A Day in the Life: November

Saturday, November 30, 2024

5a 
Kissed B goodbye as he headed off into the woods on the first day of rifle season. I was snug as a bug in a rug heated blanket, so I closed my eyes and went back to sleep for awhile. 

7:00a-8:30a
I got up and dressed for the day, got the bed made and sorted through one hamper worth of clean clothes until I was in real need of a warm drink to start the day. 

I drank two cups of coffee, made some Christmas gift purchases and added a few things to my Amazon cart that I am considering. I peeked in on Grey around 8a to make sure he was moving around.  

I did some morning prep work: emptied the dishwasher, got the laundry started, and cleared off the kitchen counters and kitchen table. 

Then, I remembered with a flash of panic that it was 11/30 and our elf was due to arrive today! I took the necessary steps for that. 

8:45a -9:00a
Time for Grey to go to basketball practice, so we bundled up and shivered our way to the school. 

After dropping him off, I stopped at Dollar General to pick up milk, candy canes, and marshmallows (for hot chocolates today!) I also got some candy that I will pack away for St Nicholas day shoes on 12/06! 

9:00a - 11:25a
Back at home and 4 kids awake and had already found Marco in his 'charging box' hanging on the front door! Happy kids and Marco already got a lot of snuggles (and has been fought over several times)

I sat for a little while with my coffee, my planner, and my Holly Jolly calendar to get myself focused and organized while the kids played in the living room.

Morning chores: emptying the dishwasher, starting the laundry cycle, feeding and cleaning Queen Barb's cage, Breakfast making/ serving / cleaning up, feeding Bullet. All four wanted hot chocolates, so they had a little drink date around the kitchen table giggling and getting sticky marshmallows and candy canes all over themselves and the table. yeesh. 

Then it was more laundry sorting, saying Good morning to sleeping beauty (aka Gemma) who finally woke up and made herself eggs. She is a beauty inside and out though because she carried the Christmas tree down from the attic and set it all up by herself (bless her!) 

11:30a - 12:30p
Time to pick up Grey from practice again and it's still flipping freezing outside (20 degrees and windy). He came out of practice pretty gassed (they had to run 17s today) but cheerful because his cousin Reid had texted to say he got a deer. He came home to shower while I started grilled cheese sammies and broccoli cheese soup (cheat bag mix from Progressive). 

Pappy arrived to take Grey to the woods with the rest of the cousins and uncles. I got everyone fed and Grey was bundled all the way up and I kissed him goodbye - I won't see him again until dark now. 

12:30p - 2p
Not a great day for technology in our house...I sat on support chat with Samsung for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get our brand new (yesterday!!) tv to stop giving the error message "Smart Hub is updating. Please try again later" with no luck. 

Rusty and Violet did the farm animals (let chickens out, feed chickens, collect eggs, warm water to the goats, Osa, and the chickens, feed Osa). They came up frozen popsicles because despite me telling them several times to dress properly - you know they just threw on random shoes and unzipped coats and no gloves (!??!) and just got it over with. Ugh. thankful they did it, but always a production over here, I swear.

I took a break from tech annoyance and separated the Christmas tree branches while Olive played with the dollhouse, Violet finished assembling our Lego version of a Nativity set, and the rest of the kids watched Cinderella (the musical / Camila Cabello version) in the den. 

I got a call from B that he shot a buck and was tracking it down! 

Violet's new curl products arrived today so she hopped in the shower and then she and I tried them out to see if we can figure her hair texture out. We watched a couple videos to figure out the order and the hand motions and I was happy to get some one-on-one time with just her laughing about the whole process.

Then, I was trying to carry too many things up the steps and I dropped my phone on the tile floor face plate down (?!) and the screen went black. Still vibrating and pinging, but can't see anything. COME.ON. 

photo cred: B!

2p - 5p
I curled Gemma's hair in the heatless curl wrap and got Olive snuggled up for a nap. Then switched the laundry again and talked Violet through disappointment that her hair wasn't giant curls like the girls in the videos (it was our first time trying it, we can try again using different order or method, you probably need to try more than once - this is not a scenario that requires tears or frustration - we are just trying something new and it didn't go like we hoped. No big deal). 

Tried restarting my blacked out phone (no luck), so I emailed Brandon to let him know my phone was not a textable option and he'd have to email me. 

Tried out resetting the network on the tv to see if that would work and I got a new error message of crazy coding. I typed that into google but it didn't help so I sat  on support chat again with the Samsung people to see if the TV can get working again. While I waited for my turn (I started out as 22nd person in line). I did some blogging, trashed email, checked the hours for our local cell phone repair man. Violet and I got started on stuffing and addressing Christmas cards until it was finally my turn in line.

After a lot of back and forth through support chat and trying a million different things, I got a download of an updated version that I needed to save to a USB drive (?! had to go find that, but couldn't, but I did find an external hard drive so that worked) downloaded the software update, unzipped it, saved it to the drive, hooked the drive up to the tv, ran it for updates, and....nothing. oh man, so disappointing and frustrating. 

5p - 5:45p
Started dinner, we had baked ravioli tonight, but I snacked on leftover shrimp from Thanksgiving appetizer (thanks Uch & Kev!) While I started dinner, I also loaded up the dishwasher and started a quick wash. Violet continued stuffing Christmas card envelopes and the other three kids played hide and seek with Marco too! 

Gemma got picked up by Peyton to go see Wicked! I sent Peyty off with her family's Christmas card to save on postage (hah) Thanks for taking Gemma Lasure family! 

5:45p - 7:45p
The fellas returned from the woods with three deer! Daddy got a 7 point, Grey shot a spike, and cousin Reid snagged a doe. All the camo'ed boys got to work setting up the garage to be the skinning and butcher shop over the next few days. Uncle Ray, Pappy, B, Grey, Cousin Ray, Reid, and Rowan worked while me and the kids peeked in on them (but honestly, it's too cold down there for us, hah!)

While the boys were working away in the garage, I finished dinner and switched the laundry again. A new 3 loads awaited to be sorted so I quickly sorted and put away clothes from that. 

Violet took orders from the workshop fellas (3 coffees, 2 hot chocolates, and 2 raviolis). The little kids ate and I reheated my fourth cup of coffee (don't judge me, hahah). While the kids were eating, I made a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. 

photo cred: Pappy

7:45p - 8:30p
I got to hang out with Grey, B, and Pappy listening to their day of hunting stories and finishing the cookies. Grey and B got showers so they could go get wings at the Tollgate with the Gilmore cousins which is an annual tradition after the first day of rifle. 

I cleaned up the kitchen and talked the littlest two into staying home with me instead of going for wings (because no way would they be pleasant at that hour). So I promised them watching The Grinch in my bed together which was a good deal for them. 

Grey took warm water down to the goats and Osa, B cleaned out the cast iron skillet, and Pappy was subjected to hearing about our "Christmas socks" from Olive (aka stockings, hah). 

I sat and read in the chair that holds the oven door totally shut so the cookies could finish (lol, big families get it). I was interrupted a million times obviously, but it was nice to get in a few pages in the moments between kids coming in to take cookies and ramble on about random thoughts in their mind. 

8:30p - 9:15p
B, Grey, Violet, and Rusty all went to Tollgate for wings with the Gilmore cousins. Gem was still at at the movies. I got the cookies all finished and packed up and then took Red and Olive up to my room to watch the Grinch. And honest to goodness - no joke on technological difficulties today because our Roku remote was not pairing and usually when that happens we just use my phone as the remote...but my phone is black screen!? Laugh so you don't cry. 

But we are problem solvers around here, so I pulled up the Grinch on the laptop instead and the kids were good with that while the three of us snuggled up and they watched the Grinch and I honestly tried to keep my eyes open, but LOL, couldn't.

9:15p - 10p
Gemma got home from Wicked and we had a whole debrief about it in the kitchen. (She loved it) and we talked about her favorite parts and although I haven't seen it, I did read the book (probably 20-some years ago now) so I mentioned parts that I remembered about the book too. Then she played a few of the songs on Echo for me to listen to them while she sang and danced around the kitchen until we both decided enough show tunes for the night and it was time to get into bed. 

10p-10:15p
I went back upstairs and since Reddy was zonked out in our bed, I moved him to his own bed. Olive was still awake because she is a little night owl (like Rusty!) and I just laid down next to her still tossing and turning. I gave her a little hand massage and squeezed her arms and legs in some medium pressure (that always helps her relax) and then I drifted off to sleep myself. 

10:15p
B woke me back up for a kiss goodnight when everyone got home from Tollgate wings but then immediately falling back asleep like the granny that I am. 

*any photos taken after my phone broke are from B's phone that I borrowed after he got home from hunting just for this post! hahaha, dedication! 

Around Here Week 49: 12/01 - 07

 A glimpse into what it is like to be in our family just this moment. 

photo cred: B

photo cred: CT Media class

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 612+ hours (of 1000)
Ugh, tis the season of frozen water buckets at the farm. We have amped up our egg retrieval because we've already had a few freeze and crack on us. Osa is getting more food to keep up with the energy burning in low temps, but she is happy as a polar bear to be outside doing her job down at the farm. The chickens are still producing pretty steadily, dealing with frozen water is always our least favorite winter farm chore. 

Reading Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

Listening to and finishing The Chain by Adrian McKinty. I love the premise of the book, but it did get a little more gory than I normally like for books. I don't know that I would recommend, but I have used the premise of the book as a conversation starter since reading it! 

Marco the elf antics: hanging on the sled decoration in the kitchen, hunting deer in the living room, hanging from the mini basketball hoop, drawing faces on our eggs, sitting in the baby doll stroller, sitting next to our shoes on St. Nicholas Day, and turning the milk green!

Christmas movies watched: The Santa Clause, The Knight Before Christmas (we all call each other 'old crone' because of this movie),  The 12 Dates of Christmas (just me while I was sick because I love that cheesy movie)

Setting up our Jesse Tree at home after a great morning at Sunday school to celebrate Family day to start Advent. We made Jesse Tree ornaments and helped finish lap blankets for the residents of a local nursing home. Red and Olive got to practice their song for the upcoming Christmas pageant too. 

Biting the bullet and just getting a new phone. Annoying, but I got two birds with one stone - I set up Gemma's phone number for when she gets a phone for her 13th birthday (February!) too. I got a Google Pixel 9 and it was up and running almost immediately thanks to my google account back up. 

Seeing camo because it is still the first week of rifle. B, Grey, Rusty, Pappy, and the Gilmore cousins went out on Sunday and Grey harvested a doe (that's three deer for our freezer! So grateful actually to have a full freezer!) The whole hunting crew came to eat at our house that night while they got everything butchered and cleaned for freezing in the garage. The cousins all helped moved Osa's house to the goat pasture (so so grateful!)  On Monday, B, Grey, Violet, and Pappy spent some time in the woods and Pap helped B get everything bagged up and in the freezer on Monday night (thank you!) 

Holly Jolly Season in full swing. We finally got the tree fully decorated on Thursday night. Christmas music is playing on repeat on the kitchen echo or in the cars. Both Rusty and Violet had their Santa's workshop this week and we all got little presents personally selected by them (thank you PTO for always making this so special for the kids!) We were visited by St Nicholas on 12/06 and woke up to candy in our shoes. And the kids are full on obsessed (like every year) to eat their chocolate every morning from their advent calendars from Abba (thank you Mum, they honestly love these so much!)

Knocked on my butt with a head cold on Monday (thankfully it was first day of buck season and we were off of school). I laid around all day with fever, chills, extreme head pressure, and a nasty cough. I am a stubborn brat and refuse medicine (B hates it) but I know my body will fight it off and if I feel better too fast I actually won't get the rest that I need because I have no chill (Virgo / Enneagram 2 / Oldest sister problem). So if it takes my body being slammed by a terrible day of illness to get some naps in - then I'll endure it. (we listen and don't judge - LOL). 

Singing happy half birthday to Rusty! Eight and a half this week and we had mini donuts and measured his height on our kitchen doorframe. My Mr. Handsome is always thoughtful but also very young boy right now wanting to play video games and saying 'what the sigma' after every single statement anyone says, and sighing about doing chores. He is so patient and generous with his little siblings though and still such a good hug-around-the-neck giver. 

So bummed to cancel our weekend getaway to Erie, PA. We were all ready to go: meal plan created, farm duties covered (thanks Kitty!), logistics for practices/games organized, educational trip papers signed, substitute schedule and lesson plans printed...only to be faced with a Winter Storm warning in our area and Lake Effect Snow warning for Erie (on top of the 5ft of snow they got last week!?) It was such a last minute cancelation, but our host Adam (of Arundel Cellars & Brewery) was so incredible and understanding our concern of travel with a group of 8 kids traversing two separate snowstorms. VRBO worked with us too and we were able to get a 50% refund and hold the other half for when we rebook. We were all really looking forward to the weekend away and celebrating Daddy and Uncle Jonny's 40th birthdays with steelhead fishing - but mother nature had other plans. 

Reworking my whole planner for this weekend since our getaway was cancelled I had to re-meal plan, cancel my substitute, confirm kids at practices and activities that they were previously going to miss, cancel Kitty on farm duties. I love my planner and having things organized and scheduled...so this was a little bit of an annoyance in my heart and mind. But we do what we have to and regroup - I got my white out going and started from scratch again! 

Taking every advantage of the snow day combined with my follicular phase (LOL) and knocking random tasks off the list. Gemma cleaned out and organized the junk cupboard (we have a junk drawer AND a junk cupboard!!). I had the four youngest scrub the wainscotting in the dining room, and I took everything out and scrubbed the entire fridge (much overdue!) Olive helped me finish the Christmas cards too and B dropped them off at the post office! Plus I did 5 loads of laundry and vacuumed upstairs and downstairs - woohoo! 

Blessed with the sweetest surprise of 12 days of Christmas packages from our dear friends and Rusty's and Violet's former preschool teacher Miss Nell and her family. The kids are so excited to start opening a little surprise and a beautiful corresponding story each day starting on Dec. 14. Thank you Miss Nell, Fuzzy, Grampy, and Pappy Resh. Love you and so very grateful for you in our lives and our kids' lives!! 

Youtube fireplace on the tv all the time around here, it just puts us all in the cozy vibes. I love the crackling ones best, but we sometimes choose the instrumental Christmas music ones too. 

Laughing about Reddy and Violet who made beds in the hallway linen closet and actually slept in there on Saturday night. I saw them playing in there earlier in the day talking about making beds, but then was cracking up to actually find them sleeping in there in the middle of the night when I got up to let Bullet out. Kids are so weird and hilarious. 

Teaching and barely surviving the day on Tuesday because I was still struggling through the sickness - but honestly as a teacher it is more work to call off than it is to just suffer through it. I made it and by the time 7th period rolled around, I was actually kind of feeling a little better (maybe just moving around helped loosen some stuff in there?) It was already a little hectic at school since the kids are fully aware that we have a mere two and a half weeks until holiday break....and then we got a Snow Day on Thursday. Oh goodness, it is going to be a tough two weeks trying to keep these kids focused. Elementary expo closed out the Thanksgiving lesson and reviewed Spanish words. It was my last week with my current group of 8th graders in Expo and they took a vocab test on classroom objects and learned about Los Castells de Taragona. Spanish 1 read chapters 6-8 of Capibara con Botas and Spanish 2 got personal belongings vocabulary, did a great job dissecting a reading, and learned about their upcoming Bolsa project. 

Sporting with no swim for Rusty this week because he has the head cold too, Violet had one basketball practice and a basketball game. Gemma three basketball practices and two bball games. Grey had four basketball practices and one basketball game (one postponed on the snow day). Brandon joined one of his football players at a local college recruiting event to support him (go Sammy!) 

Making crockpot meatballs for sub sammies (for the hunters on Sunday), chicken, biscuit, and veggie casserole, deer roast sammies, sheet pan chicken fajitas, homemade pizza, turkey burgers with fried eggs and chili on top, For breakfast on the snow day, I made Fruity Pebble muffins. 

Around Here Week 48: 11/24-30

 A glimpse into what it is like to live in our family just this moment. 

photo cred: Peyton L

photo cred: Grey

photo cred: B

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 611+ hours (of 1000)
yeesh, cold cold now and I have never claimed to not be a baby when it comes to cold weather. Brandon bought me a heated blanket for our bed and it might be the single greatest gift of my life. I got me some very fuzzy mittens and I'm just getting through it, okay? farm chores are literally the only thing that are keeping me getting any outdoor time. I have ambitions for the new year, but for now I'm going easy on myself. 

Reading Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls, still a nice slow and relaxed read.

Listening to The Chain by Adrian McKinty still very exciting but ready to get to the conclusion.

Marco the Elf antics: he only just arrived on Saturday. The kids found him in his 'charging box' hanging on the front door handle. 

Christmas movies watched: The Grinch (cartoon version)

Football Boosters fundraising event at Forbes Trail Brewing. Grey volunteered as a cashier for the first part of the day. Uch and the nephews, Kitty & Bryan, and Pappy all joined us for some yummy food, snackies, drinks, and laughter. 

Girls Breakfast and Lunch! I met Heather at Corner Coffee Shoppe for breakfast and it was so nice to sit and eat food that I didn't make or have to clean up (hah). We always have great conversation, so thankful for that girl. The dentist was able to squeeze me in on Wednesday when someone canceled, so I got a teeth cleaning and then randomly called my sis Uch to see if she was available for lunch since I was in the neighborhood of her job. She was! So we had lunch together at Harrigans for more delicious food and great conversation.  

Family Yearbook from 2023-24 is here! She's a beauty and I love her so much! It is a 14 month process to put it all together and 900+ photos, but worth it every year. It brings our whole family so much joy and a flood of memories of all the things we do together and how many people in our lives bring happiness and support to us in all we do. 

Some nephew squeezems with baby Blair. We got to babysit while Kev and Uch got a little date night (and the other two boys were at the movies with Miss Emma - luckiest!) We got to snuggle him and read him books and he is just the sweetest little dumpling. 

Laughing so loud when Brandon showed Olive the turkey he was prepping for Thanksgiving and explained to her that these were its wings and this is the body...etc. And Liv said, "Okay, let me see the face." 

Thanksgiving first at Kuma's house with our Studer side of the family. The food was delicious and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins Logan and Ryder. Kuma even had a little game of pin the tail on the turkey! We brought sparkling cider (Rusty's favorite Thanksgiving tradition) and pumpkin roll. It was a beautiful afternoon and we all talked about Gigi when she came to mind. It was our first big holiday without her and mostly right now it feels surreal. There have been holidays in the past that she was sick or in the hospital and we missed her, but knew that as soon as she was well - we would make it up and celebrate with her. So it doesn't feel so odd that she wasn't at Thanksgiving but then when I remember truly why she wasn't there, the bottom of my heart falls out and I feel stunned all over again. Navigating the season will be delicate. sending love and strength to everyone grieving this holiday season - whether your grief is fresh or many years deep. xxo

Hosting Thanksgiving for my side of the family at our house. We kept it simple with turkey sandwiches, haluski, spinach & cheese casserole (from Bab's), roasted sweet potatoes, and pumpkin roll. My parents brought wine, Uchie brought shrimp cocktail and cheese & crackers, and Kitty brought chocolate chip cookies. It was a relaxed Thanksgiving evening while all the little kids zoomed all around and jumped off the windowsill onto the couches LOL. We sang happy birthday to my dad (Chumsgiving!) Before the nephews left, Reddy and Rusty were having baby stroller races with Wells and Heath in them (!!) and it was hilariously dangerous but they were all so trusting of each other - it was honestly blowing my mind. Cousins make the very best friends and memories!!

Ordering our new living room couch and rearranging the room. We have had the couch part of our living room in the front part of the living room since we moved into this house 14 years ago...but with our new couch picked out - we switched the sides of the rooms and it feels both exciting and disorientating (hah). It always is a relief to vacuum, mop, scrub, and purge broken toys (hah) when you move furniture but it will take some getting used to. Gemma and I manhandled two pieces of the furniture downstairs into the basement den (Girl Power!) Our new couch isn't scheduled to be delivered for another 3 weeks, but I like that we are getting comfortable in this new setting first. 

Rifle season! Tis the camo season in full effect now. Grey, B, and Violet spent most of Friday out in the woods scouting out their spots with our Gilmore cousins. Early Saturday morning, Grey, B, and Rusty headed out to the woods with Pappy and the Gilmore cousins. Grey and B both harvested deer on the first day. B got a 7 point and Grey got a spike. Thankful for those fellas filling up our freezer, we definitely will use the meat! Cousin Reid got a deer too, so before they headed out for their annual chicken wings out to eat together - we had three deer hanging in the garage! 

Having a bad tech day. Our brand new tv is stuck on a loop of "Smart Hub is updating please try again" so I can't update any of the streaming apps. I was on the phone with support trying a million things to fix it (no luck yet). Then I dropped my phone and the screen blacked out, still working alarms and can receive calls and texts - but that doesn't help since I can't see anything. Ughhhhhh. 

MAGIC SEASON is upon us! Marco, our elf, arrived on Saturday morning. I made a full calendar of Holly Jolly tasks that are traditions for our family that I am fitting in between practices and games and pageants. Gemma helped me bring down the Christmas tree and get it set up (no decorations yet, but it's up at least!). All the kids helped put up some decorations around the house too. We are stuffing and addressing Christmas cards, compiling my cookie list, and I have my Christmas Budget spreadsheet on fire (LOL) as I try to get all the things done in this very tight window this year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sending my love and thoughts to all of you magic makers out there. xxo

Teaching only 2 days this week because of the holiday - good thing because everyone was becoming a little unraveled. My elementary students practiced the phrase "Doy gracias por" and then reviewed all the Spanish words we have learned so far with a game of 'human gimkit' moving around the room. Spanish Expo worked on practicing their classroom objects vocab, Spanish 1 read Chapter 5 in the capibara novel and did a walk around quiz to review. Spanish 2 took their Tumba final book quiz and did great on it - proud of them! 

Sporting with three swim practices for Rusty and one basketball game for Violet. Gemma had a double scrimmage at North Star (vs. NS and Somerset - I knew every person in there! LOL), a home scrimmage, and one practice with team photos. Grey had six basketball practices and team photos too. We all attended the football booster fundraiser at Forbes Trail on Sunday (Grey volunteered and I made pumpkin roll)

Making teriyaki chicken rice bowls, beef tacos, homemade stromboli, hot dogs and cheddar brats with mac&cheese, and baked ravioli. B, Grey, and the hunting crew went out for chicken wings at Tollgate after the first day of rifle. For Thanksgiving I made 2 pumpkin rolls, a turkey, roasted sweet potatoes, spinach & cheese casserole, and haluski. For sweets this week, I made a pumpkin roll for the Football boosters fundraising event at Forbes Trail, a batch of cowboy cookies early in the week, and a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for the hunters on Saturday.