The Saturday 7

1. After I finished the first Harry Potter book, Justin picked it up and decided he would start reading them too. He whipped through the first one, so we ended up fighting over the 2nd one at the same time. We each had our own bookmark, and we kept jumping ahead of each other. Fortunately I have access to the audiobooks, so I've been listening instead of reading and we don't have to fight over one book. We're both halfway through the 3rd book now. We had grand intentions to watch the movies together this weekend, but as usual Levi interfered. He had a few nights of really good sleep this week. Last night was not one of them. By the time he fell asleep, it was 11:15. Justin had to work a side-job this morning so he had to get to bed, and those movies aren't short. Sigh.

2. The girls had one of their most anticipated events of the summer this week: sister swap. Kelly brought Presley to my house to play with Lucy, and Lena went home with Harper. The sisters at Kelly's house get the better end of the deal because they don't have to deal with a pesky little brother, but fun was had by all. I forgot to take pics at the pool, so I snapped a couple on the walk home:

3. Yesterday was "craft day." Lena looked up a bunch of crafts on Pinterest, we ran to the dollar store for supplies, then she spent all day creating (and I spent all day cleaning up after her 🤦). I'm starting to notice that Lena is only happy when she's being entertained. I know that's true of most kids, but she very rarely entertains herself. If I'm not orchestrating something for her, or Lucy isn't creating a scenario for her to act out, or she's not doing screen time, she is invariably rolling on the floor whining "what can I doooooo?" or begging me to play with her. It honestly makes me rage. I don't want to give into her because it only reinforces the bad behavior, but I do want to make memories and spend time with her and show her grace and all that jazz. I'm hoping it's just the end of summer spiral, and getting back into our school routine will make her appreciate "free time" instead of dreading it. Regardless, here are the cute crafts we did yesterday:

Popsicle stick magnetic frame (Sidenote: she calls that shirt her "check" shirt because she thinks the Nike swoosh is a checkmark. 🤣)

The next one was the biggest hit of the day. We found a super easy way to make these beautiful water color prints. Basically you print a phrase on watercolor paper, put a large ziploc bag over top of the paper, scribble all over it with markers, spray with water, then flip over and spread the wet marker around on the paper. For a more complete tutorial, go here. They were so easy and so fun. The website I linked to has some free printables, but I found a bunch more on Pinterest.

As you'll notice in the background, Levi's favorite part of this project was spraying the water bottle.

I made this one, framed it, and hung it on my wall! (Free printable)

After a while, Lena started drawing her own designs on watercolor paper with Sharpie and then doing the watercolor technique. Yay for creativity! (If you're in my area, you can get 18 sheets of watercolor paper for $3.99 at Sparta Variety. Yay for cheap creativity!)

4. In addition to Harry Potter, I also read More Than Words Can Say by Karen Witemeyer this week. I'm really trying to love Harry Potter, but my good ole Christian fiction just draws me in so much more! I've decided it comes down to the romance. I want something emotional, not just a cute story. Or I need a really gripping plot. Not one subplot after another that all finally tie in at the end with a big bang. I really liked More Than Words Can Say so if you're genre-loyal (to Christian Fiction) like me, try it out.

5. I've also been reading this book:

I've been having such a hard time lately with depression and parenting and anger. I don't know what my deal is and why neither my meds nor my faith seem to be helping. But lots of different things conspiring together (aka the Holy Spirit) have called my attention to discontent and envy - especially the past two sermons at church (Finisher and Unstoppable God). I keep being hit over the head with the same refrain: the antidote to depression is the presence of God, especially through the reading of His word. So I've been trying (again) to faithfully read my Bible. I also find the most spiritual growth through reading Christian Living books like the contentment book above. If you remember, my new year's resolution this year was to spend more time immersed in God's word and the godly wisdom of others. As usual, I slacked off by about May. Anyway, this book is not the answer to all my problems. It's actually raising even more questions for me, but there are definitely gems within.

