Weekend Recap + a Birthday Boy!

Wow, it has been quite the week around here! I’m actually starting this Weekend Recap with a rewind back to earlier in the week. I had surgery on the varicose veins in my right leg on Wednesday afternoon, so I was out of commission for a few days. Feet up! Thank goodness for grandmothers, babysitters, and Daddy (who stayed home from work!).

Since Casey turns 4 tomorrow (!!!), we had a small birthday lunch party for a few of his friends last week after morning preschool. I knew that with my surgery on the calendar, I wouldn’t physically be able to host a larger party this coming week.

Casey requested a Star Wars and Rainbow-themed birthday party, so that’s exactly what we did. Nice combination, right? If you know Casey, this request should not surprise you. He’s a child of many contradictions!

I had Hannah (our babysitter) here to help me with Star Wars water balloons,

and other outdoor play.

Fortunately it was a beautiful afternoon!

Casey wanted to serve pizza, rainbow-colored Goldfish, applesauce, and Tropical Fruit Punch.

The cake was a rainbow cake with a Darth Vader candle (not pictured), as well as light-up action figures.

And of course, there was a Darth Vader piñata!

Since my surgery was Wednesday afternoon, my mom stayed with us for a couple of nights to help with the kids. On Thursday after school they headed over to Graves Mountain Farm to visit with the animals and check out the farm equipment. She sent me these pictures from her phone, just so that I didn’t feel totally left out!

By Friday morning I was able to start moving around more, the doctor removed my huge bandage that had been wrapped from my waist to my toe, and I felt like a new woman! On Saturday morning I was pretty much back to my usual (busy) routine. I still have lots of stitches in my leg and 6 weeks of compression hose in my future, but all is on the mend!

After breakfast on Saturday I spent a few minutes prepping some ingredients for our dinner while I had the time. I made a shrimp pasta salad and a cucumber salad, both of which will appear on the blog in the coming weeks. They were GOOD!

Then we headed out to Gibbs’s soccer game. During the course of our 2-mile drive to the soccer fields we passed at least 3 different tractors making hay. It’s that time of year, and most of the surrounding fields look like this…

Before the game, we made a quick stop at the farmer’s market.

Highlights from this week’s haul included the zucchini muffin that Casey bought from his babysitters (who live up the road from us on a dairy farm),

as well as plenty of strawberries.

While Gibbs ran around in the sun,

we snacked on muffins,

cookies,

and stayed well hydrated.

After the game, Gibbs and Spencer and I went to Yoder’s Country Market to return our milk bottles from last week, buy some more milk for the coming week, and grab some sandwiches for lunch. Of course, Spence insisted that we pay a visit to the animals before we went inside to do our shopping.

The goats are his favorite!

Back home, I had a few minutes before everyone needed to eat lunch. While the older two boys played with Legos, Keith and Spence watched as I snapped some food photos for the blog. Keith thought it was funny that Spencer was playing on my backdrop or climbing on my lap the entire time…so he snapped this photo. Honestly, this is a pretty typical behind-the-scenes look at one of my photo shoots. I’m NEVER without company!

Around noon we all scarfed down our Yoder’s sandwiches (roast beef with all of the fixin’s for me!):

Then we put Spence down for a nap and I headed into Charlottesville to run some errands without any kids! One of my stops included Joann’s Fabric, where I grabbed the supplies to make a summer wreath inspired by the one that I saw on my Gina’s blog. Gina is WAY more talented and crafty than I am, but she convinced me that it would be easy so I was willing to give it a shot. For only about $15 worth of supplies, I figured that it couldn’t hurt to try!

I also did a little bit of grocery shopping in the natural foods section of Kroger while I was nearby. I’m working with them on an upcoming project for the blog!

When I returned home late afternoon, I was greeted by this:

When Daddy is left in charge, the Super Soakers come out!

Once they were all sufficiently drenched, we gave the boys baths. Thunderstorms rolled through so I spent about 5 minutes putting together my very easy summer wreath for our front door while the kids played quietly.

Here’s the end result! I didn’t use a hot glue gun or anything…just some twine and burlap to tie it all together.

Then we enjoyed the salads that I had prepped earlier for supper and had a quiet evening at home. I was definitely feeling better after my surgery, but I realized in the afternoon that I had probably overdone it. I was so excited to get back to “normal” that I wore myself out. I spent most of the evening relaxing on the couch and resting.

And this morning was off to a slow start. It was a warm, gray, and rainy day, so the boys and I spent a few hours inside playing quietly. Gibbs and Casey did a lot of coloring,

Spence made a lot of messes,

and I prepared a few Mason Jar Salads to have on hand for the week ahead.

By late morning, Keith and the older two boys headed over the mountain to Harrisonburg for lunch at a sushi buffet and a massive shopping trip at Costco. Bless them! Keith wins the Father of the Year award for that one. I dread the big shopping trips to Costco, so I stayed behind to let Spence nap in his crib and get some rest for myself as well.

After the big boys left, we read books and played outside for a little while before lunch.

We ate some left-overs and then, as I was washing the dishes, Spencer fell asleep in his high chair at about 11:30! Poor guy was obviously exhausted, so I quickly took him up to his crib where he snoozed for a couple of hours.

That gave me a chance to clean up the house, put away toys, sort through some cabinets that needed attention, fold some laundry, and even put my feet up and REST (as Keith had instructed me to do)!

Now I’m sitting at my desk writing this post, waiting for the rest of my family to return from the Valley, and listening to Spencer on the monitor as he is slowly waking up. Off I go!

Have a great week ahead!