We are officially done with one of our busiest weeks of the whole year, and it feels so great to have most things off our plates. We only have two more early wakeups, one awards ceremony, and a couple of appointments standing between us and summer break and I absolutely cannot wait for noon on Friday!
Okay, let’s get to the weekly recap. This past week was absolutely bonkers, and we have all the pictures to prove it, so settle in, friends, because this is a long one!
Monday, May 11
Monday morning, Brian and I drove the kids to school together because we wanted to go vote early in the primary election that’s taking place here in Georgia. We love early voting because there’s no line, no waiting, and we’re always in and out in 5-10 minutes. This year the ballot was long, but we got our voting done and then we hit the road. On the way home, we swung by the local print shop to pick up Jacob’s Bible that we had engraved and I love it so much! It is beautiful.
On the way to pick them up, I swung by the mall to return something to American Eagle only to find that they weren’t there anymore. Apparently, they moved months ago to another location here in town and I had no idea.
Jacob had to stay after school for a couple of minutes, so I grabbed Olivia in the car line and then we waited in the parking lot for him. When we got home, I did my devotional for the day and I snuck in a few pages of my book since I’m trying to get through all my library holds. Then I got the kitchen all cleaned up and I prepped everything for Tuesday.
I had dinner with my girlfriends at 6 PM, so I left a little early to go to the new American Eagle to do my return since I’d gone to the wrong location earlier in the day.
My girlfriends and I ate at a local restaurant that recently moved from downtown to a new location. None of us had been to the new location, and it didn’t disappoint. I had a burger with bacon, pimiento cheese, and red pepper jam and it was excellent. We also got the elote street corn dip as an appetizer and that was delicious as well. The owner is one of Brian’s old coworkers, so I’ll have to make sure I send her a note to tell her how much we enjoyed it.
When I got home, I still had time to squeeze in a two-mile walk since it’s now light outside until nearly 9 PM here. And when I got home, I did a 15-minute strength workout (mostly arms) while we watched some more of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with the kids. While we were watching, I told Brian that one of the scenes looked like Winnetka, IL (which we just visited a couple of years ago to see the Home Alone house), and sure enough, I googled it, and there are several scenes that do, indeed, take place there!
Brian’s uncle had to have brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on Monday morning, so my mother-in-law texted us all with an update, and she had great news that he had made it through surgery, and he was awake and communicating. He has a long road of recovery ahead, so he has been in my prayers daily.
Tuesday, May 12
Tuesday, I dropped the kids at school after taking a detour due to traffic being backed up on the highway because of the rain. When I got home, I worked on my blog post for the next day until it was time to go to my therapist’s office to see her. On the way home, I ran a few errands – library, CVS, gas station.
When I got home, I finished the laundry, I finished my blog post for the next day, and I started my blog post for Friday. I also had enough time to tidy my office and purchase a vibration plate (so excited about this!) before it was time to head to the school.
I had to run by the school office to pick up Jacob’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go! book that we’d had his homeroom teacher sign, and then I got in the car line.
When we got home, I finished my book since I was almost done with it, and then I dropped Olivia off at dance. I had to run in and grab a couple of things in preparation for the recital, and then I went back home.
When I got home, I put all the laundry away, I watered the plants, I tidied the whole house, and I did the dishes and cleaned out the kitchen sink.
Then it was time to lace up my tennis shoes and head out for a walk. It was rainy, windy, and so cold on Tuesday – I think we have broken some records this May with these crazy cold temps. It has been insanely cold this winter/spring.
I made mini pizzas for dinner and then we all ate together when Brian and Olivia got home from dance. After everyone was ready for bed, we watched some more of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It took a million years because we watched it on Pluto TV. Pluto TV is free, but there are an insane amount of ads so each movie is, like, a third longer than it should be. Haha.
After the kids went to bed, Brian and I finished SNL from Saturday, and then we went to bed.
Wednesday, May 13
Wednesday, I dropped the kids at school and then headed back home to do all the things:
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Finish blog post for Friday
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Work on blog post for Monday
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Catch up on emails
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Catch up on blog reading
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Catch up on blog comments
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Pull out all of Olivia’s recital stuff and get it
organized
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Label everything for her recital
After that, I made her a quick dinner, and then I dropped her off for her last dance class of the school year!
When I got home, I made dinner for the boys and myself – barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans, and I also made some of Jacob’s favorite cinnamon muffins.
After dinner, we all cleaned the kitchen and then I got out for another walk followed by an arms workout at home. After not using my arms for anything workout related for several years (since my vertigo started) they have gotten soooo weak, so I had to start out with the tiniest weights ever last month when I started working them out again. I was finally able to progress from my three pounders (LOL) to some five pounders (LOL) and I was so excited about that. I’m trying so hard to get my arms and upper back strong again, but it is slow going with my neck issues.
Thursday, May 14
Thursday morning it was so cold outside for mid-May (50 degrees – seriously unheard of here this time of year), so I got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, which is just really odd for the middle of May. Typically by now, we’re well into the 90s during the day and we’re lucky if our lows get below 70.
I took the kids to school, and then I headed to Publix to grab some necessities and pick up a couple of bouquets of flowers for Olivia’s recitals.
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Work on Monday’s blog post (and I almosssst finished
it)
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Wrap Jacob’s Confirmation gift
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Sew the elastic to Olivia’s hats (I’m a bit ashamed
to inform you that it took me nearly an hour, but I’m proud to inform you that
they were both a perfect fit and they stayed in place the whole time she danced!)
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Wash a load of clothes
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Catch up my planner
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Catch up emails
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Prep for Friday since we would be gone all evening
After school, we went to the kids’ last music lessons of the school
year. They’ll pick them back up this
summer when we get back from the beach.
I sat with Olivia this week and she worked on Die on This Hill by
Sienna Spiro. It is such a beautiful song,
and Olivia has picked it up really well.
When we got home, Jacob and Olivia dressed in their Sunday best (on a
Thursday) because Jacob received the Sacrament of Confirmation at church
Thursday evening. Brian got home from
work early and got changed into his suit, and then we all headed to the church,
arriving a little after 5 PM.
Jacob wanted my best friend, Jeannine, to be his sponsor, so she and her son, Mack, joined us. Jacob and Jeannine sat together with all the other Confirmation candidates, and we had the most beautiful Mass with the Bishop and four other priests concelebrating. For those of you reading who aren’t Catholic, in the Catholic church, Confirmation is a Sacrament that seals each candidate with the gift of the Holy Spirit, strengthening them in their faith.
We had 45 kids celebrating their Confirmation Thursday night, most of whom are in Jacob’s class at school, so it was a beautiful evening celebrating with our school family and friends. My mom asked me beforehand if I was going to cry, and I told her I didn’t think I would, but all it took was the Bishop reminding us of the precious moment when we cradled our babies in our arms while they were baptized, and I lost it. Haha.
After Mass, we took lots of pictures, Jacob picked up his Confirmation certificate along with a couple of gifts from the church, and then we hit the road.
We got home around 9:30 PM and Jacob still had to open all his other gifts. We gave him that beautiful Bible with his name engraved on the cover. It’s a notetaking Catholic Bible, and it’s something that he’ll be able to keep his whole life.
The kids got into bed shortly after that, and since it was already well after 10 PM by that point, Brian and I sat on the couch for a few short minutes and then we went to bed. And, of course, Jeannine’s Facebook post made me cry some more.
Friday morning, I dropped the kids at school and then I spent the whole day doing all the things – mostly prepping for Olivia’s recital. I had to finish labeling everything and get everything packed because her dress rehearsal was Friday night.
As I was walking out the door to get the kids, Jacob emailed me (and thankfully I saw it before I left… they can’t have their phones with them at school so he always emails me if he needs to tell me something) and he was telling me that if he turned in his Biology book that day then he was allowed to skip Monday and just be done with school for the year. He’s exempt from all his finals since he has straight As so he doesn’t have to go Tuesday – Friday this week, and Monday was just a review for finals, so there was no need for him to go then anyway.
His Bio book was at home, so I grabbed it and brought it to the car line, and then when he got out of school, he came out to grab it and turn it in, and then he got his friend, Julian, to help him carry all his stuff out from his locker so he wouldn’t have to take two trips. So, he is officially DONE with his ninth-grade year, y’all! A whole week early.
We got home a little later than anticipated since we had to wait for Jacob to do all the things at school, so Olivia and I hit the ground running. We had to get her hair done, her makeup done, finish packing, and eat an extremely early dinner, and we only had 45 minutes to do it because we had to be at the theater by 4:45 PM. Whew.
We ended up arriving right on time and miraculously getting a good parking spot. The theater is downtown and parking is always bad there because it’s such a lively part of town, but on Friday and Saturday nights it’s the worst since everyone is out enjoying all the good restaurants and bars.
Dress rehearsal started a little after 5:30 PM and I spent the rest of the evening videoing Olivia on stage, taking pictures, organizing my pictures, eating snacks, chatting with a few other dance moms, and updating Brian on our progress.
Olivia did an incredible job with all of her dances, and I was beaming with pride through every single one of them. She took seven dance styles this year and she did a few extra dances this year – she was in the jazz opening and finale and she was in the hip hop finale.
And let me tell y’all what – her hip hop finale TOOK ME OUT. She danced to Laffy Taffy by D4L (one of my old clubbin’ songs) and it was the best thing I’ve ever seen. I always love watching her dance on stage, but this dance was beyond. It was the cutest thing and my little girlfriend danced the mess out of it. She is such a star!
First up was lyrical…
The funny thing was that I had no clue that she had been stressing, because the second she went on that stage? She was just as calm and collected and she was BEAMING.
The boys had waited up for us, and when we got home, I took Olivia’s hair down, and she got in bed right away. Jacob was ready to go to bed, too, and then Brian and I decided to YOLO and make toasted marshmallow Old Fashioneds and stay up late. We watched the newest episode of The Testaments, and then finally went to bed just before 1 AM.
Saturday, May 16
Saturday, the boys got up early to get ready for our nephew’s graduation. He attends the same school that our kids go to, but due to timing (Olivia’s recital weekend) and lack of tickets, Olivia and I didn’t go.
I slept in until 9 AM after my late night, and after I said goodbye to the boys, and I had a few minutes of calm before it was time to hit the ground running. So, I grabbed a cup of tea and caught up on a few emails, I rescheduled the kids’ music lessons for our beach week (that I’d almost forgotten about), and I started sorting through dance pictures so I could post a few online.
Olivia got up at 9:45 AM, which is a record for her because on the day after her dress rehearsal she typically doesn’t wake up until 11 AM or noon.
Once she was up, I got her breakfast ready and then I sat with her while she ate. She showered and did her laundry, and I watched our nephew’s graduation online while I started looking over all my lists for the recital.
The boys got home at 11:30 AM and then it was time for me to do all the things – organize all the recital stuff (it’s always a wreck after each show), tidy the house for a bit because it was a wreck, and I got all my daily tasks out of the way since I knew I wouldn’t be around the entire evening and night.
It was time to get showered shortly after lunch, and then I did Olivia’s hair. I am just terrible at hair, and it always stresses me out, but thankfully, Olivia is always patient with me, and her hair turned out great!
While she did her makeup, I got dressed and finished doing my own hair, and then she and I went downstairs to do a little photoshoot of her in every single one of her costumes. And the names in parenthesis were her characters for the production. (And remember, the theme for this was Willy Wonka so there's a lot of candy imagery. And the theme for the Jazz interlude this year was Fashion Week.)
Jazz (Makeup Artists)…
While we did that, Brian picked up a very early dinner from Panera and brought it home, and then the four of us ate together before gathering up all the things and leaving for the theater.
I made it to the lobby before they’d even opened the doors to the theater, and the boys were second in line, so we ended up getting our favorite row, and I was able to get the exact seat I’d sat in during dress rehearsal… the one in the dead center of the stage. We usually sit on whichever side Olivia’s on the most, but this year she was all over the place, so I wanted to be in the center.
The show went off without a hitch, and this year it was only three hours and 15 minutes instead of four hours. It has been four hours (or slightly longer) for the last seven years that she’s danced there, so we were pleasantly surprised that it was that much shorter this year.
The girls put on a phenomenal show, and Brian and I were so proud of Olivia. I could tell that she had spotted us in the audience because she stared straight at me for some of the time, and she hammed it up for us. Haha.
After the show was over, we took more pictures – some with Nana and Poppie since they’d joined us – and then we headed home. And since the show was so much shorter this year, we got home around 11 instead of midnight. The kids both went to bed, and then Brian and I decided to YOLO again and make another cocktail and watch another episode of Our Friends & Neighbors.
Sunday, May 17
Sunday was production #2, but thankfully, we were all able to sleep in until about 8:30 AM after another late night. We had breakfast, I had just enough time to glance over my planner for the week ahead, and then it was time for me to shower, do Olivia’s hair, pack her up (again), eat a very early lunch, and hit the road.
We dropped Jacob off at my MIL and step-FIL’s house so he could hang out with them all day. I didn’t want him to be stuck at home alone all day, and that ended up being a good solution. He was able to play little bit of badminton, he helped groom the cat, and he watched golf with Poppie.
When Brian and Olivia and I arrived at the theater, we grabbed a few pictures, I got OIivia set up in her dressing room, and then Brian and I got our exact same seats again for the Sunday afternoon production.
On the way, Olivia told us all about everything that went on backstage, and she said that she’d helped a bunch of the tiny girls bobbi pin their wigs to their heads so they didn’t fall off like they’d fallen off the previous night. It made me tear up to hear her say that because she’s no long one of the littles at the dance studio… she’s officially one of the older girls helping out with the littles.
After dinner, the kids wanted DQ Blizzards since we were in the area, and we ended up getting home a little after 7 PM which is so much earlier than usual for Sunday recital! So, I decided to go for a walk since I hadn’t walked or worked out in several days.
And that was our long, crazy week!
Happy Wednesday, y’all!
