Our Week - The One with Getting Home from Nashville and My Birthday

Hey, y’all!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I’m popping in with a quick recap of our weekend.  We were out of town all last week, so I’ll be recapping those posts separately, but in the meantime, here’s how we spent our weekend…

Friday, April 4

Friday, we arrived home from our trip around 3:30 which was much earlier than anticipated, so I was grateful to have some extra time to get caught up on everything.  I am not one to leave a suitcase packed after a trip, and I literally hit the ground running every single time we come home from a trip.  Brian, the kids, and I had the car unloaded and everything unpacked and put away within an hour or so, and I started laundry while we were at it. 

I knocked out four loads – the kids’ sleeping bags, our sheets, some clothes, and a big load of towels – over the next couple of hours, and then I headed to my office to start catching up on life stuff.  On the agenda – I caught up my planner, my gratitude journal, my prayer journal, and my devotional.  I had brought all of that along with me, but we were on the go constantly for this trip, so I never had time to look at it.

While I hadn’t gotten remotely caught up on everything that needed to be done, I felt super accomplished, and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing.  Brian picked up Olive Garden for dinner and we mixed up some Moscow Mules, and then we just hung out for the rest of the evening.  Jacob played some piano, Olivia played some guitar, and I favorited the best pictures from our trip in my camera roll and uploaded them to Facebook. 

We got the kids in the bed around 9:30 – a bit earlier since we’d had a bunch of late nights – and then Brian and I watched the episode of The White Lotus from the previous week that we’d missed while we were out of town.

 

Saturday, April 5

Saturday was my birthday!!  Brian offered to pick up donuts and coffee or whatever else I wanted, but since we’d eaten a ton of donuts and other junk on our trip, I just wanted to make our usual homemade waffles for breakfast instead.

After breakfast, the kids got their laundry going and then Brian and Jacob went to the salon so Jacob could get a haircut.  While they were out, they were kind enough to grab a couple of things for me that I needed so I didn’t have to leave the house.  And while they were gone, Olivia cleaned the kids’ bathroom and worked on some crafting. 

While she did that, I transferred all of our vacation pictures from my phone to my computer and I started organizing those.  It’s always a big job after a trip because I take wayyyy too many pictures.  While the pictures were transferring, I also got my quiet time done, including a Bible study, because I hadn’t done a Bible study in nearly a week.  

I also got my new Nashville stickers added to my bulletin board over my desk.  I just love this space so much... it's filled with memories, keepsakes, favorite things, photos, inspiration, song lyrics, and artwork the kids have made for me throughout the years.

When the boys got home, I helped B put the groceries away that they’d grabbed, and then Brian went out to mow while I headed out for a run.  That post vacation run is always a super struggle after eating and drinking a bunch of junk all week.  Haha.

When I got home, the kids and I ate lunch while Brian finished mowing, and then I settled in to put together my new cabinet that’s going to hold my record player and albums.  I had ordered it before we left, and it delivered while we were gone, so I couldn’t wait to get it done.

It was super easy to put together, but my back was killing me about 3/4 of the way through, so I stopped for the day as I had other stuff I needed to do anyway.

I headed to my office after that to sort pictures some more, and I also enjoyed a cup of hot tea while I responded to a bunch of birthday texts, Facebook messages, Instagram messages, and emails.  Thank you all for your kind messages!!

By the time that was done, it was time to get ready for 5:30 Mass.  After Mass, we swung by Publix to pick up beer and then through the Panera drive through, and then we drove to my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Chris’s house to (finally!) celebrate Mama Cass’s 96th birthday!  Her birthday was back in March, and we’d had a party planned for her, but we had to cancel it at the last minute because of severe weather.

I had a backlog of birthday messages since I’d been busy for a few hours, so I responded to all of those and chatted with a couple of friends while we ran our errands before the party.

The rest of the evening was spent eating and drinking (bring your own food and drink) at my aunt and uncle’s house with my extended family and celebrating Mama Cass.  Since it was my birthday, too, Mama Cass and I got to celebrate together, and I can’t think of anyone else with whom I’d rather share my day.  She is such an incredible lady!!

This is 96 and 43, y’all!

We got home laaaate, and I still had gifts to open from Brian and the kids.  Brian had already given me an Apple Watch early so I could have it for our trip, but he also surprised me with a UGA sweatshirt that I’d been wanting that had been out of stock forever.  One miraculously came back in stock, and he was able to snag it, so I was excited.

Olivia had also made me a few bracelets and a card, and it was just the sweetest thing.  The "To my favorite girl" and “Maui in heaven” parts of her card got me a little choked up, and I loved her bracelet about Maui, too.  We all miss her so much and talk about her often.  She is always in our hearts.

