Last week was our first week of summer break, and we spent most of it coming down from the school year – unpacking everything from school, cleaning stuff out, and doing our summer “reset” so we could get that out of the way to leave the rest of our days open for fun and relaxation. We also spent a good portion of it checking to see what all the kids need for the summer, purchasing said items, and prepping and packing for the beeeeach!!!! We also managed to squeeze in some fun, too, of course!
Monday, May 26
Monday was Memorial Day, so Brian was off from work. The weather forecast had been looking iffy for Monday, so we had bought movie tickets to see A Minecraft Movie Monday morning. We slept in until 8:30, had a quick breakfast, got ready for the day, dropped my car off for its standard maintenance, and then headed to the movie theater with blankets (and snacks and drinks and cinnamon tea for me – shhhh) in tow.
Our kids LOVE Minecraft. LOVE IT. They have been playing it (mostly in creator mode) for years upon years, so they have been looking forward to the movie since we saw the first trailer months ago. Jacob had already seen it with friends, but Olivia hadn’t yet had the chance, so she was super excited… and Jacob was just as excited to see it the second time around because he said it’s his favorite movie he’s ever seen.
I have to say, I know nothing about Minecraft other than the main character’s name and a few other bits of jargon from it, and it honestly looks like a snoozefest of a game to play, but y’all, the movie was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. I had such low expectations for it because the trailers made it look so dumb, but I could not stop laughing through the entire movie. And there’s a certain character in there that neither Brian nor I had any idea was in there as she wasn’t in the trailers, and it was the best thing ever.
If you’re looking for a really funny, family friendly movie, I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but I highly recommend A Minecraft Movie. It was entertaining for one and all.
Of course, we watched it in one of the theaters with recliners (it’s the only way), so we were nice and cozy the whole time. It’s always the best experience in the recliners. We love how much space there is between us and the people in front or behind us. We always try to get our seats in the back, too, especially for this one just in case anyone decided to throw popcorn or drinks during the chicken jockey scene. Lol. IYKYK.
Once we were done there, we headed to Dick’s Sporting Goods so I could try on Hokas AGAIN. I had already tried on a bunch of sizes and ordered the ones that I thought fit the best, and then when they arrived, I think I got a wonky left shoe as it put tons of pressure on the outer underside part of my left foot. I wore them around the house for 30 minutes right after they arrived, and they were squeezing the life out of my left foot, so we are returning them and trying again in a different size. Local stores do not have the color and size that I want, so after I tried them on again in the color I didn’t like, we got them ordered in the correct color and size online once again. Hopefully, the new pair will be good and not have that weird lump in the bottom of them.
After we were done there, we headed to Rack Room – our go-to for the kids’ tennis shoes – because both of theirs were in bad shape… Olivia’s had holes all in them and her toe was poking out of the front because her foot had grown so much, and Jacob’s were gross looking and also too small. We lucked out and they actually had both kids’ sizes in the models and colors they wanted, and they were BOGO 1/2 off for Memorial Day. Score! They should still be looking good when school starts back in ten weeks, so we killed two birds with one stone… I have already crossed off “get new school shoes for the kids” from my Back-to-School To-Do List. *Fingers crossed that their feet don’t grow crazily in the next 10 weeks*
My Telluride was ready by the time we finished up there, so we went to pick that up, and then we headed home.
I spent some time in my office, downloading new music, working on a blog post, and editing some pictures, and then I got my quiet time and a Bible study done for the day.
For dinner, I hadn’t really planned anything special for the holiday, so we did hot dogs and mac n cheese – which is perfect for Memorial Day anyway – and then we all went outside for a bit before the rain rolled in. The kids played frisbee again and I went for a quick walk/jog. I had to pick up the pace about halfway through because the sky started looking OMINOUS when I was a couple of streets over from home. I was worried I might get caught in it, but I made it home with enough time to shower and settle in on the couch to watch the American Music Awards.
After the AMAs were over, we sent the kids to bed, and Brian and I finally finished American Idol.
Tuesday, May
27
Tuesday morning, I woke at 7:15 and I got showered and ready for the day. I had breakfast, and then the kids came down shortly after and made their breakfast. I had an appointment with my therapist at 9:15, so I headed there and then was back home by 10:30.
