The Saturday 7

1. We finally got our first real glimpse of spring this week. We've had little tastes of it here and there, but almost every day this week was sunny and bearably warm. Don't get me wrong. I still sat outside in jeans and sweatshirts, but Lena jumped straight to her summer wardrobe:

I was so excited to have a fenced in backyard so I could just send the kids out to play. But all they want to do is ride their bikes now that we got them from my parents' house. Lena's actually the only one who can truly ride a bike, but Levi wants to push his car back and forth up the sidewalk over and over and over. And the country girl in me is too nervous to let him play out front without my supervision. So I spent a lot of time sitting in the sun watching them ride this week . . . and a lot of time yelling, "Go play in the backyard!!" (Lucy has very little interest in being outside unless we're going for a walk, preferring instead to sit inside and read. #theappledoesntfallfarfromthetree)

Levi's reaction to losing the race with Lena. #crushed 

Ruby likes to play outside too - even if it's teetering on the edge of too cold for both of us. #nevertoocoldforlevi

Of course, we're supposed to have snow tonight and a high of 34* tomorrow, but that's Michigan for you. 🤷

Let's go April! Please be better than March!

2. Lena came down with a nasty wet cough this week. The worst part is that she's afraid to cough up the phlegm, so she practically drowns in it and then panics that she can't breathe! She has a phobia of puking and is convinced that if she coughs too hard, she'll puke. (It's not an unfounded fear - Levi did just that last night, but Lena is not nearly the puker her siblings are.) I spent the first half of the week begging her to cough and continually clearing my throat in a subconscious effort to get her to do the same. Haha. It's like when you spoon-feed a baby and open your own mouth. So maddening!

3. Bad news guys: my bracket is not doing very well. I picked Gonzaga to go all the way and they just lost to Texas Tech. Are you kidding me?!? My only hope is for Kentucky and Michigan State to make it to the Final Four as I predicted. But there are too many people in my bracket pool who chose either State or Duke to win. The odds are not in my favor. #boosports

4. On Friday, I took the girls to The Compassion Experience. It's a traveling exhibit put on by Compassion International that gives a glimpse into lives of children in poverty throughout the world, and how Compassion is able to literally save their lives. It ties in perfectly with Lucy's geography-based curriculum, so I knew we couldn't miss it. I thought it was very well done, if not a little heartbreaking. (A lot heartbreaking if I'm being honest.) I like to live in a state of "ignorance is bliss." We do sponsor a child through Compassion, and have for years, but sometimes I need to separate myself from all the suffering in the world because it seems so insurmountable. I was amazed by how much the girls took away from it. We went with some of their friends, so they were being silly and goofy most of the time, as is to be expected. But when we saw my parents that night, they regaled them with the horror stories they learned about - kids losing parents and friends to AIDS and war, fathers refusing to accept and provide for their illegitimate children, babies dying in childbirth. It was tastefully done in a way that wasn't scary, but was eye-opening.

We each got a headset and an iPod. The featured child told us his/her story as we walked through their staged homes, schools, and marketplaces.

Of course, the exhibit was in the parking lot of the mall, so we had to stop for lunch at the food court and a quick jaunt through Claire's. Because there's nothing like seeing heart-rending depictions of poverty to put you in the mood for rampant American consumerism. 🤦

5. Speaking of consumerism . . . we closed on our house yesterday! Yes, we've been living here for a month without actually owning it, but that's the perk of buying from family. So now we are officially in major debt again and have to remember how to be responsible adults with a mortgage instead of free-loaders. Lame. Seriously though, we are so so thankful for Luke and Esther's generosity to sell us this house for less than it's worth! And so thankful for the years of free-loading off my parents. 😂

6. In honor of officially owning the place, we decided to tear it up! Have I told you about the basement bathroom? It was disgusting. Luke and Esther bought this house two years ago and never touched the gross old bathroom (so don't look at these pictures and think badly of them - this is how it was when they moved in).

There was also a strange half-wall between the laundry room and the door to our bedroom. It was probably intended to hide the mechanicals, but it just made the space tight.

So today, Justin and his dad got to Chip-Gaines it up and have "DEMO DAY!!!!" I didn't actually take any pictures of that process, but here it is after all was said and done:

The plan is to stack the washer and dryer, then frame in a totally new bathroom. Woohoo!!

I've also been making progress upstairs. I finally bought a big art piece for the wall and made up my mind about curtains.

I'm not sure the gray horizontal stripes really go with my rug, but I've decided not to care. I adore them and they make me happy every time I look at them. There's also some sheers between them that look nicer when they're open.

Plain blue on the smaller window balances it out . . . hopefully. Haha.

I really want to do a "gallery wall," so I pulled out all my frames, but I don't have enough pictures printed off. So I just settled for this small "vignette" of verses/hymn lyrics today.  Gallery wall to come . . .

Thank you, Pinterest, for free printables!

7. Pictures:

Back and forth, back and forth . . .

"Wait for me, Lena!"

😂

My nephew Tristan has a sudden obsession with reptiles and was recently telling Levi about his snakes. Levi desperately wanted to see them, so he and I went and visited on Wednesday. Levi loved the snake and had no problem touching it. He did not want Tristan to wrap it around his shoulders, though. However, when Tristan wrapped it around his own shoulders, Levi thought it was hilarious. He could not stop laughing:

Last one: look at that precious face!!!

The bow, the jean jacket, the eyes, the smile! 😍😍😍