What. a.
week. Y’all! Just when I thought things couldn’t be
busier, they got busier. Last week was
absolute chaos, but it was the happiest of happy chaos and I’m so very grateful
for every single second of it, even if we were completely exhausted by the time
it was over.
However, it’s
officially summer break around here, so we are finally settling down, and we are
looking forward to having some downtime to just BE. Praise hands!!
Monday, May 16
During our spring social, our school had many things that parents could
bid on including being any teacher or administrator at the school for a day,
and we won the auction for Jacob to be his teacher, and for Olivia to be her
teaching assistant. Kids Rule the School
Day was Monday, so our kiddos woke up super excited to hold their position of
authority for the day.
I dropped them off and then headed home to get laundry done and work on
some blog things. Mid-morning, I went to
the library to pick up a book I had on hold only to find that my book was at a
different library in town. As I was
leaving, an elderly woman tripped as she stepped up on the curb, and she fell
really hard onto the concrete. I rushed
to her side to help her up, and she was bleeding pretty badly from her hand,
and also from her nose.
I gave her all the tissues I had in my purse and then asked her who I
should call/how I could help/etc. She
was stubborn and didn’t want any help… she didn’t even want me to go inside and
ask for help from someone in the library.
She did ask me if I would go turn in her library books, though. Lol.
She was bleeding pretty badly, and we had run out of tissues, so when I
went inside to turn in her books (per her wishes), I told the girl at the front
desk what was going on. I felt terrible
going against the lady’s wishes, but thought it was best for her and the
library because I figured they would want to file some kind of report.
On the way back out, I grabbed a ton of wet paper towels and some dry
ones, and then I went back outside to help her clean up. At that point, she was still sitting on the
curb, and I think she was more embarrassed than anything. She was mentally sharp, and she didn’t seem
disoriented at all, and she kept laughing at herself and shaking her head,
which let me know that her head was most likely fine. I didn’t think she had hit her head anyway
since she fell face-first, but since her nose was bleeding, I knew she had to
have hit her face.
I helped her clean up her bag and gather her things, and then two girls
from the library came out with a first aid kit to give her some bandages and
file a report. The lady was super sweet
and very gracious, and she ended up driving herself home and being just fine. They asked her to call and let them know when
she was home safely, and she did. What a
rockstar, right?!
I had my last neck physical therapy appointment right then, so I ended up
being a bit late for that, but I wasn’t about to leave that lady until I knew
she was in good hands. I’m so grateful
she was okay. She scared me to death!
After my appointment, I headed home and had lunch with Brian since he was
working from home, and then I worked on blog stuff until it was time to pick up
the kids.
After school, the kids told me all about their days and they were both
thrilled because they’d gotten to have so much fun all day. For Jacob’s be the teacher day, he had
planned the schedule, and they started with donuts and a dance party after
announcements followed by extra recess.
His teacher and the other fifth grade teacher also bought decaf
frapaccinos for the two boys who were the fifth grade teachers for the
day.
Olivia’s teaching assistant just happened to be out on Monday (such a
bummer!), but she was excited because they ended up letting her be the school
president for the day instead. Lol. She got to sit in on a meeting with some
other kids who were being administrators for the day, and they got to decide
what to put on the lunch menu for the rest of the week since their food
supplier had to cancel some orders due to a chicken nugget shortage. Lol.
After that, she got to walk to Burger King (which is just across the
street) with the school President to get a milkshake. She and Jacob then both had a special lunch
on the football field, and the school provided Chick-Fil-A for them. I was invited as well, and I was so sad to
have to miss it because I had my PT appointment that I couldn’t cancel.
They both had the best time, and I had the best time scrolling through
social media for the rest of the evening seeing everyone’s pictures. It was such a fun thing for their school to
do, and they raised a lot of money doing it!
Monday evening, we made breakfast for dinner, and then we headed to
Jacob’s baseball game. We brought Maui
along again, and we sat with all of Jacob’s grandparents for the evening. Jacob was walked once, he got hit by a
pitch once, he got a single, and he scored one run. He also caught another ball, and it was a
good one because he had to dive for it!
I was so proud of him! There’s no
way he would have done that a year ago!
We got home late yet again so it was another late night for one and all.
Tuesday, May 17
Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids and then stopped to grab gas and then
chicken from Fresh Market before heading home.
