Adventures in La La Land

1. Thanks to starting school earlier than usual this August, we had a whole week  off for Thanksgiving. I had big plans to get so much done . . . and then I got sick and was forced to rest for most of the week. Boo. I was fairly miserable until Wednesday, when I finally turned the corner. Suffice it to say my kids watched a lot of TV, and I did a lot of sleeping/scrolling/laying on ice.  2. On Tuesday, Levi and Lena were adamant that we put up our Christmas tree. I explained to them that it's not that easy. First we have to clean the living room and rearrange the furniture. My back was still pretty bad at that point, so I warned them that they would have to help me. Of course they eagerly agreed . . . and then promptly gave up when it got gross (you know, cleaning up their own messes from under the couch!). I made them do a good portion of it, but then I finished the rest and hurt myself even more. We got the tree up, but not decorated. It sat that way for a couple days until ...

Oops! I almost forgot to blog again this week! Not sure I'll make it before midnight. Better hop to it! 1. So I haven't been doing a stellar  job of having a "cozy winter at home" with dinner on the table and family time in the living room. But it's happened here and there. One night, I made something I knew the kids wouldn't like, so I let them have their own thing. And I just wanted to eat on the couch. So I made everyone come into the living room with me. The actual dinner table itself isn't the sacred part of the experience, right? We sat around, talking, and eating. I've been trying to focus on prayer, so we took prayer requests and prayed. Another night, we ended up playing a family game, and even roped Justin into it. We played Cards Against Humanity-Family Edition, and I'm not sure I've ever seen Levi laugh so hard - which of course made the rest of us laugh hysterically. (Lena's card said, "My friends and I aren't into dol...