Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 1 (A Movie, Cleaning Out, Checking Things Off the List, Girls Night, Pedicures, and Poker Night)

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.

After the movie, we swung by Target to return some items since we were in the area, and then we ate at Panera for lunch per the kids’ request.

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. 

The thunderstorm was crazy, but cozy, and we all watched the AMAs from start to finish together.  I was bummed that Tay didn’t show up as people had hoped, but I’m glad she’s taking some much-needed time off after that massive Eras Tour.  We sure were hoping for a RepTV announcement, though!  Olivia and I have been talking about it nonstop for months.  (As I’m editing this post on Saturday, Taylor announced that she now owns the rights to all of her music so there will be no RepTV… I’m SO excited for her and I cannot wait to hear vault tracks as she releases them!)

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, I got the donations bagged up and organized, I folded the towels that I’d washed the day before, and then the kids and I had lunch together.  When I went downstairs, I saw that the guest bathroom (AKA Maui's old bedroom) light was on... it's been months since Maui passed away, yet we all still leave her light on for her without even realizing it.

After lunch, we finally cleaned out the kids’ backpacks.  They’d been sitting abandoned and full of all of the stuff they’d brought home on the last day of school for nearly a week, so it felt good to get that done.  Jacob was able to save a few things for next school year, so we put that stuff in his closet to store it for the summer, and then we recycled all of the paperwork and trashed all of the stuff that wasn’t eligible for recycling. 

While we were cleaning, Jacob stepped on a sewing needle from a craft kit that was on the floor (OMG) and I had to pull it out of his foot.  It freaked him out a little bit, but he handled it well, and actually recovered from it really quickly.  We got it cleaned with soap and water, dried well, and then bandaged up and covered with a sock.  I called my friend, Jessica, who is a nurse (and is probably tired of hearing from me – LOLOLOLOL – hiiii, Jess, if you’re reading this), and she told me it wasn’t necessary to take him anywhere… just to keep an eye on it since he’s up-to-date on all his vaccines.

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, May 28

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.

After that, we swung by my aunt and uncle’s house to drop off some oils that I’d ordered for my cousin, and then we went to the library to pick up my big stack of books for the beach!!  My friend, Jeannine, was working, so we chatted with her for a bit, and then we headed to Walmart to grab everything that we needed for the beach.

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.

When Brian got home from work, he went straight outside to mow the lawn.  We’ve had so much rain that he hadn’t been able to get out there, and the grass was growing like crazy. 

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.

When I got home, I showered and got ready for bed, and then we watched an episode of Geek Girl + a little bit more of America’s Got Talent before the kids went to bed.  Brian and I watched part of an episode of The Chosen, and then we headed to bed, too.

 

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

It was a VERY productive afternoon, and I was happy to wrap up all of those things before we headed to the beach, because the last thing I want to do is get home from the beach and have piles of stuff leftover from the school year that needed attention.

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.

I got showered when we got home, I put the rest of the laundry away, I sent an email that I’d been needing to send, and then we all sat down to watch another episode of Geek Girl along with some America’s Got Talent.  I made the mistake of laying down on the couch, so I was out like a light and missed the last minute or two of Geek Girl and all of AGT.  Whoops.

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! 

We had appointments together at 11 AM, but the place was packed, so we started suuuuper late and they ended up not being able to seat us all together… Olivia and I were next to each other, and Momma was across from us, so it made for an awkward setup for conversation, but we all enjoyed being pampered.  I never get pedicures because I hate paying the money when I can just do them myself for, like, $0.25, (or whatever the price breaks down per use per bottle of nail polish), but I do love a good foot and leg massage. 

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!

After we were done there, we headed to CVS to pick up prescriptions for me, and then we swung by my parents’ house to grab my painting of Maui and my childhood dog, Bill with St. Francis that my girlfriends had my dad paint for me after Maui passed away.  He had to put some varnish on it after the paint had set, so that was all done, and now we just have to get it framed and hung!  I can’t wait!

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.

We all ate lunch when we got home, and then the kids did their laundry and started packing while yet another big storm blew in.  We had so much rain last week! 

Now that Jacob has his own phone, I helped him make a packing list in his Reminders 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! 

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day, I want to express my gratitude for all who have died protecting our freedom… the courage, selflessness, and discipline it must take to serve our country is something that I can’t even fathom.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - picture taken from our trip to Washington DC in 2010

 

And to those of you who have lost loved ones, I am thinking of you today, too… sending lots of love and prayers for peace.  

Memorial Day

Honoring all of those today who died protecting and serving our country and holding space for those of you who have had to live on without them.  We are grateful for their service and for your sacrifice.

