We are
officially done with one of our busiest weeks of the whole year, and it feels
so great to have most things off our plates.
We only have two more early wakeups, one awards ceremony, and a couple
of appointments standing between us and summer break and I absolutely cannot
wait for noon on Friday!
Okay, let’s get
to the weekly recap. This past week was
absolutely bonkers, and we have all the pictures to prove it, so settle in,
friends, because this is a long one!
Monday, May 11
Monday morning, Brian and I drove the kids to school together because we
wanted to go vote early in the primary election that’s taking place here in
Georgia. We love early voting because
there’s no line, no waiting, and we’re always in and out in 5-10 minutes. This year the ballot was long, but we got our
voting done and then we hit the road. On
the way home, we swung by the local print shop to pick up Jacob’s Bible that we
had engraved and I love it so much! It
is beautiful.
I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, working on my next blog post,
and working on my last Disney blog post.
I also packaged a return and called the allergist for a prescription
refill, and by the time all that was done, it was time to pick up the kids.
On the way to pick them up, I swung by the mall to return something to
American Eagle only to find that they weren’t there anymore. Apparently, they moved months ago to another
location here in town and I had no idea.
Jacob had to stay after school for a couple of minutes, so I grabbed
Olivia in the car line and then we waited in the parking lot for him. When we got home, I did my devotional for the
day and I snuck in a few pages of my book since I’m trying to get through all
my library holds. Then I got the kitchen
all cleaned up and I prepped everything for Tuesday.
I had dinner with my girlfriends at 6 PM, so I left a little early to go
to the new American Eagle to do my return since I’d gone to the wrong location
earlier in the day.
My girlfriends and I ate at a local restaurant that recently moved from
downtown to a new location. None of us
had been to the new location, and it didn’t disappoint. I had a burger with bacon, pimiento cheese,
and red pepper jam and it was excellent.
We also got the elote street corn dip as an appetizer and that was
delicious as well. The owner is one of
Brian’s old coworkers, so I’ll have to make sure I send her a note to tell her
how much we enjoyed it.
When I got home, I still had time to squeeze in a two-mile walk since
it’s now light outside until nearly 9 PM here.
And when I got home, I did a 15-minute strength workout (mostly arms)
while we watched some more of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with the
kids. While we were watching, I told
Brian that one of the scenes looked like Winnetka, IL (which we just visited a
couple of years ago to see the Home Alone house), and sure enough, I googled
it, and there are several scenes that do, indeed, take place there!
After the kids went to bed, Brian and I started the new episode of SNL
before heading to bed.
Brian’s uncle had to have brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on
Monday morning, so my mother-in-law texted us all with an update, and she had
great news that he had made it through surgery, and he was awake and
communicating. He has a long road of
recovery ahead, so he has been in my prayers daily.
Tuesday, May 12
Tuesday, I dropped the kids at school after taking a detour due to
traffic being backed up on the highway because of the rain. When I got home, I worked on my blog post for
the next day until it was time to go to my therapist’s office to see her. On the way home, I ran a few errands –
library, CVS, gas station.
When I got home, I finished the laundry, I finished my blog post for the
next day, and I started my blog post for Friday. I also had enough time to tidy my office and purchase
a vibration plate (so excited about this!) before it was time to head to the
school.
I had to run by the school office to pick up Jacob’s Oh, the Places
You’ll Go! book that we’d had his homeroom teacher sign, and then I got in
the car line.
When we got home, I finished my book since I was almost done with it, and
then I dropped Olivia off at dance. I
had to run in and grab a couple of things in preparation for the recital, and
then I went back home.
When I got home, I put all the laundry away, I watered the plants, I
tidied the whole house, and I did the dishes and cleaned out the kitchen sink.
Then it was time to lace up my tennis shoes and head out for a walk. It was rainy, windy, and so cold on Tuesday –
I think we have broken some records this May with these crazy cold temps. It has been insanely cold this winter/spring.
I was frozen by the time I got home, so I took a nice, hot shower to warm
up, and then I slid into my fuzzy winter pjs.
I made mini pizzas for dinner and then we all ate together when Brian and
Olivia got home from dance. After
everyone was ready for bed, we watched some more of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
It took a million years because we
watched it on Pluto TV. Pluto TV is
free, but there are an insane amount of ads so each movie is, like, a third
longer than it should be. Haha.
After the kids went to bed, Brian and I finished SNL from Saturday, and
then we went to bed.
Wednesday, May 13
Wednesday, I dropped the kids at school and then headed back home to do
all the things:
-
Finish blog post for Friday
-
Work on blog post for Monday
-
Catch up on emails
-
Catch up on blog reading
-
Catch up on blog comments
-
Pull out all of Olivia’s recital stuff and get it
organized
-
Label everything for her recital
After school, I did my devotional and a Bible study, and then Olivia and
I went through some of her recital outfits.
