The Saturday 7

1. We got our tree last week in an absolute mudpit. It had been raining for days, but it was really the only day we could do it. So we put on our muck boots and trudged through the goop to find a winning tree. Before we even went out, though, we got a winning picture on the hayride. Everyone is looking! And smiling! And Levi's head is hiding my double chin!

We're missing a few from the whole fam, but I was glad that some of us could go together.

I love seeing how different boys and girls are. Lucy and Lena were ok with the mud, but avoided it if they could. And then there was Levi:

With the winning tree. We were disappointed that they didn't have the kind we usually get and we had to shell out $45 for the Frasier Fir. Why does it cost so much money to drag a tree into our house and try to keep it alive for three weeks?

The girls couldn't wait to decorate the tree. Levi was somewhat ambivalent and much more interested in playing with the ornaments.

Every year Lena wants to put the angel on top. But every year she's too scared to go up that high. This is Justin assuring her he won't drop her.

Levi had no qualms about height, but couldn't quite get it in place.

Lucy got it done.

This is the Mom fail that comes back to haunt me every year. See the date at the top? 2013. So it's been 5 years of forgetting to put poor Lena's picture in her 1st Christmas ornament. 

Levi loved using the ornament dividers as garages for his cars - including his porcelain Cars ornament I bought him last year. Spoiler alert: it has broken and gotten lost already. Lol.

2. Levi's actually been way worse with the tree this year than he was last year. It started out evenly decorated because I had more faith in him than I should have, but the ornaments have been slowly making their way higher, out of his reach. Ha. I guess they're not joking about the terrible twos. (And don't tell me that 3 is worse, because he's going to be 3 in a few months!!)

3. After a long break, I got back on Instagram this week. It's never been my favorite. I don't know why I like facebook better, I just do. So it wasn't very hard for me to quit, but I feel like I've been missing out on posts from certain people who only do Instagram these days. And I was worried that I was missing pics of my nephew since my sister is all up with the times and isn't an old facebook hag like me. It's been nice to see posts from friends not on facebook, but a lot of it is overlap with facebook for the people who have both. And I still struggle with the same feelings of inadequacy from Instagram. At least on facebook people can post statuses and articles and funny memes. Instagram is just page after page of everyone's staged and filtered lives. There are honestly a couple people I need to "unfollow" because it just causes too much jealousy for me. I know, logically, that their lives aren't that perfect. But it's hard to accept that emotionally. And seriously, I'm guilty of it too. The few pictures I've posted recently have been of my kids making Christmas memories, or me when I'm having a good hair day and filtered to the extreme. Can we all just post a few pictures of our kids eating hot dogs and watching TV once in a while?

4. We kicked off our Advent Activities this week. I posted about them in last week's entry, but didn't actually make the countdown until Monday. Lena's school curriculum came with a Christmas tree poster and 25 "ornaments" to glue on every day. So I cut all those out and wrote each day's activity on the back (in pencil, in case I need to tweak later haha), then put them into this cute display (idea stolen from Pinterest).

Paper plate, glue gun, clothespins, voila! My kind of craft.

This week we did Christmas tree, buying gifts for each other from Five Below, art museum, and we were supposed to make cards but no one was interested. Haha. We also celebrated St. Nicholas Day for the first time:

Each kid got chocolate coins and this year's special ornament. Lucy: Eiffel Tower, Lena: bike (since she learned to ride a bike this year), Levi: Robocar Poli (that gets taken off the tree every time I put it on)

And last night, we went to the Light Show at the Whitecaps. The price is a little steep, but the kids loved it, so it was worth it.

Today's activity was making gingerbread houses at the library. I love the library for hosting this event every year. I don't have to pay for the supplies or clean up the mess!

At first, Levi didn't realize this project involved candy, so he was content to just play with cars, but eventually he wised up and joined us:

Caught red handed . . . or frosting-faced

Finished product!

5. We finished up our homeschool unit on France this week. Last week we talked about the buildings and architecture. This week we focused on impressionist art. I found a bunch of great kids' books on various artists and the impressionist method (thanks again, library!), so we talked a lot about it to prepare for our ill-fated art museum field trip.

The girls weren't overly thrilled with the art museum, but I didn't expect them to be. I had printed off scavenger hunts for them ahead of time, so they pretty much just fixated on those and wanted to leave as soon as they were done. Homeschool points for effort at least? Many thanks to Brandy for watching Levi so I didn't have to chase him around the calm and quiet art museum. Lol.

The only pic we took. 

The girls tried their hands at painting with an easel and palette the next day:

They loved it.

And yesterday we had our "France Fete" which pretty much just included trying random French foods I could find at Meijer:

And wearing a Paris shirt of course

French baguette, French crepes (the package said "Made in France with Love" so I'm calling them authentic!), and some pastries that we pretended were French. ;-)

6. Last night, I was rocking Levi before bed and he was begging me to read, "Just one more book." At first I was annoyed because I wanted to get back downstairs to watch The Office, but then it hit me that this is my last baby. He's not going to let me rock him at bedtime for much longer. I'm never going to do this again once he outgrows it. I have to cherish every sweet precious moment!! Of course, then when I did finally make it down to watch The Office with Justin, we were on the episode where Jim and Pam have their first baby (does it warrant a spoiler alert if the original episode aired like 10 years ago?), and I was having all the feels. Not to mention my sister-in-law is due any day, and I got to see this guy tonight:

I just have to keep reminding myself that I can't even handle the three I have, I'm already an emotional wreck, we can't find a house that we can afford big enough for five people - not to mention six! - and my poor, old lady body can't handle another pregnancy!

7. A few more pictures:

I snapped this picture at 11:38 pm. She said, "I started this book and now I just have to keep reading to see what happens!" The apple doesn't fall far from the tree . . .

The puke gene is strong in my kids. (Because their gag reflex is not.)

Lena decorated her room with this garland and slept right on it. Haha. 

Lucy realized after Justin had gone to bed that her tablet was in his car, so she left him this cute note.

Silly kids pretending to sleep on my bed.

 Same kids actually sleeping in my bed. This is our new routine. Levi wakes up around 7, gets in bed with me and falls back to sleep til 9 or so. (#homeschoolperks)

When Lena wakes up and realizes that Levi isn't in their room, she scurries downstairs as well to sleep on my other side.

Opening their St. Nick's gifts (Lucy was still sleeping.)