Summer 2019 (Week 9) - Summer Camp, Jacob’s Birthday, and Getting Stuff Done

We asked the kids if they wanted to attend summer camp at their school for one week this summer, and the week they chose was this past week because it was the water themed camp!  While they camped, I got caught up on all the things, and we also spent a significant amount of time this week celebrating Jacob for his birthday. 

Monday, July 22

Monday we were up eeeearly to get the kids dressed, fed, and off to camp.  We aimed for drop-off at 8 every morning this week so they could get the most out of their days… I didn’t want them to miss out on anything! 

Since the theme for camp was water week, they had a different water activity each day, and therefore, had to wear their swimsuits each day.  Monday was water balloon day so the kids were thrilled.

After getting them settled in, I headed straight to the gym.  I got in a great workout, breaking my calorie-burning record and racking up 456 calories burned in just 35 minutes!  It felt so good!  I cannot wait to get back into a regular routine in a couple of weeks.

The rest of my day was spent working in my office in the peace and quiet.  I got most of my blog posts done for the rest of the week, got caught up on emails, and did some blog planning for fall all while watching/listening to Gilmore Girls nonstop in the background.  I’m so ready for fall, and GG always puts me in a fall mood.

Six hours flew by in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, it was time to get the kids.  Camp stays open until 6 PM to accommodate all of the working parents, but I didn’t want to leave them there that long.  I ended up picking them up just after 3, which is their regular school dismissal time, and they were both all abuzz about the day’s activities.  Jacob had several friends from school there and about half of Olivia’s class was there, so they both knew plenty of kids there.

They were both exhausted after their extra early morning and long day, so we spent a low-key evening at home.

Tuesday, July 23

Tuesday was Jacob’s birthday, but he still wanted to go to camp, so we arrived again just after 8 for slip and slide day!  After I dropped them, I had lots of errands to run – the vet to pick up Maui’s heartworm medication, Target for some sunscreen, and Fresh Market for some chicken, and then I swung through Starbucks and picked up a little treat for myself.  I hadn’t had anything in months, so it was a nice way to start the day.

I spent the rest of the morning finishing up blog posts for the week, and then at noon I met three guys from work for lunch to catch up.  They got me all caught up on the latest gossip and other crazy things that have happened at work lately, and as always, it was so wonderful seeing them.  I do NOT miss that job, but I still ache for my coworkers most days.  Man, I miss them so much.  Well, some of them, anyway.  Haha.

I had a couple more hours after lunch before I needed to pick up the kids, so I went back home, turned on Gilmore Girls again, and caught up on some “life stuff” that’s gotten behind.  It poured down rain for a couple of hours, and then once the rain let up, I headed to grab the kids from camp around 3.  One of Olivia's camp teachers had this picture of her and a few of her friends... not sure why she looks so serious there, though... she definitely had a great time!

My mom works at the church office on the kids’ school campus, so after I grabbed them, we walked over to visit with her because I thought she might like to see Jacob on his birthday.  It started to pour again while we were there, so we ended up staying there for a good 30 minutes chatting with her and one of our friars.  The kids taught Father Manny how to play a few of those hand games kids play while singing the accompanying songs and it was just the sweetest/funniest thing ever! 

B arrived at home from work shortly after we arrived home from my momma’s office, and we let the birthday boy plan the rest of the evening.  He was itching to open his gifts, so he chose to do that first.  B and I gave him his beloved Lego Star Destroyer that he’s been requesting for ages, and he was thrilled. 

He wanted to spend the rest of the night putting that together, but we told him we had to eat dinner (haha!) so he chose Cracker Barrel because he wanted breakfast (mostly pancakes)… and he also swindled us into buying something for him at the Cracker Barrel Store since it was his birthday.  Haha.  He chose a little gemstone digging kit, and naturally, Olivia just had to have one of her own, so we let her use her own money to buy one, too. 

When we got home everyone was so full from dinner that nobody really wanted cake, and instead, Jacob just wanted a bite sized Kit Kat for his birthday dessert.  He started putting together his new Lego set after that and he worked until we made him go to bed.  He probably would have pulled an all-nighter if we would have let him!  Ha!

Wednesday, July 24

Wednesday was slip and slide and sprinkler day at camp, so I dropped off two excited kiddos and then headed to the gym again.  It’s so hard to find time to work out when they’re home for the summer, so I knew I wanted to squeeze in at least two visits this week while they were at camp. 

The rest of my day was spent working ahead on blog posts and watching Gilmore Girls.  I got all of my posts prepped and started for the following week, and I even completed the writing portion of one of them.  That way this week and the week after I can focus solely on spending time with the kiddos!  I don’t want any distractions during our last two weeks together!

I picked them up around 3 again and the rest of the day was spent doing typical afternoon things – hanging out, cooking dinner, and watching TV.

Thursday, July 25

Thursday, I dropped the kids off for water kickball day, I worked on some blog maintenance and caught up on paying bills, and then I spent the rest of the afternoon photographing clothes to upload to Poshmark while watching more Gilmore Girls.  FINALLY.  I’ve decided that if I don’t end up selling any there, I’ll probably either do a blog post to sell them or I may open another Instagram account to sell them there.  So far I’ve had zero luck with Poshmark.  To be fair, I really haven’t uploaded much, though either.

