Adventures in La La Land

1. We're home from our fabulous anniversary getaway so the Saturday 7 shall henceforth be penned. Although I make no promises that I'll actually make it to 7, since not much happened last week worth writing about. Hence the reason I used up a whole point to tell you that. 2. We made cookies, had a playdate with a couple long-lost friends, and survived a trip with all 3 kids to the beach. It was Lucy's reward for completing the summer AR program at school. She got 30 AR points between June and last week, largely in part to the American Girl books she's started reading. They're worth a lot of points. Last year, I took all 3 to the beach for the AR party immediately following a busy day of VBS and was beyond frazzled. I was thrilled that it didn't fall during VBS week this year, but I was still pretty frazzled . . . Levi is at a hard age for the beach. He loves the water and wants to be in it, but is unsteady on his feet and has zero fear. So I can't take my ...

1. A few years ago, I signed up as a book reviewer for a Christian book website (booklookbloggers.com). But I never actually reviewed any books for them until this week. I requested a book, it was sent to my kindle for free, then I read it and posted a review on my blog - which I linked back to them. The book itself was nothing special, but how cool that I got it for free?! I think I'm going to start doing it more often. 2. I started another of my parenting books this week: Beyond Bathtime . I'm only a couple chapters in, but one of the study questions at the beginning was, "How are you a good mom?" I felt like that was kind of a stupidly profound question. I never pause to think of how I've been a good mom. I usually focus on my faults. It was kind of nice to give myself a little pat on the back this week and list some of the things I do right. One of them is that I love birthdays and celebrations and making my kids feel special. This might also qualify as a f...

1. On Saturday, we went to Disney Springs. The girls spent their life savings in the Lego store (not exaggerating). They were amazed by the huge sculptures made out of Legos. And they loved the "build your own minifigure" station. I forked over $10 for 3 of their creations since their savings had run dry. We also stopped at the Disney store to spend the rest of our gift cards. Lena got ears too, but didn't feel like posing. While we were there, we saw a clog-dancing show. It was like we never left home! Haha. Levi loved the music! That night, the girls went home with Luke and Esther, and Justin, Levi, and I went out on a date. We went to BJ's restaurant - which I guess is a chain, but we don't have one around here. It was yummy! And nice to get away with just Levi. He's surprisingly easier than the girls in many respects. 2. On Sunday, we headed across the state to Venice Beach to stay with Justin's dad. It was a difficult ...