We celebrated Christmas early with Dad and Sheri. It was so good to see everybody…to hug my Aunt Jean, to listen to Dylan’s stories about the Crucible recruit training for the marines, to share worship music with Daddy, to love on Sheri and enjoy her cooking, and to catch up on life with my sisters and brother-in-law and niece. Blessed by togetherness.
Let me start this by saying that I cannot believe that my firstborn son is 13 years old today!!!
He had a fun day…walked in the Veteran’s Day Parade, ate brunch at the Pfunky Griddle, and went to the Great Escape Room. He loved having his two best friends, Ethan and Pranav, celebrating with him.
I love still getting together with the girls from the Nolensville Moms group (that we were all apart of when our kids were little). It’s so fun to catch up, laugh, share life stories, and marvel at how fast our kids are growing/how old we’re getting.
Tom and his good friend, Joel, were able to catch a Titans game today!
I’m so thankful for this group of ladies. We met when our children were in preschool together and have continued to get together over the years.
A few years ago, when Tom and I were watching “Alone” Season 6, we freaked out when we recognized one of the participants flying in to the wilderness via helicopter…Jordan Jonas! He’s the brother of Ben Jonas, Tom’s friend and old train hopping buddy. It was amazing watching Jordan on the show. I won’t spoil it for you, so if you haven’t seen it…watch it!
Anyway, Tom had the (what felt like a) once in a lifetime opportunity this summer to join Jordan and Ben and a group of 10 other adventurers for a weeklong wilderness/survival course in Idaho. Tom went with his good friend, Joel Miller, and they had the time of their lives. The boys and I missed having Tom at home, but I was so grateful that he got to feed his adventurous soul. He rode a donkey, swam in mountain lakes, camped out with the most beautiful views, swapped stories around campfires, and brushed up on survival skills (shelter building, friction fire making, fishing with homemade equipment, etc.).
Well, I turned 45 today. To commemorate the occasion, Jonas made me a pair of “OLGs” (“Old Lady Glasses”)…
Tom surprised me with a Sunday brunch at my favorite restaurant in Nolensville with two of my favorite people. Here I am on the porch at Birdie’s with Laura and Sandi. So grateful.
One of the things we love about our neighborhood is the annual 4th of July parade…complete with a fire truck blaring patriotic music, everyone/everything decked out in red/white/blue (including bicycles, strollers, and dogs), and popsicles. This year, Roman got to enjoy it with his best friend, Owen.
Xander celebrated his 11th birthday a day early with his two best friends, Jeremy and David. Tom took them to Urban Air, we ate dinner (waffles, maple sausage, and fruit at Xander’s request), they swam and jumped on the trampoline in our backyard, they played Exploding Kittens (such a fun game), Xander opened presents and we ate dessert (apple pie and ice cream at Xander’s request), they settled down to watch Gravity Falls, and they built with Legos and laughed a lot before bed.
Our church coordinated a day of service for middle schoolers today. I chaperoned and really enjoyed my time with my group of boys (Jonas, Xander, Spencer, and Braden). It worked out great because the boys were so like-minded and close in age (three rising 6th graders and one rising 7th grader).
We started out at St. Philip Catholic Church where we listened to music and a talk by PJ Anderson in the fellowship hall and attended daily mass in the church. We were supposed to clear brush from the property of the new catholic church in Nolensville, but someone had already done that. So, we loaded up and followed three other groups out to Columbia to the 431 Ministries farm, where we helped build a retaining wall around their new office for about 15 minutes.
Jonas had a hard time not chasing the chickens the entire time, so even though it ended up being a lot more driving, I was somewhat relieved (if a little frustrated) when the youth leader asked me if I could take the boys out to Catholic Charities in North Nashville to help out there instead. So, we loaded back up into the van, the boys ate their lunch and cracked jokes, and we arrived at our destination about 45 minutes later. We ended up filling 60 bags for the elderly leaving rehab…it was the perfect job for the boys (and for me). I was so proud of their willingness and their ability to work together to get the job done.
Afterwards, we stopped at a playground, so I could eat lunch. Then, we headed back to Franklin to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream and on to Pinkerton Park for some hang/play time with the rest of the group. It was really fun and really exhausting for everyone all at the same time. I’m so thankful for this opportunity that the boys (and I) had to serve, learn, and grow.
We met our dear friends (and former next-door neighbors), the Drinkards, at the Brentwood Splash Park this morning. I feel like all of Mrs. Amanda’s kids are my own…we’ve known Jeremy since kindergarten and Jameson, Josie, and JJ since they were babies. We were (and still are) beyond sad that they moved at the end of the school year, but we’re loving getting to spend time with them this summer.
