Hey, y’all, happy
Thursday! Well, I finally got this post up! Haha.
We had a wonderful Holy Week that
also included a concert, so y’all know that made me a happy girl! Let’s get to the recap!
Monday, April
14
Monday morning,
I dropped the kids at school and then I attended the Home & School Advisory
Board Meeting. Our meeting went a bit
longer than usual as we were planning out some of the events for next school
year, and then I stopped on the way out to chat with our resource officer for a
couple of minutes, so I ended up being there way longer than anticipated.
I swung by UPS
on the way home to get an item returned for Amazon, and then I got stuck in
terrible traffic just around the corner from my house because they’re doing
major road construction. It has been a
pain for yearssss, and we still have a few years ahead of us, but it has been
particularly bad in recent months.
By the time I
got home, it was so much later than I thought it would be, so I
got my butt into gear to get as much done on my list as I could. I finished my blog post for Tuesday, I
started my blog post for Friday, and I did four loads of laundry. I also got dinner in the slow cooker and then
Brian and I had lunch together.
After lunch, I
had just enough time to log about 50 people in the new alumni database, and
then I headed to school to grab the kids.
I typically *try* to use that time in the car to do something relaxing,
like chatting with a friend or reading a book, but with everything being so
hectic at the end of the schoolyear, I used that time to finish my Reel that
I’d been working on for days.
As a
blogger/influencer, I know I’m supposed to love Reels, but honestly, I HATE
them. I do not enjoy the process of
making them because it is tedious, it takes forever, Instagram always glitches
and never saves all of my progress, and doing tedious work like that from my
phone also triggers my dizziness.
Do I love
having the Reels when they’re done?
YES. But do I enjoy making
them? NO. Haha.
When we got
home from school, I did my Bible study while the kids did their homework, and
then Olivia and I filled out her electronic form for electives next year for…
middle school. Whyyyy is my baby already
starting middle school next year, y’all?!?!
After that was
done, Brian and Jacob and I worked together to create his schedule for… HIS
FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL. As if I
wasn’t already emotional enough about Olivia.
Waaaahhhh.
I have to say,
when Jacob started middle school, I was in disbelief, but I handled it
well. However, when you have a child
starting high school and your last little baby is also starting middle school,
it is not easy. I am really struggling
with this. It has gone by way too fast,
y’all. And I am told by many that the
high school years will be the fastest of all.
:o(
Anywayyyy,
getting Jacob’s classes picked out was an adventure. Things are so different now than when I went
to school there. When I was there, you
went to a high school preview day where they would give you your schedule, and
you had no say-so in the classes you took (other than AP classes senior year),
but now the kids register for their classes like you register for classes in
college. They have soooo many options.
Jacob has
already started taking high school classes – he is taking high school math and
a foreign language because of his placement testing – so he already has a leg
up, which means he will likely have a pretty rigorous high school
experience.
He already has
a vision for what he wants in high school – he wants to double up on math next
year so he can take a total of five maths in high school (which is just crazy
to me… the fewer maths, the better, in my book, hahahaha.), and he wants to
take four years of his foreign language (American Sign Language). He also wants to knock out as many Pre-AP,
AP, and dual enrollment classes as he can.
Assuming he sticks with these goals (and thrives) he should graduate
high school with enough college credits to start college as a sophomore… or
very close to it, anyway.
We are all
about balance in our family, though, and we let our kids take the lead on
extracurricular activities as well as rigor for school classes, so we will be
watching him closely to make sure he doesn’t burn out or put too much pressure
on himself. I still want him to have
time to be a kid, relax, do other things he enjoys like piano and golf, play
video games, and honestly, sometimes just be bored. Boredom is healthy for kids as that’s when
their creativity tends to come out the most.
While we are
pretty busy as a family, we have always left plenty of time for the kids to
just be kids, too. Right now, even with
all of the kids’ activities, we still have Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, and
Sundays completely free from extracurricular activities. We like having the option to have a lazy
evening or to go out for dinner or to hang with family. I don’t know how that will look as the kids
get older, but per usual, we’ll continue letting the kids take the lead and
work at the level that works best for them.
