a little family update

This week Elsie has been very into playing Lake Geneva / Mount Carmel. It's a mix of both places where we pretend we're at Bible Camp, and mostly we pretend we're sleeping on a bunk bed and then wake up to a bell and put our swim suits on to build sand castles. (And she thinks her winter hat from when she was a baby fits her "just perfect!")

Ivar spent much of his week working odd jobs to earn money for Blade, a toy helicopter from a movie he likes. He had $6 from his birthday and needed $4 to have enough to get Blade. Last week he lamented, "I want quarters, I just don't want to clean things to get them!" But that's how it works. He stopped working jobs for a few days, but this week he found the fire in his belly again and after putting the silverware away lots of times, cleaning the living room and gathering sticks in a bucket for our fire place, he finally earned enough.

Harriet had some tummy issues this week that kept us up a lot. And then we both got colds which is a bummer. I thought many times about how I had written that she is an easy baby, and how the last week was anything but easy. Funny how that happens. But last night she skipped a feeding, sleeping from 10-4 and I am hoping and praying that this might just become a thing. (Though she has slept most of today with her stuffy nose, and I've let her because I want her to feel better, so we'll see how tonight goes...but maybe it's a thing!) (Nope. Not a thing. We were up a lot last night...she can't breathe through her nose and this is very frustrating for her...)

Rory spent the last few weeks working late into the night. His work is like this...it ebbs and flows. And this season has proven to demand lots of hours. But he's been building a fire most days for us, which tends to keep everyone in a good mood.

And I have been reading books again, which feels so good. I read the three books I checked out at the library: Pioneer Woman's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, her love story memoir where she writes a lot about her husband's large biceps. It was cute and funny. I read The Fringe Hours, which I didn't love. I thought I would, but there was much that was hard to relate to.  And I'm just wrapping up Scary Close, Donald Miller's latest book. And I'm loving this one. It's fast and full of stories and I always put the book down connecting his story to my own. I love that. 

So there's the update. Today we're starting to decorate the house for Christmas. I always have this hope to decorate in some orderly way where the house doesn't look like a bomb exploded after we get the boxes out of the garage. But my little elves are excited and even though I tried, I could not stop the christmas chaos from spreading all over every inch of my house. It will all find a home and hook, but until then my house looks more frenzied than festive. And it's okay. It is really okay. And I'll just keep telling that to myself until I actually feel okay about it...