The Saturday 7

1. After a few weeks of being in a reading rut, I've finally gotten back to my regular voracious reading schedule. Thanks to Terri Blackstock's If I Run series, I've been reading a lot of romantic suspense. I also read and enjoyed the new Francine Rivers book (The Masterpiece), and one that's been getting rave reviews on Goodreads, but wasn't as good as I expected (The Lost Castle by Kristy Cambron). [affiliate links] I'm up to 51 books for the year - which puts me at halfway before the end of June! On target!  I stayed up until midnight or 1:00 am a couple times this week. Lucy and Lena have been sleeping in, but Levi hasn't gotten the memo. I need to get that kid some blackout curtains.

2. I can't believe I forgot to share the news that I've been keeping a secret - my little brother and his wife are having their first baby!!! So my sister and sister-in-law are due just 12 weeks apart. I'm so thrilled that we're going to have two new babies by Christmas, but of course a tiny part of me is sad that I'm not pregnant with them. I know. I'm a glutton for punishment. I've been trying to tell myself that my years of childbearing are over and it's time to pass the baton to the younger generation (Libby's 6 years younger than me and Esther, my SIL, is 9 years younger). I told Justin that I only want the excitement and anticipation of being pregnant/giving birth. I don't actually want to take care of another kid through adulthood. Lol.

3. I'd also really like to be pregnant again so I can stop dieting! I'm getting real sick of it, but I'm finally starting to lose some weight. As of this morning, I'm down 9.2 pounds. So close to 10!!! Originally I was going to quit once I hit 10 pounds, but I know that I'll gain it back immediately, so I think I need to have a 5 lb cushion before I can totally abandon the diet. And I know, I know. It's supposed to be a lifestyle change, but that's not going to happen. I need Dr Pepper more than once a week. I need French fries and donuts and snacks after I put the kids to bed.

4. I'm still not having much success with getting the girls to eat new things either (I wonder where they get it from?). This week we tried bagel bites, baked nachos (they won't eat taco meat), ham and cheese "hot pockets" (literally ham and cheese rolled up and baked in a crescent roll), and chicken alfredo. It was a big fat nope from all of them for everything. Sigh.

5. We also had a fail at the lake this week. We planned to meet up at a local lake/playground with some friends to play and swim. All but one of our friends bailed and when we got there I noticed signs posted everywhere exclaiming that the lake had just been sprayed and wasn't safe for swimming. Boo. But the kids played nicely together at the playground and I enjoyed chatting with my one friend who showed up. It was another long week of Justin being out of town, so I take adult conversation anytime I can get it!

6. Friday has become "family fun Friday" since Justin is home and has the day off after working out of town Monday through Thursday. Yesterday we went to Golden Corral for dinner because I saw on facebook that they're doing 99c kids' meals. Unfortunately, I didn't think to look at the price of adult buffets. It ended up being an expensive meal! None of us can really eat enough to make a buffet worth it, but I love getting a little bit of everything (suffice it to say, I took a diet hiatus, haha). Afterward, we used our Kids Bowl Free coupons to go bowling. Levi enjoyed the first half of the first game, but he was a bit of a disaster after that. Our lane was right across from the arcade and he just wanted to run around among the flashing lights and noises and attempt to push buttons on all the machines. The girls loved it, though. Lucy impressed me (and beat me both games!) and Lena surprised me with her competitiveness. She got so mad that she couldn't beat Lucy.

We got to use the cool dinosaur slide for the first time. 

Levi insisted on sitting practically in the gutter to watch the ball roll down the lane.

He can't do "thumbs up" without sticking his tongue out.

First game. In Justin's defense, the scores got all messed up for the first half of the game, and then he purposely only got one pin on the last frame so Lucy could beat him. Haha.

Second game. Lucy still beat me. And this was with bumpers. Lol.

7. More pictures

These two had fun with the hose and dirt

Aftermath

This week's "Water Wednesday" activity was washing Mommy's van. #tricky

We got to watch Nova on Thursday! She's so good and just sits and plays with toys happily. 

Levi was a big fan of the chocolate fountain at Golden Corral

Trampoline fun with Daddy. I jumped with them for a while, too, but unlike Justin, I carried and birthed 3 big ole babies, so jumping isn't as fun for me as it used to be . . .