Good morning! I have “Day-O” stuck in my head, which can only mean one thing: we saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice this weekend! Other highlights included celebrating our actual ten year anniversary with dinner out on Friday, a much-anticipated (by Dempsey) trip to Home Depot to see all the Halloween decorations, a park playdate, a trip to the museum and some chill out time at home to end the weekend.

I took a tearful Dempsey to school on Friday and Joey took Lydia to Grandma Lori’s, so she and Delaney could attend their first gymnastics class. It feels like Dempsey was JUST going to those but it’s somehow two years later. It looked like they had fun time! Lori picked up Dempsey and brought them both home to play and build a fort while I finished up work and then I tried to soak up my time with them before Aunt Bean and Uncle Wayne came over, so Joey and I could go to dinner. I’d been wanting to go to Olivia for so long and it did not disappoint! Everything was so good but that focaccia and carrot gnocchi were my favorites. Joey had somehow located and successfully started the iPod we had back when we got married, still loaded with our wedding reception playlist 😂😂 Back at home, the children were up and raising hell, so our new rule is to just let them stay up late with their babysitters and we’ll put them to bed when we get home 🤪

Started Saturday with a headache from my two cocktails with donuts! I really love making a fried donut but the oil is such a pain to deal with and Lydi technically isn’t supposed to have any egg or dairy that isn’t baked, so I’m the new owner of a baked donut pan. They turned out really really good! Dempsey had been asking us ALL WEEK to go to Home Depot because they have all the Halloween decorations out and we finally had time on Saturday. He was so so happy and we may have let him leave with something 😋 Afterward we went over to the park for a meet up with the other kids at his school. It was nice meeting more of the parents and seeing Dempsey interact with his friends. I hope we can do more of that this year!

Post-Lydi nap, we packed up and headed to the museum, which is becoming our favorite way to spend a weekend afternoon. They played in the Discovery Zone the entire time! Lydia is forever finding a step stool so she can reach stuff in there and I love that resourcefulness! Dempsey played with those light up Duplo blocks for sooooo long then posed for that cute picture 😍 Back at home, I made us a black pepper beef stir fry. I always make such a mess in the wok so I used the cast-iron instead and still made a huge mess 🤦‍♀️😅 We had started the original Beetlejuice sometime last week and finished it up after the kids went to bed. Iconic!

A pretty simple Sunday. I did not foresee how popular Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was going to be, but basically all of Alamo’s showings for the entire weekend were full! They even sold out of the $30 sandworm popcorn bucket 😂 I thought the movie was fine. That opening with the Danny Elfman score gave me chills and I would say there were parts that felt true to the spirit of the original — Michael Keaton slipped right back into Beetlejuice mode — but there was also a lot that felt unnecessary and a bit corny. Toward the end, there were something like five different plotlines converging?? Also, just don’t need to see Justin Theroux in anything anymore 😋 The kids were over at Lori’s for a bit while we saw the movie, but when we got home, they played in the backyard with one of the neighbor kids for a solid two hours. I hung with them while Joey watched the Cowboys game and cooked us dinner inside. It was delicious! Ended the evening with one meltdown and a ride around the block. Then the kids went to bed and Joey and I watched Big Brother. I hope everyone has a happy start to their week!

How was everyone’s last long weekend of the summer?? I am feeling very OVER not being able to breathe from my nose after Dempsey decided to share his cold with Lydi and I last week but we, otherwise, had such a good and long and happy Labor Day Weekend. I look forward to this one every year and it did not disappoint 😎😀 Highlights included a hot pink mani, visiting a new park, Joey and I going to the Rockies game, making soup dumplings (!!!), a trip to the Farmers’ Market, a breakfast picnic at the Botanic Gardens and to top it all off, one last afternoon at the pool.

