Around Here Week Four: 1/20-26

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute

Intentional Time Outdoors:  9hrs+ (of 1000 hrs)
We had a beautiful day on Saturday and despite Violet's sick belly, we made it outside for a little while and I think the moving and fresh air did her some good to at the very least help her take an afternoon nap easier.  And the two big kids had a blast fishing with my parents in the unseasonably warm weather.  I racked up some outdoor time with my half marathon training miles over the weekend including my first ever 5 mile jog! (thank you to Uch & Kev for watching the babies so I had the time to get it in!)

Reading still nothing but don't you worry - I watched all eight episodes of Stranger Things and loved the 80's feel flashback so much I can hardly wait for the next season.

Mustering through a full on sick week at our house - The demogorgon of sicknesses has arrived in our house and infected six out of six of us in some shape or form (shout out fellow Stranger Things fans, hah).  Violet was hit first with the puke bug for about 24 hours and then it morphed into a head cold and moved on to Greyson followed by Rusty, Brandon, and I and now on to Gemma.  It hit all of us at varying degrees and symptoms so it's been a wild ride around these parts.

Checking Trixie out at the Vet for a broken canine tooth.  She was a good girl at the doctor's appointment - the girls loved taking care of her whispering, 'don't be afraid Trixie, you're a good girl' - and scheduling her tooth extracting surgery for next week.  Poor girl, but she's a brute Pittie and doesn't show any signs of pain, so I'm glad we're getting it taken care of it for her.

Calling an audible and meeting my sis Kayla halfway between in our house and hers for dinner and Spot It jr games at a restaurant when we both needed a pickmeup after annoying days.  Nothing like some sister time to heal hard days!

Attending library preschool this week and checking out some great books for the week (including Dragon was Terrible and The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever).  The girls were so glad to go back again (we haven't been since last spring - what with our new baby and then my teaching semester!) and we were happily surprised to see our friend Macy and her momma there too.

Slightly terrified by the prospect of raising Vially through her two and half to three years.  Goodness, if these last two weeks are a peek into what the next year and half will be like - we are in for some trouble.  It's been a lot of tantrums and overreactions.  She was so mad yesterday that we were done painting, she dragged her body along the floor army-crawl style from the kitchen table to the living room couch where I was waiting to read some books while screaming on the top of her lungs.  Gemma watched incredulously while announcing where she was, "she's past the dog's dishes...she's at the laundry room now."

Explaining to Gemma about Violet's stage of growing up.  Gem was kind of mad at me that I wasn't picking Violet up during her full blown tantrum but I told her, "This is the same kind of stuff you and Greyson did when you were as old as her.  This is what happens - she's not hurt, she's not in danger - she's just acting like a maniac because she doesn't like something.  We can't give her what she wants all the time because then she's going to grow up as big as you and still think she can act like a maniac.  We have to help her learn that we all work together and how to calm down even if we feel upset."

Making meatball sub sandwiches, Jalapeno and chicken mac& cheese for the Steeler game, this Houlihan's copycat potato soup (so good), Mimi's chocolate no-bakes, and chicken salad with cranberries & almonds wraps