The Saturday 7

1. I'm really over this "shelter at home" thing. And no, this isn't a political opinion, it's purely an emotional one. I looked back and did the math. It's been 6 weeks since the girls had school, almost 5 weeks since we've been "sheltering at home" and Justin has been off work, and this week the governor tacked on 3 more weeks to our never-ending quarantine.

Sadly, this newest order extends into Lucy's birthday. I never would've guessed we'd still be doing this in May when it started in the middle of March. But here we are. I've been trying to think of something fun we can do for Lucy's birthday. I've seen lots of people posting about "drive-by" birthday wishes/honks/signs, but that would absolutely mortify Lucy. And my mom had a fun idea of doing "10 things for your 10th birthday" - where for 10 days leading up to her birthday people could drop off "10 things." Like 10 pieces of gum, 10 bracelets, 10 . . . whatever. But I can't think of anything little she would like that isn't candy. We have enough stinkin' candy in this house. (I finally threw away all the leftover Christmas and Valentine's Day candy this week!) So I'll keep wracking my brain.

2. Justin and I have been binge-watching a new-to-us show: Poldark. We blew through 2 seasons this week. I love it, but he told me last night, "This show is infuriating. It's just week after week of people making bad decisions and then facing the consequences." Lol. Isn't that life, though?

3. We only have two more weeks of "homeschool" to do. Hallelujah! But I'm secretly concerned about how I'm going to occupy these kids once we don't have school to do. I really, really need the library and parks to open back up. I really need to have playdates with my friends and their kids. I need to see my nieces and nephews again! Fortunately, I'm going to start watching Ruby again beginning Monday. I don't think I ever wrote that I had a few weeks off since my brother has been working from home. But Esther just took a full-time position at her job, so I'm actually going to start watching Ruby 4 days a week! I can't wait to see her again and have someone else to entertain my kids. 🤣

4. I am a little nervous about getting up early to watch my Ruby girl, though. Haha. We've gotten real used to staying up til midnight or 1 and sleeping til 8/9/10. Lena is actually the worst. The past few nights she's been up til 1:30 or later. And she freaks out if I try to go downstairs to my bedroom until she's asleep. It is so frustrating. We've also been trying to crack down on Levi's sleeping habits now that Justin doesn't have to get up so early. Levi regularly ends up in bed with us in the middle of the night. Truth be told, it usually doesn't bother me that much, so I'm not enough of a stickler. But Justin's had enough. Point being, it's going to be rough for me to get up at 7 when I'm up 'til 1:30 with Lena, and then up with Levi again in the night. Ugh.

5. Part of the reason Lena's been staying up so late is that she has finally discovered a love for reading! Lucy helped her figure out how to use the online library on her Kindle, and Lena has been plowing through books. She's read every "Kylie Jean" e-book the library offers and then turned around and started re-reading them all when she finished! I wasn't sure she'd ever be as voracious a reader that Lucy and I are, but something really clicked these past few months, and as her confidence grows, so does her desire to read. Woohoo!

6. Well Justin just turned on Poldark, so I'm super distracted. And it's not like I have much else to report! Haha. Here's some pictures.