Nona’s Birthday Weekend

And just like that, Monday is here. Man oh man this weekend flew by, but I guess that’s the sign of a good time! I’m coming to you a little later than normal from a local coffee shop after saying goodbye to Diane and Les and dropping Rhett off at preschool. They’re on their way back to Florida today after nearly a week with us and we filled our time together with a lot of the good stuff!

On Friday, we had an adults-only double date which was such a treat. I’m kicking myself for not getting a picture of the four of us together, but here’s my look of the night from a pic I snapped for my mom to show her my grandma Mimi’s clutch.

(Sweater: Target / Skirt: Target but last year — this one is nearly identical / Boots: Target / Clutch: My grandma’s)

We had a wonderful uninterrupted dinner and sipped our drinks and just enjoyed being together before picking up the kids (they were at a local drop-in childcare) and heading out for frozen custard for dessert together.

Saturday

Saturday morning was chilly and felt so wonderfully fall! I adore this time of year in North Carolina so, so much. We eased into our day with cinnamon rolls, coffee and school projects. Ryder had a turkey we had to disguise to help keep the turkey safe from a Thanksgiving feast. Of course our reindeer-loving Ryder wanted to transform his turkey into Rudolph, so he went from this:

To this:

Ryder was on a mission to find a single jingle bell for his reindeer-turkey’s harness and I’m still kind of amazed he came running downstairs with one after rummaging through our Christmas decoration bins. Where there’s a will there’s a way! The whole project was honestly fun for all of us and made me smile remembering the year Ryder dressed up as Rudolph for Halloween.

He’s just as deer/reindeer/Christmas-obsessed as ever.

The rest of our morning passed by quickly and before we knew it, we were off to see Matilda, Jr. at a local theatre.

We were especially excited to see the musical after reading and loving the book with our big kids a couple of months ago. (Side note: Daaang, I kind of forgot how mean the adults in Roald Dahl’s books can be! We tempered them a little bit when we read the book aloud to the boys but they’ve also given us the chance to discuss some more challenging subjects with the boys surrounding difficult and heartbreaking family situations, etc.)

The play was just over an hour which was the perfect length for our younger crew. The boy who was cast to play Miss Trunchbull had all of us laughing out loud.

We lucked out with gorgeous weather on Saturday and made our way to a local food truck festival across the street from the theatre once the musical was over. The boys had a blast in the various bounce houses while we enjoyed live music and sunshine.

The Hungry Hungry Hippos-style bounce house thoroughly entertained our big kids!

(Sweater: Target / Pants: Target / Shoes: White + Green Sambas / Charm Necklace: Amazon / Crossbody Bag: Amazon) 

Eventually we made our way back to the house where we grilled skirt steak for dinner, made homemade chocolate chip cookies and got Rhett and Ryder in bed on the earlier side of the evening so we could have some game night fun with Chase, Diane and Les.

During a prior visit to Sarasota, Diane and Les taught us how to play Zilch (very similar to Farkle) and we thought it was a blast. Chase picked it up quickly as well and was all-in on our Saturday game night fun!

Sunday

Sunday was an extra special day because it was Diane’s birthday!!! We decorated our dining nook, wrapped her birthday presents and did our best to greet her with lots of love to kick off her special day. Ryan then took Diane and Les out for breakfast so the boys and I had a chance to make Nona a homemade birthday cake. Rhett was particularly proud of our cake, even more proud than he was of the penguins he helped me assemble for our yard earlier that morning!

Aren’t they cute little guys!? After 5 years of Christmas joy, our Minnie Mouse blow-up bit the dust this year, so these two little penguins are taking her place since we’re still very much in the phase of life where our kids love FUN decorations way more than they love classy all-white holiday lights. Bring on the blow-ups and light-up animals. (<– Something I never thought I’d say, but one trip looking at holiday lights with kids will completely change your perspective on what a “cool” holiday house looks like!)

Once everyone was back home, we hung out at home for a bit until we ate lunch and then went on a short walk to a local park where we played a made-up version of Home Run Derby that was a blast!

I realize I may be writing this for myself more than anyone, but it’s activities like this that make me truly excited to lean further into this next phase of parenthood. Some days I find myself feeling increasingly sad we’re closer to saying goodbye to the baby and toddler days of lap-cuddles, silly words and maximum neediness (something I very much needed a break from when we were in the thick of it but phew it really does fly by) but afternoons like our Sunday afternoon made me excited for bigger kid activities, games and fun, too. It’s all just so, so good and it all goes by so, so fast.

Eventually we made our way back to the house but not before the kids got sufficiently dirty when they discovered a “really awesome mud pit, Mom!”

After showers and baths for all, we were ready for dinner and grilled out again before cuddling under blankets for movie night! We watched the 2018 version of The Grinch which quickly became one of our family’s absolute favorite holiday movies a couple of years ago. If you have kids like ours who are not exactly the bravest, THIS is the holiday movie for you! It’s adorable and funny, not at all spooky and has a sweet message as well. Every single one of our kids (and the adults!) love it.

We ended our day with birthday presents and birthday cake and lots of extra love for Nona! It felt like such a treat to be able to celebrate her birthday with her in person this year!

As for the week ahead, normalcy returns a little bit. It’s a busy one since lots of holiday activities are popping up at the boys’ schools but it should be a good one, too. I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and really appreciate you making the blog a part of your day today!