Well, we finally got one person well in the house just in time for another one to get sick, but thankfully, it wasn’t Covid this time, it was brief, it didn’t ruin any major plans, and we were still able to have a mostly good week!
Monday, August 15
Monday morning, I got the kids off to school and then I headed to drop some more recycling and grab a couple of things from Publix. The rest of the day was spent working until it was time to pick up the kids.
Olivia had her first day of dance classes on Monday and she was so thrilled to be back at it. This year, she’s taking ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, and musical theatre. Monday’s classes were ballet, tap, and jazz, and thankfully, her ballet and jazz shoes delivered mere hours before I had to leave the house to pick them up, so the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
They had a fun photo spot complete with a balloon arch and an Instagram frame so the girls could take some fun pictures on their first day back, and of course, we had to partake.
She has ballet, tap, and jazz on Mondays so it was her old familiar stuff, and she was bursting with the news that she had been selected by her instructor that day to be the example for the other girls in the class because she had performed the moves so well.
When we got home, it was homework for Olivia while I cooked dinner, and then we all ate together… well, aside from B… he was still banished to the other room because of his rebound Covid. Sigh.
By the time dinner was done, it was time for the kiddos to get showers. While they did that, I did my 7-minute arms workout three times back-to-back since I hadn’t done it in a few days, and then I got some of the laundry done.
Tuesday was Jacob’s first middle school Mass, so of course, I had to snap a picture of him in his church attire. Now that he’s in middle school, he has to wear a dress shirt and tie, and he looked so handsome I could cry. My baby is growing up so fast! And now, to teach him to tie a tie. EEK! I was just grateful that his delivered in time… it had been on backorder at the uniform company for so long, but it delivered in the nick of time. Now to get his proper shirt with the school crest! And also, a picture of Olivia's hair... this is the only way we can get it put up these days because it's so short!
At Fresh Market, they had all of the pumpkin stuff out and I couldn’t have been more excited! I had to restrain myself from buying aaaallll the things, but I did treat myself (and Brian) to some pumpkin bread fresh from their bakery. It was soooo good, too.
At home, I heated the pumpkin bread, made a cup of cinnamon tea to accompany it, and then I settled in to get some work done. On deck Tuesday was getting through both email inboxes and working on a few blog posts… with some laundry thrown in, of course.
Olivia had dance class again on Tuesday – this time for lyrical and musical theatre – but classes are later on Tuesday, so we had just enough time to run home after school to let her have a snack, get changed, and do homework before we had to leave again. Since B was still home, Jacob was able to stay home as well.
After I got Olivia settled in for her classes, I had about an hour to kill, so I did some fall and Halloween browsing at pOpshelf and Marshall’s. pOpshelf is relatively new to our area and that was the first time I’d visited, and I have to say, I was pretty darn impressed! They have a huge variety of stuff for the home, and the prices are insanely low, but unlike most places with insanely low prices, the quality of most of the stuff is pretty great.
They had tons of fall and Halloween home décor, and it was pretty unbelievable how inexpensive the stuff was for the quality. I got a super cute fall mug for only $3, but it looks like something you could get from Anthropologie that would cost $15. The quality is excellent!
I also bought a giant melamine serving tray (that looks exactly like glass) for just $12. It is absolutely gorgeous, and it looks like it should cost $40 easily. I can’t wait to use it for a charcuterie!! It’s perfect for serving outside since it’s not glass.
I also bought the kids some skull-shaped cups for Halloween, and they are the cutest. Those are just cheap plastic like something you’d find in the Target Dollar spot, but they were only $2 and I couldn’t resist them.
I grabbed Olivia when her class got out at 6:30 (her latest dance class yet!), and then she and I headed straight home to get dinner ready. She was raving about Lyrical and Musical Theatre, and she’d had the best first day in both classes. Lyrical was her very favorite last year, and she said that she thinks she’s going to love Musical Theatre just as much.
We did breakfast for dinner since we were short on time, and then after dinner was over, the kiddos got showered and ready for bed. We wrapped up the evening by doing some Halloween costume browsing before bed. Both kids had gotten so excited about it after I gave them their skull cups, and they were inspired to start the hunt for the perfect costume.
Olivia’s Musical Theatre class had discussed The Wizard of Oz and Olivia had been given the role of Dorothy, so she wanted to learn more about it. Neither of our kids have ever seen that movie, so she wasn’t super familiar with it. After seeing Dorothy’s dress, she decided that she wants to be Dorothy for Halloween… until she remembered that she wanted to be a bloody zombie bride this year. Hahahaha. What in the world?! So random.
Who knows what she’ll end up choosing, but I assured her that she still has plenty of time to decide!
After the kiddos went to bed, B and I watched another episode of Vampire Diaries, and then we watched some more of the last episode of Better Call Saul, and then it was off to bed for us, too.
Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I came home to tackle some blog work. I also needed to get the audition registration form filled out for Olivia’s Christmas dance audition. Upon searching for the form, I saw that they’d finally put up a FAQs page about the Christmas performance, and I found out that in order to be in the Christmas performance, she has to be at dance nearly every single Saturday from now until the performance in mid-December (at different times each Saturday that haven’t even been announced) + she’d have to take an additional class every Thursday night from 8 - 9:05 PM which is crazy late. They stated that attendance is, obviously, mandatory, and that you can only miss one Saturday class, or you will not be able to perform.
Unfortunately, we already have several Saturday/weekend events lined up this fall, including a trip for fall break that we’ve already booked, so Saturday classes just aren’t going to be feasible.
When Olivia expressed her interest to dance in the Christmas performance, we didn’t think it would be a problem at all, and we’ve been encouraging her to try out since she loves dance so much. I thought for sure that they would just learn their dances for the Christmas performance in their regularly scheduled classes just like they do for the spring recital, but unfortunately, I was wrong, and I felt terrible that we’d mislead her a bit. We decided to let her make the choice and if she decided she still wanted to try out, we’d try to see if we could figure out a way to make it work.
When I picked her up from school, I told her everything I’d learned, gave her all of the information about having to take classes on Thursdays and Saturdays in addition to all of the classes she’s already taking, and she immediately said, “NOPE, NOT DOING THAT.” Hahahaha. She then went on to say that she loves dance, but she doesn’t want to do dance on the weekends because she likes to be able to spend time at home and play and hang out with Jacob and do fun stuff, and that she doesn’t want Saturdays to, “be like a school day.” AKA have scheduled commitments.
I was really happy that she wasn’t upset about having to choose, and that she was so decisive. She’s a girl who knows what she wants, that’s for sure!
I also have to say that I’m a little bit relieved, too, because our schedule was about to become INTENSE for the next four months if she’d still decided to try out. This is our favorite time of year as a family, and it would have been a bummer not to be able to partake in our favorite events like college football games, fall carnivals, pumpkin patching, etc. We’ve always been lucky in that our kiddos have always chosen to do sports that didn’t interfere with fall weekends, and I’d like to keep that going for as long as possible. Lol.
Wednesday evening was our only evening off, so the kids got homework done, we ate an early dinner, and then we walked on our neighborhood trail to the playground per the kids’ request.
They swung on the swings nearly the whole time we were there, and they invented some sort of game where they kick their shoes off as high as they can when they’re swinging. Hahahaha.
Thursday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I went home to work on blog stuff for the rest of the day. Brian picked up Chick-Fil-A for us as a little mid-week lunch treat.
I made it to the car line on time, but we had to take the long way home since traffic was stopped in all three lanes on our route home. The kids had voice and piano lessons, so we had to stop by the house to grab Jacob’s piano book and snacks, but thankfully, we ended up making it to lessons right on time.
While the kids did their lessons, I knocked out some emails and planning for a couple of projects I’m working on, and then we headed home to cook, do homework, and eat dinner.
After dinner, I got in an arms workout while the kids showered, and then afterward, Olivia pulled her own tooth!! Loose teeth freak me out, so I love having a child that will pull her own! Haha.
Friday morning, Brian tested one last time, and he was finnnnaaaallllyyyy negative!!!! On day 18, y’all. Or maybe 17? Do you count the first day as day zero? I can’t remember. Either way, wow. That was a long time.
I got the kids off to school, and then I did some blog reading until it was time for my 9 o’clock hair appointment. After my appointment, B and I had lunch together at the same table for the first time since August 1 – crazy!! – because he was finally germ-free!
Friday afternoon, I picked the kids up from school, and we headed home to get ready for the back-to-school social and first high school football game of the year. Jacob mentioned having a stuffy nose, and then after he ate his snack, he went to lay down on the couch. RED FLAG.
Neither of our kids go lay down in the middle of the day voluntarily, so my mom radar was on high alert. I went to take his temperature and it was 100.2. NOOOO.
I drove to Walgreens and picked up some Covid tests since we’d used all of ours on B since he was positive with it for so long. By the time I got home, his fever had gone up slightly to 100.4 and he was full-on congested with a super stuffy nose and a mild cough. He said he felt fine other than that… no aches or pains or anything else.
His Covid test was negative, and he was so full of symptoms by the time we tested him that I’m sure he would have been positive if that’s what he had. As a matter of fact, Friday evening was as bad as he ever got… he did nothing but improve from there on out!
I made some hot dogs for dinner, and then after that, Olivia and I hit the road. Our school does a back-to-school social every year before the first high school football game, so the campus was PACKED Friday night… probably more packed than I’ve ever seen it and we have had some huge events with a lot of people. We were playing another local private school for the first time (because we recently switched football conferences), so tons of their families and friends showed up as well.
