Our Week - The One with Book Character Day and Poker Night

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Last week was pretty low-key, and there honestly wasn’t much happening, but y’all know me!  I love to recap even the non-busy weeks, so here we go!

Monday, March 6

Monday morning, I dropped the kids at school, swung by the school office to turn in some receipts, and then I headed back home for an hour to tackle some work before running some errands.  First on the agenda for errands was UPS to do some Amazon returns, followed by Target to return a couple of things + grab a few things we needed.

After that, I visited with my therapist, and then I headed home, grabbed an early lunch, and worked for the rest of the afternoon while also keeping the laundry rolling along.

After school, Jacob and I dropped Olivia off at her dance studio, and then he and I headed to piano lessons.  Jacob started on his third piano book on Monday, and his teacher said that he is doing awesome.

He and I headed home after his lesson, and I got started on dinner while he finished up with homework.  When Brian and Olivia got home, we all sat down for dinner together (oven roasted sausage, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and onions with Cheesecake Factory bread) and then after dinner we got the kitchen cleaned up and got everything prepped for Tuesday.

While the kids showered, I got in a stair stepper workout, and then we wrapped up the evening with an episode of Floor is Lava with the kids and The Bachelor after they went to bed.

Tuesday, March 7

Tuesday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I spent the entire day working on blog stuff and photographing content for an upcoming post.  I also got the rest of the laundry done.  I’m not a “load a day” gal when it comes to laundry.  Instead, I do like 6-7 loads over two days every two weeks and then I don’t do laundry for the other 12 days aside from two loads (the kids’ clothes and towels) every Saturday.  I know a lot of people don’t like that strategy, but I prefer it because then I don’t have laundry looming over my head every single day.  It also means that we don’t constantly have clean laundry laying around waiting to be folded and put away.

After school, the kids started on homework, and I got out for a two-mile run while they worked on that.  It was 83 degrees again on Tuesday, so it was hot running with the sun overhead.  I don’t like running in the middle of the day when the sun is at its peak, but it was the only time I had to squeeze it in, so I got it done anyway!

Once homework was done and my run was over, it was time to take Olivia to dance, and then when Jacob and I got home, I got dinner in the oven and prepped everything for Wednesday. 

I had made my Momma’s famous Rosemary Wine Chicken with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, and when B and Olivia got home, we all sat down and ate together.  That meal is so delicious, it’s always one of my favorites.  I also enjoyed a mid-week glass of wine. 

After dinner, the kids and I all got showered, and by the time we were all done, it was time to get the kiddos in bed.  Tuesday is Olivia’s late night for dance, so we typically don’t have much time to do anything after dinner and showers.

Once the kiddos were in bed, B and I watched some more of American Idol, and then we headed to bed.

Wednesday, March 8

Wednesday, I had nowhere to be, so I settled in for lots of blog work in the morning followed by several other random tasks that I’d been needing to tackle.  It was another productive day, and I felt very accomplished by the time I had to leave to pick up the kids.

Wednesday is the only day of the school week where we don’t have an extracurricular activity, so we were wide open after school.  First up, the kids and I swung by the library to return some books and pick up some new ones, and the kiddos browsed for a bit, too. 

After the library, we headed home for the kiddos to do homework, and then once that was done, we all did a big house tidying as it was a huge mess.  Olivia still had birthday stuff everywhere from the previous Sunday, so it was long overdue. 

Once the house was nice and tidy, I got started on dinner and the kids played on the scooters outside.  When B got home, we all ate dinner together (leftover burgers that we’d grilled and frozen from Super Bowl Sunday, chips, and fruit), and then after dinner we got the kitchen all cleaned up.

Once that was done, I got in a 3-mile walk/jog and an arms workout, and B and the kids walked to our neighborhood playground where they played until dark.  After that, it was showers for the kids and me, and then we watched the newest episode of The Mandalorian before getting the kiddos into bed. 

Once we were done with the bedtime routine, B and I watched A Million Little Things and some more of American Idol.  It was a nice, full afternoon and evening with lots of productivity and downtime!  It’s always so nice to have this day right in the middle of the week to reset and recharge! 

Thursday, March 9

Thursday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I headed home to work on the blog all morning.  Mid-morning, I had to step out to mail a couple of packages at the post office, and then I headed right back home to work on a few things around the house.  I had to put my disco ball back on the chalkboard since Olivia's birthday was over!

After school, the kids and I grabbed snacks at home, and then we headed straight to Olivia’s voice lesson.  Her teacher is trying to convince her to do the spring recital, but Olivia is still not quite ready to sing in front of a big group.  She did opt out of the fall recital, and it’s looking like she’s going to opt out of the spring recital, too.  I will definitely not ever push her to do something that she doesn’t feel comfortable with, so I guess we’ll see what happens!

Side note, after I posted my Instagram car line chat on Thursday, I had a bunch of requests for my necklace... you can get it here!  I've had it for a couple of years and it has held up beautifully even though it's just an inexpensive Amazon find!

After voice lessons, the kids and I headed home, and I got dinner in the oven.  When B got home from work, we all sat down and ate together.  I made barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, and blueberry muffins, and it all hit the spot.

After dinner, the kids played for a while (it was rainy Thursday evening, so we couldn’t do any outdoor time), and then they got ready for bed while I got in a workout.  I’ve been trying to focus on inner thighs this month, so I’ve been doing lots of squats with my feet turned out.  If you turn your feet out, it reeeeaaaally works those inner thigh muscles.  I ended up doing 200 squats and I worked out my arms, and my legs felt like Jell-o by the time I was done!

After everyone was ready for bed, we ended the evening with the last episode of the new season of Floor is Lava, and then B and I finished the episode of American Idol from the week, and watched some of The Bachelor after the kiddos went to bed.

