The Saturday 7

1. We finally had our first taste of spring this week! It was short lived, but absolutely glorious. The kids have spent hours outside, and all the neighborhood kids have been over. Apparently we're the only house in the neighborhood with a trampoline, and it's a big draw. The warm weather just makes me so happy. I wish it could've lasted a little longer, but it gave us just enough hope to make it through the rest of winter! 

2. Have y'all seen the new stimulus package? Guys. We are getting so much money. 😬 I seriously don't understand where this money is coming from, and I do not think it's particularly wise, but I'm not going to turn it away! The money is already pending in our account, so as long as we don't have any unwelcome surprises in the next few months, this should allow us to be debt free aside from our mortgage! I've actually kind of been considering refinancing our mortgage. We refinanced less than a year ago, but rates have dropped so much lower since then that I can't bear to pass them up! Is it ridiculous to refinance two times in one year . . . considering we took out the first mortgage almost exactly two years ago? 🤔

3. Here's today's lesson in "pride cometh before the fall." I pride myself on being fairly well organized. I don't forget appointments. I write everything on my calendar. I'm always thinking and planning ahead. On Sunday at church, Trevor stopped me and said, "Are we still on for the VBS meeting tomorrow at 1?" I chirped, "Yep!" . . . and promptly forgot all about it. It never once crossed my mind after that moment. Monday was one of those beautiful warm days. Levi and Nova played outside all morning, I made an Instacart order, then went outside to clean out my van/keep an eye on the kids. After a while, I realized I didn't have my phone on me. I was actually proud that it took me that long to notice. I am absolutely addicted to my phone. So I didn't rush inside to get it, until I figured I should make sure my Instacart shopper didn't have any questions for me. I went inside at 1:20 and noticed 2 missed texts, one missed call, and a missed email, all saying, "Are you coming to the VBS meeting?" Even my mom texted me, "I thought I was watching the kids today." 🤦🤦🤦 I asked Trevor if it was worth it for me to come still, and when he said yes, I threw the kids in the car and peeled out to drop them off to my mom/hurry over to the church office. How embarrassing. And of course, I had to cancel my Instacart order because I wouldn't be home to receive it. (In the dead of winter, I wouldn't have worried about it and just let them leave it on my doorstop. But because it was actually semi-warm on Monday, I didn't want my frozen stuff thawing!) So then we didn't have anything for dinner and I had to run to Family Fare to buy some last minute stuff. One missed appointment set my whole day off course!! 

4. Yesterday, I met a couple friends from church for breakfast and chit-chat. We inevitably got to talking about parenting/how we feel like such failures/how no one else possibly lets their kids watch as much TV as we do. This is a topic that has come up so much in recent conversations I've had with a wide variety of people that I'm starting to feel like I should do something about it. Something more than blogging about how I'm a hot mess and Levi doesn't brush his teeth (ever) and I screamed at my kids to stop touching me this afternoon. So I asked my friends yesterday, "What if I hosted something once a week where moms can get together, be honest with each other, and get encouragement/advice from one another? Would anyone come?" They both said, "I would!" and then the wheels started turning. We decided we don't want it to be a big whine-fest, but have something Christ-centered - something where we can admit we're broken and we can't pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but instead be lifted by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit. So we're going to give it a go! Friday mornings at nine at my house. This is your official invitation. 😁 The focus is going to be authenticity, honesty, and no judgment, so I'm not going to scour my house from top to bottom every week. I probably won't shower. I will definitely wear yoga pants. There will be coffee and snacks. Bring your kids. They can play with all the toys no one ever plays with in my basement! We're going to start with a book study, just to keep us focused on Jesus and to hopefully gain some wisdom about changing the things we struggle with as moms. We decided on Triggers: Exchanging Parents' Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses by Amber Lia and Wendy Speake. None of us has read it, but it has stellar reviews on Amazon, and it's a subject we all struggle with . . . and from what I've heard from others, most parents have similar struggles. I'm not hosting this because I have all the answers or a wealth of wisdom to impart, but because I need other Christian moms. My cousin Esther has agreed to lead the study and keep us on track, but we're all in the same boat and can't wait to bounce ideas off of each other and encourage each other to mother well. Seriously. You're invited. If you don't know where I live, message me. We're going to start on April 16th so we don't have to worry about Spring Break, and then we'll try to meet pretty consistently on Fridays from there on out. 

5. Well I just spent a solid hour brushing Lucy's hair, so I don't have time to think up any more points. I'll throw up a couple pictures and call it good.

Cousins play-doh time

Hobby Lobby treasures!

"Welcome to our happy, crazy, fun, loud, messy, caring HELL." 

I'd buy that.