After we
submitted Jacob’s schedule, the kids headed outside to play frisbee because it
was gorgeoussss outside, and I finished getting dinner on the table. Thankfully, it wasn’t a lot of work because
the slow cooker had done most of the work for me. :o)
We had ranch
chicken pasta, which is one of my faves, and then we cleaned up the
kitchen. After that, Brian helped Olivia
study for a math test, and I went out for a walk and an arms workout.
The kids got
showers a bit later, and then I showered as well, and after that, we had some
time to work on our puzzle together. I
put on the Gracie Abrams record while we worked, and it was a relaxing
evening. I am LOVING my record player so
much.
While the kids
were finishing up getting ready for bed, I put some laundry away, and then we
got them in the bed. Brian and I started
the first episode of the new season of The Last of Us, and then we went
to bed. I was too tired to finish the
whole thing.
Tuesday, April
15
Tuesday morning,
I got the kids to school and then I had a few minutes to kill before Target
opened. Olivia’s guitar teacher has been
telling me to try a chai tea with one pump of vanilla from Starbucks for weeks,
so I decided Tuesday was the day. It did
not disappoint!! It was like Christmas
in a cup, y’all. So, so delicious. It is definitely not the season for it, but I
added it to my list of favorites because it will be perfect in the fall and
winter.
After I was
done there, I headed to Target. While I
had a few items for Olivia that I’d ordered from Etsy to put in her Easter
basket, I had nothing for Jacob, and I still needed a couple of practical items
for Olivia. We also had several toiletry
and snack items that we needed that I can’t find anywhere but Target, so I grabbed all of
that, too. They also still had the one
tank top that I’d wanted from the Kate Spade for Target collection in stock in
my size, so naturally, I tried it on, and I ended up getting it because it’s so
cute. It’s been sold out online since it
debuted, so I was surprised that our Target still had it. Target is definitely getting way less foot
traffic these days because of all of the boycotts.
I squeezed out
of there with just enough time to (barely) get to my appointment with my
therapist on time, and then after that, I headed to my friend, Khristina’s
bookshop to grab a few more Easter basket items. I have been so much more intentional in
recent months about shopping local and trying not to shop as often at the
retail giants. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t
set foot in a Target since Christmastime until the other day.
By the time I
got home, it was nearly noon, and I didn’t have much time before I had to leave
again to pick up the kids, so I ate lunch, I worked on a blog post for Friday,
and I logged 40 people in the new alumni database. I also organized all of the Easter basket
stuff, filled eggs for Olivia’s school Easter egg hunt (her last one!), and
then it was time to go.
Towards the end of my time at home, I received an Amazon reminder and it nearly broke my heart. :o(
And on top of that, I received a text message from Olivia's teacher saying she'd hit her head on the slide, but thankfully, she was fine. She sent me this picture of her icing it in the office.
Right as I was
heading downstairs, I realized that I had put a load of laundry in at 6:45 that
morning and I’d never moved it to the dryer.
Sigh. We don’t run the dryer when
we’re not home, so I made a mental note to flip it as soon as we got home from
school. Spoiler alert, I forgot then,
too. Haha.
Jacob had
Velocity after school, so I was prepared to hang around the area to pick him up
after I got Olivia, but Brian told me he would grab him because he wanted to
take him to the driving range. I was
soooo grateful for that, because on the days where Olivia and I have to hang
around waiting for Velocity to get out, she gets home just in time to rush
around getting ready for dance only to head right back out the door. And she has no time to do homework as most of
her homework is online and we have no internet access in the car.
Since B was
picking up Jacob, Olivia and I headed straight home and she was able to
complete everything leisurely, have a snack, and get ready for dance. While she did homework, I purchased a couple
more items online for Easter baskets, and then I quizzed Olivia for a test
while I cleaned up the kitchen.
The boys got
home from Velocity right as Olivia and I were walking out the door, and by the
time I got home, they’d already left to go to the driving range.
