Last week, it stormed pretty much all day every day, so we were laying low most of the week.  We had some good downtime, plenty of sleep, some productivity, and some fun, aaaand we celebrated Jacob’s 13th birthday!  It was a good one!

Monday, July 22

Monday, I woke up at 7:30, had breakfast, and worked in my office for an hour.  After that, I got showered and ready for the day as I had errands to run.  Since Brian works from home on Monday, I can leave the kids home with him which is so nice! 

I filled the car with gas, did my grocery shopping at Walmart, and then picked up the rest of the items from Publix that I couldn’t get at Walmart, and then it was time to go home and get everything put away.

While I was gone, Olivia worked on IXL summer homework, and Jacob played piano and hung out.

By the time I was done putting groceries away, it was time to have lunch, and then after lunch, I worked all afternoon. 

We had ranch chicken pasta for dinner with steamed broccoli and garlic cheese bread, and then after dinner, I went out for a run.  But first, a check on Olivia's sunflowers!  They're coming along!

The kids had played outside while I was gone, and they were getting ready for bed by the time I got home.  Then once we were all showered, we pulled out the Lego puzzle we’ve had forever but haven’t ever put together, and we got the whole outline done before the kids got in the bed.

Last pictures as a 12-year-old!

Brian and I spent the rest of the night working on getting Jacob’s phone ready for the next day since it was his birthdaaaay!!!!

Tuesday, July 23

Tuesday morning, I got up and made homemade waffles for breakfast per the birthday boy’s request.  He and Olivia and I all ate together, and then we hung out for a bit after breakfast.  The birthday boy wanted to play video games after breakfast, so that’s exactly what he and Olivia did, and while they did that, I retreated to my office to get some work done. 

Mid-morning, I got showered and ready along with the kids, and then my friend, Khristina, dropped her son, Noah, off to spend the day with us.  She was so kind to ask the birthday boy what he wanted for lunch, and they came bearing gifts from Panera per Jacob’s request.  Khristina’s mom, Trish, was with her as they were going to spend the day together, so it was a nice surprise and such a treat to be able to see her, too.  Hiiii, Trish!!  I know you’re reading!  :o)

After they left, the kids and I all ate lunch together, and then the kids spent the rest of the day trading Pokemon cards, playing Twister, working on the Lego puzzle, and playing basketball outside.  And we had another look at Olivia's sunflowers.

Noah was picked up at 4, and then Brian got home shortly after that, and by then, I was practically dyyyying to give him his gift.  I had left the phone in its original box, but I wrapped it in tissue paper and put it at the bottom of a very large Amazon box.  Then I took all of Olivia’s loose Lego pieces and dumped them all over the top, filling up the box to the top.  I covered those with more tissue paper, and then wrapped it as a normal gift.

I told him to start digging, and he finally got to the bottom and pulled out the tissue paper wrapped phone.  When he pulled the tissue paper off, he. was. shook.  Then his shock turned to pure excitement.  We got the whole thing on video and it’s a video I’ll treasure forever.  It was priceless.  He couldn’t believe that we’d finally given him a phone.  After years of asking, he’d finally given up about a year ago, so he wasn’t expecting it at all.  These faces... PRICELESS.

We spent the next hour or so going over how to use the basic features, showing him the security measures that we have in place (we’re being fully transparent with him as we expect him to be fully transparent with us), showing him all of the fun stuff it can do, teaching him proper phone etiquette, customizing a few things, and most importantly, going over THE RULES. 

I plan to do a full blog post on all of this sometime in the near future, so stay tuned…

By the time we were done with all of that, it was time to get ready for dinner.  We let the birthday boy choose, and his pick was Culver’s.  Lol.  That boy loves some Culver’s.  Haha. 

We all enjoyed our burgers, and Jacob got an ice cream there as his birthday dessert, and then we headed home as a huge storm was about to blow through. 

Wednesday, July 24

Wednesday morning, I was up at 7:45…I slept in a few extra minutes since B and I had stayed up so late the night before, and then I headed downstairs to have breakfast, unload the dishwasher, water the plants, and do all of my morning chores.  Jacob came down while I was still in the kitchen, which has been rare this summer as he’s been sleeping in until nearly 9 most mornings. 

