The Saturday 7

1. Lena had a WIC appointment this week. She made it to 25 lbs! Haha. Little shrimp. I'm always amazed at how nice the WIC employees are. They're not grumpy government workers. And, honestly, I think I'd be pretty grumpy if I worked there. I'd be so judgmental about women coming in saying they can't afford food, but playing on their iPhone. Which is ironic since I'm on WIC, but still manage to afford to go out to eat a couple times a week, and have a pretty nice smart phone myself. When will I ever learn?

2. Lucy starts school in 16 days. I've been trying to talk it up, and act like it's no big deal and she's going to love it and have so much fun. But one night this week, while we were snuggling in her bed, I finally asked her, "Do you think you're going to cry on your first day? Are you going to be sad or scared?" She said, "I'll probably cry a little bit. I'm not sad, but I am a little scared." Oh man. How am I not going to cry when I drop her off and she's crying? Lol. I hate that I've passed my anxiety on to her. I told her that I get scared when I start new things too, but after a couple days she'll make new friends and get used to it and have so much fun. I also made sure to tell her that I loved school. And I told her some funny stories that I remember from Kindergarten about kids wetting their pants and biting each other. Lol. I still haven't heard from the school about any kind of orientation/meet the teacher day. I'm really hoping there is one. I think that will ease Lucy's mind (and mine) to see her classroom again and know what to expect.

3. I read a book this week for the first time in ages. Perfect Touch by Elizabeth Lowell. The title should have been my warning, but I figured it wouldn't be that bad. The story was actually good. I love suspense/mystery with romance throughout. But of course, it had to get all sexually graphic! Gag. Why can't secular authors write a romance without explicit sex? I can handle some allusions to the deed, but I don't need all the details. Oy. Only 6 books to go and 9 weeks to finish them.

4. Lucy and Lena have been playing really well lately. (Of course. Right before Lucy's going to go off to school for 8 hours a day.) I love hearing them using their imaginations and having fun together. But after so many years of them needing my constant attention, I sometimes don't know what to do with myself when they're entertaining each other. Yesterday, the house was clean, the laundry was going, the bills were paid, and I just kind of wandered the house trying to find something to do! Haha.

5. Here's a funny story of the girls playing well together. I think I've mentioned before that Lucy is obsessed with YouTube videos. Well her newest obsession is watching daily vloggers. She watches "Ollie videos" about this family with a one year old named Ollie. I've watched some with her, and it is nothing that interesting. It's just a family chronicling their daily lives. Ollie throws his breakfast on the floor. The dog jumps in the pool. The mom puts on her make-up. Seriously. I don't know why Lucy loves it so much. But as a result, she loves to pretend that she's a vlogger. She spends a lot of the day narrating to her pretend camera. (Stuff like, "Hi, guys! Today I'm making lunch with my mom. We're having macaroni which is my faaaavorite!") She also loves to take my camera and make real videos. The other day, she had me watch one. She and Lena were having a naked day - each just in their undies or diaper. The video starts with Lucy panning down the front of herself and saying, "Hi guys! I'm naked today. We're going to have some naked fun! Hey Lena! Want to have some naked fun?!" Lol. I about spit out my Dr Pepper. Fortunately, my camera fills up so fast that Lucy deletes the videos almost as quickly as she takes them, so she can keep doing more. Haha.

6. I came across this on Pinterest recently and it really resonated with me:

I especially love the first two sentences. I feel so much pressure to get this parenting thing right, to lead my children to Jesus by my words and actions, and I fail so often. I love the reminder that I don't have to be their Holy Spirit. Jesus has the power to redeem my parenting failures and fill my kids in ways that I can't. Whew!

7. I've been a little depressed and restless lately - bogged down by the sameness of my daily life. So yesterday, I insisted that we do something fun together as a family. Justin spent an hour figuring out how to attach two kayaks to my car, we loaded up, and headed off to the lake for some good old fashioned fun.

We couldn't actually get both kayaks to fit on top of the car, so one had to go inside. Tight squeeze! Haha.

The boat launch is unfortunately close to the playground. Lena was totally uninterested in kayaking after seeing the swings. But we distracted her and piled into our kayaks anyway. Justin and Lucy did some fishing, while Lena and I paddled around aimlessly.

The most photogenic child in the world.

And then there's Lena, who refused to pose with me. Lol.

Lucy caught her first fish ever!

It was actually a pretty good size!

Lena started to get real bored after a while . . .

A little Adolph-esque.

We were actually only on the lake for about half an hour before Lena started to insist on going back to the playground and refused to sit down and made me very nervous. Haha. But Justin and Lucy each caught a fish, I was already getting sore from paddling, and it was starting to sprinkle, so we called it good. 

Now, a mere 18 hours later, I am unbearably sore from that half an hour excursion. Holy cow. My back and shoulders hurt soooooo much I can hardly move. Yikes. Out of shape much?

Hey! Look at that! I made it to 7 this week! Winner!!