Is there anything more relieving but jarring than the day after a three-day weekend?? We had such a good and fun-packed Memorial Day Weekend but I am definitely feeling tired and a bit discombobulated today 🤪 I started it with a Friday morning massage and then we had dinner out, two back to back movie theater days and topped it all off with the Bolder Boulder and a Memorial Day BBQ 🎉
Lydi was so sweetly waking her brother up on Friday morning and they were both in silly moods before school/heading out to the zoo 🥺 I had a really nice massage then worked from home before picking Dempsey up from school. We went to the library, just the two of us, and I cannot tell you the last time we were able to do that! Once we were all back home, we headed over to Edgewater for dinner. I was momentarily stressed trying to figure out our orders with Joey while both children literally climbed all over me, but dinner and dessert ended up being really good and I love hanging out at Edgewater with those crazy babies and their dad 🤍
We’d been on a long run of having to wake Lydi up in the morning but she was back to being an early riser this weekend. It did mean we got to have some morning cuddles in our bed while Big Brother slept in on Saturday and Sunday though. Once we were all finally up, I made us some buttermilk cornmeal pancakes and blueberry sauce. Then, at 9:30, Aunt Bean and Uncle Wayne came over to watch Lydi so Joey and I could take Dempsey to see Lilo & Stitch! We had a great time and I think this was the best live-action remake thus far. Stitch looked so cute and there’s like 50% more Stitch-fueled chaos, so that was fun. I thought Billy Magnussen as Pleakley was so funny and I think Dempsey really enjoyed it (even though the milkshake machine at the Alamo was down 😩).
Back at home, Lydi went down for her nap, both Joey and I snuck in a run, Dempsey entertained himself with a water blaster and then I hung with the kids while Joey made us Chicken Francese for dinner. I guess Lydi is not a lemon girl because she wouldn’t eat the chicken or even the pasta (unheard of!) but I loved it 🥰 After dinner, we taught Dempsey how to play Slap Jack and he was so into it! I took the kids upstairs for baths and he told me he was playing by himself the whole time Lydi was in the tub 🥺🥺 Got them to bed and watched some TV before taking ourselves to bed.
Sunday started with more Lydi cuddles for Joey while I worked out and then we all had breakfast and headed over to the Farmers’ Market for the first time this season. It was cool and cloudy but Dempsey had his heart set on a popsicle and I got some beautiful flowers, strawberries and an heirloom tomato. Back at home, Joey entertained the kids while I busted out salads for the week and some broccoli crunch prep for the next day’s BBQ. I’m forever navigating time in the kitchen vs. time with kids and the guilt/stress that comes with that decision. Feels like there is just never enough time for both! I know the easy solution would be to just include them in my cooking but they don’t always want to and sometimes it is just quicker to do it myself. I know being a person who can and loves to cook their own food is ultimately good, but in this season of small children (including one who is glued to me and always saying “I want you to hold me, Mama” and another who is always saying “Mom, watch this!”), it feels tough.
Anyway, I got it done and then my parents came over to hang with the kids so Joey and I could go to the movies AGAIN for Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning! A lot of recapping and exposition to get through in the first hour and I was definitely yawning a lot but then it got to the midway point and I realized I was fully immersed. By the end, I was exhilarated, so I was surprised to go online and learn the overall response was not positive. Honestly though, I had been groaning over having to go see another one of these movies so maybe I had significantly lowered my expectations compared to the rest of the MI fans. Joey liked it too! Back at home, we said goodbye to the grandparents and heated up red beans and rice for dinner. We let them watch The Final Reckoning trailer and a few episodes of Looney Tunes then put them to bed but Lydi had a rough one and Joey ended up having to hold her to sleep, which we haven’t had to do in forever! We went to bed shortly after.
A rough start to our Memorial Day when Lydia woke up crying at 1:30 AM. She would not let me put her back in her crib so she came to our bed and went right to sleep, but then I couldn’t fall back asleep! Felt like I had only been sleeping for half an hour when she started to wiggle around and ask to “watch a movie, Mommy?” shortly before FIVE AM! Joey took her downstairs so I could sleep just a bit longer and then we got up and ready for the Bolder Boulder before hitting the road at 7 AM. Lori came over to hang out with the kids and luckily, Dempsey slept through all of his sister’s shenanigans and us moving around in the morning. Seemed extra busy at the BB this year so we were cutting it close with parking, walking to the coffee shop, waiting in line for the bathroom and making it to our wave but we did it! The overcast skies and light rain actually made for a pretty pleasant six mile walk and we got into the stadium and out to the stands in perfect time to see the professionals finish. The female winner broke the record and the men’s race was so close, with an American passing the Kenyan racer in the final seconds, so that was really exciting to watch! We got back home to those babies (who I missed having with us for the race, but we just could not fathom transporting them for six miles 😅), put Lydia down for her nap, cleaned ourselves up and I finished my side dish before we all headed over to Chad and Lori’s for a BBQ. Not the best outdoor weather but we all had fun inside eating and chatting and watching the cousins play.
I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day Weekend too and here’s to catching up on some rest this week 😋
Life as Lauren 