The Saturday 7

9 days 'til Christmas!! Can you believe it??

1. We had a fun week filled with birthdays and parties and babies! On Sunday, we celebrated sweet Ruby at my parents' house.

And on Monday after school, Lena got to go to a fancy tea party at Ruby's house.

Ruby's going through her "princess," "Fancy Nancy," "all things girly" phase. I miss that with my girls!

2. This was our last week of school before Christmas break, so we had class parties to attend. I was thankful that Lena's and Levi's were on different days and I wasn't working at Once Upon. 

Twinning in our "oh snap" gingerbread man shirts.

Her last Christmas party! 😭

For the first time in years, I didn't have to do anything for the parties. No room mom duties, no planning anything, I didn't even have to bring food! I could get used to this!

3. Our Advent activities this week included gingerbread man waffles, special ornaments, buying each other presents at Five Below, and the big taste test. Last year, we did a blind soda taste test that the kids loved. When I asked what kind of activities they wanted to do this year, "taste test" was high on their list. So this year I stepped it up and did a french fry taste test. I drove to 6 different restaurants that were all very close together and ordered one small fry from each place. I had to wait in line everywhere except Burger King, and their fries were the most expensive! I don't know how that place stays in business. The other options were Culver's, Arby's (crinkle, not curly), McDonald's, KFC, and Wendy's. Then we blindfolded the kids and tested them individually.

Levi got zero right, Lena got two right, and Lucy got all six right!! Girl knows her fries I guess!

4. Last night Justin and I cashed in one of my birthday gift cards and went to Olive Garden for a quick date. I'm astonished every time we go out to eat by how much everything costs. When we were first married, we could each get a meal and pop for $25. It's literally double that now. Ugh. Anyway, after dinner we went home for our annual family viewing of Elf. 

Even Stella enjoyed the show.

5. Early this morning, I became a Great-Aunt again! Tater and Madi finally had their baby girl.

💓💓💓

I think she looks a little bit like Lucy - but significantly less hairy and Asian looking. 😂

We're so excited for Tater and Madi, and can't wait to meet little Lainey! 

6. That's all I have this week. I don't even have any memes. 😭 We haven't started our screen time fast yet. We probably won't until January, but I've been avoiding scrolling - and I've been busy between work, school parties, and Christmas prep. No time to troll for memes. Sorry for failing you. Enjoy this picture of Lena as consolation:

Matching with her stuffed lamb "Lannabelle"