The "Saturday" 7

I totally forgot to blog yesterday. I read my book 'til 10, then started watching Alias with Justin and didn't even think about the little ol' blog 'til we went to bed at 11:40. So sorry to disappoint all my devoted fans.

We had another crazy week where I felt like I was running around like a decapitated chicken most of the time. As soon as I crossed one thing off my to-do list, I added two more. I think that's just the nature of the Christmas season with three kids.

1. Our advent activity for Tuesday was another big hit with the kids. Thanks to YouTube, they're obsessed with "challenges." Last year we did a candy cane taste test challenge. This year, I bought a bunch of different pops for another taste test challenge. Pinterest showed me how to make this box with straw holes, and we had fun trying to blindly identify different flavors.

They all clearly knew Root Beer and Dr Pepper. They got a little more stumped by Orange Crush and orange Gatorade. Then I really threw them for a loop with Sierra Mist, Sprite, and 7Up.

Lena emerged the champion!

2. I spent all of my kid-free days this week finishing up my shopping, wrapping presents, and planning Levi's class party. For some reason, I had the hardest time coming up with ideas this year. I finally ended up with a couple foam sticker crafts from Hobby Lobby (70% off, so they were just over $2 each!), a Pinterest candy cane fishing game, free printable Bingo, and this super fun inflatable reindeer toss game that I got at the bin store for $1!

I've also been accumulating little prizes from the bin store for weeks. I managed to get 16 pop-its and didn't pay more than 50c each (a few of them were only 25c each!), plus a ton of Croc charms and other little trinkets. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just buy stuff without spending weeks or months scouting for deals instead. Haha. The party was chaotic as expected, but I think it went well. This is the only picture I took and I look dreadful, but that's real life for you!

3. This weekend was Christmas with Justin's family. We celebrated with his immediate family Friday night since his parents left for Florida last night.

That dimple . . .

Justin's dad is a major card player, but Justin did not inherit that from him. Haha. I usually play cards with Dave, Jordan, Karla, and Jesse on Sundays after lunch, but Justin never participates - except on Christmas. That's the one time a year he joins in. Of course he beat us all! #beginnersluck

4. Yesterday, we woke up to 10 inches of snow in the morning, and it just kept coming down all day. But we don't let a little snow stop us from celebrating Christmas, so we ventured on down to GR for Christmas with the extended family. We only got stuck in two traffic jams and passed 5 slide offs. No biggie.

Funny story: while we were crawling along at 5 mph in this particular stretch Levi suddenly had to pee so bad. I knew we wouldn't be getting anywhere quickly, so we cracked open the back passenger van door and let him pee out the side. Lol. Thank goodness he's a boy!

5. It's always fun to meet up with the extended family and play with cousins we don't get to see often. Justin's sister lives in New York and she posted something on facebook about how New Yorkers don't believe people really rent gyms to host their Christmas parties until she shows them photographic evidence. Lol. Is that a midwest thing? Seems totally normal to me!

Good ol' Danita got the kids all whistles. Thaaaaanks, Danita! 😂

That's Levi in the red shorts playing soccer with all the big cousins.

Sweet Great-Grandma still buys all the kids presents, even though she has over 30 grandkids and great-grandkids!

Lena was so excited to get this box of magic tricks!

Tradition dictates that we play an intense game of Bunco every year:

My kids love this game because every time you win a round you get to choose something off the Prize Table. Everyone brings stuff to put on the table - either from their house, or the dollar store, or . . . you guessed it . . . the bin store! We came home with all kinds of treasures this year. Haha.

6. Goodreads released "My Year in Books" this week. I'll probably read a few more books before the end of the year, but this is what Goodreads made for me to date:

That includes 3 novellas and a couple short nonfiction books, but it's mostly full-length novels. Unfortunately, I didn't love anything I read this year. I don't know if I'm getting pickier, or if reading so much makes everything seem the same, but I only gave two books 5 stars this year: Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry and A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus. Goodreads says my average rating was 3.6 out of 5 stars. Hopefully next year will be better!

7. Pics and memes

Last week, Lucy had a band concert and Lena was invited to a birthday party at the same time. Justin went to the concert and I took Lena to the bday party, so I didn't get any pictures. This week, my sweet friend Kelly sent me this. Look at that festive cutie!