Summer 2018 (Week 6) - Baseball, 4th of July, & Play Dates

What a week, y’all!  We had so much fun last week and I’m finally getting around to recapping the rest of it today!

Monday, July 2

My brother, SIL, and nephew were in town all last week because they were off for the entire week of 4th of July, and while they were in town they sent Tucker to swimming lessons with Mrs. Joni who also does the swimming lessons for our kiddos.  Monday was his first day so we rode out there with them at noon to be his cheering squad.  The kids got a kick out of being there for observation instead of lessons!  They didn’t quite know what to think.  Tucker cried for most of the lesson as most of the kids usually do, but he wasn’t hysterical as so many of them are, so I had a feeling he was going to adapt pretty quickly. 

Once swimming lessons were over, the kids and I headed back home for a late lunch of sandwiches, Sunchips, blackberries, and blueberries, and then for the rest of the afternoon we all read together.  We had an early dinner because our two nephews on B’s side of the family were both in their little league all-stars baseball city tournaments.  They are on separate teams as they are in different age groups, but they both played at the same time.  Fortunately the fields were right next to each other so we were able to walk back and forth between the games.  My nephew who is on the 10-year old team won his game which meant they won the city and got to move on to the state tournament, and my nephew who is on the 12-year old team also won his game.  He had one more to play the next night and if they won that then they would go to state, too.  Spoiler alert, he did win his next game as well.  Our kiddos loved watching!

Tuesday, July 3

On Tuesday, Olivia had her follow-up with our ENT back home regarding her thyroid issues, and he gave us the fantastic news that as of about a month ago, we now have a pediatric endocrinologist here at home which means no more trips to Atlanta!  Yay!  B was able to get off of work to come to her appointment, and then by the time we were done, his office was clearing out since it was the day before a holiday, so he ended up not going back to work.  That meant that we had the entire rest of the day off together!

The kids and I ran to Publix to pick up groceries for 4th of July the next day and B went to get his hair cut, and then we all met up back home for lunch – Spaghetti-O’s, strawberries, grapes, and Greek yogurt for the kiddos.  (Remember, I’m trying to hold myself accountable by putting their lunches in these posts, because I’m SO BAD at coming up with lunch ideas!  Haha.)

The rest of the day was spent playing Candy Land, painting Olivia's nails in festive July 4th colors, waiting for our pest control people to come yet again to try to get the ants under control in our pantry (they finally did this time!), and then watching TV.  We tried to settle in for America’s Got Talent, but unfortunately it was a rerun, so we let the kids watch a little bit of the episode we had already watched and then we let them have their first slumber party together!! 

I thought it would be really fun this summer to let them sleep in sleeping bags in their rooms together and they loved it.  They spent the night in Jacob’s room on this night and I could hear them talking and giggling for about 15 minutes before they fell right to sleep.  They truly are the best of friends.

Wednesday, July 4

We celebrated Independence Day on Wednesday and I think it was one of my favorites EVER!  I recapped it separately here if you want to see the details.

Thursday, July 5

Thursday everyone was exhausted from the shenanigans from the night before, so we all slept late.  Some of us even slept until 9:15… ahem, Olivia.  I ended up having to wake her.  I felt bad, but I also didn’t want her to struggle to go to bed later that evening. 

We had a nice sloooow morning at home.  I made a cup of coffee (not something I usually drink during the summer) and I snuggled up on the couch with the babies and my new book.  They watched cartoons while I read and it was so wonderful to be able to relax and do nothing since we were all so tired.

We had chicken nuggets, strawberries, and leftover baked beans for lunch and then we finally got ready for the day and headed to the At Home store.  I was in search of a small round table for my reading nook in our bedroom and I ended up not having any luck.  I found one that would have worked great, but it would have had to be painted and it was also way too expensive considering how tiny it was.  The kids begged to go down the fall aisles that had just been set up, and I surely wasn’t going to say no to that!!  Once Fourth of July is over I’m always ready for fall!!  They had some really cute and unique pieces, but I restrained myself since I really don’t need anything for fall.  I do LOVE that pumpkin, though! 

We ended up leaving with a new white throw pillow for my reading nook in our master bedroom and a couple of trays to go underneath my potted herbs outside.  When I got home I spent the rest of the afternoon debating on which pillow to keep in my reading nook.  The first picture is the old pillow that was in Olivia’s room and the second picture is the new pillow, and I ended up sticking with the new pillow.  I like the brighter white! 

That afternoon while I was doing a little bit of work in my office, Olivia pulled her sleeping bag in the doorway, got in it, and proceeded to fall asleep in about two minutes flat.  I let her have a quick power nap for about 15 minutes and then I got her up… we didn’t need any bedtime struggles!!

That evening, my uncle came over to help Brian get our old dryer down the stairs and the new dryer up, but before he did that we decided to try one last thing to see if we could get our current dryer to work.  B had read that sometimes lint gets trapped in the vent where it comes out of the house, so my uncle went up on our second story roof where the vent comes out (cue all of the anxiety from me) and lo and behold he pulled out a literal brick of lint.  It was about 3-4 inches thick and it was packed so tightly that it was almost as dense as a brick.  Sure enough, I fired up the dryer to dry a load the next day and it dried our towels in a mere hour.  Before, it was taking 4-6 hours to dry a load of towels.  I KID YOU NOT!  Moral of the story, you can clean out your lint trap all you want, but you also have to clean out the vent where it comes out of the house!!!!  I am SO EXCITED that we get to keep our own dryer… now I don’t have to have a mismatched set.  ;o)

Friday, July 6

Friday we had plans to meet to of my girlfriends and their kids at the library to decorate shirts and headgear for the upcoming Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day.  If you don’t know, CFA does one of those every year and if you go to the restaurant dressed like a cow you get free food!  Woo hoo! 