When I got home, I had a cup of tea and worked on my blog post for the next day, and then I spent the rest of the day hanging with the kids. Jacob wanted to clean out his room (he is his mother’s son), so I helped him tackle that. There are no before and after pictures because it was already tidy, but he did get rid of quite a few things.
After that, the kids played Minecraft for a bit, and I worked on finishing my blog post for Wednesday and starting and finishing another post for Monday.
I’d also been doing laundry all day, so I spent some time in the afternoon getting it all laid out, folded, and put away (mostly), and another massive thunderstorm blew through while I was working on that.
After that, I did my quiet time and a Bible study, I cleaned up the kitchen a bit, and then I got freshened up for dinner with my girlfriends. Unfortunately, it was still pouring down rain, so the drive wasn’t fun, but the pizza and the company was.
We tried a new pizza place, but it’s tiiiiny, so the five of us had to squish together at the smallest booth ever. I was just really glad to see all of them, though. :o)
On the way home, it continued to rain, but it started to clear as I reached our house.
Brian and the kids were waiting for me to watch some TV, so I got in a strength workout while we watched Lego Masters and an episode of Geek Girl. We also started the new season of America’s Got Talent, and then after the kids went to bed Brian and I watched the very last episode ever of The Handmaid’s Tale. It was a masterpiece from start to finish, that show. I was extremely pleased how they ended it, despite the fact that some things were left open to interpretation (and some people on the internet have some strong feelings about it, haha), and I thought the last scene was brilliant. A full circle moment. I also dug into some threads on the internet about the finale and found out something incredible about the first episode that I’d never noticed, and it made the final scene even more genius. That show is, by far, one of the best shows I’ve ever watched, although, it was so disturbing/tough to watch at times. I’m going to read the books now.
Wednesday was errands day! I had an appointment with my allergist in the morning, so we just decided to make a day of it. I was up at 7:30 to get showered and ready so I could have breakfast and enjoy a cup of tea and some blog reading before we left, and then my little buddies came along with me to my appointment.
The appointment that usually takes 15 minutes ended up taking an hour and 15 minutes this time (because of course, since I had the kids with me – haha), but they were SO well behaved, and they didn’t complain at all.
We swung by Target to return something afterward, and they wanted to look at Lego sets while we were there. Both of them ended up buying a set with their own money, and then I grabbed them some cake pops at Starbucks for a little snack to hold them over since we were approaching lunchtime but still had more errands to run.
By the time we got home, it was nearing 2 PM, so we all ate a quick, late lunch, and then we cleaned out Jacob’s and Olivia’s art baskets downstairs in the kitchen. When I went downstairs earlier that morning, Olivia had already started cleaning out her basket on her own, and she almost finished the whole thing. She had a recycling pile, a trash pile, and a keep pile, just as I’ve always taught her. I’m not sure what’s gotten into her with all of this cleaning out and organizing, but I LOVE IT.
After the bins were clean (again, I don’t have any before pictures since Olivia started without me), they worked on their Lego sets and then they played Minecraft for a bit while I worked on this blog post, got some laundry done, and got my quiet time done.
I made meatballs, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli for dinner, and then Brian went back out to finish mowing. The kids also spent some time outside after dinner, and I went for a walk to get my steps in for the day.
Thursday, May 29
Thursday morning, I was up at 7:30 and since we had nowhere to be and it was a rainy, yucky day, I stayed in my PJs. I had breakfast and then went to my office to get some things done, and the kids woke up around 8:30.
I finally responded to the backlog of blog comments I’d gotten behind on… and FYI, my blog comments haven’t been coming to my email for months and I can’t get that issue fixed, so if you ever comment/ask me a question, you can find my responses directly under your comments on the blog.
In addition to that, the day was spent tackling all kinds of other tasks that I had been wanting/needing to cross off the list:
-
I cleaned out both email inboxes (never ending)
-
I did the end of the year school survey that they
send out every year
-
I paid a bill
-
I worked on this blog post
-
I looked over the handbook and requirements for
Olivia’s upcoming year of dance… things get more stringent the older they get
-
I filled out some medical paperwork for the new
doctor I’m seeing for my vertigo next week
-
I registered Jacob for Teen Advisors for next school
year
-
Olivia and I read a synopsis for each of the 10
books she has to choose from to read this summer so she could narrow down her
choice
-
Olivia started her summer homework math packet (even
though I told her she didn’t have to since we just got out of school)… I love
her go-getter attitude, though!
