Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 7 (July 4th, a Girls Night, Lunch with Friends, and a Party)

Coming in hot on a Friday with a weekly update because I just can’t get my act together!  Haha. 

We had another great week spending lots of time with friends and family, and we’ve just been living our best lives taking things slow and being pretty lazy.  Everything has been so laid-back this summer, and we’ve been able to be spontaneous pretty often (which is not common for us – especially me) and it’s been so nice!  We may actually be being a little too laid-back as I almost dropped the ball on an important appointment last week and I’ve also been letting blog work slip… hence the weekly recap on a Friday.  Haha.  Oh well!!  We’ll get back into a routine eventually!

Here’s the recap!

Monday, July 4

Monday morning, we all slept in since B was off for the July 4th holiday, and then I made homemade waffles for breakfast since we hadn’t had them on Saturday.  After breakfast, we got to work prepping the house for our July 4 party that evening.

I had thrown out my back on Saturday, and I still wasn’t feeling great, so it was slow-going for me.  We managed to get the whole house clean and prepped, though, and then we had a light lunch at home.  Olivia arranged her lunch on her plate and she asked me to take a picture of it.  Lol.

After lunch, I got ready for the day, did some blog work, and downloaded some new music to add to my party play list, and before I knew it, it was time to head downstairs and start getting the food ready for the party.

B got the cornhole boards set up outside, we got the porch cleaned off, and the twinkle lights turned on, and I got to prepping for the burgers.  My Momma and Daddy got there around 5:30 to assist with food prep, and they had Mama Cass in tow. 

We grilled burgers and hot dogs and had baked beans and coleslaw and watermelon… all of the traditional July 4th flair, and my aunt and uncle also delivered two party packs of Crumbl cookies.  SO delicious.  We all ate too much and drank too much, and it was the best evening.

In addition to Mama Cass, Momma, and Daddy, my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg, my two cousins Wil and Shelby and Wil’s girlfriend, Cat, my Uncle Billy, and my father-in-law all came over, and we all played cornhole and hung out until it was time for fireworks to start.  Olivia also gave all of the girls temporary tattoos.

My BFF, Jeannine, and her two boys arrived right in time for the fireworks, too, and they had brought along smoke bombs for all of the kiddos, which our kiddos loved.  A spark from one of them hit Olivia’s back and freaked her out, but she was still talking about them the next day and telling us how we need to make sure we buy those next year.  Haha.

At dark, B lit all of the big fireworks, and of course, our neighbors were doing tons as well.  Part of the fam left around 9:45 and the other left a little after 10 and we ended up getting the kiddos in bed super late where they both passed out quickly.  B and I spent a few minutes with Maui on the couch because she was terrified as she always is with fireworks, and then we ended up getting into bed super late, too. 

It was just the most fun evening and totally worth the late night!

 

Tuesday, July 5

Tuesday, I woke up a little later than usual and I ended up having to wake the kids at 9:15 because they were still sleeping.  We all felt like this: hahahaha

We had a late breakfast and a lazy morning watching cartoons and catching up on life stuff.  I printed some coloring pages for the kids and then I worked in my office for a bit before sitting down with them for lunch. 

After lunch, the kids and I went out in the back yard to clean up all of the trash from the fireworks the night before, and I worked on laundry for a bit.  We are very behind on summer homework, so the kids did 30 minutes of IXL and 30 minutes of reading Tuesday afternoon, and then they played video games for a bit while I tried to dig myself out of the very large hole I’m in with blogging. 

Late in the afternoon, I headed downstairs to finish cleaning the kitchen after the party, and then we all ate dinner together when B got home from work.  After dinner, the kids rode bikes and they both did awesome.  Both of them have their balance down, so now they’re just honing their turning and braking skills.  We’ll hopefully be able to ride as a family in no time!

After bike-riding, I went on a very slow two-mile walk since my back was still very tender, and then I did an arms workout.  When the kids were done showering, we watched an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and then B and I watched an episode of Love Life followed by Stranger Things. 

