Another week of
summer is under our belts, and we only have four left. Gosh, it’s gone by at lightning speed this
year! While I’m soooo excited for fall
and all things cozy, I’m just not quite ready to send the kiddos back to school…
I feel like there’s still so much we need to do! Today I’m recapping week seven of summer and
it was full of swimming lessons!
Monday, July 5
Monday, Brian was off for Fourth of July, and we all slept in a little
later than usual since we’d been up late on the Fourth. It was a very lazy morning and early
afternoon at home, and then Olivia and I headed off mid-afternoon for her
swimming lessons! Prior to this year,
she’d taken lessons twice before, once when she was four and then again when
she was five. She loves the pool, but
haaaates learning to swim, so she was still in desperate need of more lessons
in 2020. We were going to send her for a
third (and hopefully final) time in summer 2020, but then Covid canceled
everything.
Ms. Joni, the lady who used to do the kids’ lessons, finally retired (I
think??) and Olivia had gotten to the point where she was having anxiety every
time we went to her house, so we decided to schedule them with someone else
this year and give her a fresh start.
The lady who we decided to use does private lessons at her house and is
probably in the top three most sought out swim instructors in the city, so it’s
nearly impossible to get in with her.
I ended up booking these lessons months and months ago, long before
Olivia broke her elbow, so when she did break her elbow, I just knew we were
going to have to cancel her swimming lessons.
However, it ended up working out that she came out of her cast one week
prior to lessons starting, and her doc said it was completely okay for her to follow
through with lessons.
So, Olivia and I headed to Mrs. Marty’s house at three, and Olivia was
actually excited instead of anxious, which was a huge relief. There were only three other girls in her
group, and they were all the same age, so we liked that as well. Ms. Joni always had 7-8 kids of all ages in
each of her classes, so it was nice to have the smaller class sizes this
time.
Mrs. Marty’s lessons are also only 30 minutes whereas Ms. Joni’s were an
hour, and I think that’s actually better for Olivia, too, as by the end of an
hour she was often exhausted, which resulted in more tears.
Her first lesson went beautifully.
On the first day, Mrs. Marty taught the kids the basic mechanics, and
she held them under their bellies and helped them swim around the shallow end
several times. She also didn’t make the
girls put their faces in the water on the first day either, and I’m sure Olivia
also liked that as that’s her least favorite part.
Mrs. Marty does also teach the kids how to pull themselves out of the
water on the side of the pool using their arms and elbows, but we told her Olivia
couldn’t do that. The doc said she can
move her arm as much as she wants, but he didn’t say anything about putting
weight on it, so we didn’t think that was a good idea at all. Overall, everything went beautifully, though,
and Olivia used her left arm just as much as her right to swim… as a matter of
fact, Mrs. Marty told us she was using her left arm even more, so her elbow is
obviously doing great! Olivia LOVED her
lessons and she didn’t want to leave.
Haha.
When we got home, the boys were finishing up a Star Wars movie that
they’d started a while back, so Olivia joined them, and I headed upstairs to my
reading nook with a snack to sneak in a few minutes of reading.
Soon enough, it was time to cook dinner, and I made our family favorite –
baked ziti – and B and I indulged in a glass of wine… a rarity for a Monday,
but hey, it was still technically the weekend since B was off. ;o)
After dinner, B and the kids and I all went outside and played several
games of Cornhole. The kids just love it
and B and I do, too, so it’s something fun all of us can do as a family. I also squeezed in a cardio workout which was
much-needed after all of the junk I’d eaten all weekend.
Once the kids were ready for bed, we watched a couple of episodes of Breaking
Bobby Bones, and then the kids went to bed while B and I watched The
Bachelorette.
Tuesday, July 6
Tuesday morning,
the kids spent a good chunk of time doing summer homework. We’d been having some trouble getting Olivia
logged in to take AR tests from home, which is part of her homework, so I finally
texted the school librarian to see if she could help, and she sent me a
different link that worked. Olivia had
already read several books and she was able to knock out a couple of tests
before we had to leave.
I had my annual
eye appointment Tuesday morning at 11, and unfortunately, B has started going
back into the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so the kids weren’t able to
stay home. My eye doctor is still not
allowing family members in their office because of Covid, so I dropped the kids
off at my Momma and Daddy’s house so Daddy could watch them for me.
