Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 8 (Amazon Prime Day, Girls Night, and the Start of Jacob’s Birthday Celebrations)

Last week was another good one!  We spent a lot of time at home, and not much time outside due to extremely hot temperatures and a couple of stormy days.  Not having access to my parents’ neighborhood pool has stunk this year, and I feel like the kids have spent the least amount of time outside during the summer ever this year.  That to say, we’ve done lots of fun things this summer, and they’re happy, and being indoors more has brought out their creative sides more than ever – Jacob with his piano-playing and Olivia with her crafting – so I suppose all that matters is that they’re happy!

Monday, July 15

Monday, I ended up sleeping in until 8.  I had set my alarm for a little after 7, but I must have turned it off in my sleep and kept on sleeping.  Oops.  I made my way downstairs to get breakfast, unload the dishwasher, and water the plants after that, and then I worked in my office for a little bit.  The kids have been sleeping somewhat late this summer, so they weren’t up until after 9, and then they watched TV for a bit after they got their breakfast.

Late in the morning, I got showered and ready, and then Brian and the kids and I had lunch.  Olivia had pre-pointe intensive dance camp at 1, so I drove her there while Jacob stayed home since Brian was working from home Monday.  I cannot believe this girl is old enough to start doing pre-pointe!!  The next thing we know, she’ll be doing pointe and I’ll cry all the tears because that’s one of my favorite dance styles to watch.

Her class was only an hour, so it didn’t really make sense to go home since I wouldn’t have much time before I had to leave to get her, so I just ran a couple of errands instead.  First up, was Hobby Lobby to grab another piece of foam board.  You can buy a giant piece of foam board that’s good and sturdy for just $8.99, and it’s large enough to hold a 1,000-piece puzzle with plenty of room to spare.  We like puzzles, but we take foreverrrr to put one together, so we started putting them together on these foam boards so they don’t sit on the dining room table for months.  We slide the foam board under the love seat in our living room and you can’t even see it, and then we want to work on the puzzle, we just slide it out and put the whole board on the table.  It works like a charm! 

We’ve had a fall puzzle half put together for over a year now, and I just can’t bring myself to work on a fall puzzle right now, so I decided to get a second board to work on a Lego puzzle that we have.  Then we can just slide that board on top of the other one under the love seat when we’re not using it.  Brilliant, right?

After my trip to Hobby Lobby, I ran into CVS to grab a birthday card for Jacob as well as a few others to stock up my card organizer since I like to keep them on hand.  When I was in there, it started POURING out of nowhere and it proceeded to pour all the way back to the dance school and all the way home.  Rain wasn’t in the forecast, and when we’d left the house, it had been perfectly sunny and hot as hades, so we were grateful for the unexpected reprieve from the heat, even though it meant that I had to drive in it. 

When we got home, my friend, Khristina, and her son, Noah, came over to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.  The kids played while Khristina and I chatted, and it was a nice afternoon socializing. 

After they left, I got my quiet time/Bible study done, I worked on some laundry, and then it was time to make dinner.  On the menu Monday night was baked ziti, steamed broccoli (because I live with a bunch of weirdos who don’t like salad, but I always like to have a green with each meal), and Cheesecake Factory brown bread.  Brian and I even had a rare weeknight glass of wine.

After the kitchen was all cleaned up, I got in a stair stepper workout, and then shortly after that, we got the kids in the bed.  We had a late dinner, so that threw off the whole evening and we ended up doing everything late.

Brian and I watched another episode of Presumed Innocent, and then we headed to bed.

 

Tuesday, July 16

Tuesday was the first day of Amazon Prime Day, and I always go hard sharing deals on Instagram all day, so I was up at 7:30 and in my office posting deals by 8 AM.  I literally searched Amazon for deals, posted them on Instagram, and did some shopping for us all morning long until I had to stop and shower for the day since we had to get Olivia to pre-pointe again.

