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Weekend Check-in: March 10

What I'm Cooking
Blueberry coffee cake. I got up early on Sunday morning to make this, and it was so worth it.

Chicken spaghetti. I didn't "cook" this so much as "pull it out of the freezer and reheat in the oven."

Not much else. Leftovers one night, Bob Evans for a fundraiser another night, the homemade hamburger helper I posted about on Thursday, the tamale soup I posted here. Odds and ends for lunch.

What I'm Reading
Harry Potter. Yep, for real. For the first time. I have no idea why I decided it was finally time to pick them up, but when I saw they were available to borrow on the Kindle from the library, I went for it. Two pages in -- okay, I have no idea how many pages, because I'm reading on the Kindle Fire, but you know what I mean -- I looked up and said to no one in particular, "man, this woman can tell a story." When Isaac saw I was 75% finished within about 36 hours (keep in mind I usually only read while I'm nursing Silas), he downloaded the second book, and I flew through that one at an equal rate.

. . . Except that I didn't fly through it at an equal rate, because halfway through, the charger to the Kindle malfunctioned and once the battery died, it wouldn't stay on unless plugged in. I'm not about to go carrying about cords and finding outlets close to couches just to read while Silas nurses for ten minutes, so then I only read standing at the kitchen counter waiting on the various elements of preparing dinner.

In the meantime, I opened my latest library (not Kindle) acquisition, The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir. I am completely captivated by British historical fiction. This book, about Queen Elizabeth I from childhood on, is definitely living up to my expectations.

Weekly Snapshot
Snuggling -- or maybe wrestling, I can't remember now -- with Daddy.

The shot I wish I had: We eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel every Friday morning with Isaac's mom (Oma), her dad (Great-Grandpa), her cousin (Mark), and any other random family members who might show up any given week. This week we pulled into the parking lot at the same time as Great-Grandpa. Levi was first out of the car; when Great-Grandpa held out his hand to him, Levi happily took it and they walked slowly in front of the rest of us into the restaurant. Levi is generally pretty reserved around other people, so it was especially sweet to see them hand-in-hand, three generations apart.

Favorite pin: I counseled someone NOT to join Pinterest this week. This pin sums up why.
Favorite blog post: How to Handle a Defiant Child by Laura at Heavenly Homemakers. It's not earth-shattering, but I appreciated her second point about teaching our strong-willed children about their strong wills, and the importance of using that strong will for God's glory and not to get their own way.

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