Our Week - The One with Jacob’s Championship Win and a Very Cold Halloween

We had a week full of festive fun, y’all, and I’m just so in my element right now with Halloween and football games and all of the other fun stuff to come – Thanksgiving, Christmas decorating, Brian’s and my anniversary, and then aaaallll the Christmas festivities!  It just does. not. get. any. better.  Some really cold temps finally rolled in around these parts, too, so now the weather is finally matching the season! 

Here’s how we spent last week…

Monday, October 28

Monday morning Maui had her annual check-up at the vet and she got a clean bill of health for another year.  She’s considered a senior citizen now (LOL) since she’s about to be ten so the vet wanted to do some blood work on her in addition to all of the other stuff.  Her blood work came back great so we have a healthy girl on our hands!  I often forget just how old she is… she still runs around and plays like a puppy and she’s just so tiny so it’s hard to think she’ll be ten years old in a few weeks.  She was obviously not amused about visiting the vet, but I sure did love having my little buddy with me in the school car line.  <3  P.S. She’s sleeping in a cat bed.  Lol.

Monday evening was Jacob’s baseball championship game.  We had played games one and two the week prior and we won both, and the final game was supposed to have been Friday evening of that same week.  Due to some scheduling conflicts, most of our team was unavailable to play Friday evening, but fortunately the league allowed us to reschedule the game for Monday.

The game ended up being a total nail-biter – the way a championship game should be – and it was just so close the whole time.  Jacob ended up having one strike-out and one single, so not his personal best, but not terrible.  We were tied at 3-3 for a couple of innings, and by the time we made it to the 6th and final inning, it was 5-5.  

We scored four runs in the top of the 6th to make it 9-5 and then the other team had the last at-bat.  We were all holding our breath and keeping our fingers crossed that they didn’t score five runs, and fortunately we were able to hold them to two to win 9-7 and bring home the championship!!!!  That made our boys number one in our C-ball division for the fall season!  To say I’m a proud momma is an understatement. 

After the game, the league had a medal ceremony, we took a few team pictures with the celebratory poster that our team mom had made (just in case – LOL), the kids ate some baseball donuts, and Coach Bobby rewarded every single kid on the team with a game ball, complete with a heartfelt message and signature from him.  It was so sweet.

We seriously couldn’t have asked for a better coach, a better team, or a better first season of baseball, and we’re already looking forward to spring.  What a way to start a new sport!  GO CUBS!

Tuesday, October 29

Tuesday I was feeling extra great and I somehow managed to have my hardest workout ever, beating my own record for calories burned in 35 minutes!

The rest of Tuesday was pretty laid back.  It was super dreary outside so I immediately went home after the gym, made some hot cinnamon tea in a festive mug, and turned on all the lamps… it was so cozy.  I worked all day until it was time to pick up the kids and then we had a lazy evening in complete with a hearty beef stroganoff dinner in the slow cooker.

Wednesday, October 30

Wednesday was another gym morning and then I spent the rest of the day tackling tasks on the to-do list in preparation for Halloween.

Since Wednesday was Halloween Eve, I whipped up some breakfast for dinner – eggs, grits, bacon, and homemade waffles – and I added some candy corn sprinkles and candy eyeballs.  Then, after dinner we spent the evening reading some of our favorite Halloween board books.  I’ve had way too much fun this Halloween! 

Thursday, October 31

Thursday was Halloween and I kicked off the morning making some fun Halloween lunches for the kids.  I included as many orange and black foods as I could, and I also included a few Sour Patch Kids and candy corn for treats.  I added a Halloween napkin and then sprinkled a few more candy eyes in their lunch containers for a final festive touch… you can never have too many of those!

Both kids were allowed to wear their costumes to school, and they both opted to wear their new Halloween costumes for 2019.  Jacob chose Link from Zelda this year because he and Brian and Olivia have been playing Zelda on our old Nintendo Wii for several months now and he loves it.  Olivia chose Shine from Shimmer and Shine (the Nickelodeon show) because she liked the costume… she doesn’t even watch that show, though.  Lol.

Olivia was able to go trick-or-treating around campus first thing in the morning and she was thrilled because she got to go see my mom at her office.  My mom sent this sweet picture of the two of them.

I did a few things around the house in the morning and then I got to the kids’ school around noon to help prep for Olivia’s class Halloween party at 12:30.  They had several activities followed by some yummy treats including dirt cake and brains (jello), and then they danced to some spooky Halloween tunes before finally ending their day watching a movie on the carpet. 

