7QT- Starring my 33-34 Wk Pregnancy Nesting

It has certainly been a fun and crazy week! As is the case with most families, we've had fighting and laughing and everything in between.  

But did your family have this this week?

1. Dress-up and tea parties

So posh.  

2. Book of the Week

This was such a sweet little find at the library this week.  ALL the girls loved the love and sweetness in this lovely picture book. 

3. Baby Names

In case you missed it from an earlier post, we did a baby name consultation with Kate at Sanctanomina.com for fun this time around.  Definitely check it out and tell us your thoughts!  So far, I believe the top suggestions from people center around Zoe, Zelie, and Tessa for girls and Blaise and Jude for boys, but there are seriously a TON of great suggestions both on her list and in the comments section too.  

4.  Family walks

We took one every night this week (and planning on a nice one tonight).  One evenings walk was to a concert at a nearby park.  2-4 miles every night and the kids slept great. 

 

And we all enjoy the beauty of God's creation all around us.  So beautiful. 

5. Craving?

I don't know if I'd call it a craving yet, though it probably will be as soon as this bag runs out...

These Boulder Canyon sea salt and cracked pepper chips are my new favorite thing.  I ate 3/4 of a bag of them yesterday...

6. Freezer meals

In this post last Sunday, I mentioned a few freezer meals I'd made.  Well, I had a whole list and had found some great deals at the store, so this week I made a bunch more....

Savory Chicken and Sausage & Peppers from this website (I just did one bag of each for now)

Beef Roast with Carrots from here and a slightly different version of Cilantro-Lime Chicken found here (minus the corn).  I actually made two recipes of that and threw one in the crock pot for dinner that day.  It was really good.  I made rice to put it over, but you could obviously make it into burritos/tacos too, and I had a bunch of salad greens, so I made my meal into a big salad (just add tomatoes and avocados and it gets even better). 

Sweet Balsamic Pork roast

2 bags of meatballs (I used a similar recipe, but I'm gluten-free, so used almond flour instead of bread crumbs and there was no ketchup in the version I used)

I made like 4 lbs worth of meatballs, and used some of them to make this Meatball Soup as well.  Additionally I froze 4 cups of homemade chicken stock to add to it when it's time to cook and eat. 

Teriyaki Chicken  (though Kayla isn't a huge fan of pineapple, so I omitted that and added a cup of water and a little ground ginger and a heaping tablespoon of honey)

&

this Cranberry Pork Roast

So far, I've got 16 meals all ready and I think I'll make a few more as well since we have the freezer space (a nice benefit to having a fridge of our own and renting a place that came with one). 

7. Smoothies

I'm also freezing up bags of fruit mixtures to make into smoothies for an easy and healthy breakfast/snack after baby comes.  Thanks to some awesome fresh and frozen fruit sales at Sprouts this week, I have well over a dozen baggies already and tons more fresh fruit cut up in the fridge for some healthy goodness now.  

Join the link-up for 7 quicktakes 

with This Ain't the Lyceum and share yours. 

7 Quicktakes - end of June-beginning of July

We've had a whirlwind two weeks with my parents visiting, the 4th of July, and my brother's family visiting.  Plus it's summer.  So this is a smattering of what we've been up to in a nutshell the past few weeks between the family visits.  

1. Glucose test

 

I took it, I passed. Yay! 

Ava wasn't really a fan of my leaving for my appointment that day though.  What a sad sack- she was breaking my heart. 

2. Reading/Time Outside

We spend A LOT of time outside these days.  We ride bikes and scooters, we take family walks and go to parks, we visit with the neighbors, we read books, we eat outside, we play in the water table/kiddie pool, we soak up the sun, and we eat popsicles (our favorite is a brand called Outshine--they make them with real fruit and don't add extra sugar-win!)

 

3. Coloradans

I guess we can "officially" call ourselves Coloradans now that we got new CO plates for both the cars.  

4. Pregnancy- 3/4 of the way done

I'm 31 weeks now, but last week we took a picture one day to commemorate 30 weeks and being 3/4 of the way through this pregnancy (unless of course baby decides to stretch the pregnancy to 41 or 42 weeks...)

That day was also one in which the dramatic and crazy and tired came out in 2 out of the 4 girls and the emotions were cray-cray.  I think that term is silly and slightly over the top, but it is totally appropriate in this situation so--using it.  

5. Fourth of July

We went to the local parade in the morning and I got terrible pictures.  

  

Exhibit A: I couldn't actually see, so this family selfie accidentally doesn't have Elise's face in it.  Oops

Exhibit B: I tried one of the girls who all blinked or whined or both about the SUN IN THEIR EYES!

Exhibit C: an action shot of Elise and Ava (blinking) and dancing on the side of the parade route

Later in the day we went to a BBQ at a friend's house and then watched fireworks at a park near home.  Sophie did not enjoy them at all.  She doesn't like loud noises and bright flashing lights apparently.  She hated the fire engines in the parade as well.  

6. Summery treats

Frozen grapes (and blueberries...and later cherries, per the suggestion of an Instagram friend)

YUM!  If you haven't ever tried this, do!  A delicious, healthy, cool treat for a summer day. 

Additionally, my new favorite preggo snack is fresh fruit with fresh whipped cream. 

Fruit by itself was really not a big appeal to me, but recently I suddenly had a thought about fresh whipped cream (probably because I've been meaning to make Chris a nectarine pie which would also absolutely need some fresh whipped cream on top) and suddenly CRAVING.  I could eat this all day (and I'm loving this modern day Jane Austen-y book--Lizzy and Jane).

7. Swim Lessons

Kayla and Elise are taking swim lessons for several weeks.  Both girls are loving it thus far. 

First day photo

 

 

And of course the others enjoy the free swim time while swim lessons are going on.

 

All Saints Day- 2014

Last year, we had a very fun feast and you can find some of the exciting things we did in this blog post.

1. SAINT BINGO- This year we kept some of last year's ideas as well as tried out a few new ones.  Saint BINGO could be played all day around here.  The girls love the Saints, the game, and the BINGO prizes, so in addition to last year's BINGO, I thought we might try one that was a little more advanced.  I found free printables for the BINGO cards here on Pinterest.  It was definitely a bit much for the 3 year old and 2 year old who needed quite a bit of extra assistance, but it was still fun, and will be a great resource to have around for many future years too.

2. SAINT PAPER DOLL CHAIN/WREATH- I found this awesome idea that the girls really enjoyed.  I made the paper doll chains prior and for my younger two, I helped them choose saints and draw them and they colored them.  The 5 year old looked at saint books, drew her own, and colored them like a little pro.  She wants to do another one tomorrow...

3. SAINT THEMED GUESSING JARS- There are really great guessing jar ideas AND printable labels for the jars available here, but I saw it last minute so my versions are way lamer, but still a fun, easy idea to put together.  My kids are really a little young for this, but with a little help and strategy discussion from Daddy, the 5 year old was able to make some pretty decent guesses.  And we got some great counting in because I had them count for practice.  The 3 year old did some of the smaller count jars by 1's and my 5 year counted by 2's on the larger count jars.  

    

4. FAMILY LITANY OF SAINTS- This is a neat idea I found on Pinterest from Catholicicing .  I made up a simple version in Microsoft Word and my 5 year old LOVED choosing Saints for the Litany and decorating the border with symbols of each saint she chose.  She was even more thrilled to read off the litany at bedtime when we said prayers and concluded with this.  

5. SAINTS, SAINTS, WHO DO YOU SEE? - We have not done this yet, but we are going to make our own version of this at some point in November because it is SO cute and I know all three girls will LOVE it.  

picture from sarahrosessupposes@blogspot.ca

6. READ SAINT BOOKS/STORIES- We read the last several chapters in a St. Elizabeth Ann Seton book that we've been working through for the past month.  We also read a great many short saint stories from a Lives of the Saints book we have.  The girls love to look through the pictures and choose saints to read about.  Some of them we've read over and over, and every so often they choose one we've never read about together.

7. COLORING PAGES- There are so many resources for Catholic coloring pages out there if you look.  Check out my religious crafts and learning Pinterest board for just a few... or do a quick search and find your own.  My kiddos love coloring, so this is always a win.  

8. DRESSING UP AS SAINTS- This year we had a St. Lucy, St. Cecilia, and a St. Elizabeth of Hungary.  We headed to Mass in the morning and they all wanted to wear their costumes.  The costumes stayed on for a good portion of the day for the younger two, but my 5 year old kept hers on all day including our trip to the grocery store.  I love how proud and uninhibited kids are.  

St. Lucy is wearing one of her Dad's sparkling white undershirts with a red ribbon sash and a construction paper crown fashioned lovingly by her mother.  

St. Cecilia is wearing one of our princess-y, dress-up dresses with a crown made last year out of a small plastic wreath and fake flowers and greenery.  It got a bit battered over the course of a year in the dress-up box, so Mom had to spruce it up a little with some green felt and fabric glue to make it look fabulous once again.  

St. Elizabeth of Hungary is dolled up in a Sunday dress with a swiftly fashioned felt cape and paper crown decorated with stickers.  

9. LITANY OF THE SAINTS SONG- We listened to and watched this version of Matt Maher's Litany of the Saints .  The girls like singing along with the "pray for us" parts as well as listening for some of their favorite saints like St. Lucy and St. Cecilia especially.  We also sang a few other praise songs like "Here I am to Worship" and "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus".  We like music around here. 

Happy Feast of All Saints Day!

Next year, my goal is to actually plan a party and invite some friends to celebrate with us.