She had one costume that was too big, so we had to pin it in several
spots.
After that, I made her a quick dinner, and then I dropped her off for her
last dance class of the school year!
When I got home, I made dinner for the boys and myself – barbecue
chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans, and I also made some of Jacob’s
favorite cinnamon muffins.
After dinner, we all cleaned the kitchen and then I got out for another
walk followed by an arms workout at home.
After not using my arms for anything workout related for several years
(since my vertigo started) they have gotten soooo weak, so I had to start out
with the tiniest weights ever last month when I started working them out
again. I was finally able to progress
from my three pounders (LOL) to some five pounders (LOL) and I was so excited
about that. I’m trying so hard to get my
arms and upper back strong again, but it is slow going with my neck issues.
After my workout, I watered the ferns to find two more eggs!, I showered and put on some teeth whitening strips and self-tanner,
and then I threw some chicken fingers in the oven for Olivia since she’s always
hungry when she gets home from dance.
While those baked, she got showered, and then while she ate, I put her
two costume hats on her head and measured some elastic to sew on the hats to
keep them in place while she dances. I
don’t sew so that was an adventure.
Haha.
After the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched the season finale of Rooster
and then it was bedtiiiime. My favorite
time of day! Haha.
Thursday, May 14
Thursday morning it was so cold outside for mid-May (50 degrees –
seriously unheard of here this time of year), so I got dressed in jeans and a
sweatshirt, which is just really odd for the middle of May. Typically by now, we’re well into the 90s
during the day and we’re lucky if our lows get below 70.
I took the kids to school, and then I headed to Publix to grab some
necessities and pick up a couple of bouquets of flowers for Olivia’s recitals.
When I got home, I tackled my list:
-
Work on Monday’s blog post (and I almosssst finished
it)
-
Wrap Jacob’s Confirmation gift
-
Sew the elastic to Olivia’s hats (I’m a bit ashamed
to inform you that it took me nearly an hour, but I’m proud to inform you that
they were both a perfect fit and they stayed in place the whole time she danced!)
-
Wash a load of clothes
-
Catch up my planner
-
Catch up emails
-
Prep for Friday since we would be gone all evening
After school, we went to the kids’ last music lessons of the school
year. They’ll pick them back up this
summer when we get back from the beach.
I sat with Olivia this week and she worked on Die on This Hill by
Sienna Spiro. It is such a beautiful song,
and Olivia has picked it up really well.
When we got home, Jacob and Olivia dressed in their Sunday best (on a
Thursday) because Jacob received the Sacrament of Confirmation at church
Thursday evening. Brian got home from
work early and got changed into his suit, and then we all headed to the church,
arriving a little after 5 PM.
Jacob wanted my best friend, Jeannine, to be his sponsor, so she and her
son, Mack, joined us. Jacob and Jeannine
sat together with all the other Confirmation candidates, and we had the most
beautiful Mass with the Bishop and four other priests concelebrating. For those of you reading who aren’t Catholic,
in the Catholic church, Confirmation is a Sacrament that seals each candidate
with the gift of the Holy Spirit, strengthening them in their faith.
We had 45 kids celebrating their Confirmation Thursday night, most of whom
are in Jacob’s class at school, so it was a beautiful evening celebrating with
our school family and friends. My mom
asked me beforehand if I was going to cry, and I told her I didn’t think I
would, but all it took was the Bishop reminding us of the precious moment when
we cradled our babies in our arms while they were baptized, and I lost it. Haha.
After Mass, we took lots of pictures, Jacob picked up his Confirmation
certificate along with a couple of gifts from the church, and then we hit the
road.
Jeannine and Mack + my parents came out with us for a very late dinner at
our favorite Mexican restaurant near church, and Jacob opened his gifts from
each of them. Jeannine had gotten him
the speed cube that lights up and pairs with an app in real-time, and I swear,
she is probably his favorite person on the planet right now! Haha.
He has been coveting that thing for so long and he was thrilled.
We got home around 9:30 PM and Jacob still had to open all his other
gifts. We gave him that beautiful Bible
with his name engraved on the cover.
It’s a notetaking Catholic Bible, and it’s something that he’ll be able
to keep his whole life.
The kids got into bed shortly after that, and since it was already well
after 10 PM by that point, Brian and I sat on the couch for a few short minutes
and then we went to bed. And, of course,
Jeannine’s Facebook post made me cry some more.
Friday, May 15
Friday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I spent the whole
day doing all the things – mostly prepping for Olivia’s recital. I had to finish labeling everything and get
everything packed because her dress rehearsal was Friday night.
I also had enough time to start and catch up this post, which was great
because I knew I’d have zero time to work on it over the weekend.
