The Saturday 7

1. This week was birthday week for Lucy. She turned 12 on Wednesday and had many days worth of celebration. First, we celebrated with my family on Sunday. She had asked for Sadie Robertson books and my family delivered. She got a bunch on Sunday, plus a few other things she asked for. 

I'm a bad mom and couldn't scrounge up 12 candles. Lol. She didn't care.

On Wednesday, she got her traditional breakfast in bed (cinnamon roll) and one present before school. She opened the rest of her presents when Justin got home from work. She didn't get very many this year, because she really wanted a huge, expensive Lego set, so that took up most of the birthday budget. 

She chose Culver's for her birthday dinner that night, which was a nice break from the usual McDonald's or pizza. On Thursday night, sweet Aunt Esther took her out for dinner at Red Robin, then let her do some shopping at the mall. Lucy was so excited to buy new clothes off the rack at a store in the mall. She told me afterward that she doesn't ever remember doing that. She's only ever shopped at Once Upon or Walmart with me. (#whitetrash #poor #cheap) So that was an exciting milestone. Haha. 

2. And then last night, she had a low key sleepover with a couple of friends. It's great that she's to the age now where I don't have to entertain them or create party games or anything. We went swimming as soon as we got home from school:

Both of my girls have primarily blonde friends. Lol.

Lena's friend came swimming with us that afternoon as well. (Her name is Leah, so she fits right in with my brood. 😂)

When we got home, Lucy and her friends shut themselves in her room making gallons of slime while watching High School Musical. After a dinner of pizza, they did blindfolded makeovers (there was much giggling):

They were "nice" and let Lena join in on the action. Ha!

They made brownies at 9:00 at night, then watched the HSM sequels and talked until the wee hours of the morning. (They were still awake when I went to bed at 1 a.m.!) Both of her friends were super sweet and respectful. They called me Mrs. VanderKodde and even included Lena and Levi a little bit. I think it was a successful birthday week for Lucy. 

3. It was sure the warmest birthday week I ever remember her having! I've been complaining about the cold for 8 months, so I really tried not to complain about the high 80s we had this week, but it was a bit of a shock to the system! Haha. We were very grateful that Niki opens her pool so early in the season. We enjoyed it a lot this week!

I love that the pool brings so many of us together. You never know who's going to show up. We had fun with Ruby and Casper on Friday.

Nova too!

Today they even swam in a random 5 minute downpour. A few minutes after this picture, it was sunny and steamy again! 

4. Exciting news: I finished my math class! Two of my three classes are self paced, so I've been plowing through them in an effort to be done before my kids are done with school. The math class has been fairly easy, and I've been getting 90s on most assignments/quizzes. But the last chapter really did me in. It was on compound interest, which my brain just can.not.compute. I really did try, but after a couple hours of getting problems wrong, I gave up and took the 64%. I did a little better on the test, but still got an 86%. Those two grades dragged my total grade down to an 88% - not great for me, but honestly better than I expected for a math class. I'll take it! B's get degrees! I'm relieved to be done with it. Now I just have to apply myself to Early Childhood Development. It's not terrible, just time consuming. Just a few more weeks!

5. I've actually read a couple decent books lately. The first was The Lady's Mine by Francine Rivers. You can't go wrong with a Francine Rivers book. This one wasn't as amazing as some of her others, but it's still a solidly written, well-done novel. The second was West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge. I'm in a bunch of bookish facebook groups, and this one keeps popping up. It also got rave reviews on Goodreads/Amazon, so when I saw it on Kindle Unlimited I decided to try it out. As I wrote in my Goodreads review, I can see it becoming a classic someday because it's full of that symbolism English teachers are always having kids write essays on. The irony is not lost on me that I consider myself a bibliophile librarian, but I don't really enjoy literary writing. Just tell me the story. Don't make me guess at the themes or symbolism. The book was fine - a little slow at times. Most people would probably like it more than I did (as the online ratings reflect). Props to me for trying something outside of my usual genre. 

6. Part of the reason I've picked up reading again recently is that I'm trying to spend less time on my phone. How many times have you heard me say that? 🤦 I've just been really convicted about it lately, especially because cutting back makes me realize how insanely addicted I am. 

I don't even know what to do with myself if I'm not staring at my phone. Admitting the problem is the first step to change, right? 😬

7. Here are some more pictures I took with my phone and memes I found while aimlessly scrolling on my phone:

A selfie I found in my camera roll

My baby

I probably posted this last year, and I'll probably post it again next year. Thanks to my rich sister, at least it'll be an in-ground pool! But life is too short to eat rabbit food just to look good by the pool for the three short months our Michigan weather allows it! Come join me for stomach nachos and sarcasm anytime!