 

I know I said I wasn’t going to be blogging on Tuesdays during summer break, but this is one of those exception weeks since today is a holiday.  See you back here tomorrow! 

Memorial Day

Hey, y’all! 

I decided to take the day off from blogging today, but I wanted to pop in for just a minute to express my gratitude to all of those who have given their lives while serving our country and working to preserve our freedom.  And to those of you who have lost loved ones, thank you for your sacrifice, too.  It does not go unnoticed, and we are thinking of all of you today. 

See y’all back here on Wednesday with a weekly recap!

Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 2 (Memorial Day, Olivia’s New Hair, and Dinner with Friends)

Last week was a great one spent with family and friends and today I’m sharing the recap!

Monday, May 30

Monday was Memorial Day, so we spent the morning and early afternoon prepping to have people over, and then we spent some time out in the sun.

For dinner, I made burgers and B grilled them, and B had also made his famous guac (seriously the best guac you’ll ever eat!) to go along with them.  We also had fresh watermelon (because it wouldn’t be Memorial Day without that), and B had also made his grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies earlier that morning.  We pretty much owed the entire meal to Brian, and it was all delicious!!

My Momma and Daddy, father-in-law, Mama Cass, and Uncle Billy all came over at 5:30 and we spent the rest of the evening outside eating and drinking and chatting.  My father-in-law and B and the kids played a couple of rounds of Cornhole, and the kids busted out the patriotic hats and glasses.

It was such a great evening with family and friends, and I was grateful for every single second of it.

Tuesday, May 31

Tuesday, the kids slept in later than usual after our late night the night before, and then we had a lazy morning at home.  At 10:30, I rounded them up, and dropped them off at my father-in-law’s house because I had my yearly checkup with my general practitioner, and they’re still not allowing anyone in the building besides the patient.  I had tried to set the appointment before the kids got out of school, but she was booked solid for months and this was the only time I could get in… womp womp.

My appointment was quick, and my doctor said all of my vitals and everything else looked great, and she didn’t even order bloodwork since mine was so good last year.  I was back at my father-in-law’s picking up the kids within the hour, and they were excited to show me the new card game that Grandpa had started teaching them while I was gone.

We headed home after that and had lunch, and then after lunch, the kids played video games while I finished a blog post.  After that, we all went outside together and kicked a ball around for a while.  There were thunderstorms all around our area, but none at our house, so we were able to hang outside while the weather was nice and cool… a rarity this time of year. 

B got home around 5, and then all of us piled in the car together to get haircuts for Brian, Jacob, and Olivia.  Olivia has been begging for nearly a year to get all of her hair chopped off into a bob, and Tuesday was the day! 

Our stylist had somewhere to be right after, so we didn’t get him to wash or style it afterward, but it looked so cute even though it wasn’t styled.  She absolutely loves it, and she is already telling us that she wants to keep it this way, so I guess we’ll keep on getting it cut to stay right below her chin! 

P.S. She also wanted bangs, but I told her NO… one drastic hair change at a time.  Hahahaha.

Once the boys had been chopped, too, we left the salon and swung by Chick-Fil-A for dinner on the way home.  The kids wanted to eat inside, so we obliged, and they got lucky because they were offered free ice cream cones.  Score!  We also saw a rainbow on the way home!

When we got home, the kids got showered and ready for bed, and we were able to start watching the new season of America’s Got Talent (another one to get behind on!  Haha), and then we went them to bed.  B watched a little bit of Better Call Saul after that, and then he and I called it a night.

Wednesday, June 1

Wednesday morning was another slow one at home.  We had breakfast, watered the plants, and then the kids watched cartoons for a few minutes while I got caught up on a few things.  Mid-morning, we went through all of Olivia’s clothes and purged everything that was too small.  Then we went through Jacob’s and did the same.  I also used that time to start pulling out outfits to pack for the kids for our beach trip.

We had an early lunch, and then we ran a couple of errands.  Our first stop was At Home to try to find some baskets and a bulletin board for Olivia’s new desk setup.  We were successful with the baskets, but not the bulletin board… but then we got home and discovered the baskets were just slightly too small to fit.  Boooo.

After At Home, we headed to Publix to grab some milk and a few favorite things for my littlest bro who was sick.  We dropped the stuff at his doorstep and chatted with him for a few minutes before heading home. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent at home hanging out, getting a few things done, and relaxing, and then I cooked dinner and had it on the table when B got home from work.

After dinner, we all went for a walk around the neighborhood and it was HOT.  Whew.  After about a mile, B and the kids ended up in our cul-de-sac so the kids could ride their scooters for a while, and while they did that, I got in another boiling hot two miles.

