Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 5 (Olivia’s Well Visit, Bike Practice, a Trip to Ikea, and Goodbye to Our Friars)

We had a super productive week last week along with a little bit of fun, and as I type this, we’re officially at the halfway point of summer.  Here’s the recap!

Monday, June 20

Monday, Brian was supposed to be off of work to observe the Juneteenth holiday, but because he was still wrapping up his big project, he had to be on call.  We ended up getting to sleep in, and I made homemade waffles with our new Baby Yoda waffle maker.  Haha.

We were going to head to the pool shortly after breakfast, but B ended up getting on a call right as we were about to walk out the door, so we ended up not being able to leave until sometime after 11.  Thankfully, they didn’t call him again while we were at the pool, and we were able to stay for a couple of hours.

We swam at my parents’ neighborhood pool, and there’s rarely anyone there, so we had the whole thing to ourselves.  I did a 20-minute swim workout, and then hung out with B and the kids in the water the rest of the time. 

Since we’d gotten to the pool so late, we had to eat a verrrry late lunch, and instead of going home to make something, B swung by Zaxby’s and grabbed lunch for us since it’d be faster.  After lunch, I got showered, and the kids settled in to play some video games with B while I got some work done in my office.

I’d thrown chicken in the slow cooker and made homemade guacamole earlier in the afternoon, so dinner was easy to throw together – chicken tacos with all the fixings, chips and guac, and of course, margaritas!

After dinner, Olivia requested to make "bougie ice cream" for dessert (her words, not mine... LOL).  When I asked her what that meant, she explained that she wanted a scoop of ice cream in a bowl, topped with a piece of candy bar, and garnished with a sprig of mint.  

Wuuuut?  Where oh where does she come up with this stuff, y'all?!  Haha.  

I obliged, and I gave her a scoop of ice cream, she topped it with a mini Twix bar, and then she cut a sprig of mint from our garden outside and nestled it in between the ice cream and the candy bar.  Then she asked me to take a picture of it.  Future influencer, no?  Haha.

After that, we all headed out into the heat to walk a mile, and then after B and the kids headed home, I did two more.  It was BOILING hot last week, even hotter than the previous week, and I have a feeling we’re going to be in for it in July and August.  We’ll either be living at my parents’ pool, or we’ll be living indoors. 

 

After my walk, we watched one episode of Walk the Prank, and then we put the kiddos to bed so we could watch another episode of The Staircase.  FYI, that show is so good, but it is VERY rated R.  And for many different reasons.

Tuesday, June 21

Tuesday, Brian headed off to work bright and early and the kids and I had a slow start to the morning – breakfast, plant watering, devotional time, and cartoons.  Olivia had her well checkup at her pediatrician’s office at 10, so we headed there mid-morning, and it was a quick visit… only one-hour, round trip!  Visiting their pediatrician used to take forevvvver but ever since Covid hit, they’ve been getting kids in and out quickly.  I like it!

The kids read some of their summer reading books while they waited for the doctor to come in, so we were able to knock out a few minutes of summer homework time as well. 

The doc said Olivia is as healthy as can be, and she’s in the 63rd percentile for height and 34th percentile for weight, so in other words, tall and skinny just like I always was when I was little. 

Her ear had been bothering her a little ever since a wave smacked her in the side of the head when we were at the beach, but in the days leading up to the doctor appointment, it hadn’t been bothering her at all.  I asked him to check it just to be safe, and I’m glad we did because it turned out that she had a middle ear infection.  Whoops.

When we got home, I prepared lunch, and then after lunch, we finally pulled out the kids’ laptops to start their IXL summer homework.  They have to complete at least eight hours of the assigned work in their accounts, and we hadn’t done a single minute up to that point, so we were waaaay behind.  We’ve just been having too much fun to even think about homework!

Both kids knocked out 30 minutes like it was nothing, and then they played for a bit, tidied up, and played their new Kirby video game for a bit while I worked and did some laundry. 

I got started on dinner around 4 and the kids worked on putting together some puzzles, and then after dinner, we all went outside into the extreme heat to work on bike-riding again.  Sigh. 

We ended up spending a good hour practicing this time and both kids did SO great.  Jacob really seemed to be getting the hang of balancing himself and he was able to ride quite far down the street without falling over or Brian having to dive for him.  Olivia also did well, although, she’s still not as steady as Jacob.

