Thursday updates!

Eek, it’s been a little crazy!

Last weekend we did sort of a mad rush to get the house cleaned, including the basement rec room/ guest room/ my office/ guest bathroom (which are the spaces that do not normally make it into our every-other-week cleaning routine), in anticipation of my in-laws arriving on Monday. But they needed it anyway, so it was good timing to have houseguests arriving to motivate that. lol.

Ethan also had his Homecoming dance at school on Saturday night! He was pretty meh about it in general but reluctantly agreed to go. He just went with his usual close group of friends, no date or anything.

The timing wasn’t the best- he was away overnight Friday night with his soccer team in Milwaukee and didn’t get home Saturday until almost 3 pm. Then of course he was a bit tired from multiple games and the long bus ride and what I assume was a later night in the hotel, etc. He chilled for a little bit and then got showered and cleaned up and we were at his friend’s house for pictures by 6.

He kind of hates the whole “photo thing” which is ironic, because I take SO MANY PICTURES of my kids. I asked him, aren’t you used to it by now?! I guess it’s different when he has to stand there in front of a whole crowd of parents. Makes sense, I suppose.

(But seriously- this little “photo shoot” was nothing compared to what many other kids- and especially the girls- do before school dances! I told him, you’re lucky! First, it was a total of only 4 boys including him, so, not even that many parents. Then we literally took a single pose, in the same location, and were done in about 45 seconds. I said, don’t you realize some kids go down to the Capitol, to botanical gardens, parks etc and they take DOZENS of photos? Solo shots, group shots, date shots, etc… Ha. I guess this is just not his thing… Too bad because he’s so handsome! ;))

I know the “sneakers with dress clothes” thing is the trend nowadays anyway, but his school actually sent an email stating that the kids had to wear sneakers or they wouldn’t be allowed into the gym! I assume they don’t want girls’ high heels marking up the new gym floor? Kind of funny though and definitely very different from when I was that age. We certainly wore sparkly dress shoes! (I think Ethan was perfectly happy to go with the sneakers, anyway.)

I did convince him to take one quick pic with me:

On Monday I had a full day on site work meeting. I left home by 7:30 a.m. and didn’t get home until after 5. It was fine- we got a nice catered lunch and I got to wear one of my new pairs of dress pants. Haha.

The evening was a little crazy though. Ivan’s parents flew into Chicago from Mexico during the day (around noon) and Ivan had arranged for his aunt, who lives about 10 minutes from O’Hare, to pick them up and “keep them” for the afternoon.

I got home, changed clothes, quickly walked Charlie, then Ivan got home and we headed out to go pick them up. (Yes, I could have just stayed home, but I wanted to go. Long story, but this is actually Ivan’s dad’s first time here!! So, I definitely wanted to be there.)

We made it to his aunt’s house by about 8 pm. I had hoped (but knew better lol) that we could just quickly say hi, grab them and get back on the road home. It’s over 2 hours each way. Well, as I expected, we ended up inside being served food and also, a glass of red wine! Because why not, on a Monday night. 😉

We didn’t get home until around 11:10 pm, and then Ivan’s sister couldn’t wait to see him, so she showed up at 11:30 pm! She and her dad had a VERY SWEET reunion that I captured on video. It’s too personal to share here but it was so cute and special. Also, it’s another long story that’s not bloggable, but it had been 16 years since they had seen each other. 🥺 She didn’t stay that long but it was still almost 1 am before the time I got to bed.

And that was only Monday. Ha.

Tuesday I had a zillion work meetings, and then everyone came to our house for dinner. (Fortunately we were just the “location” and I didn’t have to cook- my MIL and SIL made most of the food and brought it over.) But it was a full house with my nephew, my BIL + his gf, my SIL + her 3 kids, + my MIL/FIL and of course us.

Work has been crazy chaotic too and I’m just like…. whew!

My in laws are great and they’re no trouble, and anyway, during the day they’ve been spending a lot of time at my SIL’s, who just had a baby. They’ll be here until October 12, but I leave for Nova Scotia (🥳🥳🥳) on October 8th, so it’s really only a couple weeks for me.

So those are my updates. This upcoming stretch of weather looks goooooorgeous- around 80 and sunny! (Honestly a little too warm for late Sept but it gets cooler and more fall like in the mornings/ evenings.)

We’re all going to Ethan’s soccer game tonight, though unfortunately they’re playing like the top seed/ probably the hardest game of the season….

Will be a whirlwind couple weeks I’m sure and then need to PACK and get ready and everything for Nova Scotia! Super excited to see Nova Scotia but mostly hang out with SHU and Elisabeth!!!!!! We’ve done some group chatting and a smidge of “planning”, of course, which has me extra excited.

To conclude- a few pretty pics from my walk this morning! Pretty sunshine + cool fog:

A bonus laugh I had to save…. if you know you know….😆

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for my father-in-law’s visit! It’s been a long time coming!