As I was walking out the door to get the kids, Jacob emailed me (and
thankfully I saw it before I left… they can’t have their phones with them at
school so he always emails me if he needs to tell me something) and he was
telling me that if he turned in his Biology book that day then he was allowed
to skip Monday and just be done with school for the year. He’s exempt from all his finals since he has
straight As so he doesn’t have to go Tuesday – Friday this week, and Monday was
just a review for finals, so there was no need for him to go then anyway.
His Bio book was at home, so I grabbed it and brought it to the car line,
and then when he got out of school, he came out to grab it and turn it in, and then
he got his friend, Julian, to help him carry all his stuff out from his locker
so he wouldn’t have to take two trips. So,
he is officially DONE with his ninth-grade year, y’all! A whole week early.
We got home a little later than anticipated since we had to wait for
Jacob to do all the things at school, so Olivia and I hit the ground running. We had to get her hair done, her makeup done,
finish packing, and eat an extremely early dinner, and we only had 45 minutes
to do it because we had to be at the theater by 4:45 PM. Whew.
We ended up arriving right on time and miraculously getting a good
parking spot. The theater is downtown
and parking is always bad there because it’s such a lively part of town, but on
Friday and Saturday nights it’s the worst since everyone is out enjoying all
the good restaurants and bars.
The dress rehearsal is always the night that’s the most stressful/long
and we’re usually there for a good seven hours (until midnight or so), so I was
prepared with my book, a thick sweater (because they keep it freezing in
there), and lots of snacks to get me through the night.
Dress rehearsal started a little after 5:30 PM and I spent the rest of
the evening videoing Olivia on stage, taking pictures, organizing my pictures,
eating snacks, chatting with a few other dance moms, and updating Brian on our
progress.
Olivia did an incredible job with all of her dances, and I was beaming
with pride through every single one of them.
She took seven dance styles this year and she did a few extra dances
this year – she was in the jazz opening and finale and she was in the hip hop
finale.
And let me tell y’all what – her hip hop finale TOOK ME OUT. She danced to Laffy Taffy by D4L (one of my
old clubbin’ songs) and it was the best thing I’ve ever seen. I always love watching her dance on stage,
but this dance was beyond. It was
the cutest thing and my little girlfriend danced the mess out of it. She is such a star!
First up was lyrical…
Followed by ballet…
Followed by the jazz opening…
Followed by her main jazz dance…
Followed by musical theatre…
Followed by the jazz finale...
Followed by tap…
Followed by pre-pointe…
Followed by hip hop (Olivia with the hip hop cartwheel!)…
And finally, the hip hop finale!
We ended up getting out of there at 10:40 PM (!!!!) which is a record,
and I was thrilled that not only did we get done earlier than usual, we got
done much earlier than usual!
Olivia chattered all the way home about every single thing that went on backstage,
and she had the most fun. She did tell
me that they forgot to come and get her for pre-pointe, though, but thankfully
she had the show order and she was able to run upstairs and make it to the
stage just in time.
The funny thing was that I had no clue that she had been stressing,
because the second she went on that stage?
She was just as calm and collected as can be and she was BEAMING.
The boys had waited up for us, and when we got home, I took Olivia’s hair
down, and she got in bed right away.
Jacob was ready to go to bed, too, and then Brian and I decided to YOLO
and make toasted marshmallow Old Fashioneds and stay up late. We watched the newest episode of The
Testaments, and then finally went to bed just before 1 AM.
Saturday, May 16
Saturday, the boys got up early to get ready for our nephew’s
graduation. He attends the same school
that our kids go to, but due to timing (Olivia’s recital weekend) and lack of
tickets, Olivia and I didn’t go.
I slept in until 9 AM after my late night, and after I said goodbye to
the boys, and I had a few minutes of calm before it was time to hit the ground
running. So, I grabbed a cup of tea and
caught up on a few emails, I rescheduled the kids’ music lessons for our beach
week (that I’d almost forgotten about), and I started sorting through dance
pictures so I could post a few online.
Olivia got up at 9:45 AM, which is a record for her because on the day
after her dress rehearsal she typically doesn’t wake up until 11 AM or noon.
Once she was up, I got her breakfast ready and then I sat with her while
she ate. She showered and did her
laundry, and I watched our nephew’s graduation online while I started looking
over all my lists for the recital.
The boys got home at 11:30 AM and then it was time for me to do all the
things – organize all the recital stuff (it’s always a wreck after each show),
tidy the house for a bit because it was a wreck, and I got all my daily tasks
out of the way since I knew I wouldn’t be around the entire evening and night.
It was time to get showered shortly after lunch, and then I did Olivia’s
hair. I am just terrible at hair, and it
always stresses me out, but thankfully, Olivia is always patient with me, and
her hair turned out great!