Even though it was a million degrees, neither of them wanted to go in and they wanted to keep practicing so that is a VERY good sign.  Most of the time, Jacob hates trying at all, even when it’s not a thousand degrees.  I’m hoping this means we’re finally on track to get them bike-riding once and for all.

By the time we came inside, it was time for the kids to get showered, and then I did a stair stepper workout while we watched America’s Got Talent.  It was summer soltice on Tuesday, so I stepped outside to take in the longest daylight of the year.  This photo below was taken after 9:00 and it was still that light out!  After the kiddos went to bed, B and I watched another episode of The Staircase.

Wednesday, June 22

Wednesday morning, B headed to work again, and the kids and I had another morning at home.  I had an appointment late morning, so the kids and I headed out to run a couple of errands – the post office and CVS to pick up Olivia’s antibiotic for her ear infection – and then I dropped them off with my parents since they couldn’t come with me to my appointment.

After my appointment, I swung by UPS Store to drop an Amazon return, and then I headed back to my parents’ house to pick up the kids.  They were finishing up a movie, so we hung around for a few minutes until the movie was over, and then we headed home to eat a late lunch.

After lunch, the kids played for a bit, and then they did a few minutes of video games, although, we limited it to very little since they’d already watched a movie at Pop and Cokies, and then they played for the rest of the afternoon.  The high was 101 on Wednesday with a heat index that was even hotter, so we didn’t even set foot outside until the evening.

We made breakfast for dinner, and then we all spent a while outside letting the kids ride their scooters in our culdesac.  After that, I got a good arms workout done, and then I got some laundry put away while the kids showered.

We finished America’s Got Talent with the kids and then B and I watched another episode of The Staircase before calling it a night.

Thursday, June 23

Thursday, we got up, had breakfast, did our morning chores, sipped some hot tea, and then the three of us headed to my parents’ neighborhood pool!  It was boiling hot when we arrived at 10 AM, and we ended up staying the entire morning.  I had so much fun playing with the kiddos and spending some good quality time with them.  As always, they didn’t want to leave, but we finally got back home in time for a semi-late lunch.

After lunch, the kids tackled some more of their online summer homework while I got showered and ready for the day, and then they had their screentime while I got some work done. 

We had to wrap everything up early because they had voice lessons (Olivia) and piano lessons (Jacob) at 4, and while each of them were taking their lesson, the other worked on summer reading.  Jacob had another great report from the teacher – his teacher said he’s doing so well that he skipped Jacob ahead a little bit because he’s picking up so quickly.

Olivia also got a great report from her voice teacher – she said that Olivia’s pitch is perfect and her volume is good, but she’ll be teaching her how to sing from her diaphragm soon to help her sing even louder.  She also said that they’re going to work on mimicking as well.  She said it’s common for children to try to mimic the voices they hear instead of singing in their own voice, and she said that she’ll be working with Olivia on that soon, too.

After music, we swung by Publix to grab a few things we needed, and then it was time for me to cook dinner.  After dinner, the kids asked to practice bike-riding some more, and even though it was nearly 100 degrees, we obliged because we want them to learn once and for all.  Jacob ended up getting the hang of riding and balancing and he ended up riding down our entire street without any assistance from B!  He has struggled with this for SOOOO long, y’all, and I’m just so proud of him that I have tears in my eyes while I’m typing this.  Now that he has the balancing and pedaling part down, he just needs to practice turning and braking and then he’ll be good to go!

Olivia mostly got the hang of the balancing and pedaling part Thursday evening, although, she’s still a bit squirrelly, so Brian has to stay right by her side.  She also has no clue how to turn or brake yet, so she still has a long way to go.  And y’all, bless her, she is so dang clumsy I have a feeling it’s going to take a while.  She sure has the drive to do it, though, and I know she’s not going to give up until she’s riding well! 

By the time we were done practicing, it was time for the kiddos to get showered, and while they did that, I got in a quick couple of miles.

We watched an episode of The Book of Boba Fett, and then B and I watched another episode of The Staircase before going to bed.