We scarfed down a quick lunch together, and then we were out the door to get her there by one.  While she was at camp, Jacob and I ran to Target to do a return and pick up a couple of things we needed, and then we swung by Fresh Market to grab chicken. 

We got back to Olivia’s dance studio just as she was getting out, and then we headed straight home to get the chicken in the fridge.  Once that was done, I was back in my office posting Amazon deals.  Haha.

The kids spent the afternoon playing video games (Jacob) and making slime (Olivia), and I got some laundry done when I realized a load had been sitting in the washing machine for, like, five or six hours and I had forgotten about it.  Haha.

I wrapped up my Amazon posting so I could do my quiet time, but I skipped my Bible study for the day because I just didn’t have adequate time to devote to it before it was time to get dinner ready.  I’m still thirty-something days ahead of schedule anyway for the year, so that gives me some wiggle room on days where there’s a lot going on.

For dinner, we kept it simple with turkey and cheese biscuit sliders and fruit, and then I ran 2.38 miles in the near storms.  Thankfully, they held off here at home, but I could see them going by just south of us.  And it was nice, too, because it cooled things off tremendously and we had a nice breeze, so it wasn’t devastatingly hot outside like it has been.

When I got home, it was shower and PJ time, and Jacob showed me the Star of David origami project that he'd finished.  Then we watched some more America’s Got Talent with the kids before sending them to bed.  Then it was another episode of Presumed Innocent for us before bed.

Wednesday, July 17

Wednesday was Amazon Prime Day #2, so I got up at 7:30, did my morning routine, and got to work yet again.  I posted deals all morning, and then showered around 11 to get the kids lunch and get Olivia to pre-pointe class on time.

While she was there, Jacob and I went to the local music store to browse for a bit since it’s close to Olivia’s dance studio, and he was in heaven.  We looked at all of the guitars and pianos, and he was excited to be able to see a grand piano in person. 

We picked up Olivia as soon as her class got out, and then we all headed back home where I resumed listing Amazon deals all afternoon.  It poured down rain after we got home, so it was a cozy afternoon to stay inside. 

For dinner, I made one pan sausage with a ton of veggies, and then after dinner, we decided to go for a family walk with Maui since the rain had cooled everything off so well again.  We walked on the trail through the woods in our neighborhood and then the kids swung on the swings at the neighborhood playground for a bit.  Then, it was back home to do an arms workout. 

The kids showered while I did my other workout, and then we watched the rest of America’s Got Talent and another episode of Presumed Innocent.

 

Thursday, July 18

Thursday morning, I was up at 7:30 and I was just exhausted after Tuesday and Wednesday’s Amazon Prime Day work.  I would have loved to sit around and be lazy all day reading a book or something, but I had a million things to catch up on since I had neglected pretty much everything the last two days for Amazon. 

I spent the morning working in my office to start catching up on blog posting, blog reading, emails, DMs, paying bills, etc.  Meanwhile, the kids had a jam session all morning with Jacob on the keys and Olivia on the guitar.  She doesn’t know how to play yet, but that’s certainly not slowing her down.  Haha.

And Jacob was the absolute sweetest.  Olivia’s guitar hadn’t been tuned since it hadn’t been used in 20+ years, so Jacob played the notes on his piano and tuned the guitar all by himself.  He has never picked up a guitar in his life and never taken a lesson, but he was smart enough to figure out how to tune the guitar all by himself with no help from anyone, including YouTube.  He just amazes me, y’all!

Late in the morning, I was still feeling frazzled and nowhere near caught up, but I had to stop to shower and get ready for the day so I could get lunch and get Olivia to her last day of pre-pointe class.

Jacob wanted to go back to the music store again while she was at dance, and we moseyed around there for a bit again.  We also picked up a book of Taylor Swift sheet music for the piano because Jacob had told Olivia that even though he’s sick of Tay and isn’t a huge fan, that he would play the songs for her if we had the sheet music.  Y’all.  I just love that boy and his kind heart.

He played some Clair De Lune on one of the pianos while we were there, and then we sat in the car for a bit looking at other sheet music on Amazon while we waited for Olivia to get out of dance. 