"Even if our circumstances are difficult, discontent only increases the misery." (25)

"Nor is discontent pleasant to be around. Friends tire of hearing how hard your life is . . ." (26)

"Noticing that someone else is blessed is not the problem. It is where we go next that leads to envy. To resist the temptation to envy, the simple solution is to give thanks to God for the blessings others enjoy. Gratitude keeps envy out of our hearts . . ." (57 - emphasis mine. That was earth-shattering to me. Rather than griping to myself that so-and-so has it all, I should be praying thanksgiving that they get that blessing!) 

". . . the bottom line is that discontent is the result of looking for satisfaction in the wrong things." (57)

"Contentment looks out for others. Discontent looks only to gratify itself." (58) 

There was also a helpful chapter about disciplining our thoughts. Particularly in my seasons of depression, I'm so quick to spiral out of control in my thinking. I go from "Wow. I can't believe Lucy just ate 4 hot dogs" to "I should not have let her eat that much. I never even should've introduced her to hot dogs! I should have fed her more vegetables as a baby. I should've eaten more vegetables when I was pregnant! How am I ever going to change her bad eating habits when mine are just as bad? But mine weren't that bad when I was a kid. If hers are this bad now, what does that mean for her future? I am totally inept as a parent! All my friends make their kids eat vegetables. Heck, all my friends' kids like veggies! Where did I go wrong? Why can't I parent like them? Why don't my kids listen to me? Do I need to discipline them more? Less? I feel like I'm always yelling at them anyway. Cali never yells at her kids. I saw her scold them firmly once without raising her voice and they all whipped into shape. How does she know how to do that? Why can't I do that?" See where I'm going? Nowhere good. In the book, Wilson admonishes readers to take their discontent thoughts captive and replace them with gratitude. She also preaches that we should be spending less time thinking and more time doing. It's a really hard balance for me that I've yet to fully come to terms with. If I don't let myself feel discontent about Lucy's bad habits, then nothing will ever inspire me to work on them. Whew. This is getting long. On to other things . . .

6. Tonight, Justin and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary is actually on Monday, the 29th, but we don't do fun things on weeknights. We're too old for those kind of shenanigans. We're also too old for shenanigans in general. Tonight we went to Kohl's to pick up an online order (used my Kohl's cash, paid $2 for a birthday gift for Lena's friend), Hobby Lobby (90% off home decor clearance!), and Olive Garden. There were no savings at O.G. In fact, they've raised their prices since the last time we were there, but since this is the extent of our anniversary felicitations, we decided to splurge and get alfredo dipping sauce, two pops, and two entrees! (#bigspenders) We rounded out our evening with a trip to Menards - because what homeowners in their 30s don't spend anniversaries that way? - and a stop at the McDonald's drive-thru for cheap ice cream eaten at a "parklet" overlooking a Mexican soccer tournament. Fingers crossed that Levi will go to sleep and we'll be able to watch the rest of our Harry Potter movie tonight! (If the crying coming from his room right now - at 10:10 pm - is any indication, it's not looking promising.)

7. More pics:

On Sunday, we had lunch with Justin's family, then Levi buried Jesse under pillows on the couch. He could not contain his glee and thought it was so funny. 

Levi has taken to floating on his back in the pool like this. It always gives me a little jolt to make sure he's face up and breathing!

My sweet kids randomly brought me breakfast in bed on Tuesday. They wanted to make me coffee, but couldn't figure out the Keurig. Whew!

Unfortunately my day ended like this. It was room cleaning day for the girls. They spent 9 hours in their room with only small breaks for meals and got almost nothing accomplished. I told you parenting has been hard on me lately.

Precious Ruby

Levi in the doll stroller

Looking ahead at our curriculum this year. We're going to do a Sabbath feast, and this is the recommended embroidery for the "Challah cover." Ummmm . . . I'm not that kind of homeschool mom. I haven't even bought my jean skirt yet, let alone learned how to embroider!

Spoiler alert: he didn't "doze off" until 3:00, and that was only because I finally let him climb in bed with me.

This is why I hate having him in my bed. He literally sleeps with body parts draped over me like this. (Sidenote: that Binky has a big hole in it, but it's his last one. There's been lots of crying about that at bedtime lately too!)

Good thing he's so cute!