Good Morning, Everyone! I'm back on the deck enjoying the beautiful cool morning air with my iced coffee. The days of summer are rapidly passing by. Very soon school will be started again. I'm looking forward to the kids being back, I know they have missed being at school with their friends. It will be a different kind of year, but I hope it will also be a good year for them.
The last week, I've been taking the kids out to do our special, back to school day. Avery and I went out on Thursday. We had a very busy day! We started by taking her friends home, because we had had a sleep over the night before. She was a little hungry, so next we went to get a donut from Dunkin. Then, we ran to Dillons to grab hand sanitizer, wipes, and paint, to finish up her school supply list. (I totally forgot about the ziplock bags. Going to have to add them to my clicklist today or tomorrow.) At 10am Avery had an appointment to get her hair cut. Since she's wanting it to grow out, it wasn't a real intense appointment. Just a trim, really. Her (our) stylist, Allison, at Eric Fisher East, evened everything out, so it was the same length all the way around. Avery also talked her into styling her hair for her. So she got it blowdried and some big, beautiful loose curls put in. Everywhere we went for the rest of the day, she was asking workers, "Did you notice my new haircut??" She was so proud! <3
After her haircut, Avery decided she wanted to go to the zoo, after I listed a bunch of possible activities to do. We haven't been in over 6 months. It was nice to get back for a bit. While we were there, she got hungry, so we went to the Beastro for lunch and she had a cheeseburger and fries. After lunch we checked out a bit more of the zoo before we had to go to our appointment for pedicures. But before we got all the way out, we stopped in the gift shop and Avery picked out a new mask and a stuffed animal to bring home, Nancy Fancy, the snake. ;) When we go out for activities and things, a lot of the time, I say no when asked if we can get this or that. On our special back to school day, I almost always say yes. It's like our own, special "Treat Yo Self" day. :D
I think the princess pedicure is one of the things Avery looks forward to the most at the beginning of the school year when she and I go out together. We get our toes done, she gets a design painted on hers, she gets a snack, and we enjoy the massage chairs. For the 3 or 4 years we've done this together. We go to Classy Nails on north Greenwich near Cabela's. They are so nice and personable! We really always have a great experience. It's a little pricier than some other places around town (Sis, Mama, and I usually go to Ivy Nails near my house because the price is so much lower, and I've had a pedicure at Beau Monde before, which was also really good but super spendy), but they have the smaller princess chairs for Avery and it's just another part of the experience that makes it special for her. So we spend a little extra once a year to really spoil her before school gets started. :)
After pedicure we decided we needed a treat. I asked Avery what ype of thing she thought sounded good, and she said ice cream. Having just finished another August BuyICT Challenge (and winning a $50 Meddy's gift card, I might add), I was thinking we needed to do something local for our treat. Instead of ice cream, we landed on Gelato from Cocoa Dolce. When I was growing up, Daddy used to say I had champagne tastes on a beer budget. But I didn't get pedicures before I started Kindergarten or introduced to the wonders of Cocoa Dolce until much later in life. Bless her future husband... I hope he makes bank... Cause I am certainly introducing her to some costly indulgences, lol! At least Michael makes enough that she and I can go out and do some of these fancy things once or twice a year. He's more of a burgers and pizza guy, so there's a little extra spending money in the budget for Avery and me. ;) Oh yeah, she got a macaroon too, because they are just too pretty! #TreatYoSelf
All in all, Avery and I had a great day. It's fun to say yes and really spoil her. I was plenty worn out by the time our day was over. But my girl is non-stop, so shortly after we got home she was asking to go to the park. I made her a little sad when I explained that we'd been out all day and I wasn't going, and worse, no, she wasn't allowed to go by herself. Fortunately, though, she got to go the next day with Mama as well as Michael. She was hot and tired by the end. Michael made sure she stayed out and played since that's what she'd been begging for for two days. She hasn't asked to go back since... LOL!
