Alabama + Graffiti

Last week was definitely the busiest week we’ve had of summer.  I think I’m still recovering from it – as in forcing myself to bed at 9 every day this week.  I’m really happy that we’re having an eventful summer, because as mentioned sappily before on this here blog, we only get so many summers with our kids before they leave us.

Monday was the only day I didn’t have plans last week – I say “I” because B still had to take Sheff to soccer practice, and also take and pick him up from his baseball camp last week.  I made chicken alfredo for dinner, and we called it a night.

Tuesday we went to Sheff’s game at the Y in Alabaster – it felt like the seventh circle of hell outside, and I have no idea how those kids were running around in it.  I think they won, but honestly, there is no one who is keeping record of the scores of the teams, so it really doesn’t matter.  He had a good time, and his friend was there, and he has taken a liking to the sport, so there you have it.

 

Wednesday, we had tickets to the World Games softball bronze medal match.  It was Taipei vs. Australia, and even though it was supposed to rain all night, it didn’t.  The weather was perfect, and I was really glad that we went.  It was our last event for the World Games, so we geeked out and got t-shirts.  It was definitely more fun than I thought it would be.

Thursday, I had a girl’s night out with my girl Lindsey.  We hadn’t seen each other in forever, and we had signed up for a flower class at Post Office Pies in Mountain Brook.  We had some wine, ate an amazing pizza, and went home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers that we had arranged.  Side note: that will definitely never be a profession of mine.  It was so nice to catch up on each other’s lives and just hang out for a night.

Friday afternoon, Sheff’s best friend invited him out to the Y for cookie cake and swimming since they couldn’t make his birthday party the next day.  Before we headed over there, we went to the library to pick up some books and get Sheff’s reward for 500 pages.  It was so sweet of them to get him a cake and gifts – Sheff felt like a million bucks.  They played in the pool for a couple of hours, then we headed home for pizza and a screening of the “Bob’s Burgers Movie,” which was awesome.

Saturday we got up and got the finishing touches for Sheff’s party.  Picked up his cake and made up the goody bags, and then we were good to go!  Sheff wanted a bowling party, so a bowling party we had.  It was actually a super cheap option, even adding pizza and drinks, and no clean up!  He had his two buds from school there with him – they bowled for two hours, ate pizza and cake, opened presents and then it was over.  Having a summer birthday is rough, so I think this may be the end of birthday parties – we had a few people RSVP that didn’t bother showing up, and it put a bad taste in my mouth for going forward.  We may just take the day off work and do fun things all day for his actual birthday – and have a few kids over for pool time and cake.  But that’s another discussion for another day – Sheff had a great time, and that’s all that matters.

And then, on Saturday night, our neighbors were throwing a luau, so we definitely had to attend.  Of course, they had done an amazing job decorating their house and all the food, drinks, etc, were on-theme.  Sheff had a few friends to run around with, and we had some food and some beverages, chatted with the neighbors, helped clean up and went on home.

Sunday, B’s parents came up for one more birthday celebration for Sheff.  He opened his presents, and then we went out for Mexican.  After they left, we spent the rest of the day watching Tomorrowland – ate dinner and all went to bed early.

Luckily, we don’t have nearly as busy a week as last week.  We’ve only got a soccer game for today planned, and then it’s business as usual for the rest of the week.  We were super exhausted, but we definitely did have fun!!

This weekend was a fun one!  We packed a ton in, and oh yeah, we celebrated double birthdays!!

On Friday, B and I set up Sheff’s new room – his birthday present from us.  We bought him a loft bed with a desk underneath, which completely opened up his room, and gave him space to draw, color and do his homework.  He got a sweet lava lamp and a gaming bean bag chair to round it out.  We made a frozen pizza with mozzarella sticks for an appetizer for dinner and called it a night.

