Amazon Prime and Blog, the New Netflix and Chill

Hellooo! We're watching Man in the High Castle Season 3 on Amazon and I have to pay attention attention because I only vaguely remember Seasons 1 and 2, so I'm writing this in choppy pieces, but we have some important things to discuss and I'll try to focus on this without asking James too many "Who is that?" and "What did they just say?" questions. He loves those.

So, first! We drove to San Antonio and back last Saturday to see my grandparents. I remain so lucky to have all of them alive and smiling and hugging my kids (and me!) and even luckier to have them all living in the same building four hours away. We don't take advantage of that enough as our kids get older and our weekends get busier. But on Saturday we had nothing required of us and off we went! Venti chai, car candy, and lunches packed to-go.

We were just going up and back, so Claire packed lightly (or, lightly for Claire). We went to pick up Landon from his sleepover party, thinking we'd head straight to San Antonio from there, but one look at our sweat-soaked tweenager and we went right back home and sent him to the shower. I'm still adjusting to pre-teen life and totally forgot there is NO WAY we could be in a car for 8-hours with an 11-year-old boy who ran for 5+ hours straight with a big group of friends and didn't shower. No way. Fifteen minutes later, we were back in the car, plus one shiny and sweet-smelling boy.

But back to the grandparents- it was so wonderful to see them. It's a long day, but it fills my heart with joy, especially after the events with my grandfather last fall. James's grandmother passed away last month, leaving him without any living grandparents and I know how blessed I am to have my four.

We got back around 10:30 p.m. and then on Sunday did the erranding and barre teaching and planning for the week ahead.

My Sunday class, killing it!

And that night two girlfriends and I went to see A Star is Born. I was prepared with three juice boxes of wine and a king sized bag of peanut m&M's. A large popcorn was procured, mini wine boxes were distributed, and the movie began. And OMG it was SO GOOD. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to go see this movie with girlfriends and a mini box of wine. I got goose bumps, I cried, I grabbed my friends hand for comfort on numerous occasions. I downloaded the soundtrack the second I got in my car and we all listened to it on the ride home (and for the next week thereafter).

I can't wait to see it again.

I also cleaned out my closet on Sunday and as the week pressed on, now with mildly cooler temps (80's are better than 90's!), it took an inordinately long time to get dressed in the morning. I've been wearing clothes all my life, but add a few new things to my closet (and remove some old staples I never even wore anymore) and my whole sartorial world turns upside down. I do love my my newly acquired, properly fitting fall wardrobe, I'm still just absorbing all the pieces into my subconscious so it can figure out what I should wear while I'm taking my shower in the mornings.

(Pics because much like interior house pictures, I love seeing pictures of other people's outfits! And links to be helpful; not affiliated because I don't know how to do that, but do definitely sign up for Ebates before you buy anything online! I'm up to $2,000 cash back and you don't want to leave that on that table. It still kills me that I used to.)

Old Navy Rockstar 24/7 skinnies (LOVE these; so soft!); Old Navy Boat-Neck sweater (light, so soft, not scratchy, and long enough to wear with leggings!); scarf from Express a million years ago

Old Navy Skinnies (also love! I haven't had this color jeans in forever); Target sweater (love the most! so very soft I petted my arms all day); TOM'S Multi Pink Floral classic shoes (sold out, but I adore the pattern)

Old Navy 24/7 skinnies from above; Target tee (I have this in about 5 colors; so soft, and actually opaque); Old Navy vest (I'm new to vests, but I like them? I think!); Riding Boots that Facebook told me this morning I ordered 8 years ago today after working very late in the office one night at the firm.

On Thursday our nanny was out of town and my TCU barre class was canceled because of a football game, so I actually go to take the kids to swimming and watch them swim! It was very exciting. And then we went out to dinner because the skies cleared and the college students weren't overrunning our favorite taco spot (all being at the game) and we ran into two sets of friends on the patio! Margaritas, friends, and a small town city feel. So many of my favorite things.

It rained again on Friday because that's all it does now and the kids and I watched Hocus Pocus. I so enjoy that terrible wonderful movie, though I did have to explain, again, what a virgin was. ("Ohh," said Landon, "because he doesn't want to have children yet?" Right, exactly.)

On Saturday we packed up early to head to Claire's first volleyball game! And we arrived on time! In the pouring rain! To the wrong location! So we ended up 5 minutes late at the right place.

But she did great, her team won, and she made two out of her three serves over the net, so it was a win all around. She still LOVES practice, possibly even more than she likes gymnastics, and that's saying quite a lot.

After the game, it rained some more, so we decided to switch out the girl's closet. Oy. Everything they owned was soon on the floor, but two hours later and they had tried on every single thing they owned, switched everything around for fall/winter, and we had a bin of clothes for "our baby Sky" (my niece/their cousin), a bin for Cora to re-wear in the Spring (they share a closet; we have to conserve space), and a bag for giveaway. A highly successful afternoon.

Somehow, despite continuing appropriately along her height/weight growth charts, Claire remains the same size for the third year, so she and Cora (3.5 years younger) now wear the same size in many things. This lessens the hand-me-down opportunities as Claire gleefully took back many of the things I'd tucked away after last winter for Cora to wear this year, but Cora still has plenty of options. Sweater dresses are her new fave and luckily, at least a few are now too short for Claire.

After the purge, we went to our first Casa Manana children's play of the 2017-2018 season! The Big Bad Musical was funny and as impressive as they all are.

The skies cleared and we went out to dinner after (twice in one week- madness!) and ice cream after that. My parents had sent money for a treat for the kids after their fabulous first round of report cards and they were very excited to spend it!

We went to a newish liquid nitrogen ice cream place and it was awesome. And the ice cream was delicious too! (Cora was generous enough to share some of hers with me.)

It was so nice to be outside again and such a fun night downtown in our city.

So of course it rained again today, but not until the evening, and it's supposed to rain through this Wednesday along with a 30-degree temperature drop, but all the more to justify the wardrobe additions and closet clean-outs.

Oh! I almost forgot my most exciting news! I FINISHED OUR PHOTO BOOKS! Oh yes! We're caught up for the 2016-2017 school year AND the 2017-2018 school year and it feels SO GOOD. As I pressed "purchase" last night about 11:30 pm I had to strongly resist the urge to crack open a bottle of champagne. Particularly after I typed in the "unlimited free pages" coupon code and the 12% (12%!!!!) Ebate for Shutterfly and ended up getting four, hardback, full-color, 103-page, 1,000-picture containing photo books for a grand total of $91. Original total before discount codes: $775. I felt like I won the internet.

And with that, meals for the days I will be in town because I head to Washington, DC on Wednesday to hear Sally Yates speak and attend a conference on regulation, cryptocurrency, and more. I'll be missing James's birthday (and Claire's PTA Performance for which she has many lines; there's really never a good time to be out of town these days), so we celebrated tonight with one of his favorite meals and presents, but we'll recap the rest of that next time around.

Sunday: French Onion Pot Roast (soooooo good), Garlic and Chive Mashed potatoes, roasted rainbow carrots, yellow marble cake with dark chocolate frosting.

Monday: Smoked Apple & Chardonnay Turkey Sausage (from TJ; I slice it in half and broil it until blackened), Homemade Mac and Cheese, steamed broccoli.

Tuesday: BBQ chicken sandwiches, tater tots (the frozen TJ ones, baked in the oven 2x as long as the directions pretend they should be), yellow and orange bell pepper strips.