We're on vacation! Which means that after many many hours in the car yesterday, ANY good behavior from the younger 3 was totally used up by this morning. Thankfully a giant new van means the biggest offender has been moved all the way to the back of the car by herself. And let's hope that her Mass behavior today is NEVER repeated. Oy.

Homeschool Wins, Vacation Crowdsourcing, Road Trip Favorites, and All Saints' Day {7QT}

Ahhhh, after spending most of my free time these past few weeks planning a blogging conference (which Rita and Ginny and Amanda have written about already! Winners!), I can finally sit down and write real blog posts again! Maybe... Depends on the whole "pregnant fatigue and pregnant brain" thing. But why not treat you to a total brain dump and call it Quick Takes? Of course!

Affiliate links included below:

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We've been reading about American History in This Country of Ours - it's the recommended text from Mater Amabilis for John Paul's level, and I continue to be shocked by how much the kids adore it, especially when I keep hearing about how other kids hate it! In all fairness, the beginning is tough. I think there's a reason that early history curricula basically go from Columbus to Jamestown, skipping all the in-between attempts at colonization, because those stories basically all go like this:

Then [insert country]'s colonists landed at [insert place] and tried to start a colony. But they ran out of food/made the Native Americans mad/got sick of each other and starved/were killed/sailed away, never to return.

But now that we finally hit Jamestown and John Smith and Pocahontas, there's a LOT MORE out there when it comes to outside resources, and they're ecstatic to be able to go to the library and check out books for free reading. They know a ton about Pocahontas and the Powhatan tribe and all of the surrounding history, and are basically totally owning me when it comes to legitimate knowledge about early American history.

35/52: Summer's End

The days have gotten noticeably shorter, much to the chagrin of the big kids, who treasure their special post-bedtime reading by what little light crept in through the blinds & blackout curtains. The garden is winding down and drying up (no more cucumbers! Unless the ones I planted at the beginning of August actually end up producing...) and school has not only started here, but we're in the full swing of things! Let me tell you, the second year of homeschooling? ONE THOUSAND MILLION TIMES EASIER than the first year. At least for us.

After way too many days straight of million-degree heat, it's finally cooled down enough for us to want to be outdoors again, particularly after dinner. Much of the garden has been overtaken by weeds, and the girls are always thrilled to find these super-long "Magic Dusters" to play with. I'm not entirely sure how one plays with them, aside from carrying one around and bopping someone with it occasionally, though...

34/52: Butterfly Release

So... I'm a really good mom. 

LAST YEAR I got a butterfly habitat, intending to let the kids do a little "science" study and then a butterfly release.

Well. We moved. Things were nuts. I never actually ordered the caterpillars.

But this year I finally did! (Affiliate note: we used this kit, which is fabulous and I love all their products)

Side note: I feel like the alternate title to this post should be "My Kids Have Dirty Faces" or something like that... 

They all crowded around the torn-up habitat, hoping that a butterfly might land on one of them on its way out of the netting.

My Sunday Best, Volume 19: Post-Blogging Conference

Whew! We hosted 30 ladies here yesterday (and... 7 babies? 8 babies?) for the Catholic Women Blogging Network Mid-Atlantic Conference (that's a mouthful, eh?) and while my body isn't as exhausted as I feel like it *should* be, my mind is moving a mile a minute!

It's just plain good to be among so many people with such good hearts. If it were up to me, we would all sit around for an entire week just talking and being that place of "you too? ME TOO!" understanding that sets in when suddenly you realize that you're surrounded by kindred spirits. But we all have family and lives to attend to, and so for now we can all just daydream about that sort of magical event ;)

Anyway, I will try to manage some sort of conference recap post - we're in vacation planning mode right now, which might eat up any of my free time, but I promise either I'll get a post together or I'll point you to some other thoughtful posts that some OTHER bloggers write that will make you feel like you were there!