Last week was a
big week, y’all… we officially survived distance
learning/e-learning/homeschooling/whatever-you-want-to-call-it!!!! The kids finished up and we are officially
out for summer break! The week was also
big because we officially expanded our quarantine circle for the first time
since all of this began over two months ago!!!!
More on that later in the recap…
Monday, May 18 (Day 66 of Quarantine)
Monday was the
start of the last week of school, so the kids’ workloads lightened tremendously. Jacob only had one Zoom meeting Monday and it
was just for fun… his teacher had planned a virtual escape room for the class
and they loved it! Olivia actually had
the same amount of work Monday – Wednesday, but with pre-recorded Zoom lessons
instead of live ones, but she finished up long before lunchtime and both kids
were free to play after that.
The afternoon
was spent having lunch, doing yoga, and playing indoors because it poured down
rain all afternoon. I sure do love a
good afternoon thunderstorm during the spring and summer! As long as there’s no threat of tornadoes,
I’m good! Haha.
Olivia surprised me by making up her bed Monday afternoon. Girlfriend despises cleaning and tidying so I was shocked. Look how cute, though, with her stuffed animals all over it...
I made an early
dinner Monday evening, and then afterward, Olivia went to get dressed, I curled
her hair, and then… we were off to have professional cap and gown pictures
taken! Since our school wasn’t able to
have a kindergarten graduation ceremony as we usually do, they arranged for a
photographer to take cap and gown pictures.
They spaced all
of the kids out so none of the appointments overlapped so we didn’t come in
contact with anyone except for the photographer and the other kindergarten
teacher at our school (not Olivia’s teacher because she actually had surgery
that day). They had a freshly cleaned
cap and gown for Olivia to wear (no kids had to share) and everything was very
clean and professional.
I told Olivia
there was a possibility that maybe we would be able to see someone from
her class depending on who had the appointments before and after ours, and she
immediately yelled, “Ohhhh I hope I get to see Aubrey!!!!” (That’s her best friend.) I told her that out of 40 students the odds
weren’t in our favor to see one specific person, but when we rolled up in the
parking lot, guess who was shouting at us from the window of her daddy’s
truck? Aubrey!! Haha.
That Olivia has some luck, I tell ya!
She was thrilled to be able to see her BFF even it was from all the way
across the parking lot. They’d had the
appointment just before ours, so they were heading out.
Picture time
went well. Olivia posed for her pictures
like a boss, and she looked so dang cute (AND GROWN!) in that cap and
gown. I was so thankful to get to see
her wear them since it’s not likely we’ll get to have a graduation
ceremony.
After pictures,
she and I stopped by the gas station to fill my car up for the very first time
since March 13. I kid y’all not. I have literally only been driving to get my
allergy shots, to get groceries, and to go to a couple of doctor’s appointments
that were necessary, so I literally used the same tank of gas for over two
months. And it only cost $20.22 to fill
it up. I mean, WHAT?! Prior to the quarantine, I was filling up about
every 7 or 8 days (sometimes more) and it was typically around $30 each
time. Now, just $20. Unbelievable, y’all.
When we got
home, I did some strength training, and then the kids got ready for bed. They had set up an elaborate pallet in
Olivia’s room and they begged for a sleepover and B and I said, “WHY NOT?” Even if it is a “school night” It’s not like
we have to be up early and physically go anywhere. They were thrilled, but their fun was cut
short about an hour later when Jacob couldn’t fall asleep because of Olivia’s
incessant throat-clearing. She’s been
doing it for a couple of years now, but it gets particularly bad this time of
year when the pollen is out. It drives
Jacob crazy, and once it was time to sleep, he couldn’t. It broke Olivia’s heart when he decided to go
get in his bed, but she cheered up a little when we told her she could still
sleep on her floor. Why not?
Tuesday, May 19 (Day 67 of Quarantine)
Tuesday
morning, I had several errands to run.
