand I had experience with) and we could figure out how to install it ourselves.  We decided to do it ourselves, and it was clearly the right decision.  Todd got it done on Wednesday night after Oey went to bed and other than it being tedious at times, it wasn't complicated or difficult.  And now we have a dishwasher that CLEANS THINGS.  AND DOESN'T LEAK.  It feels good to be in the 1%.  

Well, that's basically it for the week.  On paper, it doesn't sound like much, but it really has been full and I'm ready for Friday.  Because Todd and the kids get pizza for dinner on Fridays, I don't have to cook.  (Well, I'll stick some chicken wings in the air fryer for myself, because I'm still on Whole 30, but that's barely cooking, and the cleanup will be a breeze now that I can just put the air fryer basket in the dishwasher.)  So Friday evenings are so easy on me, and the perfect celebration for crossing the finish line!

I just need to get through the school day - Fridays are our lab science day, and I just really have no idea what I'm doing with that.  We tried it last year, and I failed miserably.  I need to quickly go gather up the supplies I'll need, and oh yeah, also figure out how to use our microscope before class starts, but I've heard that's super simple and not at all complicated, so it should be fine.  (Read: pray for me, I am 100% confident this is going to get hairy.)

I haven't forgotten our vacation post - check back through the week next week; I'm hoping to get it up Monday or Tuesday.

Signing off for now!

Baby Shark attacks again.