Our Week - The One with the Pumpkin Patch and Jacob’s Big Win

Another busy week is in the books and I’m hoping that things are finally going to settle down a bit this week… oh wait, just as I typed that, I realized this is Halloween week so never mind.  This week will probably be crazy, too.  It’s neverending! 

Monday, October 21

Monday started out pretty low-key.  I got in a good workout at the gym and I had just gotten home to get a few things done when I got an email saying that we needed to have an emergency fall carnival meeting.  Yep, after months and months of nothing but sunshine, we’ve reached a rainy season… just in time for all the outdoor events.  Sigh.  Our carnival was originally scheduled for this past Friday, but due to the stormy forecast, we ended up making the decision to move it to a different date.  Fingers crossed the weather cooperates next time.

Monday evening we had nothing on the calendar, so we were able to have a lazy evening at home.  Those are few and far between these days, so they are always a treat… even on school nights!  My girl and I used our free evening to devour an entire stack of Halloween board books.  I have a huge weakness for board books – especially holiday ones – so I’m going to enjoy every second of reading them while I can.  I’m not looking forward to the day that our babies outgrow them.

Tuesday, October 22

Tuesday was another gym day and another evening at home with nothing to do, so we had another lazy evening at home.  I made some vodka sausage pasta for dinner and I added a couple of edible eyes to the kids’ pasta to make it Halloween festive.  They were both so excited!  I’ve been adding edible eyes and holiday sprinkles to our homemade waffles forever, but I’ve never taken the time to add any to their dinner.  It truly surprised and delighted them and it made me so happy to see their faces light up like that!  It truly is the little things, y’all!

Wednesday, October 23

Wednesday I had lots of errands to run, including a stop at Hobby Lobby.  I’ve been going through our Christmas decorations to see what we need for this year, and I wanted to scope out Hobby Lobby’s Christmas stuff while it’s still fully stocked.  I know it’ll take a hard hit just after Halloween is over, and I wanted to make sure I got everything I need before it’s gone.  Last year, I waited too long and I wasn’t able to get the garland that I needed for Jacob’s Christmas tree in his room.  I’m bound and determined not to let that happen again this year.  Side note, look how cute that pink tree is!  

Wednesday evening, our baseball team had their first game of their post-season tournament.  Jacob had one strike-out and one single that was also an RBI, and he was also batted in to score a run.  We ended up getting all the way up to 14-4 by the third inning, I think?  So they stopped the game at 14-4 due to the mercy rule since the kids are still so young.  We got us a big win that advanced us to the second round of the tournament!  This tournament is single elimination so we would have been out for good if we had lost.

I’ve been trying to get at least some cardio in every single day, and since I hadn’t gotten much in that day, I pulled out my stair climber after the kiddos were finally in the bed.  I hadn’t used it in several months and I’d forgotten what an awesome workout it is!  I got 550 steps in within about ten minutes and I worked up a sweat, and that was about all I could do.  Whew.  I need to start using it consistently again to build my endurance.  That thing will whip your hiney! 

Thursday, October 24

Thursday was busy busy.  I had lots to do at home so I worked until it was time to pick up the kids from school.  Olivia had ballet right after school so we went straight there, and Jacob did his homework while I cleaned out backpacks and answered a few emails.  I came across this little gem as I was cleaning out Olivia’s backpack:

And it made me smile so big to see her dotting her I’s with hearts.  I used to do the same thing when I was a little girl.  Shoot, sometimes I still do it!  <3

Ballet was over at 4:45 and we headed straight to the Chick-Fil-A drive thru to grab dinner to eat in the car on the way to game two of Jacob’s baseball tournament.  The game started at 6, so we got there just in time for him to warm up.  We only had one loss in the regular season, and we had to play the team who had beaten us.  I was expecting a possible loss or at least a close game, but our team played SO WELL and we ended up getting way ahead very early on. 

Jacob had one groundout and two singles (one of which was another RBI) and he also scored a run.  Our team ended up winning 13-9 so we’re advancing to the championship game tonight!!  I’m just so proud of these boys and how hard they’ve worked all season.  We were so fortunate to have such a great experience with our first season of baseball, from the coach to the kids to the parents, and I’m sad that it’s almost over.  But also a little happy too, though, because we get our lives back after tonight.  Haha.  

Friday, October 25

Friday, Olivia’s grade had their first field trip of the school year to the pumpkin patch!  The place where we went was a haul, though, so it was an all-day event.  We left the school right around 8:30 and then we made it to the pumpkin patch around 10… yep, an hour and a half drive just to get there!  Sheesh. 

The day was super cloudy and it rained off and on all the way there, so I was worried that we’d get rained out.  If you remember, Friday was supposed to be the day that we had the fall carnival at school, and we had moved it because of the weather forecast. 