When I got home
from dropping Olivia, I realized that I still hadn’t flipped the laundry
from 6:45 that morning, so I finally got that in the dryer and then put the
last load in the washer. Sheesh.
Various things
had popped up throughout the day, and I was feeling super scattered since I’d
been away most of the day and hadn’t had a chance to get much done, so I sat
down and got organized. My head was
spinning (figuratively, not literally, thank goodness – LOL).
I ended up
getting all of my lists organized, and that made me feel a bit better, so I
took some time after that to do my Bible study and then lay out the laundry
that had finally finished drying.
After that, I grabbed the mail, and found this in the mailbox... it's the letter that Olivia mailed to God and Maui in Heaven several weeks ago. She had told me she wanted to send it, and I didn't have the heart to tell her that I didn't think you could mail letters to heaven, so we put a stamp on it and she put it in the mailbox back at the end of March, I think. Well, after a three-week journey to who-knows-where, it finally came back as undeliverable.
I put it in Olivia's keepsake box so she can see it when she's older because it's truly the sweetest thing I think she's ever written. She had also made Maui a tiny rainbow loom bracelet to wear in Heaven. Oh my goodness.
The boys got
home while I was doing all of that, and Brian left to pick up Olivia from dance while I reheated the leftover ranch chicken pasta and broccoli for dinner. We all ate together when Brian and Olivia got
home, and I had a rare mid-week glass of wine since we had an open bottle.
The rest of the
evening was spent cleaning the kitchen, getting in a short, half-hearted
functional strength training workout, putting away some more laundry, getting
the kids in the bed, and then finishing the episode of The Last of Us
that we’d started the previous night.
Wednesday, April 16
Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at school, headed home to work on a
blog post for an hour, and then I headed back to the school and church for Live
Stations of the Cross that Olivia’s class was doing.
It’s a tradition at our school for fifth grade to do this (although, they
didn’t do it when I was there… unless I just forgot about it!), and it’s a
tradition that I love so much. Brian and
my parents came, and it was such a sweet performance. Olivia had a reading part – she read the
seventh station – and she did a great job.
We took some pictures afterward, we chatted with our pastor, we chatted
with Jacob’s future high school advisor about his schedule, and then I headed
home.
At home, there was a flurry to finish Friday’s blog post, to start the
post that you’re reading and get it all caught up, eat lunch, log some more
people into the alumni database, and then prep for the rest of the evening.
Jacob had a golf match, and Olivia had her long dance night, and my
mother-in-law was handling Olivia’s schedule for us so I could FINALLY go to
one of Jacob’s matches… his last one! So
I had to make sure we had everything for the evening – golf stuff (most had
been gathered by Brian already that morning), dance stuff for Olivia, a change
of clothes for me, snacks for both kids, a snack for me, full water bottles,
and dinner in Olivia’s lunchbox for her to eat on the way to dance with Nana.
I also knocked out my Bible study for the day and got all of the Easter
eggs filled for our family Easter egg hunt on Sunday. By the time that was done, I had just enough
time to get changed and out the door to get in the car line.
While waiting for the kids to come out, I got organized and made some
lists for various upcoming things, and I worked on our One Second a Day video
for the year.
When the kids got out of school, we drove straight across the street to a
parking lot to meet Brian and my mother-in-law.
Jacob hopped in Brian’s car and Olivia hopped in my mother-in-law’s car,
and then Brian and I headed to the golf course while my MIL took Olivia to
their house to hang out until it was time for dance. My step-SIL’s son had a Flat Stanley project
going on, and Flat Stanley was visiting with my MIL and step-FIL, so Olivia got
to pick some carrots with Flat Stanley before getting over to dance. :o)
Brian, Jacob, and I met at the golf course and my father-in-law met us
there, too. He grabbed a cart for us to
put all of our stuff in, and Brian and I walked the whole course with
Jacob. It was pretty warm on Wednesday,
and I was happy to let the sun warm my bones.
It was so nice to be outside in a tennis skirt and a tank and not be
cold!
Jacob ended up playing one of his best matches yet and he had a lot of
great shots. He ended up with a bogey
and three double bogeys. He had a chance
at par for one of the holes, but he struggled with his putting, and didn’t get
it. But overall, he did pretty well!