Since the kids were born, I’ve been getting their teachers to sign a
copy of Oh, the Places You’ll Go for each of them, and I plan on giving it to
them for senior graduation. Well, due to
the circumstances, I realized a couple of weeks ago that I was going to have to
physically take the books to the teachers’ houses if I wanted to get them
signed this year, so that’s what I worked on Tuesday morning.
Jacob had three
teachers this year (two + one assistant) and two of them happened to be working
at our church’s outreach center that morning, so I was able to go there and
knock out two birds with one stone. The
one teacher that wasn’t there lives just a couple of blocks away from our
church and school, so I swung the book over to her house and left it in her
carport for her to sign and then she’ll just put it in his bag for us to pick
up at school on June 2. Woo hoo!
While I was visiting Jacob's two teachers at outreach, they presented me with a sweet gift for being the room mom.
The next stop
was Fresh Market for their Tuesday chicken sale, and then it was back home to
help the kids with school. Jacob did
have some new math to do on Tuesday, and Olivia had her standard load, so they
both wrapped up just before lunch time.
After lunch, it
was yoga for me, and then I drove over to Target to collect some Rae Dunn mugs
from a friend who’s moving away and doesn’t want to take them with her. While I was there, I decided to go inside and
pick up a few things. We’ve had several
things on our list that can’t really be shipped (like lightbulbs and toilet
paper) so I decided to brave the store for the first time in months.
Y’all. Can we just talk about how freaking much I
missss my Target shopping trips?! I was
literally giddy walking in there and seeing that dollar spot. I, of course, wore my mask and steered way
clear of everyone in the store, and it was a fairly successful trip. I found TP!
WOO HOO! But sadly, they didn’t
have the lightbulbs we needed.
The rest of the
afternoon was spent putting away all the Target purchases, working a little
bit, and then prepping for taco Tuesday.
Yummmm.
After dinner, the kids
were begging to play cornhole, so we got the boards out and the four of us had
a blast. May I just say that I miss
having teeny tinies, but the kids are getting so much more fun the older they
get! I absolutely love that we
can all play cornhole together now! Even
Olivia is nailing it now! These kids will
definitely be ready for college and tailgating when the time comes! Haha.
Also, something else worth noting… B and I played against each other,
just the two of us, and I smoked him 24-15.
Ha.
While we were outside, Olivia caught a ladybug and she was so excited. She loves bugs, y'all. Loves them. It's the weirdest thing.
The kids
showered when we got inside, and Olivia decided she wanted to sleep on her
floor again even though Jacob didn’t want to.
I guess this is going to be her thing now. Haha.
Another thing worth noting on Tuesday was my activity for the day... check out those stats! I've been closing all three rings every single day since I got my watch back on April 5, but the percentages are rarely that high for all three.
Wednesday, May 20 (Day 68 of Quarantine)
Wednesday was
supposed to have been Olivia’s kindergarten graduation and last day of school
(cue all the tears) but, obviously, that didn’t happen. She did have a few last assignments and Jacob
had another fun Zoom (this time a scavenger hunt) and then they were done for
the day. Well, Olivia was done for the
summer!
The day was
somewhat chilly which is just unheard of this time of year here, so we took
full advantage after lunch and we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Most of time by now, it’s too hot in the
afternoon to walk after lunch (unless we want to sweat buckets), so it was nice
to be able to do that.
While the kids
watched their afternoon movie, I prepped for a special graduation celebration
for Olivia later that evening, and then the rest of the evening was spent
celebrating our girl! I recapped that in
its own post and you can see it here if you missed it.
After our
celebration, the kids wanted all of us to play Cornhole, and then we watched
the friar bedtime story and chat.
Thursday, May 21 (Day 69 of Quarantine)
Thursday morning,
Jacob had a Zoom scavenger hunt with one of his teachers and all of his
classmates, and Olivia was, of course, all up in his business. Let it be known, that Olivia’s teacher
provided work for her class for Thursday and Friday in case any of the kids
wanted to do it, and she opted not to. I
was so shocked, y’all! Haha. Little Miss never used a homework pass
actually forfeited work! I have to say,
I was relieved, though.