I helped him set up a couple more things on his phone, and then I headed to my office with hot tea in hand to catch up on some blog reading.

Olivia came in my office around 9 because she’d finally gotten up, and then she headed downstairs where Jacob was already eating breakfast.  Olivia has been skipping breakfast most mornings this summer – she’s never been an early morning eater, nor does she like to eat first thing when she wakes – so most days she’s just been skipping breakfast and then eating a big lunch. 

Since Jacob didn’t get his cell phone until the end of the day on his birthday, I let him spend a fair amount of time with it Wednesday morning, and he and Olivia played a game on there that we’d let him download. 

Mid-morning, I also sent him a couple more contacts to put in his phone and he texted a couple of his cousins on Brian’s side of the family since they’re all older and already have phones.  He is LOVING being able to get in touch with everyone.  It’s a whole new world!  For him, and for me.  It is wild having my child’s phone number in my phone now.  How on earth did we get here so fast?!  Haha.

After that, Olivia and I headed to her bedroom to start the process of… cleaning out the dumpster fire that is her room.  Y’all, I know I say this every time, but it’s true every time – I think it was the worst it’s ever been.  Haha.  She somehow always outdoes herself.

We headed downstairs for lunch after that, and then the kids got dressed and ready for the day while I showered. 

At 2 PM, we had a massive storm roll through and then it was dark and stormy for the rest of the afternoon, making for the absolute coziest day.  It made me so ready for fall!  Since we couldn’t do much, Jacob played video games, Olivia made slime, and I worked in my office, and then I did my quiet time and Bible study after my work was done for the day.

After that, I went back into Olivia’s room to tackle some more cleaning out until it was time to get dinner on the table.  While I worked in her room a ton and got a lot done, it still looked like I’d hardly put a dent in it.  Sigh.  Haha.

We had leftover ranch chicken pasta and steamed broccoli for dinner since my slow cooker recipe always makes a ton, and we had that with some garlic cheese bread.  B and I even had a glass of wine!

It was still raining when we finished up with dinner, so I did an indoor workout – strength.  After my workout, Olivia asked if we could read her book some more (we started The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls months ago, but never finished it), so we snuggled up in my bed and read together until Jacob was done showering and getting ready for bed.

Thursday, July 25

Thursday morning was the usual morning routine for me, and then I ended up having to wake Olivia around 10:15 because she had been asleep for over 12 hours, and I was worried she wasn’t going to be able to go to sleep Thursday night.  These kids have done some serious sleeping this summer!

Once she was up and ready, we got back in her room and finished up in there.  It took a couple more hours, but we finallyyyy got the whole thing cleaned out and organized.  It was a TON of work, but I’m happy, and most importantly, she’s happy.  She always LOVES when her room is tidy, yet she will not keep it that way for longer than, like three days after we do these big cleanouts.  Haha.  Meanwhile, Jacob worked on a wooden piano puzzle that he'd bought with his own money...

The rest of the afternoon was spent having lunch, getting ready, doing some work, and then taking the kids to music lessons.  Olivia made the decision to definitely make the switch from voice lessons to guitar lessons, so she had her last voice lesson with Mrs. Janice Thursday.  They have a two-week break from music, and then after the break, she’ll officially start her guitar lessons.  EEEEK!  I think I’m just as excited as she is!

When she told Mr. Steve on Thursday that she was officially making the switch, he was thrilled, and he told her that her homework over the break was to make a long list of songs she wants to learn.  She told Steve, “Okay, but just know that it’s gonna be all Taylor Swift!!”  Hahahaha.  And he was like, “That’s ok, girl, I’m happy to do it!” 

He has several students who already play TS nonstop so he knows it all anyway.  Haha.  And he actually enjoys a lot of her music, too.  He’s a musician so he knows a good artist when he hears one.  ;o) 

And then he told her that he’s going to make learning to play the guitar so fun that she’s not even going to know she’s learning… even during the “boring” stuff.  He did tell us that she needs a capo if she’s going to be playing a lot of TS, so naturally, Olivia just had to go buy one right then and there.