I spent the whole morning working and getting stuff done, and then at
noon I headed to the kids’ school for Olivia’s end-of-the-year class party,
stopping by the library (the correct one this time, haha) to grab my book.
I was Olivia’s room mom this year, so I helped host the party with
Christy, the other room mom, and we went with a luau theme since summer is
almost here! We started the party with
snacks and drinks in the classroom, and then we took the party outside where
Christy had set up all kinds of fun activities for the kids to do.
I had made a photo frame and Christy had brought some photo props, and
those were a huge hit. We got so many
sweet pictures!
Jacob’s 5th grade walk to transition to middle school was at 2, so we got
the class lined up on the sidewalk along with the rest of the school, and the
kids walked through the crowds, led by a drumline. They ended their walk in the middle school
wing where all of the middle schoolers were waiting to cheer them on and
welcome them to middle school. It was so
sweet.
After that was done, I helped Olivia’s teacher get the kids back in the
classroom, we got things tidied up, and then I checked both kids out so we
could just leave. There wasn’t any
reason for me to wait the extra 30 minutes, and it helped me avoid the car
line. Woo hoooo!
That extra time helped tremendously as I still had a ton of stuff to do
when we got home, but I didn’t have much time to do it because I had a girls
dinner to get to at 6. I was a total
whirlwind when we got home from school, prepping for the next day, packing
myself and both kids since B and I were leaving town Wednesday morning, tidying
the house, putting laundry away.
Bu the time dinner with the girls rolled around I was feeling pretty
overwhelmed, so some downtime was MUCH needed and welcomed with open arms. So was an ice-cold craft beer. Haha.
We sat outside and participated in one round of trivia while catching up
with each other. We ended up having the worst
service I’ve ever had in my life at the restaurant we went to, which was
weird, because I’ve been to that restaurant a ton of times and I’ve never had
that happen. I somehow managed to get my
drink and food in a timely manner, and both were correct, but pretty much
everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for everyone else. It was a nightmare.
We ended up cutting our stay short, so I was home by 8. And even though we’d had terrible service,
the company was amazing, and it was exactly what I needed during the midst of a
tumultuous week.
When I got home, Brian and the kids and I all watched a few minutes of American
Idol, and then the kiddos went to bed.
After bed, B and I watched This is Us, and Y’ALL, I cried so hard
I gave myself a headache. Oh my word,
that episode was so sad, but so beautiful.
If they don’t win some awards for that, then it’ll be a shame!
Wednesday morning, B and I got the kids off to school and then we headed
out of town. Yep, right during the
busiest week of the whole year, we decided to pack up and leave. Lol.
Dave Matthews Band plopped their concert tour down right at the worst possible
time of year, but y’all know me… I’m not going to miss it, so we figured out a
way to make it work. Haha.
Miraculously, Wednesday was the only day of the week that the kids had
NOTHING going on. My parents picked them
up from school and stayed with them, so Brian and I were free to go! Woo HOOOO!
The concert on Wednesday evening was in Huntsville, and it was at a
brand-new venue that only holds 8,000 people.
Dave Matthews Band typically does shows at venues that hold 20,000+, so
I knew this would be a treat because it would be so much more intimate than at
their typical venues. Brian had also gotten
5th row seats behind the pit, so there was no way I was going to turn those
down.
Huntsville is easily driveable for us, but it’s way further than Atlanta
(where we usually see DMB), so we settled in for the long drive, and we arrived
just in time for a late lunch at Stovehouse with my brother, sister-in-law, and
niece. My nephew was at school, so
unfortunately, we weren’t able to see him, but it was so nice to be able to see
everyone else!
After lunch, we followed my brother to NASA, where he works, and he was
able to show us around for the next couple of hours. Since our trip was last-minute, he wasn’t
able to get full clearance for us, but he was able to get partial clearance
which meant that we could tour some of the buildings, too.
He took us into mission control first, and we got to see where he spends
some of his time. We were able to see
the actual live feeds in mission control, which was really neat. And don’t worry, I got clearance to post all
pictures you see here in this post. ;o)
Afterwards, he took us around the campus showing us some of the old test
rockets, and then we ended our tour at the replica of Saturn V, the rocket that
took man to the moon. It was a really
neat tour, and it was even better to spend time with my bro at his favorite
place!