I got up early on Saturday to get a workout in and shower before heading to the airport to pick up my sister!!  She was coming in for her and Sheff’s joint birthday celebration.  As soon as we dropped them off at the house, we were off to Sumo Wrestling for the World Games!  We met up with some friends at the venue and had a great time.  I’m glad that we got to go to an event while the World Games were in town – we have tickets to softball tonight, but the weather is supposed to be garbage, so we’re hoping for a reschedule.  It felt like such a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I’m glad Sheff got to be able to see it.  When we got home, my sister and I went snack and booze shopping and came home to just chill before our evening got started.  Sheff had a babysitter that night, so the four of us could go out and have a good time.  Unfortunately, the weather had other plans for us.  We got drenched walking to the restaurant – Five Points Oyster House – and had to basically eat our dinner in soaking wet clothes.  It will definitely be a dinner to remember though!  We had plans to go out to fun rooftop bars, but with the weather, we all went home to change into leggings and hit up On-Tap by the galleria.  We were the only people in there – had a few drinks and a celebratory shot and went home.  We had a few more drinks and played Beat Saber and then went to bed pretty late.

Sunday was my sister and Sheffield’s birthday!!  I still can’t quite believe that I have a seven year old now, but it’s the truth.  Sheff opened his presents in the morning, and my sister and I went shopping around.  After we got back, we did the activity that Sheff picked : Dave & Busters!  We always have a blast there playing the games, and Sheff was running around like a crazy person.  After all the credits had run out, we went home and got in the pool, then got ready for the Taco Mama tradition.  We ate tacos and cheese dip and a pitcher of adult beverages, and my sister and Sheff got their traditional picture in front of the green door.

Sadly, that 7 balloon took a trip to the sky, but we still had cake and sparkler candles and everyone was happy.

It was a super fun weekend, but I was definitely in the bed by 8pm on Monday.  We’ve got a pretty busy weekend on deck, but should start to slow down by the beginning of the week!  Hope you’ve had a great start to the week!

Spoot,

I can’t believe that you’re seven years old – the time has seemingly flown by.  That old saying, time is a thief, continues to be true. In about a month’s time, you’ll be a second grader.  I can’t wait to see what all you accomplish during that year, but l don’t want to push time away even further.

I hope that you stay as curious and as happy as you are.  You always have a question (which, not to lie, can be daunting), but then you always have a smile.  It’s amazing to watch how you read people, and can pick up on moods and emotions quickly.  You know when someone is not feeling good about themselves or are sad, and you are right there to cheer them up.  I saw that time and time again this season during baseball.

You still love animals, and you still want to be a vet when you grow up.  You’ve added scientist and astronaut to the list too, but your number one love still continues to be animals.  You love to read, and you’re really good at it.  I love our lengthy trips to the library – even it means you playing Roblox on one of the tablets while making a friend who’s sitting right next to you.

I love how the first thing you do in the morning is give hugs and say good morning.  I love how excited you get when we say we’re going to visit someone: whether it be your best friend or a neighbor.  I love how, like your Dad, you always want dessert.  You love balloons, party pizzas, trips to the zoo, the beach and Legos.  Roblox and Ladybug are way up on the list, too, and you’re always up for Bob’s Burgers in bed with mom and dad – especially when we let you pick the episode.

You believe in the best in everyone and everything – you are the sunshine that breaks through the clouds on a rainy day.  I will never stop believing that.  You’re the best little dude – never stop being you.

Love,

Mama

We had a busy, but good Fourth of July weekend.  We are trying to jam pack so many things into the summer- I keep reading things that remind me that we only get 18 summers with these kids, and even though I am working every day during the week, we are trying to make it as memorable as possible.

We started out Friday by driving down to B’s parents house to celebrate his dad’s birthday.  There were steaks and cake and vodka drinks, and it was a good time.

We got up Saturday morning and drove down to my dad’s place.  Sheff ate a quick sandwich and then got straight in his swimsuit and in the pool.  Then we all followed in.  It was such a nice day, and the water was perfect.  We had happy hour with dad’s margaritas and snacks.  We had our Fourth cookout on Saturday (since we had to leave early on Monday), and then had an early 7th birthday celebration for Sheff.  My dad had gotten him an ice cream cake and a few gifts – after, we all got back into our swimsuits for a nighttime swim, followed by nightcaps on the patio and bed time.