-
Jacob looked at his Google Classroom to see if his
summer homework was in there yet just so we could see what we’re dealing with
(it wasn’t available yet)
-
I looked up requirements for service hours for Jacob
for next school year. (The high
schoolers are required to get a specific number of service hours each semester
and he is allowed to get a jump start this summer.)
-
I started planning for Father’s Day
-
I got my nephew’s birthday card/gift ready to mail
-
I filed all of the kids’ keepsakes that had been
sitting on my office floor foreverrrr
-
I photographed the kids’ artwork from the school
year (not much to do these days as they’re getting older)
-
I filed a few of their papers from the school year
in their keepsake boxes and recycled the rest
-
I got my to-do list organized
-
I cleaned off my computer desktop (I sometimes leave
random files there to refer to later – screenshots of songs I want to download,
books I want to read, etc.)
-
And I did my quiet time
When Brian got home from work, we made breakfast for dinner, and then the rain finally stopped (it literally rained all.day.long), so we were able to get out for a 2-mile family walk around the neighborhood.
After the kids went to bed, B and I watched some more of The Chosen, and then we headed to bed, too.
Friday, May 30
Friday morning, I was up at 7:30, I got showered, had my breakfast, watered the plants, and then I headed to my office to read blogs and work on this post.
Around 9:45, it was time to get moving because I had done ZERO packing and we were leaving Saturday. Oops. I got all of my outfits picked out, we got all of Olivia’s outfits picked out, and then it was time to leave to meet my Momma for pedicures!
Olivia would get pedicures on the regular if I’d let her, so she was in heaven in her massage chair. Her little feet and legs deserved to be pampered, too, after all that dancing she’s done for the last ten months.
While we were getting our pedicures, my phone started blowing up because my friends started texting me to make sure I had seen the big Taylor Swift news – that she was finally able to buy all of her old albums, music, and music videos after a years-long battle. It was the twist that NONE of us Swifties were ever expecting, and I have to say, I was so happy for her that I teared up a little bit. What a boss that girl is. Olivia and I are so proud to be Swifties!
When Olivia and I got home, the boys had just gotten home from picking up Jacob’s golf award. We had missed his award ceremony because it was during the same time as Olivia’s Saturday dance production. The awards are city-wide for all the schools, and he was given the “Living the Values” award for his good sportsmanship. Those “being a good human” awards are always the most special to me, and we are so proud of the good human always has been and still is. I love this boy so much.
Now that Jacob has his own phone, I helped him make a packing list in his lists app on his phone, so he can now be 100% responsible for all of his own packing. He and Olivia do most of their own anyway, but I do have to guide them so they don’t forget anything, but now that Jacob has his list, he won’t need me anymore. That is one thing I’m thrilled to take off my plate. ;o)
They settled in to play Minecraft for a bit while their laundry was going, and I got myself packed a bit more before settling into my office to enjoy a cup of hot tea and do some blog work. I finished my blog post for the Monday after we get back from the beach, and then I did my quiet time.
By that time, it was time to get ready to head to our friends’ house for poker night!!!! One of our favorite nights of the month! We’ve been doing these poker nights with the same group (two other couples) since fall 2022 (December, I think??) and I love that we’ve continued to do it month after month since then!
On the way to Khristina and Ian’s, we swung by to pick up another library hold for me, and my friend, Jeannine, also brought another one of my holds that had become available the day before, giving me five books to read while we’re at the beach. I doubt I’ll get through all of them in a week, but I’m excited to get started.
Poker night was fun, as always. Ian had made a big taco bar, and we all had drinks, played some poker (dealer calls), and lots of laughs, as always.
When we got home, the kids got straight into bed since it was so late, and Brian and I finished the episode of The Chosen that we were on before going to bed ourselves.
Saturday, May 31
Saturday morning, we slept in, made homemade waffles for breakfast, wrapped up all of my blog work, finished packing, got ready, ate lunch, and then hit the road for the beach! I’ll be recapping the beach trip separately, as always, so stay tuned for those posts at a later date!
