The Saturday 7

1. Lucy got to go to the circus with Aunt Niki and the boys on Sunday. Thank goodness for Aunts. I won't take my kids to the circus because I'm scared of the animals. Haha. I know. I have problems. Anyway, Lucy didn't like the loud noises:

But she had fun!

The thing she can't stop talking about from the circus is the elephant pooping. Haha. It made quite an impression on her. She puked in the car on the way home, but Niki and Tristan worked together and caught it all in a cup. That girl . . .

2. I've been getting in a good groove with this stay-at-home-mom thing. My goal is to do a craft/activity with Lucy in the morning during Lena's nap, and then at least one chore in the afternoon while both girls are sleeping. I'm also trying to read a little bit during the afternoon nap, too, but that didn't happen very much this week. I decided to start doing alphabet crafts with Lucy. This week, we did A:

Fingerprint ants. My dad wanted to make one too - can you guess which one is his? :-)

Apple stamps. I cut an apple in half, and let Lucy dip it in paint and press it on the page. I also had her trace over  my dotted A's - and she did the one with no dots all by herself!

3. Despite my quest to be productive at home, I've been spending a fair amount of time on Pinterest. It does have its redeeming qualities. I find most of my craft projects for Lucy on Pinterest, and I've made countless recipes from it. But lately it's been making me feel so bad. I am so sick of all the posts like "Recipe for cream-of-something soup without all the disgusting additives and chemicals!" or "Make your own fruit snacks  - protect your kids from that boxed crap!" or "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." Ugh. Lucy only eats cheese, bread, and a select few fruits. And I pretty much only eat carbs, cheese, sweets, and Dr Pepper. I just don't understand all these moms who have the time and energy to make every morsel of food from scratch. Can't we just go back to the good ole days of boxed fruit snacks and preservative-filled cream of mushroom soup without all the guilt and condemnation?!

4. Speaking of Lucy and her eating habits . . . last week I was eating an egg salad sandwich. She didn't realize what it was, picked it up off my plate and took a big bite. Her eyes got wide, she spewed the egg salad back onto the plate with a vehemence, then started crying adamantly, "I need the puke bucket! I'm going to puke!" Lol. Overdramatic, much? I also tried giving her a Cutie (orange) recently. I cut it all up and made a big deal about how yummy it was and how the little wedges looked like smiley faces. She wouldn't even bite into it. She licked one and declared it unsavory (though not in those words - haha). I did score with apples this week. I cut them into wedges for myself and paired them with a few slices of cheese. When she saw me doing that, she wanted to try it, and ate almost an entire apple! Success!

5. We got an email from Intertek asking to use our car again this week. I wrote about it here (point 2), but basically, it's a local business that pays up to $150 to borrow your car for a day! We got the full $150 this time since we didn't use their rental car. Easy money! (If you live in the area, and want to sign up, go here: www.carsearncash.com - we've done it before. It's really legit and we really got the check in the mail!) The only downside is the location - it's about a 45 minute drive from my parents' house. So you can imagine my joy when we picked the car back up and Lena screamed almost the entire way home. If that wasn't enough, Lucy cried most of the way that her belly hurt and she was going to puke. Lovely. She didn't actually puke that night, but refused to eat dinner and was grumpy all evening.

6. Yesterday, we had a playdate with Kelly, Presley, and Harper. Lucy was a complete grump, and I finally realized she was running a fever. So we came home and took a long nap. That evening, while I was nursing Lena in bed, Lucy brought me the puke bucket, saying she was going to puke. She put it on my left side, then started climbing up on the bed on my right side when the puke started spewing. I unlatched Lena and grabbed that puke bucket at lightning speed. I caught almost all of it! Go me! Haha. The poor girl has been miserable ever since then. She called for me all night long, saying she was cold or her belly hurt or she needed medicine. One time, I went in and asked her what was wrong. She responded, "I can't find my mouth." Lol. I don't think she was quite awake. She seemed to be feeling a lot better today. Her fever is gone and she was asking to eat, so I let her have some mac n' cheese. I don't think she ate more than 2 bites before it all came back up. My poor brother had to run out of the room because her retching was grossing him out so much. Haha.

7. Justin ran the Kent City Ridge Run today. It's a 15K course that goes right by my parents' house. Last year, Lucy and I saw him off at the starting line, came to my parents' to watch him run past, then went back to watch him cross the finish line.

This is Lucy and my dad watching the race last year:

Look at that green grass and the flowers growing right in front of the house!

This is Lucy and Lena watching this year:

COLD!! Stupid Michigan.

Needless to say, we didn't make it to the start or finish line. And Lucy bawled when Justin ran by and we couldn't go with him. Haha. He did really well, though. I think his time was 1:15:53. He got 4th in his age group. Just barely missed the medal! Way to go, babe. I think you're completely crazy. :-)