After his match, the boys headed home, and I stopped by Chick-Fil-A to
grab dinner for the three of us. We all
ate together when I got home, and then I cleaned the kitchen, got showered, put
some laundry away, and hung with Jacob for a bit while Brian went to pick up
Olivia from dance.
When she got home, she got showered, we got them in the bed, and then B
and I watched a little bit of American Idol before bed.
Thursday, April 17
Thursday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I went straight
home to work on my blog post for Monday.
I also got 50 people transferred over to our alumni database, and then I
packed for our overnight trip because Brian and I were heading to Chattanooga
to see Judah & the Lion in concert!
We had a quick lunch together, and then we dropped the kids’ stuff for
music class along with their overnight bags at my mom and dad’s house before
hitting the road.
The drive to Chattanooga was much smoother this time than it was when we
had to drive through there for Nashville the previous week, and we made it
there with plenty of time. I Facetimed
with the kids when they got out of school, and then my mom took them to music
lessons.
When Brian and I arrived in Chattanooga, we got checked into our hotel –
The Hotel Chalet at the Choo Choo. It’s a small-ish
boutique hotel that was recently updated and it’s train-themed so while
everything inside looked old-fashioned, it was actually brand new, recently
renovated, and really nice. The lobby is
just beautiful!!
We got unpacked and then we changed clothes and freshened up before
walking to Urban Stack for dinner. Brian
had researched several options for dinner that were in the area, and I
ultimately chose Urban Stack as they specialize in different whiskey
drinks.
The restaurant ended up being okay – the bar area had a cute vibe, but
the main dining area wasn’t fantastic, and the food was pretty basic… nothing
to write home about. As for the whiskey,
I decided to try the Dixie 8 since it had Chattanooga whiskey… since we were in
Chattanooga. Well, y’all, I’m just going
to go ahead and tell ya, Chattnooga whiskey (or at least this particular kind)
was GROSSSS. The drink was barely
drinkable, so Brian ended up ordering a Manhattan for me. He stuck with an Old Fashioned which is always
a safe bet, and it and the Manhattan were delicious.
When we were done eating, we walked to the venue, and it was just so nice
to be able to walk everywhere. Traffic
in Chattanooga is hideous, so it was nice to not have to worry about navigating
through it. It was also crazy awesome
that the venue where the band played was literally at the other end of the
parking lot of our hotel. So convenient.
When we arrived at the venue, they gave us bracelets because we had
seating upstairs on the balcony. While
I’d love to be down in the general admission on the floor for their concerts, I
worry constantly about my vertigo and dizziness now, because I never know when
it’s going to flare up. Concerts can be
a trigger for me, and when I get dizzy, I have to have something to hold onto
if I’m standing still, so I knew that if we couldn’t be right on the rail in
the very front it would likely not end well for me. So, I was grateful to have a stool on the
balcony.
We had an awesome view, and we were just above the stage! The venue only holds about 1,000 people so
it’s pretty small and intimate. Judah
& the Lion had sold it out, too! And
if it wasn’t sold out then it was darn near close!
When we got our seats, we chatted with the people next to us for a bit,
and then Brian and I went downstairs to go to the bathroom and grab a couple of
beers before the show started. While we
were downstairs, we swung by the merch stand, and we ended up buying a signed
vinyl of their album The Process.
It has quickly become one of my favorites of all-time, and it was
awesome to be able to get a signed copy of it.
When we got back to our seats, the opener – Ethan Regan – started, and I
really enjoyed him. Judah & the Lion
started promptly at 8:30 and the lead singer started the concert out in the
audience, which was really cool. They
ended up doing a great setlist and it was just so, so good. They had the entire venue screaming, dancing,
and singing along to all of their songs.
All of their songs are anthems, so everyone just belts them out and it’s
so much fun. It’s always high energy in
there, which I love! They also debuted a
new, slower song that’s about losing someone you love, and the whole time I
kept thinking about Maui and also our sweet baby who we lost almost 15 years
ago. It is a beautiful song and it was a
great night.
