Our Week - The One with Another Birthday Celebration for Me

We had a great week, and I was finally able to wrap up my birthday celebrations!  Here’s the recap!

Monday, April 18

The kids were off of school for Easter Monday, but Brian had to work, so it was just the three of us.  We woke up to more rain Monday morning, so we had a slow morning at home, and then I had another physical therapy appointment for my neck at 11.  I felt bad having to drag the kids there, but there’s never any waiting there, and the appointments are quick, so it wasn’t too bad.  The kids brought stuff along to entertain themselves, and they were as good as gold for the entire appointment.

By the time we left my appointment, it was lunchtime, so we swung through the Chick-Fil-A drive-through and brought it home.  After lunch, the kids pulled everything out of the eggs from their egg hunt, sorted all of it, and got it put away, and I got the Easter baskets and eggs put away until next year.

After a quick sweep of the house, we prepped for school on Tuesday, and then they played video games for a bit before it was time to get Olivia to dance class.  Public schools weren’t out Monday, so the kids still had their after-school activities, and dance starts promptly at 3:45, so our day “off” wasn’t quite a full day off.

Jacob and I dropped Olivia at dance and then headed back home, and then B got home from work in time for Jacob to say home… that way he didn’t have to go back to dance with me.  I got a few things done in the car while I was waiting for Olivia to get out, and then we headed home.

Jacob was supposed to have had a 7:15 baseball game, but because of all of the rain, it was canceled.  Instead, we made breakfast for dinner and then watched a little bit of American Idol before the kiddos went to bed.  I got in a workout and then Brian and I watched another episode of Inventing Anna before going to bed, too.

Tuesday, April 19

Tuesday morning, I dropped the kiddos at school and then I alternated between laundry and blog work aaaallll the day.  After being gone for a week, I got somewhat behind again, and the Disney recaps take a lot of time and energy since I include every little detail!

After school, the kids and I went home to get homework done before dance, and then during Olivia’s dance class Jacob and I read in the car.  Olivia’s recital is coming up in just a few weeks, and she is just as thrilled as she can be… forget dance class… she just wants to be on stage! 

After dance, we headed home and I started dinner.  B walked in just in time to sit down, and he and I snuck in a mid-week glass of wine since we had an open bottle leftover from the weekend.

After dinner, the four of us took Maui for a walk around the neighborhood because the weather was glorious yet again.  Typically, by now the heat has starting settling in, but it’s been rather chilly this spring. 

We all did about a mile together, and then B and the kids took Maui home while I continued for another mile and a half.  While I walked, the kids got showered and ready for bed, and then we finally finished America’s Got Talent: Extreme, and we also watched a tiny bit more of American Idol. 

After the kids went to bed, B and I watched This is Us and I think I cried through most of the show.  It is just so good and I’m not ready to say goodbye to all of the characters.  Waaaahhhh!!

Wednesday, April 20

Wednesday was another day of work and laundry, and I also did some online shopping for Olivia’s First Communion as well as the school fundraiser.  I worked on the class basket for second grade with the other room mom, and our basket will be auctioned off to raise money for the school at our end-of-the-year fundraiser.  We opted to do a “stock the bar cart” theme again since it was so successful last year, and I ended up buying several of the same items that we included last year.

By the time car line pick-up time rolled around, I’d accomplished a lot for the day, and it felt good since we have so much going on over the next few weeks.  I grabbed the kids from school, and we headed straight home to get homework done and cook dinner, because Jacob had a 7:15 baseball game.

The game Wednesday evening was sloooow.  The other team’s pitchers ended up walking our kiddos around and around the bases.  Jacob ended up getting walked twice and then he did get a good hit, but one of the infielders scooped it right up and threw him out at first.  His team ended up winning 17-7, though, and they still remain undefeated, 9-0!!  Woo hoo!  Jacob is very excited about that, despite the look on his face in the picture below.  That's just the face he makes now when I try to take his picture.  Haha.

They ended up calling the game early since there wasn’t enough time for the other team to make a comeback, so we got home around 9 instead of 9:30 or later like usual.  Olivia had already showered, so she brushed her teeth and got straight in the bed, and Jacob showered and got in the bed, too.  Both of them were out by 9:45 which is way later than normal for a school night, but not quite as late as usual for a baseball night.

B and I spent a few minutes with Maui, and we caught up on part of a Shark Tank episode, and then he and I headed to bed, too.