We parted ways at that point, and B and I swung by Trader Joe’s to grab
some essentials (AKA two cases of wine – haha) and then we headed to our hotel
to check in for the evening. We had a
couple of hours to unpack, relax, and Facetime with the kids before we had to
head to the show.
They were just living their best lives with Pop and Cokie, and they had
just finished having dinner at Chick-Fil-A and playing on the playground. They told us all about their day, and Olivia
was thrilled because her teacher who had to leave unexpectedly a couple of
months ago came to spend some time with the kids. Her teacher had already sent a couple of
pictures to me, and she told me that Olivia was so happy to see her that she
had cried for 20 minutes straight after she arrived. Look at my precious girl and those teary
eyes. Break my heart.
After our call with the kids was over, we headed to the venue. We weren’t sure what to expect since the
venue was brand new (it had just opened on Friday and DMB was the first artist
to play there besides the people who played during the grand opening), so we
wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to park, get through security, get
dinner, etc.
We ended up getting there like an hour earlier than we really needed to,
so we sat in the car for a bit because it was too hot to spend time
outside. The venue opened at 6 and we headed
in, grabbed some craft beers and hot dogs, and had dinner.
My friend and fellow blogger, Sarah of Meet the Shaneyfelts (some of you
probably know her!), was also attending the concert, so she and I had planned
to meet up in the venue. After B and I
were done eating, we were able to hang out with her and her husband and sister
for a few minutes. We’ve “known” each
other for seven years because of meeting through blogging and following one
another’s blogs, but we’ve never met in person, so it was AWESOME to finally
get to meet her. Blogging is such a a
strange thing… even though we had never met in person, we know so much about
each other’s lives and we’ve texted and emailed and DMed so much throughout the
years, that it felt like seeing an old friend again when I saw her. I just love that!
After we got done chatting, it was time to head inside and find our
seats. As I said before, our seats were
in the fifth row behind the pit, so we had an amazing view for the night. The concert was ah-mazing as always, and they
played some of my very favorite songs.
After Covid wreaking havoc for so long, it was so dang nice to be seeing
live music again. B and I used to go to
several concerts per year before Covid, but since March 2020, we had only seen
one… DMB last year in Atlanta just before Delta came and ruined things again. I teared up so many times Wednesday night
because I was just so grateful to be doing something normal that I love.
After the show was over, B and I made the two-minute drive back to our
hotel and crashed. We were both so so
exhausted and we had to be up early enough to get home in time for Jacob’s award’s
ceremony at school the next day.
Thursday, May 19
Thursday morning, we were up early-ish, we stopped by the cutest little
donut shop on the way out, and then we made the drive home. We had just enough time to drop our luggage
at home and choke down a quick lunch before heading straight to the school to
attend Jacob’s award’s ceremony.
He completely rocked fifth grade, and he ended up with Principal’s
List (straight A’s), the AR award, and the Religion award. In addition to that, each class gives out
three other big awards, and he was the recipient of one of them – the Grace
Award. The Grace Award is given to a
student who embodies characteristics of a good Christian (is kind, loving,
treats others well, etc.) and it just melts my heart to know that he was the
one who received it. I could not be more
proud of this sweet boy, and I pray that no matter what happens in life, that
he continues to be a good, kind person.
I cannot for the life of me believe that he’s going to be in middle
school next year.
After the ceremony, B and I jumped in the car line since we still had to
pick up Olivia, and then the four of us headed home to prepare for Jacob’s
baseball game. We had just enough time
to unpack our suitcases and prep for the next day, and then it was time to
leave again.
This game was a big one – if we had won, we would have won the championship
and moved on to the city tournament, and if we lost, it would have put us tied
for first with the other team. We were
up 8-0 by the second inning of the game, and then sadly, the other team came
all the way back and beat us 10-9. Ugh,
such a heartbreaker. Since we were tied
for first, that meant that we had to play the additional game on Saturday
morning to break the tie. Sigh.
Jacob ended up with one groundout and one walk, and he did his part in
the outfield, throwing a kid out at first with the one opportunity he had to
make a defensive play. He didn’t get
much action defensively in that game.
After the game, the kids had their end-of-season party with pizza and
baseball decorated donuts followed by a little award’s ceremony, where the
coaches presented them with rings. His
coach said a sweet little blurb about each of the kids, and he told everyone
that Jacob had the fewest strikeouts and the third highest on-base percentage
for the whole team for the season! Such
an accomplishment! We are just so proud
of him.
