quick 5

Another week passes. A week of laundry and runny noses. A week of whining and correcting and praying for grace and asking forgiveness. A week of days that are up and down and attitudes that are up and down. But we made it and I feel grateful for a herd of littles and a good man to steer us and a Savior to lavish on the grace as we go. 

1. Conversation with Ella (3.5 years)...

Ella: Mom, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Me: Well, I'm a mom.

Ella: No! When you're done being a mom and you grow up.

Me: Oh, then I want to be a writer.

Ella: No, I mean a real job. You can be a policeman, a firefighter, or a superhero.

Me: I think I'll be a superhero.

Ella: Me, too. 

2. I've been thinking a lot about the space in my house. Our house isn't big or small, though it can feel both on any given day. We have five small bedrooms- one is Garrett's office (he works from home most days- which we love), one is on the main floor and is home to our sweet friend and her sweet daughter, and that leaves the six of us in the other three. So the kids are tight, and they feel it. And with homeschooling, sometimes it feels like we are just all on top of each other all the time. So, as I was cleaning up the boys legos from the dining room table for the umpteenth time, I was thinking about space for the kids to call their own. I remembered how the Nester had an open table in her living room for her boys to spread out. Then I remembered a little table living in pieces in the garage. So yesterday, the lego table was born. It's a hit!

Girls' work area on left, boys' lego table on right, Tangled playing in the middle. The filter on this photo makes it look a lot cooler than it is, but that's what filters are for, right?

Of course, once the boys had celebrated their new space, Ella asserted that she too needed a table. So a side table and chair from the porch were paired to create her 'desk'. (A chair for Tessa was added tonight. She's not one to be left out.) I think the changes are working out well, and I've noticed that whenever the kids come downstairs, the first thing they do is go and sit at their space. 

3. A Memory of Light, the final book in the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, came out this week. Due to a complete lack of planning on my part, we forgot to pre-order the book. So on Thursday we ventured out to Barnes & Noble to pick it up (had a gift card so we thought we'd just skip Amazon and visit an actual bookstore.)

Future Wheel of Time fans

I poked around the store, sure that there would be a huge display somewhere. I finally asked at Customer Service where the lady informed me that the book had sold out on the first day. But no worries, they had ordered more (two days after selling out) and the new shipment should be here in a week. I just stared at her, thinking, "I can order it on amazon for eight dollars cheaper and it will come in two days. Do you even want this store to stay open? Seriously?" I shook my head and walked out. Before we were out of the parking lot, I had ordered the book via my phone. I woke this morning to an e-mail saying it was shipped. The whole thing kind of made me sad because I don't want book stores to go under, but they have to embrace the idea that the book business is faster than years past. Know what I mean? (My apologies, The Shop Around the Corner.)

4. I got all ambitious and bold (and terrified!) this week and decided to have a few people read the first third of my book. (I chose people who don't live near me so that I wouldn't actually have to look them in the face when they tell me what they think. Optimistic, I know.) And then my laptop immediately got a virus and I haven't worked on the manuscript since. From this, we call all learn several important lessons:

• don't set goals. It will frustrate you.
• don't use computers. They will frustrate you.
• don't put off backing up your hard drive or updating your anti-virus. You will frustrate yourself.

Hope that's helpful.

5. Right now I'm in between cameras. I seem to find myself in this situation about every 18 months, which is why I don't spend much on cameras because they get mistreated. But maybe the camera gets mistreated because I don't really take care of it because it doesn't seem like a big investment. So maybe if I invested more, I'd take better care of it? I hate to test that theory and be wrong. 

On the bright side, I discovered an awesome FREE app for my phone that is making my crummy phone features look much better. It's called Aviary and it's really easy to use.

Bath time with Ella (love this one!)

Found the 'middles' at the lego table when I came down from putting Tessa to bed. 

And that's a wrap. 

Are you watching the NFL play-offs, people???? That Redskins game was a real heart breaker last week. But we are cheering for the Broncos and looking forward to their game on Saturday. 

Guess that's all from our neck of the suburbs. Have a fantastic weekend!