When we left, Brian and I only had a 30 second walk back to the hotel
since it was at the other end of the parking lot, and shortly after we got into
our room, we heard loud cheering coming from the direction of the venue. We weren’t sure what was going on, but I was
already in my PJs, so we didn’t investigate.
It turned out that the band had come outside on the front steps of the venue,
and they played a couple of acoustic songs for those who had stuck around. Brian and I didn’t find out about it until
the next day, but we were soooo sad that we had missed it.
Friday, April 18
Friday morning, we got up at 7:45 because we needed to get home at a
decent hour because we had a crazy busy day.
Brian grabbed a fruit and yogurt parfait, and I grabbed a cup of coffee
from the little shop in the hotel lobby and we hit the road. We made SUCH good time, and we only had to
stop once for gas and a bathroom break on the way home, so we were at my mom
and dad’s before lunchtime.
My mom was out in the field behind their house taking pictures with the
kids, and she got a couple of really cute ones.
We got the kids’ stuff all packed up and we headed straight home. At home, we unloaded the car and then ate a
quick lunch, and then we headed to the local plant nursery to grab everything
we needed for outside – some ferns, some flowers, some herbs, some potting
soil, and sunflower seeds for Olivia. I wanted
to do all of my planting Saturday morning, but I knew the plant nursery would
be a zoo, so I wanted to knock it out Friday.
We got home with just enough time to drop all of that stuff off, change
clothes, and then we went to church for Stations of the Cross at 3 PM since it
was Good Friday. My mom, Mama Cass, Aunt
Joy, Uncle Greg, and Aunt Becky were all there, and we also saw one of my BFFs
with her two boys and a lot of our school family.
After Stations of the Cross, we headed home, but we only had about 45
minutes until we had to leave again.
That gave me just enough time to get 40 people logged in the new alumni
database, and then all four of us drove over to a local trampoline park to drop
Jacob for a birthday party.
Once he was squared away there with his friends, Brian, Olivia, and I
went to my parents’ house to have dinner with them and my oldest brother as he
was in town just for the night. He works
for NASA in Huntsville but had been down at Cape Canaveral working for a few
weeks, so he stopped here on his way back home.
He brought rockets and NASA coins for the kids, and we enjoyed catching
up with him. My momma had made her
famous cheesy ziti with a salad and bread, and it was such a yummy meal. Perfect for our last meatless Friday of Lent!
We only had a little over an hour there as we had to be back at the
trampoline park to pick Jacob up by 6:40, so we said our goodbyes and then made
our way to pick up Jacob.
After that, we were finally able to go home and stay there the rest of
the night. The kids got showered, and I
got unpacked from our trip and put everything away. I also got a load of laundry done, I did my
Bible study, and I made my to do list for the next day.
Once the kids were ready for bed and we were all in PJs, we spent the
rest of the evening finishing the Disney puzzle we’d started a few weeks prior,
and then the kids went to bed.
Brian and I watched an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale and an
episode of The Chosen (what a combo, haha) and then we headed to bed.
Saturday, April 19
Saturday, I had major plans to get a ton of stuff done, and I ended up
being even more productive than I thought I would. We had no place to go since we were going to
Mass on Sunday for Easter, so we had the entire day from start to finish at
home. I. was. thrilled. It was much needed after running around all
over creation all week!
Brian got up early to play in a tennis match, so I woke up a bit earlier
than usual for a Saturday and I allowed myself a few minutes to just lay in bed
and scroll through my phone. I never do
that – I always jump right out of bed because if I don’t, I’ll fall back asleep
immediately, so it was a nice treat to get up slowly for once.
After that, I made my way to the kitchen to make homemade waffles for the
kids and me, and then after breakfast, the kids threw their laundry in the
washer and then watched TV for a bit.
Meanwhile, I got to work!! First
up, I went through my planner to get everything on paper, then I downloaded
some new music and synced it to my phone (because, priorities – haha), then I
went through both email inboxes and got mostly caught up there.
