Friday Favorites {Life Lately} -

Happy Friday, y’all! We’ve had a busy start to September, as I’m sure most of you have as well!

We started off by going to the ranch for the last weekend in August. We loaded up our youngest heifers and calves to wean and live at Grammy and Pop Pop’s while we have the bull there coming up. They all got new earrings and were vaccinated at the vet later in the week.

We stayed that weekend in a hotel, got to play with our cousin, and got to see what will be Daddy’s office this time next year. We also had a big family lunch at Perini Ranch on Sunday and tried to get pics of the cousins with Gran and Bud. Taking pictures of a 3.5 year old and 2 18 mo olds is not for the faint of heart!

These two have been playing so well together lately, and I love it! They were “reading” when we got home from the ranch and I think one of them likes reading a little more than the other, haha!

Early the next week, I went to pick the kids up from BeBe and Pa Wayne’s and they told me that a new neighbor of theirs saw Olivia’s pink stuffed unicorn she carries with her (named Corn, obviously) in the yard and assumed they had a granddaughter (they do, it’s just not Olivia, but for these intents and purposes, Livy counts, haha!). She said she had been looking for a while for a little girl to give her vintage Cabbage Patch Kid to, and felt like the time was right. She gave Susie to Olivia, and I just about lost it hearing the story later on. For one, we love CPKs. I mean, Livy was the most adorable CPK for her first Halloween and it will hands down be one of my best memories of her childhood until forever. Two, she’s named Susie. My grandma’s name was Sue, and my mom’s first name is Susan (she’s always gone by her middle name Michelle, but I’ve jokingly called her Susie for my whole adulthood). And Susie is blonde and blue eyed, just like Livy. All the coincidences are not lost on me, and this was a moment that happened on a day that I had just about lost hope that there was a shred of unselfishness left in the human race. The Lord is working in all the moments in our lives, big and small, even through Cabbage Patch Kids, y’all.

That next Thursday, we went to Meet the Teacher for Livy’s preschool. She was SO excited to meet her teacher, see her classroom, and “go to stool!” (she fronts her “k” sounds to “t” sounds right now so we hear a lot about “stool” instead of “school”, haha!). Right after MTT, we had to head to our Side by Side Bible study session, and as I walked down the hallway of our church, I noticed a picture on the wall of her baby Sunday school class and it’s a wonder it didn’t put me straight in the bed. Babies don’t keep, y’all! (Livy girl is the furthest to the left with a buffalo check headband)

Over the long weekend, we spent a lot of time scootering, having parties with all our friends, getting Blizzards at DQ, and just playing! We even made a quick trip to Giddings, TX to visit with one of our favorite longhorn breeders (who is the sweetest 90 year old man) to look at his herd and buy a new heifer. We went there about a year ago for the first time and our kiddos were so little back then, but this time they oo’ed and ah’ed at every cow they saw!

Steven was on call over Labor Day weekend and wasn’t too busy, but did have to go in for some procedures on that Monday. After he was finished, we went to Waco to shop for some new fitness equipment and then ended up at our new favorite restaurant, Tejun Texas Cajun. It is all seafood, and SO GOOD. Steven and I both got the shrimp and crab, and it was delicious! They have a super nice patio area in the back with a large pond full of enormous catfish and turtles that you can feed. If you are looking for us at meal time for the next year while we still live here, there is a decent chance we’ll be in Robinson at Tejun!

Tuesday was Livy’s first day of school! I had requested off a few hours so I could take her for her first day, and then as we were leaving, Steven called to say his first procedure had been cancelled so he was able to go with us (which just made my heart SO happy!). We met BeBe at school and dropped our big girl, then sent Henry home with BeBe and we went and ate breakfast tacos at Rosa’s (me to drown my sadness in salsa, and Steven to just have breakfast, haha!). Amazingly, I didn’t ever cry, but I think it was mostly because she was just SO DANG EXCITED to go that it was hard to be sad about that.

Thursday was my first day to take her and be home with Henry without her and it was so strange! He definitely enjoyed the one-on-one time, but I could tell he was a little lost without her, too. He has not really been a person unto himself up until this point as he’s always had her to tell him what to do and what to play, etc. We had some errands to run, and then I needed to finish cleaning the house before Gran came the next day, so it didn’t seem like we had a super long time by ourselves for the day, but we’ll get used to it! After we picked up from school, we went back across town to the first day of dance class! Livy is back in a ballet/tap combo class for the school year and still loves it. She’s not the biggest fan of taking pics when she just wants to get into class, but hey, Mom makes the rules, right??

Gran came to visit on Friday! She was on her annual girls’ trip with her group of friends from PTA and stopped by our house on her way back through for the night. We took her to eat Tejun (no surprise there!), and this time Steven and I got the shrimp and lobster tail and it was AMAZING. Again, if you need to find us at meal time, look here first.

We left bright and early (7:30, which is actually later than usual) on Saturday morning with Gran to head to Giddings to pick up our new heifer. Sweet Capriccio came home to Red Bank Land and Cattle and we’re so excited to see what she produces with our new bull! (At the same time we were picking up this heifer, Bud and Uncle Avery were in Nebraska picking up the bull that will be jointly used by Red Bank and Skye Land and Cattle for the next breeding season). After dropping our heifer at the ranch, we went to a local steakhouse for a dinner and then out to get a look at Flair All Over.

This week has just been easing into our new routine. Livy does Tuesday/Thursday preschool with gymnastics after school on Tuesdays and dance after on Thursdays. They both go to BeBe and Pa Wayne’s on Monday and Wednesday. We moved our Side by Side sessions to Friday mornings, so that gives me time Thursday with just Henry to get stuff done at home, which I’m excited about. Steven is on call the next two weekends, so we’ll be hanging at home (likely with something on the Traeger), and we start U4 soccer this Saturday! We’ve figured out that Livy is one of those kiddos that thrives with a schedule and lots of activity to burn energy, and plenty of time and people to socialize with, so it seems like a lot, but I think she’s never been happier! And as usual, I’m sure we’ll spend lots of time “looking for cows” (our family code for driving around the country near our house just enjoying the scenery). We “looked for cows” earlier this week in our new matching John Deere hats and then came home to play cows. We are quite the cow loving family if you hadn’t noticed!