Thursday, April 21

Thursday morning, after I dropped the kids at school, I headed to Walmart because I had to return something and pick up a few things that I haven’t been able to find at Publix and Target.  Then the rest of the day was spent doing blog work, getting stuff organized for the class auction basket, and shopping for First Communion gifts and a flower crown for Olivia to wear. 

After school, the kids and I stopped and grabbed some of the other items for the class auction basket from the other second grade room mom, and then we headed straight home to get homework done because Jacob had another baseball game. 

I cooked an early dinner, and we were all loaded up in the car by 6 to get Jacob to the cages to practice before the game.  Maui was giving me extra mopey sad puppy dog eyes before we were about to leave, so I decided to bring her along for the game.  She is the sweetest, most good-natured girl and she never barks, so I really should take her along more often. 

I did take her along to a practice a couple of years ago and she was super restless and didn’t want to sit still, so this time, I walked her around for a bit to tire her out before the game started and it worked like a charm.  She was a little bit restless at first (mostly because she wanted to go visit with all the people – haha), but eventually she settled down and lay in my lap for the duration of the game.

The boys played an AWESOME game Thursday.  Both teams showed up, and it was a much more exciting game than Wednesday’s.  Jacob ended up having his best defensive game ever with five stops – three of which resulted in outs – and he was walked twice, and he scored two runs.  He plays second base, so most of the hits don’t come in his direction… they tend to go towards first or third.  It was crazy how many came his way Thursday… he was in the hot seat for sure! 

His team ended up winning again, 14-6, to remain undefeated.  So crazy!

After the game, we all headed home, and both kids were in the bed by 9:30, and then B and I were able to spend some time finishing up Shark Tank that we’d started the previous night before heading up to bed ourselves.  

One of us always peeks at the kids before we go to bed, and almost every single night, Olivia has something over her face.  Thursday night, she had her GIANT Sven on her head and I had to snap a picture because it was so dang funny.

Friday, April 22

Friday was a day to do ALL THE THINGS.  My week this week is insane, and I knew on Friday that I wasn’t going to have time this week to do much at home, so I spent the whole day working ahead on blog stuff, ordering recital items, getting ready for the school auction, booking a hotel for my friend’s wedding that we’re attending later in the summer, and just a bunch of other random little things that had been hanging over my head that I won’t have time to do for a while.

I left a bit earlier than normal to pick up the kids from school so I could swing by a local nursery and pick up some plants on the way.  I ended up getting four ferns, a few different flowering plants, and a big ol’ bag of soil to get the yard looking good for spring and summer.

After I grabbed the kids, we headed home, and we had an entire free evening and night stretching out before us which was just what the doctor ordered.  After unloading all of our stuff and getting snacks, the three of us headed outside to hang out because the weather was just lovely.

The kids played some basketball and Twister and I sat on the front porch and read for a bit.  We headed inside when Brian got home from work, and I started working on putting together the bar cart that had arrived for the school auction while B headed back out to grab some pizza from our very favorite local place.  We cracked open some beers, put them in our new National Championship koozies (that will never get old!), and ate on our freshly cleaned back porch.  The kiddos ate quickly and then ran around the yard shooting each other with Nerf guns, and we ended up dragging them in just before dark.

They got showered and then we watched some American Idol, and the kids begged to have a sleepover, so we got them all set up in their sleeping bags on Olivia’s floor before heading back down to watch some TV.  We had an A Million Little Things to catch up on, and then we started the new season of The Flight Attendant.  We were both excited about that one!

Saturday, April 23

Saturday morning was homemade waffles and then an episode of Is It Cake? with the whole fam and my hot tea, and then I hit the ground running again.  I got in a good cardio workout, got some laundry done, unpacked all of the final bar cart items that had arrived, got them arranged and photographed, and then I got the entire house tidied from top to bottom. 

My mother-in-law dropped by just before lunch to spoil me with some birthday goodies… my herbs that she plants for me every year!  In addition to seven different herbs, she also brought along a massive pot of lavender, and it is just GORGEOUS.  She said it’ll grow back year after year, and I’m soooo excited about that.

By the time she left, it was time for lunch, so I got that ready and the kids folded and put away all their laundry.  After lunch, they tidied all of their parts of the house, and then we all went outside to find a good spot to plant some sunflowers.  Last year, we planted them in large pots, but every time it stormed, they would blow over because they were so tall and top heavy, so this time we’re planting them in the yard.

B dug up a 3x6 space on the west side of the house and he got the soil all prepped while I lay out on the chaise lounge and read my book.  We all headed inside shortly after that for a few minutes of blog work (for me), TV (for B), and video games (for the kids), before all getting showered and ready for 5:30 Mass.