I realized right after that that a few Target items that were supposed to
deliver on Friday for Easter baskets had, in fact, not delivered, so when I
checked the status and saw that they weren’t delivering until Monday, I
immediately reordered said items to have them picked up at our local Target
instead. Sigh.
After the kids’ laundry was done, I threw in a load of towels, and then I
transferred 70 people from our old alumni spreadsheet to the new database. I have to do about 35/day from now until the
end of the school year to get them all done, so I doubled up on Saturday
because I knew I wouldn’t have time on Sunday since it was Easter.
After that, I did my quiet time and Bible study for the day, and then I
went to each of the kids’ closets, and we all got our outfits picked out to
wear to church on Easter. Talk about
cutting it close! I sure didn’t prep
well this year.
Brian got home shortly after that from tennis, and he’d also gone to Lowe’s
to grab some basil for me since our local plant nursery was out. When he got home, he helped me get all of the
pots out of the outdoor closet and Olivia and I got all of my flowers and herbs
planted.
While we were doing that, Brian moved everything off the back porch so we
could clean everything off really well. We
have had the pollen-iest spring everrrr and it was thickly coated on every
single piece of furniture and the ground.
We had all hands on deck to get everything sprayed off, and then we went
inside to eat a late lunch while everything dried out in the sun.
After lunch, it was right back outside to put everything back on the
porch, and then Brian mowed the lawn, front and back. He was the real MVP for the day playing
tennis and still having the energy to clean off the porch and mow a half an
acre of grass.
While Brian mowed, I reorganized the entryway by our garage. We’ve used that as a drop zone for years
(since the kids were tiny) and it was no longer serving us since they have
outgrown the space. With a few tweaks, I
was able to get things right where they needed to be for full functionality,
and I’m really happy that we no longer have crap all over the floor right there. I’m also really glad that we no longer have
that shoe rack where it was because I was constantly hitting and bruising my
hip on it. Haha.
While we were cleaning out that area, Olivia and I cleaned out her
backpack, and y’all. I wish I had taken
a picture of all of the junk that we pulled out that thing – old snack wrappers,
a pair of fuzzy socks (why??), her camera, TONS of old papers, like three or
four library books, chap sticks, lip glosses, her glasses (not in a case –
grrrr), random pom poms and beads and glitter and other crafting items, like
three hand sanitizers – the list goes on and on… and ON. Haha.
I think we shaved off about 5-6 lbs. from her backpack and I am not exaggerating.
After that was done, I finally showered for the day, I grabbed a few of these delicious Meyer lemon wafers (OMG SO GOOD), and then I went to
my office to get a bunch of stuff in there – I posted a few things on
Instagram, I finished my whole blog post for Monday, and I worked on another…
all while watching The Wedding Planner as my happy background
noise. ;o)
Meanwhile, the kids had some screentime, and then they got showered for
the day. Brian left to pick up dinner,
and he was kind enough to run to Target and pick up the items that I’d ordered
for the kids’ Easter baskets while he was out.
They didn’t have one of the items that we needed, but we made do.
When Olivia got out of the shower, she made a no-bake cupcake from the
set she’d gotten for her birthday, and I played around with decorating my new
record player stand. It’s still not done,
but I love how it’s coming along!
When Brian got home with Five Guys, I mixed up some Moscow Mules to go
with it, and we listened to our new Judah & the Lion record on the record
player. Record players are just such a
vibe, y’all. Such a vibe.
We cleaned the kitchen after dinner, and then I still miraculously had a
ton of energy, so I went outside and swept off the front porch and watered our
new ferns. By then, the sun had gone
behind the trees, but it was still light outside, and that’s my favorite time
of day… the hour or so after the sun is no longer glaring on you, but before it
gets dark.
The kids wanted to do something fun after that, but we couldn’t find anything
to watch with them, so Brian and Jacob watched videos of all of the roller
coasters at Six Flags over Georgia because Jacob will be going there soon for
his eighth-grade field trip and he wanted to see what each of the rides looked
like. He will ride almost every ride at
Disney, but he doesn’t want to go upside down, so that rules out most of the roller
coasters at Six Flags. Haha.
