Our Week - The One with the End of Christmas Break and Back to School

Well, Christmas vacation is officially over, and we’ve started the process of reentry into the real world after a whole lot of relaxation and no routine to speak of whatsoever for the last two weeks.  We were able to ease back into things with only three days of school last week, so it wasn’t too bad getting back into the swing of things.  Here’s the recap!

Monday, January 2

Monday was New Year’s Day observed, so Brian was off of work.  We all slept in and had breakfast, and then I spent a couple of hours getting my planner ready for the week ahead and getting organized to get back in the swing of things.  I also did a ton of laundry as it had been piling up for far too long.

The kids finished tidying up the house and putting away all of their Christmas stuff, and Brian cleaned out his car.

Mid-morning, I decided to go for a run, and I ended up getting in 2.41 miles.  It was my first run of 2023, and also my first run in, like, two whole months, and my pace ended up being surprisingly good.  For me, anyway.  Haha.  I’m a slow runner now as an adult so don’t judge.

After my run, it was lunchtime, so we reheated leftovers from our New Year’s Eve party, and then I tackled several menial tasks that I’d been putting off forever. 

Once that was done, I showered for the day, and then I tackled some blog work in my office.  By the time that was done, it was nearly dinnertime, so we made breakfast for dinner since I hadn’t made it to the grocery store to grab things to cook.  (Also, I’ve had several reader requests to start including what we have for dinner each night in these posts, so I’m going to try to remember to say what I cook going forward.  Haha.)  Monday night we had eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, and toast.

The kids showered after dinner and I worked on folding laundry, and then we finished up the Lego Masters holiday special and B and I started Harry and Meghan on Netflix.

 

Tuesday, January 3

Tuesday morning, B had to go back to work, so the kids and I hung out all morning.  We had breakfast, and then I caught up on blog reading while they watched cartoons.  The rest of the morning was spent playing with some of Olivia’s new Christmas toys.  She wanted to do her Magic Mixies, so I helped her with that, and then we also worked on her elf snow globe that she’d gotten from Grandpa. 

After that, I got ready for the day, and then the kids and I had lunch together.  After lunch, we went for a long walk around the neighborhood.  We had some bad weather predicted for the afternoon, so I wanted them to get some fresh air before the storms rolled in.  It felt glorious Tuesday afternoon – it was 70 and cloudy and windy, so our walk was quite pleasant.  We got in a mile and then made it back home before the rain came.

When we got home, the kids tidied up the house and played video games, and I worked in my office for a bit.  The storms rolled in mid-afternoon, and it was pitch black outside.  B ended up coming home from work a little bit early in between storms so he could try to get home before the really bad stuff hit, and he played some games with the kids. 

I got the pantry cleaned out Tuesday afternoon, we had more New Year’s Eve leftovers for dinner (ham and cheese sliders, meatballs, chips and guac, etc.), and then the kids played a game before we got them in the bed early.  I also got in an arms workout to go along with our walk earlier in the day.

B and I watched another episode of Harry and Meghan before calling it a night, and then we headed to bed early because we knew there was a possibility of losing sleep during the night since there were possible tornadoes predicted in our area.

 

Wednesday, January 4

The kids were supposed to go back to school on Wednesday, but they ended up delaying the start until 10 AM due to the bad weather.  Thankfully, everything went okay in our area, and we only had some thunderstorms and lots of rain.

A bonus was being able to sleep in a bit, and then after I got the kiddos off to school, I headed to Publix to shop for the next couple of weeks. 

The rest of the day was spent catching up on aaaallll the blog stuff and cleaning out my closet, and before I knew it, it was time to pick up the kids.  It was a short, quick day with that late drop-off!

We had no extracurricular activities Wednesday evening, so we came straight home after school, and I got a few more things done around the house until it was time to cook dinner.  On the menu Wednesday evening was chicken and rice stir fry with veggies.

After dinner, I did some laundry followed by a quick stair stepper and abs workout, and then it was bedtime for the kiddos.  B and I ended the evening with another episode of Harry and Meghan, and then we headed to bed early since we had a 6 AM wakeup call on Thursday morning.