After Mass, we had dinner with my parents, my uncle, and his friend at our favorite pub right down the street from church.  They didn’t have a table available to seat all eight of us together, so all of us adults sat together, and the kids got to sit at their very own table, which they loved.  While I miss having tiny kids in the house, it sure is nice to have older kids who are self-sufficient and can sit at their own table, order their own food, and keep themselves entertained.  ;o)

The pub we went to has a small game room, and the kids had brought their quarters, and they ended up spending most of the time back in the game room while we all chatted and caught up.  We hadn’t seen my uncle’s friend is soooo long, and it was so nice spending time with her.

We ended up lingering over dinner until nearly 8:30, and on the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen for Blizzards to-go before heading home.  The kids wanted to sleep over again, so they got their sleeping bags ready when we got home, and then they stayed up giggling for a few minutes before falling to sleep.

After they went to bed, B and I enjoyed our Blizzards on the couch while we watched another episode of The Flight Attendant and some more Saturday Night Live, and we were so exhausted that both of us started nodding off on the couch… that’s when we knew it was time to go to bed!

Sunday, April 24

Sunday morning, we got up and had cinnamon rolls, and then we watched another episode of Is It Cake? all curled up on the couch.  I had promised Olivia we’d plant her sunflowers Sunday morning, so after the show was over, she and I headed outside.  I got all of our plants planted that I’d picked up Friday, we planted 5-6 sunflower seeds in the bed that B had prepped for us on Saturday, and I got a couple of my indoor plants repotted with fresh soil.  Both of them have been pitiful, especially the purple one, and I haven’t been able to get them to grow, so I’m hoping the new soil will do the trick.

By the time we’d finished up watering aaaallll the things, it was time to get ready for my birthday lunch at my mother-in-law’s and step-father-in-law’s house.  She cooked my favorite things – her cheesy chicken and lawnmower potatoes, along with a couple of other sides I love – and then we had DQ Blizzard cake and opened gifts.

The kids played ping pong out in the garage with their cousins the whole afternoon while the adults talked in the dining room, and then we headed home a little bit after 3.

When I got home, I had to do all the things to prep for Monday, and I squeezed in a little bit of blog work while the kiddos played video games, and then we went to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner. 

My dad always picks my Mama Cass up from her house and drives her to their house for Sunday dinner, and Sunday evening, he picked her up in his convertible.  Before they left, she grabbed a scarf and tied it in her hair just like ladies did back in the 1960’s, and my momma snapped a couple of pictures of them when they drove up because she looked so dang chic.  I mean, seriously, could she be any cooler?! 

Momma made Mongolian Beef and rice and veggies for dinner, along with chocolate chip cookies for dessert, and it was the best little evening with the fam!  The perfect way to end the weekend!  I’m so so grateful that things are mostly back to normal around here these days!

And now for a few current things…

Currently Reading

 

This month, I read Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand and I loved it.  I’m typically too busy to pick up a book this time of year, but I found myself making time for this one.  I also started a second book, but I haven’t finished it, so I’ll be saving that one to count in May.

 

Currently Watching

 

With B:  This month, B and I have been watching This is Us, Shark Tank, A Million Little Things, and Saturday Night Live on network television.  Then for streaming, we’re still watching The Other Two on HBO Max and we also started Inventing Anna on Netflix as well as the new season of The Flight Attendant. 

 

With the Kids:  We finished America’s Got Talent: Extreme and we’re still making our way through American Idol.  We also started Is It Cake? on Netflix and we all LOVE it.  We haven’t watched The Fresh Prince of Bel Air or Mighty Ducks Game Changers all month, but we need to go back and finish those, too! 

 

Alone:  Netflix added a bunch of good romcoms this month, so I’ve been watching Monster-in-Law (not my favorite but I love me some JLo), It’s Complicated, Something’s Gotta Give, and Rumor Has It.  I’m also still watching The Wedding Planner, My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Big Wedding, Father of the Bride 2 as my happy background noise.  I’ve officially watched my The Wedding Planner DVD so much that it’s starting to get stuck on certain scenes.  Apparently, I’ve (literally) worn it out.  Haha.

 

Currently Listening To

 

I have almost every single Disney soundtrack in my iTunes library, and we shuffled that for the first couple of weeks of April to get us in the mood for Disney and on the way down to Disney World.  Since we got back, I’ve been shuffling my “Feel Good” playlist because it’s that time of year!  And yes, I have a playlist for just about everything.  ;o)

Happy Tuesday, y’all!