Our Week - The One with a Pentatonix Concert, a Day Date, and a Girls Christmas Brunch and Ornament Exchange

Last week was a great one until it took a turn late Saturday night… I ended up sick – boooo – so that put a damper on the rest of the weekend.  But let’s recap the rest of the good stuff!

Monday, December 2

Monday morning, the kids had to go back to school after nine glorious days off… BOOOO.  We were up early and out the door into the freezing cold, and I had to bring Maui along because she had a follow-up appointment at the veterinary clinic.  The doc told us that she hasn’t gained any of her weight back since she started her wet food (she is still sitting at 3 lbs. on the dot), but she said that her blood pressure looked good.  They had to send the urine and fecal samples off to a lab, so we had to wait for results on that.  I was pretty disappointed at her lack of weight gain because I thought for sure that she had gained some of it back, but I guess I was wrong.

After that, we headed home, and I worked all day long, trying to get caught up on blog stuff.  I had gotten way ahead before Thanksgiving, and then during Thanksgiving break, I barely looked at blog stuff, so there was a LOT to do to get caught up.  And now, of course, I’m trying to get ahead for Christmas break, but it’s just HARD.  I also tackled the mountains of laundry.

At 3, I grabbed the kids from school, and we headed straight home.  We had nowhere to be (praise!), and the kids had no homework or tests to study for, so they played outside on their scooters for a long time while I got my Bible study done and then went for a run.  Since the sun is setting early these days, I try to get in at least one early run per week, but it’s hard when the kids are in so many after school activities. 

When I got home from my run, we had chicken tacos for dinner (thank you, slow cooker!), and then we got the kitchen cleaned.  After that, Jacob showed me a coding project he’s been working on, and then we celebrated Maui’s FIFTEENTH birthday!!  Y’all, her tongue in that second picture – I can’t even handle it!  Haha.

While the kids showered and got ready for bed, I tackled a few more things on my to-do list and I went through Olivia’s weekly folder to find this:

Lol.  Apparently she thinks we are level 10 strict.  And she had originally put nine, but then erased it and put 10.  Hahahaha.  When I questioned her about why she thinks we’re so strict she shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”  Hahahaha.

Once the kids were showered and ready for bed, we all sat down to watch an episode of Is It Cake? Holiday. 

After the kids went to bed, Brian and I finished the JonBenet Ramsey documentary on Netflix.

Tuesday, December 3

Tuesday morning, I worked on the blog and laundry, and then, mid-morning, I headed out for an appointment with my therapist.  After I was done there, I met Brian at a local appliance store to pick out a dishwasher as ours is on its last leg.  They weren’t able to get the dishwasher in stock until sometime in January, so Brian headed to Lowe’s afterward to see if they had it in stock and I headed home to get back to work.

At 3, I grabbed Olivia from school and brought her home, and then Brian was kind enough to grab Jacob from Velocity so Olivia and I didn’t have to go back out.  He was off Tuesday, and he was out running errands anyway, so that was convenient because Olivia and I always have this weird, annoying window on Tuesdays where we really need to be home letting her get homework done, but we only have 15 minutes there before we have to leave again to get Jacob.

Instead, she was able to get everything done that she needed to, and she got ready for dance while I did my Bible study.  Right after the boys got home, she and I took off for dance, listening to the Wicked soundtrack all the way, and then when I got home, I got in a strength workout. 

I’ve been trying to keep my strength workouts extremely light as they definitely anger my neck and shoulder tension, so I didn’t burn many calories, but at least I got something done.  In between reps, I also worked on putting some of the laundry away, although, I didn’t finish.

By the time I was done with my workout, it was almost time to start dinner, but I had a small window with just enough time to sit down with my planner and make my to-do list for Wednesday, so I knocked that out, too.

Olivia decided to add Musical Theatre and Hip Hop back into her repertoire after taking a few months off, so she’s now officially taking SEVEN dance classes this year, which means seven recital numbers and seven recital costumes.  Whew.  That also means that our Tuesday nights just went from her getting home at 6 to her getting home at 7:30, so we’re back to late dinners on Tuesdays for the rest of the school year.

When she got home, she was just bursting with excitement because she loves her Musical Theatre teacher so much, and while that was her least favorite class last year, she said that it may be her favorite this year.  I guess it’s a good thing she decided to pick it back up!

When Brian and Olivia got home, I had dinner on the table – beef and parmesan pasta with zucchini and garlic cheesy bread – and we all sat down to eat together.

After dinner, we cleaned the kitchen, and then Olivia got showered.  Jacob had already showered while she was gone, so they were both ready for bed by the time she was done.  It was freezing here last week, so I also dried her hair which is something we rarely do – she usually just lets it air dry – but I didn’t want her going to bed with a wet head.