After the party, B and I swung through the Chick-Fil-A drive-through
(again – haha) to grab dinner for the two of us, and then we got home, ate, got
the kids in the bed, relaxed for a few minutes, and passed out.
Friday, May 20
Friday morning, I dropped the kids for their last day of school – a half
day – and then I headed home for an hour to catch up on some work before it was
time to go back to the school to attend their last school Mass of the
year. Our friars made Mass extra special
as it was their last school Mass that they’ll ever celebrate with us since
they’re leaving in June… it was definitely bittersweet.
Our pastor gave the best homily singing and praising with the kids, and
then at the end, he called the entire faculty and staff to go to the front so
the kids could pray over them and wish them a restful summer. Words cannot even express how grateful I am
to be a part of this wonderful school and church community, y’all. It means so very much to me that our kiddos
can worship and pray together like this.
After Mass was over, there were some awards and scholarships to hand out,
and my girl received a very special scholarship for next school year – The
Legacy Award. The Legacy Award is
awarded to a student whose parent is an alumnus, and I had submitted an essay
about my time spent at the school, and my essay won! Jacob won the same award when he was younger,
too!
After Mass, I checked both kiddos out of school because there was no
reason for them to stay… they only had an hour left, and it was the last day,
so WHY NOT??
Then my Momma, Olivia, and I all took a picture together since we are all
alumnae of the school. Class of 1976
(Momma), Class of 2032 (Olivia), and Class of 2000 (me).
As we were leaving, the kids asked if we could go to Dairy Queen, and B
and I are suckers, so we said WHY NOT?
It was the last day of school, after all. We got them to go and stuck them in the
freezer when we got home, and then after I made lunch, we let them eat them.
The rest of the day was L-A-Z-Y.
We were all completely spent. I
did some blog work, got some things done around the house, and read for a
bit. The kids played video games, and
Brian worked because he had no choice.
Lol.
Friday evening, Brian picked up Mexican for dinner, and we made some
margaritas, and then after dinner we watched a ton of American Idol to
attempt to get caught up (spoiler alert, we didn’t). I was so wiped that I kept dozing off and I
missed a few acts here and there, but honestly, I would choose sleep over just
about anything right now. Haha.
After the kids went to bed, Brian and I watched A Million Little Things
and an episode of The Flight Attendant, and then we headed to bed early
because we had to be up earlier than usual Saturday morning for a baseball
game.
Saturday, May 21
Saturday morning was leftover donuts for breakfast that we’d brought home
from Huntsville, and then we all headed straight to the ballfield for Jacob’s
playoff game. Because of their loss
Thursday night, they were tied with another team for first place, so they had
to face off one last time to decide which team were the champions for their
league.
Unfortunately, after playing an amazing first inning, our fielding went
downhill, and the other team stepped it up majorly, so they ended up beating
us. Our boys were pretty disappointed,
but they ended the season 15-4, which is pretty amazing. And the other team played amazing, so it was
well-deserved.
After the game was over, we all headed home to eat a quick lunch and
shower, and then we had a bit of downtime before it was time to leave
again. B and I had concert tickets to
see Dave Matthews Band (yes, again!) in Atlanta, so we got the kids settled in
with my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law, and then we hit the road yet
again.
The drive was easy, and we ended up getting a great parking spot at the
venue, which is always important at this particular venue since it holds 20,000
people. We’ve had times where we’ve had
to sit in the parking lot for hours waiting to get out, so it was nice to be
able to park right by the exit gate this time.
All the while, the kids were picking and eating blackberries from Nana and Poppie's garden and helping them plant corn and radishes!
We were in the door right as they opened at 6, and then we headed
straight to get beer and food, and then we ate in our seats. For this show, we originally had tickets in
the pit (the section right by the stage where there is no assigned seating),
but I’ve never been a big fan of a pit at a concert, much as I love being close
to the stage. I’d much rather be able to
sit down should the need arise.
#Old Haha.
Instead, we managed to find third row seats in the second section, and
the people in the two rows ahead of us sat down all night long, so it was
basically like being in the front row of that section. We had an awesome view! And for the record, I didn’t sit a single
time while the band was performing.
