It's November! I've been doing a November Skirt Challenge on Instagram and Twitter but never shared here... So if you're hoping to join in for the second half, the prompts are below! And here are some of my outfits (the ones I've gotten good pictures of... I've not done a great job taking pictures this time!):

7 Pieces to Stock Your All Saints Day Closet {7QT}

All Saints Day approaches, and with it comes the onslaught of slightly weird pictures of kids dressed as saints, so very niche that only those of us with ridiculous amounts of Catholic friends will truly appreciate it. Some people go all out, but... We are not some people.

I can't do the handmade costumes. It's just not my charism. But I can buy things to stock the dress-up bin so that when the All Saints Day party rolls around, the kids have decent options to choose from. Want to follow suit? Here are 7 of our must-haves:

Toddlers and Homeschooling: The Age-Old Question {7QT}

Our homeschool rhythm has changed this year and I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous! Last year my mom took Peter and Edith for an hour or two in the mornings so that I could get school done relatively unhindered. But this year she's started a new teaching job, so I'm on my own Monday/Wednesday/Friday! I knew it was time to pull out my WHOLE bag of tricks to make this work, and it's only been two weeks but... It's going well!

Here's what has helped with "managing" toddlers/preschoolers and homeschooling:

Homeschool Wrap-Up, Spring Wardrobe, Mom Hair {7 Quick Takes}

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Happy Friday! Somehow it's already May, which means we're winding down our school year! As usual, we're ahead of the game in most of our books *except* one religion book that we have more chapters than weeks left to read... This happens every year!! I think it's because I try to match the readings up with the liturgical year so we aren't reading about Easter during Lent, but then when we end up with a late Easter that really throws things off. So we'll be doubling up in order to get through, and the rest of our books are getting continued next year (we're on year 1 of Mater Amabilis Level 2), so we don't need to rush to finish them up.

Weight Gain, Nature Study, Sacraments, and Easter Baskets {7QT}

Happy Spring! We've waited through a loooong winter and it's finally here!

7 Steps to Post Partum Prep {7qt}

Okay folks, we're at 38 weeks 4 days, which means this baby's coming SOON! I've started prepping for the lovely post partum period and figured I might as well share what I'm doing this time around to try to make things a little easier.

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What to wear??

Outfit from a couple babies ago!

  My post partum uniform is pretty formulaic—leggings/yoga pants, nursing tank (these are my all-time favorites), long cardigan, scarf. Once I'm ready to be seen, I'll throw on a nursing-friendly shift dress, too (thredup is really handy for finding these, just filter to select for shirt dresses - get $10 credit here!). This post has more ideas if you're looking for some!

Stitch Fix Kids Review: Cecilia's Birthday Fix {7QT}

Cecilia just turned 8 and didn't ask for a ton for her birthday, since Christmas just passed and she mostly just wanted art supplies. So I thought it would be a fun surprise to order a Stitch Fix Kids box and let her give that a spin. She was SO excited to try on all the items from her fix! Here's a full reveal, if you're curious. And if you'd like to try it for one of your kids (or for you, or for your husband...), you can use my referral link and get $25 credit, which more than covers the styling fee!

A kids' fix will generally have 8-12 items, and the price point is lower than adult fixes, starting at $10. I selected the lowest price range for all the categories I requested for Cecilia, and I generally thought that the items were priced fairly for the quality.

Saints, Scooters, & Cocoons {7 Quick Takes}

Hooray, Friday! I told the kids we would take things easy for school for Advent and John Paul is NOT pleased that this means he doesn't get to just completely slack off... But hey, we still need to do MOST of our subjects, it's just very likely that science will get dropped soon because I don't feel like reading it by the time we're done with everything else.

How about 7 Quick Takes?

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It's the Most Pie-ful Time of the Year! {7qt}

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Good morning and happy pie-for-breakfast day! Because let's be real, that's what the day after Thanksgiving is all about. My breakfast pie of choice? Dutch Apple Pie, the most superior of all pies.

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I'm officially in my 3rd trimester, which means I get to eat two pieces of pie for breakfast, right? Right.

Advent Prepping! {7QT}

It's October, and already I'm seeing Christmas decorations and Costco, getting started on shopping (so I can relax come December!), and gathering my mental inventory of what we have & need to enter into this coming liturgical season fully.

It doesn't start until December 2 this year! Super-late! But I guarantee it's going to sneak up just the same... Gathering things early means you won't be Amazon-priming come December 1!

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Grab your devotional! There are tons of wonderful options this year—I'll be working through Rooted in Hope from Take Up & Read.

I was curious as to whether this study would seem to "deja vu" since I worked through it last year, but after having read the whole thing while editing, I honestly didn't remember much from last year! There's a whole extra week added on to the end to carry you through to the new year, plus all the lectio boxes are filled in so it's definitely worth grabbing the new edition!

Baby News, Meal Plans, and Shopping Small {7QT}

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Our procrastination wasn't the *absolute* worst this year, so it only took us until week 22 of the pregnancy to get the 20-week ultrasound, and praise God, everything looks good! I was pretty sure it wasn't twins, but it's always a relief to have that confirmed... And after Edith's medical issues, it was also a big relief that everything looks healthy for this babe!

