33 Weeks (and Happy Father's Day!)

About a month or so to go! My personal goal is to get to at least 38 weeks- we'll see if I can pull it off. All this resting is most certainly helping- I don't contract nearly as much as I was a few weeks ago. I had a great doctor's appointment last week- each baby is about 4 lbs, 3oz (!), so we're well on our way. I'm measuring at 41 weeks (which I probably don't need to tell you- that picture says it all).

At Mass today we sang The Servant Song, and I had a hard time keeping my composure. Is it any wonder?

Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you?
Pray that I might have the grace
To let me be your servant too.

We are pilgrims on the journey
We are brothers on the road;
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ light for you
In the night time of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh, I'll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we've seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven
We shall find such harmony;
Born to all we've known together
Of Christ's love and agony!

There are so many, many people living this out for me right now. They bring us meals, fold our laundry, clean our kitchen, take our kids for hours at a time... they are the reason we have had no complications with this twin pregnancy, I'm sure of it. And a great many of them were right there, in Mass singing right along with me. It just took my breath away. I actually had to excuse myself and splash cold water on myself in the bathroom, just to make it through the rest of Mass.

Andy's mom is here now, stocking our freezer with food and loving on our kids for a long weekend. All grace, lived out right in front of my eyes.

In other news, I (finally) got around to seeing October Baby. Oh. My. Heck. I do believe that is the best movie I have ever seen. Andy concurs, so you really must just watch it. It's free on Netflix at the moment, so there's no excuse. :) I laughed and cried and cried and cried. I might watch it again this week (if Andy lets me, that is; he was afraid I'd go into labor from all the crying, lol).

I also got a macro lens (that's probably obvious by this point in the post). Guess what? Macro photography is challenging! I'm slowly finding my way, but this lens most definitely has a steeper learning curve than the others I've used so far. I am determined to get comfortable with it before those little twins arrive. There will be eyelashes to capture, you know. And toes. And itty bitty baby bodies all covered in peach fuzz. 

Yum.

I wish I had a photo of Andy to show you today, because I am pretty sure my kids managed to get the World's Greatest Father Ever. I just can't imagine loving anyone more than that man. Father's Day once each June is just not enough- he really deserves the moon every day of the year.

I've got a pretty great Papa, too. He shaped so much of who I am today, and gave me so many wonderful childhood memories.

Hug a Dad today. Dads are wonderful.

(Oh, and... I redecorated the blog for summer. If you're reading through a feed, I'd love it if you clicked on through to see what you think.)

Happy Sunday!

7 Quick Takes {an Instagram photo dump}

--1--

Me, the twins, and a toddler who is offering me a sip of her drink. I'm 33 weeks now!

 

--2--

My heart! I have no words for this one.

 

--3--

This was one of those moments that makes one wonder why anyone buys baby toys. Posy desperately wanted to go outside, but I was not feeling well enough to take her, and had already maxed out my child labor resident help. The solution was to cut shapes into a shoe box and keep Little Miss occupied that way. And my, does she loves that thing.

--4--

Favorite hat, favorite book, favorite dolly. Life is good to this girl. The book gets read about 15 times each day, no kidding. There are a lot of us around here to read it! And the kids have it memorized from hearing it so often, so we can all pretty much read it in our sleep. (It's I'm a Big Sister by Joanna Cole, by the way.)

--5--

So by now you've figured out that my Instagram feed is pretty much a Posy photo fest? :) Can you imagine what's going to happen when I have twins to photograph? It will be an Twinsie Instagram frenzy!!! ;)

--6--

This baby breathes books- I'm not kidding! If she's fussy, the fastest way to calm her (other than offering her a mammoth pregnant belly to snuggle) is to say, "Go get a book!" Off she waddles to her basket. And you'd better be ready to sit and read for a while, because there is nothing she'd rather be doing. :)
 

 

--7--

Okay, I'll stop the Instagram dumping now. How about some links? Here are a few click-worthy leads for your weekend:

Why Don't Students Like School? :: American Educator

Because the mind is not designed for thinking. Note to self: Memory work is not to be underestimated.

Homeschooling Makes Me a Better Parent :: Permanent Things

Hear, hear!

Pillsbury Rolls Out Three New Gluten-Free Products :: Triumph Dining

I always love to hear about mainstream manufacturers coming out with gluten-free eats. We're (slowly) getting somewhere!

Happy weekending!

2013 End-of-Year Folder Link-Up

It's time! Let's share our End-of-Year Folders for the 2012-2013 school year. No matter how you document your kids' learning at the end of the year, we'd all love to take a gander.

At the bottom of this post is a widget where you can link back to your own blog and show off any parts or pieces of your kids' documented learning. Your post can be as simple or as detailed as you'd like it to be. Just be sure to include a link back to this page on your own post- that way it'll be easy for us all to find each other.