After they were in bed, Brian and I watched an old episode of Shark Tank and he placed our order for our dishwasher, and then we headed to bed.

Wednesday, December 4

Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then settled in all morning to get ahead on blog stuff.  I was able to knock out three entire blog posts + work on a couple of others and it was such a productive morning.

After school, the kids and I headed straight home, and everyone got changed and ready, and we hit the road for Atlanta to go see… Pentatonix!!!!  And I had the perfect Christmas top for it! 

Brian had gotten us third row seats when they went on sale months ago, and the time had finally come to see them.  I have loved them since 2011 when they got their start on The Sing Off.  Brian and I LOVED that show, and I was so excited that they blew up after that because I loved them so much.  I’ve always wanted to see them live, so getting to do that with Brian and the kids and sitting in the third row was just incredible. 

On the way to the show, I posted an Instagram story of Olivia and me all ready for the show, and they shared it in their Instagram story.  EEEE!!!!  I totally fan-girled over that one and Olivia was excited because “we’re famous.”  Hahahaha.  And also, this first picture... I posted something on Instagram and Olivia's face in the background and her response – CLASSIC.  Haha.

You never know what to expect on a drive to Atlanta, but you can always count on Atlanta to have HEAVY traffic, especially when you’re rolling through at rush hour.  We always leave hella early when we have to be somewhere in Atlanta just in case, and Wednesday was no exception. 

This concert was at a venue in Duluth which was slightly farther than most of the venues, and our GPS ended up telling us that the fastest route was to get off the main highway, so we ended up following it, and it took us on some crazy journey of backroads through neighborhoods only to put us right back on the same highway miles down the road. 

The whole time, the traffic was absolutely hideous, and we watched our ETA get later and later and later as the drive went on.  When we first got in the car, the ETA said 6:18 which was perfect since the show was at 7:30, but with all of the traffic we ended up walking into the venue at 7:15 and we still had to go to the bathroom, grab dinner, and find our seats.  Sigh.

We’d been stalking the details from Pentatonix’s other shows, and they pretty much always start about 10 minutes late, so we knew we’d have a little extra time, but not much.  When we got inside the venue, we hauled it to the bathroom, and then we had to wait in the longest line for food and drinks – argh – and we made it to our seats at, like, 7:35. 

Thankfully, they ended up starting 25 minutes late for our show (probably because there were so many people arriving late thanks to the wonderful Atlanta traffic), so we ended up being in our seats and done eating by the time they walked on stage.  Whew.  We sure did cut it close, though.  Not by choice, though.  Haha.

The next two hours were incredible.  They were full of energy, they were entertaining, their voices were INCREDIBLE, and it was just the best night… truly a dream and a massive check on the bucket list for me!  And I was able to get amazing pictures because our seats were so close!

They sang a few songs, they had a “wheel of songs” that they brought out to sing songs at random, they made up a song on the fly based on suggestions that the audience shouted out, and the kids loved every second.  They were cracking up and dancing and having such a blast.  We also participated in two activities for their TikTok where we all “held space” for the lyrics of Defying Gravity from Wicked, and then they turned the audience into a piano and we all hummed the notes while Scott bounced around the stage like he was on a floor piano.  Brian and the kids and I ended up making it in both of the Instagram Reels but we’re tiny so you can’t really tell it’s us.  Haha.

Then, Kevin, the beatboxer, did a solo performance where he just did his beatboxing, and it was incredible.  Kevin is also an insanely talented cellist, so he and Matt, who is a drummer, did a duet of Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies with their instruments.  It was just so, so good.  The group then did three songs on the back stage, and then they made their way back to the main stage to finish the show.

At one point, they were putting fans in the audience up on the big screens, and I made it on the screen!!!!  Haha.  I tried to snap a picture, but I didn’t have time to let the phone focus before I took the picture, so you can barely see the screen, but that’s me in the bottom left corner.  Haha.

They played so many of my favorites including Mary, Did You Know?, Hallelujah, That’s Christmas to Me, and Evergreen, and all were just so fantastic.  Their song, Evergreen, is about a mother’s love, so they had told everyone in the audience to hold their mothers’ hands during the song, and both of my babies held my hands and I cried through the whole thing.  It’s such a beautiful song.

The girl in the group, Kirstin, is several months pregnant and she looked adorable with her baby bump.  I was absolutely amazed at her endurance all night.  I was so exhausted during both of my pregnancies I can’t imagine getting on stage every night for two hours on my feet and singing.  Haha.