Connor's and my day was a little different. Although I planned on a very similar day, Connor didn't need a haircut, because he'd just gone out with Michael to get one, and didn't want a pedicure. That was fine. We'd still find plenty to do. However, shortly after getting out of the shower, Mama came in and said Daddy had fallen off the ladder and was home bleeding and that she needed to go. I went with her. Daddy was fine, although pretty beaten up. We brought him back to town with us and he rested as Avery and Mama had their day and Connor and I left for ours. So our day started closer to noon than breakfast time, but we stayed out a little later than Avery and I did, so it all worked out. :)
Before we went to Towanda, I asked Connor if he wanted to go out for breakfast or have it at home. We had Crunch Berries at the house, so he said he wanted breakfast at home, but also that he wanted to go out. I told him we'd go out for lunch. So that's how we ended up starting our day. He wanted pizza. And, as I did with Avery, I tried to steer him towards something local. He jumped at the chance to go back to Ziggy's. He ordered an entire pepperoni pizza for himself (leftovers of Ziggy's are never a problem in our house). He even ordered a "Sunday Funday" and got to enjoy a giant bowl of ice cream after he was done eating pizza. To say he was a happy camper would be underplaying it a bit. ;)
After lunch Connor was anxious to get to the zoo. He had heard about Avery going the day before and he definitely wanted to go too! I gave him a list of a lot of places to go, but the zoo was already decided in his mind. We ended up being there for 3 hours!! He had a great time walking around and seeing the animals. He was so cute, posing for pictures! "Hey mom! Get a picture of me with the giraffe statue and the real giraffe!" "Hey mom! Will you take a picture of me with the bison? Did you get the real bison n the picture?" I just love him so much! He's so stinkin cute! After our trip, we too went to the gift shop to pick out something special to take home. I can count on one hand the number of times they've gotten to buy stuff from the zoo gift shop, even though we've probably been there a hundred times. So being able to buy something is a pretty big deal. Instead of a $5 stuffed animal, like Avery picked, Connor was drawn to a large gray and white wolf that looks like his Build a Bear Husky puppy, Timber. It was $20, which is really more than I wanted to pay for another stuffed animal. He looked around for something cheaper when I suggested maybe we get something a little smaller, and would have found something, he's sweet like that if I say something is too expensive, he accepts it and moves on. But when he didn't settle on something after several minutes, I asked again if he wanted the wolf. He said he liked it, but it was too much money. That wasn't what I wanted him to leave feeling like. Heck, Avery and I had gone out the day before for expensive pedicures, and all Connor was asking for was a stuffed animal to match the one he's loved for over 5 years. So I told him we'd get it. What's $20 in the long run? I told Connor to give him a great big hug and see if he was just right. He did, and his eyes lit up. He loves it. :) So that's what Connor got. None of the masks struck his fancy, so the wolf was all we took home that day. Connor's arms need to grow a little more now to hold all of the stuffed animals he loves dearly. Right now, the ones he's clinging to most are Timber, Rocky (the wolf), and Floppy (his coyote from Mammoth Caves National park). He's such a sweet kid, and a total animal lover. I love him so much!
After the zoo, I told Connor we had time to go out and do one more thing if he wanted. Of course, being put on the spot like that, he didn't really have a plan. I named several activities or special things we could do, but he was struggling to pick. Then, I asked if he wanted to just go home and go to the pool or play his video games. He thought going home for video games sounded good. Even though it was a Friday, I gave him a pass on his list since he'd been out with me all day. He was so excited to get home and talk to Michael about video games and show Rocky to Michael and Avery. It was a very Connor decision. We went out and did a little, but in the end, he's a bit of a home body like his dad. We both enjoyed the quality time together though, and I hope his day was great. Avery and I both tend to wear our emotions on our sleeves, so I can see what a good day she's having. Connor processes so much internally, that I often wonder if he's having as much fun. They're just different kids. I love them both so much and had so much fun with them! I'll have to post pictures of our days later, as I'm currently typing on the chromebook and all the pictures haven't uploaded to the cloud yet.
Saturday, Michael and I did a special day together as well. I had told him, maybe a month ago, I would really like to go on a date. Let me know if you need help planning a sitter or any activities. We went out on a date night while we were in Tennessee and it was great! I wish we had the time and resources to make date nights like that happen more often, but we just don't. Fortunately, we can still have nice days together at home, or nice dates with the kids included. However, sometimes I don't want to divide my attention between him and the kids or stay at home watching a movie or tv like we do many night. Every now and then, I want to go out and do things. I'm not the home body my guys are, and being home too much can get me in quite a funk. I've ebbed and flowed through that over the past 6 months as we navigate through life with the ever present danger of COVID. So I try not to be too demanding, because I know now isn't the best time to go out and do a lot. But it was something I needed, even if it wasn't much, just some time to focus on one another and get away for a minute. We had a great Date Day on Saturday together. Huge Thank You to my mom for watching the kids all day for us (about 12 hours)!! I'll post more about all the fun we had on our day later. I think I've said enough for this one blog. Maybe once school starts I'll be better about blogging on Thursdays and Fridays when I'm off work. We shall see. Until then, Happy Labor Day and Happy Draft Day for our Fantasy Football League! Yay!!! More later! Love ya!
No comments:
Post a Comment