The Saturday 7

1. Birthday week!!! It really is true that the older you get, the less you care about birthdays. I rang in my 34th year pretty much the same way I start every day: coffee, shuttling kids to school, watching Ruby, and making Levi grilled cheese for breakfast. My parents stopped by with lunch from Qdoba. Justin brought me home chocolate and Dr Pepper (I told him no gifts since we just bought a van). I took a nap on the couch around 6:00 and never even ate dinner. Haha. The kids sang Happy Birthday to me, and I didn't clean the house all day (which totally backfired, because who had to clean up a whole day's worth of messes on Friday? #thisgirl). I actually took most of the week off of cooking and cleaning, and spent 3 days reading 3 books. It is astounding how quickly the house can fall into disarray if I'm not constantly picking up. It's just another example of how instant gratification (putting off the housework in favor of reading) doesn't pay off in the end. I'm so wise now that I'm 34. I'm also feeling old. I plucked my 3rd ever gray hair today. And last night, I fell asleep in Levi's toddler bed with him at 9:30 while I was trying to put him to sleep. Wow. I'm pretty sure it's all downhill from here.

2. On Sunday we celebrated my great-niece's 2nd birthday with a pool party . . . in October! Haha. My sister kept her pool heated for the party, so it was roughly 30 degrees warmer than the air. Lol. The pool got officially closed up on Monday, and Levi cannot wrap his brain around it. He has asked to go swimming every day this week. 🤦

Happy birthday, Nova!

3. On Tuesday, I started physical therapy for some female nonsense that doesn't need to be elaborated on. I'm only bringing it up because when I mentioned my constant back pain to the therapist, she perked right up and said, "Before I became a specialist in [female nonsense], I specialized in back pain." She did a full back work-up on me, confirmed that I have some issues (that are, of course, tied to the dumb female nonsense), and assured me that the therapy I'm doing should help my back. Woohoo! I just thought that was another part of being old, and I'd live with it for the rest of my life! She also officially diagnosed me with diastasis recti. I've always assumed that I've had it since being pregnant with Lena, but she confirmed that I have a two-finger separation. The therapy itself was horrendously awkward, but if it will help my back and maybe even close that big ole gap in my stomach muscles, it'll be worth it!

Apparently it takes more than 6.5 years to recover from this.

4. I'm having a lot of anxiety about parenting lately. Despite being medicated to the gills, I feel like I am always angry at the girls. And I feel like I'm an exceptionally lazy/selfish parent. I don't remember my parents yelling at me to leave them alone as much as I do to my kids (in so many words). But I also don't remember constantly begging my parents to play with me or snuggle with me or get me a freaking drink ("but not in that cup! I hate that cup!"). I feel so overwhelmed by my girls' behavior and attitudes and feel like it's 100% my fault. I have let them get this way. I have enabled their whining apparently. I have been too lenient with bedtime. I've been too lazy to consistently discipline them. Sometimes I just want to throw in the towel and let them "Lord of the Flies" it.

5. In less depressing news, today was my annual birthday thrift shopping trip. My wardrobe consists entirely of hand-me-downs from my friends, and thrift store finds. So once a year, on a Saturday around my birthday I take the entire day to shop to my heart's content. I go north for a donut at Hill Top

Then I do the Newaygo thrift store circuit, working from the most expensive (The Corner Closet) to the least expensive (Love Inc.). It's actually not all fun and games. I desperately need jeans, but my affection for donuts and my stupid stretched out stomach don't lend themselves well to jeans shopping. Nothing fits. And can I just declare once and for all that I'm not a fan of the high rise "mom-jean" trend? Sure, it's cute on you 16 year olds with flat bellies, but for those of us that actually have a gut to force those denim torture chambers over, it is highly uncomfortable.

I found a few things, but didn't buy a single striped shirt (gasp!) or book (double gasp!)! I had fun looking at every single thing, though. Thrift stores are weird. People are weird. And I love it.

6. And now for some big news: my parents sold their house! I wasn't sure it was public knowledge, but I've been given the green light to share. They listed it on a Tuesday, had 13 showings, had an open house on Sunday, got 5 offers, and accepted one! So it was on the market for a grand total of 6 days. Craziness! It takes about a month to close and then they have 30 more days before they need to move out, so I won't have to go into full freak-out mode until the end of November. But we did experience one of the first "lasts" this week: cider making. My dad planted an orchard when they first moved into this house 35 years ago, and I've always taken for granted easy (free) access to apples. 10 or so years ago he got a cider press. And ever since my kids were little we've had apple cider making day.

2013

2013

Sometimes friends joined us (like in 2016)

2017

2017

2018

So when my dad texted me on a beautiful day this week and asked if we wanted to make cider one last time, I jumped at the chance. He's keeping the press, but leaving the trees, so who knows when we'll have the chance to do it again! And now I will inundate you with pictures, because I'm sappy and sentimental and this is my blog so I get to do what I want!

It was also harvesting day, so we got to watch the tractor!

I was watching Ruby the day we went, so she got to have her first (and last 😢) cider making day as well.

This is her "wow!" face. Haha.

This girl can't resist a climbing tree.

Throwing the apples in.

Grinding them up . . .

Here comes the juice!

Tasting the fruits of their labor!

I promise you they were not sampling wine. Haha.

💗

7. More pictures

Nash and his cute little teeth

Doing a painting project. Maybe I should get Levi his own apron . . .

Storytime. 

The ice cream truck came down our street twice this week! The kids are obsessed.

Another perfect example of the importance of punctuation. You don't need kids because you don't use them much??

My sister is a registered dietician, so I take perverse pleasure in feeding her kid sugar. (Disclaimers: 1. I sent this picture to her. I don't feed him sugar in secret. 2. She doesn't really care. 3. I only gave him a few.)