Once the kids settled in for their movie, I took off to Jacob’s classroom for his class Halloween party at 2:15.  Since he’s older now, his parties are more low-key than Olivia’s, so we stuck to one craft and a couple of treats.  I came across this adorable spider craft on Pinterest and knew it would be perfect his age group.  The kids seemed to enjoy making it, so that made me happy.  After the craft, the kids had their snacks, and then Jacob and Olivia and I were able to sneak out a few minutes early and get on the road before the car line started.  That got us home about 30 minutes earlier than normal which was nice since I had lots of fun stuff up my sleeve for the evening.

When I had arrived at the school, the temperature was a balmy 75 degrees (and it was still raining), but by the time we left the school a couple of hours later, the temp had dropped to 55 degrees.  And it was still raining.  We kept our fingers crossed for it to dry out by trick-or-treating time because that was all we could do!

When we arrived home, Olivia worked on her homework while I started prepping for a fun (and very early) Halloween dinner.  Yes, Olivia is the only child I know who actually wanted to do her homework on Halloween.  She has a bazillion homework passes including one that her teachers had included with their Halloween night homework, and she refused to use one.  Sigh.  I guess that’s a good thing, so I shouldn’t be complaining.  Ha!

Once Olivia finished her homework, she and Jacob went upstairs to play, and I got to work prepping the house for the evening.  Emily had told me about the Family Halloween Radio station on Pandora, so I turned that on (SO GOOD) and put some cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove in my diffuser to make the house all yummy and wonderful.

Next up was dinner – I’ve always wanted to make mummy dogs, and I finally had the chance this year!  We had those plus cubed cheese, Pirate’s Booty, blackberries, and candy corn popcorn from Trader Joe’s to stay with the Halloween colors theme.  Side note, have y’all tried the TJ’s candy corn popcorn?!  Oh my gosh, it’s heavenly.  I could not stop eating it.

I decorated the table with Halloween plates and napkins and goblets and straws and sprinkled some candy corn and candy eyes on the table.  Yes, more candy eyes.  Haha.  And I also wrapped the Halloween Lego sets that we had gotten for the kids and placed them near their plates.  When B got home from work we called the kids down and you should have seen their eyes light up over the Halloween dinner.  They loved it.  B and I cracked open some beers (our adult Halloween treats!  Ha!) and we had a nice festive dinner complete with the perfect Halloween soundtrack rolling in the background.

After dinner, we did a quick clean-up and then got everyone into their costumes and makeup.  By that time it was freezing outside and super windy, but the rain had stopped so we were thankful and ready to roll.  My momma, daddy, and father-in-law all arrived just in time to snap a few quick pictures, and then we had to bundle everyone up because it was just so cold out.  The wind was whipping all evening and the wind chills were already in the forties by the time we left the house.

We ended up trick-or-treating around our neighborhood for just over an hour before the kids couldn’t take the cold anymore.  You know it’s cold when the kids ask to stop trick-or-treating!  We were treated to a gorgeous sunset, though.  We made the trek back home to meet back up with the grandparents who had been handing out candy at our house, and the kids happily sorted and ate candy and built their Halloween Lego characters for the rest of the evening. 

The grandparents all left around 8, so B and I sent the kids upstairs to get ready for bed, and then they came back down for our annual viewing of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  We’ve watched that movie every single Halloween night since Jacob was two.  <3

Friday, November 1

Friday was All Saint’s Day which is a holy day of obligation for us Catholics, so I joined the kids for their 9:30 AM school mass.  My grandmother was also there, so we sat with her, and it was a nice treat to be able to spend the hour with all of them during the middle of a school day. 

After mass, I ran aaaallll the errands – gas, Sam’s Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, and the library, and then I headed home to work on some blog work for the rest of the afternoon while the kids were still at school. 

Friday evening we decided to go out for dinner since we knew we’d be staying in on Saturday for the Georgia game, and we decided to hit up one of our favorite local restaurants downtown.  They make my favorite salad on earth – spinach, strawberries, pecans, steak tips, crumbled goat cheese, and the most amazing poppyseed dressing – and I hadn’t had it in months so I was totally excited about it. 

Y’all.  They took it off the menu!!  Cue all the tears from me!!  I was so disappointed.   I ended up getting the grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and sautéed green beans, and it was good, but it just wasn’t the same as my salad.  Time to boycott the place until they bring it back!!  Waaaahhhh!!!!

The kids were a bit grumpy and argumentative during dinner (pretty rare for them since they’re usually so well-behaved), so we ended up heading straight back home after dinner to get them in the bed at a decent hour.  We had lots of late evenings last week and by Friday it was definitely showing. 