Wednesday, July 6

Wednesday morning, we invited friends to the pool in my parents’ neighborhood.  We had just arrived, and I had just started to put sunscreen on the kids when I got a text from Olivia’s ENT doctor reminding us of our appointment in 90 minutes.  As you can probably imagine, panic ensued.  Haha.

We immediately called our friends to cancel, apologizing profusely since they were already on the way, and we had to gather up all of the pool stuff, hightail it back home, shower, and get back downtown to the doctor’s office.  Sheesh. 

The kids were SO disappointed, and I felt terrible, and I couldn’t believe I dropped the ball on the appointment.  For some reason, I had it in my head that the appointment was Thursday, and I also kept thinking it was Tuesday on Wednesday because of the 4th of July holiday, so I was aaaallll turned around.  Lol.

We ended up making it to the appointment on time, and we had to wait about an hour before the doc came in, which meant that the kids got a lot of summer reading done. 

The appointment was for Olivia’s thyroid.  Those of you who have been following along for a while know about her thyroid situation, but for those of you who are new here, back in 2018, we noticed a lump protruding from Olivia’s throat.  We scheduled an appointment with her ENT doctor, and they did an ultrasound.  The ultrasound showed that she had a mass on her thyroid.

She had to go under anesthesia for them to drain it and do a biopsy, and fortunately, the biopsy came back benign, but unfortunately, the mass came back within two weeks of her surgery, which means that she needs to have a full-blown operation to have it surgically removed.  The doctor said the mass is a “nodule,” and because the nodule is attached to her thyroid, the surgery will be risky as they may have to remove part or all of her thyroid, and therefore, the doctor wants to wait until she has reached puberty so as to not affect her hormones while she’s growing. 

Anyhoo, the nodule has to be monitored throughout the year as the doctor wants to make sure that it stays stable.  For the last four years, it has, indeed, stayed stable, so we decreased our visits from four times per year to twice per year.  Unfortunately, at this visit however, when the doctor measured the nodule as he always does, he saw that it has grown exponentially on all three sides (length, width, depth). 

The danger of it getting larger is that eventually it could obstruct her airways and prevent her from being able to swallow and breathe, so we have to stay on top of it.  It was disheartening to get that news, but the doctor said that he’s not terribly worried about it yet.  He does, however, want us to start seeing him quarterly again instead of semi-annually.  He said that if the nodule has grown again the next time we see him in October, he wants to put her to sleep so he can drain it again and do another biopsy.  And if the growth accelerates too much, she could have to have the big operation even sooner which we DO NOT WANT AT ALL. 

Please keep her in your prayers.  We just need this thing to stabilize again (stop growing) and to stay stable. 

After the appointment, we decided to turn the lemons from our day into lemonade, and we used the downtown appointment to our advantage.  Brian works downtown, so we called him and asked him to meet us for lunch.  There’s an adorable French bistro and patisserie downtown that we’d never been to, so we decided to grab lunch there. 

I’m so glad we did because, y’all, it was the cutest place, and the food was soooo delicious.  I had a ham and cheese croissant, and that croissant was the absolute best everrrr.  B and the kids had pizza and the pizza was incredible, too.  Maybe some of the best in the city!

Our bougie kids are absolute suckers for macarons and other fancy pastries, so we let them each pick out a treat.  Jacob opted for the lemon bar, and Olivia had a cookies n cream macaron.  As we were leaving the restaurant, the kids were just raving about the place and both of them talked about what a great day it had been. 

Y’all.

Those kids had their pool time taken away from them, had to sit in a doctor’s office for 1.5 hours, and then we didn’t get great news from the doctor, yet that trip to the restaurant had completely salvaged their day. 

It really is the little things!

On the way home, we swung by the library to pick up a bundle of books that my friend, Jeannine, had picked out for the kiddos.  They were absolutely riveted with a couple of them, and they read them out loud all the way home and then for a good hour when we got home.