Dempsey had been so easy to drop off at school last week but he had a rough one on Friday. He told Joey, “I cried and cried and cried,” and he really did! He had finally calmed down by the time I left but I’m scared now 😬 I got one last (maybe) bright summer color on my nails and we just had an easy evening of leftovers and a “normal” bedtime. Meaning Lydia had a total meltdown at bath time and we were both traumatized afterward but I digress. Joey and I had started A Quiet Place: Day One on Thursday and finished it after the kids went to bed on Friday. It was okay. I thought it looked amazing but the rules about what noises you can and can’t make it how much sound does and doesn’t attract these aliens just doesn’t add up to me. There’s several scenes where they are right up close to a human and you’re telling me they can hear a shirt rip from miles away but not someone breathing when they’re RIGHT THERE?? Anyway 😋

I made us all some whole wheat pancakes with blueberry sauce on Saturday morning and then we made the spontaneous decision to go check out a new park while we waited for our Target pick up to be ready. It started getting hot by the time we left, but we had fun! Dempsey was showing us how he’s learning to swing himself and Lydia was literally flinging herself over a bar that was definitely too high up for her to be flinging herself over it. This child!

Back at home, lunch and a Lydi nap and then Dempsey helped me make the filling for soup dumplings. I guess he thinks a gelatinized soup broth is good? Also, why does he look so grown up laying there with his tea? 🥺 We had a little bit of time with the two of them once Lydia was up, and then Lori came over to watch them so Joey and I could go to dinner and the Rockies game all by ourselves! We hadn’t done that yet this year and it actually felt strange to sit in our own two season tickets seats for the first time all season. Walked to the Milk Market to grab dinner before and I would not like to disclose how much I spent on a lobster roll and fries but it tasted so good. The Rockies won! When we got home, Lori had a broken toe and both kids had cried at bedtime, but I think they still had a fun night 😅🤍

We had a pretty low-key Sunday. We took a walk to the Farmers’ Market and both kids needed 9 AM popsicles but worked for me because they didn’t make a peep the whole time they were eating them 😂 I snuck out to get my haircut after lunch and when I got back, we played outside then got to work on our soup dumplings. I am choosing to focus on the end product and how good Dempsey turned out to be at pleating dumpling dough and NOT the chaos of all four of us in the kitchen, one of whom just needed held and also threw an unopened jar of minced ginger onto the ground at the peak of all that chaos 🤪 The dumplings definitely weren’t perfect and none of them had any soup in them (where did that liquid go??) but we literally made all 28 of them and they were edible, so I call it a success! Dempsey said they were “very good” and we have some in the freezer for next time now. We got the kids to bed, watched Big Brother and started Kinds of Kindness, which is definitely feeling like old school Lanthimos, so I’m a fan so far!

Such a good Labor Day! We got early access tickets to the Botanic Gardens and decided to make it a picnic by picking up biscuit sandwiches at Rise & Shine beforehand. Parked it in a sunny spot on the grass and ate before the kids started running around. It was so nice! A standard garden visit afterward, meaning we started as patient parents letting our kids wander and play and then by the end, we were hot and ready to GO. I think Dempsey could hang out there all day 🤍 Back at home, I booked it to make salads for the week and got Lydi down for her nap before Joey took off for his fantasy football draft. While my girl slept, Dempsey and I ate lunch and relaxed on the couch and once she was up, we got our bathing suits and sunscreen on and headed to my parents’ to hit the pool. Shoutout to Joey for packing up their swim gear and putting it all in my car before he left, so that I just had to wrangle the two kids out there. The pool was busy but we had a great time. That was definitely the most comfortable I’ve seen Lydia be in the water! We had pulled pork sliders, corn and tots for dinner, courtesy of my mom, and both kids actually ate good dinners so hallelujah for that 👏 Had dessert then got those babies home for bath and bedtime. Joey was home by this point so he got to help put the kids to bed and then we caught up and watched a bit more of our movie.

I’m ready to get into the swing of September and maaaaaybe some fall-time stuff but I’m also feelings really grateful for such a happy and full summer 😎🥰🤍