The Saturday 7

1. Another fun week of counting down to Christmas. I'm actually shocked at how close we are already. Usually December drags and I feel like we have to wait forever, but I just realized that next week is the last week before Christmas! Whoa! My shopping is done. Now I just have 10 hours of wrapping to do. When am I supposed to do that since my kids never go to school and they pretty much don't sleep? (Case in point: they're all awake upstairs. It is 10:25 pm. Lucy just came downstairs for something.)

2. Our first advent activity this week was something the girls have been wanting to do for ages. I left Levi with my dad and took the girls to an indoor ice arena for ice skating. They've never been, and I'm horrendous, so I wasn't sure how it would go. I honestly thought they would enjoy it, though. I was woefully wrong. As soon as we got our skates on, Lucy started whining that they hurt her feet. But they were still smiling before we got on the ice:

Lucy made it roughly 6 feet before she gave up, turned around, got off the ice, and said, "I want to go home."

Lena tried a little bit harder, but then she slipped and banged her chin on the bar. After that she was done. I eventually got her to go around once with me, but the whole time she said, "This isn't even fun. I just want to go home."

It was awful. I paid $23 for 10 minutes of ice skating, a whole lot of crying, and unreasonably bad attitudes. The girls were both so mad. I don't even understand why. I kept telling them, "Ok, we tried it and discovered we don't like it. I don't know why you're so mad at me. I didn't know you were going to hate it!" It's reeeeeeallllly hard for me to be gracious and loving when they get mad at me for doing something I thought they would enjoy.

3. On Tuesday, we had dinner with Great Grandma and Grandpa, then went to the gardens. It was especially fun this year because Levi was old enough to truly enjoy the trains, and because each of the trees is decorated to represent a different country of the world. Our main focus in Lucy's curriculum this year is geography, so we've been learning about many of the countries we saw. It was fun to find the trees for each country we've studied.

They always want to take a pic on the big rock in the cactus room

"Choo-choo!"

Getting a better view

4. Tuesday was my sister-in-law's due date and I was thankful that she didn't actually have the baby then since we were busy all day. She picked a much more convenient time to go into labor - Wednesday afternoon. As soon as I got word they were headed to the hospital, I ditched my kids with my dad and hurried down there. I have a ridiculous case of second-hand anxiety, in which I was terribly excited/nervous for Esther and Luke and could hardly contain myself. Haha. I was shaking all night! Esther is amazing and gave birth with no paid meds. I mean, honestly, I don't understand the appeal. I seriously, seriously don't understand why you would choose to be in pain if you don't have to, but man, if you decide that's what you want I hope you're as tough as Esther. I had originally said I didn't want to be in the room with her if she didn't have the epidural because I can't handle watching other people be in pain, but I hardly even knew she was having contractions! At least until the end, and then I said to my mom and sister, "Ok! Let's go get dinner!" Haha. We went down to Qdoba while Esther did the hard part, and a few hours later, we finally got to meet sweet baby Ruby.

A few months ago, Luke and Esther gave us a hint that the name was 2 syllables and an inanimate object. I immediately guessed Ruby and insisted that was going to be it. AND I WAS RIGHT! Lol. I'm sorry, guys, for guessing it so early. I understand wanting to keep the name a secret. Next time, don't give me any clues. ;-) I brought my kids down to meet Ruby the next day. They are so in love.

Look at that sweet face!!

I think our family baby boom is done for a little while. I sure hope I don't jinx myself by saying that . . .

5. Today was Christmas with Justin's side of the family. For the past few years we've had a party with his extended family in the early afternoon then spent the evening with his immediate family since his parents go to Florida for the second half of December. It's actually really nice to have a pre-Christmas, so the kids don't have to wait quite as long, and so the presents get spaced out a little. They got lots of great stuff today that they'll have fun playing with for a couple weeks until the next onslaught of gifts! We are so blessed with such wonderful, godly and loving families. I'm always surprised when I hear people complain about having to go home for the holidays. We love hanging out with our families - immediate and extended! I was kind of a failure at taking pictures. It's a hard balance between "being present" and "capturing memories."

Games with the cousins

Opening presents - and Great Grandpa rocking the Santa hat. Haha!

Enjoying the presents

Ready for more presents at the next party!

6. The other big news of the week is that my dad got diagnosed with a heart condition that has a strong genetic component! Goody! Haha. He's been having some minor heart issues for a while, so has undergone a bunch of tests and met with a slew of doctors. This week, he finally got a diagnosis: hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. As heart conditions go, it's not that bad. The mayo clinic website says it like this:

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy often goes undiagnosed because many people with the disease have few, if any, symptoms and can lead normal lives with no significant problems.

Of course, good ole WebMd throws this in the mix (the last one):

Lol - well, that's encouraging!

Sadly, HCM is usually the culprit when you hear of teenagers collapsing and dying on the basketball court, but an HCM diagnosis is not by any means a death sentence. The odds of "sudden death" due to HCM are very slim. And all my research says most people with the disease live normal lives and have a normal life expectancy. Since my dad has been diagnosed, I have a 50% chance of having it myself. I'm going to get tested just because I want to know, and if I do have it, they can keep an eye on it as I get older. It doesn't present until adolescence, so it's too early to have my kids tested. But the good news is that it doesn't skip a generation. If I don't have it, then I don't have the gene, and it can't be passed on to my kids through me. My main concern in having it is Levi playing sports someday. The girls have no interest in sports, but I think Levi will. And because it can't be detected until adolescence, it's a hard call - do we let him get into sports only to find out years down the road that it's too dangerous for him to continue? In the paperwork my dad brought home, they list the most dangerous sports as soccer and basketball - probably the two Levi would play. We're not going to worry about that until we actually know if I have it. And I'm honestly not stressed about it. If anything, I'm just going to play the "I have a heart condition" card to avoid strenuous activity for the rest of my life! Lol.

7. A few more pictures:

Homeschooling with a 2 year old . . .

Levi has been sleeping terribly lately - waking up at 3 and 4 am and refusing to go back to sleep. Consequently, he wakes up Lena and neither of them get enough sleep. Hence the sleeping beauties in bed with me at 9:44 am!

The craziest game of Phase 10 I've ever played. If you've played this game, you know how unusual it is that neither of us ever had to repeat a phase, and we ended with a tied score of only 50 points!