 

Thursday, January 5

Thursday was B-U-S-Y.  I dropped the kiddos at school, made a beeline for Walmart to return a couple of things, and then I was back at school by 8 AM for our Home & School Advisory Board meeting.  After that meeting was over, I had another quick meeting about the Mother-Son dance that I’m co-chairing, and then when that was over, I met Olivia for her weekly school Mass and second quarter awards ceremony.  And that was all before 10 AM.

Whew.

The rest of the day was spent at home working on the blog, and then I had to be back at the school to pick up the kiddos in the car line.  The kids’ music school took all of last week off for Christmas break, so Olivia didn’t have voice lessons Thursday which meant that we had another full free night at home.  Praise!  It was so nice being able to ease back into our schedule without all of the extracurricular activities.

It was beautiful outside on Thursday afternoon, so the kids played outside, and I got in a mixed cardio workout before making beef and parmesan pasta with zucchini for dinner.  I may have even indulged in a glass of wine Thursday night, too.  No Dry January over here!  Haha.

After dinner, the kiddos played some games for a bit, and then after they got showered, we all hung out in our bedroom for a bit.  I bought Olivia The Body Book for Young Girls (the popular American Girls book that has been recommended 84 million times), so she and I started reading that together Thursday evening while Jacob was getting ready for bed. 

She’ll be nine next month, so it’s time to start having some discussions.  If she’s anything like me, she’ll be a late bloomer, so we’re just easing into it for now and taking our time since she’s only in third grade.  I want her to be prepared for all of it soon, though, because I know some girls in her class will start going through changes as early as next year.  I truly can’t believe it’s already time for this.  I swear, she was just born last year, y’all!!  Waaaahhhh!

After B and I got the kids in the bed, he and I started an episode of Harry and Meghan, but sadly, I couldn’t hang after my 6 AM wakeup call, and we ended up getting in the bed super early – I was sound asleep by 10 – and that is very early for me.  Haha.

Friday, January 6

Friday, I didn’t have any appointments or errands, so I dropped the kids at school and spent the entire morning and early afternoon at my computer working on blog stuff.  It’s never-ending, but I love it! 

Brian is still working from home on Mondays and Fridays (for now), so he and I ate lunch together, and then I got right back to work until it was time to pick up the kids from school.

Friday afternoon, I spent some time getting lots of annoying little things done around the house that have been needing to be done for weeks.  Do y’all know what I’m talking about?  Like, those tiny little tasks that aren’t really that important, so you end up putting them off for weeks or even longer? 

Yeah, I have a list a mile-long of those things, so I worked on whittling away at that list.  I put away several Christmas gifts, I filed a bunch of papers that had been sitting in a pile for months, I started a new keepsake file box for myself since mine is stuffed to the brim, and I also cleaned out my office closet.  It didn’t need too much TLC, but getting it organized has made a huge difference!

Friday evening, we were all pooped from reentry into the real world, so B picked up dinner from our favorite local barbecue place, and then after the kids were ready for bed, we finished watching the Beauty and the Beast 30th Anniversary production that we’d started during Christmas Break.  Did any of you watch it?!  I thought it was excellent… just so well done!!  Beauty and the Beast is my all-time favorite Disney movie and Belle is my all-time favorite Disney princess, too, so I was enthralled.

Saturday, January 7

Saturday morning, I made homemade waffles for breakfast, and then I got a few things done around the house before getting in a really good mixed cardio workout.  The rest of the day was spent working on more of those little annoying tasks – we put batteries in my key fob for Brian’s car, I hung some new wall art in our front room, we located some earbuds for Olivia to take to school, I made a coversheet for my recipe binder and labeled the tabs inside, I moved some things around on my desk to make things more efficient for myself while I work every day, and I did many other little tasks like that.  I also started cleaning out a few things in my office. 

Saturday evening, we went to 5:30 Mass, and then we had Mexican for dinner with my parents.  After dinner, we swung through the DQ drive-through to pick up Blizzards (for everyone except for me since my sweet tooth disappeared with my Covid), and then we stopped by my friend, Jessica’s, house to pick up some wine she’d picked up for us at Trader Joe’s.  We haven’t had the opportunity to make it to a TJ’s since, like, May last year, so we were all out of our beloved “Two Buck Chuck” (their Charles Shaw wine that’s so good, that’s now actually $4.49/bottle – haha), and she was kind enough to pick up a case for us while she was there.