When we got home, the kids played video games (Jacob) and watched how to make slime videos (Olivia) because I told her she couldn’t make slime on Thursday because honestly, I was tired of the mess.  Haha.  While they did that, I worked as hard as I could to get caught up on life stuff – school is looming so there was stuff to be done for that, too – and I was just exhausted by the time music lessons rolled around.

Jacob’s piano lesson had been canceled for the day, but Olivia still had voice, so we headed there late in the afternoon for her lesson.  She brought her new guitar with her, and Mr. Steve gave us the green light.  He said it’s just the right size.  Then he tweaked the tuning slightly in spots because it was already slightly out of tune again, and then he had a little jam session on it with us in the lobby.  While Olivia was in her lesson, Jacob tried his hand at guitar, too.

When we got home, I was so, so tired, and I was grateful that I had declined helping with the back-to-school ice cream social that the school was hosting that evening.  I’d originally had something else scheduled for that evening anyway, and since so many others were available to help, I declined.  After my evening cleared, I contemplated going to help out, but then I just decided not to. 

Instead, I got in a walk/jog, caught up on some more life stuff, and then showered before getting the kids in the bed.  Brian and I realized that Presumed Innocent hadn’t been fully released yet, so we couldn’t watch the final episode – NOOOO – so we spent the evening setting up Jacob’s new phone. 

Yes, we got him a phone for his thirteenth birthday.  Am I excited about it?  Mostly no.  But also, he has started going out with his friends a lot and I want to be able to get in touch with him when needed.  And also?  We have no house phone, so we can’t leave him at home alone even though he’s old enough now because I refuse to leave him with no way of getting in touch with someone in case there’s an emergency.

We are basically putting the thing on lockdown, and he won’t have access to much, and I’ve done oodles and oodles of research on how to go about doing this since technology is so detrimental to the mental health of teens these days, so I’m confident that we’re doing what’s right for our family.

I plan to share all of the things that we’re doing to ensure his safety (mentally and physically), so stay tuned for that.

 

Friday, July 19

Friday morning, Brian had to be at work at six for a big project at work, so he was out the door long before any of us woke.  I got up at 7:30, and then I spent the morning working in my office while the kids watched cartoons, played music, and made bracelets. 

Jacob had his makeup piano lesson at 2:30 on Friday, and then we headed back home to hang out for a bit longer.  I did my quiet time and absolutely loved this message in my devotional for the day.

Friday afternoon, we also received word from Jacob’s school that his science teacher who was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer at the beginning of last school year had passed away.  Jacob was pretty shocked, and we’re all very sad about losing her.  She was way too young, and she is leaving behind a husband, four young adult children, and her first grandbaby behind, so please keep her family in your prayers.

I had a girls night planned for Friday evening, and Brian was supposed to have been able to leave work around 3, but he ended up having to stay much longer, so I had to find a backup plan.  Thankfully, I know how these long projects can go for his team, so I had my parents on standby to watch the kids.

We went to Chick-Fil-A to pick up dinner for the kids and myself, and then I dropped them off at my parents’ house so they could eat there and hang out until Brian (or I) could pick them up.

I took my Chick-Fil-A over to my friend, Jessica’s, house and met up with all of my other girlfriends who had also picked up takeout.  We all ate and caught up, and then we built our own floral arrangements using the flowers from Jessica’s garden.  She grew a ton of different things this year, and it was fun to spend time with them arranging all of our flowers.  The lemon basil was my absolute favorite.  The scent is pure heaven.

The evening completely filled my cup, and I was grateful that I’d decided to go and not bail as I had originally considered after I found out that Brian couldn’t make it home in time to be with the kids.  Shout out to my parents for coming in clutch for us!  ;o)

When I got home, Brian and the kids were hanging out in front of the TV.  He’d been able to pick them up about an hour before I got home, and they were already in PJs.  It was too late to watch much of anything, so we watched some short show about building something with Lego, and then the kids went to bed.

