A Day in the Life {2.25.2019}

I try to document a day in my life at least once or twice a year so I can look back on it one day and see how my days changed through the years.  While it’s been almost a year since my last Day in the Life post, the days still look pretty similar at this point.

Okay, settle in, it’s going to be a long one!

6:00 AM – Alarm goes off and I pop up begrudgingly to start the day.  I’m not a morning person… can you tell? 

6:01 AM – I head to the bathroom to get ready for the day and I see my note on the counter to document my day.  If that hadn’t been there, this post wouldn’t be here today.  :o)  Anyway, I put in my contacts, shower, do my makeup and hair, and then check the weather to see which season it’s going to be that day… it appears that we’ll experience winter and spring in the same day.  <insert eye roll here>  Our weather has been crazier than ever this “winter.”  I walk over to my own bed (because that’s where Olivia always is in the morning) to give my girl some special birthday kisses before B takes her downstairs to have breakfast and then I head to my closet and layer up because how else are you supposed to dress for 36 degrees and 65 degrees in the same day?

6:51 AM – I’m ready so I head downstairs to get my breakfast started and make the kids’ lunches.  On the way downstairs I spy two kiddos getting ready for school like they’re supposed to be!  After getting downstairs I remember that breakfast for lunch is on the menu for the kids today so I don’t have to make lunches.  Woo hoooo!!!!  It’s one of the few days that they will eat school lunches.  I get their snacks and thermoses ready while I eat my breakfast (one egg scrambled in the microwave topped with a sprinkle of cheese) and then I head upstairs to check on their progress.    

7:11 AM – Both kids are ready, Olivia’s hair has been done (by me), and Olivia wants me to see the Hatchimal that she’s chosen to take with us in the car.  I head quickly into my office to do my blog link-ups and Facebook post, and then it’s a quick check of my planner to remind me of what’s on tap for the day.  Spoiler alert – it’s gonna be BUSY.

7:17 AM – I load up the car, snap my OOTD pic for the day, refill my thermos (I already got one thermos down!), and we all load up and head out. 

7:31 AM – We arrive at school and I drop the kids off in the drop-off line as we’re no longer allowed to walk them in. 

7:55 AM – Pull up in the drive-thru at Starbucks and I was super excited about trying a cinnamon shortbread latte, but sadly, they’re all out.  I opt for my usual Tall Decaf Caramel Latte instead.  I usually order them skinny now, but not today.  Momma wants the good, sugary, fattening one.    

8:00 AM – I arrive at my doctor appointment but I’m super early so I sit in the car for a few minutes listening to Elvis Duran while I answer a few emails. 

8:12 AM – Head on in to the doctor’s office a bit early.  Get checked in, pay my co-pay, and enjoy my coffee while updating my Instagram To Do list from the previous day and adding my new one.  My appointment is quick and it’s over soon.  It was just a follow-up from my SI joint injections so I hoped it would be. 

9:09 AM – Pull up at Hobby Lobby to grab some metallic gold spray paint and I also browse the furniture since I am looking for something very specific for our living room.  I stay there way longer than I should and then head to TJ Maxx and then Marshall’s.  Neither had what I was looking for, so I head home.   

10:49 AM – Arrive back at home to some happy mail!  I’m working with a company now on a little bedroom refresh and our first package has arrived!  I’ll be sharing more about this later.  :o)

10:58 AM – Head upstairs to my office to work and my little girl jumps up for some snuggles.  I stay there for the next three hours working on blog posts, and generally struggling because my computer wasn’t cooperating AT ALL.  I stopped long enough to get my lunch – Italian Wedding Soup, an orange, and a Luna bar – and I bring it back up with me to eat while I work.    

2:12 PM – Finally done with the computer work, so I spend the next 45 minutes tidying up the house, spray painting the framing for my bulletin board, and working on decorations for my bulletin board and before I know it it’s time to get ready to get the kids from school. 

2:43 PM – I quickly gather Jacob’s soccer stuff and Olivia’s ballet stuff, prepare snacks and water bottles for everyone, and then change my shoes since the season has suddenly changed from winter to spring this afternoon.  I load up the car and peel out of the neighborhood on two wheels because I’m later than usual to pick them up.  Whoops. 

3:07 PM – I sit in the car line, eating my apple, jamming to In My Feelings by Drake (yes, I am that mom) until I finally make it to the front of the line.  A quick glance of my gas gauge makes me regret not getting gas earlier in the morning… I only have 39 miles to go and that’s a little too close for comfort. 