We got a room at the library, closed the doors, spread out a whole bunch of Legos and snacks for the babies, and then Jeannine, Katie, and I got to work on crafting.  Jeannine had already made the shirts so all we had to do was work on the headbands.

After a good hour of that, the kiddos cleaned up, picked some prizes out of the box at the library (Jeannine works there so she made it extra special for them), and then we all started to go our separate ways.  On a whim, Jeannine suggested that we go through the McDonald’s drive-through that was just around the corner, grab some Happy Meals, and go have a picnic at the Botanical Gardens.  We didn’t have anything else to do so we happily agreed.  I freaking LOVE that I can be spontaneous sometimes now!!!! 

We hadn’t been to the Botanical Gardens since a friend’s wedding back in… 2007?  2008?  I don’t even remember.  But anyway, it was just gorgeous there and it was the perfect place for a picnic.  We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves, so the kids were able to run wild and burn some energy.  Once everyone had finished eating we packed up and hiked through the rest of the area to see the rest of the sights.  Olivia found a painted rock, and we all had a great time... the kids are already begging to go back!

When we got home I set the kids up with a movie, Olivia put on her toboggan and snow gloves (because apparently that’s what you do when it’s 95 degrees outside?), and I did a little bit of work while they watched their movie.  B got home a little earlier than usual since it was Friday, and then we all headed downtown to have dinner at one of our favorite local spots.  They have the best salad I’ve ever had in my entire life – spinach, goat cheese, strawberries, and steak tips topped with a poppyseed dressing.  OH MY WORD, IT’S GOOD!  I know I have mentioned it on the blog before, but I just can’t help but talk about it every time I have it!  B and I tried a couple of new craft beers, both of which we LOVED, and it was an all-around pleasant evening. 

Afterward, the kiddos begged for ice cream since we were downtown and because they are creatures of habit, so we obliged, and we stopped at the local frozen yogurt place.  B and I had leftover apple pie waiting for us at home so he and I skipped the fro-yo even though it was tempting to have both.  Haha.

On the way home we swung by Target to look for a side table and to pick up some vanilla ice cream to go with our pie, and poor Olivia was so tired that she curled up in the shopping cart.  Bless her heart.

Bedtime was quick and easy that evening and once the kids were asleep B and I heated up our apple pie, put a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, and then we settled in to watch Blockers.  Have y’all seen it?  It was so funny!  I just love movies like that! 

Saturday, July 7

Saturday the weather looked iffy, so we didn’t plan anything outside.  Instead I spray painted my closet curtain brackets gold to match my newly spray painted gold frames and I hung the new curtain in my closet that I had found at Target the night before… I talked about it in my Instagram Stories, and I don’t love it, so I’ll likely be returning it.  I'm also debating painting this table that my Mom and Dad gave me a few years back.  I love the collage, so that will remain, but I was debating painting the legs white or gold.  I'm so torn, though, because I do like the pink.

I’ve also had it on my list of things to do to rehang our curtain rods in our bedroom higher, so I started thinking about what to do about the curtains.  The curtains we have are only 84 inches long, so they barely touch the floor when the curtain rods hang at the top of the window frame.  I knew that if I was going to move the curtain rods higher on the wall that I would either have to figure out a way to lengthen the curtains or I was just going to have to get new ones.  Well, as luck would have it, I flipped the curtain panels over, and the hem was super deep.  All I had to do was cut the seam, put in a smaller hem (using my Liquid Stitch because I do NOT sew), and voila!  That added about five inches!  Therefore, we were finally able to hang the curtain rods five inches above the window frames and it looks SO MUCH BETTER!

Saturday evening my SIL and two of her kiddos were in town to celebrate my niece’s birthday, so we all had dinner with my FIL at Red Robin and then went back to my FIL’s house afterward for cake and presents, one of which was a thing that turned your phone into virtual reality.  The kids got a kick out of that!

By the time we got home and got the kiddos in the bed (another slumber party, this time in Olivia’s room) it was too late to start a movie so B and I watched our first episode of Breaking Bad.  We’ve heard nothing but good things about it so we decided to give it a whirl, even though I wasn’t that excited about it.  What do y’all think?  Have you watched it?

Sunday, July 8

Sunday morning was spent preparing for the week ahead – grocery list-making, meal planning, to-do list making, and then we headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for lunch and to celebrate my niece’s birthday with them.  They made an epic meal – oh, and that fried chicken you see?  Well, they have a copycat recipe of Chick-Fil-A’s chicken, and it tastes soooo similar.  I knew my mom wasn’t cooking so I ate way more than usual, and then followed the meal with a healthy slice of cookie cake.  Ha!

We spent the afternoon picking blueberries off of my MIL’s bushes, playing ball, and sitting around outside because we were all too full to do much else.  Since my Momma didn’t cook, we met them for dinner at Cracker Barrel, and I ditched my usual breakfast-for-dinner for a couple of veggies instead.  I was still too full from lunch!

We ended the evening with early bedtimes for the kids and another episode of Breaking Bad, and then I read a bunch of my book because I cannot put it down!  It is SO good!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

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