I'm excited to see what you've done!

***

I made similar books this year as I did last year. I made each of the kids their own folder, and started with a cover page with interview (you can see those here). Then I added page protectors filled with documentation from the year's work. This year I once again used inexpensive report covers with clear plastic covers, but next year I think we'll promote to 1/2" binders. There was certainly enough work to place in each folder to legitimize using a whole binder- the kids have been up to a lot! :)

Let me show you some sample pages from our folders this year:

Accomplished Work Lists:

I keep track of all the curriculum resources each child uses throughout the year, as well as booklists for history and family read-alouds. These get compiled into lists, and those pages go right at the front of each child's folder. Here is Primrose's list of accomplished work (I shrunk the pages so that they don't take up too much space on this post, but I think if you click them they'll be easier to read).

Art Samples:

I also take some of the kids' favorite artwork for the year and include it. If the piece is too big to fit in the folder, I'll either trim it to make it work or scan it into my computer and print it so that I can fit it into a standard size page protector. Here are a couple samples from this year.

Booklists:

Each child tracks his or her independent reading for the year, and then at the end of the year I have them complete a simple Thinking About Books form. Here are links to completed independent reading lists for both Primrose and Tulip. Those lists are printed and included in their folders. I'll be having Snap keep track of his independent reading next year as well.

Photo Pages:

These are the kids' favorite part! I make very simple collages in Picmonkey (free!) and then print them out on matte photo paper. I try to include photos of field trips and memorable activities. This is also where I document things like participating in a science fair or performing at a piano recital. I place certificates indicating participation or promotion (Snap's promotion to Senior White Belt, for example) next to pictures of the event. This makes sure that we keep those ribbons and certificates that mean a lot to the kids, but they don't just take up space somewhere- they are displayed! Here are just a couple samples from Snap's book this year- each child has 5 or 6 pages of these.

Work Samples:

I include just a couple good pieces of writing for each child, as well. If they got a great score on a math test, I might include that, too. This year we did a little unit on the solar system and the kids actually made notebook pages for that, so I popped those in. These are Snap's.

Each of my kids' books ended up being between 25-30 pages long this year (gasp!), and even though it looks like it might take a lot of time to compile, it really wasn't so bad. It's worth spending a bit of time putting these together, anyway. We all love looking at them. 

Evidence:

:) There is something about compiling work done well that makes for a very satisfying end to the school year. We homeschooling mamas work way too hard to shrug off taking a little time to relish in all that we've helped our kids accomplish!

An InLinkz Link-up

Manual Mode Monday 28/52

F 3.5, 1/2000, ISO 100

I'm working on my photography skills by taking a picture in Manual mode every week for a year. Join me, if you like- I love to see what you've done.

Summer Daybook

Outside my window...

Perfection. 70's and sunny. It doesn't get any better than this.

I am thankful for... 

All the help I am receiving. I've told you about Miss Rose and Natalie, but my friend Sarah has dropped dinner off twice this week. WOW, that's a help. It's hard for me to be on my feet long enough to make a decent meal, so having something I can pop right into the oven and warm is a huge blessing.

I am thinking about...

the twins, naturally.

In the Schoolroom...

It's summer break! This is what we're hitting each day:

I planned a full five days each week, knowing that we will likely miss a day or two on a regular basis.

(And I always feel obligated to tell you that of course the printed version uses my kids' real names. I promise I don't call them by flowers in real life. Well, not usually. Sometimes Posy does get called... Posy.) ;)

From the kitchen...

I want ice cream cake in a big bad way. But that takes too much effort to make (I know, right?), so Andy ran to the store to get me the ingredients, and I'm just going to dump them all in a bowl and eat up. I'm all about sacrificing for the sake of helping these twins put on pounds. Sooo selfless of me.

I've also taken to eating an ice cream cone before bed every night, but scooping that ice cream onto the cone is so much work. So I just eat the ice cream from the carton and then alternate with bites of the empty ice cream cone. I've got to reserve my energy for growing these babies, you know. I'll do whatever it takes. :)

I am creating...

Babies, and it turns out that creating two at the same time is quite the project!

I am working on...

Laying down most of the day. I'm getting better at this, I promise!

I am reading...

The reading has been good around here! I finished Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen and it was utterly fabulous- the best book I've read all year. I also read Leigh Bortins' Echo in Celebration: A Call to Home-Centered Education, and it was very uplifting. (It's also a free ebook, so check it out if you want some cheap inspiration).

I'm still reading The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith because I took a break to read The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin. I'm not linking that one, though, because it seemed to me a blatant feminist manifesto, intent on cutting an American hero down to size and making some social and political assertions I just couldn't swallow. I bailed about 1/3 of the way in.

I am praying for...

My birthday-girl sister-in-law!

I am hearing...

