Adventures in La La Land

1. The girls finished their first session of gymnastics on Monday. Lucy has definitely made progress since the first week and is excited to start the second session next week. Lena's teacher described her as "a natural" and again recommended that she move up to the next level. And, again, Lena flat out refused. I'm hoping a couple months of sitting on the sidelines watching Lucy will encourage Lena to try again. 2. Her anxiety as a whole is out of control again. She cries every morning before school, she doesn't want me to leave her to go to Bible Study Monday nights, she clings to me and cries if Justin and I ever want to go somewhere without her. And Cubbies on Wednesday night is a disaster. She wails for 2 hours beforehand that she's scared and doesn't want to go. But week after week she comes home happy and smiling! We have conferences with her teacher at school next week. I'm going to ask if she has any advice for me. She's been teaching pre...

Because it's 11:18 pm and I should be in bed I'm going to attempt to make this snappy. Sorry it's a day late. 1. I read a non-fiction book. It was great. Scroll down to read my review and the funny quotes. 2. I got Levi's hair chopped off. It was sad. Nobody but me really likes it. Everyone preferred the curls. But he's a boy, his hair was out of control, it was time. And he's still his adorable self. At least he's still got the dimples! 3. I've been focusing on cherishing the little moments lately. This week, Levi and I danced in the kitchen while I belted out my new favorite song . He tried to sing along and I rested my cheek on his and breathed in his sweet smell and cherished it all. 4. We hosted a fall festival at our house on Saturday. Thanks to my dad, we have some fun fall amenities - namely an orchard of exotic apples and a cider press. We invited our small group and all their kids over for a morning of cider making, games, and food....

Affiliate Link I read Shankle's first book, Sparkly Green Earrings years ago on the recommendation of one of my favorite bloggers ( Happy Home Fairy ). I admittedly don't even remember what the book was about, but I know that I loved it. Shankle has since written a few more books, but she apparently fell off my radar until this most recent one. After reading Church of the Small Things  she has cemented herself as a must-read-author in my book, and I will be placing an order at the library for the past two books of hers that I missed. This girl is FUNNY. She can ramble for pages about her dogs (I hate dogs) or her career in the pharmaceutical sales industry (I'm a SAHM redneck who had to spell-check "pharmaceutical"), but no matter the subject matter, her writing keeps me riveted, crying with laughter, and wanting more. And yet, she also packs profundity (it's a word - I checked) in the most unexpected places. At the beginning of each chapter she inclu...

1. A few hours after I finished the Saturday 7 last week, my sister texted me that my nephew's girlfriend was in labor! I was a little disappointed that she couldn't hold out two more days for my birthday (😉), but was so excited to finally meet my great-niece!! My other sister texted me at 11:30 that she was going to head down to the hospital to be there when the baby was born. I didn't want to miss out on the party, so I hitched a ride with her. We got to the hospital at 12:30 am  . . . and didn't leave until 1:00 pm. Wowza. I'm getting too old for all nighters. But it was so much fun waiting together for the baby to arrive.  Playing cards. I wasn't tired at first. We had fun talking, playing cards, and watching movies. But by about 3:00 am I was feeling it . . . By 4:00, our group looked like this: And we didn't even have to do any work! Poor Brandy was in labor that whole time! Lol. But it was all worth it to meet baby Nova! She is s...

When I turned 30, I did my 30 before 30 where I read 30 books before my 30th birthday. When I turned 31, I participated in Write31 with 31 Life Lessons I've Learned in 31 Years . In keeping with tradition, this year I present to you 32 fun facts about me. If you've been reading my blog for long (or know me in real life) you'll be familiar with many of these. But I think some will surprise you. 1. I rarely take longer than a day to finish a book. Once I start one, I spend every free moment reading it until it's done . . . even if it's 1:00 am . . . 2. I watch TV with the captions on. I'm coming to accept that I have some minor hearing loss. I don't hear things that other people do - watch alarms beeping, kids crying from their bedrooms, and the quickly spoken words of my favorite TV characters. It's become easier for me just to read it than rely on my ears to hear it. 3. I noticed recently that every night when I get into bed, I lay on my back and ...

1. The girls' progress reports came home this week. They're both excelling and learning everything they need to. Lucy's teacher didn't write a little blurb, but Lena's did. She said that Lena is helpful, kind, respectful, obedient, eager to learn, knows all the rules and follows them. Pretty much everything a parent wants to hear about their kid. I patted myself on the back a little bit, but then started to question how much of that has to do with my parenting prowess (especially considering the whiny wreck she is at home). I decided that I can attribute maybe 10% of her obedience to parenting, 50% to her personality, and 40% to her anxiety of doing something wrong/getting in trouble. So basically she got Justin's personality mixed with my anxiety. Lucky girl. Haha. 2. The girls also had dentist appointments this week. Lucy's only been once and Lena's never been because we don't have dental insurance. But a new place opened this summer that takes M...