The concert ended a little after 10, and right at the end, the girl in front of us was watching Pentatonix’s Instagram stories, so Olivia’s and my picture showed up.  Haha.  Olivia gasped and got all wide-eyed because she thought it was so cool to see someone else looking at the stories.  Social media is so weird, y’all. 

We had to park in a parking garage for the show – Brian and I always DREAD a parking garage because it’s impossible to get out afterward when everyone is leaving at the same time – so we settled in for a very long wait.  Fortunately, getting out wasn’t as terrible as we’d thought it would be, and once we were out of the parking garage, traffic was free-flowing the rest of the way home. 

We ended up getting home around 12:30 AM, and the kids both slept a little on the way home, but it was still a very, very late night for them.  Because we got home so late, we decided to push our alarms back for Thursday morning and let the kids sleep in a little.  Brian and I had to sit with Maui for a few minutes before we could go to bed, so we didn’t end up getting to sleep until nearly 1:30.    

 

Thursday, December 5

Thursday morning, I got up at 7:15 and then we got the kids up at 7:45.  They both did really well considering they’d gotten less than seven hours of sleep (when they usually get 9-10), and Brian and I got them to school at 8:45, so they only missed 45 minutes of first period.  That was the first time in history that I’d ever checked them in late because we always aim to get them there at the beginning of the drop-off window.  So even if there’s bad traffic due to a wreck and we have to wait/reroute, we’re still on time. 

Once I got them checked in at the school office, Brian and I headed off together for a day date AKA a Christmas shopping date.  First up, was Target, of course, and I grabbed a Peppermint Mocha on the way in.  We were able to find a few gifts for the kids and get a few teacher gifts, but it wasn’t quite as productive as I’d hoped.

The rest of the day was spent going all over creation – UPS to do an Amazon return, the library to drop off and pick up a book, Barnes & Noble to check out their Lego and arts/crafts stuff, HomeGoods (soooo excited we finally got one!), Spencer Gifts to see if they had any fun gag gifts for the kids (they did not, and I hadn’t been in one of those in, like 20 years, haha), Hobby Lobby to grab some ribbon to finish my Christmas décor, Chick-Fil-A for lunch, and then the post office to drop a couple of packages and buy stamps for Christmas cards.

When we got home, I had just enough time to log the stuff on my Christmas gifts spreadsheet and get the gifts hidden, and then it was time to leave to pick up the kids from school.

They were both looking chipper for having had less than seven hours of sleep, and they both reported that they’d had a good day even with the lack of sleep. 

They both had music lessons after school, so we headed there next, and Jacob worked on three songs in his sheet music book.  Olivia’s guitar teacher had decorated his door all cute for Christmas, so of course, we had to snap a picture. 

During Olivia’s lesson, she showed Mr. Steve how she’d written song lyrics and a melody (months ago) and she’d taught herself how to play the basic notes on the guitar over the break.  He was SO excited about that, and he worked with her for the rest of the lesson to teach her the chords so she can put it all together.  He also told her that he taught guitar to a little girl about 15 years ago, and she now lives in Nashville and has written songs and music for many, many famous singers (mostly country singers).  He said that she came in one day when she was little, she sat down in her seat, and told him the exact same thing that Olivia had told him – that she had written lyrics and a melody and she wanted to learn how to play it.  So maybe we’ll have a famous songwriter on our hands one day?  ;o)

After lessons, we headed home, and Olivia worked on homework while I did my Bible study.  Brian and I made breakfast for dinner, and we had mimosas with it since we had champagne leftover from Thanksgiving.

After dinner, I forced myself to do a stair stepper workout even though all I wanted to do was get into my PJs.  It was cold, I was tired from being up so late the night before, and I wanted nothing more than to go plop down on the couch.  Haha.

After my workout, I got in my PJs and I did just that.  We all watched the finale for Is It Cake? Holiday (it was only four episodes) and then the kids went to bed a little early since they’d gotten no sleep the night before.

Brian and I ended the night with an old episode of Shark Tank, and then we went to bed early, too.

 

Friday, December 6

Friday was FREEEEZING, but thankfully, I had nowhere to be, so I got in some sweats and snuggled up at my computer for most of the day, catching up on blog work and looking at our Christmas gift situation.

At 3, I grabbed the kids from school and then we headed home, with no place to be for the rest of the evening.  That was a nice little treat after the long week we’d had. 

