The Saturday 10!

Yikes. I have a lot to catch up on! 

1. We started our annual Advent Activities on the first. I've gotten really lazy as my kids get older, and this year's have been semi-lame. We started with Sunday cinnamon rolls. On Monday we did the Fruit by the Foot challenge. Justin smoked us all. 

The kids also went sledding, we celebrated St. Nick's Day with presents in their shoes, and I came up with a new idea for a scavenger hunt. Instead of finding things in our house, I sent them outside to find snowmen and Santas and Christmas lights up and down our street among the neighbor's decorations. I let them take my phone so they could take pictures of everything they found (with strict instructions to stay on the sidewalk and not go tromping through people's yards. Lol).

2. Last Friday through Sunday was our weekend of parties. We had 4 parties in three days. First up was a 90s party with some friends. I spent weeks scouring thrift stores for an outfit, when I should've just raided Lucy's closet! I ended up with a pair of acid wash jeans that went up to my ribs, a Nirvana t shirt, and Lucy's converse. When she saw me she said, "I want that whole outfit when you're done with it." Lol. Kids these days. 

I went with messy bun pigtails with butterfly clips, and dark lips and eyeliner. I even drew on a Cindy Crawford mole and put a butterfly tattoo on my ankle. 😂

We played 90s trivia, but I wasn't allowed to watch or listen to anything mainstream in the 90s so I didn't know much. If only there was a version of Christian 90s trivia. I could quote Veggie Tales movies and Point of Grace lyrics like a boss!

3. That Saturday was the extended family Christmas with Justin's side of the family. We meet at a gym and let the kids run wild, eat pizza and snacks, play Bunco, and catch up. The little kids get gifts from Great Grandma. I think Levi was happy with his:

I keep expecting him to outgrow his "RC Vehicles" phase, but apparently this is not the year!

4. On Sunday we went to church, then had two parties back to back. First up was Small Group Christmas, wherein we were instructed to wear ugly Christmas sweaters. Justin and I took home first place for our festivity! 

A sweet pic with my cousin Esther

The kids waiting for their white elephant gift exchange. Levi does not understand the concept of white elephant and was sorely disappointed with his gift. Lol

Then it was off to immediate family Christmas with Justin's family. His parents left for Florida this morning, so we had to get it in while we could! 

Storytime with Uncle Jesse

Blank Slate 

5. This week's Advent Activities were almost all fails. On Monday we went to Five Below and let the kids shop for each other. That was fun. Tuesday was supposed to be Texas Toast snowmen, but I ended up sitting at the barber shop with Levi for literally two hours waiting for his turn. By the time we left there we had to go straight to Lena's band concert. So instead of having dinner together and making something cute, Levi and I had gas station pizza while Justin and the girls scrounged up whatever they could find. Lena did great at her band concert, though!

Her meds are definitely working, because she had no problem playing in front of a crowd. For years, she refused to even sing in the choir for the Christmas play because she was so horrified at the idea of people looking at her. She's come a long way!

We did the Texas Toast snowmen on Wednesday night, but they were lame and no one appreciated them. Lol. On Thursday, I intended to do a directed painting tutorial on YouTube. I bought canvases and everything. But every time I asked the kids if they wanted to do it (we had a snow day, so there was plenty of time), they were ambivalent. I finally stopped asking and just gave up on it! Friday was Levi's Christmas program and McDonald's ice cream afterward. He has been singing his program songs on repeat for months, but when he got up on stage under the big lights, he acted like he had never heard them before in his life. 🤦

He's in the front row, all the way on the left.

The kids had to stand and sing for an hour. His legs were so sore afterward, he needed a piggy back ride to the car. Haha.

6. This morning, we were supposed to go check out the Christkindl market downtown, but we've been having a bad cold snap, so it was less than 30 degrees, and I accidentally slept in way later than I should've, so we didn't have time to go before our other activities of the day. Levi was furious. He doesn't even know what the market is, and truthfully he probably wouldn't like it that much. But he always wants to go places and do things, and he had a very bad attitude today that makes me want to cancel Advent Activities altogether! 

7. Our activity today ended up being Lainey's birthday party. My kids love her, and there were lots of other kids there for them to play with so they had a blast. Isn't she the cutest??

8. I've been preparing for Christmas for months, but still feel like it snuck up on me. Tomorrow will be 10 days! Holy cannoli! I have to get cracking! I have almost all my shopping done. I was waiting for one last thing for Levi to go on sale, but it never did. And somehow I ended up with more for Lucy and Levi than Lena, so I have to get her a couple more things . . . thank goodness for Amazon Prime. But I haven't wrapped a thing, or gotten stocking candy, or finished my mom's shutterfly calendar (it's ok - she knows she's getting it from me every year . . . it might be late this year, Mom. Sorry!). 

9. We've had some winter weather the past few weeks that resulted in two snow days - both on Thursdays, so I haven't worked more than two days a week, and yet I still feel overwhelmed and unprepared. Story of my life I guess. Haha. 

I don't think it got warmer than 13 degrees that day. Isn't Michigan the greatest??

Toad is my spirit animal

10. Time for pics and memes!

Actually, this is my only picture. On to memes . . .

An ad for this shirt targeted me on facebook. I feel personally attacked. I have 10 more months, thank you very much!!!

Some things are just too much to ask . . .

I've been doing a Revelation study at church. Whew. That's some bad stuff. We ain't seen nothing yet!

Speaking of the Bible, I think this is the first time I've read the highlighted verse in the NLT, and I love it. I'm thinking about making it my email signature: "Crazy to the Glory of God."😂

I have said those exact words. 

This next one is technically a reel, but I'm not tech-savvy enough to share it on my blog, so you'll have to try and appreciate it in still form . . .

Before . . .

After! 

I'm not exaggerating when I say that is literally what my stomach looks like. I'm always astonished when I see moms wearing two piece swimsuits and their stomachs are smooth. How do you not look like a deflated balloon like I do? Did I really get that much bigger than everyone else when I was pregnant? Or is my skin really not as elastic as most people's? (Or is it too elastic??) Even if I lost 50 pounds, my skin will still look like that. The sacrifices I've made for these children! I tell you!!