How about a little phone blogging from the hospital, huh?

My Sunday Best, Vol. 30: A Portrait of Fatigue

Happy Advent! I'm still pregnant. I have a picture and everything, but the internet isn't cooperating so I'll try to upload it later. It's a picture of desperation, that's for sure... For now we'll stick with phone pictures!

44/52: The Best Nest

The kids have invented an excellent new game where they pretend to be birds (and gophers) and make nests on the ground out of old post holes that haven't been filled. It's amazing.

John Paul was a magpie, and I suppose I believe his bird calls because I don't know what a magpie actually says...

43/52: Lounging Around

I'm definitely behind in this whole photography project... There are what, 5 weeks left in the year? And I've got 10 left to add. But once the baby's born, that gives me permission to totally overload you on the new baby pictures, right? It would be easy to do if she would hurry up and get born!!!

No, don't mind me, not completely over this whole "being pregnant" thing at all...

Ditch the Lines: Black Friday Deals Without Leaving the House!

It's been years since I've actually tried to leave the house to score good deals on Black Friday. After too many underwhelming shopping experiences (and rather a lot of pregnancies & children), I've decided that it's never happening. There are too many amazing deals online to waste any time trying to get to brick-and-mortar stores!

Plus tons of stores have already started their Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals - they know we online shoppers like to take our sweet time scouring the deals, so they're smart enough to give advance notice or start sales early to prolong the shopping season. And while I don't necessarily want to encourage rampant consumerism, I know a lot of people (including me!) who save shopping for certain necessities until the end of the year when all the huge sales pop up!

So what's worth looking into? And what sales can be expected?

My Sunday Best, Vol. 29: Winter Weather!

Let's hope this is my last pregnant My Sunday Best for a while, mmk? Because 39 weeks 5 days is pleeeeenty of time gestating this babe, in my opinion! 

Creating a Children's Prayer Table

I visited the kids' Level I Atrium classroom last year (read up on Catechesis of the Good Shepherd here if you're curious) and was inspired to create our own little prayer area for the kids where they could have a little quiet devotion time whenever they wanted. Over the years we've accumulated quite a lot of icons, statues, prayer cards, and other things that don't always get used on a regular basis.

Peter, Age 2

Peter is two today! I don't think I've ever known a toddler who was quite so excited for a birthday - I think because the twins' birthday excitement coincided with his birthday, he really started to understand what exactly it all meant... For weeks he's been saying, "Peter ONE! On bir-day, be TWO!!!" and today when he woke up, while it took a little convincing, he realized that finally he is two! "Yestuhday Peter ONE. And now, Peter TWO!!!"

Elizabeth and Mary Claire: Age 4

The internet has been killing me at home, but by golly, it's working right now so I'm gonna try to throw a birthday post out there real quick before it cuts out again!

My Sunday Best, Vol. 29: Comedy of Errors

Oh, these last weeks of pregnancy...

I'll be 39 weeks on Tuesday. I've never gone more than 5 days past my due date so hopefully we'll have baby news to share some time after Thanksgiving. But until then, it seems that all my body wants to do is catch every. single. stinking. cold. that seems to be floating around in the general vicinity.

NOBODY ELSE IS GETTING SICK. JUST ME.

This tends to happen to me at the end of every pregnancy - my body's so busy growing another human that my immune system shuts down and I'm a mess until the baby's born, at which point immediate relief is present! But until then, I'm hanging in there, sneezes and all.

My Very Grown-Up Christmas List {7 Quick Takes + a Giveaway!}

You know you're a grown-up when you start thinking about kitchen appliances and cleaning supplies when it comes to Christmas shopping...

And since I kind of had Christmas in July when I got my Instant Pot (which is incredible and bound to go on sale on Black Friday, so keep your eyes peeled!), I don't have a ton of big-ticket items on my list, buuuuut I've definitely been thinking about the following things:

42/52: The Play

Cecilia, in oldest girl fashion, decided that the girls would be putting on a play. 

My Sunday Best, Vol. 28: Yet Another Rerun

Happy Sunday! Happy time change! After all, who doesn't like that "extra hour" of sleep that's really just everyone's schedule getting thrown off?

First, if you haven't had a chance to check out the Handmade Gift Guide I posted earlier this week and enter the giveaway, now's your last chance! You've got until midnight (Eastern) tonight :)

Yesterday was a busy day, and I'm kind of amazed by how much we accomplished (well, mostly it was Andrew...) - pullets moved into the coop with the big hens, coop cleaned out (that was ALL Andrew), pedicure gotten (such hard work!), seed garlic and shallots sorted and ready for planting, manure spread and part of garden prepped for fall planting (with a little bribery...), and I even managed to walk aaaaaall the way down to the pond and back up the hill with the kids! 

Of course, I only had the energy to do this because I knew we were going out for burgers for dinner, so I didn't have to conserve any energy for cooking ;)

Sweetening the Literacy Pot

Out of my five children, I've got three avid readers and all are avid listeners! We're fortunate enough to be able to surround them with excellent books, and with Grandma living in a house in our back yard, there's always someone available to read to them.

It's not uncommon to find them snuggled up with each other sharing a book, either (or, ahem, fighting over a book... but I don't take pictures when that happens)! I pride myself on being able to supply them with high-quality books to satisfy their voracious appetites, but recognize what a huge privilege it is that we can do so. Did you know that most children in low-income households in the US don't have access to any age-appropriate books at home? 

Enter First Book, a charity that provides high-quality books to low-income schools and families!

41/52: All Saints' Day

This is the first year we've had an actual *event* to go to for All Saints' Day, and the kids were SO excited to go to church for the homeschool party! 

Well, we didn't tell Peter we were going... It was during his nap, so we dressed him up, took a picture, and then left while he was asleep...

A Handmade Gift Guide

Happy November!

I love being able to support my favorite artisans, but I often don't plan ahead and miss ordering deadlines... Have no fear! That's why I'm getting you this gift guide nice and early - you've got plenty of time to order from these amazing shops (and tons of coupon codes to choose from!) before they close up for the holiday rush. And every time you shop from one of these amazing ladies, you're directly benefiting their family!

Make sure to read all the way to the end of the post to enter the giveaway for some wonderful prizes that might help you get your Christmas shopping done a little earlier.

For your walls: