The Saturday 7

1. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Justin's family. 

Justin's mom has the gift of hospitality, making these beautiful tablescapes I can only dream of. Not to mention her cooking ability! I stuck with what I knew for my contribution this year: thaw, rise, and bake rolls. 😂 The food was all amazing, but I could hardly eat everything on my plate. I wanted to go back for more stuffing, but I'm so afraid of upsetting my stomach that I held back. I really think that's why I've lost weight this year - all the times I hold back from eating when I previously would've. I guess eating less really does help you lose weight. Who woulda thunk it? 

We had a two-game Wizard tournament that I won, then we moved on to dessert. I enjoyed a decadent piece of pumpkin pie with copious amounts of whipped cream. Lena created her own dessert: a plate of whipped cream with fruit. 

Don't mind her evil face. She's an odd duck . . .

2. I've been doing "Black Friday" shopping all weekend. I miss the days of true Black Friday shopping when all the sales were on one day. I always feel like I'm missing something when they stretch the sales out over days - and I feel like I'm tied to my computer searching for deals for days. But I do appreciate being able to shop from the comfort of my couch! After the past few days I'm almost done with my shopping! I chose the "no-rush" shipping option on Amazon so I can get 6% cash back, so I'm going to have quite the haul arriving next Saturday. I better dig out my wrapping supplies . . .

3. Lena has been begging to set up the Christmas tree for a week, but Justin has a strict "No Christmas Before Thanksgiving" rule, so I made her wait 'til yesterday. And as much as I loooooove Christmas, and love the ambience those white lights bring to my living room, I dread the work that goes into making room for the tree each year. Our house is small and packed to the gills with stuff (because I'm a hoarder), so it's a long process to rearrange furniture and clear a spot for the tree. And then when I move the couches that only get moved once a year, I have to spend an hour cleaning everything that was under them. 🤦 I made the kids help a lot, but my back was still killing me by the time we got everything in place. This year we hit a very sad milestone: Lucy refused to decorate the tree with us. I'll admit that I spent a few years being a moody teenager, but my love for Christmas and my strict adherence to tradition always outranked any teenage disdain. I hoped the same would be true of Lucy, but no such luck. Anyway, I can't dwell on it or I'll be a basket case, so on to the pictures of the kids who did take great delight in decorating. Neighbor-girl-Kylee (henceforth to be referred to as NGK) joined in the fun, so she inadvertently replaced Lucy. 

4. I read two books this week: one fiction and one non-fiction. The fiction book was A Million Little Choices by Tamera Alexander. I went into it totally blind, knowing only that it's brand new and getting huge buzz in the Christian Fiction community, and ended up giving it 5 stars. It's masterfully written and tackles a few really hard subjects really well. That said, it has a plethora of trigger warnings (that aren't all represented in the "back of the book blurb"), so message me if you want to prepare before reading. 

5. The non-fiction book was a parenting book called No Perfect Parents by Dave and Ann Wilson: the hosts of Focus on the Family's Family Life Today. I heard them discussing their book on a podcast over a year ago and marked it as "To Read" on Goodreads, but kind of forgot about it. Last week I was Christmas shopping on Christian Book Distributor's website and needed something cheap to get me over the free shipping threshold. When I saw that book for $3.50 I added it to cart, not really that excited about reading it. Haha. I've kind of avoided parenting books for a while because they just make me feel overwhelmed and inadequate. I wouldn't say this book was earth shattering, but I appreciated its premise, and enjoyed the writing. Something that stuck with me is the idea that God gave me my specific kids knowing my specific strengths. So I should lean into the things I enjoy that come naturally to me in parenting - using the gifts and interests he's given me. Of course, that's not permission to say, "Sorry kids, I don't enjoy sports so I'm never going to sign you up for soccer or watch any of your games." But it does mean I should think about how I can use my gifts in parenting instead of just "out in the world." This is about to get long . . .

I went to a baby shower last week where all of the gathered women were encouraged to give a piece of parenting advice. A lot of the attendees have grown children, and almost without fail their advice is to "cherish every moment because it goes so fast." If I didn't think it would be considered snarky, I'd have made my advice to the new mom to be almost the opposite: "It's ok not to cherish every moment." And then, funnily enough, one mom (of young kids) gave a devotion along the same lines! I know that I personally feel a lot of guilt when I feel like I'm not cherishing every moment, especially because I do feel the ache of my kids growing up already. Which brings me back to that parenting book. I've never read a parenting book that made me think, "Aha! This is the secret I've been missing!" because, of course, it doesn't exist. But I make myself keep reading them, because it renews my desire to be the mom I want my kids to remember, to make memories I want them to think of fondly, and to create the kind of home they want to come back to as adults. 

I guess I'm going to give you a spoiler about that fiction book: a little boy dies of a terrible accident, and part of the story is about his parents navigating that grief even many years later. So between that and the parenting book when Levi saw two animated characters square dancing on TV tonight and asked me to do it with him, I put down my book and danced with him. He was almost hysterical with giggles, and we collapsed on the couch together where I kissed his chubby dimpled cheeks and had to practically swallow back tears as I reminded myself that this is so fleeting - which is what those old ladies at baby showers mean when they say to cherish every moment. They mean that we shouldn't be consumed with our jobs or houses or chasing after that perfect Instagram moment, but we should have the perspective that these years we have with our kids are temporary even when they don't feel like it. Soon, Levi will roll his eyes when I ask him to dance with me. Soon, Lena will refuse to leave her room to decorate the tree (although if I can rely on any of my kids to cling to traditions and sentimentality, it's her). I thought I'd have a lot more years with Lucy than I did. She's already so independent and so eager to get out from under my wings. I keep praying that she'll come back at some point, that we can be friends as adults, but I'm going to cling a little tighter to my younger two while I can. Honestly, this panicky feeling of my kids growing up makes me want another baby, so it's a good thing that's medically impossible for us. My body can't handle that again. Lol.

6. That's probably enough for one night. On to pics and memes:

I bought another contraption that's supposed to make hair-curling soooo easy, and breezy. (I really should count how many contraptions I have that have promised the same thing.) This was the result.

From the archives . . . This would've been 1996. When it was still politically correct to let schoolchildren dress up as Pilgrims and Indians. Lol.

This fatty isn't going to fit in her favorite spot much longer!

Good ol' Lena teaching Levi to tie his shoes at the dinner table. Justin and I have dropped the ball on that one (one of those moments I don't cherish).

The best part is that after I sent this picture to my sisters, Levi turned to me and exclaimed, "Everything is so expensive! I understand how you must feel all the time now!" Lol. Vindication!

Today I snuck away with some friends to do some "Small Business Shopping." This pic was at the Amish store where we taste tested jam samples and voted for our favorite.

My niece sent me this picture the other day and said that her 2 year old insisted that brunette was me. As I told Rieley, "I can see it, but talk about a glow-up!" Lol. Really, it's just the eyes, eyebrows and hair color. That's certainly not what my nose looks like . . . or my muscles! Sidenote: that is what I want my hair to do when I curl it. 18 miracle tools later and I still haven't mastered it.

I don't have very many memes this week. Forgive me. I was busy cherishing my kids. 😂

I'm surprised I haven't gotten one of these yet!

We had one! Did you?

That's what I get for marrying "Mr. Fitness" who casually announced that he was going to run a 10k today!

When I was telling my sisters that I left the thyme out of that chicken and gnocchi soup and replaced it with cheese, Libby responded, "Good choice. Cheese always trumps thyme." Pretty sure that's my new life motto.