The Saturday 7

1. Finally, summer has arrived!!! We spent lots of time at the pool this week. Lena is really getting the hang of swimming, Lucy's been working on her dive, and Levi has mastered going underwater without gagging, crying, and rushing to wipe his face on his towel! (The girls still have yet to master that. They only go under with goggles.) All week, Lena has been working up the courage to jump off the diving board (wearing a life jacket). She jumps off the side and bobs under the water numerous times every day, but the diving board was so daunting. She's my anxious child who has to be talked through all the scenarios: "How far down will I go?" "Will I hit the bottom?" "How fast will I come back up?" "Will I like it?" I was sooooo tempted to push her off the board because I knew she'd like it once she tried it. But, having been an anxious child myself, I know that will only destroy her trust in me. Today, I finally asked if she wanted to jump off with me holding her. I picked her up, she put her goggles on, and I jumped in off the board before she could change her mind. She came up laughing and shouting, "That was fun!" then proceeded to do tricks off the board for the rest of the day. #success!

2. On Monday, Justin and his dad installed all of our doors in the basement, and on Tuesday we started putting primer on the walls! The kids were soooooo excited to help, and Justin was a good sport about letting them. I hid in my bedroom folding laundry because it stressed me out so much. Lol.

They got most of Levi's bedroom done, then today while I took the kids to the pool, Justin finished priming the rest of the basement. On to color!!

3. The weather has finally been in the 80s this week, which is great for me, but brutal for Justin. He's been working on a roof all week, so his farmer's tan is on point. I try to keep the house cool for him, but the AC isn't the strongest, so it can't really keep up. Our house is a bi-level, so the basement is usually blissfully cool, but our main living spaces upstairs have been staying around 77-79 degrees. When we first started construction in the basement, everything that was down there got piled into one big mass in the middle of the living room. After the drywall finisher came everything was coated in dust. I finally took it upon myself this week to sweep, mop, wipe down, and re-organize the chaos so we can actually use that space. It took hours, but I finally finished! The kids have actually been playing down there (!) and I've been enjoying reading in the chair and not sweltering!

4. Lena has been begging for months to cut her hair to her shoulders, but I kept telling her no because I like her long hair. Well after two weeks of pushing goggles off and on her head, the tangles were real. I finally decided it would be easier to just chop it off. So when Justin went to get his hair cut today, I sent Levi and Lena with him.

Before . . . (Don't mind her strange outfit choices. Lol.)

After!

It's adorable, and she absolutely adores it. She can't stop looking in the mirror and saying, "It's so short! I love it so much!" If you see her in person, make sure you mention it, because she's so excited for everyone to notice. Haha. Now if only I could get Lucy to cut her hair. I spent half an hour brushing through it after her shower today. I want to respect her desire to have long hair, but she can't take care of it on her own, and I'm soooo sick of doing it for her.

Oh, Levi wanted a before picture taken, too:

Look at that cutie!! 

5. I read a trilogy by a new-to-me author this week. I read the first two books in two days, but I actually had to get up at 6:30 am to watch Nash on Friday, so I couldn't stay up 'til my usual 1 a.m. It took me two days to get through the third one. 😁 It was one long saga, and I was a little sick of it by the middle of the third book, but it was well written and different than the usual Christian fiction.

6. Not gonna make it to 7 by midnight, better quick throw up some pictures!

Ruby-girl got a couple teeth this week and wasn't very happy. But I had neglected my house all week after VBS and really needed to get some stuff done. Thank goodness for the Ergo! And thank goodness Ruby only weighs 13 lbs! (I watched Nash on Friday. He's up to 21 lbs. My back definitely couldn't have taken that!)

Levi thought it was hilarious that he captured my feet with his slinky.

Cool clouds. 

Truer words have never been written!