The Saturday 7

Was Lucy's birthday really this week? It seems like so long ago. Man, quarantine is getting old. Anyway! . . .

1. Lucy turned the big 1-0 on Monday. She originally wanted to have her first ever sleepover, but that was of course forestalled by the dreaded stay-at-home-order. We tried to make her day fun anyway. It's long been a tradition for the birthday girl to get breakfast in bed with one present.

I watched Ruby that day, so Esther generously picked up donuts for us!

Later on that morning, one of her friends from school stopped over with a present and stayed to play and have lunch with us - Lucy's specially requested spiral macaroni. After Avery left, Lucy did lots of screen time (her favorite thing in the whole universe) and when Justin got home she got to open the rest of her presents.

I think she was a little disappointed with the presents. Truth be told, I've been buying things here and there for months but when I went to wrap them I was surprised by how little I had gotten her. Haha. Oops! I did buy her an expensive mermaid tail to swim in, though. At least she was excited about that.

Then came the big "surprise." Justin's dad sweetly set up a "birthday parade" for her, complete with a police officer. You may remember that I said Lucy would not appreciate such a fuss, but Justin's dad was so excited we couldn't turn him down. Lol. Instead, we prepped Lucy ahead of time so she wasn't taken off guard. She tolerated the parade, but Lena and Levi thought it was the best thing ever. Lol.

Justin's dad completed the parade with pizza (and my sister/parents/nephews threw out candy/treats), so it was worth it to Lucy.

Niki got her this glass bottle of root beer. Haha.

2. Originally, Lucy had big plans to do a "birthday bake-off." (We watch a lot of cooking competition shows.) On her actual birthday, she was busy with other things, but on Tuesday, she and Lena got out the pots and pans and ~~destroyed my kitchen~~ baked to their hearts' content.

Every time they want to bake, I complain about the potential mess, and they promise they'll clean up. This is how they clean up: by throwing every dish they used in the sink. Oy.

Worse than the mess, though, is their insistence that Justin and I have to judge between them and choose a winner. There is just never a good way to choose a favorite when it comes to our kids.

3. We had some beautiful weather this week and spent lots of time playing outside.

One of Lena's made-up games involving rocks, a skateboard, and snow shovels. I don't even know . . .

Ruby may have sustained a bit of an injury (#worstbabysitterever), but look at those gorgeous eyes!!

Ruby loved the sprinkler, and was not at all deterred by the cold water

My kids are obsessed with the ice cream truck. We've already had a talk about how we're not going to buy something every single time it drives by our house.

4. Lucy finally finished her schoolwork on Thursday so we are officially done with school!! The last few assignments were very brutal. I'm trying not to give as many details about my struggles with Lucy since she's old enough now to care that I'm writing about her on the Internet. But suffice it to say, I'm looking for book recommendations about helping kids deal with big emotions . . . especially anger. Any ideas?

5. Speaking of books, tonight I went to my first ever book club meeting! You'd think after my years of voracious reading, book clubs would be old hat, but I've truly never been a part of one. We're reading My Dear Hamilton, a novel based on the life of Alexander's wife Elizabeth. I didn't even know who Alexander Hamilton was until the musical came out, and I've never seen it, so I went into the book pretty much blind. It's actually pretty fascinating! And it makes me want to learn more about the founding of our nation. I'm astonished by how little of this we learned in school (or how little I retained . . .). Anyway, our book club meeting was really fun! I was worried we wouldn't have enough to talk about, but there was plenty of fodder for discussion and we had a great time! (We only read the first half of the book for tonight's discussion, so no spoilers!)

6. Justin's watching Brooklyn 99 and I cannot focus, so it's time to wrap this up . . .