Weekend

Hope you had a nice weekend!  

Friday afternoon kevin texted me and said he was coming home super early to hang out with Molly Anne. Next thing I know, they’re down in the driveway and she’s squirting him with a watergun! 

I ran to grab Grady and we all hung on the driveway for redneck riviera. We invited our next door neighbors over and it turned out to be a fun night!

They brought over nachos for all to share and the girls all went wild playing!  Grady went to bed around 8 (super late for him!) and the girls went to bed after 10!  They were having so much fun and we are just hanging onto those summer nights! 

Saturday morning I took Grady to get his hair cut at Modern  with Raven. She is soooo sweet to him. He even let her use the big boy razor around his ears and on the back!  Then we got a little treat at a local coffee shop!  Chocolate milk for him and he said “mor mor” when he was finished! 






Molly Anne started tennis Saturday!

Give me a big hug brother!  Thankful for them every second of the day. They are soooo close and I’m so happy for that. 

Their little hands!

We went to the Avett Brothers drive in concert Saturday night so I’ll post about that separately!  Sunday we chilled around the house, all took good naps and got ready for our week!  Grady told me cheeeeeese so I would take his picture!

Happy Monday!  

Seven on Friday

ONE:

Kevin took Molly Anne on a little date with his parents to celebrate his Dad's birthday on Monday night!

TWO:

First day of remote learning and the principal pops into your teacher's classroom to say hi! 

THREE:

Grady has so much fun at school, when he's not being made to nap or when I'm dropping him off!

FOUR:

After school Wednesday, we scooted over to the neighborhood pool!  Nothing a Popsicle and the pool can't cure on hump day!

FIVE:

Playing outside in the driveway - something we haven't done very much this summer because it's been SO hot.  But typically in the Spring and Fall, we live out there!

SIX:

Last night I rode over to my back door neighbor's house and we sat out by her pool and hung out for a bit!  Terrible view huh?!

SEVEN:

School with Mama on Fridays!  The teachers have done an amazing job of changing things up for the children and not sitting at the computer the whole day.  I've been extremely impressed with the activities and how they're making it work!  

Happy Weekend everyone!

Keepin It Real

 Here for a version of Keeping it Real on a Wednesday.

1. The transition back to Grady's school has been rough.  They're doing everything they can to make it easier but Grady is attached to me like nobody's biz!  And they can't get him to nap on the cot.  One reason is because he's never napped on a cot before...and also not with 8 other children in the room.  I was a disaster yesterday about all of the things Grady.  I hope today is better.  It isn't always rainbows and sunshine here!  I lifted weights last night because my mental load was too much.  And my poor mom who had to hear about it all!

2.  Molly Anne's first day of virtual learning was yesterday and of course the link for the course work didn't work properly so she didn't finish until after our babysitter left.  Oh yes, we have Sam helping us three mornings a week, she goes to school one day and then I'm winging Fridays.  That's how we are navigating these times of virtual learning.  Molly Anne and I are like oil and water working on school work together while my mind is on my own work.  So having Sam is AMAZING.  Yesterday when I had to help Molly Anne finish a couple of hours of work, my phone was ringing constantly, I was on a conference call.  It was just a mess.   So, today has gone much better and they are knocking it out!  We can only go up from here.

3.  Last week we had a bunch of work done at our house.  Lots of landscaping - mostly cleaning up our rear natural area, putting pine needles down back there.  And also adding some drainage pipes, digging a ditch and putting mulch all over the yard in the beds.  Our HVAC was fixed.  Some door locking issues were fixed.  This week we are tackling getting some shelving put in our single garage to make that more efficient and we'd like to get some curtains for our dining room and shutters for Kevin's office.  We are also working on figuring out why our Spectrum internet service is so terrible but they think it's a neighborhood problem...and it was like this on Sunday when no one was working or doing school. One step at a time!

4.  This week on the menu - chicken alfredo (I needed comfort food yesterday), bacon/scallion/gruyere cheese quiche with a side salad, garlicky baked shrimp with some fruit tomorrow night then Friday night will probably be mexican.  The kids have been liking nachos lately when we do taco salads.  Something different for them.  

That's what is going on here.  Hope you guys are doing well!  

Random Items

1.  This school supply organizer is so fun.  And it's odd how I love filling it up.  I think I've shared it on here before but with more crafty supplies.  This is more school stuff now that our dining room has transitioned from a lego room to a classroom.  

2.  Grady has loved this sticker book from Amazon.  I wasn't sure if he'd like it but he sat there with me for a good 15 minutes matching up the stickers!

