The Saturday 7

I have got to stop skipping weeks. It takes me way too long to catch up. Alas . . .

1. On Tuesday, I randomly decided to start reading Emma M. Lion. It's gotten a lot of buzz lately, and seemed like my kind of book, so I jumped in. This morning, I finished the 8th book in the series. Lol. The first two were less than 200 pages each, but they picked up in length after that. Suffice it to say, the buzz is deserved. The writing reminded me very much of L.M. Montgomery. There were definite Anne of Green Gables undertones, but it actually felt more like The Blue Castle. And in a strange way, it reminded me of one of my favorite children's novels: Adventures with Waffles - endearing, hilarious, delightful, but at turns serious, heartfelt, and deep. By the end, there was a bit too much poetry for my dull mind, but I adored the series as a whole. As Emma herself says, "There is no feeling quite like finishing a book that you’ve loved." And lucky for me, there are more installments to come! Beth Brower needs to write faster . . .

Here are a few more quotes, just for kicks and giggles:

From book 6:

How delightful a thing, to be signalled. One now understands the draw of the Navy.
“You wear spectacles, Mary?” I said as she stepped past me into the hall. “Not real ones, but he doesn’t need to know,” she replied. “Ah, wonderful!” I exclaimed. “I’ve a pair of cheaters, myself. I wear them in the garret when I want to feel like an educated spinster."
“Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to cut a ribbon.” Of course I’ve dreamt of cutting a ceremonial ribbon. Hasn’t everybody?
It was not the time to praise his lovely use of alliteration. Alas.
“I murdered a beloved, albeit already deceased, family pet.” Pierce nodded absently, then paused. His gaze flicked to my face. “That sentence is problematic in more than one place.” “A metaphor of my life.”
“He is a man of bloviated pomposity.”
Nothing puts one’s mishaps in perspective like the comical telling.

From book 7:

This was one of those moments where one might take the moral high road. I chose to dig a ditch.
"If they roll over in their graves, they can thank us for the exercise.”

2. Last week for Aunt Sadie's Summer Camp, our theme was birds. Lena has become my personal manicurist, and does my nails for each week's theme. Look how adorable the bird turned out:

I actually got quite a few compliments from strangers in the week I had them done like this!

We read some books about birds, made bird feeders, did a bird scavenger hunt, had a bird-y snack, and did some bird activity pages.

The prize for the scavenger hunt/Bingo was gummy worms of course!

Bird's nests macaroni, beaks (Bugles), and eggs (grapes)

Lainey stopped by for lunch, so we had quite the full house!

Here is my Bird Pinterest Board for the links to printables and other ideas I didn't end up using.

3. Lucy had to work at the ice cream shop on Father's Day, but what better day to treat Dad to some ice cream and visit her all in one fell swoop? I just can't believe she's so old and responsible.

It's been a good first job for her. She doesn't work a ton of hours, but enough to have some spending money and to start gaining some life skills.

4. Last week was one of those bananas weeks where everything happened at once. I had my niece on Tuesday, the cousin crew on Wednesday for Bird Week, a soccer camp meeting Wednesday night, then I worked all day Thursday and hosted a small event at the school that night. Friday and Saturday we did a garage sale at my parents', plus hit up the festival in my hometown.

Is it really a small-town festival without a tractor show?

Waiting for fireworks

5. This week, all three kids had dentist appointments, but they couldn't all be seen on the same day. So I drove Levi there on Monday, then Lucy and Lena on Tuesday (and I had to be present - I couldn't just let Lucy drive herself and Lena). But none of them have cavities! (#goodgenes) Aunt Sadie's Summer Camp was a bit of a letdown this week. I decided on a July 4th theme, but didn't prepare well enough. Lena did my nails:

And I attempted to make red and blue waffles:

Photo outtakes . . . my camera didn't know where to focus on this one, and I love that it caught Brodie waiting patiently at the table for me to stop documenting the food and just give it to him!

But that was the extent of the day's themed activities. The girls decided to do a photo shoot, and the boys put the sprinkler under the trampoline (it was in the 90s all week), so they ended up entertaining themselves nicely.

I mandated reading time while I cleaned the house, but found this heap of trouble in my bed 10 minutes later, so I don't think much reading was accomplished . . .

After Nova and Brodie got picked up, we met up with a few more cousins at a friend's pool.

6. We celebrated America's 250th birthday with our usual aplomb: copious amounts of food, family, fireworks, and . . . flailing about in water.

Tomorrow we're dropping Levi off to summer camp for the first time ever. I am very nervous for him, but doing my best to act like it's no big deal. He can be a handful, but it's going to be very hard for me to leave him and be without him all week! Pray for us all!

7. Pics and memes . . .