After reading time, the kids played video games, and I got a few things done in my office before it was time to head out to my girls’ dinner.

This month, we opted to meet at my friend, Jenn’s, house because she just had a brand new swimming pool and landscaping installed, and we all picked up takeout from various places on the way.

We all ate dinner around the table together and then made our way to the pool where we stayed for the rest of the evening.  I was a terrible blogger and took zero pictures of all of us, but it was a great evening catching up with my girls, as always.

When I got home, I walked in the door to Brian and the kids watching Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (LOL), so I headed upstairs to do a bunch of laundry while they finished that up.  Olivia proclaimed that it is officially her favorite movie of all time. 

Say what now?!  Hahahaha.

After the movie was over, we got them in the bed, and then B and I watched another episode of Love Life and some Stranger Things before we headed to bed, too.

 

Thursday, July 7

Thursday morning, after our morning chores, the kids and I headed straight to the pool… we had to make up for not going on Wednesday!  Unfortunately, our friends who were going to meet us the day before had left for a trip Thursday morning, so they couldn’t join us.

The three of us stayed down there forever, and I thought I was going to have to drag Jacob and Olivia out of there.  Those kids are swimming like little fishies, doing cannon balls, and loving life as little swimmers. 

When we got home, we ate a late lunch and got showered, and then we had just a little bit of time to work on IXL summer homework before it was time to go to music lessons.

At music, I set up camp in the lobby with my planner, my pens, and my phone, and I got caught up on aaaallll the life stuff while the kids did their lessons and read AR books for summer reading.

Olivia had another great day of voice lessons.  Her teacher told me that her pitch was perfect yet again, and this time they practiced with music to see which notes she could hit on the scale.  The teacher said she made it all the way to a G and she said that she thinks if Olivia keeps practicing, she’ll be able to sing Let It Go in the same key as Idina Menzel, and she’ll be able to hit all the same notes. 

Jacob also had a great day of piano lessons.  His teacher told us that he’s picking it up so quickly that they skipped several pages in his book.  He also told us that as of Thursday, Jacob is officially playing the piano with two hands!  Woooo hoooo!  That was fast.

When we got home, it was time to get dinner ready, and then after dinner, we took the kids out to ride bikes/scooters.  Jacob opted for the scooter, but Olivia wanted to ride her bike and she practiced turning and braking again.  She rode around and around our culdesac and Brian didn’t even have to run alongside her anymore.  She’s still not totally steady with her arms and hands, but her balance is excellent now.  I’m so proud of her!!

After that, the kids went inside to shower, and I walked two miles.  When I got home, I did my arms workout, too, and then we all watched an episode of Fresh Prince before the kids went to bed.

B and I then watched Love Life and Stranger Things and then it was bedtime for us, too.

 

Friday, July 8

Friday morning, Olivia went to check on her sunflowers as she always does, and she was so upset to see that one had broken and fallen over and that one, as well as the middle one, had the buds snapped right off of them.  After doing some research, it seems that a squirrel must've climbed up both of them and pulled the buds off??  And when it climbed the first one, it snapped and fell over.  We're not exactly sure that's what happened, but it's the most educated guess we can make.  Needless to say, Olivia is devastated.  The sunflower on the right is still hanging in there, though, and we're hoping it blooms before something gets to it.

Friday, I told the kids they were on their own the whole day because there were a million things I needed to tackle.  I wrote out a long list of everything I wanted to accomplish and then I worked all morning checking things off the list.

At 11, my bestie, Jeannine, texted and asked if we wanted to meet them for lunch.  I wasn’t going to turn that down, so we decided to ditch the to-do list in favor of some fun.  I mean, it is summertime, might as well be spontaneous!!

We met at our favorite barbecue restaurant downtown.  The building used to be an old Greyhound bus station so the restaurant has an almost 100-year old Greyhound bus attached to the building that you can eat inside.  Of course, we ate inside the bus!  The kiddos were thrilled. 

