The Saturday 7

Were you guys worried I'd neglect the Saturday 7 two weeks in a row?! Never fear! I am here in all my witty and wonderful glory. (My humility went the way of last week's Saturday 7 . . .)

Actually, prepare yourself that this isn't going to be a particularly witty entry. I'm off my game lately.

1. Backtracking a little . . . we survived our week of Justin working on the other side of the state. The kids were really good and I didn't cook all week. Win! The first night Justin was gone I told the kids we were having cereal for dinner. They were so shocked. Haha. They're not usually big cereal eaters, but I bought sugary cereals specifically for the occasion and we all binged on Cinnamon Life and Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. Once the girls heard I wasn't cooking, though, they took it upon themselves to prepare "fancy dinner" twice during the week. Lena made salami and cheese sandwiches and fruit salad. And Lucy made macaroni with hot dogs and fruit salad. And of course we drank 7-Up out of champagne flutes.

I actually had diet cranberry pop. Living on the edge . . .

2. While Justin was gone, I fell into a bad habit of binge reading until midnight every night. I read 6 books in 7 days. (And then I've read 4 more between then and now.) I'm starting to notice that my reading binges coincide with my depression - not that they necessarily cause it, but rather that they are a result of it. I want to escape my brain, so I delve into someone else's [fictional] problems . . . that always conclude in a satisfying way. I'm also starting to realize it's not healthy or effective as a coping mechanism. But will that stop me?

3. Nothing ever stops me from making destructive decisions because I have an utter lack of self-control. I am so sick of looking pregnant. But do I exercise or make healthy eating choices?

I'm horrified by Lucy's eating habits. But do I crack down on her and make her eat like a normal human being?

I hate myself for being a lazy, apathetic Christian. But does that spur me to do anything about it?

My depression has been awful lately because I feel like all of this self-hatred is building and culminating toward . . . something. It's a realization that I have to change and then the fear that I'm never going to. A few of my friends have mentioned this new program through BeachBody lately. Usually I stay as far away from BeachBody as possible. (Because the beach is getting whatever body I give it!) But this one is being advertised as "different." (I know. Don't they all?) It's supposedly a way to lose weight without exercising or "dieting" - aka counting calories or cutting out entire food groups (I'm looking at you, carbs). It's called 2B Mindset because a major part of it is training yourself to have a healthy mindset about food. At first, I was super interested. You're telling me I can lose weight without exercising or dieting?! Sign me up! I also think I could seriously benefit from learning what it means to eat right and how to control emotional eating. But then I saw the price. Ugh. You guys. I still haven't done a single workout of the last program that I spent too much money on. Really, what is 2B going to tell me that is going to make me change? They're going to tell me that food is for energy, not for comfort. They're going to tell me that moderation is key. They're going to make me drink my weight in water. But none of those things will help me unless I actually do them. Do I really need to spend $100 for someone to tell me to have a little self-control? Or as Bob Newhart says:

4. The other thing that has been contributing to my depression is the house situation. I've seen a few on the market recently that seem so perfect for us. But no matter how I crunch the numbers, we just can't swing it. The housing market is on fire, so the price of anything decent right now is out of range for us. I keep reminding myself that God is sovereign and we'll be able to have our own house again in His time, but it's hard not to be whiny and impatient in the meantime.

5. Ok, enough about that! Lena had a field trip to the zoo this week. The weather was gorgeous all week except for Thursday, when we had a 100% chance of rain and possible thunderstorms. But as the day got closer, the rain was forecasted for the morning and evening with a break in between, and her field trip was scheduled for noon. It rained almost the whole drive there, let up just a few minutes before we pulled in, and then was cloudy and warm the rest of the day! It ended up being perfect. Cloudy enough that we weren't sweltering, warm enough that we weren't cold. Hallelujah! And we had a great time.

Waiting for Lena to get there on the bus

The obligatory picture with the statue. 

Penguins

Don't mind my finger in this picture. I just love Levi and the penguin too much not to share.

Brushing a big ole sheep.

Lena with her friend Ruth.

I've been having a hard time with my decision to homeschool lately, largely because of the friendships my girls have at school. I'm so sad to take them away from that. None of us are outgoing enough to keep the friendships going once they're not at school every day to reinforce them.

6. We've finally had some gorgeous weather lately. After what seemed to be an interminable winter, we are soaking up every bit of sunshine we can get! Levi absolutely adores playing outside. But I can't take my eye off of him for a minute. He's obsessed with chasing birds and will run right out into the road to "catch" one. We went to the park on Monday. Our park is actually two playgrounds set apart from each other by a small field. As we were getting ready to go, Levi ran to the playground opposite the one I was at. I kept my eye on him as I packed up our stuff and noticed when he turned to face the road. I shouted at him to stop, but he grinned at me and booked it toward the road. I had to sprint across that stupid field to catch him before he ran into traffic. The kid exhausts me. I'm too old for this.

7. More pictures to catch up on the last two weeks.

These sweet friends got their Awana awards

Sun's out, guns out!

Getting my hair done by the cutest stylist in town

My life.

Our friend Aubrey came over to play yesterday. The girls raided Lena's dresser to find matching outfits and ended up with this. Haha. Lena is such a shrimp.

So excited to show me the flower he picked for me.

At a super fun gymnastics party this afternoon!