The "Saturday" 7

1. Last Sunday, everyone was finally available, and quarantine was lifted enough for us to finally have our first ever Family Easter Egg hunt. My parents didn't do the Easter Bunny or baskets with us growing up, so it has never been part of our Easter tradition. But now that my siblings and I all have kids (and grandkids!), we've decided to start a new-to-us tradition. Niki graciously bought 126 plastic eggs and enough candy/toys to go in all of them, then she and her kids filled and hid them in the backyard. After lunch, we let the kids loose to find as many as they could (but not more than 21 each #fair). It was so much fun!

Have I mentioned that this gang is growing in October? (#notme)

Checking out the loot!

A taste of the spoils

2. It was another brutally hot week. I only say "brutally" because Justin works outside in it all day every day. There's nothing brutal about it for me. We luxuriated at the pool every day this week. (#thisisthelife) Levi is finally getting more confident with swimming, so he doesn't appear to be drowning as much. (I seriously warn people when they come over, "Levi looks and sounds like he's drowning, but he's not. That's just how he swims." Lol) He's also astonishingly good at holding his breath for a long period of time. This is his favorite way to practice, though. 

Heart attack, much??

Ruby is also a pro at holding her breath. The kids got these nose plugs in their Easter eggs, and she loves to wear them, but she doesn't open her mouth! Lol.

Does anyone else have a kid who loves ice? She cracks me up.

Nash-man is not a huge fan of the pool, so I made sure to get pictures on this day when he actually enjoyed it!

Ruby, however, loves the pool and I can't take my eye off her for a second because she'll dive right in with no fear! Haha.

3. On Tuesday, Levi had a well-child checkup. He weighed in at 42 lbs. 😲 I'm pretty sure that's more than Lena. I'm also fairly certain I didn't weigh that much until 4th grade (not exaggerating). Everything else was good, except that I mentioned the trouble we've been having with potty training. He still continues to go a little bit (but enough to soak through his undies and shorts) every time before he tells me he needs to go, then goes lots more on the toilet. I'm starting to worry about school in the fall (we're a private school, and so far it's looking like we should be able to have school as normal with very few restrictions!). The doctor ordered a urinalysis just because he's old to be having this problem, and she said it sounds like he pees an usually large amount. Lol. It came back clear. 🤷 And honestly, in the past few days, he's been doing tons better. Maybe hearing me talk about it with the doctor knocked some sense into him?? Haha. We'll see. He had to get his 4 year boosters and did not enjoy them. Haha. Actually, when I told him he'd have to get a couple shots (after the Dr. left, but before the nurse with the shots came in), he took off running out the room, down the hall, around a corner. Isn't that a fun parenting moment? Hissing, "You get back here right now!" while trying not to run (or scream) like a maniac? Fortunately, another nurse cut him off in the hall and I dragged him back to the room. After that initial freakout, he didn't resist anymore. I gave him my phone and let him watch Netflix in the hopes it'd distract him. He did lay down peacefully, but as soon as the needle poked him, he tried to bat the nurse's hand away. There were tears. And he babied his legs for a couple days, but I don't blame him. I remember how sore I was when I got my tetanus shot! 

4. My interactions with Lucy continue to be extremely difficult. She only came to the pool with us once this week. Swimming is one of her absolute favorite things, but she can't stand to be around me. Not going to get into all that . . . Anyway, in her time alone at home, she's become quite the voracious baker. This week she made banana/chocolate chip muffins, a two layer cake with homemade frosting, and cupcakes with homemade frosting. 

5. I'm glad she's found something that brings her such joy. I just wish it wouldn't require her to destroy my kitchen every single day! After some talking about cleaning up after herself, she'll usually at least throw her dirty dishes in the sink, but that's about as far as she goes. Which is especially unfortunate since my dishwasher finally bit the dust! 😭 It still runs, but it doesn't clean the dishes . . . which is kind of the point. We're debating between having it looked at or just buying a new one. And in the meantime . . .

I didn't realize I had a "sparkle" filter on when I took this via snapchat. Lol. It makes a monotonous chore look much more glamorous!

It truly hasn't been that terrible. When Justin and I were first married we lived in an apartment with no dishwasher, and it was the source of some of our most heated disagreements. Lol. Then, I was working full time while he was going to school/playing soccer full time. Now, he works outside the home, and I work inside it (in the AC!), so I've accepted it as my responsibility (although he has done them a few times when he knew I was overwhelmed). I crank some worship music and my kids tend to leave me alone at the risk of being put to work. But don't get me wrong . . . I will be thrilled when I can just toss stuff in the dishwasher like the good ol' days.

6. Yesterday I spent alllll afternoon shopping all by myself. I went to Once Upon a Child to get Lena some pajamas and Levi some summer clothes (and of course, 12 books that we don't need but I had to have), then I stopped at B2 where I got some dress pants for $2, then finally to Kohl's. Justin got me Kohl's gift cards for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, but I wanted to actually shop in the store, which was impossible for the past few months. Of course, when I went yesterday the fitting rooms were still closed, which kind of defeated the purpose of going in, but I thoroughly enjoyed looking through every single section. There were some major clearance deals going on - you could take an additional 30% off priced clearance, plus I had my Kohl's charge discount of another 30%! I think I seriously spent 3 hours in the store. I found myself a few pairs of pants, a bunch of shorts, a puffy vest, and a cute pair of gladiator sandals, plus a couple shirts/pants for Levi, and a new wall clock. If you've been to my house in the past 9 months, you may have been warned that our huge wall clock is for decoration only. It has deceived a great many visitors, who will suddenly say, "Oh no! I was looking at your clock! It's not 4:30. It's 5:45!" So I finally got a new one (that came with 6 other picture frames) for a grand total of $10! (Thank you clearance+discounts!)

Lena's reaction to my choice was, "Those aren't even numbers! Who can read that?!" Ha!

7. Pics

Trying out the bike without training wheels!

Pep talk 💓

Sorry not sorry for the Ruby spam. She's just so cute! (Here, she was sharing my slushie with me. Her parents are pretty strict about sugar. Aunt Sadie has no such scruples!)

I'm not blonde, I swear!