We're getting back into the swing of things around here, which for me means lots of books about fall!  We're gearing up to go apple picking, getting ready for our favorite fall festival, and getting as much done as possible before Mr. Baby decides to make his appearance in November.

I may have gone overboard on the books though - need some ideas to pick up from the library?  Here are some of our favorites!




Mr. Murry and Thumbkin

From the author of Bear Snores On (another one of our favorites), this one isn't just a fall tale, but the presence of a pumpkin throughout the book makes it fall-ish to me.  I love how fun it is to read (Karma Wilson is one of those children's authors whose books actually rhyme and scan in a satisfying way, which is refreshing!), and how both mice learn something by the end of the story.


Apple Cake: A Recipe for Love

We got this from the library last year and everybody loved it - it's short and sweet, and the pictures are beautiful!  The recipe at the end of the book is decent, and the kids adored making it together last year and are excited to make it again this year.



Secrets of the Seasons

Not strictly about fall, and a little on the nerdy side, but this explains the hows and whys behind why seasons change - John Paul LOVES it, and the other three really love the chickens throughout the book who explain everything.  I'd say this is more for the 5-and-up crowd.



Over and Over

This is one that you really should own.  One of my all-time favorites from childhood, the illustrations are absolutely beautiful and it goes through the year through the eyes of a child, in an abstract but chronological sense.  Again, not strictly a fall book, because it has its place throughout the whole year.



Tap the Magic Tree

Caitlin recommended this one and I knew the kids would adore it from her description!  It's an interactive book that takes a tree through the seasons, and the kids all absolutely love feeling like they're in control of the leaves changing, flowers growing, etc. Lovely pictures, simple to read, and easy for them to "read" to themselves when they're ready!



Leaf Man

I found this one so fun!  The kids asked to read it again 3 or 4 times immediately after we read it the first time, so I'd say it's a hit with them, too.  The illustrations are all made out of actual leaves, and it's neat to figure out what everything represents.  Everybody was out in the yard looking for their own leaf man this afternoon after we read the book several times, and I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of "projects" making leaves into various creations thanks to this book.


Apple Farmer Annie

Everybody loved this one as well - simple illustrations, simple story, with some recipes at the end that I promised the kids we'll be trying.  Elizabeth especially loves that there are so many puppies and kitties in the book!



Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic

I love the pictures in this one, although it was a little long for the littles...  Definitely for the 5-and-up crowd.  John Paul enjoyed it more than the girls, and I expect we'll be doing our own acrostic poems soon because he got a kick out of them.



Fall Mixed Up

I thought this one was silly, but it was a little over the kids' heads.  Probably more for the 6-and-up crowd? I had to explain a lot of what was funny, but they keep asking for it again so they certainly like the pictures.  A little bit of "Halloweeny" stuff that we don't really get into (vampires, ghosts), so I know there are some readers who would want to steer clear.



The Little Yellow Leaf

So pretty!  Short and sweet, with illustrations I could look at all day.  Really soothing, and a fun story for all ages.



Mouse's First Fall

Short, cute, the toddlers ADORE it.  One of those books that's easy enough to memorize so that you barely need to look at it when you're reading it for the 20th time...



Fandex Family Field Guides: Trees

If you're like me and couldn't identify a leaf if your life depended on it, this is a kind of awesome field guide to own - John Paul has memorized so many different types of trees and is better at identification than I am now!  And it's nice to have something concrete to be able to take on hikes so that I don't hear "Mom, could you look it up on your phone?" all the time...

What am I missing?  I feel like there must be so many more awesome Fall books out there - what are your favorites?

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7 Quick Takes: Calendars, Freezer Cooking, Consignment Shopping

--1--

I Instagrammed this picture this morning:



Because hey, St. Eustace!  We just finished reading The Silver Chair so Eustace is fresh in our minds and I never knew that he was the patron saint against fire!  Makes SO much sense that Lewis named him that, considering the whole dragon thing, right?

--2--

And then I remembered how awesome our calendar is, so I wanted to toss the link to you in case you like calendars with awesome sacred art, traditional AND new feast days listed, and little fish on Fridays to remind you not to eat meat (and to remind you when Solemnities mean you CAN eat meat on a Friday!).  Soooo if you're looking for a calendar for 2015, check out the options here!

--3--

Then a friend of mine who works at Catholic Extension pointed me to THEIR 2015 calendars, which also look lovely, although not as detailed - apparently lots of parishes buy these to distribute to their parishioners for free, soooooo you should send the link to your pastor or whoever purchases those for your parish, because they look WAY better than the ones we get from the funeral home!

--4--

I had my 32 week appointment yesterday and baby is head down and doing awesome and ohhhh yeah, coming our way in like, 2 months!  Whoa!  I've been slowly preparing the freezer - right now I've got 4 jars of pesto and 8 jars of tomato sauce in there, and I just made a pot pie and a couple dozen cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip, because raisins are GROSS) to stick in the freezer this morning.  Oh, and a gallon of bone broth last week!

Edit: Make that 3 jars of pesto...  One of them was sacrificed for tonight's dinner because this lazy pregnant lady didn't want to go outside to harvest enough basil to make a fresh batch.

I've got a big long list of stuff to make to stock the freezer, but my major problem is making these things and not eating them right now...  And then I realized that I'm not exactly having twins again, so cooking once baby arrives probably won't be such a huge deal for the first few months because hi, baby wearing!  But it can't hurt, right?

Just in case you're curious, here's my pinterest board with ideas - we'll see how much of it actually happens.  Big long post with ideas to come soon!

--5--

We're reading Farmer Boy now and John Paul ADORES it, to the point where he continued reading it out loud to the girls when I had to stop to make lunch. Melt my heart, why don't you?