Once B and I had the kids in the bed we started watching a new show on Netflix… Raising Dion.  We watched two episodes and B and I both really like it so far.  The show is about a mother who discovers her little boy has superpowers, and she has to work to hide said superpowers while also investigating her husband’s death.  The deceased father is played by Michael B. Jordan (I love him so much!) and Jason Ritter also stars as Michael B. Jordan’s best friend.  I’m not familiar with the actress who plays the mom, but I like her a lot so far and I think we’re going to like this show.  It’s definitely different than the things I normally watch, but it’s intriguing and I’m excited to see how it’s all going to play out. 

Saturday, November 2

Saturday was the laziest day and it was pure heaven.  We had zero plans all day and I fully intended to stay in PJs all day and never leave the house.  We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and watched College GameDay all snuggled up on the couch. 

Around lunchtime, my father-in-law called to say that my sister-in-law and nephews were in town and they wanted to get together for my nephew’s birthday.  Since the Georgia/Florida game was on at 3:30 we invited everyone over to our house for pizza and football, and it ended up being the perfect evening.  The kids got ice cream from the ice cream truck and they got to spend lots of time outside with their cousins.  Best of all, GEORGIA GOT THE WIN!!!!  I had been worried about that game all week because Florida has been really good this year, so I was the most proud of our boys for showing up and getting the job done!

My cousin Wil is the Assistant Director of Equipment for the football team, so he’s always on the sidelines for the games and I was cracking up when my cousin Shelby (his sister) posted this picture in her Insta Stories.  (He's the one on the far left.)  I think that was the look on every single Georgia fan’s face when our player scored that last touchdown to lock down the win!  Haha.

Sunday, November 3

Sunday we were up bright and early to make it to 8 o’clock mass… not so bad when you get to turn your clocks back the night before!  My grandmother and aunt, uncle, and cousin were all at the same mass since they’d skipped 5:30 on Saturday to watch the game, so we were able to sit with them in our usual spot.  Yes, we are those people and our family has our own spot at 5:30 mass on Saturday.  Hahahaha.  I’ve literally been sitting in the same spot in church since I was tiny. 

We rarely go to Sunday mass, but when we do we like 8 AM the best.  Sure it’s hard to get out of the bed that early on the weekend, but it sure is nice to get out of church at 9 AM and still have the entire day ahead of you!  We headed straight to Krispy Kreme to pick up donuts for breakfast immediately after, and then the rest of the morning was spent prepping for the week ahead.

We headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for lunch and to celebrate my nephew’s birthday one more time, and B left right after we ate because he had to fly out to Chicago.  Boooo.  After lunch and birthday festivities, the rest of us all headed outside in the back yard because the weather was perfect, and we spent a good hour out there.  My brother-in-law worked with Jacob on his throwing stance and then my step-FIL pitched to all of the boys so they could practice hitting.  Olivia dragged my nephew, Braden, all around the yard in search of leaves to make another leaf pile (LOL) and he was such a good sport about it.  We had the best time but we missed B so much.  I hate when he has to travel for work, but it’s even worse when he has to leave on the weekend.  Monday morning meetings should not be allowed.  :o(  He’ll be back tomorrow, though, so at least it’s a short trip!

After we left my MIL and step-FIL’s, the kids and I went to Rack Room to get some new shoes for Jacob.  His toes looked like they were about to bust out of his old ones, so it was long overdue.  He picked the perfect pair (red and black, of course) almost immediately and then we headed to Target to let the kids pick up Christmas toy catalogs.  It’s one of their favorite things to do each year!  They will seriously sit and look at those catalogs for hours, circling all the things!  Haha.

When we got home, I sat down with Jacob to study for a while, and then Olivia and I read her AR book together a couple of times to make sure she was ready for her test on Monday.  We had about 30 minutes to spare after that, so the kids went upstairs to play Super Mario Kart while I tidied the house and made the kids’ lunches for Monday.  B always helps out so much on school mornings, so when he’s not here, I feel it immensely.  Making lunches takes for-eh-vurrrr so getting that done Sunday evening made my morning so much easier yesterday!

The kids and I went to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner and my momma had made a roast, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  Yum yum yum.  Since the time had changed, the day felt long, and our evening with them felt nice and lengthy.  Most of the time it flies by in the blink of an eye!  By 8:15 I was dragging, though, (and so were the kids) so we headed home.  I got them into bed, and then I hit the hay super early!  I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed on Monday!  Falling back is my jam!! 

Happy Tuesday, y’all!