While she did her makeup, I got dressed and finished doing my own hair,
and then she and I went downstairs to do a little photoshoot of her in every
single one of her costumes. And the names in parenthesis were her characters for the production. (And remember, the theme for this was Willy Wonka so there's a lot of candy imagery. And the theme for the Jazz interlude this year was Fashion Week.)
Jazz (Makeup Artists)…
Hip Hop (Caramel Crew)…
Pre-Pointe (Chocolate Bon Bons)…
Tap (Blo-Pops)…
Ballet (Cowgirls because of Mike TV)…
Musical Theatre (Runway Assistants)…
Lyrical (Civic Dreamers)…
How cute is she?!
While we did that, Brian picked up a very early dinner from Panera and
brought it home, and then the four of us ate together before gathering up all
the things and leaving for the theater.
We always arrive early so we have a little bit of time to take pictures
beforehand, and then I took Olivia backstage to get her settled in her dressing
room while the boys went to get in line to get our seats. It was a beautiful day!
Olivia had a complicated backstage setup this year because she started
out in a dressing room in the lower level (under the stage) which meant she was
very far away and then she had to move to a dressing room upstairs after the
Jazz section, which meant she had to pack everything up halfway through and get
it all upstairs and unpacked and get into her next costume. The only hiccup was the pre-pointe issue
during dress rehearsal, but thankfully, everything went smoothly for both
productions.
I made it to the lobby before they’d even opened the doors to the
theater, and the boys were second in line, so we ended up getting our favorite
row, and I was able to get the exact seat I’d sat in during dress rehearsal…
the one in the dead center of the stage.
We usually sit on whichever side Olivia’s on the most, but this year she
was all over the place, so I wanted to be in the center.
The show went off without a hitch, and this year it was only three hours
and 15 minutes instead of four hours. It
has been four hours (or slightly longer) for the last seven years that she’s
danced there, so we were pleasantly surprised that it was that much shorter
this year.
The girls put on a phenomenal show, and Brian and I were so proud of Olivia. I could tell that she had spotted us in the
audience because she stared straight at me for some of the time, and she hammed
it up for us. Haha.
After the show was over, we took more pictures – some with Nana and
Poppie since they’d joined us – and then we headed home. And since the show was so much shorter this
year, we got home around 11 instead of midnight. The kids both went to bed, and then Brian and
I decided to YOLO again and make another cocktail and watch another episode of Our
Friends & Neighbors.
Sunday, May 17
Sunday was production #2, but thankfully, we were all able to sleep in
until about 8:30 AM after another late night.
We had breakfast, I had just enough time to glance over my planner for
the week ahead, and then it was time for me to shower, do Olivia’s hair, pack
her up (again), eat a very early lunch, and hit the road.
Olivia started crocheting a cowgirl hat for her friend, Addison, who was
Mike TV in the production. Olivia got to
dance with her for ballet, so Olivia wanted to give her a little gift for her
job well done. Is that not the sweetest
thing?!
We dropped Jacob off at my MIL and step-FIL’s house so he could hang out
with them all day. He didn't want to sit through the recital again and I didn’t want him to
be stuck at home alone all day, and that ended up being a good solution. He was able to play a little bit of badminton, he
helped groom the cat, and he watched golf with Poppie.
When Brian and Olivia and I arrived at the theater, we grabbed a few
pictures, I got OIivia set up in her dressing room, and then Brian and I got
our exact same seats again for the Sunday afternoon production.
My parents and my father-in-law joined us for this one, and Olivia nailed
every single dance yet again. After it
was over, she took pictures with our friends who came, and then she gave Addison
the cowgirl hat that she’d crocheted. Addison
thought it was the sweetest thing, and she looked like she was going to tear up
when Olivia gave it to her.
We took some more pictures with the grandparents after that, and then
Olivia and I rode with my parents to our favorite pub near our church to have
dinner. Brian picked up Jacob from his
mom and step-dad’s house, and then they met us there.
On the way, Olivia told us all about everything that went on backstage,
and she said that she’d helped a bunch of the tiny girls bobbi pin their wigs
to their heads so they didn’t fall off like they’d fallen off the previous
night. It made me tear up to hear her say
that because she’s no longer one of the littles at the dance studio… she’s
officially one of the older girls helping out with the littles.
After dinner, the kids wanted DQ Blizzards since we were in the area, and
we ended up getting home a little after 7 PM which is so much earlier than
usual for Sunday recital! So, I decided
to go for a walk since I hadn’t walked or worked out in several days.
After my walk, I got showered, and then all of us piled in the living
room to finally finish Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The kids went to bed, Brian and I made
another round of cocktails, and we ended the evening with the newest episode of
Saturday Night Live!
And that was our long, crazy week!
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
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