The last week
of school was nothing compared to the second to last week of school, thank
goodness, but it was still busy. And we’re
now officially out for summer break… for that I’m very grateful. :o)
Also, before I go any further, a blog housekeeping note - for some reason, this weekend, Blogger (the platform I use to publish these posts) made some updates, and I cannot for the life of me get my pictures to align with the copy on the left side of the page. It's driving me INSANE (this is one of my OCD things), so if anyone else started having the same problem, and you know how to fix it, please let me know. I have tried everything I can think of.
Monday, May 20
Monday morning,
I was on the struggle bus after our crazy recital/dance weekend, and I had a
to-do list a mile long. I was behind on
life stuff, blog stuff, house stuff, and we had zero food in the house.
After I dropped
the kids at school, I returned all of the stuff from the dance at the school,
and then I gassed up the car before heading home to work. I threw in a load of laundry, got dinner in
the slow cooker, and then got to work.
Transferring
the photos from my phone to my computer was a HUGE issue, and it ended up
taking me FOUR HOURS to get them all transferred over… probably because there
were so many videos from the rehearsals and recital. Since that took so long, all of my other
plans went out the window, and I ended up picking up the kids from school and
working my butt off for the rest of the afternoon until dinnertime.
Thankfully, I’d
done a slow cooker meal, so I didn’t have to prepare much, and we had chicken
tacos for dinner.
Afterwards,
Brian went outside to mow and I walked around with the kids on our street while
they rode their bikes for a good long while.
When they went in to shower, I headed back out to run. I had woken up with a super swollen middle
toe on my left foot (the one next to my big toe), and it was really
painful. I had smacked my foot on my
suitcase really hard the evening before, but hadn’t really thought much about
it since then, so I’m assuming the injury was from that? Who knows.
It was super painful and swollen to the touch, but thankfully it didn’t
hinder me (too much) while running, so I just powered through.
When I got
home, I got showered, got the kids in the bed, iced my toe, watched the rest of
the American Idol finale, and then headed to bed.
Tuesday, May 21
Tuesday morning,
I dropped the kids at school and then headed to the vet to drop Maui for an
appointment. We found out six months ago
that she is in the early stages of kidney disease, and they wanted to test her
blood and urine again in six months to make sure it’s not aggressive.
After I dropped
her, I headed straight to Walmart and Publix to (finally) get some groceries
for our empty refrigerator, and then I got everything put away when I got home.
The rest of the
day was spent working, and then I grabbed the kids at 3. Since Olivia is done with dance, we had no
extracurricular activities, so I was able to tidy the house (it was a complete
disaster), water the plants, wrap the teacher gifts, and prep for Olivia’s
class party the next day.
Brian played
tennis Tuesday evening, so the kids and I were on our own. I pulled leftover Pizza Joe’s out of the
freezer for dinner, and we had those with some fruit. After that, I continued to work and finish up
a bunch of stuff that needed to be done while the kids played. Then I got in a strength training workout.
They got
showered and ready for bed later in the evening, and then when Brian got home
from tennis, we got them in the bed.
B and I watched
some Shark Tank while I did some work from my phone, and then we went to
bed.
Wednesday, May 22
Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at school, and then I headed home
for an hour to work before I had to be at my appointment with my
therapist. I had a great session with
her (they’re always good, but this one was particularly good), and then I
headed back home to work for the rest of the morning. I ate a quick, early lunch, and then I headed
to the school for Olivia’s class party.
I arrived at the school with an ice cream sundae bar in tow, and the kids
enjoyed cookies and cream ice cream, chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, whipped
cream, mini M&M’s, and sprinkles. We also gave the teachers their gifts from the class.
After the party, fourth grade had their end-of-the-year awards ceremony,
and Olivia received the following awards:
Principal’s List (straight A’s, and she maintained a straight A average
the entire year)
Religion Award
Accelerated Reader Award
Choir Leadership Award (for her participation during all of the school
Masses this year)
Aaaand, all of her classmates awarded her with the “Super Stylish Award”
for the second year in a row. She was
thrilled. Hahahaha.
I’m so proud of this girl and all of her accomplishments this year!
After the awards ceremony, it was time for me to jump in the car line,
and then the kids and I headed home afterward.
I got in a couple of Bible studies since I hadn’t had the chance to do
one on Wednesday, and I let the kids have some screen time since they didn’t
have any homework.
I made chicken stir fry with veggies for dinner, and then after that, the
four of us headed outside so the kids could ride their bikes and take Maui for
a walk.
Speaking of Maui, I got the call back from the doctor Thursday morning
with Maui’s blood test results, and there was good news and potential bad
news. The good news is that her kidney
disease hasn’t progressed much… all of her levels are holding steady since the
last time they saw her six months ago, with the exception of one number that
moved from medium-high to high. But it’s
barely in the high zone now, so the doctor said it’s nothing to worry
about.
