Adventures in La La Land

Justin turned 33 this week and we celebrated by spending a night on the other side of the state shopping, eating good food, and sleeping. As we went about our activities, though, I noticed how old we're beginning to act. I'm going to share the top 20 events you might experience on a weekend away that shows your age. (In fairness, even though I'm 9 months younger than Justin, these are pretty much all my experiences. I'm the old soul in this relationship.) 20. You spend the first half hour of the road trip discussing how to protect your children from sexual predators and human traffickers. 19. You stop for lunch at Arby's, then stop again half an hour later to pee even though the hotel is only 40 minutes away. 18. When, after you check into the hotel, your husband asks if you want to go to the mall, you say no in favor of taking a long, uninterrupted shower and lying in bed to read a book and watch Property Brothers . 17. You try to do the "smoky eye...

What do you and Mommy do together? Color What do you and Daddy do together? Go on Daddy Daughter dates What makes you happy? When I have birthdays What is something scary? Definitely sleeping What are you really good at? Being a kid Who is your best friend? I have two best friends: Ruth and Harper Who’s the prettiest person you know? Momma . . . and then Harper cuz she has so pretty clothes What do you want to be when you grow up? A fashion designer and a maker of books What do you think about before you fall asleep? Of falling asleep . . . I pretty much don't think of anything Favorites: Color  Teal and baby blue and hot pink Book Pinkalicious Movie The Emoji Movie Food p-i-z-z-a [she legit spelled it haha] Treat A lollipop Favorite drink Juice TV Show Maggie and Bianca Toy The one Rieley and Tyler got me Animal Butterflies and dolphins Song Jingle Bell Rock Day Christmas Number 70 Breakfast Food Bagels . . . wait, no, pancakes Store O...

1. What a week. So much sickness and crying and medicine and cleaning. Lena woke up fever free on Sunday, but it came back by Tuesday morning. She missed school on Tuesday. She was supposed to have a field trip on Wednesday, but she woke up with a fever again, so she missed that too. She finally went to school on Thursday despite a hacking cough and snotty nose. Yesterday was the first time I felt like she was finally starting to act more like herself without being medicated to the gills. Unfortunately, Levi and I both ended up with colds this week. Thankfully, it didn't turn into the full blown flu like Lena had, but Levi is pretty miserable with his cold. His nose is a faucet and he coughs so much that he can't sleep. He hardly napped at all this week and has been up a lot in the night. Last night, he coughed so hard that he puked. I'm really hoping it's just because of the cough and not an added layer to this infernal sickness!! 2. Tuesday was Lena's 5th birthd...

1. I feel like Levi has had a word explosion in the past few weeks. He's finally identifying Justin and me as Dada and Mama. He's picked up the word "more" (mo!), and has his own word for car. It sounds a lot like "yum," but I think it's supposed to be vroom or zoom. He also says "oh" when I answer his "questions." Like he'll cock his head to the side and say, "Dada?" When I tell him Daddy's at work, he responds, "Oh." Haha. It's adorable. 2. I've been majorly struggling with laziness lately. It's so much worse in the winter because I feel like I can't get out from under my warm blanket to do anything. And winter in general makes me kind of lethargic and depressed. I feel like there's an onslaught of books and articles and podcasts lately about slowing down and being present and not being a slave to your to-do list. But those are not helpful for me. I need some articles telling me to g...

Affiliate Link I love finding books that highlight a part of history I know very little about. This is one of those books. Despite a lifetime of Christian upbringing and a fairly healthy knowledge of the Old Testament, I know nothing about the Maccabees or the 400 Years of Silence between the Old and New Testament. At first, I was a little wary of Hunt's quotations from 1st and 2nd Maccabees, but in the author's notes at the end, she explains that while they aren't inspired (and thus canonized in the Christian Bible), they are historical and useful for understanding a period of Jewish history that isn't recorded in the Old Testament.  Hunt's research is impeccably done and she writes beautifully, but the story just wasn't exactly what I enjoy. I hate lowering my rating based on personal preference, but I received this book free in exchange for an honest review, so I'll be honest in my estimations of it.  The book had very little romance and many descript...

1. In the past couple of weeks, Levi has really started getting interested in reading. He used to tolerate flipping through a book as long as it had lots of truck pictures. But he's actually been bringing me stacks of books and sitting through them (for the most part - haha). We went to the library on Wednesday, and he struck gold with a whole shelf of car/truck books. He kept bringing me more and more, exclaiming excitedly, "Mo![more]." He was pulling from the non-fiction shelf, so they're pretty dry reads. Haha. I've been paraphrasing generously about low-riders, hot rods, and fuel efficiency. Double chin photo courtesy of Lena. #keepingitreal 2. I'm half way through season 3 of When Calls the Heart . I have kind of a love/hate relationship with it. I do love most of the characters and the town, but I've noticed some major anachronisms. Like the women's hairstyles. Way too modern. I also can't help but laugh anytime there's an "a...

Affiliate Link Amazon Synopsis: Former free spirit Zoe Collins swore she'd never again set foot in Copper Creek or speak to the man who broke her heart. But return she must when her beloved Granny dies, leaving the family legacy to Zoe--a peach orchard nestled at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. When Zoe returns home with her daughter and boyfriend Kyle, she finds that she's the only person in town who doesn't expect her to give up the life she's established far away from Copper Creek. Everyone believes she was born to run the orchard, but how can she make it her home after so many years? Cruz Huntley never quite got over his first love, Zoe Collins, the little sister of his best friend Brady. Not when she cheated on him during their "break," not when she took off to parts unknown with good-for-nothing Kyle Jenkins, and not even now--five years later. As life-changing decisions and a history with Cruz hang over Zoe's head, tensions rise between ...

1. I picked a terrible week to start dieting. It's seriously been so cold I want to cry anytime I have to leave the house. But my tears would just freeze to my face, so I tough it out. And I know I was complaining last week because I couldn't  leave the house. But there's a difference between taking the kids to the library at 1:00 in the afternoon when the sun is shining and getting all the kids in the car before 8:00 am when it's dark outside, the wind is howling, and the temperature is literally -10. #whiner #shouldhavechosenhomeschool The problem with living so close to school and driving a beater vehicle is that my van doesn't heat up before we get to the pick-up line at school. 2. Anyway, back to the diet. As Lena would say, "This is the worst thing ever in my life!" I hate it so much. (Would you really expect any less from me?) Because I don't deal well with total deprivation (not to be confused with total depravity 😉), I'm trying to...