When we got home from school, the kids cleaned out their backpacks, loaded their water bottles in the dishwasher, and tidied up, and then I let them have some screen time for a couple of hours.  It’s been so cold lately we haven’t had much outdoor time.  Olivia actually worked on crafting a Taylor Swift banner to hang on her mirror.  I think it’s safe to say that she’s obsessed.  ;o)

While they did that, I got my Bible study done, and then I did some more blog work.  I got organized for Saturday since we had a busy day, and Brian picked up barbecue from our favorite local place for dinner while I whipped up some Moscow Mules. 

After dinner, the kids got showered, and while they did that, I made cinnamon muffins for my girls brunch the next day.  While those were in the oven, I finally got the ribbons on our banisters to complete our Christmas decorations.  Hobby Lobby only had three spools left, so I had to make do, which meant that the ribbons had to be shorter than I’d wanted, but I think it still looks good.  The ribbon is just not quite as dramatic as I wanted.

Once the kids were ready for bed and the muffins were baked, we all sat down and watched the new animated Christmas movie That Christmas on Netflix.  It was done by the same guy who did Love Actually which is one of my favorite movies of all time, and there were soooo many Love Actually Easter eggs in it.  Be warned, though, that there are a couple of irreverent parts at the very beginning, and I’ve been seeing some people upset by it on social media.  But if you know the guy who wrote it and you’ve seen Love Actually, then you’ll know that the first scene (a school Christmas play) somewhat mirrors the absurdity of the school play at the end of Love Actually.  I personally think that one part during the school play is a bit cringe, but it will go over most kids’ heads.  And when it comes down to it, the movie is really sweet and overall, it has a good message… multiple, actually.

After the movie was over, the kids proceeded to dress up in every single one of our Christmas props and dance around the house all goofily.  There is never a dull moment with these two.  I just love them so much.

We ended up getting them in bed a little after 10, and then Brian and I watched an episode of The Chosen before switching to college football, and I livestreamed The Eras Tour, Vancouver, Night one until about 12:30 AM.  I really wanted to stay awake for the surprise songs, but they weren’t due to start until around 1:15 AM my time, and I just couldn’t keep my eyes open that long.

Saturday, December 7

Saturday morning, we slept in, and I made homemade waffles for breakfast.  After breakfast, I sat down with Maui and my hot tea and watched ESPN College GameDay which was live from yet another one of our Georgia games.  It was SEC Championship game day in Atlanta, and we had another matchup with Texas. 

I had really wanted to go run, but it was freezing all morning, so that was out, and since I had a girl’s brunch to get to, I ended up not working out at all.  I’ve been lazy the last few weeks.

I got all dressed up in my bow shirt and my bow shoes – any excuse to wear the shoes! – and then I headed to my friend, Jessica’s house with my cinnamon muffins and a wrapped ornament in tow.

Our entire group was finally able to make it on Saturday (we usually have one or two missing since we’re all so busy), so it was a real treat.  My friend, Jessica, is the hostess with the mostest, and she had the most beautiful charcuterie board along with a cocktail (my Winter White Cosmo Bonefish copycat recipe!) and a non-alcoholic cocktail.  Her house was decorated beautifully, and she had done an amazing tablescape.  We always love when she hosts because everything is so festive!

When everyone arrived, we got drinks and enjoyed grazing on the charcuterie board, and eventually we all sat down to eat.  Everyone brought a dish, so we ended up with my cinnamon muffins, cheese grits, sausage balls, a spinach tomato quiche, a raspberry peach cake, cranberry orange muffins, and fruit.  Everything was so yummy!

After lunch, we all sat down to do our ornament exchange, and we did the “Dirty Santa” thing – where everyone draws a number and then you go around selecting a wrapped ornament or stealing from others.  I ended up stealing the cutest ugly sweater ornament with a mirror ball ornament on it and it is just the cutest thing!

These ladies and I have all known each other for 28 years – since we were all freshmen in high school – and I have known several of the girls even longer than that – since grade school and middle school – and I am so grateful for each and every one of them.

We wrapped up the party at three, and I headed home.  The kids had just come in from playing outside, and they were settling in for video games.  I intended to get some work done and get some of our Christmas cards addressed, but I just really didn’t feel like doing anything after my day-drinking.  Lol.  I ended up doing a couple of necessary things in my office for about ten minutes, and then I headed down to watch the SEC Championship game with B.

Maui was a little “off” on Saturday and all she wanted to do was lay in my lap, so I ended up sitting down on the couch for the entire game with her sleeping in my lap.  And she was laying really weird… she always lays in my lap facing to the left, but Saturday she was laying face down with her front legs both out, so I was wondering if her right leg was bothering her and she didn’t want to lay on it?  It was so strange and it made me wildly unproductive, but I just wanted my girl to be comfy.  I did get the Christmas cards stuffed in envelopes but that was about as far as I got. 