Kids playing out front. Tulip keeping Posy entertained so I can write this.

Clicking around...

Using the Principle of the Sabbath to Organize Your School Year :: Permanent Things
Book List for an 11-Year-Old Girl :: With Great Joy
Wimps and Barbarians: The Sons of Murphy Brown :: The Claremont Institute

Around the house...

Don't ask. I am learning to let go. Growing babies is more important, so I must let go!

One of my favorite things...

Fresh raspberries. YUM.

A few plans for the rest of the week...

Nothing! For me, that is. Miss Rose is coming over to teach Primrose how to make meatballs and meatloaf and to give me a nap. My mother-in-law is coming next weekend to help out and give Andy a break from the breakneck-speed-at-work-breakneck-speed-at-home routine he's got going on (to make up for my obvious slack).

Otherwise, more of the lovely same:
Grow babes.
Lie down.
Read.
Eat ice cream out of the carton.
Repeat.

A Picture...

Yet another project of Tulip's... a Hawaiian themed dinner!

She planned the menu, staged the decor, and dressed up in a hula skirt for the occasion. It was delicious and fun. :) I just love that girl and all her many ideas.

June Goals, Revised (and other random musings)

Well, that didn't take long. I had my June Goals up on the fridge for all of a day or two before I noticed that Miss Rose had revised them for me:

She's subtle, yes? :)

You might recall that Miss Rose is God's grace in the flesh to me. She came three days this week (and my sweet friend Natalie helped the other two days, so I was literally given help every. single. day.). And guess what? I rested more and contracted less and I feel pretty good! Such grace.

Anyway. Thank you for all of your sweet words of encouragement on my last post. I did notice a running theme in the comments (that is, how about you just keep those babies tucked up tight and forget all the other goals?). :) Which is what my husband (and everyone else) has been telling me all along, but apparently I'm stubborn as a mule.

Kimberlee's comment made me stop, though. I tend to listen really really well to mothers of many. They just... know things. Kimberlee said this:  "It's nice to nail down our goals but just picture that first one (the one clearly assigned to you by God) up at the top in all caps and the others way down the page in teeny tiny letters. Really! xo."
 
And it struck me that yes, there was only one thing on that whole list that was assigned to me by God. Even noble and worthwhile things, like beginning to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, have not been assigned to me in the way that growing these babies has.

So. I'm listening. It's going to be a quiet and unproductive month, but I intend to grow these babies big and healthy.

Isn't my little Senior White Belt the absolute cutest? Don't tell him I said so. He wouldn't like it. ;) He tests for his Yellow Belt later this month. He is so motivated to move up and do well in Taekwon Do! It's been fun to watch him self motivate.

And...

Just a little reminder that the End-of-Year Folder Link-Up is happening here on Wednesday, the 12th. Please remember you can keep these as simple as you want to! I've heard rumors around the internet-grapevine that the idea of such a folder is intimidating and discouraging, which kind of breaks my heart.

The last thing I want to be is a discouragement to a single one of you. If this isn't your thing, good grief- don't make one! I don't have any such thing from my childhood school years, and I'm none the worse for it. REALLY.  I kind of get a kick out of putting these together, and I know some other ladies do, too. But for Pete's sake, there's no good to come from any of you beating yourselves up because you just want to limp to the finish line and call it a year, over and done. I don't blame you one bit, and there a million other wonderful things you are good at. No comparisons!

That's it. It's Friday! Here are some links, just in case you find yourself in need of some inspiring weekend clicking:

• The Daily Bread of Homeschooling :: Better than Eden

• A discussion of Anthony Esolen's Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child (an insanely wonderful book, by the way) over at Our Little Nuthouse

• There Were Books :: Starry Sky Ranch

• i is for Insecure :: Kate Wicker

See you next week! :)

June Goals

I printed this out and put it up on the fridge. I got the idea awhile back from Elizabeth at Blue Mockingbird (love her blog).

I want to keep some basic goals at the forefront of my mind this month, even though it's definitely going to be a month where I am horizontal more than vertical. I've got some goals for my health (namely, no early labor!), some goals with/for the kids, and a couple just for me and my camera.

I'm struggling a bit with how much harder this twin pregnancy has been than any of my singletons. At 31 weeks, I'm not even sure I'll be able to attend Mass or go on a simple outing much longer. I just contract, contract, contract. And then there is the heartburn, the back pain, and the complete non-functioning of my lungs. It's all just a bit much. I very much want to enjoy this pregnancy, though, because I know it is a precious gift. We are all so excited to meet the boys God is making just for our family!

I'm hoping that keeping a few simple goals- especially the kind that harness joy- will make these last couple of months before the twin boys arrive more pleasant for everyone. I need to be more pleasant for my husband's sake. The guy is doing everything around here just to keep all of our heads above water.

My, but I love that man.