While we were at music lessons, Jacob worked some more on honing Clair de Lune, and his piano teacher was just amazed at how quickly he picked it up.  And his mind was blown because Jacob already has it all memorized… he doesn’t even need the sheet music.  That prompted his teacher to mention casually that he needs to consider doing another recital.  I don’t think he’s 100% opposed to it, but we’ll see…

Since Olivia just had to have a capo right away (haha), we drove to the local music store to pick one up, and on the way, we swung by the library to pick up a book for me.

At the music store, we browsed for a bit, grabbed the capo she needed, and we let her select a guitar pick.  She wanted a purple one, and that was exactly what she got.

While we were there, I discovered that they offer piano and guitar lessons in the morning and early afternoon (unlike the kids’ music school).  I’ve been so inspired by Jacob these past couple of years that I’ve been wanting to take piano lessons, but wasn’t sure where to take them since the kids’ school doesn’t offer them early enough in the day.  Now I know where I can go should I decide to take the plunge!

After we were done there, we headed home for a Bible study and breakfast for dinner.  After dinner, I decided to get outside for a workout, and Maui was wanting to go so badly that I decided to get her out for a walk before I did my own.  We got about a quarter of a mile away from our house and it started pouring.  I picked Maui up and made a run for it, and bless her, she was SOAKED by the time we got home.  It was so funny to watch her reaction because she hates getting wet so much.

By the time we got home, the rain had slowed to a sprinkle, and then by the time I got Maui dried off, the rain had stopped completely.  I got back out there for a walk/jog, and during my entire workout, I was treated to a massive rainbow that stretched across the whole sky.  My workout lasted about 30 minutes and the rainbow was there the entire time, only fading just as I reached my driveway.  It was such a treat!

When I got home, I got showered and ready for bed, and then we got the kids in the bed shortly after.  Brian and I watched some more of The Bachelorette even though neither of us are really paying attention to it as we’re both doing other things on our phones or whatever, and then we headed to bed.

Friday, July 26

Friday, we had a pretty lazy morning, and then after lunch, the kids and I had to go to Walmart to pick up a few things since we were hosting poker night with our friends that evening.  I had grabbed a case of beer, and it was in our cart while we were doing self-checkout.  I had gotten every item scanned and bagged and was just about to scan the beer when Olivia walked by the cart and just barely brushed her fingertips over the top of the case. 

Immediately, a Walmart employee (who had been hovering over us like a vulture during the entire checkout process) came flying over saying, “Ma’am, I can no longer sell you that beer.”  I was like, “Why?”  And she said, “Because your daughter touched it.”  I, of course, thought she was joking, so I started to scan the case, and she said, “NO!  Ma’am, I can no longer sell that beer to you!”

I was completely baffled, of course, and I asked her what on earth she wanted me to do.  She told me we would have to take that case back and get a new one.  WHAT?!

Well, at this point, all of our items had been scanned and bagged, so I wasn’t about to cancel the transaction only to go grab a new case of beer and get back in line, and I certainly wasn’t going to leave my kids there alone while I went to grab another case, so I told the lady that if they were going to have such a ludicrous rule, then she could take the case of beer back and get another one. 

She ended up sending another employee to go get it and then she proceeded to lecture us in a very condescending voice the whole time the lady was gone, saying, “Let this be a learning moment for all of you… blah blah blah.”

I.Was.Furious.

Meanwhile, Olivia is shocked and her cheeks are turning pink, so of course, I turned to her in the midst of all of this telling her she’d done absolutely nothing wrong and that it was a dumb rule (if it really is even a rule, which I highly doubt it is), and that this lady was completely out of line.

I asked the lady why on earth they had such a ludicrous rule and she said, “Because police come in and do busts all the time, and I could go to jail if I don’t take this case back and get a new one.”

All because a minor touched the box.  She didn’t even touch an actual bottle of beer.  It was just the box.  She was obviously not trying to purchase it herself, nor was she cracking one open and drinking it.  She wasn’t even trying to scan it. 

She literally just touched the top of the case.

Y’all. 

Seriously.The.Dumbest.Thing.I’ve.Ever.Heard.In.My.Life.

She was apparently power hungry and/or having a bad day, so I was as polite as I could be (even though I wanted to go off on her for treating my child that way), but I try so hard to set a good example for the kids and be kind no matter what.  This was a big challenge, though.