At halftime, Brian picked up pizza and then we resumed the game on the couch after dinner.  It was yet another nail biter, but we ended up winning in overtime even though our QB1 went out with an arm injury right before the end of the second quarter and our second-string quarterback had to play.  In overtime, our QB2 took a massive hit to the head (that the officials said was NOT targeting which is just INSANE – do not get me started), so he had to sit out what ended up being the final play of the game, and they brought our QB1, Carson Beck, back in with his dangling, useless right arm for him to hand off the ball and have it run in for a touchdown for the win! 

It was an INCREDIBLE finish – another instant classic – and we were all in disbelief that we’d won after all of the craziness that had happened to our quarterbacks.  Thank goodness we are ranked high enough to be one of the lucky few to have a bye in the first round of the playoffs because both of our quarterbacks have some serious healing to do. 

After the game, I really wanted to get up and get a few things done, but poor Maui just wasn’t feeling well and I couldn’t bear getting up and leaving her, so we all settled in for the Jimmy Fallon Christmas special.

After that, the kids went to bed, and Brian and I flipped back and forth between two of the other conference championships. 

My throat had started feeling itchy late in the evening, so I made a hot toddy, and by bedtime, I felt like I was coming down with something.

 

Sunday, December 8

Sunday morning, I felt yucky when I woke up.  I had a decent amount of congestion in my throat, and I had a little cough, but I also had mild body aches and a dull headache.  Sigh. 

I got up a little earlier than usual because I couldn’t sleep anymore from the headache, and then I headed downstairs to start the cinnamon rolls, unload the dishwasher, and hand wash a few things.  By the end of breakfast, I really wasn’t feeling well – mostly just from the mild aches – but my body also felt really tired. 

I took some Ibuprofen for the body aches and headed to my office to try to get some stuff done, but it was tough to stay upright because all I wanted to do was lay down.  I also started getting mild chills before the Ibuprofen kicked in, and my forehead thermometer gave a reading of 100.1 which is very high for me since I usually run around 97.6.  The forehead thermometer is finicky, though, so I always take it with a grain of salt.  I wasn’t able to use an oral thermometer, though, because I’d been drinking hot tea and ice-cold water, so there’s no way it would have given an accurate reading.

Anyhoo, something was clearly not right, so I watched my Sunday morning sermon online, I got my planner ready for the week ahead, and then I went and crawled right back into bed because I couldn’t sit up anymore.

I stayed in bed for about 45 minutes, and I think I dozed for a few minutes, and then I woke up when Brian came in the room to get ready to go to his mom’s for lunch.  We had my nephew’s birthday to celebrate there and then we were supposed to go to my friend’s kids’ play, but since I was feeling so bad, I didn’t want to risk bringing my germs to anyone, so I canceled it all.  And it’s a good thing I did, because Monday I tested positive for Covid.  Yuck.

Brian still took the kids to his mom’s and I stayed home in my PJs with Maui and *tried* to get some stuff done, but it didn’t go well.  I ended up talking to my mom on the phone for, like, 30 minutes, and she still sounded terrible, too.  She’d been sick for almost 14 days at that point and was still struggling to get rid of her cough.  It had been 11 days since I’d seen her at that point, though, so I know whatever I got didn’t come from her!

While Brian and the kids were gone, I did work on a blog post, and I managed to transfer my photos from my phone to the computer, but that was about it.  I had to take lots of breaks since I wasn’t feeling great, but honestly, it could’ve been worse… that Ibuprofen really helped!

I watched Serendipity, drank TONS of fluids, ate a very healthy lunch, took my vitamins, and did every single thing possible to flush the sickness out of me as quickly as possible.

Brian and the kids got home late in the afternoon and the kids got everything tidied and ready for Monday, and then they played video games for a bit.  They’d had a good lunch and played badminton at Nana and Poppie’s with their cousins.  I was glad they were able to get some good outdoor time because it’s been really cold here and they haven’t gotten out much lately.

I stayed in my office the rest of the afternoon and worked on my Bible study, and then Brian picked up sandwiches from Jersey Mike’s since we had no food in the house.  I was due to go grocery shopping on Monday, so we were down to nothing!

While he was gone, I got a bit of a second wind (or a first wind, maybe?  Haha) and I was able to get some dishes done, get the downstairs tidied, and put away a few things that had been sitting out all weekend. 

When Brian got home, we all ate dinner together and then the kids got showered and ready for bed.  We watched some of the Rockefeller Christmas Tree Lighting that we’d recorded and then the kids headed to bed. 

Brian made me a hot toddy while we watched some of an old Shark Tank episode, and then we headed to bed early.

Happy Wednesday, y’all!