what's up weekly. (I Love Gifs. I Love Nagging. I Love Lucy.)

Well, the biggest news this last week was that IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY, and what I want to know is why you didn't get me a present.  You got some 'splainin' to do.

To voice my disappointment, I am going to nag you with I Love Lucy gifs all through this post.  You'll be sorry.

Anyway, last Friday I went grocery shopping, and came home to a surprise party thrown by the kids in my honor!  They had decorated the house, baked me an apple crisp and some snickerdoodles, and made me handmade gifts.  In fact, they had been cooking up the scheme for days. It was so sweet that they remembered and wanted to celebrate.

On Saturday, we had friends over for Sabbath dinner, and I made pasta carbonara, which was fantastic if I do say so myself, and it was like my own little birthday present to myself because I made a truly unreasonable amount and ended up having enough to serve for dinner on Monday night, eliminating the need to cook.  Happy Birthday, Me!

Sunday was my actual birthday.

It's March 26.  Write it down so you don't forget next year.

We went to church, enjoyed the fellowship meal with friends, came home and napped, and then had popcorn party for dinner while we watched Anne of Green Gables (my pick for family movie night).  It was a great day!

Real footage of me getting ready for my Sunday nap.

Monday was made easy because I had leftovers on hand to serve for dinner, like I mentioned.  On Tuesday, we took everyone out to a Mexican restaurant in honor of Atticus' birthday (in December I promised him we could go out for Mexican food for his birthday... and it has only taken four months to make good on it.)  So again, I didn't need to cook.  Last night we were invited to dinner with friends at their house, and tonight is pizza night, so other than Wednesday, my evenings have been streamlined this week by not needing to cook!  I spent the extra time digging up our flower beds in front of the house and getting them ready for some plants, since the weather has been beautiful.  I also had some help, so some of my outside time was spent sitting in a lawn chair reading a book while someone else dug up the flower beds.

And I guess you're also here to hear news of the kids, which I find a bit rude when you KNOW it's my birthday week and therefore it's only fair you make everything about me, but whatever. 

We started our third term of school this week, and have nine more weeks to go.  Gosh, that feels like such a stretch once the weather gets nice and I'm getting itchy to call it quits.  But we started so late because of the move (we didn't start school until the first week of October), so we'll need to go until the last week of May to get everything finished.  Definitely do-able, but the weather is telling me that's actually unreasonable and we should just call it quits now.

Atticus made a Dutch baby for breakfast yesterday, and it turned out amazing.  He really likes baking and cooking and is good at it.

And here are a few more random photos from the week.

Penelope fashioned a chicken leash so our hens could go on a little stroll to the front yard.

The younger kids got swept away playing Ingalls Family.

Penelope managed to somehow be both very old and very young in one photo.

Atticus worked on his graphic novel version of the Light Brigade.

Well, there you have it.  I hope you are sufficiently ashamed of yourself for not buying me a present, but I suppose I can be a big enough person to forgive you and move on.  Here's real footage of me, headed into the weekend holding no grudges:

Happy Friday!