Do you see a glimpse of the playroom floor?  That's why I was able to get a pot pie and cookies made today ;)

--6--

Cecilia drew this picture of Andrew and I about died of the cuteness.  Then she drew another picture of him and told me that it was "Dad pooping" soooo that one I didn't take a picture of...

I love love LOVE the preschool stage, have I told you?  When they start getting super-creative and you just get to watch how it all unfolds?  John Paul decided HE wanted to draw a picture of Dad too, but then he got side-tracked and glued two pieces of paper together to make a "folder" and drew a picture of "Me as a teenager wearing a bandanna" on the front.  I don't even know, but I love it.

--7--

Tomorrow I'm headed to the HUGE fall consignment sale that my Mothers of Multiples group runs, and I'm pretty psyched.  The twins don't really need anything but leggings, since Cecilia has always been attired in way more than she could ever need and it's all getting handed down.  But Cecilia needs pretty much everything, and it is SO FUN to shop for little girls when everything is super-cheap.  John Paul needs pretty much everything too, but it's really hard to find boy stuff as they get older, so most of his will probably have to be bought new...

And then I remembered!  Baby!  November baby who is only getting hand-me-downs from a July baby!  He needs stuff, too!  Let's hope I can restrain myself once I'm confronted with all the adorable baby clothes...

Linking up with Conversion Diary - go check out more awesome posts!

The Kids These Days {Photo Dump}

It's been forever since I did a general update post, so here's what life is like for each of the kids these days:

John Paul, age 5

- Has gotten REALLY into board games this summer, so he spends a lot of time in the basement setting things up and then getting upset when the twins ruin it all

- Learned to pump on the swing set and is SO happy to be able to go super-high all by himself!

- Adores jokes of all types.  Two of his favorites?

What do you get when you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole?  Hot Cross Bunnies!

and

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the poopy diaper!  (Yeah, he made that one up himself)

- Loves roughhousing with Andrew, and tries to get his sisters to wrestle with him but they rarely will...  Hopefully his baby brother will fill that need soon!

- Has crazy bedhead no matter what we do... 

- Likes to identify with antagonists in stories because he knows it's annoying :(

- Best frenemies with Cecilia - they hate being separated, but they fight ALL the time

- Has been "composing" a lot on the piano, which mostly means he records himself banging all over it, but has started being more thoughtful about the intervals he combines, and tries to pick out familiar melodies

- Likes dictating stories to me - mostly stream-of-consciousness with a lot of "AND SUDDENLY!" and "ALL OF A SUDDEN!"  Nothing happens gradually in the world of a 5-year-old.

Not a mullet, her hair just looked really weird at that moment...

 Cecilia, age 3.5

- Still changes her outfit at least once a day because she gets bored with what she's wearing

- Loves to pretend to be Mary, St. Therese, and St. Bernadette

- Tells me that when the new baby is born, she will hold him forever and maybe he would fall asleep in her arms!

- Told me her heart was a bone.  Yikes.  So we looked up some anatomy diagrams on my phone and now she wants to know EVERYTHING about her body!

- Still wants to be a mommy, a nun, a princess, and a REAL mermaid when she grows up (but also wants to be a kid forever and grow up in Heaven with Jesus, Aslan, Prince Caspian, and Mr. Tumnus.

- Is SO sensitive when she has to be corrected for bad behavior (which is rare) and usually starts crying as soon as you start using a stern tone of voice with her.

- Frequently thanks God for making her so beautiful and giving her golden hair.  Not the least bit vain, this one...

- Climbs like a monkey.

- Loves roping the twins into whatever crazy game she's come up with lately - mostly it's their most recent obsession with sliding into each other outside.  Everyone has many bruises and scrapes as a result, but they seem to be having a blast so I allow it...  Do you see the progression of their facial expressions in the pictures below?  It's hilarious.

Elizabeth, 22 months

- THE most exuberant child there has ever been.  She loves EVERYTHING and loves to make jokes.

- Favorite joke?  "Cupcake poop!!!" Yup, she made it up herself.

- Runs everywhere, and spends a lot of the day practicing her jumping and spinning.

- Is finally starting to have actual hair, but it's filling in slowly!

- Throws pretty epic tantrums, but gets over them quickly when she has to spend time in her crib.

- Loves getting tucked in with her baby blanket every nap and nighttime

- LOVES CHICKEN!!!

- Lifts up my shirt and blows raspberries on "Baby Brudder" whenever she can

- Generally the more cautious of the twins, she only *just* started going down the slide facing forward instead of on her belly

- VERY picky about what she wears, so she usually gets her choice and Mary Claire gets whatever's left...

- Not even close to being potty trained

 - Adores her Dad above all other people!

Mary Claire, 22 months

- Still eats dirt pretty much every time we go outside

- Gets really excited about "Baby Brudder" every time she sees my belly

- Wants to be picked up ALL the time, and generally throws a fit whenever we refuse

- Usually prefers to eat the opposite of whatever Elizabeth likes, so they eat their meals and then I switch their plates so they can finish each others leftovers

- Seriously regressed in her potty training once we returned from vacation, so we're taking a break

- Talks. So. Much. Complete sentences, thoughtful conversations, tells me what she's pretending to be and what she's pretending to do - it's adorable!

- Sings so well!  Perfectly tuneful and clear, you'd never guess she was as young as she is.

- SUCH a daredevil. Goes down the slide as fast as she can and bumps triumphantly at the bottom every time.

- Keeps trying to shove her way into Cecilia's reading lessons - she's a little smarty, but I don't want to let her try to learn because I know Cecilia will be upset if she learns first!

- Loves to talk about all the Little House characters as if she knows them personally

- Still looks almost EXACTLY like Cecilia when she was that age

So there you have it!  I'm sure my mom enjoyed this post a lot ;)