When Olivia and I arrived, her friends all ran over screaming and hugging her, and she took off. For the rest of the night, I only saw her every 15 minutes as she checked in with me. Haha.
Our campus is surrounded by fences on all sides, and we have tons of security on hand at all times, and since we know so many families at our school, I’m comfortable with letting her run around without me… as long as she stays with her group of friends, of course.
While she ran around with her friends, I socialized with all of my friends. Pretty much everyone we know was there Friday evening, and I was able to chat with all of our old friends, some of the kids’ teachers (who are also friends), and some new families as well. I’m the room parent for Olivia’s class this year, so I was excited to meet the mom and dad of one of her new friends this year. My Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg also came to the game, so I got to chat with them for a bit as well.
The school had hired one of the local gourmet shaved ice food trucks to be on hand for the evening, and each of the students got a free shaved ice. Olivia opted to have the unicorn cotton candy flavored one and she loved it.
Since Brian and Jacob were at home for the evening, Olivia and I cut our evening short, and we left a little after 8 PM. As much as I would have loved to stay for the whole game, we were both exhausted. Olivia raved about her evening all the way home, and I’m just so dang grateful for our little school and all of her sweet friends. They have such a great group and I’m so grateful that she’s so happy. Our team also won! Woo hoooo!
I’m also super mad at myself because I took literally zero pictures the whole evening. Although, that’s usually the sign of a good time! I didn’t even think about it because I was too busy socializing!
Olivia and I rode home with the windows down and the sunroof open and the music blasting and she just ate it up… it was nice being able to have some Mommy / Daughter time with her.
When we got home, the boys were almost done with their movie, so Olivia got showered while they finished that up, and by the time it was done, it was time to send them to bed. We were all exhausted.
Thankfully, Jacob’s fever had gone away on its own, with no intervention from Ibuprofen, and he seemed to be feeling just fine other than a verrrry stuffy nose and a mild cough by the time he went to bed.
After bedtime, Brian and I watched two episodes of Vampire Diaries, and then we called it a night, too.
Saturday morning, Jacob was still fever-free, although it did go back up briefly to around 100.6 mid-morning. It ended up going back down on its own shortly after that, and then it never came back! He had a lot of nasal congestion but was otherwise feeling fine. All we had on the agenda originally was golf for B and Jacob and then church for all of us, but we decided to opt out of everything so we didn’t spread any germs. I miss going to church in person, y’all! Hopefully next weekend, finalllly!
B went to pick up donuts from Krispy Kreme first thing because their pumpkin spice donuts are BACK! And they were soooo delicious, y’all! Our kiddos were so excited… they love the pumpkin spice donuts almost as much as their Momma. ;o)
After breakfast, we had some lazy time, and then I got in a cardio workout followed by my usual Saturday housework. I also cleaned my makeup brushes. We let the kids take it super easy all day since Jacob was sick. I just wanted him to rest all day so his cold would pass as quickly as possible. He and Olivia spent the whole day in their PJ’s, watching cartoons, playing with Legos and their marble run set, playing video games, and just hanging out and reading or doing whatever.
After lunch, I got showered and worked in my office for a little while, and then B picked up Five Guys takeout for dinner.
After dinner, we watched Lightyear and then the kiddos headed to bed while B and I watched two more episodes of Vampire Diaries. We also started that documentary about Manti Te’o and that catfishing scandal that he was a part of… what a CRAZY, WEIRD story, y’all.
Sunday, August 21
Sunday morning, we had leftover donuts while we watched Mass virtually, and then I got some planning done for the week ahead followed by an arms workout and a yoga workout.
Neither of the grandparents cooked on Sunday because they didn’t want whatever Jacob had, so we were on our own yet again.
We had a light lunch at home, and then after everyone was showered and ready, we headed for the Riverwalk to spend the afternoon. We got in nearly two miles, and we watched some zipliners and white water rafters. The kids also found a painted rock which they were very excited about because we haven’t found one of those in years!
When we got home, I spent some time quizzing Jacob on his religion notes for his test on Monday, and then the kids tidied up and played video games for a short bit, and then B picked up pizza for dinner as one last little treat before the weekend was over.
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
That is so crazy how long B tested positive! What a pain. I've never heard of the Popshelf store...sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that Olivia put her family priorities before dance. Gabbie dances 6 days a week! Well, Friday is just her school dance team, 5 days are at the studio too!
ReplyDeleteSo glad B is finally out of the woods - that bugger just wouldn't let up! And I've been wanting to watch the last season of Better Call Saul except AMC is the one channel we don't have on Hulu. I'm hoping I won't have to wait until it comes out on Netflix like next year.
ReplyDeleteSo glad B is better and Jacob was only sick for a short little time. I love that Olivia is so decisive! I have one kid that struggles to make choices.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, she definitely knows what she wants for the big things! When it comes to small everyday decisions like what to have to eat or stuff like that, she does have a tendency to be indecisive, though!
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