Here’s a picture of Jonas and Xander with Jeremy…they had a blast. And here’s a picture of Roman…I’m amazed that I actually caught him smiling in this photo, to be honest. He was having a huge sensory meltdown at the time (thus the noise reduction headphones in his hands). Some days I can handle his meltdowns and some days I can’t. This was one that I made it through with him at the time but then needed a BIG break from him once we got home. Ah life…the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. We’ll take it all and be thankful for it. We’re all works in progress.
It’s been a weird year to start middle school for Jonas…with COVID, his closest friends are either homeschooling or online schooling.
Pranav has been one of his best friends since kindergarten, and he’s doing online school this year. The times that they’ve been able to get together have been few and far between. But, since MCMS went remote this week, they were actually able to get in some quality football throwing time yesterday afternoon. It was so good to see them together. I think Pranav has grown at least a foot since I’ve seen him last!
The boys were SO excited to have sleepovers this weekend.
Roman got to have his first sleepover at his best friend Owen’s house. They had a blast celebrating Owen’s birthday and playing Throw, Throw Burrito.
Owen’s older brother, Ethan, is Jonas’ best friend. So, we did a kid swap and had Ethan sleepover at our house. He and Jonas enjoyed going to a costume party with pizza, s’mores, and games at our church, riding bikes around our neighborhood, and playing basketball at the school playground.
Xander got to sleepover at one of his best friend’s houses too. He had fun playing in David’s backyard with him (they have a boy paradise with a trampoline, a treehouse, a ropes course, a tetherball, etc.) and staying up really late playing Monopoly.
(We didn’t get a great picture of Xander and David together, so I’ll try to take one tomorrow and post it soon.)
This little pool has been the best addition to our backyard this summer. The boys have really enjoyed playing in it…especially one on one with a good friend. Here’s Roman and his buddy, Jay. He’s a great boy who lives two doors down and who Roman has known since preschool. They have so much fun together!
Xander turned 10 today!!! It is so unbelievable to me how quickly they’re all growing up. It was tough this time around for him to figure out how he wanted to celebrate his birthday, but he finally decided on probably our favorite format for birthday parties. He invited his best friend (and next door neighbor), Jeremy, to climb on the outdoor ropes course at Soar with him and Tom, to eat dinner at Cracker Barrel (one of his favorite restaurants), and to have a sleepover (which he’s been asking/wanting to do since school let out for COVID back in March). The bummer was that it started thundering after about 10 minutes of climbing on the ropes course, so they had to forego that plan. (You can see how Xander felt about that in this picture…)
So, they switched gears and ended up playing miniature golf there (and getting vouchers to do the ropes course another day) and doing some geocaching.
Then, Jonas and Roman and I met them at Cracker Barrel for dinner.
The boys ask all the time if we can adopt Jeremy…they just love him. We came home for birthday cake and presents, and the boys cozed up to watch a movie before bed. The next morning we had pancakes, and the boys just hung out and played until lunch time. All in all, it was good (if crazy) times and a happy birthday for Xander.
Roman went in to the Masters Martial Arts studio for his green belt testing this afternoon. It was just him and Mrs. Mast. We’re so proud of our little guy for all of his persistence and hard work!!! Congratulations, Roman!!!
Jim, Tom’s best friend and an avid Texans fan, came in town this weekend to go to the Texans vs. Titans game with Tom this weekend!
One of Tom’s best friends from high school, Derek Smith, has been visiting with us this week. We have had the best time with him…hanging out on the boat, going for walks, visiting the Opry, eating yummy food, listening to music, and laughing so hard. This morning, we enjoyed a walk and a little bit of exploring at Old Stone Fort Park in Murfreesboro (Xander was so fast moving on all of those rocks that I wasn’t able to get a picture of him when he wasn’t in motion). HaHa! Good times.
While the boys were in VBS this morning, I got to go kayaking with three of my oldest Nolensville friends. (We actually started the Nolensville Moms group together, when our kids were much younger…it started out on Meetup and is now on Facebook, led by a new group of moms of little ones.) Now, the oldest of our collective children is in high school and the youngest is in kindergarten! It’s crazy how time flies…for real…when you think about it like that. It was so sweet to reconnect and so fun to get out and do something peaceful and adventurous together like kayaking. Yay!!! Thank God for old friends and for His beautiful creation and for time to breathe and enjoy both.
Tom and Jim went on their annual golfing trip this week. They headed down to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where they got in several rounds of golf, some hang time on the beach, and even a boat ride in the Everglades.
