Hello, Reader.

April is birthday month for our family. My youngest daughter's birthday is on the 20th, mine is the 21st, my husband's is the 22nd, and we met on the 23rd -- 40 years ago next Thursday!

Since we have so much to celebrate in the next few days, I thought I'd kick the festivities off a little early with a birthday-themed link list in this newsletter and a birthday sale in our shop. Through the end of the month, simply use the code BDAY20 at check out to save 20% off your entire purchase!

Free resources for you this week:

• ​Birthday Calendar - keep track friends' and family members' birthdays with this pretty chart
• ​Birthday Cards - free printable birthday cards (with ten designs to choose from)
• ​Birthday Pennant Banner - a bright, festive banner for setting a proper, party atmosphere
• ​Birthday Cake - Nana's chocolate cake has been pressed into service for many a birthday
• ​Birthday Cobbler - our go-to recipe for kids who prefer cobbler to cake

What I'm reading this week:

​The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall My daughter recently finished reading the first book in the Penderwick Series aloud to me for school. Subtitled A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, this endearing story follows a widower and his four young daughters as they go on vacation, meet up with some very interesting people, and have more than their fair share of adventures (and misadventures). If you enjoyed Little Women, you will likely love The Penderwicks, as well.

On the podcast this week:

It took me longer than expected to get over my respiratory infection, so I'm sharing another episode from the archives this week. I hope you'll listen (whether you like bread crusts or not)!

Loving Life at Home: Episode 45 ​DON'T WASTE THE CRUST​ I’ve never been one of those mothers who carefully pared the crust off the PBJ’s I served my children for lunch. Instead, I've explained that it's wasteful to leave them and the crust is where most of the vitamins are. For years, my kids accepted my mother-wisdom at face value... until two of their (adult) siblings decided to question the validity of this claim. Listen Now

Progress on last week's goals:

Progress on my to-do list was super slow this week, too. I did ✅ trim most of the liriope bordering my garden (but did not ❌ divide any of it), ✅ sort two boxes of stuff in my garage, ✅ get a new craft project ready for Monday's co-op class, ✅ help host a Bob Ross painting party, and ✅ see my oncologist (my bloodwork looks great; I'm still awaiting results of the circulating tumor DNA test).

I did not ❌ repair the broken bench, ❌ review our new history curriculum, ❌ publish a new podcast episode, or ❌ attend our friends' choir concert. Good news is, I'm feeling back to normal now, so I'm hoping to finish a few of those tasks this week!

Personal goals for this week:

• watch Eric Metaxas and Mike Farris's sessions in the Under God Summit tomorrow (last day!)
• download free summit swag (my Presidential Quote Print Pack is one such freebie offered)
• publish another Timberdoodle review​
• post a new podcast episode
• host my daughter's sweet 16 party
• teach her how to parallel park (before her driving test next Tuesday)
• teach last co-op classes for the semester
• empty another box in my garage

If you enjoy this newsletter and would like to support my work, there are five ways for you to do that:

1. Say a prayer for me & my family 🙏
2. Invite a friend to ​​subscribe to this newsletter​​ 📭
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4. Buy one of ​my books​​ 📚 (use code BDAY20 to save 20% off total purchase -- even sale items)
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Thanks so much for all your help! I'll be back next week with more links, reviews, and resources. If you have any special requests, please let me know. 😊