The Saturday 7

1. Remember my 75-book goal for the year? I may have created a monster. I've read 13 books so far. I actually stayed up 'til midnight the past three nights to read three different books from start to finish.

2. The book I stayed up to read last night was The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables). I've apparently been under a rock and didn't realize she had other books. The Blue Castle is one of the only books she wrote for an adult audience, but it was very clean. I loved the story and the characters and the whimsy. It dragged a little bit in parts and had a bit too many descriptions of nature for my taste, but other than that, it was a great book and I highly recommend it!

3. One day this week I took Lena to Meijer to buy something with her birthday money from Great Grandma. She marched right to the doll section, picked one out and said, "Ok, let's go." Haha. I tried to get her to look around at her other options, but she was certain. I think between her and Lucy, they already have 11 babies, but I couldn't talk her out of another one. Haha. The whole way home from the store, Lena kept saying, "Lucy is going to be so excited . . . I can't wait to show Lucy . . . Lucy is going to love it!" I finally said, "Did you buy that baby because you want it or because Lucy wants it??" She insisted she wanted it, but her sweet little heart knew how much Lucy would like it too, and she couldn't wait to share in the excitement.

4. I think we've officially decided to send Lena to preschool at Lucy's school this fall. We didn't send Lucy to preschool because I was determined I could do it at home. But the novelty has definitely worn off and I have no desire to homeschool again. Haha. Sorry, Lean! Plus, I feel like I did Lucy a little bit of a disservice in the social readiness department. It was a hard transition for her to go from being home with me all day every day, to being away from me for 8 hours a day 3 days a week. Preschool is only 2 days, and Lena is almost as socially anxious as Lucy, so I'm hoping it will be good for her. That said, I'm not looking forward to paying tuition for two kids. And then I started to panic about someday paying for 3. So I looked up the tuition rates and multiple student discounts. If we do keep all 3 in Christian school, we'll be shelling out a hefty sum. But good news! The 4th kid is free! Now there's nothing stopping me from getting knocked up again! ;-)

5. We got our taxes done this week. We see the same lady every year at H&R Block. But she had called in sick the night of our appointment, so we saw an old man who came in to fill in for her. He had to have been in his 70s. As soon as we sat down and he started working on the computer, he said, "I'm not as proficient at this as your usual accountant." Lol. Well that's reassuring! He kept calling Lena Lenna (short e), and then he asked me if Levi was a boy or a girl. I told him boy, but he kept referring to him as "she." The good news is, we're getting a nice refund. (Assuming he did it right! Lol.) The bad news is the IRS is being weird and won't send out the check until March if you get the earned income credit. Apparently too many people were filing fraudulently or something? I don't really understand, but I will be patient until March. And then I will look like this: