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

Friday, September 9, 2016

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!

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--1--

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.


--2--

So I still find it weird that they love their history book so much, but what I find even weirder is how much Cecilia adores this book of American Indian Legends. The stories are so strange!!! It's another recommended text (and was only $3), but I feel the need to find some more books of Native American legends at the library, because these are just... Weird. Like, the whole story goes one way and then all of a sudden something completely odd happens and... That's why porcupines don't have thumbs? Huh?

--3--

Elizabeth (I really, really love following her blog especially at this time of year when I'm looking for costumes and can't keep up with fluctuating prices!) linked to this costume a few days ago when it was only $5 on Amazon, so I snapped it up because 1. We can always use non-princess dress-up clothes and 2. It would probably work for a pre-nun Elizabeth Ann Seton, right? Which got me thinking about All Saints' Day costumes that double as good dress-up staples/Halloween possibilities (I just can't do Halloween AND All Saints' Day. If they want to dress up for both, fine, but I'm not buying new costumes for both!).

Cecilia has decided on Pocahontas/St. Kateri, so I'm trying to find a decent costume that won't break the bank... Maybe this one? Do you have a decent source? Last year I just got a few princess dresses on Zulily and the girls loved them but one was terrible quality and has holes all over it, so I'd like to avoid that if possible...

--4--

We're headed to the beach this week!! With no high-maintenance animals needing care, we figured this might be the last year we could take a *real* vacation without worrying about who would milk the cow/feed the pigs/corral the miniature donkeys/whatever we might end up with in this menagerie... So we're headed to the Outer Banks and trying to figure out some fun touristy (indoor) things to do in the middle of the day when it's too hot for the beach. So far Roanoke Island is on the list (and the kids are SO EXCITED because HISTORY! My kids are weird...) and... Maybe a children's museum? I feel like this is probably a fairly popular large family destination - got any suggestions for us?

--5--

At least we'll be comfortable because...
A photo posted by Rosie Hill (@rosiehill425) on

Yup, we bought a giant van. So now I feel like I'm driving a school bus, and don't even ask me about parking because so far I haven't tried anything beyond parking as far away from other cars as possible. But hey, plenty of room to tote all our mountains of stuff to the beach! And for a whole lot more kids ;)

I plan on hitting the library for books on CD and the Dollar Tree for other entertaining objects, but my absolute favorite road trip activity? Water Wows. Words cannot express how amazing these things are, you guys. Seriously - plane rides, stocking stuffers, road trips, just general presents - they're the best!

--6--

Rachel is completely awesome and took headshots of everyone who wanted them at the conference this past weekend, and even got a bump photo in for me! Of course, after the fact, I realized that I never had gotten around to fixing my hair and putting on makeup that morning because I'd been in GO MODE since 6 AM...



But... It's hard to see, but do you see that skirt? That magical, magical skirt? Barely, I know... I snagged it at a LuLaRoe popup sale on facebook, thinking I could wear it once the baby's born (because it's blue and white and paisley, and those are MY THINGS so how could I not?), but it came a few days later and it's so magically stretchy that it's totally gonna fit all the way through this pregnancy! 

So it's official, I'm LuLaRoe obsessed, and if any of you sell it or know somebody who sells it and wants somebody to do what's likely to be a completely glowing review, this is me shamelessly asking for free stuff ;)

--7--

These Quick Takes are the longest ever. Sorry. Go read others at Kelly's, if you're still awake!


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