When we got home, some clouds and rain moved in, so we spent the rest of the day inside.  I checked all of the items off of my list except for three (must’ve been feeling a little too ambitious.  LOL) and that felt good. 

Later in the afternoon I was moving everything that we’re donating into a big pile, and I must’ve irritated my back again, because by dinner, it was super stiff and sore, and I could hardly move again.  It had been feeling pretty decent for a couple of days, so I thought I was on the road to recovery, but I guess I wasn’t.  Sigh.

Friday evening, we got takeout from our favorite pub down the street from church, and then Brian and the kids watched Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.  That movie doesn’t interest me in the least, so I went for a long walk around the neighborhood and then got some laundry done.  After the kids went to bed, B and I watched Love Life and Stranger Things.

Saturday, July 9

Saturday it was suuuuper dreary all day.  We were lazy all morning aside from a workout and some laundry, and then we had a light lunch at home.  After lunch, I got showered, and then I headed to the liquor store down the street to grab a couple of gifts, one of which for a party I was attending that evening.

When I got home, I had about an hour to kill, so I worked on some blog stuff, and then my friend, Becky, came over at 4:30.  We headed to my friend Jen’s apartment to pick her up after that, and then the three of us drove to our other friend Jenn’s house for her surprise birthday party that her sister had arranged.  It felt like high school again driving those girls around, except this time in a much nicer vehicle!  Haha. 

When we were in high school, I was the first one to get my driver’s license, so every single day after school, I would drive my friends Becky, Jen, and Jeannine home, and y’all, we had THE BEST TIME every afternoon in my little Oldsmobile.  So SO many good memories from those days. 

Our friend, Jenn, was super surprised when she got back home from her pedicure to a full house!  We spent the rest of the evening hanging out (or in) the pool, drinking, and eating burgers that they had grilled.  Several of my other girlfriends met us there, and we had a great evening chatting and hanging out!  I was a terrible blogger, and I only took one picture, and the birthday girl wasn’t even in it.  Lol. 

 

When I got home, Brian and the kids were finishing up watching the movie The Sea Beast on Netflix, and when they were done, it was bedtime.  B and I finished Love Life, season two Saturday night (I loved it!) and then we watched some more of Stranger Things before heading to bed.

 

Sunday, July 10

Sunday morning, we had cinnamon rolls and B watched the Wimbledon final.  I walked a couple of miles after breakfast before it got too hot, and then I came home and made a meal plan and grocery list for the next two weeks. 

We decided to go out for lunch since my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law weren’t cooking, and we opted for Panera because we needed something quick.  When we got home, B and the kids left for the golf course to play a round, and I drove my momma, Mama Cass, and Aunt Joy to my cousin’s baby’s first birthday party.

By the time we got home, it was nearing 4 PM, so I headed to work on the blog for a bit before heading to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner.  One of our friends bought Jacob’s old bookcase (PRAISE!), so her husband and my other friend’s husband both came over to get it down the stairs and loaded into their truck.  It’s been sitting in the middle of our playroom for several weeks now and I was SO HAPPY to see it gone!  The bookcase was all wood so it was heavy, and it always makes me so nervous when furniture has to be moved down our staircase since it’s curved.  They got it down without any trouble at all, and fortunately, Brian didn’t have to help them at all.  After his back surgery in 2020 he’s been trying to take it easy and not do super heavy lifting like that.

At 5:30, we headed to my parents’ house and my momma had made pasta, honey glazed carrots, green beans, and garlic cheesy bread and it was a delicious dinner with them + Mama Cass and Uncle Billy.  Every Sunday evening, Maui always goes around the whole table and begs for food, and I had to snap this picture because she looked like she was part of the conversation.  Lol.

When we got home, B and I started The Summer I Turned Pretty and I’m loving it so far.  I’ve been holding off because I wanted to read the books first, but the waiting list at the library is 84 miles long, so we just went ahead and started the show. 

After that, B watched some more of Stranger Things, and then we went to bed.  And that was our week, y’all!

Happy Friday, y’all!