The Saturday 7

1. We spent two nights in a hotel in Orlando to end our Florida vacation - mainly because we didn't want to have to worry about making the 3 hour drive on the morning of our flight, but also because my sister Niki was in Orlando the whole time we were in Florida! She and her family were staying in a fabulous resort, and they let us come hang out for the day on Monday. It was a beautiful 80* day, so we spent most of it in the various pools (and waterslides!). First, we checked out their amazing condo.

On the balcony

There was a TV in the bathroom mirror!
 

The girls loved the waterslides, but Levi refused to even try it.

Around 4 it started to rain, so we headed back up to the condo. The adults played cards while the kids enjoyed the arcade games (in the condo!) and TV.

We had dinner there, then headed back to our hotel for a good night's sleep before heading home.

2. When I scheduled our Florida trip I seriously debated about the timing. I knew we wanted to go in February, and it made sense to go around Presidents' Day since the kids had that day off of school, but Libby was due on March 2. I wanted to be available to help with Nash since I knew Niki would be in Florida and my mom is a working woman now. When we left on the 14th, I told Libby, "Keep that baby in until I get back." She was soooo close. Monday night as we were getting in bed in Florida, Libby was texting us that she was having mild contractions and Mom was coming to spend the night in case this was it. I slept very lightly because I don't always hear my phone and I was worried I would miss big news. I did miss the text that they were going to the hospital in the middle of the night, but I heard it go off when she sent the report from triage. By Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. we got the text that Saylor Reese had been born! Again, it kills me that we weren't there in person to receive the news like we were with Nash, but we couldn't have been anyway thanks to Covid, so it didn't matter what state we were in! Haha. 

Look at that hair!

3. We finally left Florida Tuesday afternoon, sad to leave the sunshine and warmth, but happy to get home to our own beds and a new baby to snuggle! This is the progression of the pictures I took out the plane window on our flight home.

Looking out over the Atlantic

Mountains somewhere around the Carolinas/Tennessee

Snow over Indiana 😭😭😭

Lena did better on the return trip, and I made Justin sit with Levi this time, so it was an easy flight for me! 😁 

4. I'm a mean mom and made the kids go to school the day after we got back, but I made up for it by taking them to see Saylor that evening.

I snapped this picture when it was finally my turn to hold her and it reminded me soooo much of my babies. 

Lena on the left, Saylor on the right. I know it's just the hair and Binky, but it was a nostalgic experience for me! Lol

I may have snuck over for a few minutes without my kids the next day and took this pic:

Definitely doesn't look as much like a VK baby without the Binky. 💗

5. Last night I went to a Ladies' Game Night event our church was throwing. In an effort to socially distance, we didn't all meet together, but rather met in small groups at various host homes. When we signed up, we had the option to choose a specific person we wanted to be with, but I didn't put anyone down. And I realized that in my old age, I'm becoming much more confident in social settings. A few years ago, I wouldn't have gone at all if I didn't have someone to go with. But now, I know most of the women in the church at least a little bit, and it doesn't scare me as much to meet new people. I mean, if Libby didn't just have a baby and Niki was home from Florida, I would've gone with them, but it didn't kill me not to have anyone. I got assigned to the host home closest to my house. I knew 2 of the ladies semi-well (facebook friend-level), one just from seeing her around church, and one not at all. And it was a blast! Of note, though . . . I was the oldest one there. I was always the youngest in my class at school since I started Kindergarten at 4, and I hang out a lot with Niki and her friends who are about 10 years older than me, so it was a new experience being the elder of the group! Haha. And then today, I went to Aldi and didn't get carded when I bought beer. It's official. I'm an old lady!

6. Levi is turning 5 tomorrow (😯😭), and as is tradition in our family, we kicked off birthday weekend yesterday. Justin made a rule with the girls that when they turned 5, they'd start having Daddy/Daughter dates on their birthdays. So Levi and I started our own Mother/Son date tradition this year! When I asked him what he wanted to do on our date, he said, "Get donuts and pizza and watch a movie and do yoga." Haha. Ok! So after we dropped the girls off at school yesterday, we swung by the donut shop, then the library to rent a couple movies. Conveniently enough our only working DVD player is in our bedroom, so after eating our donuts, we snuggled in bed to watch his movies. I may or may not have dozed off . . . We did some Cosmic Kids yoga together, then went to a pizza buffet for lunch. Pretty much the best day ever. 

The celebration continued today with a viewing of Tom and Jerry in the theater. 

Afterward, Justin, Lucy, and Levi went up to my brother's house. Justin and Levi went ice fishing while Lucy played with Ruby.

Meanwhile, I took Lena to get her ears pierced! She's been wanting to do it forever, but as you can imagine, it took her a while to work up the courage.

Voila!

She did great! It was nice that there were two piercers available, so they could do both ears at once. She didn't cry, hardly even flinched, and hasn't complained about them since we've been home! 

7. A few more pics:

#kidsthesedays

This pretty much sums up how Levi handles mask mandates.

I put out a plea on facebook for gift ideas for Levi. He has sooooooooooooo many toys, but he almost never plays with them. I got a lot of great suggestions. We'll see if anything entices him to get off my lap.