On the way home, the kids and I had a long talk about everything that went down, and now the kids think it’s hilarious because they have a funny story to tell.  I put Walmart on blast in my Instagram stories and I tagged them, but I’m sure they get tagged in a million different posts every day and they never responded to mine. 

After I posted my stories, the DMs came ROLLING in and, oh my word, there were so many of them.  Every single person who DMed me was appalled that it had happened to us, and many of you told me your stories about your bad experiences at Walmart… and they were ABUNDANT. 

Needless to say, we won’t be purchasing our alcohol from Walmart ever again, and I think I’m going to be taking a break from shopping there for groceries for a while, too. 

I only recently started shopping there for groceries because Publix had gotten so expensive, but I’d honestly much rather shop at Publix “where shopping is a pleasure” (and it truly is) than save money and get harassed every single time I shop at Walmart.  Because don’t get me started about the “missed scans.”  Almost every single time I go now, their employees come running over saying that I “missed a scan” and then I have to wait for them to review the video, check the system with the items in my bag, and hold up the line only to have them tell me, “Never mind, you didn’t miss a scan.” 

SIGH.

Anywayyyy, once we were done there, I came home and tried to get some work done, but instead, spent my next hour responding to all of your DMs, and I also saw this Reel in my Instagram feed that University of Georgia football Equipment posted... that's UGA's QB1 + my cousin's arm, and on his arm, he is wearing a bracelet that Olivia made for him.  She was ecstatic.  She's basically famous.  ;o)  That prompted me to go look at my collection that she's made for me, and I have quite a few.  Lol.

It was our turn to host, so we did a whole taco bar – I’d been cooking chicken in the slow cooker all day, so I shredded it all up, and then we had hard shells, soft shells, lettuce, cheese, homemade guac by B, tortilla chips, cilantro lime rice, and refried beans, and it was all so yummy.

After everyone was done eating, the kids went to play and all of us adults played poker for the next few hours.  Our poker playing is always slow and distracted, because we’re always so busy talking, and this past Friday night was a particularly good one with lots of fun and laughs.  Per usual, I took zero pictures or videos because I was having so much fun in the moment, so I have nothing to show for it.  But that’s okay.  Haha.

After everyone left, B and I did a quick clean of the kitchen, and then we got the kids in the bed.  B and I ended the evening with a couple more episodes of One Day, and then we headed to bed.

Saturday, July 27

Around 4:30 AM, I awoke with a start, and I realized something was wrong… our ceiling fan wasn’t on, and it was dead quiet in the house.  I realized right away that the power was out, so I got on Facebook to check our neighborhood page, and sure enough, everyone was reporting that the power had gone out at 2:30 AM due to someone hitting a power pole on the main road near our neighborhood.  Georgia Power had reported that the power would be back on around 4 AM, but it had gotten pushed back to 5 AM, so I tried to go back to sleep. 

Unfortunately, I can’t sleep when I’m hot, and I struggle to sleep without a fan, so I lay there foreverrrr never falling asleep.  Eventually, Olivia woke up and got scared because her night light wasn’t on, so she ended up coming in our room and sleeping on the floor in her sleeping bag.  I think I finally fell back asleep sometime around 7, but then I woke up around 8 unable to go back to sleep because it was just so hot. 

I got out of bed, and checked the status, and Georgia Power was then reporting the power wouldn’t be back on until 9.  They eventually moved it back to 10, so at that point, I knew they obviously had no clue what time it was going to be back on since they’d been pushing the time out for six hours.  One of our neighbors reported that they had the entire two-lane highway shut down and they were rerouting traffic, so I don’t know if that was because of the wreck or the power outage (or both).  We never heard what happened to the people who hit the pole, so hopefully they’re okay.  The last couple of times this happened, it was due to drunk driving, so I’m assuming that’s what happened again, but who knows.

We didn’t want to open the fridge and we had no power to make toast or eggs or waffles, so Brian went out and picked up donuts for breakfast, and we ate them with bottled water from the pantry.  The power finally came back on a little after 10, but by then, the power had been out for 7 hours and 40 minutes, so we had to throw out most of the stuff in the fridge – meats, cheeses, eggs, other dairy, leftovers, certain sauces, etc.  I was SO SAD.  It always kills me to throw away food, and we’d just gone grocery shopping, so the fridge was pretty full.  Not to mention we had tons of leftover chicken, rice, and beans from our taco bar that I’d planned to eat for my lunches all week that had to be thrown out.

