Adventures in La La Land

1. My sister, Niki, recently went to part-time at work so she can help with the childcare for her granddaughter (Nova), and it has ushered us into a fun new phase. You've heard me gush about how fun it is that my kids finally have some cousins close to their age. And now that Niki's home 3 days a week, all 3 of us sisters can get together with our kids/grandkids! We kicked it off this week with a trip to the zoo. I had Ruby, so between us we had 6 kids - practically a zoo of our own! Haha.  The zoo has a Lego exhibit going right now. There were all kinds of amazing animal creations like this lion. It was princess day!  That's a real tiger eyeing Levi and Nash. Terrifying. Penguins We made the mistake of doing the iconic John Ball statue picture on our way out when all the kids were hot, tired, and done. Haha. Lesson learned. 2. I stumbled across the book Virgin River  recently, and then discovered there's a Netflix series based on it. There are actually like 20 books in...

Well, well, well, would you look at that? What day is it? Saturday! And here I am on time and full of interesting things to share. ("Interesting" may be a stretch.) 1. My dishwasher finally came this week! Hallelujah! My sweet, wonderful husband spent hours installing it and sweating all over the kitchen floor. Levi was also a biiiig help.  I am so thankful for modern technology. Dishwashers are one of my favorite inventions. I really wanted one with the third rack for silverware, but that extra rack costs a couple hundred extra dollars! Yikes!  2. Wednesday night, Levi ended up in bed with us, which is not unusual in and of itself, but he slept so restlessly all night and drove us both crazy! Part of his problem overnight was that his nose was stuffed up. He kept begging me to get a "nose pick" - aka q-tip. I explained over and over that that's not what q-tips are for, and it wouldn't help. But he woke up acting pretty normal. Around 10:00, I noticed that h...

My heart's not really in this today. It will probably be an abbreviated version. 1. This was my first full week with 5 kids. I didn't actually have all 5 every day, but there were days that I did. (Although Lucy doesn't really count, since she's pretty self sufficient.) It went very well.  Christmas cookies in July! Nova may have eaten more frosting than she actually put on the cookies. Lol Lunch time Dress up time. This was one of those 90* days, and Levi insisted on wearing that fleece costume over his clothes all day. 2. I'm feeling some anxiety about Levi starting school in a couple months. It's irrational anxiety. Part of me is afraid he won't be potty trained enough to go, but the other part of me is anxious about my baby going off to school. It's the beginning of the end of an era. Soon all three will be in school full time, and then what?  Anyway, at Levi's well-child appointment the doctor asked me if he can draw a person with at least three...