The Saturday 7

1. First of all, let me just say thank you for all the sweet words about my last entry. I truly didn't expect anyone other than my immediate family to read it all, and I love that so many of you enjoyed it. Reading the comments on facebook made me want to go back and add in even more details. I want to tell you about the time my cousin Esther and I had a picnic in the farmer's field and dreamed about our future husbands. Or the time I chipped my tooth on the water spout in the front yard. How much we hated hanging our laundry on the line. Helping my dad dig in the garden and loving the feel of the peat moss. Tormenting Libby by telling her the tractor was going to get her every time it drove near our house. The awesome tree house dad built us, and the swing he hung that we used to jump off the deck with. The time Tayton almost drowned in the pool while we all sat by talking and not paying attention, or the time one of the boys got swarmed by bees and my mom threw him in the pool. My dad calling Justin "Jordan" when he came to pick me up for our first date. Passing out on the bathroom floor when my mom changed my earrings. Waking up to a bat flying around my room, screaming so loud I woke up my siblings, charging downstairs in such obnoxious terror that my parents thought the house was on fire or we were being murdered. I could go on and on. But I won't. Except for part two that I still intend to write. It will be mostly "review" for those of you who have known (or stalked) me for long. It's much more recent history. But it might be even more emotional for me since it involves my kids. I am such a basket case. Seriously, I'm already maxed out on my meds. There's no hope for me anymore.

2. So did y'all get anything good during last week's Kohl's sale?? I think I placed 12 orders, which is paltry compared to one of my sisters who shall remain unnamed . . . I'm actually almost done with my Christmas shopping. Truly, shopping this far in advance is bad for me, because I'll continue to pick up "little things" here and there from now until Christmas and end up spending more than I would have if I'd just done all my shopping the week before like normal procrastinators. But would I have gotten such excellent deals? We'll never know . . . 😜

3. I also got some deals by working the Sparta Variety sale and shopping in between customers. Things are flying off the shelves and it's looking like the store will close before they originally anticipated. Just another chapter of my life coming to an end. Honestly, that's a bit overdramatic. I haven't been very involved in the store in years, but it's always been a fixture. I always kind of figured I'd go back to working there once Levi starts school. But now I'm going to have to go find a real job with applications and interviews and all that terrifying crap! I realized recently that I've never had a "big girl" job. I did spend one summer as a receptionist, but that was at the office my dad had his photography studio in. And looking back, I did a terrible job. Other than that, I've only nannied. I've never had co-workers or a demanding boss. If I ever do try to get a job, my resume is just going to be a blank piece of paper, perhaps with a phrase or two like, "Zero marketable skills. Passable at keeping children alive (so far). Decent grammatical aptitude. Unfinished education. No degree." #pickme #winner

4. Can I just gush again about how fun it is for my kids to have cousins near their age? We spent time with Nova and Nash this week (although I had the week off from Ruby and am missing her something fierce!) and I'm just loving this stage of life. My family is weird because my siblings and I are semi-spaced out. I got married really young. Luke got married relatively old (for us). Libby didn't want kids for a long time. Niki started having kids really young, so her youngest was 10 when my first was born. But now, we're at the fun stage where I call up my sisters/niece-in-law and say, "Hey we're going to storytime at the library. Want to come?" Or we send out a group text saying, "Let's all go to the Christmas tree farm together! The kids are finally old enough to enjoy it!" I've been exceedingly fortunate to have a solid friend group with kids my kids' age, but it's been fun to do the holiday/family stuff with my family instead of whichever friend didn't have something going with their family. Haha.

5. I got to go on a field trip with Lena this week. She thought it was the best thing ever and was practically bursting with excitement!

On the bus

Iconic picture under the whale in the museum.

And a close-up of these friends that turned out absolutely adorable.

All the best museums have 100 year old carousels!

6. We joined the masses and signed up for Disney Plus this week. I was mostly just excited for more movies that my kids could watch, and ready to trade in stinkin' expensive Netflix for a cheaper option. I didn't realize the treasure trove of oldies that Disney had prepared for me!!

We didn't have cable growing up, but Niki did and we lived at her house almost as much as at ours, so I watched an alarming amount of Disney nonsense. Scrolling through Disney Plus brought so many back to mind! Zenon, Brink, Quints, Jungle 2 Jungle, Smart House, Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Lizzie McGuire, First Kid, Cool Runnings, Even Steven! And the Saturday morning classics that were on regular TV: Doug, Recess, Duck Tales, Talespin! I even tagged a bunch that I've never seen but always wanted to: Pocahontas, Hercules . . .and some newer ones like Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It is seriously the best reliving some of the old movies with my kids. This week we watched Toy Story 1 and 3 (I've never seen 3. It was intense! Lena and Levi both had their eyes covered at one point!), Monsters Inc., Princess Diaries, Quints, and The Little Mermaid 2. I also watched Noelle, which is pretty much the feminist version of Elf.

7. More pictures:

Levi was so excited when I pulled that shirt out of his closet Sunday morning because, "That look like Jesse's shirt!" Imagine his elation when we showed up for lunch after church and Jesse was wearing the same shirt?! 

Lena was playing with my phone and snapped this picture of Lucy unawares. Wowza! Model!

Shenanigans with dad before bedtime.

Lena's turn. She wanted to do it so bad, but is so scared of heights. And can you tell that Levi is plugging Justin's nose here?? I don't understand that kid. Lol.

Playing me a song on her ukulele.

Realizing I'm taking her picture. Lol.