Before the power came back on, Brian and Jacob had left to go get haircuts, and Olivia decided to tag along, so I got in a mixed cardio/strength combo workout while they were gone.

I had a million things to catch up on, so the rest of the afternoon was spent doing laundry and housework and catching up on a few life things.

We went to 5:30 Mass Saturday evening, and it poured the whole time.  Afterward, we went out with our usual group for dinner at the local pub down the street from church.  It was still raining when we left.  It stormed every single day last week except for Friday, I think.  We have had so much rain in July.

We swung by Publix for milk, eggs, and cheese, after that, and then when we got home, I cleaned out the fridge from the power outage earlier in the day.  After the kids went to bed, B and I watched some more of the show One Day.

Sunday, July 28

Sunday morning, we had leftover donuts, and then I did my yoga, sermon, and planning for the week ahead.  Then, it was time to get ready for lunch at my mother-in-law's and step-father-in-law’s house.  Finally!!  We hadn’t seen them since the beginning of June, I think?  Due to lots of vacations and illnesses, the timing just didn’t work out for weeks.  So, it was nice to finally see everyone.

Since my mom and dad weren’t doing Sunday dinner, I ate way more than I normally do there, and I was stuffed by the time we were done.  After that, we all hung around and chatted and caught up, everyone opened their gifts, and we had dessert. 

We got home around 3:30 and then I started doing some work in my office around four.  Since we weren’t going to my parents’ house, I worked until six, and then I got a few things done around the house.

At 7, I spontaneously decided to go ahead and run to Publix – Publix, not Walmart!!  Haha. – to restock our fridge after the power outage.  I was in and out and back home in less than 30 minutes and I wasn’t harassed by a single employee.  ;o)

Brian and I were so full from lunch that we skipped dinner, opting for some cheese, crackers, and fruit + a glass of wine, and we heated up some leftovers for the kids so they could eat a real meal. 

All the while, we watched gymnastics on the Olympics since they were doing the Prime Time good stuff like womens’ gymnastics. 

After dinner, I took Maui for a (very) quick walk… I swear, every single time we go now she goes a shorter distance before turning around to go back home.  It was extremely dark as there was a storm on the horizon, but thankfully we made it back home this time before the bottom fell out.  Maybe she was able to sense there was a risk of getting rained on again.  Hahahaha.

Brian watched House of the Dragon after the kids went to bed, and I read my book… and then fell asleep on the couch.  Haha.  And that was our very lazy, stormy week!

And now for a few current things…

Currently Reading

This month I read This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune (4 stars), Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering (5 stars!!  It was SO good, y’all!), and Too Good To Be True by Carola Lovering (4 stars). 

I also finished Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life by Craig Groechel (5 stars) after taking a break from non-fiction.  I absolutely loved this book.  There were so many takeaways.  He is seriously such a talented writer and a great motivator and encourager.  All of his books are excellent.

I’m also still reading New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp as my daily devotional. 

And I’m still working my way through The Bible and The Bible Recap… I’m on Day 241 as I type this (Monday), and I lost a few days this month since we were so busy some of the days.  I’m 30 days ahead still, though, so I still have a big enough lead to where I should be able to finish on time this year. 

Currently Watching

With B:  This month, we finished the newest season of Trying and the newest season of The Morning Show, and we started and finished season one of Presumed Innocent which was SO GOOD.  We also started the new season of The Bachelorette (although I’m paying zero attention to it), and we started Mythic Quest and I found it too boring to continue.  Brian likes it, though.  We are now working our way through One Day on Netflix.  Brian has also been making his way through House of the Dragon, but I ignore that entirely.  Haha.  Oh, and we’ve been watching The Olympics, of course.  We had started season two of The Chosen at the end of last month, but I don’t think we watched any of it this month.

With the Kids:  We’ve just been making our way through America’s Got Talent, and we also watched the movie School of Rock with them.  Oh, and the Olympics with them as well.  They are both highly invested in gymnastics.