Friday, June 24

Friday, B was off, but we were still up bright and early to head to Ikea!!!!  We (and by we, I mean Jacob and me) have been dyyyying to organize Jacob’s Lego collection.  He has been collecting them since he was probably three years old, and they’re his most favorite things ever, so he has tons and tons of sets.  He doesn’t like to take them apart once they’re built, so we’ve been wanting to give him a space where he can display them, like his own little Lego museum. 

I’ve had the Ikea Billy bookcases in my office for years, and they are the absolute PERFECT shelves.  They’re super sturdy (still no bowing shelves all these years later), they’re super easy to put together, they’re always perfectly made (no wonky crooked ones like the ones I’ve bought from Target and Walmart in the past), and they’re SO affordable.  They also have tons and tons of peg holes so you can adjust the shelves one inch at a time, and you can buy as many extra shelves as you need so it’s totally customizable.  It’s no wonder Ikea has been selling these since the 1970’s.  Why quit when you have such a good thing?!

Because of supply chain issues (as with everything else these days), Ikea hasn’t been able to keep the bookcases in stock for about a year now, and the few times they’ve come back in stock, we haven’t been able to make it to Atlanta before they were sold out again.  Well, on Friday, they finally had all of the pieces that we needed for Jacob’s shelving system, and Brian was finally able to take a day off of work, so we all took a little road trip to the A.

I was able to place the order online for everything we needed ahead of time, so we were guaranteed to get them.  It would have sucked to drive all the way there only to have them run out of something right before we arrived.

When we arrived, we decided to walk through the store first to grab a couple of other smaller things that they won’t include on pickup orders, and we found the perfect bins to go in the bottom of Jacob’s shelves to hold all of his Lego manuals and extra pieces and such.

Once we’d made it through the store, we pulled around to the pickup area, and a guy brought all of the shelving boxes right out to us and helped B load them, so B and I didn’t have to hunt down all of the boxes in the warehouse and load them ourselves.  It was seriously the most convenient thing EVER.

We were able to lay the left half of the seats down in my Telluride (the middle and back rows) and put all of the bookshelf boxes there.  Then the kids were able to sit safely down the right side of the vehicle, Jacob in the middle row and Olivia in the back.  I couldn’t believe how easily it all worked out.  It was perfect.

After Ikea, we hopped over to my cousin Shelby’s office to say hi.  Her office isn’t too far from Ikea, so we decided to stop by and visit since we were literally in the neighborhood.

After we left her office, we made our way to Tin Lizzy’s for lunch, because when in Atlanta…

We seriously can’t resist their chips, queso, and guac!!  And, of course, we had a round of margs.

After lunch, we road tripped back home, and we arrived mid-afternoon with some time to spare before our evening plans.  B and I couldn’t lift the bookshelf boxes together (my fault, not his… haha), so we ended up opening all of the boxes in the car and carrying the pieces in one by one.  Gotta do what ya gotta do!  Lol.  Also, look at Jacob trolling my picture yet again... hahahaha.  He will always and forever make some crazy face when I hold up the phone to take a picture.  He couldn't hold it long, though, because he started cracking up!

Once that was done, I worked on unloading the dishwasher and watering the plants and all that, and then I went to my office to get some work done while B and the kids played video games.

We had dinner plans with my father-in-law, sisters-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephews, so we made our way to my FIL’s house at 5:30 where we enjoyed takeout from Longhorn and cookie cake for dessert.  Everyone was so busy in June that we had a backlog of birthdays and other special events to celebrate, so we lumped them altogether and celebrated at the same time.  The cousins all played the longest game of Uno any of us has ever seen, and we finally had to get them to stop (without a winner) so we could leave because it was getting late.

When we got home, B and I got the kids in the bed and then he and I watched another episode of The Staircase before heading off to bed.  Unfortunately, I was behind on my workouts for the day, and I didn't want to break my streak, so yes, I squeezed in a quick late one.

Saturday, June 25

Saturday morning, we met up with friends to start golf lessons.  The place where the kids are taking lessons is really laid-back, and they ended up having a great time together.  Jacob wants to start golf in the fall at school, so we’re trying to get in as much practice as we can between now and then.

After golf, we headed home, and I did my workout for the day plus all of the house chores.  The kids did their laundry, we all had lunch, and then we all worked in Jacob’s room for a bit.  We removed aaaallll of the Lego sets from aaaallll the surfaces, we got his old bookshelf and night stand out of his room, and we moved his dresser next to his bed to make way for the new shelving system. 