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So what are we having? It's a...

(More) Meal Planning, Recipes, and Music {7qt}

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We've had to turn the air conditioning on every day this week, so I maintain that we're still firmly in the grip of summer. I won't begrudge you your pumpkin decorations (I mean really, pumpkins are so pretty!) but we've reached my least-favorite part of the year:

When you can't trust any baked good *not* to have nasty pumpkin hiding in it. WHY would you ruin a perfectly good chocolate chip cookie by putting pumpkin in it???

Prime Day Hacks!

Woohoo, Amazon Prime Day is on Monday! Some people consider it as good as Black Friday sales, but in July. I tend to agree, but with the added benefit of it happening during the summer when it's too hot to do much of anything but sit in front of the air conditioning and wonder why you were so excited for warm weather...

We've gotten some awesome deals in the past, particularly when it comes to stocking up on Christmas and birthday presents. Just don't over-purchase and then forget what gifts you've already bought...

Friday Night Musings {7QT}

Well, the kids are in bed, Andrew and John Paul are at a baseball game, and I've done all the gardening I can manage for the night... How about some quick takes?

Small House Living, Standardized Testing, and Belly Banishers (7QT}

 We live in a 3-bedroom house. With 6 kids. It should probably feel tighter than it is, and it actually *does* start to feel pretty tight during the winter when I can't get the kids outside as often as I'd like. But people have asked how we make it work, so here's how!

7 Reasons to Start a Garden!

Well, if it ever warms up, we'll be in the swing of things for garden season! People keep asking what we're planting this year, and I think it might be better for me to tell them what we *aren't* planting... We aren't planting: sweet potatoes, turnips, or kohlrabi. There are probably other things too, but not many!

I find gardening really fulfilling, and I think it's something anyone can do, even if you think you have a black thumb. Here are 7 reasons why:

7 Quick Takes on the State of the Blog

You wanted to see how we decorate for different liturgical seasons... We don't do much. We clean off the buffet that was covered with junk for the past month, though!

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First of all, THANK YOU to those of you who filled out the reader survey that I posted! Your responses are super-helpful - I know a lot of people read without commenting (which is totally fine! It's so hard to find time to comment, so I totally get it), which often means I don't really know what posts people actually find interesting and which ones are total flops.

For instance: My "Week by Week" posts seem to be statistically the ones that people enjoy reading the most, but they get far fewer views than, pretty much any other posts, which made me think nobody cared (although I didn't care about that, because they're the posts my kids will be interested to look back on).

Anyway, lots of people said they wished I would write more about homesteading & homeschooling & teaching the kids about the faith. And one reason I don't write much on those is...

7 Summer Dresses {7QT}

Everybody seems to be going back to school, fall styles are filling my news feed and inbox, and... We've got a good 1.5-2 months more of summer temperatures! Fall in Virginia takes a little while to start, and I'm holding on to summer as long as I possibly can. Since I returned the suuuuper-adorable dress from my last Stitch Fix box, I've been on the hunt for casual, nursing-friendly summer dresses and have found some good options that I had to share here in case you're on the lookout, too!

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7 Ideas for Summer Fun

Elizabeth (age 4) came running inside the other day to tell me, "MOM! There's a whole FIELD of hawkweed! Come see!!!" 

Hawkweed is a wildflower that looks a lot like a dandelion, only with a longer, sturdier stem.

She grabbed me by the hand and dragged me out to an area of the yard that hadn't been mowed in a while, and she was right! The scraggly section of yard full of weeds had turned overnight into a treasure trove of wildflowers.

It's one of our very favorite things to do together during the spring and summer - take walks and identify the new wildflowers around us, making bouquets out of our favorites (only at home - we never pick flowers when we're at a park). And because I'm always looking for more ideas to add a little excitement and adventure to our lazy summer days, I'll give you a list of our favorites.

Pregnant Twins and How to Get Rid of Your Tummy {7 Quick Takes}

It's been ages since I last wrote Quick Takes, and the kids are magically playing nicely together upstairs... Let's see if this'll last! Edit: It lasted approximately 3 minutes after I started writing this. Of course!

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I told you ages ago that I was exercising for Lent - I've been slooooowly making my way through an exercise program and it's actually been amazing! I'll do a full review soon, I hope, but my Diastasis Recti is healed (those pesky separated abdominal muscles), I'm MUCH stronger (I can get into the giant van without having to grab the handles with both hands and heave myself in), and I have greatly increased energy levels, despite fairly terrible sleep from the baby.

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Library fines. Do you pay them? Do you make your kids pay them? I've been paying ours, because 100% of the time the fault is mine (don't want to drag everyone to the library, forgot to renew books, couldn't renew books because too many fines have accrued...). But right now there's a missing book (from this series, which is really fun!) and that's NOT my fault! And I really want to read it! So we'll see how I deal with those fines whenever it's located... Off to clear our account of wrongdoing today!

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But I'm renewing this gem of a book, and adding it to my wish list! And it convinced me that we need to make the switch to raw milk, whenever I actually get my act together and fill out the forms...

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Oh gosh, these two recent conversations with the twins? Amazing.