Cheers to the Weekend, Going it Solo Edition

Whelp. My hub has been gone since Monday and gets home late tonight. So, today the Lu Crew is saying HALLELUJAH IT'S FRIDAY! And now I can say I have officially made it five days solo as a momma of four - hooray! Always nice to get that first shift under your belt. ;) I can also say I am wiped out but hey, aren't we all? A few other things we're saying CHEERS to as we welcome in the weekend: 

Yacht Rock Revue. Last Friday my hub and I went out with several other couples to dinner followed by a live music show #YachtRockReview. It was...an experience. ;)

Daddy-Daughter Date Night. Because my hub was out of town all this week, he and Raleigh weren't able to go to the Daddy-Daughter Dance this year, since both options fell mid-week. But, even when given the choice of the dance or a special date night, she chose the latter; so, Rals was super excited for her fancy date night with her Daddy last weekend. We got her all dressed and ready, as we did the last two years for the actual dance, and then the doorbell rang and their her daddy stood with flowers, ready to whisk his big girl away! They had a fancy dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and then he took her for ice cream afterwards to cap off a great evening. <3

Super Bowl. We skipped out on a friends' super fun Super Bowl party last Sunday in lieu of family time since my hub would be leaving for L.A. the following day. We had an app dinner (potato skins! buffalo chicken wings! Mexican dip! mozzarella sticks! mini corndogs! None made by me. All store bought and thrown in the oven/microwave ;) ). The kids loved the special "dinner" and we parents loved the kid couch snuggles afterwards.  And I know people were torn over the JT halftime show. I LOVED it!

School fun. This week was one of the book fairs our elementary school hosts throughout the year. These are like the best.weeks.ever. for my biggest bookworm. Unbeknownst to us, Banks first took $40 of his own money he's been saving and bought four new chapter books (the Dog Man series, for inquiring minds), reading all four within two days. He THEN took $27 more of his own money and bought several more books. :0 Yes. The kid spent $67 at the book fair. When I asked him about it he got all annoyed and exasperated and said, "Mom! Don't you want me to get smarter?! Then I have to READ." Ha! Love that kid and his passion for reading. 

Modeling, Take 2. When Harrison was about 6 months old, he was hired by Buy Buy Baby as a baby model and his squishy bod and #Meekcheeks were featured on the website and mailers for two years. 

Yesterday, he landed his second modeling gig, as he is one of the kiddos who will be featured in Better Homes and Gardens magazine when their Halloween edition comes out later this year. One of the amazingly talented owners of Anders Ruff lives in our neighborhood and her awesome company is given a spread in the magazine each year. Rals got to participate two years ago: 

 
And yesterday was Harrison's turn! I can't wait to see how it all turns out (and also, the theme for their spread this year is ADORABLE! Y'all have GOT to check it out in October. They are so super talented!!). 

Easy Valentine’s. A quick PSA for the mommas. First, let me confess that I am a Pinterest momma. I loooooove scouring Pinterest for creative party and holiday ideas, and Valentine's Day is no exception. In the past, I have done Valentine's such as this: 

And I was planning to do something similar this year. I even pinned a few new options on Tuesday night. And then my Wednesday trip to Target happened and I stumbled upon these in the $1 spot (note: each pack was $3 each) : 

Done and done. Thanks for making things easy this year, Target!

Hard work and lots of practice. Last year, Banks played basketball for his second season. While he is an athletic kid and usually does well when playing flag football and baseball, basketball didn't come as easy nor as naturally to him. But over the course of the year, and especially during the current basketball season, he has practiced SO much. Once he finishes his homework each day, you can almost always find him in our driveway, shooting hoops over and over and over again. And this year, it has paid off. He has improved so much and seems so much more confident on the court. Moreso, I am proud of him for being such a good teammate to others. On Wednesday night, our team played in the first round of the basketball tournament as a 5-seed. They ended up beating the 4-seed by 21 points (after getting beaten pretty bad by them earlier this season). I am thankful for kids who practice hard and a coach who pours his heart into training these boys. Tomorrow, at 8:00 am, his team will take on the 1-seed, who has only lost one game this season - to us. Crossing my fingers we can win against this awesome team again! No matter what happens, it's been a great season filled with so much improvement. Way to go, kiddos! And go #4! <3

And that's that! We will be counting down the minutes until my hub gets home later tonight and looking forward to a fairly low-key weekend, aside from the basketball game and a fun boys night my three guys will be having out tomorrow night while we three Lu Ladies stay in for a girls night.  <3

Have a great weekend, friends! Be back soon!