The bad news is that her white blood cell count was super low, and the
doctor said that is typically indicative of some kind of infection or
cancer. She said since there is no
infection anywhere then that only leaves one option, cancer. She did say that, while rare, sometimes when
they send blood samples away to the lab the cells can “clump” causing an
inaccurate reading, so they want to do another blood draw in-house this Friday.
If the white blood cell count is still low, then that will be bad
news. So, we are praying extra hard that
it was all a fluke and that her levels will be normal on Friday. Please keep our tiny girl in your
prayers. I’ve been a wreck for a week
since we found out.
After the kids’ bike rides, I headed out to walk/jog on my own, and then
I stretched, watered the outdoor plants, and showered when I got home. We got the kids to bed around 9 since
everyone was still feeling sleep deprivation from the previous weekend, and
then B and I went to bed early, too, after watching a little bit of our backlog
of Shark Tank.
Thursday, May 23
Thursday was the kids’ last day of school and it was a half day. I dropped them off, and then headed home for
an hour to work before heading right back to the school to attend their last
school Mass of the year + Jacob’s end-of-the-year awards ceremony. I had received an email from one of his
teachers earlier in the week saying that he was going to be receiving one of
the special awards, so I wasn’t going to miss that!
Olivia sang in the choir during Mass again, so it was extra special to be
able to be there and watch her do that while also celebrating my Boo.
He received the award for Principal’s List for having all A’s for the
quarter and he also maintained an A average in every single class for the whole
year! For his special award, he was
awarded the character award for 7th Grade Reading/English/Literature. They give one award per subject per grade at
the end of each school year, and he got that special award for
Reading/English/Literature for the seventh-grade class. They award those to the kids who consistently
display the school’s four core values of faith, honesty, loyalty, and respect, and
his teacher also told me that he tied for first place in the whole grade for
having the highest growth on the standardized testing that they do twice a
year. We are so proud of him!
After Mass and awards, we were allowed to take the kids home to start summer
break, but neither of my kids wanted to leave – LOL – so I had to find
something to do for an hour and a half until they officially got out at noon.I ended up chatting with a few friends for a bit, and then I went ahead
and pulled around to the car line super early to park in the first spot. It just so happened that Olivia’s class was
outside building and launching rockets, so I was able to hang out with her for
a bit. Her rocket ended up winning the
contest because it went the highest. She
was so excited.
One of her best friends moved away the day after school got out, so I was
able to snap one last picture of them together.
Olivia was pretty sad to say goodbye, and she was a little teary when
she got in the car. That poor girl has
had to say goodbye to so many close friends over the years… so many of her
friends’ parents have transferred out of town for their jobs.
To start summer break out on a fun note, I asked the kids if they wanted
to go downtown for lunch and then to get ice cream, but they both wanted
Chick-Fil-A for lunch + milkshakes there, so we did just that.
After that, we headed home and were lazy for the rest of the day. They played video games while I got some work
done, and then we had breakfast for dinner followed by an evening outside. The kids rode bikes while B and I walked
Maui, and then I got in a stair stepper workout while the kids showered.
We started the new season of Is It Cake? Thursday night since it
was the first night of summer break and then B and I went to bed early because
I was just exhausted.
Friday, May 24
Friday morning, I slept in until about 7:30 and I lay in bed for about 15
minutes after I woke up which was SO NICE because I don’t ever do that. I literally wake up and get straight out of
bed every single morning, even on weekends.
The kids requested homemade waffles, so I made those for us, and then
they watched some TV while I headed to my office to catch up on some blog
reading. Mid-morning, we got the kids’
backpacks, binders, books, and everything else from school cleaned out. While we were at it, we also cleaned out
their art bins in the kitchen, and we got rid of SO MUCH STUFF.
We ended up recycling a 16-inch tall stack of stuff and threw away a pile
almost as big as the recycling. I got
their backpacks washed and dried, and then I got all of their papers that we
saved from the year filed in their keepsake boxes. It was a VERY productive morning, and it was
nice to have all of the school stuff cleaned up and put away.
Brian had a couple of appointments, so he was gone most of the morning,
but he was back in time for lunch. We
made mini pizzas out of canned biscuit dough along with some fruit, and then
after lunch, it was more productive time.
The kids hung out and played and I got some laundry done, I tackled a
little bit of blog work, I tied up so many loose ends for things that had been
hanging over my head for weeks, and it was a super productive afternoon. While productive, though, it hardly put a
dent in my to-do list as I had gotten so far behind on life stuff the last few
weeks with crazy Maycember.I ended up working and getting stuff done all afternoon and didn’t stop
until 4:30 to get showered and ready for the day – finally, haha – because we
had poker night at my friend, Khristina’s, house Friday night.
On the way there, we swung by Publix to grab some fun red, white, and
blue popsicles and some Hershey’s chocolate with red, white, and blue pop rocks
inside (an impulse purchase by the register – haha), and then we headed to
their house.
They’d made spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, and homemade chocolate chip
cookies, and I ate waaaay too much because it was all so yummy.