While the kids
were occupied, I started working on a couple of house projects. I decided to move the floral print from my
office to go over the mantle since I love the print so much, but I had to spray
paint the frame first. The frame was
gold to match my office décor, and I spray painted it black to match the décor
in the living room. Let me tell you,
that black frame makes the design pop so much more and it just looks fabulous!
 |
| Frame Before |
 |
| Frame After with the print |
While I waited
for that frame to dry, I started on the next project… hand painting the frame
that was over the mantle. Eeks! I decided to move the wedding portrait from
over our mantle to our bedroom, but the black frame didn’t look great in our
bedroom since everything is deep brown and white in there. I thought a brushed silver frame would look
good so I decided to DIY it.
I just so
happened to have metallic silver acrylic paint on hand, so I brushed a few
coats of it on the black frame, taking care to let the brush strokes stay visible
so some of the original black frame shines through. That texture helped give it the overall
brushed look. When I was done, I loved
the way it looked, but I didn’t love the shade of silver. Unfortunately, the black and the silver
together gave the frame a very cold, blue-ish hue, so I headed to my office to
see what I had on hand to remedy that.
I ended up
having some metallic gold acrylic paint on hand as well, so I brushed one very
thin layer of that over the silver, and it gave it just the right amount of
warmth without making it look gold. I
absolutely LOVE how it turned out and I have to say, I totally patted myself on
the back when I was finished because I truly did not think it would turn out at
all.
B headed out to
do a quick Sam’s Club run and while he was out, he picked up Chick-Fil-A for
lunch. Bringing in CFA once a week for
lunch sure is nice to break up the monotony of soup and sandwiches that we
typically have. While he was gone, I continued working on house projects while the kids played. Jacob created a lizard out of Legos and he asked me to take a picture. He is getting so good at making his own creations!
After lunch, I
did some work, and by the time I was done, both frames were dry and ready for
hanging. I spent the next few minutes
getting them hung, and, y’all, I’m so freaking in love with that floral print
over the mantle! The colors could not
look better in the room, and I just love how it completely transformed the room
for the better… it’s brighter and much more colorful in there, and it just
looks so fantastic!
We had a frozen
pizza for dinner since I’d been working on projects all day, and then after
dinner, the four of us went outside and played Cornhole all evening. My momma and daddy stopped by to give Olivia
a graduation gift, and for the first time in almost three months, we hugged
them. They still didn’t come inside the
house, and we all hung out on the back porch instead, but it was nice to be a
little more “normal” with them.
We discussed
quaranteaming with them, but they’re not quite ready to get back to indoor
Sunday dinners with each other just yet… hopefully soon.
Friday, May 22 (Day 70 of Quarantine)
Friday was
Jacob’s last day of school and all he had was a live Zoom meeting at 9 AM. His class had their awards ceremony and he
was rewarded with the Principal’s List award (all A’s), the religion award, the
advanced reader award, and the multiplication station finisher award. To learn their multiplication facts, they
spent the entire year completing the “Multiplication Station.” Each child worked individually at their own
pace, and fortunately, Jacob finished his before we had to start homeschooling,
so that was one less thing for us to worry about at home. Whew.
After the
awards ceremony, they had the class birthday celebration for March – July
birthdays, and then everyone said their goodbyes for the summer. It felt like such a relief for it to be over,
but still, so bittersweet that it had to end the way it did.
Right after the
ceremony was over, Jacob’s friend Jack called my phone to talk to Jacob and
they chatted for about 20-30 minutes.
They miss each other so much and it stinks that we can’t have play dates
with any of the kids’ friends. They
arranged a Zoom playdate for Saturday, though, so he had that to look forward
to.
While he chatted, I cleaned up the dining room table once and for all!! It has served us well for homeschooling and I'm so thankful to have had a dedicated space to do school. That said, I'm so happy to have my dining room table back!!!!
