The Saturday 7

1. I've been reading Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga to my 3rd grade library class every week because I've heard such amazing things about it and I knew I could trust a Christian author. Fantasy is never my first choice, but when I polled the kids at the beginning of the year about their favorite genres, fantasy took the lead handily. The first book in the series is The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, and I'll admit that it started out slowly. Honestly, that's part of my dislike for fantasy. So much time is spent building a world and introducing the reader to never-before-heard-of creatures and characters, that it takes a while to get to the action. I've tried to make it as engaging as possible by doing crazy voices and sharing pictures I've found on Pinterest of the Wingfeather World, and the kids have been good sports, but I've been considering abandoning it and moving on to something else. I decided I better finish the book before I cast it aside, though, and since I have nothing better to do now that I'm avoiding scrolling (#scrollfreechallenge), I picked it up this weekend and completely devoured it. It took about 20 chapters to get going, but then it took off and didn't let up! One of my favorite things about Peterson's writing is that it appeals to kids and adults alike. Some of the humor is over kids' heads (there's a character named Gnag the Nameless and I don't think any of my library kids know why that's funny), but it's fun for parents! So there's my official endorsement. 

2. I've read 73 books so far this year. Only two to go to reach my goal, and I'm feeling pretty good about making it. Although I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately and don't know when I'll have time to read in the next few weeks. Those two final projects for my college classes are going to be more time consuming than I realized. I think I'm panicking a little because I didn't get any kid-free days this week to work hard on my schoolwork. I usually have Wednesday and Friday to myself, but the kids had both of those days off this week for Thanksgiving break! How dare they?! Hopefully next week, I can really devote myself to getting it done. But of course I also have to plan a month's worth of Advent activities, and some kind of cute presentation (#tradition), I have a thousand returns to a hundred different stores that I need to do before the return window expires, my family continues to wear clothes that need to be washed, eat off dishes that need to be cleaned, and want to eat meals and snacks all the time. 

3. We had a nice Thanksgiving with Justin's family. I got off easy and only had to bring rolls (#thankyouRhodes) and pie (#juniorclassfundraiser), so I didn't have to slave in the kitchen all day. I just showed up and enjoyed my mother-in-law's hard work!

  

After we stuffed ourselves to the brim, we enjoyed a Wizard tournament (I was the winner of the loser's table. Not sure that's something to brag about.) and the kids got in some Connect 4. They even taught Great-Grandma how to play.

I couldn't pass up this Thanksgiving shirt for Levi since he doesn't eat normal food. (Justin's sweet mom made the kids macaroni because she knows they'd never touch turkey or mashed potatoes. 🤦)

4. And now that Thanksgiving is over, we can officially segue into Christmas!! I've been listening to Christmas music for weeks, but Justin doesn't let me put up the tree until after Thanksgiving. Since I'm such a submissive wife, I obeyed and we didn't get it out until today. It was the perfect day for Christmasifying the house. Snow fell gently all day, the Christmas music was blasting, I got my Christmas mug out, and everyone was in a joyful mood . . . one of those statements is a lie. Lol. In order to fit the Christmas tree, we have to rearrange the living room. For some reason, Levi did not want to do it the way I planned and when he was outvoted, his entire day was ruined. He went to time out two separate times because he just would.not.let.it.go, and then he sat on the couch and pouted most of the time we were decorating. But the girls and I had fun decorating, and Levi eventually joined for a couple of his favorite ornaments. 

5. I started my "scroll-free challenge" on Thursday - wherein I don't scroll aimlessly through my phone when I'm with family or my kids. I did well on Thursday because we were busy all day, but yesterday and today have been hard - mostly because I have so much deal shopping to do! I found myself scrolling through deals websites and online shopping apps a lot. But I've avoided facebook and Words with Friends for the most part. (I don't do Instagram or TikTok, so those aren't temptations to me!) We'll see how the next few weeks go!

6. Lucy recently discovered the Sierra Jensen series and it brings joy to my heart to see her enjoying something from my childhood!! She's already devoured the first three books, then asked me to take her to the library on Wednesday so she could get the next three. While we were there, she found the related Christy Miller series! I'm heartbroken that neither of my girls are really into historical fiction and I've yet to persuade them to read the stacks of Mandie books or American Girl books that I've been collecting since before they were even born. But Lucy's appreciation for 90s Christian teen lit removes some of the sting. 😁

7. Pictures

Less scrolling=more time for creepy pirate squirrel puzzles. 

Levi's "cool guy" pose. Every time he wears a hat backwards, he tells me to take a picture and send it to my nephew Tater. He has a strong association between backward baseball caps and Tater apparently.

I put Lena's hair in braids for Thanksgiving and she didn't take them out 'til today. Look at those curls! I wish I could do that with my hair!

So beautiful!