Adventures in La La Land

1. We had kind of a crazy week. Sunday after church we had family lunch at my parents' house while we still could. I just love having everyone together. It's so fun to interact with my nephews and their significant others now that they're adults, and I love having so many babies in the family again. These are the moments. Coloring with Grandpa 2. We've been battling some sickness in our house (thanks a lot, school!). Lena stayed home from school on Monday with a random fever. Levi has suddenly come down with the cough that Lucy's had for a month. (Lucy's is actually much better.) Levi puked every night this week because laying down in his bed makes him cough like there's no tomorrow. Fortunately, we caught it almost every time. He's fine during the day, but a disaster at night. And this morning, I woke up with a man voice that hasn't gotten much better throughout the day. Oy. 3. On Tuesday I had a physical therapy appointment. The more the the

1. Now that my birthday is over, it's time to start thinking about CHRISTMAS!!! ARE YOU GETTING EXCITED?!?! Really, I'm trying to space out the present buying, so it's not all on one credit card bill. Haha. And truthfully (to my kids' chagrin), we're going to cut back on gifts this year. Their gift is a Christian education. Ha! I'm excited for the first Christmas in our new house, though. And I signed up to be Lucy's room mom, so I've already started thinking about Christmas games and crafts that 4th graders would be interested in. I haven't started listening to Christmas music yet, but it's coming soon . . . 2. I made a new recipe on Monday: Cheesy Potato and Vegetable Chowder . It was deeelicious. I added bacon because everything's better with bacon. I also made bread from scratch for the first time. I used to make it in the bread machine when we lived with my parents, but they wouldn't let me steal theirs and I don't have my own.

1. Birthday week!!! It really is true that the older you get, the less you care about birthdays. I rang in my 34th year pretty much the same way I start every day: coffee, shuttling kids to school, watching Ruby, and making Levi grilled cheese for breakfast. My parents stopped by with lunch from Qdoba. Justin brought me home chocolate and Dr Pepper (I told him no gifts since we just bought a van). I took a nap on the couch around 6:00 and never even ate dinner. Haha. The kids sang Happy Birthday to me, and I didn't clean the house all day (which totally backfired, because who had to clean up a whole day's worth of messes on Friday? #thisgirl). I actually took most of the week off of cooking and cleaning, and spent 3 days reading 3 books. It is astounding  how quickly the house can fall into disarray if I'm not constantly picking up. It's just another example of how instant gratification (putting off the housework in favor of reading) doesn't pay off in the end. I&#