Adventures in La La Land

1. The camping recap: we survived! No bears were spotted, and we actually had a really nice time. The weather was gorgeous, the pool was heated, and the campground was the cleanest I've ever seen. Plus, Levi and I didn't have to sleep in the tent!! Justin's cousin lives two minutes down the road and they graciously let us sleep in their basement. It was the best of both worlds. Don't get me wrong. Moments of peace like the one above were few and far between. I still think camping with little kids is crazy. I had to carry Levi everywhere, he would only sleep in my arms, I couldn't just set him down in the dirt if I needed my hands for something. The girls are incredibly needy. Lena had a rough time being out of our normal routine and spent a lot of time hanging on me begging me to hold her (when I was already holding Levi). Lucy wanted to swim the whole time, but Lena would only go in the pool if I went with her. Justin wanted to fish the whole time. I wanted to ...

I have to write this up quickly because I need to get in bed. School starts tomorrow, and I'm not ready for my early wake-up call! This is late because yesterday was the big wedding!! More on that later. We have some other stuff to catch up on first. 1. Last Saturday after writing my Saturday 7, I took the girls to the nail salon in Meijer to get our wedding pedicures. They were swamped, so we had to wait forever. Finally, Lucy got in the chair and they got started on her nails while Lena and I waited for another tech to open up. All of a sudden, the radio broke in with an announcement for a tornado warning in our county. It wasn't storming, though, so I figured it was just in a different part of our county. Sure enough, it was south of us, but moving in our direction. At first I wasn't too worried. Historically, Michigan hasn't seen much tornadic activity - and when we do, it's just a little swirling in the clouds. But then, the sirens started going off outs...

1. June 1st marked 7 years since my first miscarriage. I honestly don't think about it often, but every year at the beginning of June, I remember. One of my best friends lost a baby around the same time, and I like to think they're BFFs in heaven. I have no idea if that's theologically feasible, but it's comforting nonetheless. 2. Lucy finished Kindergarten this week! It's amazing how much she has learned/changed in 9 months! At the beginning of the year, she was reading some CVC words and just figuring out long vowels. She was doing some basic addition and subtraction, and could count to 50. Now, she's full-on reading anything she can get her hands on. And her favorite subject is math! She has an incredible grasp on it. It comes very naturally to her, which boggles my mind. Haha. The other day she was telling Lena that there was a 6 pack of Milky Ways on the counter and maybe they could share. So I said, "How many would each of you get if you split the...

Hey, check it out! I got a new background! I finally got sick of the yellow . . . and I'm dreaming of spring . . . 1. I had another good week, pain-wise, until yesterday. The sciatic pain came back with a vengeance and I briefly considered just chopping off my left leg. It's bearable until I lift my foot, when it becomes excruciating. Not great for normal activities - you know, like walking or putting on pants. Fortunately by about 7:00 last night, it was feeling a lot better. It drives me crazy that there's no rhyme or reason to it. I don't know if it really depends that much on the baby's position or if it has something to do with how I'm sitting/moving/walking/relaxing. I just get to live in constant suspense of "Will my sciatic hurt today?" 2. We had a play date on Tuesday. Not only did my marvelous friend drink coffee and chat with me for hours while our kids entertained each other, she also brought over a huge casserole. We've been eating...

It is Saturday, right? This week has me so confused . . . 1. Lucy had her first class party at school on Monday. They had Thanksgiving dinner before the party and Lucy informed me that she only ate Jell-o and a roll. Typical. Lena and I arrived after lunch for the party. They had 5 tables set up with different crafts/activities for the kids to do. Lena loved it as much as - or more than - Lucy. Gobble gobble! This was Lena's favorite station. She refused to move. I definitely bought her some of those foam stickers for Christmas when we were out shopping yesterday. 2. We did Thanksgiving with the VanderKoddes this year. I was assigned a vegetable dish of my choosing. At first, I was going to make this: Source It's nothing I would ever eat, but I figured the health nut VanderKoddes would appreciate it. So I went off to Meijer to buy tomatoes and zucchini. Did you know that zucchini is $1.99 a piece during the off season? I couldn't bring myself to pay that muc...