During my
appointment, they dilated my pupils like they always do, and it seemed even
more miserable this time than usual. I
could barely open my eyes outside, even with sunglasses, so driving wasn’t fun
at all. Luckily, it’s a verrrry short
drive from the eye doc to my parents’ house, and I was there in no time. On the way back to our house from my parents’
I just decided to swing through the Zaxby’s drive-through to grab lunch because
it was late, and I didn’t feel like making anything when we got home.
After lunch, we
squeezed in an hour of quiet time (work for me and video games for the kids)
and then we headed to swimming lessons.
On day two, Mrs. Marty had the kids swimming to and from the steps by
themselves while she walked alongside them, and she made them swim with their
faces in the water. The distance was
short (only 4-5 feet or so) and all of the girls did great. Again, Olivia didn’t want to leave! Such a wonderful change from 2019 when she
cried her eyeballs out for nearly the entire two weeks!
When we got
back home, we had another hour of quiet time and then I cooked dinner. The kids played outside all evening while I
cooked and then they headed right back out there after dinner. It was cloudy and cool and windy and
eventually we got some good rain, but the kids played their little hearts out
on the porch. It’s always so nice to have
a cool evening during the middle of our hot, hot summers. Most of the time it’s too unbearable to even
be outside this time of year.
I finally
dragged them in just before 8 so they could get in their PJs before Lego
Masters started. We all watched that
together and then the kids slept in their sleeping bags on the floor in Olivia’s
room. That was the first time all summer
they’d asked to have a sleepover and I wasn’t going to say no to that!
Wednesday, July 7
Wednesday morning,
I was ready and out the door by 8. Maui
had started in with an awful, awful cough Saturday evening, and it
continued through Tuesday. The only time
she wasn’t coughing was when she was laying down, and she coughed constantly
while she was up and moving around. It
sounded terrible and it was debilitating for her, so we finally called the vet
Wednesday morning. They had a
cancelation and were able to get her in first thing, so she and I left the kids
with B and headed out early.
After I dropped
her, I ran a ton of errands – Walmart, library to drop some books, UPS Store,
Target, and CVS – and I was back home before 10. The kids and I all sat down together when I
got home to do some more summer homework.
Jacob worked on math in IXL and Olivia blew through four AR tests for
books that she’s already read this summer.
After they were
done, I had just enough time to grab a cup of hot cinnamon tea and read a few
blogs before it was time for lunch. After
lunch, I swung by the kids’ school to drop some old uniforms, and then I headed
to pick up Maui. Naturally, after
coughing her head off for three days, she ended up being at the vet for five
hours and didn’t cough a single time.
Therefore, the vet had some trouble diagnosing her.
The vet did
mention that part of Maui’s trachea had some minor abnormal narrowing, but she
said that happens sometimes with tiny dogs and there’s not much we can do for
it. She said it’s likely Maui picked up
some kind of cold from somewhere (probably from another dog in our neighb since
we walk her around), and that the cough was causing her trachea to swell which,
in turn, was causing her to cough even more, so it was like a vicious cycle. She gave us some doggie cough medicine to
give to her and sent us on our way.
And before I continue,
may I just say that one good thing that came out of this pandemic is the curbside
pick-up/drop-off/service!! I LOVE not
having to get out of my car at certain places, and the vet is one of them! The entire process is so much faster now that
it’s all curbside!
Wednesday
afternoon was spent the same as Tuesday – an hour of work for me and video
games for the kids, swimming lessons, and then more work when we got home. Swimming lessons went well again. On day three, Mrs. Marty had the kids swim to
and from the steps with their faces in the water, but she had increased the
distance by a couple of feet. Olivia
swam LIKE A BOSS, and there wasn’t much for Mrs. Marty to have to correct for
her on Wednesday.
The outer bands
of Tropical Storm Elsa started moving in right when we got there, so it poured
rain for about half of the lesson. Since
there was no thunder and lightning, Mrs. Marty continued with the lesson right
through the rain. The girls all seemed
to love it, though, and Olivia was just smiling and laughing the whole way
through. Jacob and I were very grateful
that we’d gotten a spot under Mrs. Marty’s covered back porch, though. Haha.
When we got
back home, I squeezed in another hour of work, and I grabbed a second cup of
hot tea to take with me. It was a very
cozy afternoon with the rain coming and going, and I love a good cozy afternoon
that feels like fall right in the middle of summer!
Thursday
evening, I made breakfast for dinner, and then I headed out for a solo walk
while the kids showered and got ready for bed.
I love walking with the whole fam, but when we walk together my Apple
watch doesn’t even register as exercise because we’re so slow. Lol. I
like to keep a pace of 16-17 minutes per mile when I walk, so I am
TRUCKING.