;o) It was nice to be able to sit
and eat our food before the show started, though. We wouldn’t have been able to do that if we’d
been in the pit.
The show ended up being amazing yet again, and even though we heard a few
duplicates from our night in Huntsville, the majority of the songs they played
were different. I also got to see them
perform one of the songs that I’d been really wanting to hear, so that was
special, too.
When the show was over, we headed to the car and we were out of the
parking lot faster than we’ve ever been at that venue, and we somehow managed
to make it home just shortly after midnight.
That might be a record!! B and I
both hit the hay right away because we were exhausted. How many times can I say we were exhausted in
one post?! Haha.
Sunday, May 22
Sunday morning, we had breakfast and watched the finale of Is It Cake?
with the kids, and then I got some sheets and towels washed before it was time
to get ready. We headed to my in-law’s
house for Sunday lunch and to celebrate my SIL’s birthday, and then we headed
home where everyone was lazy for the rest of the afternoon.
Since Jacob doesn’t have a phone yet, he just started using my phone to
text back and forth with one of his friends, so I found these two pictures on
my phone Sunday afternoon after one of their conversations. Haha.
We headed to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner, and my Momma made her delicious
vegetable lasagna with a salad and bread and a death by chocolate cake for
dessert. Jacob asked whose birthday we were celebrating since there was cake, and even though we weren't celebrating anyone's birthday, my Momma jokingly stuck a candle in the cake anyway.
We stuffed our faces and hung
out over there all evening, and then it was time to head home. The kiddos went straight to bed since it was
already their bedtime, and then B and I stayed up to watch one more episode of
The Flight Attendant and an episode of Ozark before turning in ourselves.
And now for
a few current things…
Currently
Reading
In May, I
read Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane and Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
and I loved both!
Currently
Watching
With B: This month, B and I have been watching A
Million Little Things and Saturday Night Live on network television,
and we also finished This is Us.
Y’AAAALLLL. That show. Oh my goodness, that show. I’m so sad it’s over. What a great series. For streaming, we finished season two of The
Other Two on HBO Max and we also finished Inventing Anna on Netflix. As for both of those shows, they’re both
okay. The Other Two is really
funny (also suuuuper tacky), but not something that I feel totally invested in,
and I thought Inventing Anna was just okay. To know that it was based on true events
added to the intrigue, but if it wasn’t for that, I don’t know that I would
have cared to finish it. The girl who
plays the reporter (the little girl from that old movie My Girl!) was
just not my cup of tea… the acting was just terrible on her part. And the girl who plays Anna… well, I just
couldn’t get past her accent. I just
didn’t love it. In addition to those,
we’re also working our way through season 2 of The Flight Attendant, the
final season of Ozark, and the final season of Better Call Saul. The Flight Attendant is just okay so
far this season… it’s not as great as season one was. And Ozark and Better Call Saul
are just not for me either, even though I LOVED Breaking Bad.
With the
Kids: We’re still finishing up American
Idol and we also finished Is It Cake? on Netflix… so good! We also started Book of Bobafett
(which is not for me either). We still haven’t
picked back up The Fresh Prince of Bel Air or Mighty Ducks Game
Changers, but now that the kids are out for summer, that’ll be happening
soon!
Alone: Netflix has soooo many good romcoms again
this month, so I’ve been watching some of those. I’ve watched New Year’s Eve a couple
of times and I’m still watching The Big Wedding on repeat while I
work. I also love that Reese Witherspoon
movie Home Again… if you haven’t seen it, it’s a must! It’s a romcom from just a few years ago. I’m also still watching my The Wedding
Planner, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Father of the Bride 2 DVDs
as my happy background noise while I work, but I’m definitely going to have to
retire my Wedding Planner DVD as it’s getting stuck a bunch now. And it’s getting stuck during my very
favorite scene in the whole movie, too.
Waaaahhhh.
#ShesNothingButAPoorMansMary
Currently
Listening To
Summer
playlist is in full effect, y’all! And
that consists of lots of “bro-country” as my Daddy calls it – LOL (Luke Bryan,
Blake Shelton, Chris Janson, Darius Rucker, Cole Swindell, Thomas Rhett, Walker
Hayes, etc.), plus Dave Matthews Band, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Justin
Timberlake, Chris Stapleton, and other upbeat songs by random artists.
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