3:16 PM – The nuggets are in the car with me and while we sit in the car line traffic (the after part is the WORST!) I dole out hand wipes followed by snacks and thermoses.  On Mondays we go straight from school to ballet so it’s the only day of the week that they have to eat snacks in the car.  

3:31 PM – We roll up at ballet and Jacob starts his homework in the waiting room while I help Olivia get changed into her leotard and tights in the dressing room.  We get her sent off with her teacher at 3:45 on the dot and then I spend the next hour going through the kids’ school papers, signing forms, working in my planner and responding to emails while Jacob finishes his homework and reads his AR book. 

4:45 PM – My girl comes out of ballet class BEAMING because she got a sticker (like she does after every class) but also because they sang Happy Birthday to her during class.  :o)

5:00 PM – Arrive at the gas station and breathe a sigh of relief that we made it.  My gas light never even came on, but it was just about to and I get soooo nervous when the gas light comes on so I never let it get to that point.  Fill up my car and then the kids and I jam on the way to Jacob’s soccer practice.

5:15 PM – We arrive 15 minutes early to practice and B arrives about two minutes after we do.  Practice starts at 5:30 and we all hang around for a bit to watch and discuss plans for the rest of the evening since it’s Olivia’s birthday.  We decide to let her pick where to eat for dinner and she picks… Mexican.  Even though we literally just had it two nights prior to this for her birthday celebration with Grandpa.  Hahahaha.  B and I knew this would be a late night so we go ahead and decide it’s fine to just go again… it is what it is at this point!

6:00 PM – Ballet-clad Olivia and I head out from soccer practice 30 minutes behind while B stays with Jacob to finish up.  She and I head back to Hobby Lobby to return something since it’s right near our Mexican restaurant and then we head to the restaurant where B and J have already arrived and gotten our table. 

6:54 PM – Cheese dip and dinner time!!  Halfway through dinner Jacob says, “Mommy, I just realized it’s Olivia’s actual birthday!  That means she can wear the big hat and they can sing to her!!”  So we ask Olivia if she wants them to sing to her and she is ecstatic.  The kids ask over and over when they will come sing and then when they finally do Olivia has no early idea what to think.  Haha.  She looks like a deer in the headlights the entire time until the very end when she finally smiles… after I prompted her. 

7:45 PM – Normally the kids would be getting tucked into bed just now and instead we’re just getting the night started.  CRINGE.  Haha.  My cousin who is away at college surprises us with a call on Facetime to talk to the birthday girl and Olivia is soooo excited to see her!  They talk for a few minutes and then Olivia wants to open her birthday gifts from us.  She ends up wanting to color in her new unicorn coloring book and ride her bike all around the house.  Lol.  We knew this would happen… probably should have just given her gifts to her on Sunday instead.  Afterward, she chooses which leftover cake she wants and she chooses cookie cake… a girl after my own heart!  We light a candle and sing to her one more time.  All the while I’m simultaneously unloading book bags, putting stuff away, and tidying up the kitchen.

8:15 PM – I make an executive decision that there will be no bath time tonight because it’s far too late.  Plus the kids didn’t sweat since we didn’t quite experience the season of summer today and that’s a good thing.  Instead, they wash their faces and hands really well, put on clean undies and PJs, brush their teeths, and potty.  And then the birthday girl gets one more phone call… this time from my mom and dad! 

8:28 PM – Super fast prayer and kisses and hugs for our birthday girl and I snap one last picture of her for the day and head into Jacob’s room to say prayers with him and give him lovin’.  He still likes for one of us to lay with him for a few minutes each night so B and I take turns and on this night it’s B’s turn.  THANK HEAVENS.  Momma still has stuff to do.

8:35 PM – I head back into my office to tie up some loose ends for the blog while B lays with Jacob.

9:00 PM – I snuggle up on the couch with Maui and B in my PJs and a big blanket and watch The Bachelor while I post to Instagram and Facebook and scroll through various social media.  Sometimes I use this time to work on projects, work out, eat dessert, or whatever, but tonight I’m positively exhausted (I’ve been fighting a cold for eight days) so I literally do nothing and it feels great.  We are way behind on The Bachelor since we got such a late start, but we FF through all commercials and catch up just as its ending. 

10:00 PM – Upstairs to get ready for bed (which takes forever!) and then more scrolling through social media because I’m too exhausted to read.

10:34 PM – LIGHTS OUT a few minutes earlier than usual to get a good night’s sleep… and then I proceed to cough my head off until TWO IN THE MORNING. 

Such is life, y’all!

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Our Weekend - The One with Brian’s and Olivia’s Birthday Celebrations

We had a busy weekend with lots of celebrating so let’s get right to the recap!