While the boys did that, Olivia and I started her Wicked puzzle that she
got for her birthday, and we put a big dent in it! It’s a fun one because it’s round!
After that, I was still itching to get things done, so I folded and put
away all of the towels, and then we finally got the kids in the bed. Brian and I watched 1.5 episodes of The
Chosen and then we had to go to bed so the Easter bunny could come. ;o) I
swore I was only going to put out the kids’ baskets, but at the last minute, I just
couldn’t not put out Maui’s, so I put hers out, too. <3
I didn’t have anything for it, of course, but I thought it was beautiful
when I pulled it down and there were flowers resting inside. A few months back, I had been too lazy to put
some flower stems away in their proper box in the closet, so I had laid them in
her basket, and it was such a sweet surprise.
It was like I knew I’d need to see that.
Sunday morning, we were up earlier than usual for Easter and the kids
went downstairs right away to find their Easter baskets. Jacob’s was in the huge cooler that we’d
bought a few months back and never put away and Olivia’s was on the top shelf
in the pantry.
We all had a quick breakfast after that and then we got ready for
church. Olivia wanted her hair curled,
so I did that for her, too, and then we were on our way!
Both of my cousins who weren’t supposed to come ended up showing up with
their significant others and I was so excited to see them! Mass was beautiful, as it always is on
Easter, and the church was gorgeous thanks to my Momma and several other ladies
from our church. They always decorate it
so beautifully for Easter.
After Mass, we took a few family photos outside as we always do, and then
our family of four headed straight to my mother-in-law’s and step-father-in-law’s
house for Easter lunch. They’d made a
huge, delicious spread of food including two desserts, and I partook in all of
it since we were only eating once that day.
My mom doesn’t do Sunday dinner on Easter because we have an extended
family gathering in the afternoon.
After lunch, we headed outside for our annual Easter egg hunt, and Jacob,
Olivia, and my two grown nephews participated… you’re never too old for an
Easter egg hunt! ;o)
Once we were done with the Easter egg hunt and the kids had opened all of
their eggs, it was time for our family to hit the road for my extended family’s
gathering. My Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg
hosted this year, and they did it a little later in the afternoon this time, so
we didn’t have to miss most of it as we usually do. Most of the time my family’s celebration overlaps
almost completely with Brian’s family’s celebration and we miss almost all of
my family’s, so it was nice that it worked out the way it did this year.
My cousin, Wil, and his girlfriend, Cat, brought their baby Cavapoo and
he is soooo dang sweet. Olivia was head
over heels!! She and Jacob played with him
all afternoon and we were all excited to get some doggie snuggles… I’ve been
missing Maui terribly.
We also have a new baby in the family, so I got to get some newborn baby
snuggles, so my day was made COMPLETELY.
We got home around 4:30 and then my father-in-law swung by to give the
kids some Easter goodies. He hung out
for a bit, and then we were finally able to relax. And by relax, I mean I retreated to my office
for a bit to try to squeeze in some work.
I transferred all of the pictures and videos from my phone to my
computer and it decided not to work on that particular day, so I ended up with
lots of broken files and a huge batch of photos and videos that I had to EMAIL
to myself. Sigh. Technology is just terrible sometimes.
That took all of my time, so I stopped (and still wasn’t finished) to do
a Bible study around seven, and then I watered the plants and took dinner
orders from everyone. We were just doing
a mix of “whatever you can find in the kitchen” so I made four different things
for four different people. Brian and I ate
light, too, since we’d had a big lunch.
After the kitchen was clean, we watched a little bit of American Idol,
and then Brian found a show called Man vs. Bee on Netflix that the kids could
watch. They’re not into American Idol
anymore, so they wanted to find something else.
They are loving Man vs. Bee, but it’s only one season and each episode
is super short so it’s not going to last long.
After we got them in the bed, Brian made us some Manhattans, and then we
watched an episode of The Chosen and then finished an episode of Saturday
Night Live that we’d already started.
The kids had Monday off, too, but I’ll recap that next week since this post
is already a book!!
Happy Thursday, y’all!