By the time we got home, it was time for the kiddos to get ready for bed, and then once they were in the bed, B and I finished the last episode of Harry and Meghan and then we watched the first episode of that new show Kaleidoscope on Netflix.  I’ve heard such good things about it, but after the first episode, I honestly wasn’t impressed.  Anybody else feel this way?

 

Sunday, January 8

Sunday morning, I must have been exhausted, because I didn’t wake up until 9 AM.  That is just crazy, because my body typically wakes itself up on the weekends around 7:30 and then I roll over and go back to sleep and then I finally get up somewhere between 8 and 8:15.  So for me to sleep all the way until 9 AM without waking up in between was crazy.

I hate sleeping that late on the weekends because it throws off the whole day, so it wasn’t an ideal start to the day.  We ended up eating cinnamon rolls for breakfast reeeeaally late, and then I did my planning for the week ahead. 

After that, it was a quick yoga workout (trying to stretch my body more this year!), and then I got showered and ready for the day.

My MIL and step-FIL didn’t cook Sunday lunch this week, so we headed out for a Sunday Funday, which we hadn’t done in forever.  First up, was lunch at one of our favorite local places downtown.  They have the best BLTA in town, so I was happy as can be!  ;o)

After that, we headed down to our river walk to see the improvements they’ve made in recent months.  They also moved our city’s huge cow statue down there, and we wanted the kids to be able to see her.  She’s somewhat of a landmark here in town (she’s been around since 1967) so our city moved her to a more prominent spot so everyone could enjoy her. 

After that, the kiddos played on the playground, and that was HUGE because they haven’t set foot on the playground since Olivia broke her arm there back in May of 2021.  That day was so traumatic for all of us (especially Olivia and me), so neither of us have wanted to return to the scene.  We’ve been to the river walk plenty of times since then, but Olivia has had zero desire to return to that playground, but Sunday, she decided she was ready to face her fears, and we ended up staying down there and letting them play for quite a while.  I was so proud of her!!  (And myself, for that matter.  Haha.)

After that, we walked for about a mile on the river walk, and then on the way back to the car, the kids wanted to play some more.  Jacob did inform me that, “playgrounds are kinda boring now.”  Haha.  He has officially reached the age where he doesn’t love a playground anymore.  My baby is growing up. 

By the time we got home, it was dark and dreary as some storms were rolling in, so the rest of the afternoon was spent working in my office and watching Notting Hill while the kids played video games. 

We had Sunday dinner at my parents’ house, and I started having some serious FOMO from not going to the National Championship Game.  B and I had seriously considered going, and we went so far as to book refundable flights and hotel rooms back in November, but ultimately, we decided it was just too much travel in such a short amount of time. 

Georgia fans are hardcore, and we travel very well, so all of the flights from Atlanta to LA were booked months in advance (long before we even knew that Georgia was definitely going to make it into the championship game), so we wouldn’t have been able to fly directly to LA. 

Our options were either to a) fly into San Diego and pay an arm and a leg and then still have to drive two hours to get to the game, or b) fly into Vegas, spend the night Sunday night, check out of our hotel Monday morning, drive 4-5 hours to LA, go to the game, spend the night in LA, check out of our hotel Tuesday morning, drive back to Vegas for 4-5 hours, check into another hotel, spend the night, and then wake up super early Wednesday morning only to make it back home Wednesday evening.  Whew.

Not to mention, we would have had to leave the grandparents in charge of the kids and their crazy schedules.  Needless to say, we decided it was just too much – too much travel, too much time gone, and too much money – so we canceled our flights and hotels on Friday. 

My aunt, uncle, and cousins had all arrived Sunday afternoon, and they started sending pictures Sunday evening, so that’s what caused my FOMO.  I was so sad that we weren’t there with them!  We did see my cousin in a commercial while we were watching TV Sunday evening, though, so I snapped this picture and sent it to them.  Haha.  Forever stalking my cousin, Wil!

I am thankful today that I’m not waking up with a 4–5-hour drive ahead of me plus another 5-hour flight!  Haha.

Happy Tuesday, y’all!