The Saturday 7

1. We hosted small group with our friends last Saturday. Everyone brought their kids (and I got to hold the new baby!). It's so crazy to see how we've grown over the past 7 years.

Most of the kids were off playing in the above picture. I love how they're all so close in age and hope they'll always be friends. Although we adults have already vowed not to let any of our kids' relationships ruin our friendships. Haha. The crazy thing about small group now that we all have kids is that everyone was gone by 8:40. We used to stay out til one or two in the morning!

2. We had such weird weather this week. At the beginning of the week, we were outside in shorts and t-shirts checking out the apples and making mud pies.

Mud pie aftermath

Lucy's fashion statement of the day.

By today, we were bundled up in sweatshirts and jeans and had our first fire in the fireplace. I pulled out the 18 month bin for Lena. Most of the jeans/skirts are too big for Lena (who is almost 20 months old), but she'll have plenty to grow into! There were more than ten pairs of jeans. Lol.

For the first time in Lucy's life, I actually have to go buy all her clothes this season. She's finally grown out of all the generous hand-me-downs we were given. So I took her to Once Upon a Child on Thursday to help me pick out some fall clothes for her. She is so opinionated. We only ended up getting her 3 long-sleeved shirts and one sweater. She might be cold this winter.

3. I've been thinking of some of Lena's funny words lately. She calls her bib a "bib-bib." Not sure why she says it twice. Haha. She calls my computer a "bood-it." When she shouts "move!" at Lucy or Lola it sounds suspiciously like "boob!" When she wants to be held, she stands at my feet crying "hold you!" And this one she says totally correctly, but I just love it: eyebrow. Haha.

4. In case you're not my friend on facebook . . . we got pictures up of our house on the listing this week. Check it out. Spread the word. We've had two showings already, but no offers.

5. Big news! My little brother got engaged this week!! He and Esther have been dating forever, and we're so happy that she's officially going to join our family! He's such a good guy and has waited patiently for a godly girl. (He's practically an old man at 26 years old. I'd been married 7 years by then. ;-) ) We're so thrilled that he found her and that she said yes! We love you, Luke and Esther!

And didn't he do a good job picking out the ring?? Gorgeous!

6. I've been thinking that now that I'm approaching 30, I really need to start dressing like an adult. Justin and I discussed that if we sell our house for a decent price, we can both have some spending money. He's already got big plans to buy fishing stuff, but I think I'm going to buy a new wardrobe. I've been pinning inspiration on Pinterest, but I'm pretty sure I only like the outfits because the models are so skinny. Haha. I probably wouldn't like the same outfit on myself.

7. Lucy went to Cubbies (part of Awana - a Wednesday night kid's club at church) for the first time this week. She was technically old enough to go last year, but I didn't think she was ready socially. I'm not sure she's really ready socially this year either, but she's never going to get better if we don't practice. Haha. If she's ever going to go to school, she has to start having some practice being away from me. She really didn't want to go on Wednesday despite all my assurances of how much fun she'd have. So I promised her that I'd stay in the church so I'd be nearby if she needed me. Maybe I'm a helicopter parent, but mostly I remember what it's like to be an anxious child, and I knew what would relieve her fears. I stayed with her a for a couple minutes until a few kids she knows came in. She wasn't happy about me leaving her, but she did great. That night when we got home, she asked me if she could go back the next day. And she has continued to ask when she gets to go back. Hopefully she'll stick with it!