The kids played with Legos all morning and they asked me to take a picture of them with this little world they built. They were so proud of it!
Jacob's teacher had sent each of the families special homeschool certificates as a little "award" for doing such a good job, so you better believe we printed ours and took some pictures to celebrate! I survived unexpected homeschooling, y'all!!
B’s boss let
them off early for the holiday weekend, so we decided to take full advantage of
the day and get out of the house to celebrate the end of school. We had a quick lunch at home, and then we all
piled in the car to get ice cream for the first time in months! We did get takeout Blizzards once about six
weeks ago and we took them back home to eat them in our own dishes, but other
than that, we haven’t had ice cream out this whole time.
We opted for
our favorite place downtown, and fortunately, there were no other customers in
there when we arrived. B went in alone
to order for all of us, and the kids and I stayed outside. As B brought them out to me, I wiped the
containers and plastic spoons down with hand wipes before any of us ate. So much work, but it’s worth it!
It was SO GOOD
to be downtown visiting one of our favorite places. Afterward, we strolled around downtown for a
few minutes before heading back to the car and driving down to the river
walk. We were hoping to watch the white
water rafters since our rapids just opened back up, but unfortunately, a storm
was rolling in, so we weren’t able to stay for long. Still good for the soul just to be out and
about, though!
The rest of the
rainy afternoon was spent snuggled up inside working, eating Carrabba’s
takeout, and watching A Bug’s Life on Disney +.
After the kids went to bed, B and I watched The Lovebirds on Netflix. It was SO CUTE, y’all!! I wasn’t super excited about it after
watching the trailer, but I was pleasantly surprised by it! B and I both laughed so many times! And it is definitely not for kids, by
the way.
Saturday, May 23 (Day 71 of Quarantine)
Saturday morning,
I woke up to some very sad news. My
cousin had delivered her first baby Friday afternoon, and I woke up to the news
that the baby had passed away early Saturday morning. We knew he had health issues and we were all
praying for a miracle, but sadly, our prayers were not answered. I won’t go into further detail for the
privacy of our family, but if you could please keep my cousin and her family in
your prayers it would be much appreciated.
We are all just heartbroken for them.
It’s hard not
to be in a funk after hearing something like that, and it took me some time to
clear my head. I spent the morning in
quiet time with God, in meditation, and then doing a hard workout, because
that’s what I do to cope with bad news.
Mid-morning,
Jacob had his scheduled playdate with his friend, and while he did that, I
moved two frames from our bedroom to the guest bathroom downstairs. Those two frames have held our engagement
picture and a wedding picture since we got married, but now that we have our
huge wedding canvas over the bed, I figured we didn’t need two more
wedding-related photos in there. So I’m
moving those frames to the bathroom downstairs, replacing the wedding photos
with art prints, and then I’m moving the travel gallery from my office to that
now-empty spot in our bedroom. And if
you’re wondering what those frames are replacing in the bathroom, they are
replacing the old builder-grade towel bar (that we don’t need since we already
have one next to the sink) and a piece of outdated wooden wall art.
After lunch, we
all spent a couple of hours in the back yard, laying out in the sun and
playing, and then B and the kids played video games while I did some work…
typical Saturday and Sunday afternoon stuff. Olivia caught a butterfly and she was thrilled yet again!
I changed out some pictures in frames around the house for the first time in about a year, and then we had Five
Guys takeout for dinner. After dinner, we started watching the series
Be Our Chef on Disney+ with the kids. It’s a family
cooking show that takes place at Disney World and it’s really cute! Our kids are loving it! After the kids went to sleep, B and I watched
the movie Uncorked on Netflix and it was a little slow, but pretty good.
Sunday, May 24 (Day 72 of Quarantine)
Sunday morning was cinnamon rolls and church via livestream, and then after
that I did a dance workout. Before I could do my workout, I had to move a ton of stuff out of the way in the play room. The kids have been building forts nonstop and most days it drives me bonkers, but I do love seeing how creative they get with it.
