Summer 2018 (Week 4) - VBS & Swimming Lessons

Another busy week has just flown by and I’m really looking forward to more downtime this week as we don’t have much scheduled for the upcoming week.

Monday, June 18

Monday we were up bright and early to get the kids ready for their first day of Vacation Bible School!  This was Jacob’s second year attending and Olivia’s first.  VBS was from 9 AM – 12 PM, so that also meant three spare hours for me to get some stuff done!  Both of the kids did well at drop-off.  A lot of Jacob’s school friends were there so he eased right on in, but Olivia was a little shy since she didn’t know anyone.  I was able to leave without her crying or putting up a fight, though, so that made me happy!  I know at least a few of the kids who were at VBS with her this week will be in her class in the fall at school, so hopefully that will make the transition to her new school a little easier.

After I dropped the kids at VBS I could not get to the gym fast enough… I was SO EXCITED!  I do work out at home a good bit, but I hadn’t been to the gym since the third week of May and it was long overdue.  I was worried I was going to struggle with my workout, but I easily rocked my 3.6 mph on an 11 incline for 30 minutes with a 5 minute cool-down.  I think I burned more calories this time than ever!  For the remainder of VBS I dropped the last of the yard sale leftovers at the donations center, did some laundry, and worked on some blog catch-up, and before I knew it, it was time to go get the kids.  Three hours flies fast when you’re on “me” time!

After VBS, we rushed home and the kids had a lunch of leftover pizza and strawberries, and then it was time to get dressed and head to swimming lessons.  Swimming lessons lasts for two weeks, and this was week two.  Both of the kids did well.  Olivia finally stopped crying, but she still wasn’t remembering to kick her legs so Mrs. Joni worked extra hard with her that day.

The kids are always pretty exhausted after swimming lessons, so when they came home, they changed out of their wet suits and I let them watch TV for a bit while they rested on the couch.

Tuesday, June 19

Tuesday was almost identical to Monday – up early for VBS, me at the gym, doing laundry, and doing some blog work, pick up from VBS, and then home for lunch.  The kids had sandwiches, cheese puffs, and blackberries for lunch, and then we headed to swimming lessons.  It was so HOT Tuesday that I thought I was going to have to jump in the pool myself.  Whew!  The kids watched TV again after lessons while I worked a little bit, and that was our Tuesday.

Wednesday, June 20

VBS for the kids first thing, but I skipped the gym because I had to go get my allergy shot and pick up some more medicine for my stupid allergies.  I was still feeling pretty bad Wednesday so I had to get something to help alleviate some of the symptoms.  B took a half day at work Wednesday so he could take the kids to swimming lessons because I had a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon that I couldn’t miss, so he met us at home for lunch.  The kids had hot dogs and bananas, and then they all headed off to swimming lessons while I headed to the doctor.  It was another hot day so I was a little thankful to get a reprieve from the heat for a day!  :o)

Thursday, June 21

Thursday while the kids were at VBS, I took my car for a much-needed oil change.  I’m supposed to get it changed when the light comes on at 15% for the oil life, and my car was already down to 5%.  Sheesh.  The kids were extra excited when I picked them up from VBS on this day and they were all a chatter about what they learned.  We went home and had chicken nuggets, sweet potatoes, and blueberries for lunch and then it was off for more swimming lessons.  Jacob was so comfortable in the water at this point that he was pretty much just wanting to do his own thing… he was only interested in diving for the little toy truck that they had.  Haha.  And Olivia finally made lots of progress and she finally started kicking those legs really well! 

When swimming lessons were over, I took them for a little treat.  We went to Chick-Fil-A (through the drive-thru since the kids were wet) and got milkshakes!  Jacob opted for strawberry (which I thought was an odd choice for him), Olivia grabbed chocolate (typical), and I grabbed vanilla (also typical), and Jacob ended up not loving his strawberry shake.  I felt so bad that he didn’t like it!  Next time he’ll be getting the cookies and cream one, I’m sure!

Friday, June 22

Friday was the last day of VBS so after I dropped the kids I went home to try to accomplish #ALLTHETHINGS, but three hours is just not a lot of time when your to-do list is a mile long, so I ended up heading to pick them up still feeling behind.  Oh well!  There’s always tomorrow!

Friday afternoon the kids had turkey rolls, cheese, strawberries, Goldfish, graham crackers, and Greek yogurt for lunch (a little bit of everything), and then it was our last day of swimming lessons.  Jacob was super comfortable and swimming the entire length of the pool by the time it was over, and Olivia was way more comfortable and swimming the entire width of the pool by the time it was over.  She still doesn’t kick her legs as much as she should but she made some serious progress!  All in all, swimming lessons 2018 was a success!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home.  The kids watched a couple of shows when we got home and I finished reading my book, and then when B got home from work we all headed out for Mexican for dinner.  We came straight home afterward because the kids were pretty whooped and we watched The Incredibles.  The kids had never seen it, so we had to get them primed and ready for Incredibles 2!  I hope to take them to see it at the theater soon! 

During the movie we had a MASSIVE storm blow through.  It poured and thundered and lighteninged (is that a word?) so much I was worried the power was going to go out.  It did flicker once, but fortunately ours stayed on.  A quick check of our local news station’s coverage showed that the storm was packing hail (although we didn’t see any at our house) and 60 mph winds.  Yikes.  We were fortunate not to have any damage, but lots of people around town did.  The top of my parents’ tree fell on their driveway where their car is normally parked, but fortunately they weren’t home at the time.  They were without power until 3:30 AM, so I was thankful we weren’t in their boat!