Friday B took a half day at work, so we picked the kids up from school together and then spent a quiet afternoon at home.  We headed downtown in the early evening to grab dinner at our favorite Brew Pub and then we walked around downtown for a bit before stopping to get ice cream.  The weather was perfection, so we wanted to soak it all up since we’ve been stuck inside from lots of rain. 

We have several murals downtown now and the kids always love to stop and take pictures at them like I do.  Well, their favorite one is actually not even technically supposed to be there because it’s just graffiti but we stopped to take a picture by it anyway.  Lol. 

B and I ended the evening with A Star is Born and I bawled most of the way through the end.  What a fantastic movie!  If you haven’t seen it already, do see it!

Saturday morning my SIL dropped my niece and nephew off at our house so we could watch them for the day.  We made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch and then headed outside because the day was warm and not rainy for once.  The sun wasn’t exactly out either, but we were just relieved to be getting some fresh air. 

The kids did sidewalk chalk and played with bubbles in the back yard while I fed and played with Chyler on the back porch.  After a good hour and a half outside, we all came back in and Chyler got in a little nap while Jacob, Olivia, and Tucker watched The Lion King. 

Chyler's nap was pretty short and when she woke up it was time to eat and play some more!  Olivia asked to feed her and my heart just burst into a million pieces.  She was tired after about two minutes and then I took over.

We had plans to go to an afternoon dinner with my father-in-law to celebrate Brian and Olivia’s birthdays so the hour leading up to leaving was spent getting our two kiddos ready, feeding the baby, getting Tucker ready, changing diapers, packing a diaper bag (for the first time in years!), and getting everyone loaded up.

We headed to one of our favorite Mexican places for dinner and B and I walked up in there with four kids under the age of seven – a 7.5 year old, a 5 year old, a 2.5 year old, and a 4 month old.  Lol.  It was a recipe for disaster since B and I were so incredibly outnumbered, but I was pleasantly surprised that everything went great!  Everyone behaved, Chyler played happily in her car seat for a lot of the time, and it was a good evening.

After dinner we headed back to my father-in-law’s house to have cake and open presents and we spent the rest of the evening there.  My SIL and her family who live a couple of hours away from us were supposed to be coming in town to celebrate with us, but my nephew has the flu (EEK!) so they obviously didn’t come.  And my other SIL and her family had a baseball game get moved so they couldn’t come either.  Bummer.  It was a great night celebrating two of my favorites, though!  And there was cookie cake… you just can’t go wrong with that.  ;o)

My SIL picked the two kiddos up later that evening and I have to say, I was not nearly as exhausted as I thought I’d be after watching four small kids all day.  It went pretty well!  Time to have another one!  #Totally100PercentKidding

Sunday morning Olivia got all dressed up in her birthday outfit (again) and we took her five year old chalkboard pictures.  After her pictures were done, I had B snap a few of us together since I'm rarely in pictures because I'm always the one taking them.  ;o)

Sunday afternoon we were off to my MIL and step-FIL’s to celebrate B and our girl again and they cooked a spread of all of our favorite things for the birthday peeps – cheesy chicken, mashed potatoes, fried okra, pineapple casserole, scalloped corn, and homemade bread – and then we had another cookie cake (Olivia’s request) and she and B opened their gifts. 

The day was beautiful – warm-ish and sunny!!!! – so we spent a good long time in the back yard at Nana and Poppie’s before heading home for a bit to rest before heading to Pop and Cokie’s (my parents’ house) for Sunday dinner.

Momma made spaghetti per B’s request and then we had Olivia’s unicorn birthday cake that I had ordered from our favorite bakery.  They did a fabulous job and she loved it so much!

B and I ended the evening putting together Olivia’s bicycle (her birthday gift from us) and watching the Oscars.  The bicycle took FOR-EH-VURRRR to put together, but at least there was something good on TV!  Did y’all see the performance by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga?!  OMG so good.  I got all the chills!

Monday was Olivia’s actual birthday, but it was pretty much business as usual since it was a work/school day.  She had ballet after school and then Jacob had soccer practice after ballet, but she did get to pick dinner (Mexican), open her gifts from us, and eat a giant piece of cookie cake one more time.  #AllTheCelebrations

At the Mexican restaurant, Jacob said, "Mommy, it's Olivia's birthday!  That means they could put the hat on her and sing to her!"  So we asked her if she wanted them to do that and she said, "Yes."  

When they came out singing to her she acted like she didn't know what to do, though, even though she'd seen it happen to other people a thousand times.  She looked like a deer in the headlights.  Haha.

Happy Tuesday, y’all!