Friday, March 10

Friday was Book Character Day for Olivia’s class, and she opted to dress like Clara from The Nutcracker.  The Clara in this book wears a blue dress, red shoes, and a red bow, and my girl loves any excuse to wear those fabulous red, sparkly shoes!  I’d say she nailed it!

About five minutes into the drive to school, the bottom fell out and it POURRRRED for the rest of the trip.  Oh, my goodness, it stormed like crazy.  Our drive to school is all highway and the speed limit is 70, so that is NOT a pleasant drive in the rain.  Thankfully, everyone slowed down to a crawl because I could barely see. 

I had to stop by Walmart to grab a few things for our poker night, so that wasn’t fun either in the pouring rain, but I figured it’d be better to just get it over with rather than have to go back out later in the day since it was supposed to rain all day.

After I knocked that out, I worked for the rest of the day, and then after school, I grabbed the kiddos and we headed home to get the house ready for poker night.  We all tidied up a bit first, and then I started prepping everything for dinner.

I made my Momma’s famous baked ziti and then I tossed a salad and got some garlic knots in the oven.  My friends, Jeannine and Khristina, and their husbands and kids all came over around 6, and we spent the rest of the evening with them. 

First up, was dinner, and then the adults all sat around playing poker while the kiddos ran wild around the house, playing and hanging out.  We wrapped up around 9:30, and it was such a fun evening together.

After everybody left, the kiddos got in the bed, and then B and I watched an episode of Outer Banks before calling it a night.

Saturday, March 11

B had a project wrapping up at work, so he had to go in at 2 AM Saturday morning, which meant he wasn’t home when we all got up.  The kids and I had homemade waffles for breakfast, and then after I got the kitchen cleaned up, I read for a good chunk of the morning.  I’ve been reading November 9 by Colleen Hoover, and I had reached the point where I couldn’t put it down.

I tore myself away from my book late in the morning, and then I started some laundry and got in a good mixed cardio workout.  Towards the end of my workout, Brian got home, and he showered and then got in the bed to nap for a bit.

While he napped, the kids and I had lunch, they did their laundry, and then we all went outside because it was beautiful out.  The kiddos rode their scooters, and I lay out in the sun and finished my book.  I absolutely loved this one, y’all!  I’ve read five of her books now, and November 9 was definitely in the top two of the five for me.

B got up from his nap mid-afternoon and then the kiddos came back inside to play video games for a bit, and then I got a few things done in my office before getting ready for church.  We all went to 5:30 Mass Saturday afternoon like we always do, but none of my family was there as they all had plans, so we were on our own.

After Mass, we went to eat Mexican at our usual place, and then we headed back home for early-ish bedtimes to try to offset the time change Saturday night.  I haaaate springing forward every year, y’all.  Aside from having the extra daylight in the evening it just sucks.  You lose an hour of your day on Sunday, it’s impossible to go to sleep at night because your body knows it isn’t time for bed, you’re on the struggle bus for days to come because it feels like you’re waking up an hour earlier, and we’re now driving to school in the pitch black dark again.  Two thumbs down.

Anywayyyy, the kiddos had played pretty hard and spent a lot of time outside Saturday, so I don’t think they had much trouble falling asleep a little earlier, and Brian didn’t have any trouble going to sleep earlier because he had worked all night.  I also didn’t have trouble falling asleep a little early Saturday night because I’d worked out really hard, spent a lot of time in the sun, and I had a marg with dinner.  The marg is enough to make me sleep!  Hahahaha.

And before we all went to bed, we went ahead and pushed our clocks forward… that way, when we got up in the morning, they were all correct.   

 

Sunday, March 12

Sunday morning, I forced myself to wake up at my usual weekend time – 8-ish – which was really the old 7, so I did, indeed lose the hour of sleep rather than losing the hour during our waking hours.  It wasn’t so bad getting up early Sunday since we’d gone to bed earlier Saturday evening, but Monday morning it was ROUGH waking up at 6 AM when it felt like the old 5 AM.

I ended up being up before the kids because their little body clocks didn’t know that the time had changed, and then once everyone was up, we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  While Olivia was waiting for breakfast to be ready, she set up her stuffies, and she sketched and colored them.  It was the sweetest thing!  And y'all, that girl in her sleep mask – I just love her so much!

After breakfast, I did my planning for the week ahead, along with my meal plan for the next two weeks, and then I did a yoga workout before getting ready for the day. 

We all headed to my MIL and step-FIL’s for lunch, and we ended up chatting the afternoon away afterward.  It was dreary and rainy all day Sunday, so there was no outdoor time, but the kiddos got to hang with their cousins for a bit, so that was good.

After we left their house, we headed home to prep for the week ahead, and I got a few minutes of blog work done, too.  Then we headed to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner.  My Momma made Polynesian porkchops and rice and broccoli and it was all so delicious. 

After dinner, we had warm peach cobbler with ice cream, and we watched the red carpet and the intro to the Oscars before calling it a night and heading home.  Brian and I watched the season finale of The Last of Us when we got home, and then it was off to bed since it was going to be rough waking up early Monday morning!

Also, for those of you who have been asking about Olivia and her issues she was having a few weeks ago, her tummy has officially settled.  The doctor put her on a reflux medication that she could take for up to 30 days, and she hasn’t had any stomach issues, lethargy, or rashes since then.  After about a week to 10 days of taking the meds, she asked to stop to see how she would feel without it, and she has been fine ever since. 

We initially thought it was a food allergy since the issues went on for so long, but since it has resolved we’re assuming it was just some really long, strange virus.  Who knows!  We are just grateful that our girl has her spark back!  She felt bad for far too long and I couldn’t stand seeing her that way.    

Happy Tuesday, y’all!