While I was working on that, Olivia was having a blast at her "Glow Up" party at camp.  The little kids got to have their faces painted with glow paint and have a dance party.  Her teaching assistant from her Pre-K 4 class was there and she sent me a couple of pictures, and I also got a picture from Mrs. Tina, another teacher from camp and the after school program at school.  We love our school and camp teachers so much!

Thursday evening, B had to mow again, so the kids and I hung out together.  All Jacob wanted to do was continue working on his new Lego set, so Olivia and I had a very girly evening, doing manicures and pedicures, and playing beauty shop.  She loves doing my hair and I don’t let her do it often because I’m so tender-headed, so she was in heaven.

We squeezed in a little bit of book reading, and then it was time for the kids to hit the hay.  We’re working on getting them back on a bedtime schedule since school starts soon, and last week was the perfect week to start since we all had to be up so early for camp anyway.

Friday, July 26

Friday was the big mamma jamma day at summer camp – the water slide day!  The school rents a HUMONGOUS blow-up water slide, and the kids stay outside literally all day playing on the slide and the other bouncy houses, along with picnicking with hot dogs and shaved ice.  This day was pretty much the entire reason they chose the water themed week at camp, so they were pumped!

I spent my day catching up and reorganizing a few of the pages on my blog.  I hadn’t done that since December last year, so they were waaaay behind.  That said, if you ever want to read about all of our traveling, or all about the kids’ big life events, or see all of my recipes or projects in one place, be sure to check out the categories across the top of the blog (if you’re reading on a desktop computer).  If you’re on mobile, there is a dropdown box at the top with all of the categories and you can view each of them there.  I still have some more reorganizing to do of the projects and recipes pages, but the rest of the pages are all up-to-date for now!

I picked the kids up around 3:30 on Friday, and they were still in their swim suits, wet, happy, slightly pink-cheeked with sunburn, and exhausted.  They both said that they had great days, even though Olivia was a little bit scared of the slide, and Jacob said some of the big kids had cut him in line.  Such is life, right?

We loaded up and went straight home.  I was sure they were both going to pass out in the back seat, but surprisingly they didn’t.  Since they were so exhausted, I sent them up for showers and PJs right when we got home and then we just decided to stay home for the evening because we weren’t sure how long they’d last.  We ended up thawing some homemade hamburgers that we had frozen, and we ate a super early dinner so we could get the kids in the bed at a decent hour.

They ended up getting their second wind at dinner (naturally), so afterward, we made some popcorn and we all piled on the couch and watched Small Foot.  I was so exhausted that I ended up dozing a little here and there, but all of the parts that I saw were really cute and the kids loved it. 

After the kiddos went to bed, B and I watched a couple of episodes of Gossip Girl and an episode of Barry and then we called it a night as well.

Saturday, July 27

Saturday was designated as cleaning day for me.  My house may be tidy, organized, and mostly clutter-free, but I am positively AWFUL at keeping up with the actual housekeeping part.  Needless to say, it had been a while since I’d done all of that, so I spent the entire morning scrubbing countertops, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, dusting, and cleaning toilets – yay!  (Sarcasm.)

The whole place was shining by lunchtime, so after lunch, we all went outside to spend the afternoon relaxing.  Olivia played in the pool, Brian and Jacob played baseball, and I read my book. 

We all headed out for 5:30 mass and dinner with the fam a little later in the evening.  My brother, sister-in-law, and the babies were in town, so we had a nice big group of 17 at our fave Mexican restaurant.  We had margs and cheese dip all around and it was a fun evening.

After dinner, everyone came back to our house so my dad, brother, and uncle could help Brian lift our massive king size bed (it weighs a ton) so my mom and I could slide our new rug under it.  Yep, our Amazon Lightning deal 7x10 $30 rug looks great under there!  Our bedroom is so close to being done I can taste it.  I just need to finish the wall hanging to go over our bed, possibly change the pulls on the furniture, and get another plant for the corner nearest my side of the bed.  I promise I’ll share another room tour when it’s done!

Sunday, July 28

Sunday morning was spent doing a couple of loads of laundry, cleaning pictures off of my phone, and planning some fun activities for the kids for the week ahead. 

We then headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for Jacob’s last birthday celebration of the year.  He had requested my MIL’s chicken nuggets (CFA copycat recipe), jalapeno cheesy bites, and homemade rolls, and they had also made beef tips and rice, carrots, broccoli, and fried okra.  We had cookie cake for dessert afterward, and then Jacob opened his gifts.  Spoiler alert, he got lots of Legos.  Haha.

After lunch, we all headed outside because my MIL wanted to show us their newest little friends in their garden... some caterpillars and a chrysalis!  Olivia was enamored with the caterpillars and she wanted to "pet" one of them and she got a kick out of it when the caterpillar turned to look at her.  Lol.  He put out his little red fangs/claws/whatever they are as a defense mechanism, so I don't think he felt the same way about her.  Hehe.

My Momma cooked a delicious dinner of sausage and cabbage and mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner, and we spent the evening eating, drinking wine, and hanging out. 

We’re officially down to our last two weeks of summer break, and we have some fun stuff planned for this week, so I’m looking forward to it!

Happy Monday, y’all!

Don't forget to link up with Heather, Johannah, Tanya, and myself... just grab our new graphic for 2019 and link up below!

*Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending and HoHo Runs for Weekly Wrap.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter