Week in Review

This past week is what I'm pretty sure is considered an outlier. Most weeks run fairly smoothly: a few trips to Target and HEB, the library, and maybe the mall for a nice indoor walk if we're feeling extra crazy. Outside walks in the morning after Z wakes up. Two naps. This week was not like most weeks.

It started off pretty normal on Monday. In fact, I think I was surprised at how nicely the week had started (no crying baby wake up). We played a little, Z took her morning nap, we played some more, and Landon came home for lunch as usual. While we were eating, our neighbor from across the street came over and asked if we had heard the news. When he saw that we clearly hadn't, he went on to explain how his house had gotten broken into just a few hours earlier. While Zoe and I were inside our house just across the street. And it wasn't just the type of burglary where the door was left unlocked, someone snuck in and stole a computer. Two men kicked down the back door and in less than 4 minutes came out with 2 guns and an iPad and just walked back out to their car.

If I had looked outside during that time, I would've seen two strangers walking across the street carrying a rifle and a pistol. With our baby girl asleep just a few feet away.

The reality didn't hit me at first but thank goodness everyone was okay, even his dog who had been in the backyard at the time of the break-in. Another neighbor had a camera pointed in the direction of this house and everything was caught on tape, which hopefully helped in some way although the burglars have yet to be caught. Neighbors started to talk more, security systems were installed, and everything seemed to be a little less scary...until our neighbor with the original camera footage decided to look back at past footage.

On it, you could see a beige Suburban with a black stripe parking in front of our houses at completely random times of the day and night, watching and waiting. They had tried to break into every other house across the street from us, going up to the doors and seeing if they were unlocked. There was even a time last week when Landon had been outside at dusk talking to a neighbor and these guys had been just a couple yards away, lurking in the shadows. It was terrifying to hear all of that, especially since we live in a quiet and friendly neighborhood in a safe part of town.

We hope these guys get caught (using or selling stolen guns makes me sick to my stomach) and it would be super ballsy of them to come back to our neighborhood anytime soon, especially with everyone's guards way, way up. We've had some other sketchy cars going through our neighborhood but I'm just going to go out on a limb and say these people are messing with the wrong place, especially our street, after all of these incidents. Hopefully things will quiet down pretty soon.

In happier news, Zoe had her first real play date this week which was perfect timing since she just recently learned how to crawl and has really taken off. It was so adorable, for real. I don't know very many moms in our area with babies so this was just perfect...for us and for our kids.

Z and I had a lunch date with a friend on Wednesday at my favorite sandwich place in town, and in the evening we left her with some friends to head out to Madisonville for Landon's dad's birthday dinner. This was our third or fourth time eating at the "haunted hotel" there; the food is great, they have like, 10 pies to choose from for dessert but...I don't buy the haunted thing. Partially because I would absolutely freak out if I saw anything so I don't do things there like wander around or go to the bathroom by myself.

Wednesday was the last day I got to drive my car because my stinkin' car registration sticker hadn't come in the mail for the month of August and the grace period in Texas is 5 days. Mind you, I tried to be responsible and order a new sticker over a month ago on July 2nd. No one had any answers to my questions about what address it was sent to or when it would get here so I thought hey, no big deal, I'll wait a few more days and just borrow Landon's truck when necessary to get out of the house.

Thursday after lunch, Z and I dropped Landon back off at work and went the long way home. We were stopped at one of the last stops before our house when -- BUMP -- we were rear ended. Gently, but it was enough to shake me up because all I could think was OMG what if it hadn't just been a bump? What if I had just gone the normal way home? What if Zoe had gotten hurt? What if what if what if.

{That was not bent and those scratches on the bottom were not there pre-accident. Not a big deal, but noticeable!}

Luckily, it was literally just a tap. Zoe didn't even notice. We pulled off onto a side street to assess the damage. It was right there on the back bumper (and on the other car's front bumper) but we exchanged information and went on our merry way. Did I mention this was my first "accident"? After driving for nearly 10 years? Seriously, soooo glad it wasn't worse.

Of course that meant lots of phone calls that afternoon and going back to get Landon so he could see the damage himself before deciding if it was worth it to file a claim. And then that meant no more driving for the next few days because I didn't trust myself and also because my freaking registration sticker still didn't come. Complain, complain, first world problems, etc.

The weekend was a blur of naps for everyone, yard work, cleaning, and some meal prepping. Oh and a very ambitious attempt for all 3 of us to go to mass together last night very close to Zoe's bed time. We hadn't been together in I'm pretty sure months. But she did great...as long as she was allowed to crawl around a little and squeal with delight at the most inopportune times (the consecration. Always the consecration).

{Z's also been really into story time this week...as in, she's not trying to eat every single page. Love.}

So tell me, was your week/weekend as exciting? I hope it was but in much different ways that didn't involve burglaries or car accidents ;) Happy Monday!

Lots of hugs,
Kayla