Unfortunately,
I had forgotten that the last time I ran, my right tennis shoe had started
bothering my big toe, and as soon as I hit the pavement my big toe started
hurting. I decided to power through, and
I got in a 2.5 mile walk, but by the time I got back home, I was limping
because my toe hurt so bad. I had a
major sharp pain every time I put any weight on my toe or bent it, but there
wasn’t any bruising or swelling, so I’m not sure exactly what kind of injury it
was.
As soon as I
got home, I propped it up, and then we watched America’s Got Talent. The kids asked to have another sleepover, so
they got their sleeping bags set up in Jacob’s room and we said goodnight.
After they went
to bed, B and I watched All American from Monday, and then we called it
a night, too. And speaking of All
American, is anyone else as underwhelmed with this new season as I am? I have loved that show so much until
this season… I feel like this season has been kind of boring and it doesn’t
hold my interest.
Thursday, July 8
Thursday morning,
my toe was still hurting soooo bad when I woke up, so I knew I wouldn’t be
doing any kind of cardio workout.
Instead, I did a yoga workout that focused on core and arms… I couldn’t
even do downward dog because of my toe.
Waaaahhhh.
After my
workout, I got ready for the day, and after our morning routine, the kids and I
cleaned out the playroom. We usually do
that at the beginning of the summer, but we hadn’t had the chance with the broken
elbow, beach trip, camp, and aaaallll the sickness, so it felt good to finally
knock it out. It was in pretty bad
shape, so we went through and pulled everything out, created homes for
everything, got rid of trash and recycling, bagged up items to donate, put everything
in their new homes, and then relabeled bins as needed. And all the Type A people said AMEN!
Before:
After:
By the time we
finished, it was time for lunch, and then after that, the kids and I all had 30
minutes of individual reading time.
Jacob finally got an AR book for his summer reading homework, and Olivia
still has a few more she needs to read, so they worked on that while I finished
up Little Fires Everywhere. I
loved the book, but I hated that I had already watched the show first, because
I found myself not getting into the book as good as I would have had I not
watched the show.
After reading
time, the kids played video games for a short while and I tackled some work,
and then we had to head out for day four of swimming lessons for Olivia. On day four, Mrs. Marty had the kids jump off
the side in the shallow end and swim to her, and then she had them jump off the
side in the deep end and swim to her.
They did that over and over.
Olivia did great aside from lifting her head out of the water to see
where she was going. Every time she
would lift her head and then put it back in, she would get water up her nose,
so Mrs. Marty worked hard with her on keeping her head down and opening her
eyes under water to see where she was going instead.
After lessons,
we headed back home where I squeezed in another hour of work. Having to split up my main block of work time
each day because of swimming lessons has definitely been tough… I feel like
right as I get in the zone, it’s time to quit, so I was way less productive last
week.
We had baked
ziti leftovers for dinner Thursday evening, and we snuck in a glass of wine,
and then after hanging out for a bit, we watched a couple of episodes of Walk
the Prank. Jacob and Olivia had a
sleepover for the third night in a row, and then B and I started a new show on
Netflix called Atypical.
Apparently it's four seasons already but I’d never even heard of it. Have any of you? What do you think? It took me a few episodes to really get into it, but I am loving it now!
Friday, July 9
Friday morning,
I got up and did a stair stepper workout… I had wanted to run, but my toe was
still hurting pretty badly, so I had to do something that didn’t affect the
toe. After our morning routine and a few
minutes outside, the kids settled in to build a unicorn trap. No clue where that idea came from, but I love
when they get creative!
While they
worked on that, I got busy uploading a bunch of Olivia’s old baby clothes to
Poshmark. I’d had them packed away for
years and finally got the boxes out so we can get rid of them once and for
all! I ended up photographing and uploading
23 new listings so that felt good since I’ve been neglecting Poshmark for the
last couple of months.
By the time I
finished with that, it was time for lunch.
After lunch, the kids worked on summer homework for another hour. We had a little bit of trouble with the
internet and then the IXL assignment Jacob chose was absurdly difficult, so I
was grateful B was working from home and was able to step in the kitchen and
help as needed. Summer homework has been
a struggle this year… probably because we waited so long to start and now we’re
having to cram it all in.
