The Saturday 7

1. I didn't read a single book this week. (Unless you count "Curious George Visits a Toy Store") We were too busy celebrating Independence Day and hanging out with friends. It was a great week!

On Monday, we went to my Uncle Joel's house with the extended family for swimming, food, and fireworks.

In the pool with Tater

Doing his magic disappearing leg trick.

Splashing in the water with Grandma

Sparklers

The girls actually liked the big fireworks this year! Although Lucy did have her ears covered for most of them. (Levi went home early with my parents.)

2. On the 4th, my family came over for more food and fun. We played Bocce (old against young . . . I was on the old team . . . is this real life?), The Name Game, and cards. And just had a blast hanging out together.

Lucy and Niki

Dinner

See my great-niece in this picture? Haha.

3. On Thursday, we went to a friend's house for Redneck Slip N' Slide. A huge tarp+a hose+dish soap = hours of entertainment!

And for Levi, a Rubbermaid tub full of water + a few cars and cups = entertainment.

He was also a big fan of the Barbie Jeep.

4. On Thursday night Lucy got the idea in her head that she wanted to plan a "fancy dinner." She asked me to make some Velveeta Shells N' Cheese, then proceeded to decorate the table with flowers and fancy glasses, make place settings, and take our drink orders. She even cleaned everything up after dinner!

Of course tonight Lena wanted to do her own fancy dinner. She even went so far as to make our meals for us.

Peanut butter and jelly roll-ups. They were a bit dry. I kind of had to choke it down. Lol.

Creepy face!

5. For the past few years, I've led the preschool part of our church's VBS program. Some years I'm given a curriculum and some years I write my own. This year, though, I decided I want to try something new. So I'm abandoning the preschoolers and working with Lucy's age group instead. But I felt really bad about leaving them high and dry. So I told the VBS directors that I'd still help with anything they needed. A couple months ago, they asked if I'd be willing to write up a curriculum even if I don't actually teach it. I told them that's actually ideal. Haha. I enjoy writing it, but the preschool age is not my favorite age to teach. So I spent this week feverishly brainstorming and whittling down Pinterest boards full of inspiration into orderly, detailed plans. I love seeing all my ideas come together into cohesive organization. Hopefully they make sense to other people since I passed it off to someone else to carry out! Haha.

6. About a month ago, we started using "The Marble Jar." The girls get a marble when they obey immediately, are kind, or help above and beyond their regular chores. They can get 2 marbles if they stay in their room after we put them to bed and don't come downstairs or call for us. Lucy does great with staying in bed. Lena struggles a bit more. So it comes as no surprise that Lucy filled her jar first. The reward for filling their jar is a one on one date with either mom or dad. Lucy chose a date with me to McDonald's and the mall. I told her we could spend $20 total on the whole date - and that had to include my food as well as hers. (Had to sneak in a little budgeting lesson!) I was nice and only spent $3.50 at McDonald's. She chose to get a happy meal, so she had $12 left to spend at the mall. We went to Justice and Claire's and she hit up the clearance section to get more bang for her buck. Then we met Justin and the little kids at the ice cream shop because I was feeling guilty that Lucy had such a fun day while Lena was stuck at home. #pushover