3.  Molly Anne's school water bottle. This is the 18 ounce hydroflask in color watermelon and we added the little boot so it doesn't cling on the table at school and the name sticker so it's easily labeled!  The best part is it goes in the dishwasher...I did slip the boot off for that part although it may be fine in the dishwasher. 

4.  Cutie pie ready for her second day of class in her twirly rainbow dress I wrote about a week or two ago!

Weekend of Birthdays

Friday night we grabbed Mamas Pizza and a couple of salads for dinner. Their pizza is soooo good. It’s in Indian Land, SC.  

Spectrum arrived two hours late for their appointment at 7pm. My Dad (mr computer guru) talked to the guy and we tried to get our internet back working. But it’s still not right and it’s so frustrating!  Dad thinks they need to replace the line from the box to our house. Never a dull moment trying to work from home and do school!

Hilary and Drew came over and we hung out. Started out as a regular night but then got extra lit when our backdoor neighbors came over. Those pictures won’t be posted but we didn’t see the bed until 2am!  Hey, you’re only as old as you feel!  

I did feel kinda old the next morning but I rallied!  

Grady and I went on a walk while I talked to my Aunt!  We had a low key day. 

Mills’ birthday was Saturday and he turned 8!  We celebrated with a homemade goodie and peanut butter cake, his favorite!  Molly Anne gave it to him! 

He got lots of attention (as usual every day) and some extra ear rubs and goodies!  



We had Kevin’s parents, brother and niece over to celebrate his Dad’s birthday a couple of days early!  His birthday is today so happy 71st PapaG!  Kevin grabbed steaks and chicken from the Butchers Market and I did baked potatoes and green beans as the side. I also made this Parmesan artichoke dip for an appetizer which is amazing!  Nana brought an ice cream cake for dessert!









Grady hated the ice cream cake as you can tell! 



These two took Mills on a late night golf cart ride!



Sunday morning we went over to the club for brunch. They rolled out a new menu since they just reopened (since corona) for breakfast and it’s delicious. 

We cuddled with Mills, took long naps (all of us!), then Molly Anne and I went for a bike ride. Came back and Grady and I went for a run. Then when we got home, he wanted to go walk instead of being in the stroller, so we did that too! Kevin made dinner, Molly Anne made craft after craft and everyone was a happy camper for a Sunday night. 

Early to bed because it was a school night!

Happy Monday everyone!

Five on Friday

1. I picked this boy up on Wednesday and he fell asleep on the car ride home from school.  I can count on one hand the number of times my kids have fallen asleep on a short car ride.  It was all he could do to get to an early (6:30pm) bedtime.  I had a lighter than normal work day on Thursday and it was like all of the days of quarantine so I just kept him home with us.  I already had Molly Anne and she didn't have anything for school.  We had a great morning together and he slept for almost 3 hours.  His naptime isn't nearly like it should be at school.  It takes him longer to fall asleep and they only get 2 hours total anyway.  I think the last three weeks had caught up with him.    

2.  Pictures of our morning together.  We went on a bike ride/stroller walk.  Then came home and got some water and then we all walked to the neighborhood playground.  They had a BLAST.  It was so good for them to run around and giggle with each other!!!

3.  While I was at work on Wednesday, Kevin's parents kept Molly Anne.  That was a treat for everyone involved I think, including me haha.  Molly Anne got alllll of the attention for one day and that was special to her to get to be with them.  She didn't want to leave to come home that night!

4.  I saw this organization on Instagram one night this week when I was browsing and it inspired me!  I want to get some big clear containers for markers, pens etc like that.  And maybe one day, the bead board too!

5.  I'm not typically a big Nordstrom sale fan because the stuff always sells out by the time normal people like us can buy anything.  So unless you spend $15,000 a year at Nordstrom (and honestly, who does that unless you're blogging as your full time job), you don't get first choice at anything.  Well, I found a few things last night..

 - I ordered these leggings...I think I'll be living in them this Fall.  

 - I always try to get a pair of booties to wear for the Fall because they usually end up having them in stock all season and the price is way more after the sale (almost double).  I like these because they're a low heel and Vince Camuto is always super comfortable for a long day of wearing. 

 - I don't think you've lived until you've gotten this cardigan from the sale.  I legit wear mine almost every day.  I keep it downstairs in our mudroom and slip it on over a tank top when it's chilly in our house.  Which if you've ever been to my house, you know it always is.  But this cardigan is the best and a really good Christmas present for your Mom, Mother In Law, Friend, Sister in Law, whoever!  True to size on this!

 - I got this wallet from the sale a few years ago and it has held up extremely well.  And it's easy to keep things organized in it.  Oddly I get many compliments on it whenever I take it out to pay for something...ya know when we could go into stores like normal people!!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!