Alone:  Just The Wedding Planner on repeat, although, most of the time I’m just listening to music while I work.

Currently Listening To

Taylor (always), DMB (always), and Abe Parker, Teddy Swims, Phil Wickham, and Brandon Lake.

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

Last week was another good one!  We spent a lot of time at home, and not much time outside due to extremely hot temperatures and a couple of stormy days.  Not having access to my parents’ neighborhood pool has stunk this year, and I feel like the kids have spent the least amount of time outside during the summer ever this year.  That to say, we’ve done lots of fun things this summer, and they’re happy, and being indoors more has brought out their creative sides more than ever – Jacob with his piano-playing and Olivia with her crafting – so I suppose all that matters is that they’re happy!

Monday, July 15

Monday, I ended up sleeping in until 8.  I had set my alarm for a little after 7, but I must have turned it off in my sleep and kept on sleeping.  Oops.  I made my way downstairs to get breakfast, unload the dishwasher, and water the plants after that, and then I worked in my office for a little bit.  The kids have been sleeping somewhat late this summer, so they weren’t up until after 9, and then they watched TV for a bit after they got their breakfast.

Late in the morning, I got showered and ready, and then Brian and the kids and I had lunch.  Olivia had pre-pointe intensive dance camp at 1, so I drove her there while Jacob stayed home since Brian was working from home Monday.  I cannot believe this girl is old enough to start doing pre-pointe!!  The next thing we know, she’ll be doing pointe and I’ll cry all the tears because that’s one of my favorite dance styles to watch.

We’ve had a fall puzzle half put together for over a year now, and I just can’t bring myself to work on a fall puzzle right now, so I decided to get a second board to work on a Lego puzzle that we have.  Then we can just slide that board on top of the other one under the love seat when we’re not using it.  Brilliant, right?

After my trip to Hobby Lobby, I ran into CVS to grab a birthday card for Jacob as well as a few others to stock up my card organizer since I like to keep them on hand.  When I was in there, it started POURING out of nowhere and it proceeded to pour all the way back to the dance school and all the way home.  Rain wasn’t in the forecast, and when we’d left the house, it had been perfectly sunny and hot as hades, so we were grateful for the unexpected reprieve from the heat, even though it meant that I had to drive in it. 

When we got home, my friend, Khristina, and her son, Noah, came over to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.  The kids played while Khristina and I chatted, and it was a nice afternoon socializing. 

After they left, I got my quiet time/Bible study done, I worked on some laundry, and then it was time to make dinner.  On the menu Monday night was baked ziti, steamed broccoli (because I live with a bunch of weirdos who don’t like salad, but I always like to have a green with each meal), and Cheesecake Factory brown bread.  Brian and I even had a rare weeknight glass of wine.

Tuesday, July 16

Tuesday was the first day of Amazon Prime Day, and I always go hard sharing deals on Instagram all day, so I was up at 7:30 and in my office posting deals by 8 AM.  I literally searched Amazon for deals, posted them on Instagram, and did some shopping for us all morning long until I had to stop and shower for the day since we had to get Olivia to pre-pointe again.

The kids spent the afternoon playing video games (Jacob) and making slime (Olivia), and I got some laundry done when I realized a load had been sitting in the washing machine for, like, five or six hours and I had forgotten about it.  Haha.

I wrapped up my Amazon posting so I could do my quiet time, but I skipped my Bible study for the day because I just didn’t have adequate time to devote to it before it was time to get dinner ready.  I’m still thirty-something days ahead of schedule anyway for the year, so that gives me some wiggle room on days where there’s a lot going on.

For dinner, we kept it simple with turkey and cheese biscuit sliders and fruit, and then I ran 2.38 miles in the near storms.  Thankfully, they held off here at home, but I could see them going by just south of us.  And it was nice, too, because it cooled things off tremendously and we had a nice breeze, so it wasn’t devastatingly hot outside like it has been.

Wednesday was Amazon Prime Day #2, so I got up at 7:30, did my morning routine, and got to work yet again.  I posted deals all morning, and then showered around 11 to get the kids lunch and get Olivia to pre-pointe class on time.