Sunday was supposed to be our beach day, but the weather ended up being pretty crappy, so we settled for lunch out, and a pool party.  While waiting for the weather to clear, we got in about eight thousand rounds of Uno, and then even busted out the poker set to play some hands.  It was a ton of fun, and when we tried to order pizza for dinner, but were told it would be two hours for pickup, we threw in a frozen pizza and snacked on the leftover food.  We did sparklers and watched some of dad’s neighbors set off some pretty good fireworks.

We got up early on Monday to drive back home and hopefully miss all the holiday traffic.   It was glorious, as we ran into zero and made it home right around lunch time.  Sheff’s next-door friend came over, and they played in the pool and in the backyard until it was time for us to head to get our spot for fireworks.  We’ve sat in the same spot for forever – so we were lucky to claim it again.  Unfortunately, it did rain a good bit before the fireworks, so we didn’t get to actually “tail gate,” but was still fun nonetheless.  We ran into an old daycare friend of Sheff’s, and Sheff passed out glow sticks to everyone.  He loves doing it so much.

The Fourth has always been one of my favorite holidays, and my relationship with it was complicated this year.  Compounding that feeling was the shooting that took place in IL- it actually gave me pause when thinking about what we were going to do that night.  There truly are no “safe spots,” and it can absolutely happen anywhere at anytime and that is terrifying.  We, as a country, need to stop fighting over every little thing, and find a way to come together on the big and important things.  What we’ve got now is beyond broken, but not beyond repair.

Our first Saturday since March without baseball had us sleeping in late and lounging around all morning.  I got a book finished, and then Sheff and I went outside to get in the pool.  After being outside all afternoon, I went inside to get ready for our early anniversary celebration.  I had decided to start saving money on my hair, so I tried out Madison Reed hair color for the first time ever – I absolutely loved it.  No paid plug or anything – I took the quiz for what I was looking for, how experienced I was coloring my own hair, and then a week later, it was at the house.  I matched with the color Napoli Brown, and I absolutely love the color.  I highly recommend checking them out if you’re in the market of doing your own hair color.

Sheff’s babysitter got to the house around 6, and we took off.  We went to Red and White – a cute little wine bar in the Forest Park area.  We picked out a bottle of wine and shared a cheese plate, and it was all so good.  We had no idea what all they had at that place, but really glad we checked it out, because we’ll definitely be back.  Then we headed to Helen for a super fancy anniversary dinner.  Since it was Anthony Bourdain day, we both tried something completely new to us: fish collars, and they were so good.  After dinner, I made B drive by Sloss Furnace so we could see the new light installation.  Then my most favorite thing of the night – we went to Publix, got a bottle of wine drove up to the old Tip Top Grill spot, sat in the tailgate and listened to music while we drank the wine straight from the bottle.  It felt so rom-com: it was perfect.

Sunday – we went over to a friend’s house so the kids could play in the sprinkler and the moms could have a few beverages and chat.  Then, grocery shopping, and honestly doing nothing else but slugging around the house.  I don’t much care about screen time anyway, but especially during the summer, while he’s at camp outside all day, and then playing outside and having soccer twice a week – I don’t mind him chilling on the weekend with his pad or watching shows.

Yes, Sheff is now playing soccer, too.  With the camp registration, you get one free summer sport – and since Sheff was too young for the 3×3 basketball, he chose soccer.  He’s got one of his good friends from camp on his team, and they are so sweet together – plus she’s really good.  They had their first game last night – Sheff scored two goals and seemed to pick up on how to play pretty quick.  The game ended in a 3-3 tie – but honestly, I don’t even think the kids cared.

Sheff got to play 3 out of the 4 quarters – and this was him and his bud Jackson taking a break in the 3rd.   I love getting to watch him play sports – he’s always so determined and he has energy for days.

We’ve got some plans for the Fourth, so looking forward to the long weekend and hopefully things at work slow down as the week goes on.  Hope y’all have had a good start to the week.