Well, we lucked out, and it didn’t rain a drop the entire time we were there!!  There was so much to do there – a petting zoo with goats and chickens and baby chicks and sheep, other random animals to see like a camel, buffalo, zebra, and a long horn, a jumping pillow, inflatables, massive hay bales to climb all over, a hay ride to the pumpkin patch and the cotton field (where the kids got to pick out a pumpkin and some cotton to take home), the cow train, corn bins, and so much other stuff.  As a matter of fact, we were there all day and we still didn’t get to see and do everything that they had to offer.  It was a great place.  

I was able to hang out with my girly and her friends and their moms all day and we just had the best day.  Olivia rode the bus on the way to the pumpkin patch, but on the way back, kids were allowed to ride back home with their parents if they had chaperoned.  Olivia chose to ride home with me, and her best friend also chose to ride back home with her mom, so the four of us ended up staying an extra 30 minutes or so after the school bus left.  We let the two girlies run around and see a few of the things that we hadn’t done while the whole school was there. 

We had to take off around 1-ish, though, because we had to make it back to school in time to grab Jacob and my nephew in the car line.  The drive back felt long so we were exhausted by the time we grabbed the boys and made it back home.

Since the weather was still yucky (although, still no rain), we decided to stay home Friday evening and just relax.  It was the first Friday evening we’ve stayed home in I-can’t-remember-how-long and it SO NICE to just be lazy. 

I was in my PJs by 3:30.  Yep, 3:30 in the afternoon!  And then B picked up veggies from Cracker Barrel on the way home from work.  He and I opened a couple of beers, and then we spent the rest of the evening watching Captain Underpants Halloween on Netflix (the kids’ choice, obvs) and I fell straight to sleep on the couch during the movie.  Haha. 

I woke up to pouring rain just before 8 PM, so it was a good thing that we had moved the fall carnival!  B and I got the kids in the bed and then he and I stayed up for another couple of hours watching El Camino, the Breaking Bad follow-up movie.  If you loved that show like we did, then you’ll definitely want to see it!  It picks up right where Breaking Bad ended so we all get to see what happens to Jessie Pinkman!

Saturday, October 26

Saturday was another super dreary day, but it wasn’t pouring and it wasn’t boiling hot, so B and I finally had a chance to clean off the back porch.  The weather here was so, so miserable the last couple of months of summer (and the beginning of fall, too) so we hadn’t used our back porch in months.  Since we hadn’t used it, we hadn’t cleaned it, and the whole thing was covered in dirt and dust and pollen and spiders and other bugs, so we pulled everything off, gave it all a good hosing, and put it all back.  B hung the TV outside so we were able to watch ESPN College GameDay while we worked, and we got the job done pretty quickly. 

After that, it was inside for a quick lunch, and then Jacob and I had to get ready for his friend’s birthday party.  They live just down the road from us, only about a ten minute drive, so I got him to the party and then came back home to get a few things done around the house.  He had a great time.  The party was a costume party so all of the kids dressed up, and he was able to wear his new costume that he’ll wear later this week for Halloween, so it was a double win! 

The rest of the day was spent watching the LSU vs. Auburn game, going to 5:30 mass, and then eating Mex for dinner, just our family of four.  My parents were out of town all weekend visiting some family in Nashville, so we were on our own.

After dinner we stopped by DQ because it had been a while since we’d all indulged in a Blizzard, and I was SO SAD because our DQ was already out of the pumpkin pie blizzards.  How can you be out of pumpkin pie stuff before it’s even Halloween?!

Sunday, October 27

Sunday morning we were up early for family pictures.  I like to snap all of the shots just after dawn so we were at the park by 8:15.  Thank goodness we did it before daylight savings time ends… if we hadn’t, we would have had to be out there by 7:15.  Eeks! 

Pictures went pretty smoothly.  We had some of the usual issues – kids more interested in picking up rocks than taking pictures, Jacob not opening his eyes because it’s “too bright” outside – but overall, it went really well and I’m hoping we got some good shots.  We decided to just do our own again since it’s worked out so well in the past, so hopefully I won’t regret the decision when I see the pictures.  Haha.

We rewarded the kiddos with donuts – Halloween ones! – after pictures since they had done so well, and then we had a few hours to kill at home before we had to be at my MIL and step-FIL’s for Sunday lunch.  I used the time to get caught up on laundry and tidy around the house since I hadn’t been home all day Friday to get any of it done.

Sunday was gorgeous – sunny and warm, but not too warm – and we spent a lot of time soaking up the sun in Nana and Poppie’s back yard after lunch.  On the way home, we stopped by Publix and grabbed a pumpkin to carve.  Since my parents were en route from Nashville they didn’t cook, so B and the kids and I had a fun cheese board for dinner on the freshly cleaned back porch and we spent the evening carving our pumpkin.  I asked the kids what kind of face they wanted and they both agreed on silly!  We gave him a silly face and then decided to name him Silly Billy Binx.  Silly because he's silly, and Billy Binx for Hocus Pocus.  ;o)  

I’d been waiting for forever to make the cheese board and it was so exciting to finally bring it to life Sunday evening!  It turned out just perfectly and I’ll be sharing it here on Wednesday so stay tuned… ‘tis the season for all things festive!  ;o)

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