Midweek Check-In + a birthday!

Because what else am I famous for other than a random ass check-in on here?

Last week was a great week. I've been looking forward to it for months haha. I live for days when I can meander around the house and do nothing all day if I choose.

To kick off the long weekend, we had Sammy's parents, grandma, and my mom over for dinner on Wednesday night. I snagged some rotisserie chickens from the store and made a compound butter to brush on them. We also had roasted potatoes, corn, salad, and some crusty bread.

On the fourth, I got up and read.

And tidied up the house a bit while Sammy headed off to his friends' place downtown.

And did some more reading before my family came over to hang out for the night.

On Friday I had zero plans for the day except making my way to the library to pick up some holds they had for me. I wound up outside with Henry for most of the afternoon and finished this book while getting some sun.

Friday night we did some more relaxing before heading out to see Spider-Man which we looooved.

Saturday we got up and went for a walk at Three Oaks where we met a younger golden retriever friend for Henry! He convinced Henry to do a little swimming for the first time ;)

His little head popping out is my favorite. Mr. Apprehensive.

This was extremely exhausting for some of us so we rested up before heading to a family graduation/fourth of July party.

My boys :) It was such a fun night with family, we look forward to it every year.

And someone was SO tired after all that socializing that he even slept with us for a little bit (which only happens when he's REALLY exhausted). But then got too hot and retreated to his crate. ;)

Sunday I went to Chelsie's for coffee, bagels and doughnuts, and girl time. It was awesome, per usual.

Crystal Lake does their fourth of July celebrations on Sunday, so Sammy worked the parade in the morning and then hung out at home until I came home. Later that night we took Henry to the dog park and then made our way to the Lakeside Festival for some dinner before the firework show.

We watched fireworks from our lake and I was living for it. They did SUCH an awesome job and I'm so glad we went because we weren't able to go last year for our first year because Sammy had to work.

It was a great way to end a long weekend, although I've been dragging this week haha.

In other news, I gave audiobooks another try and haven't cared so much for this one at all unfortunately, so I think I'll return it and try again. (They have women doing men's voices... I don't get that!)

I started this lovely one this week and am truly loving it. Erika Robuck is so good. And I've said it a million times already, but if you're interested to see what I think about any books I post here, you can check my reviews out HERE. :)

And in the biggest news... our man is ONE today. Can't believe it. We've got big plans tonight including dinner outside, visit to the dog park, and cake (homemade by mom last night) and presents at home.

We love you, Henny. You make life so much more fun.

Late Weekend Recap

Hi, friends! I didn't get a chance to recap last weekend and since it's a short week at work (off Thursday and Friday! #blessed), this is already my "Friday," so I'm going to throw in some random "favorites" while recapping last weekend and sign off for the week :)

FRIDAY

Last Friday I surprised my grandma and took her to lunch which was such fun. She was really surprised, especially when I showed up in my new car. And now she's obsessed with getting me a St. Christopher medal to keep in the car—those Italians ;)

After lunch I stopped at the park district to get us a key to the dog park and then made my way to the library to get a library card and a big ol' stack of books.

I came home for a little while and tried to take some pictures with Henry for my book instagram which went well until...

they quickly didn't ;)

He was still wearing his onesie and cone at this time, so we stayed outside for a while so he could get some fresh air, despite the stupid amount of humidity. (PS. I just reviewed that book on my book insta if you're interested ;) )

As soon as Sammy came home, we went out to run a few errands and grab Panera for dinner. We bought tickets for Toy Story 4 and then came home to eat and do some stuff around the house before the movie.

I put together Sammy's brother's 30th birthday gift which was a "30-piece adult game night" kit. He asked for board games and I felt like we could take it up a notch, so I came up with this idea.

We included about five or six games, snacks, candy, beer, whiskey, and cigars.

We saw a late showing of Toy Story 4. I love going to late movies but Sammy isn't the biggest fan, so we rarely go but I convinced him the 9:40 (SO late ;) ) was a good choice for this particular night.

I liked the movie but I was a little disappointed in it at the same time which I hate to say because we LOVE Toy Story. I wish the gang was together more throughout the whole movie. But the end killed me and I was a pile of tears, as predicted. Not Toy Story 3 level of tears—I look like a complete shit show after I watch that movie I cry so much—but tears none the less.

SATURDAY
On Saturday we packed our little family up—Henry got to come!—and headed over to my BIL and SIL's house to celebrate his birthday. It was a warm day but they put out the pool for the kids and we all sat outside and hung out. And Henry tried to play bags ;)

And my James and I matched. I truly can't with this face.

And he loved on Henry a lot.

Babies and dogs. What's better?

Idk how Sammy's cousins got this picture, but I'll take it!

After we left the party, Sammy decided he was going to hang out with his friends, so he drove to where they were and then I drove myself and Henry home and proceeded to wait up till 2 a.m. so I could pick Sammy up from the train.

Henry was SO tired from his day out that he collapsed on the couch as soon as we got home. So we snuggled for a while which is a rarity for our overactive pup.

SUNDAY 

On Sunday we went to another graduation party (still have two more to go this month haha) which was fun. It's been awesome to see Sammy's extended family as often as we have this summer. We came home and pretty much relaxed for the rest of the night which is why I have zero pictures of this day ;)

Extras+++

In other news, Henry is no longer in any post-surgery gear! We have our fingers tentatively crossed that's healed completely. All resources say you can consider dogs healed 7-10 days after neutering but since Henry had a few complications, we wanted to play it safe and keep him in his cone and friends for the full two weeks. It's been over two weeks now, so I think we're safe. I even gave him a bath last night because he needed it and his incision looked fine afterward. (Please excuse the pile of dog hair on the table in this photo. This is our life.)

We took him to the dog park last night for the first time because he was at a 10 as soon as I came home from work so we hoped to bring him down a little bit energy-wise. (Really glad the neutering is helping his energy levels *eye roll* hoping to see some difference soon.) He was exhausted after only twenty minutes which was great, but as soon as we got home he recuperated quickly. ;) So much for our relaxing evening.

I think that's all for me! Tonight Sammy's parents and grandma are coming over for dinner along with my mom (my dad has to work unfortunately) and I'm excited to have them over since they haven't been in a while. 

Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow and Friday I hope to take it easy. Saturday we have another graduation/summer party, and Sunday I'm meeting my friends for coffee, and our town is celebrating fourth of July which means Sammy is working the parade and we'll get to see fireworks over the lake. 

Hope everyone has a fun and happy fourth and great weekend! xo