The Weekend - Flying Solo + Hints of Fall

First off, before I get into our weekend, I want to start by saying Happy Date-iversary to my handsome hubs!!!!  On this evening 14 years ago, we made it official that we were going to start dating and the rest is history!  And 14 years ago?  Well that just sounds crazy.  And it makes me feel old.  Anyway, thank you for sticking around for 14 years, babe.  I love you.  <3

This weekend was a bit crazy.  B had a project that he was working on at work this weekend so he worked from sun-up to sun-down both Friday and Saturday.  As a matter of fact, he worked almost 16 hours on Saturday alone so I was on my own Friday and Saturday.  In addition to that, my parents and littlest brother were out of town for a long weekend and we had to take care of their dog, so I definitely had my hands full!

After work on Friday I picked both kids up from school and then we all went home for homemade grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  It’s my go-to fall and winter favorite and I have to say I’m really in the fall mood now after having it.  After dinner we all curled up on the couch and watched Zootopia (again) while Olivia styled and restyled my hair.  I was able to do a little bit of reading while they watched, so it was a pretty relaxing evening.

After getting them both in the bed I kicked back on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and a pint of chocolate Halo Top and I watched Rumor Has It.  Did y’all ever see that movie?  It’s from 2005 and it stars Jennifer Anniston, Mark Ruffalo, and Kevin Costner.  I swear I would have seen a movie like that back then, but I have no memory of seeing it whatsoever so it was new to me.  It was really cute and it made me long for the days when the movie companies actually put out good romantic comedies.  Has that genre died??  B came home and joined me about halfway through it and then we went to bed.

Saturday B was out the door long before the sun came up, and then I got up with the kids just before 7:30 to get started on our day.  I knew that I was going to have them alone for 13 hours so I had planned a pretty busy day so that we didn’t just lay around and waste the day away.

Our first stop was to let my parents’ dog out.  She was supposed to have stayed at our house with us while they were out of town, but after being there for a few hours Wednesday evening, we quickly knew that wasn’t going to work.  She barked her head off all night and wouldn’t even get in her bed, so my brother ended up having to come and get her and take her back to my parents sometime after midnight.  So anyway, we just let her stay at my parents house (her home) and my uncle and I have been splitting the time taking her out ever since. 

The next stop was Starbucks.  Yes, I was hoping to get my hands on a PSL and no, I couldn't... they claimed to not have the syrup for it yet.  I was a little disappointed, but I had known going in that it was probably just too early.  However, I was even more disappointed when I ordered my tall decaf skinny caramel latte and the guy told me that they have discontinued the skinny caramel syrup.  WHY, STARBUCKS, WHYYYY?!  Needless to say I just drove away with the full fat version instead because I already had my heart set on it and wasn’t about to leave empty-handed.  

The next stop was a play date with Adrienne and her daughter and one of their friends and her son at Michaels to do the Kid Craft class that they have on Saturday mornings.  We arrived a little early, so I let the kids walk up and down the aisles of fall and Halloween stuff and it got them just as excited for fall as I am!  You may have seen my Insta story of them ew-ing at all of the eyeballs and skeletons.  Haha.

The class started at 10 and the craft was to put your name in stickers on the canvas, paint around them, and then pull the stickers up to have your name revealed in clean white canvas.  Both of them loved doing the craft and they both turned out great!  I only had to intercept once with Olivia when she was about to put the “v” after the “o” in her name.  Haha.

Once the kids had crafted their little hearts out, Adrienne, Molly, and I took all of the kids to the playground at our library (Jacob’s and Olivia’s favorite) and they all played for a good hour and a half.  I think they were all exhausted by the time we left.

We left shortly after noon, grabbed some Zaxby’s, and then took it over to my parents’ house so we could hang out with Lily (their dog) for a while since she had been alone for the last couple of days.  You may remember that I mentioned that she has had two strokes in the last month or so?  Well, she seemed to be doing so much better when we visited with her Saturday.  I think she was really happy that we were there and she wasn’t alone.

After that it was back home for Olivia’s nap, and Jacob got a jump start on his homework for the upcoming week.  He flew through Monday’s and Tuesday’s spelling homework so I rewarded him by letting him watch a little bit of TV while I worked a little bit in my office.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of baths, snacks, letting Lily out on the way to church, and then church.  On the way in, the kids found four new painted rocks!  I was a little nervous about having them at church without Brian, but fortunately my whole extended family goes there, too, so my grandmother, and two aunts and uncles were all there to help me keep them contained.  Turns out they were both pretty good so it was no big deal anyway.  Having them both go to children’s liturgy is a complete game changer, y’all!

After church, my whole extended family (minus B and my parents) all headed to a new Mexican restaurant for my second cousin’s eighteenth birthday.  The kids were exhausted and looked as though they were going to fall asleep in the booth, but they powered through and bedtime ended up being a breeze… a plus since I was still flying solo. 

I settled in with the other half of my Halo Top from the night before and I turned on that old movie Picture Perfect (because Netflix doesn’t currently have The Wedding Planner… waaaahhhh!) and after I ate my ice cream I fell straight asleep on the couch and missed most of the movie.  #Woops  I woke up to a text from B saying he was finally on the way home, so we ended up crashing just a little before midnight.

Sunday B was finally home all day, and we started out the day lazy.  The kids watched some TV while I started decorating the house for fall… I told y’all I was going to do it!  And while I was at it, I also switched my lotion and spray over to my fall scent... I’m officially in the mood, y’all!  We left the house around 11:30 to let Lily out one final time before my parents arrived home and then we headed to my MIL’s house for lunch. 

The humidity was a super low 40% Sunday afternoon so we all hung out in the back yard for a while after lunch despite the 90 degree temp.  It was SO NICE not having 90% humidity like usual.  During their playtime, the kids stumbled upon some crazy looking caterpillar and I couldn’t resist taking some pictures.  Just look at the pattern on him!  Have you ever seen anything like it?

Sunday evening my parents were just getting back in town so my mom didn’t cook.  Instead we headed to Cracker Barrel to have breakfast for dinner… another one of my favorite things to do in the fall.  A yummy dinner of eggs, grits, bacon, pancakes, biscuits, and coffee was the best way possible to end the weekend since we couldn’t end it with our usual Sunday dinner.

Well, it’s Monday again… time to get back to the grind!  And I’ll be counting down the minutes until I can head home and bask in the glory of my newly fall decorated house!  EEK! 

*Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending, My Glittery Heart for Hello Monday,  More Pieces of Me for Hello Monday Linkup, and HoHo Runs for Weekly Wrap.