We ended up playing poker and talking about all the things for hours, and
before we knew it, it was after 9:30 and time to wrap things up. When we got home, we got the kids in the bed,
and then B and I watched another episode of Unbelievable that we’d
abandoned for a couple of weeks because we’d been too busy to watch.
Saturday, May 25
Saturday morning, we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then I did
some more catching up on blog reading.
The rest of the morning was spent getting some laundry done, tidying up
the house, and getting in a mixed cardio workout.
We had a light lunch at home, and then we spent the afternoon working on
various things around the house. I did a
couple of Bible studies to get caught up since I’d gotten behind, and then we
all got ready for church.
My extended family was in route home from the beach, so our usual group
wasn’t there other than my aunt and uncle, but they got back in time to meet us
for dinner at Mexican.
After dinner, there was still some daylight left since it stays light
until nearly nine this time of year, so I got out and took Maui out for a
walk. I’ve had so much guilt about
leaving her so much lately, and I knew she would love a walk. And it was good for me, too, as I hadn’t been
feeling great Saturday. After a super
busy season, it always takes me a few days to come down off of the rush, and
coming down from the last few weeks was a doozy this time… and most of it hit on
Saturday.
When I got home, we watched an episode of Is It Cake? with the
kids, and then after they went to bed, B and I watched some more of the show Unbelievable.
Sunday, May 26
Sunday morning, we all had breakfast, and then I did a couple of my usual
Sunday things – yoga and Bible studies to get caught up – plus I did some more
catching up on blog reading. I didn’t
watch my usual sermon because they had a different person speaking that day, and
I also didn’t plan the week ahead because at that point I was just done with
to-do lists and I wanted to focus on the relaxing things.
We all got showered and ready late in the morning, and then we headed out
for lunch. My MIL and step-FIL didn’t
cook since my SIL and BIL were out of town, so we ended up eating lunch at
Jersey Mike’s which was totally random since we rarely eat there. We were going to Target afterward, and the
kids wanted to eat somewhere close (I think because they knew that would get
them to Target faster – LOL) so we ended up there.
After that we spent foreverrrr in Target shopping for stuff we needed for
the beach, everyday items we were out of, and a few new clothing items for the
kids. Olivia had outgrown most of her
shorts and tanks, so we ended up grabbing several items for her, and of course,
we had to try them all on, so we spent a while in the dressing room making sure
everything fit.
Olivia still had some Target gift cards leftover from her birthday that
she hadn’t spent, so she wanted to do some shopping with her own money. She ended up getting a set of squishmallow
PJs, some squishmallow slippers, a swimsuit, and a stuffy. Jacob also picked out some Pokemon cards with
his own money.
By the time we got home, it was after 3:30, so I did some work in my
office and the kids played video games until it was time to leave for my parents’
house for Sunday dinner. Momma made a
new recipe that had meatballs, and it was a winner for everyone including the
kids.
When we got home from their house, we watched another episode of Is It
Cake? and then Brian and I finished Unbelievable.
And now for a few current things…
Currently Reading
This month, I finished The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth and I loved
it. I also read The Good Part by
Sophie Cousens and it was good, too. I
also started Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren,
but I had to pause for the last couple of weeks because we were so. dang. busy.
I’m also still paused on Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will
Change Your Life by Craig Groechel.
I love everything I read by him, but I got tired of non-fiction and wanted
some light-hearted fiction for a bit.
And, of course, I’m still reading New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel
Devotional by Paul David Tripp as my daily devotional.
I’m also still working my way through The Bible and The Bible Recap…
I just finished up with my seventeenth book of the Bible, and I’m currently
making my way through 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.
I’m on day 186 as I’m typing this (Monday) and I’m still trying to stay
38 days ahead. I’ve had to double up some
days to keep up since I missed a couple of days here and there during
Maycember, but I’m hoping to get back in my daily groove again soon.
Currently Watching
With B: This month, we finished
watching American Idol on network TV.
And we’re still throwing in SNL and Shark Tank every now
and then when we have time. For
streaming, we finished Unbelievable (which was a bit disturbing), and we’re
still making our way through The Chosen, but we haven’t watched it in
several weeks.
With the Kids: We really didn’t
watch a whole lot this month again because we were too busy wrapping up
end-of-the-schoolyear stuff. We did
start Is It Cake? season 3, this week, though, since they’re out of
school, and we’re loving it, as always!
Alone: I’m still watching The
Wedding Planner while I work on the weekends, but during the week, I just
listen to music.
Currently Listening To
If you guessed Taylor Swift’s TTPD album, then you’d be correct. Yep, that’s right… it’s still on repeat when I’m
alone. I thought Folklore was her Magnum
Opus, but TTPD is giving it a run for its money. And I never ever thought I’d say that. It is the most beautiful, tragic album she’s
written yet. With the kids, we’ve been changing
it up a bit, though, because Jacob is so sick of TS. I’ve been on a Phil Wickham kick and I’m also
L-O-V-I-N-G Abe Parker. Oh, and let’s
not forget A Bar Song by Shaboozey. Our
kids loveeee that song. #MomFail hahahaha.
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
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