I was so antsy to get it all done that I went ahead and started putting together the first bookshelf, too, but I ran out of time before it was time to get ready for church.

Saturday marked the last weekend that our friars were going to be with us, so they all celebrated Mass together in front of a packed house, and then we had a huge goodbye party for them in our hall afterward.  They had heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer, and wine, and everyone ended up hanging around for a couple of hours mingling, chatting, and saying our goodbyes. 

Words cannot express how much we are going to miss them.  They breathed new life into our church when they came along a few years ago, and they were the glue that kept us altogether in 2020 when everything fell apart.  They have taken great care of our babies during school Masses and other school events, and it’s just not going to be the same without them.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so sad to see someone leave our church and there have been many who have come and gone in my lifetime.

After the party wrapped up, we decided to grab Mexican with my parents because none of the adults had eaten enough to call it a full meal… we were all too busy running our mouths instead.  After dinner, we headed straight home and got the kids in the bed because it was late, and they were exhausted.

B and I watched the last episode of The Staircase and all I can say is HUH?  I had a feeling it was going to end the way it did, though.  I’ll stop there so there are no spoilers.

Sunday, June 26

Sunday morning, we were lazy first thing – cinnamon rolls and the last episode of The Floor is Lava were on deck, and then I headed upstairs to get back to work on Jacob’s room.  I got the rest of the bookcase put together that I had started on Saturday, and I put the other two together as well.  By the time that was done, it was time to get showered and ready to go to lunch at my MIL and step-FIL’s.

They cooked a delicious spread as always, and we spent some time in the garden letting the kids pick the last of the radishes, and we got to catch up with everyone.  The cousins all played another long game of Uno, but this time they were able to finish and squeeze in a couple more.

When we got home, B and I worked in Jacob’s room for the rest of the day, getting all of the bookshelves in place, getting them all anchored to the wall, and getting all of the extensions put together and attached, and we managed to get the entire thing DONE before we had to be at my parents’ house for Sunday dinner.  Woooo hoooo!

We got there just in time to eat, and my momma had cooked one of my favorite casseroles along with some fresh veggies, and it was a yummy, yummy dinner.  We hung out with them and my Mama Cass, my littlest brother, and my uncle all evening, and it was a great way to end the weekend!

Unfortunately, I still hadn't gotten my workout in for the day on Sunday when we got home, so I did another late one, but I wasn't about to mess with my streak for June!  Ha!

 

And now for a few current things…

 

Currently Reading

 

In June, I read Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz and I loved it.  Don’t be fooled by the cheesy book title or the cheesy cover.  I also read Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane.  I thought it was good, but it didn’t blow my mind or anything… definitely worth the read, though.  I also read Beach Read by Emily Henry and I didn’t love that one at all.  It was okay, but it was pretty slow a lot of the time, and I found that I was having to force myself to read it.  It was definitely forgettable.  And finally, I’m just now wrapping up Meant to Be by Emily Giffin.  I have to say, she is probably my very favorite author, and although, I’ve been loving this book, it’s not one of my favorites by her.  I haven’t quite finished it yet, but I’m hoping it’ll end well.

 

Currently Watching

 

With B:  This month, B and I finished A Million Little Things and Shark Tank, and we’re still catching up on Saturday Night Live on network television.  For streaming, we finished season 2 of The Flight Attendant, the final season of Ozark, and the first half of the final season of Better Call Saul.  We also started and finished season 2 of The Wilds and the HBO Max miniseries, The Staircase, and we loved both.  We’re now making our way through the new season of Stranger Things, although, I’m paying zero attention to it.

 

With the Kids:  We finally finished American Idol and we started America’s Got Talent on Network TV.  We also finished The Book of Boba Fett (which is not for me either) on streaming, and we’re still working our way through Walk the Prank.  Oh, and we started and finished season two of The Floor is Lava… it was only five episodes.  Boooo.  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:  I haven’t been watching much alone because I haven’t been spending much time alone since the kids are out for summer.  In the rare event that I’m in my office long enough, I’ve been listening to The Big Wedding while I work because it’s leaving Netflix after today.  *Tear

 

Currently Listening To

 

Summer playlist.  Summer playlist.  Summer playlist.  That is all!

Happy Thursday, y’all!