The Saturday 7: Advance Edition!

Advance edition because we're leaving to go camping for the weekend in an hour. (More on that in my final point!)

1. Last Saturday we went to a surprise 30th birthday party for one of our friends. I can't believe we're moving into our 30s. Oy. Anyway, it was a family affair at a lake, and the girls had a blast. Lucy loves lakes and makes me so nervous. Haha. For being my nervous child, she seems to have no fear in lakes. Lena freaked out about the sand at first, but was actually walking and playing in it by the end of the day. Progress.

2. On Tuesday, we went to the zoo with my sister and her boys. She had free passes, so we didn't even pay a cent! Lena loved all the animals and people and being outside. Lucy, on the other hand, was a total grump. She just does not do well with being hot, tired, or bored. Haha. I know. Does any kid? But she seems to get hot, tired, and bored faster than most kids her age. Drama.

You'll notice the 4 year old is in the stroller instead of the 19 month old. And she's totally unimpressed by the wallaby an inch away from her!

Lena with my nephew, Tristan

This about sums it up.

3. I read the book of Esther this week (still going strong on reading through the Bible in one year - I think I'm actually going to do it for the first time!). I know it's an awesome story of the redemption of God's people, and a testament to Esther's bravery, but I can't help but feel bad for her. She was swept away from her home and life as she knew it because she was beautiful. She had to sleep with the King - who was probably some old, nasty, fat guy - on a trial basis to see if she was good enough. Then, lucky her! She got chosen to be his queen. Nobody cared if she wanted to marry the nasty old guy. I know it was probably common in that day for women to be married off, but Esther didn't really even get a husband. She was put in a harem and summoned every once in a while to do the King's bidding. And even after she saved the whole Jewish nation, she still spent the rest of her life in the King's harem. She didn't get to go home. She didn't get to go back to her life. At least she got to be rich. That's got to count for something, right?

4. Lucy has been obsessed with dressing up and getting beautiful and posing for pictures lately. One night last week, she insisted I tie her comforter around her waist, then said, "Let's pretend I'm a movie star. You can take my picture!" Here are some of the pictures we took:

Then she wanted me to pose. She told me to do some yoga moves. Haha.

Lola wanted to play "movie star" too.

She cracks me up. And worries me. What is she going to be like as a teenager??

5. Justin had the whole week off of work. We can't afford to go on vacation and didn't even plan much for a stay-cation. He did some work around the house, split some wood for the wood burner, and took one day to go fishing. He fished for 8 hours and caught 19 fish. Not my idea of a good time, but he was in his glories. Haha. As it so happens, my job does not give me paid vacations. So we agreed that I could have one day to do whatever I wanted child-free this week. It wasn't really a full day (I was home by 3), and I didn't spend it doing all fun stuff, but I'll take what I can get!

First, I drove up to Newaygo and went to the Riverstop Cafe. It is super cute and I spent 2 glorious hours checking my facebook in peace, drinking coffee without anyone climbing on me and sloshing it into my lap, and eating a whole cinnamon roll by myself without little beggars asking for pieces of it. I also made some headway on homeschool planning and have almost a month prepared.

I would've stayed longer, but I felt bad for hogging a table for so long and only spending $6. Haha.

My next venture was thrift shopping. I went to 3 stores in a row and found all kinds of useful treasures - mostly children's books. I just can't help myself. We're totally out of shelf space, but I love finding books that I enjoyed as a kid or ones that I've heard good things about and never actually read. Plus I'm always searching for books with my girls' names in them. (Lena is admittedly more difficult to find than Lucy) Today I found a book called Sadie and the Snowman that I couldn't resist, because Sadie is a person instead of a dog!! I also got Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little in incredible shape, a new Junie B. Jones book, and a Captain Underpants book. Lucy is strangely obsessed with all things potty-related, so I think she'll love Cap'n U. 

My other thrift store finds included a book I forgot to take a picture of (This is the Stable), a brand new bead set for Lucy, a small crate, a small tote with counting bears/cards in it ($1!), and an assortment of wooden "train table toys" for 35 cents!

Like the trees/signs/people in this picture. (Train tracks not included)

I also got a huge bag of waffle blocks for $1.50. Although, now that I've seen the price on Amazon ($140), I'm thinking I should re-sell them! Ha!

5. I tried on 9 pairs of jeans between the 3 stores I went to, and not a single one fit. Most of them were too small. A couple were too big. They were all in the same size range. So frustrating. And my last stop of the day was going the Secretary of State to renew my driver's license. Fortunately, I got in and out in 10 minutes. Unfortunately, I had to get a new picture and fess up to my new weight. Three words: diet starts Tuesday. Ugh.

6. My day of leisure was wonderful, but much too short. I got home at 3:00 and didn't sit down until 10:00. Despite my loud and emphatic opinions about camping, we are going to try it this weekend.

This is how I feel about that.

My opinions remain the same, but I'm willing to set them aside for the sake of my girls. So many of my friends have such wonderful memories of camping with their families. I don't have that, but I want my girls to. And so we shall camp. We're cheating and staying in a [tiny] cabin with Justin's parents. We have one bedroom and one full-size bed for the 4 of us. Not sure how that's going to work out, but it's better than tenting it! Other than my distaste for dirtiness, the outdoors, and bears, my complaint about camping is this: it is so.much.work. I have been making lists all week. Grocery lists. Packing lists. To do lists. Yesterday, I spent an hour and $100 grocery shopping. I prepped food, cleaned the disastrous house, and frantically worked on my last minute homeschooling stuff. Today I have spent hours cramming, toys, pack n' plays, food, games, swimsuits, towels, and clothing for every possible weather condition into my van. We will drive half an hour to the campground whereupon I will be called upon to unpack all of the aforementioned encumbrances. Oh. Did I mention the weather?

At least we won't be tenting it. At least we won't be tenting it. At least we won't be tenting it.

Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. I love Justin's family. I'm sure we'll have fun playing Wizard and eating delicious food. But if you don't hear from me again, assume I've been mauled and eaten by a bear in a grisly (Grizzly?), horrific death.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!