After the storm was over we put the kids to bed and when I walked out of Jacob’s room, the inside of our entire house was bathed in hot pink.  It looked so odd that I went downstairs and stepped outside, and I saw one of the most gorgeous sunsets I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  The storm clouds were in the process of moving out so half of the sky was bright hot pink and orange like this:

And then when I turned to the east, it looked like this:

Dark and ominous where the end of the storm was heading away.  And I didn't edit those pictures not one bit.  Those colors were really that vibrant!

I stayed outside and took it all in for a few more minutes, and then B and I spent the rest of the evening catching up on some TV from the week – like Dave Matthews Band on Jimmy Fallon.  I had already watched it, but it was so funny I had to watch it again.  Dave and Jimmy are two of my favorite people and I love when they come together to do hilarious skits.

Saturday, June 23

Saturday morning I was feeling ambitious, so I made some homemade chocolate chip waffles for breakfast, and then after nine years in our home I finally decided to paint my master closet!  When we first built and moved in all those years ago I had every intention of painting the closet pretty quickly because I knew I didn’t want it to be that same color as the rest of the house.  I wanted it to be white.  Well, through the years I painted my office, the front sitting room, the dining room, Jacob’s bedroom (twice), Olivia’s bedroom, the play room, and the downstairs half bath, but never my closet. 

This weekend it was finally time, though!  While I don’t typically love white walls, I always knew I wanted a white closet because it looks so nice and bright and clean behind the colors upon colors of clothes and shoes and handbags.  I started at 9 AM and I finished up just before 4 PM.  I did stop to take a lunch break so it took about six hours to get the whole job done.  I think it took an hour just to get everything out because there was so much stuff!  It took two coats (which I expected), but man oh man was it a pain in the butt trying to paint around and behind all of the shelves on the walls!  We weren’t able to remove them before painting because I was worried it would weaken them, so I just did the best I could working around them.  One of these days I’d love to have custom wood shelves built, but that’s another project for another day!

Anyway, here are the before pictures:

Here is during:

And here is the finished product! 

I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!!

We rushed off to church after I finished, and our priest gave one of the best homilies ever.  He’s leaving soon to go to another church and I’m so sad because he’s a really great guy and he always delivers a really great message. 

During church Jacob was complaining of a headache which I thought was really weird as that’s never happened before, and then toward the end he started saying his tummy hurt.  I was worried he was coming down with something, but he rallied shortly after and we ended up going to my grandmother’s for a family get together as planned. 

Everyone brought their own food – we grabbed a pizza – and everyone brought their own drinks – we grabbed some craft beers – and our whole family spent the evening hanging out together at my grandmother’s house.  She and my grandfather have lived in that same house since before my momma was born so I have been going to that house my whole life.  When I was little our entire family used to go over there nearly every Saturday night after church and I have the fondest memories playing with my cousins in the back room and popping out every now and then to eat some Wheat Thins with cream cheese or Bugles that my grandmother had left out.  We don’t go over there nearly as much as we used to, but I always love when we do.  <3  I also love that my babies love going over there as much as I did/do. 

Jacob didn’t eat very much at dinner and shortly after he was complaining that his tummy was hurting again, so B ran out to grab some childrens’ Pepto and that seemed to alleviate his pain for a bit.  He started going downhill shortly thereafter, and he pretty much just laid around all evening.  Just as we were leaving for the evening, he turned white as a sheet and he started crying and I thought for sure he was either going to be sick or pass out, but he didn’t.  We hightailed it outta there with a quickness after that to get him home because I was just sure he was coming down with a stomach virus, but when we got home he fell asleep in about ten seconds flat (literally) and he slept all night without a peep.  The only conclusion I could come to was that maybe he was mildly dehydrated.  I have no clue, but I was relieved that he didn’t have a tummy bug.  UGH.  Those are like death.

Sunday, June 24

Sunday morning Jacob was as good as new so we went about business as usual.  I spent the morning getting everything back in my closet and I started working on a new project for the closet that involved gold spray paint.  Then we all got ready and headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for lunch.  They had fresh green beans, okra, carrots, blueberries, and cucumbers from the garden, and they made my favorite cheesy bites with jalapenos from the garden as well, along with some pork tenderloin and cheesy potatoes.  Man oh man, it was all fresh and delicious! 

After lunch we went out to the garden to eat some more blueberries off the bush, and we also picked a couple of cucumbers and green peppers for me to bring home for my salads!  Yum!  The kids bounced on the mini trampoline for a bit, and then we headed to Lowe’s to pick up a couple of hooks for our outdoor storage closet as well as a couple of new house plants.  I read that Pothos plants are easygoing and really hard to kill so I thought I would try my hand at a couple more live plants since I’ve kept my grandmother’s old plant alive for over a year now.

Sunday evening was spent at my parents’ house and it was the first time in a while that the whole gang was there together.  We’ve had someone missing (my uncle or his girlfriend) each week for the last couple of months, so it was nice to have everyone back together.  Momma and Daddy recently did a few kitchen updates – new counter tops and new paint, so I was really excited to see it.  It looks so nice!  Aaaand it REALLY has me itching to have white cabinets in the kitchen. 

When we built our house I wanted white cabinets, but I let the builder convince me to do the “trendy” thing and get the dark merlot stained cabinets instead.  I have regretted that decision every day for the last, ohhhh, 5-6 years.  I loved the trendy cabinets for several years in the beginning, but my love for them died pretty quickly.  Then when we added on across the back of our house in 2015, that took away a lot of the natural light from the back of the house, so now it’s SUPER dark in the kitchen and I can’t stand it.  SOMEBODY COME PAINT MY CABINETS WHITE!  PLEEEEASE? 

I’m just not doing it.  Been there done that.  And it ain’t fun!

Happy Monday, y’all!

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