B and I mixed up some Moscow Mules after they went to bed, filled each other in about our days, and then we started two new shows since Presumed Innocent wasn’t dropping a new episode for a few more days – waaaahhhh.  We watched one episode of Mythic Quest on Apple TV and it was bo-ring to me, so we started the Celine Dion documentary on Amazon that everyone has been raving about.  We got about halfway through that and then called it a night because it was laaaate.

 

Saturday, July 20

Saturday, we were up and at ‘em for Jacob’s birthday party with his friends.  Per usual, he wanted to go to his favorite arcade in town with his friends and play games and laser tag. 

We arrived right at 10 AM when they opened, and his friends, WJ, Julian, and Ethan all met us there.  We gave each of them an arcade card and they played games all morning while Brian and I took turns hanging with Olivia while the other sat at the table with all of our stuff. 

The boys played laser tag at 11, and then when they were done, we ordered pizza, had cookie cake, and opened gifts.  By the time all that was done, there was a little bit of time to spare, so they all headed back out to the arcade to finish using their credits and redeem them for prizes. 

Jacob had been saving his tickets from the last few visits and with the help of a few tickets from one of his friends, he was able to redeem them for the Pokemon card box that he’d been wanting.  It was one of the big prizes behind the counter, so it was a pretty big deal for him, and he was super excited. 

On the way out, Olivia got to see one of her friends from school, and right as we stepped outside, we got the message from her new teacher!  She is going to be in the fifth-grade class with the teacher that Jacob had in fifth grade, so we’re happy about that.  I spent the rest of the afternoon texting with tons of the moms from the fifth grade trying to find out which kids were in which classes this year, and we were sad to find out that Olivia’s two closest friends aren’t in her class this year.  Boooo.  And her other two closest friends moved, so they won’t be at the school at all.  I’m sure she’ll do great this year, but this will be the first year that she hasn’t had a close friend in class with her.

After the party, we headed home, and we hung out there for the rest of the day.  It was stormy all day, so I got some work done, did some laundry, and got a few other things done around the house, and then we all headed to church at 5:30.

After church, we ate at the pizza place near our church with my parents, Mama Cass, and Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg – the usual crew – and then we headed home.

We got home early enough that I was able to take Maui for a walk before it got dark, and this time she called it quits faster than ever.  She’s making it shorter and shorter distances these days.

When we got home, I got into PJs, and then we all hung out together for a bit before getting the kids in bed.  B and I started a new show – One Day, on Netflix – and it’s okay so far.  I liked the first episode pretty well, but the second one wasn’t as great.

 

Sunday, July 21

Sunday morning, we slept in, had cinnamon rolls for lunch, and then I spent a little bit of time in my office watching my Sunday morning sermon, doing yoga, and planning the week ahead – same ol’ same ol’. 

My MIL and step-FIL didn’t cook lunch again because my SIL and BIL and their families were out of town, so we were on our own all day.  It stormed nearly all day, so we just stayed inside and had a pretty lazy day.  I did finally put away all of the laundry from earlier in the week, and I got a few other things done around the house, but other than that, I was a bit lazy.  I did spend a cozy couple of hours in my office in the afternoon working and watching… The Wedding Planner per usual.  Haha.

We celebrated Jacob’s birthday with my family Sunday night.  Momma made this meatball and egg noodle dish that he loves so much, along with green beans, field peas, bread with oil and spices, and… white rice… he always asks for white rice no matter what else we’re having.  Haha. 

My mom made him the funniest card that had skibidi rizz toilet and a bunch of other slang on it, and we were all dying laughing as he read it out loud.  I got the whole thing on video and that will go down as a classic for sure.

When we got home, Brian watched his “dumb show” as I call it, AKA House of the Dragon (my apologies to those of you who love it... you know I'm just being silly, LOL) and I caught up on some Instagram stories and politics stuff since things just got interesting on Sunday.

And that was our weekend!

Happy Tuesday, y’all!