The Saturday 7

1. What a busy, fun, hot week! I'm trying not to complain about the heat, since I've been wanting summer for so long, but a little moderation would be nice. Heat indexes below 90 would be great. Honestly I can't complain. We have central air (that doesn't work super great, but at least cuts the humidity and keeps the house bearable), and access to an amazing pool! Justin's been working on a tin roof in this weather while I've been lounging in the pool, so I better just keep my mouth shut . . .

2. We had kind of a frustrating start to the week. Lena has a friend from ACS whose mom works full time. We always intend to have playdates, but it's hard to work around schedules. Anyway, we finally got one on the calendar for Monday. Mrs. M. and her daughter drove 20 minutes to meet us at the splash pad in our town. Usually Lena adores the splash pad, but she was overcome by an inexplicable case of "Bratty Bessie." She was so rude the whole time. She ran through the sprinkler once or twice, convinced her friend to abandon the splash pad for the playground, played for a few minutes, then was done. She refused to do anything else with her friend the whole time. I was so embarrassed and furious! There were many whispered threats, a few bribes, and zero behavior change. Lena kept saying she wanted to go home. So I said, "Maybe your friend and her mom can come over and see our new house." Lena wasn't thrilled with that idea, but her friend was, so I did something totally unprecedented and invited someone over who I barely know when my house was an utter disaster. Toys were all over the floor, the sink was literally overflowing with dishes, there was toothpaste in the bathroom sink, smudges all over the mirror, crumbs on the carpet and couch, etc., etc. Plus, our basement is still a reno-zone. Justin was actually in the process of painting when we came home. But I'm all about being open and honest, and I figured she can judge me if she wants. Oh well. Lena finally warmed up when we got home and played nicely with her friend for a while. But you better believe she had some consequences that included early bedtime and lack of screen time, plus writing an apology letter to her friend. If there's one thing I won't stand for, it's unkindness. Being kind to others is rule number one in this house. I was so shocked to see Lena disregarding it!

3. We spent almost every day at the pool this week and it was amazing to see how quickly my kids are overcoming their fears and getting braver in the water. A week ago, Lena wouldn't even jump off the diving board with a life jacket on. This week, she suddenly taught herself to swim without a life jacket. After a day or two, she was swimming all over the deep end, and a day after that, she was jumping off the diving board with no life jacket at all! Lucy has been working on diving off of Nova's pool into the deep end, and this week she got brave enough to start diving off the edge of the pool. And Levi has totally mastered jumping off the side of the pool, going completely under, and popping back up with a grin on his face. It's so fun to see them gaining confidence and discovering new abilities!

Ruby loves the pool, too!

4. Anytime someone else is at the pool with us and they watch my kids swim tirelessly, without fail someone will say, "They're going to sleep good tonight!" And I want to stab them. Lol. It does not matter how much they swim, or how much sun they get, or how thoroughly they exhaust themselves, they are terrible sleepers! Specifically Levi. The girls are good once they actually go to sleep, but that's usually between 11 and midnight. Two nights in a row this week Levi woke up at 3:00 am and didn't fall back asleep until 5 or 5:30! The second night, the sun was coming up before he went back to sleep!! It always starts with something scaring him, but then once he's awake he will.not.go.back.to.sleep. He rolled around in bed with us for over an hour the first night. The second night I laid in his toddler bed with him until my back started to spasm. I finally brought him out on the couch and turned on the TV hoping it would lull him to sleep. But he was wide awake! Last night, he only woke up once at 5:30 and went right back to sleep in his own bed. It was amaaaazing. Here's hoping that keeps up! And if you're at the pool with me in the near future, please don't suggest that my kids will sleep well. I might punch you in the face.

5. I've been obsessed with Words with Friends on facebook again recently. I played it for years before feeling guilty about how much of my life it consumed. It's been long enough since I've played that the guilt has worn off, so I'm back at it again. I get such a thrill out of re-arranging those letters until I find the maximum point value. So far I've won every game that I've finished - mostly against random people the game pairs me with. Of course, I'm getting soundly beaten by a few people I actually know in real life. But there's still time. I'll wallop 'em with a perfectly placed Z or J before the game is over!

6. We enjoyed a plethora of 4th of July festivities. It's my second favorite holiday, although this year I was a little more ornery than usual thanks to a lack of sleep. I'm pretty sure my kids had a blast, though. That's what counts, right? We made the rounds between Niki's pool, Justin's parents' friends' cottage, and my Uncle Joel's pool, did some fireworks, ate way too much food, even saw a movie. Good times were had by all!

Levi with his favorite person in the whole world: Uncle Jesse

Lucy and Persephone attempting to kayak. Watching them was pure entertainment. It was like bumper boats! Lol

Lena trying it out. 

I even attempted it with Lena and Levi. I didn't last long though because I'm wicked out of shape.

One of my favorite pictures from this weekend. Can you find Levi?

Lena with her new friend Hazeley. 

In her happy place!

The girls.

Fun with sparklers

Lena and Levi watching the big fireworks from inside where it's not so loud

Bright flash. Lol

Justin had Friday off so we took the kids to see Secret Life of Pets 2.  Levi actually did really well and sat through the whole movie!

The only picture I took at Uncle Joel's apparently. Oops!

7. A few more pictures . . .

I finally started it! I'm only a few chapters in and so far it hasn't gripped me, but I'll keep chugging along . . .

"Mooooooom"

A rare moment of affection between these two!

I took all the kidlets to Menards on Monday to get paint. Lena and Levi were thrilled to ride in the car on the front of the cart, and Ruby was so good, just hanging out in the cart!