After my
workout, we all got ready because… we actually had plans!! My mother-in-law, step-father-in-law,
sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and two nephews have all been
quarantining/working from home, so after lots of discussion and prayer, we
decided to start quaranteaming with them.
We figure, they’re not going anywhere, and we’re not going anywhere, so
we might as well hang out together!! Olivia even requested to have her hair done special because she was so excited to have somewhere to be!
We did,
however, decide not to go back to normal 100%, and we did all sit at separate
tables while we ate, but at least we got to go over there, eat my MIL’s yummy
cooking, and be together. And we also
got to celebrate my birthday with them, finally!! After we finished eating and opening gifts,
we all went out in the back yard to spread out for the remainder of the
afternoon. We toured around my MIL’s garden,
and Olivia was thrilled because there were blueberries, strawberries, and
blackberries for the picking (and eating).
I cannot even tell you how happy I felt the whole time while we were
over there, just to be doing one of our normal Sunday things. First time since March 15. I can’t even believe it.
When we left
their house, we had to stop at Target – ugh – because we needed napkins and
paper towels. B had tried to get them at
Sam’s and they were all out, so, Target to the rescue! B and the kids stayed in the car, and I ran
in with my mask to grab them. Somehow, I
managed to avoid the crowds and there weren’t many people in there the entire
time I was there.
There was more
rain that afternoon, so the kids played video games while I got caught up on
some stuff around the house, and then we had a charcuterie board for
dinner. The rain had cleared by the time
dinner rolled around, so we ate on the back porch. I turned on the twinkle lights and some jazz,
poured some wine, and B and I lounged on the back porch while the kids blew bubbles
in the sunset. It was a lovely, lazy
evening, one of the rare ones where everything just feels so simple, but
perfect.
Once it started
getting dark, we all came inside, piled on the couch, and watched a couple more
episodes of Be Our Chef, and then B and I watched the Adam Sandler movie The Do
Over on Netflix. It was entertaining
enough, and had quite the unexpected twist, and it was better than I had
expected it to be.
The next day
was Memorial Day, and I normally try to keep the long weekends together in one
post, but I’ll save it for the next recap since this one is already so
long. And since it’s the last recap of
the month, it’s time for a currently update…
Currently Reading
I’m actually
reading nothing right this second because I just finished Elvis Duran’s
book, Where Do I Begin and I haven’t started a new one yet. If you enjoy his morning radio show, this
book is definitely worth the read! I
also finished 10% Happier by Dan Harris and I loved it… it makes me want to
continue with my meditation even more!
Currently Watching
This month, we
finished American Idol, Too Hot to Handle, and Outer Banks. We BLEW through Outer Banks, y’all!! If you haven’t seen it, watch it! It’s so good!
We literally stopped watching everything else until we were done with
it. Once we finished that, we started
back up with The Blacklist and The Office and we also started watching Be Our
Chef with the kids as mentioned earlier in the post + Magic for Humans on
Netflix.
The Blacklist
is pretty good, although, not riveting.
I don’t feel totally invested in it yet, but I’m thinking it might
happen soon because the back story that continues from episode to episode is
getting more and more interesting. As
for The Office, well, sorry Office lovers, it’s just not for me. We’re now well into season two and it just
does nothing for me. Yes, there are
funny moments, but I could totally give it up tomorrow and never look
back. B likes it more than I do, though,
so I’m sure we’ll keep on trucking.
Maybe I’ll have a change of heart?
Currently Listening To
Now that summer
break is here, I’ve had my summer playlist on shuffle, so we’re listening to a
lot of Luke Bryan, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Dierks Bentley, Zac Brown Band, Dave
Matthews Band, Blake Shelton, Justin Timberlake, and so on…
Oh, and
standards/jazz. I’m pretty much always
listening to that at some point each day, too… especially on the rainy days!
Happy Friday,
y’all!
