Right before the holiday season begins, our church shares a series called At the Movies. Each Sunday, for four weeks, the pastor uses a popular movie to illustrate a redemptive message. Not only do the adults love it, but the kids’ department follows the same formula. They always have movie characters in the lobby as we’re checking in, so Sophie stopped by for a photo with Nemo. She artfully snubbed Iron Man and Anna (from Frozen) on the other side. Ella started coming into “big church” with us over the summer, so she is excited to enjoy grown up movies this year.
Josh had a few errands to run after church, so we drove separately and I offered to take the girls to breakfast. Ella voted for Panera Bread and Sophie wanted iHop, so I was forced to be the tie-breaker. I headed for Cracker Barrel, but the line was ridiculous, so we ended up at Panera. Sophie cried and said she didn’t want stupid oatmeal, so I caved and let her eat a cinnamon roll. Fortunately, she hadn’t had much gluten the previous week and didn’t seem to have an adverse reaction.
We always joke at the amount of food that Ella can consume and this day was no different. She ordered TWO bagels with cream cheese, finished them both, and then proceeded to eat the majority of my soufflé.
Josh beat us home and we spent most of the afternoon outside, enjoying the beautiful weather. I did manage to do a very loose meal plan and the girls helped with a grocery list for the week.
We considered leaving the pool uncovered all winter, just because it’s such a beautiful part of our yard, but it’s a lot to take care of when you aren’t getting to enjoy it. We live in the middle of the woods, so falling leaves are a huge concern, and we’ve been fighting a leak somewhere in the shallow end since mid-summer. The boys decided to give up for the year and put the cover back on. I think Scoop was the most upset about it — she loves hopping in on the steps to cool off when she’s playing outside!
Every fall, Ella dances in a parade at a local shopping center to usher in the holiday season. She had an extra dance class on Sunday afternoon to practice their parade walk, so I ran her to the studio and picked up groceries while we were out and about. I go back and forth about whether or not I like grocery shopping on Sunday afternoons, but it was the easiest option for this crazy week.
Her class was several hours long, so I had enough time to unload the groceries at home and get all of our laundry done, before heading back to the studio to grab her. Am I the only one who sucks at laundry? I have such great intentions, but I can’t ever seem to keep up with it. I’ve done better about having a regular morning routine — that includes laundry — over the last few weeks, but I was sick last week and got behind again.
While I was on the domestic bandwagon, I spent some time cooking and preparing food for the next several days. We celebrated Thanksgiving at work on Monday, so I made a huge hashbrown casserole the night before. My sister’s recipe is the best, so I doubled it and then made Ella a tiny version for dinner that night. We had so much leftover jambalaya from earlier in the week, so I added some wild rice and quinoa and warmed it up for the rest of us to enjoy.
I was also in charge of snacks for my small group the next day, so the girls helped me make pimiento cheese and chocolate chip cookies. I don’t know the last time I made that many dishes at one time! The girls vanished before I got the cookies into the oven, so I got to scrape the bowl all by myself. Yes, I ate the egg-filled cookie dough and there were no negative ramifications, thank goodness.
By the time I was finished cooking, I was exhausted and couldn’t bring myself to wash all of the dishes. I have to wake up at four o’clock on Monday mornings and I still had to pack my gym bag, my work clothes, and get all of the girls’ things ready for the next morning. My mom is a saint and comes inside to help with the girls on Mondays and Fridays, so that I can catch the earliest class at Orangetheory. She knows I am a much nicer person when I get to workout regularly!