While she was there, Jacob and I went to the local music store to browse for a bit since it’s close to Olivia’s dance studio, and he was in heaven.  We looked at all of the guitars and pianos, and he was excited to be able to see a grand piano in person. 

We picked up Olivia as soon as her class got out, and then we all headed back home where I resumed listing Amazon deals all afternoon.  It poured down rain after we got home, so it was a cozy afternoon to stay inside. 

For dinner, I made one pan sausage with a ton of veggies, and then after dinner, we decided to go for a family walk with Maui since the rain had cooled everything off so well again.  We walked on the trail through the woods in our neighborhood and then the kids swung on the swings at the neighborhood playground for a bit.  Then, it was back home to do an arms workout. 

The kids showered while I did my other workout, and then we watched the rest of America’s Got Talent and another episode of Presumed Innocent.

Thursday, July 18

Thursday morning, I was up at 7:30 and I was just exhausted after Tuesday and Wednesday’s Amazon Prime Day work.  I would have loved to sit around and be lazy all day reading a book or something, but I had a million things to catch up on since I had neglected pretty much everything the last two days for Amazon. 

I spent the morning working in my office to start catching up on blog posting, blog reading, emails, DMs, paying bills, etc.  Meanwhile, the kids had a jam session all morning with Jacob on the keys and Olivia on the guitar.  She doesn’t know how to play yet, but that’s certainly not slowing her down.  Haha.

And Jacob was the absolute sweetest.  Olivia’s guitar hadn’t been tuned since it hadn’t been used in 20+ years, so Jacob played the notes on his piano and tuned the guitar all by himself.  He has never picked up a guitar in his life and never taken a lesson, but he was smart enough to figure out how to tune the guitar all by himself with no help from anyone, including YouTube.  He just amazes me, y’all!

Late in the morning, I was still feeling frazzled and nowhere near caught up, but I had to stop to shower and get ready for the day so I could get lunch and get Olivia to her last day of pre-pointe class.

Jacob wanted to go back to the music store again while she was at dance, and we moseyed around there for a bit again.  We also picked up a book of Taylor Swift sheet music for the piano because Jacob had told Olivia that even though he’s sick of Tay and isn’t a huge fan, that he would play the songs for her if we had the sheet music.  Y’all.  I just love that boy and his kind heart.

He played some Clair De Lune on one of the pianos while we were there, and then we sat in the car for a bit looking at other sheet music on Amazon while we waited for Olivia to get out of dance. 

When we got home, the kids played video games (Jacob) and watched how to make slime videos (Olivia) because I told her she couldn’t make slime on Thursday because honestly, I was tired of the mess.  Haha.  While they did that, I worked as hard as I could to get caught up on life stuff – school is looming so there was stuff to be done for that, too – and I was just exhausted by the time music lessons rolled around.

Jacob’s piano lesson had been canceled for the day, but Olivia still had voice, so we headed there late in the afternoon for her lesson.  She brought her new guitar with her, and Mr. Steve gave us the green light.  He said it’s just the right size.  Then he tweaked the tuning slightly in spots because it was already slightly out of tune again, and then he had a little jam session on it with us in the lobby.  While Olivia was in her lesson, Jacob tried his hand at guitar, too.

Instead, I got in a walk/jog, caught up on some more life stuff, and then showered before getting the kids in the bed.  Brian and I realized that Presumed Innocent hadn’t been fully released yet, so we couldn’t watch the final episode – NOOOO – so we spent the evening setting up Jacob’s new phone. 

We are basically putting the thing on lockdown, and he won’t have access to much, and I’ve done oodles and oodles of research on how to go about doing this since technology is so detrimental to the mental health of teens these days, so I’m confident that we’re doing what’s right for our family.

I plan to share all of the things that we’re doing to ensure his safety (mentally and physically), so stay tuned for that.

Friday, July 19

Friday morning, Brian had to be at work at six for a big project at work, so he was out the door long before any of us woke.  I got up at 7:30, and then I spent the morning working in my office while the kids watched cartoons, played music, and made bracelets. 

Jacob had his makeup piano lesson at 2:30 on Friday, and then we headed back home to hang out for a bit longer.  I did my quiet time and absolutely loved this message in my devotional for the day.

