The Saturday 7 (just a few minutes late!)

I did it again. I accidentally deleted half of the entry I wrote. Seriously. I am not 10 years old. I've been blogging for many years and using a computer longer than that. How do I keep having this problem? Ugh. I was mad and shut my computer in favor of taking a nap this afternoon, and just remembered I never finished this. So here's a quicker version of the original:

1. We had a wonderful Christmas. Everyone came to us this year so I didn't have to go out in the snowy cold. We ate lots of good food, got lots of great gifts, played lots of great games, and enjoyed spending time with family. I'm going to save all the pictures for the end, so hold your hats . . .

2. It was weird having Christmas on a Monday, because Justin and my mom went back to work on Tuesday just like normal. My dad took the day off and helped me take the Christmas tree down. I'm not usually as efficient about being done with Christmas, but the tree was so dead and the pine needles were so out of control.

3. The rest of the week was kind of brutal, though. Justin's car was having problems and was in the shop from Tuesday to Thursday, so he took my van to work. If it wasn't bad enough being stranded at home for 3 days, the weather has been unseasonably (unbearably) cold. With wind chills below zero, I couldn't really send the kids outside to play. And because of the way we heat our house, when it gets horribly cold and the wind whips from the west, we close off a big area of our living space and use the indoor fireplace to supplement the heat. So we shut the doors of our main living area and huddled around the fire like stinkin' pioneers all week. If that's not a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is. Haha. I was actually amazed at how long we made it before cabin fever set it. It helped enormously that my kids had all their new toys to play with (and mine - "Alexa, what's your favorite color? Alexa, tell me a joke. Alexa, you're beautiful. Alexa, when's your birthday? Alexa! Alexa! Alexa!). The girls each got a big Lego set and a bunch of other crafty stuff (weaving loom, perler beads, library kits, beados, etc.) plus a couple games that kept us all entertained. And Levi was pretty content with his piles and piles and bins and bins of cars. God gave me grace to not lose my mind until late in the week. But don't get me wrong. There was plenty of impatience and whining and short-tempers this week. And by yesterday, I was literally lying on my bedroom floor partially hidden under my bed so Lena couldn't find me. (Justin was home. Don't get your hackles up.) I just needed a break. Oy. I think I'm going to write a whole entry soon on some of the stuff I'm struggling with in motherhood lately, but now is not the time.

4. The other reason this entry is so late is because I was feverishly reading my last book to reach 100 tonight!! I read 4 books in 4 days this week, plus another novella. I also remembered 2 books in a series that I read a few months ago and never recorded! Ta-da! 100 books in a year! I was planning on making my goal for next year 100 (since this year's was technically 75), but Lucy says I have to make it more than what I read this year. So how about 101? Haha. I've loved keeping track of everything on Goodreads and will have a more thorough recap in my "2017 Year in Review" post coming up soon.

5. I tried to find out what my top 10 posts from this year were, but blogger doesn't let me see my stats by year - only day, week, month, or all time. But while I was searching, I came across some other interesting statistics. For all time - so 7.5 years, I've had over 220,000 views. In the past year, most of my entries were viewed around 200 times each. My most viewed entry of all time is the recipe I shared for chicken and dumplings (that I stole from another blogger! ha - I gave her credit, don't worry). My second most viewed is the pictures of my stomach before during and after my pregnancy with Lucy. But what really gets me is the audience. In the past 7ish years 190,000 views came from the United States. But the other 30,000 are from Russia, Canada, Ukraine, France, the UK, Germany, China, Poland, and Ireland. That mildly freaks me out. Haha. I know I had some friends in Russia for a while, but I don't think I know anyone in those other countries. That's a lot of complete strangers reading my blog. Does it stop me though? Nope! Lol.

6. We have one more Christmas party tomorrow, a New Year's Eve party, and my sister's birthday on Tuesday (with the obligatory and wonderful trip to Olive Garden), but then it's back to reality . . . and dieting. I've been gorging hard-core for the past couple of weeks knowing that the end is near. I don't have a plan, really, for dieting. No Dr Pepper. Way less sweets. I think I'm going to stick with my same (unhealthy) breakfast (bagel with butter and coffee with sugary cream) because it's quick, easy, and filling. But I'm going to try my hand at "meal prepping" chicken and roasted veggies for my weekday lunches. And maybe just try to make meals for dinner that aren't quite as heavy on the cheese and fat. For the most part, though, I'm just planning on starving myself and being really ornery for a while. Consider yourselves forewarned.

7. And now for pictures!

Cookie decorating on Christmas Eve

We have a tradition of hiding the kids' stockings on Christmas Eve. Levi's was pretty tricky. ;-)

Checking out their haul after finding their stockings Christmas morning.

Driving his new cars on the stack of presents. 

We always take a picture of the kids in front of the tree on Christmas morning. This year was a fail. Lucy refused to cooperate, Levi wouldn't sit still, and Nova was asleep. But won't this picture be fun to recreate in 10 years? Lol

The two willing participants. (Don't judge our present pile - that's for 19 people!)

Family game time.

Bible reading time.

Present time!

Lucy with her favorite person.

And her second favorite person.

Pie face

Lena pie face

Christmas selfie! 

Craft table

Another hit from Christmas: a tie-your-own fleece blanket. Lucy loved it, and I enjoyed making it with her!

Lena trying on Levi's new tool belt.

What our poor house has looked like for days. So many new toys plus limited space to play.

One time, many moons ago, I counted how many matchbox cars Chase (the kid I nannied for) had, and made a snarky facebook post about how spoiled he was. This is karma. (And this picture doesn't even come close to representing how many Levi actually owns.)

Thursday. Lol. Fortunately, Justin got home half an hour after this picture and we went to the library for a while.

Sorry for the delay. Thanks for bearing with me - this week and for the past 7.5 years of blogging. I hope none of you are mass murderers scoping out my pictures and plotting your kill. (You don't want to kill me! You'd miss this weekly dose of wit and wisdom!) Stay tuned for my Year in Review coming up soon!