After IXL, the
kids spent some time playing Super Mario Odyssey while I did some work, and then when B
got off of work, he and Jacob headed off to play tennis while Olivia and I
headed off to get pedicures! Our family
of four typically does everything together, but now that the kids are getting a
little older and some of their interests are changing, we’ve reached the point
where we’ll probably be pairing off and splitting up some of the time. I like the one-on-one time anyway… I rarely
get it with either of the kids, or Brian for that matter, and it’s always nice
to have their undivided attention.
Olivia has only
had a pedicure at a spa once ever – after her Pre-K4 graduation – and she had
started asking a few weeks ago if we could go get another one, so she was
thrilled. She picked the prettiest deep
sparkly pink and a light aqua to get her toes done in two different colors, and
I ended up using her same pink for my toes because it was so pretty.
After our
pedicures, we ran to CVS to pick up a prescription, and by the time we were
done there, the boys were done with tennis and had placed our to-go order at
Five Guys. Olivia and I were already in
the area, so we grabbed it and then headed home.
B had already
made Moscow Mules for us by the time we arrived with dinner, so we were ready
to roll! After dinner, a huge storm blew
in, and we all snuggled in on the couch and watched Shark Tale per
Olivia’s request. She’d been begging for
weeks to watch it, so we finally gave in even though the rest of us weren’t too
excited about it. Haha.
I fell asleep
per usual, and then the kids got settled into their sleeping bags for yet
another sleepover, this time back in Olivia’s room. After they went to bed, B and I watched a
couple more episodes of Atypical and then some of that other show, Sweet
Tooth.
Saturday, July 10
Saturday morning
was homemade waffles, a mixed cardio workout (carefully done in favor of my
still slightly aching toe), and laundry, and then we all headed outside for the
rest of the morning and much of the afternoon.
We discovered
that Olivia’s sunflowers finally FINALLY had some blooms, although, they were
still green. We planted them way back in
May, and they have just taken forever to bloom.
We had reached the point where I was starting to think it wasn’t going
to happen at all.
Olivia got in
the blow-up pool and the boys played wiffle ball while I settled in with my new
book, Daisy Jones and the Six, and not less than an hour went by before Jacob
was in the pool fully clothed.
Haha. There are so many times
that he’ll say he doesn’t want to get in the water, and inevitably, he ends up
in there anyway.
We headed back
inside just before 3 when the worst of the heat was kicking in, and then I
snuck in a quick hour of work in my office while Jacob and Olivia played Super Mario Odyssey. Before I knew it, it was time to
get ready for church. We’ve been so used
to having the entire day Saturday to spend at home for the last 16 months, that
it’s been odd stopping late in the afternoon to get ready to go to 5:30 mass
again. I’m so very grateful that we’re
able to be back, though. So so
grateful.
My Mama Cass, Momma,
and Aunt Becky and Uncle Bob were all at church along with a couple of friends
and their kids, so we were able to hang out and chat with them afterward for a
bit. It has been so wonderful being
inside the building again and seeing people we haven’t seen much this last
year!
After church,
we swung by DQ for Blizzards along with a local pizza place right across the
street to pick up dinner, and then we headed home to eat. We watched an episode of Mighty Ducks Game
Changers and a Walk the Prank with the kids, and then B and I
settled in to watch a couple of episodes of Atypical and Sweet Tooth.
Sunday, July 11
Sunday morning,
we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast (our usual), and then I spent the morning prepping
for the week ahead – meal planning for the next two weeks, making the grocery
list, sorting laundry, washing towels, watering plants, prepping my planner for
the week, and working out.
We had our
usual Sunday lunch at my mother-in-law’s and step-father-in-law’s and they had
an abundance of tomatoes from their garden, so they sent us home with a whole
bunch for us + my parents. It was
perfect timing, too, because I’d just added lots of tomatoes to my shopping
list for a new pasta recipe I’m trying this week.
It rained all
day long Sunday, so we didn’t get to spend any time outdoors, but that was okay
by me because I love a good cozy indoor day during the summer… gives off the
best fall vibes. Plus, once July 4th
comes and goes, I get totally in fall-mode anyway. I’m so ready for September 1 already, y’all!
The afternoon
was spent all cozy in my office with twinkle lights, my fuzzy blanket, Father
of the Bride 2, and a delicious new oils blend – vanilla, wintergreen, and
grapefruit. Oh my word, it smells so
yummy!
We headed to my
parents’ house Sunday evening and my mom made her famous vegetable lasagna. We shared a bottle of wine and stayed cozy
all evening, and it was the perfect way to end the weekend.
Happy
Wednesday, y’all!