When I got home, I showered quickly and the kids got ready for bed, and then we worked our way through some more of America’s Got Talent before sending the kiddos to bed so B and I could watch another episode of The Wilds.

Thursday, June 2

Thursday morning, the kids and I hung out at home doing laundry and packing for the beach.  I made lunch for us at home, and then the kids squeezed in a few minutes of video games while I squeezed in a few minutes of work. 

We headed to the library at 3 to make slime with friends.  There ended up being loads of kids there and Olivia was able to see one of her friends from her dance class, too. 

After making slime, we spent a few more minutes in the library hanging with friends and picking out some books, and then we headed to run some errands.  First up, was CVS to grab a couple of things for the beach, and then Hobby Lobby to find accessories for Olivia’s desk. 

We finally found some baskets that were the perfect size to fit in her desk, but we still didn’t have any luck finding a bulletin board that will work.

We headed home after that, and Brian arrived home from work just after we did… just in time to make breakfast for dinner.  The kids went out on the back porch to play while B and I made dinner, and just shortly after they got out there, a crack of lightning and an enormous BOOM happened simultaneously… the lightning struck pretty much right in our back yard.  It was totally unexpected, and it scared Olivia so bad she screamed bloody murder – I mean, some of the loudest screams I’ve ever heard – over and over and she came tearing into the house with Jacob following right behind her.

Her screams sounded so anguished that it immediately brought me back to her broken elbow from last summer, and my stomach dropped because I thought for sure she’d been struck by lightning.  Thankfully, she was just terrified, so I comforted her and then she seemed okay, although she was jumpy for the rest of the evening.

We weren’t expecting any rain whatsoever Thursday, but we ended up having a MASSIVE storm tear through as we were eating dinner, and I truly don’t think I’ve ever seen wind blow so hard as I did that evening.  We’ve had many a hurricane blow through our area since I was little, but the wind from this storm was way, way stronger than any of the hurricanes we’ve had in recent years.  It was nuts.

Sure enough, once the storm blew through, we all went for a walk around our neighborhood, and there was damage everywhere – fences and trees down, trampolines, trash cans, gutters, trash, solar panels, and other debris lying in the middle of the streets and people’s front yards.  One of our neighbors posted the picture below on our neighborhood Facebook page warning that the main road just outside our neighborhood was completely inaccessible because a massive tree had uprooted and fallen across the whole road.  And several other neighbors were commenting about seeing full-size trampolines blowing through the air during the storm. 

The craziest part was that my parents, who only live a couple of miles down the road, just had a regular thunderstorm with no wind at all.  Our neighborhood must’ve been in right in the path for some straight-line winds or something.

It started to rain once again while our family of four was walking, so we all headed home, but then I decided to head back outside by myself to do a couple more miles in the rain.  Towards the end of my walk, the sun finally started to come out again, and I was treated to the most beautiful full-size rainbow shining brightly over our neighborhood.  It was gorgeous.  And if you look really closely, you can also see that it was a double rainbow.

After my walk, I headed inside and finished putting away laundry while the kids got ready for bed, and then we watched a Walk the Prank before they hit the hay.  B and I then watched another episode of The Wilds, and then we went to bed, too.

Friday, June 3

Friday morning, I got up and went for a run, and then it was beach trip packing day.  I spent the whole morning packing and washing clothes while the kids played outside.  B had a state tennis tournament, and he had a match in the morning and then another one in the afternoon, so he popped in and out all day.

Friday evening, I dropped the kids at my Momma and Daddy’s house and my Momma and I headed downtown to meet Father Manny, one of our friars, for dinner.  We ate at a new Mexican place and chatted for hours over margs.  I had their blackberry margarita, and oh my word was it so fresh and delicious.  They had muddled real blackberries into it, and it was just the best… definitely in my top three of best margaritas of all time.

Meanwhile, Olivia was doing this:

My parents are keeping my brother and sister-in-law’s dog this weekend, so she was in heaven hanging out with Toby.

After dinner, the three of us walked down the block to get frozen yogurt, and then we sat outside and listened to a street musician while we chatted some more.  It was a wonderful evening with both of them, and Father Manny is going to be missed dearly when he leaves at the end of this month.  And I’m SO sad because we forgot to take a picture of the three of us.  Boooo.

I dropped Momma back at home after that, and then I made it home just before 10.  The kids were still up waiting on me, so we got them into bed, and then B and I watched one episode of Better Call Saul before getting into bed ourselves. 

Our beach trip started on Saturday, so I’ll be recapping the weekend in my beach recaps, so that’s all for this post!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!  Be sure to follow along with us on Instagram this week while we're at our happy place!