I had a girls night planned for Friday evening, and Brian was supposed to have been able to leave work around 3, but he ended up having to stay much longer, so I had to find a backup plan.  Thankfully, I know how these long projects can go for his team, so I had my parents on standby to watch the kids.

We went to Chick-Fil-A to pick up dinner for the kids and myself, and then I dropped them off at my parents’ house so they could eat there and hang out until Brian (or I) could pick them up.

I took my Chick-Fil-A over to my friend, Jessica’s, house and met up with all of my other girlfriends who had also picked up takeout.  We all ate and caught up, and then we built our own floral arrangements using the flowers from Jessica’s garden.  She grew a ton of different things this year, and it was fun to spend time with them arranging all of our flowers.  The lemon basil was my absolute favorite.  The scent is pure heaven.

The evening completely filled my cup, and I was grateful that I’d decided to go and not bail as I had originally considered after I found out that Brian couldn’t make it home in time to be with the kids.  Shout out to my parents for coming in clutch for us!  ;o)

When I got home, Brian and the kids were hanging out in front of the TV.  He’d been able to pick them up about an hour before I got home, and they were already in PJs.  It was too late to watch much of anything, so we watched some short show about building something with Lego, and then the kids went to bed.

B and I mixed up some Moscow Mules after they went to bed, filled each other in about our days, and then we started two new shows since Presumed Innocent wasn’t dropping a new episode for a few more days – waaaahhhh.  We watched one episode of Mythic Quest on Apple TV and it was bo-ring to me, so we started the Celine Dion documentary on Amazon that everyone has been raving about.  We got about halfway through that and then called it a night because it was laaaate.

Saturday, July 20

Saturday, we were up and at ‘em for Jacob’s birthday party with his friends.  Per usual, he wanted to go to his favorite arcade in town with his friends and play games and laser tag. 

We arrived right at 10 AM when they opened, and his friends, WJ, Julian, and Ethan all met us there.  We gave each of them an arcade card and they played games all morning while Brian and I took turns hanging with Olivia while the other sat at the table with all of our stuff. 

The boys played laser tag at 11, and then when they were done, we ordered pizza, had cookie cake, and opened gifts.  By the time all that was done, there was a little bit of time to spare, so they all headed back out to the arcade to finish using their credits and redeem them for prizes. 

Jacob had been saving his tickets from the last few visits and with the help of a few tickets from one of his friends, he was able to redeem them for the Pokemon card box that he’d been wanting.  It was one of the big prizes behind the counter, so it was a pretty big deal for him, and he was super excited. 

On the way out, Olivia got to see one of her friends from school, and right as we stepped outside, we got the message from her new teacher!  She is going to be in the fifth-grade class with the teacher that Jacob had in fifth grade, so we’re happy about that.  I spent the rest of the afternoon texting with tons of the moms from the fifth grade trying to find out which kids were in which classes this year, and we were sad to find out that Olivia’s two closest friends aren’t in her class this year.  Boooo.  And her other two closest friends moved, so they won’t be at the school at all.  I’m sure she’ll do great this year, but this will be the first year that she hasn’t had a close friend in class with her.

After the party, we headed home, and we hung out there for the rest of the day.  It was stormy all day, so I got some work done, did some laundry, and got a few other things done around the house, and then we all headed to church at 5:30.

After church, we ate at the pizza place near our church with my parents, Mama Cass, and Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg – the usual crew – and then we headed home.

We got home early enough that I was able to take Maui for a walk before it got dark, and this time she called it quits faster than ever.  She’s making it shorter and shorter distances these days.

Sunday, July 21

Sunday morning, we slept in, had cinnamon rolls for lunch, and then I spent a little bit of time in my office watching my Sunday morning sermon, doing yoga, and planning the week ahead – same ol’ same ol’. 

We celebrated Jacob’s birthday with my family Sunday night.  Momma made this meatball and egg noodle dish that he loves so much, along with green beans, field peas, bread with oil and spices, and… white rice… he always asks for white rice no matter what else we’re having.  Haha. 

My mom made him the funniest card that had skibidi rizz toilet and a bunch of other slang on it, and we were all dying laughing as he read it out loud.  I got the whole thing on video and that will go down as a classic for sure.

And that was our weekend!

Happy Tuesday, y’all!