The kids didn’t get into bed until close to 11, and Brian and I still wanted to watch episode three of Adolescence, so we stayed up extra late doing that.  That show – YEESH, y’all.  Episode three was so hard to watch.  The kid is Jacob’s age on the show, so it hit way too close to home… I just can’t even imagine going through something like that with him.  My gosh.  I will never regret waiting so long to get him a phone, keeping his phone on lockdown, and not letting either of our kids have social media for a very long time.  At this point, I’m thinking 17… maybe 18.  I want them to get on it (only if they want to) while they still live at home so I can be there to help them learn to navigate it before they go off to college, but they will most definitely not be on social media before that.

 

Sunday, April 6

Sunday morning, I slept until almost nine because we’d stayed up so late, and I also had trouble falling asleep.  I ended up staying up until sometime after 2 AM, so I was on the struggle bus when I got up Sunday.

We did cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then I spent the next couple of hours in my office doing more catching up – listening to my sermon, doing yoga, getting my planner ready for the week ahead, working on a blog post for Monday, and sorting through pictures some more since I hadn’t finished on Saturday. 

We went to my mother-in-law and step-father-in-law’s house for lunch to celebrate my birthday, and they made all of my favorites – cheesy chicken, mac n cheese, lawnmower potatoes, broccoli, carrots, garlic cheese biscuits, and dirt cake for dessert.  We were stuffed by the time we were done eating.

I opened my gifts after that, and then the adults hung around the table chatting forever and catching up because it had been a couple of weeks since we’d seen them.  We ended up leaving a little later than usual, and then we had to swing by the gas station to fill up my SUV since we were on empty after our trip.  We got home just in time for a massive storm (and tornado) to blow through.

The local meteorologists had been talking for a few days about how we’d likely have severe weather on Sunday, but they said that the tornado risk was low, so we weren’t worried about it.  Well, when that storm blew through it was crazyyyy.  The wind was insane, it hailed for a few minutes at the beginning, and a lake formed in our back yard within about five minutes because the rain was so hard.  Our back yard is on a slope, so rain usually just runs off, so you KNOW it’s bad when the water pools that quickly.  I didn't get a picture of the pooling water, but I did get a picture of some of the hail when it started to come down.

A couple of minutes later, my girls text chat started blowing up with everyone saying that the tornado sirens were going off and for everyone to take cover and be safe, but the sirens didn’t sound at our house.  My mom texted right after that and said that my sister-in-law (who lives in Huntsville) was monitoring our weather for us as she and my brother always do (because they are weather nerds) and she had called my mom to make sure we were all okay.  She said that she’d spotted rotation on the radar right over us, but that it wasn’t quite a formed tornado.  While they were on the phone, she told them that a tornado had officially formed, but thankfully, it had JUST missed us and was just right down the road and east of us, which meant it was going away from us.

I got on Facebook and, sure enough, everyone was posting photos and videos of the storms and the damage, and it was awful – there were trees down on houses everywhere, numerous power outages, and lots of damages to structures and fences.  Sadly, a father and son were playing golf on the course where Jacob plays his matches for school when the storm blew in, and while they were trying to make their way back to the clubhouse, a tree fell on their golf cart and killed both of them.  It is just so, so sad. 

It continued to storm all afternoon and evening, and while our power flickered a couple of times, thankfully, it never went out.  I was grateful that we were home, safe, and dry.  

On Monday, the National Weather Service came out to survey the damage and they did confirm that it was an EF-1 tornado that had hit.  One neighborhood in particular had heavy damage, and we have many people from our school family who live there, so please keep everyone affected in your prayers.

I finished my blog post for Monday and then I worked on sorting and organizing pictures some more while I watched The Wedding Planner – my Sunday afternoon tradition. 

Thankfully, there was a bit of a break in the weather, so we were able to make it to my parents’ house for dinner uneventfully.  There was debris all over the road and one of the roads to get to their house was flooded a bit (which was weird because it’s a road that never floods), but we were able to make it there just fine.

Momma made all of my favorites for dinner – meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, black eyed peas, biscuits, and a Funfetti cake – yes, the OG box mix that came out in the 90’s.  That has been my cake of choice since I was seven years old!  Ha!

We were suuuuper stuffed after eating two big meals on Sunday, but it was worth it, and it was so nice to be able to celebrate with most of my family.  I have one more celebration with my FIL next weekend, and my birthday will officially come to a close.

When we got home, we got the kids in bed, and then Brian and I watched the season finale of The White Lotus.  Oh man, it was so good, y’all!!  Whew!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!