Around Here Week 36: 09/01-07

Saturday, September 14, 2019

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


















Intentional Outdoor Hours: 594+ hours (of 1000)
Up 21 hours and feeling pretty good about it. Making steady progress with intentional hours including walking the dogs on the weekends, mowing, and encouraging the kids to play outside before dinner while I grade on the patio. We are going to soak up as much outdoor time before the snow starts to fly as possible - hah!

Reading and finishing I'll Think It You Say It by Curtis Sittenfield. I was so impressed with all the stories, especially the last three or so. Sittenfield is so so good at writing all the best and worst sides of characters that really bring them to life. I can't wait to discuss the book at our next Books&Brews book club!

Getting in one last swim before Pappy & Gigi close their pool for the season. They had us all over for lunch on Sunday after church (I read and Grey was an altar server). It was kind of chilly for the first day of September, but that didn't deter the kids and all four got in for at least a few minutes one final time!

Enjoying Labor Day afternoon with just the boys. Grey and Uncle Butter took the girls into the woods to check tree stands, trail cams, and clean up paths all morning and afternoon. The girls loved it! Meanwhile, the boys and I had a lazy morning and breakfast and then took the dogs for a long walk back by the cornfield.

Visiting the Cambria County Fair with Abba, Chum, Kitty, Uch and Uncle Kevin as is yearly tradition. We rode lots of rides, stuffed ourselves with delicious (greasy) fair food and funnel cakes, and pet all the animals we possibly could. Grey spent half the night hanging out with friends that were there (thanks for keeping an eye on them, Angie!) and we can already see how he's starting to realize it is more fun to be with his friends than us. ugh. mommahood just never ends on the heartaches, dude.

Loving having lunch with my handsome hubs nearly everyday at school. (thanks for coming to eat with me during period 9, babe. you don't have to come everyday, but you have been almost every day so far this year and it brings so much peace to my busy day. I love that all those young men in school see how you treat me and how all the young women in my school see how a woman is supposed to be treated. i love you.)

Celebrating our cousin Benny's fifth birthday and getting to play with our Studer cousins which make us so happy, especially Violet & Rust who are part of the Studer cousin Rat Pack. We can't wait for our newest Studer cousin to be born - Cara you are looking so cute with that bump! While we were celebrating Benny - Grey was at his best friend Ivan's birthday party (trampoline park & sleepover - best!!)

Fall Sporting with 3 football practices and one night of cheer practice this week. We played our first home game this week against North Star and my little cheerleaders did so great during their halftime routine! #proudcoach The minors football team and Coach Daddy had another win.

Teaching days of the week, colors, and Me gusta in Spanish 1. We finished our Super 7 verb interviews in Spanish 2 including a free write. Spanish 3 & 4 Honors learned about location prepositions (on top of, next to, etc) and started Somos Unit 19 about El Biblioburro. I got a lot of snacks from students taking FCS (yay!) and staff got some amazing Pie Shoppe donuts that I happily enjoyed during 10th period when I was feeling pretty energy depleted.

Frugal Living with a real commitment (dare I say love affair) with Walmart Grocery pick up! I order through Ibotta ($3 back each time) and finalized on Friday night for an early Saturday morning pick up before the kids are even out of bed. I kept groceries under $100 again (!!) thanks to combing the pantry and deep freezer for meal planning ideas. The big kids eat hot lunch at school everyday (had to add $ to their account this week!) and I pack nearly the same thing for the babies everyday for their preschool lunch. B and I get leftovers packed everyday for our lunch!

Making beef stroganoff over egg noodles, Philly cheesesteak casserole bubble up, ranch/cream cheese chicken in the crockpot, potato soup with cheddar beer bread, and zucchini lasagna boats. The kids were happy to get some of their favorite peanut butter protein balls which always go within 12 hours of making them. Totally failing on the Keto front, but justifying that it's alright during the school year because we're having family meals all together and I can manage 'normal' food alongside the madness of school. Throwing things in the crockpot that everyone will eat at night between practices and homework and chores and grading papers supercedes sticking to Keto for now...so c'est la vie....et la maternité.

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