The Saturday 7

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 dolls anymore. Now, we're all about . . ." and Justin laid down "Locking mom in the pantry." Apparently Levi had never heard anything funnier in his life. 😂)

2. Last Saturday, we officially kicked off the Christmas season by filling our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. My kids (well, at least the younger two) love this tradition. I let them spend way too much at Dollar Tree, then we raided Niki's stash of random stuffies and fidgets she's been collecting all year and crammed our boxes full. 

3. Then Sunday was our official Church Library Grand Opening!! To kick off the fun, I got up on stage at church and gave an announcement to 300 people! Woohoo! 

Good thing I had that sweater on, or I would've just looked like a floating head against that wall!

I never think I'm going to be nervous about giving an announcement. I write down exactly what I want to say. I know most of the people staring back at me. I'm confident in my message. But as soon as I'm handed that microphone, my hands start shaking. Darn adrenaline. Haha. Once that part was over, though, the Grand Opening was great. We had a bunch of ladies from church bring snacks that drew in a crowd, and it was awesome to see so many people perusing the books we've been laboring over for months. I was also amazed by how many kids loved the chess set. I thought it'd be more decorative than anything, but that thing got a ton of use!

Ikea spice racks FTW! 

Recommended Reads just outside the library.

The gorgeous tapestry our incredibly talented friend Emilee just whipped up for us with stuff she had at home!

My amazing co-conspirators! So thankful for them both and all the work they've poured into this endeavor. Also, shoutout to Jenae for remembering to take all of the above pictures! Haha. (And no, we did not plan our color coordination. We're just naturally that in sync, I guess! 😂)

4. The other exciting happening this week was this . . .

Meet Whit: Luke and Esther's newest baby!

Little Whit was born on Tuesday, and is the blondest newborn I've ever seen.

I'm so happy for them, and cannot wait to get my hands on him! Babies are my jam. I dream that I'm pregnant at least once a week. This week I even had a dream that someone abandoned a baby, I found it, and decided to keep it! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to snuggle Whit in person because . . .

5. I have been gravely ill. 

I first noticed last Friday that I was losing my voice. Then came the migraines. Then the snot dripping down my throat. Which of course culminates in my bi-annual bronchial inflammation and death by coughing! It's almost clockwork that I get this every year in November and February. 

Fortunately, the coughing didn't start in earnest until Thursday. I powered through work with a lot of tea and Delsym, and then I had yesterday off. It's not the worst cough I've ever had, but it's definitely trending in that direction, and I know that pneumonia is going around, and I decided I didn't want to suffer all weekend, so I got into the doctor yesterday. We went through the usual rigmarole of listening to my lungs, asking me if I had childhood asthma (I'm starting to think I did and it was just undiagnosed because I didn't play sports or exert myself enough to ever really notice it. Lol.), and ultimately prescribing me my usual: a cocktail of prednisone and codeine. It usually takes a couple days to really make a difference, so I've been miserable most of today, especially because . . .

I threw out my back coughing. New level of old-age-ailments unlocked. I'm not even joking. I can hardly stand up or walk. I have laid on an ice pack on my couch for roughly ten hours today. (Got lots of Christmas shopping done!) Imagine how great it feels to cough violently when your back is already in agonizing pain. Oy. I'm not even 40 yet . . .

6. Well it's already 12:20, so we're just going to wrap this baby up with some pics and memes.

Speaking of my love for babies . . . I got to snuggle this sleepy sweetie last Saturday. 💓

Pictures I find on my phone.

I can't help myself. I have to take a picture every time he reads a book.

I made Lena pose with her pumpkins so I could document her genie and the lamp for all time before throwing it out in the weeds.

This is why I pre-read pretty much every children's book we put in the church library. Lol. (It's mild, but I can just see some parent being mad that we're encouraging voyeurism or something!)

"George was fond of peeking in windows."

"One day George peeked in on Martha."

"He never did that again. 'We are friends,' said Martha. 'But there is such a thing as privacy!'" 😂

Levi has learned that fast food is my weakness, and he asks for it every day. #staystrong

I have honestly never seen this meme until today. But as I was complaining about indoor recess duty one day this week, I literally said, "I'm glad I only have to fill in for indoor recess, but I feel like my ears are bleeding every time." Lol. So.much.noise!