The Saturday 7

1. Goodreads suggests making a "reading goal" for the year, and I decided to take the challenge. You guys are going to laugh at me, but my goal is 75 books. Over-ambitious much? Really, though, if I spend my evenings reading instead of scrolling mindlessly through facebook, I should be able to read a couple books a week. That's easily 75 books. I've read 5 so far this year (in 2 weeks), so I'm already ahead of schedule!

2. This week, I read All the Light We Cannot See and Because You're Mine. ATLWCS is an award winner, and came very highly recommended, but it wasn't my favorite. I can see why it won awards. It's beautifully written. But I'd rather have an incredible story than beautiful writing, and I feel like that's where this book fell short. Mostly, I was disappointed in the ending. The book builds and builds, and then just kind of fizzles out. I also didn't really like Because You're Mine. It's brand new from Colleen Coble, and I usually love anything she writes, but this one was pretty terrible. Maybe I'll have better luck with books next week.

3. I'm pretty sure Levi is saying "hi" lately. But he almost always attaches another syllable to it. Usually, he says, "Hi da." And he says it to everyone - not only Justin. Haha. I also noticed this week that he makes "vroom" noises when he plays with cars. You can kind of hear it in this video. (Don't mind our disastrous living room and the girls playing Legos/climbing on me in the background.)

4. Lucy had 2 "snow" days this week. (One was actually because of ice.) I love snow days. I love not getting up at 6:45 and fighting with Lucy about hurrying up . . .

And I especially love not going out in the cold! We had a couple nice days of lounging in our pajamas and playing Legos for hours on end.

Not sure what's going on with the belly there. . .

5. We are leaving for Florida in 4 DAYS!! I am SO EXCITED!! But I'm also starting to get a tiny bit stressed about all the logistics. These are my current lists:

Packing Lists
Lucy's carry-on, Lena's carry-on, my carry-on, Lucy's suitcase, Lena's suitcase, my suitcase, extra suitcase [so.much.stuff!], stuff to pack the night before we leave

To Do Lists
To do before leaving, to buy before leaving, to buy in Florida

Traveling with kids is not for the faint of heart. And I'm really trying to be realistic about what we need. I'm not packing everything we own. Kids just need lots of big stuff: life jackets (for the beach), booster seat (for the car), sleeping bags (for my brother's house), beach towels, a few toys (so they don't watch Netflix the entire time we're down there). Plus, I have to pack all of Lena's presents since her birthday falls during our trip. I really should've thought ahead and had her presents shipped to my brother's house, but it's too late now, and I'm not paying to ship them! We're borrowing a pack n' play from my sister-in-law's friend. I had a portable high chair shipped to my brother's house from Amazon. And we're just going to buy diapers once we get there. I'm really trying to keep it reasonable!

6. Today, the girls and I got pedicures so our feet are beach ready (plus, I promised Lena we'd get our nails done for her birthday). The lady had to use a cheese grater on my feet because they are so dry and calloused and disgusting. Haha. And she remembered us from the last time we were in there (in August)! She said, "You have baby boy at home, right?" Wowza. I wonder what it is about us that makes an impression . . . my cheese feet? Lol.

7. A few more pics from the week: