Around Here Week 18: 05/01-07

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

photo cred: Mrs. McCall

photo cred: Rusty

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 117+ hours (of 1000)
Up over the first 100 hour hump in the first week of May. Spring sports always means snagging multiple hours outside each day, but the babies and I are getting outside for large spans of time during the day too. Getting them outside makes my day infinitely easier because they just play happily, tire themselves out, and receive so much sensory input; I can see their little minds working and learning.  

Reading and finishing The Midnight Library by Matt Heig. It was really good and a definite recommend from me, but it was super hyped and then it was basically impossible to match the hype in my brain (hah). I did the same thing with Where the Crawdads Sing. It was a great book that I really enjoyed and recommend, but just couldn't live up to the hype I had pre-reading it. Next on the list - I started reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Cheering all day at the Pittsburgh races because MY LITTLE SISTER FINISHED A MARATHON! I have big feelings about runners and the people who stand on the sidewalk and cheer them on. Big, big feelings (you can read more about those here) but I think it is such a metaphor for life and fills my whole soul with inspiration and joy. If I can cheer at a race, I am there shouting and clapping like a lunatic. We saw Kitty at about the 3 mile mark right outside our hotel that morning (along with thousands of other runners). After Kitty ran through, the kids and I started to pack up to head home. The babies and I hadn't slept too well and everyone was pretty tired and cranky. But I took a look at the marathon map one last time and saw that the 20 mile mark was out by the zoo and on our way home. I knew my sister was running with the hope of finishing, but she had a hip injury a few weeks ago so she went into the race knowing she'd have to watch how she felt and was giving herself grace to try for it, but know she could bow out if she needed to. So we loaded up and planned to headed on the road towards home.

But the universe stepped in and I missed a turn in downtown Pittsburgh. So at a red light, with the universe tugging at my big sister's heart, I quickly map-searched the 20 mile mark instead. It was an easy trip to get there, so while every one of my five kids in the car nodded off to sleep, I made the short trek over toward the 20 mile mark. It was not downtown, and I found a parking spot one street back from the race where I could still see the car and cheer for the runners ((again, the universe!) I had no clue where Kayla might have been at that point, but I got our family group text almost right then saying, "She's at the 16 and doesn't know if she can make it," I texted back "I'm at the 20! Keep coming!" Gem and I stood at the line in the drizzling rain cheering on all the runners while we waited for Kitty (the other kids slept and then woke up to eat a million packed snacks). We cheered on hometown friends (hi Marshalls!) and saw a runner wearing our local JRC running club tshirt and called him out! But mostly we just cheered, and cowbelled, and encouraged (and I got teary-eyed 800 times) until about 40 minutes later when I got a text directly from Kayla saying, "I'm coming up on my 19!" When we saw her come around the corner, Gemma took off to run down the street to run alongside her while I cheered and cried from the sidewalk. And I kept whistling and cheering her name until I couldn't see her anymore. Then she went on to run 6.2 more miles and did I say yet, MY LITTLE SISTER FINISHED A MARATHON! I don't know how it all worked out, but the universe knew a big sister needed to be at mile marker 20 that day and I will be happy-crying about that for the rest of time. 

Participating in Screen Free week for our tenth year! It ain't no thang at this point and the kids don't even bat an eyelash. It is always such a huge sleep catchup week for all of us - it really is incredible the amount of sleep (and the quality of sleep!) we get during screen free week with the lack of blue light and pixelated images. We made it Monday-Friday and then let the kids watch a movie on Friday night because the rain and chilly was depressing us all (hah).

Giving Rusty a kiss for the day as he headed off for a full day of fun with my dad (Chum). They golfed, rode bikes, and went fishing (basically best day ever!) Thank you Chummie for giving him valuable one-on-one time and so much fun!! 

Smiling for Violet who got to read to a kindergarten class this week all on her own. She chose to read to Mrs. McCall's class (her former K teacher and one of our dear friends). She was so proud and excited about it and I loved seeing the pics of her that Kelly sent over. We are so lucky to have our school and educators! And then she got to have a playdate with her bestie, Bria that night too! (thank you McDannell family!)

Finally putting the Easter decorations away in the attic. Good grief. I am still finding plastic egg halves all over the house that Red and Olive stole from the bin and stashed everywhere. Year round Easter egg hunt for mom?  

Marveling at our walking baby. Liv started walking a lot more this week, she has taken a few steps over the last few weeks, but this week she is going for walking as her first choice. 

Hanging up the hammock on the back porch -YAY x one thousand!! 

Taking Mommy&Me photos with Iris & Rose Photography for my mother's day gift. I love every one of the pictures - they mean so much to me. The photos were at a local park with an awesome playground so the kids got to play a little before and after photos which makes for happy photo-taking (pro tip!) 

Getting pampered for Mother's day with my sisters and momma. We had a spa day at Ligonier Spa on Friday morning (thank you for planning the whole thing Kitty & Uch!) We each got half hour massages and half hour facials. My sisters brought snacks and champagne for while we waited for our turn and it was all just perfect; the chatting, the laughing, the spa treatments; the lunch all together after. 

Attending the prom. It was honestly perfect and I am so proud of my junior officers, the committee, and my co-advisor Brenna for pulling it all off. It was almost a whole school year of planning, a huge fundraising effort, and a lot of planning/decisions. Everything was beautiful; the decorations, the food, the music, all the smiling and joy on my students' faces. Such a great night. It was Brandon and my SEVENTH prom together - hah! Thank you to my sister Uch who spent the whole evening at our house with the kiddos so we could go as dates and to the Stankans who had a sleepover with Grey at their house! 

Sporting with the start of soccer games! Rusty and my team played two games, Violet had two games, and Gemma had one game. All three soccer players are doing great and currently undefeated! Grey had only baseball game this week. It's all about divide and conquer at this point to get everyone where they need to be, if we can swing it, we are at the kids games - but many times this season we have overlapping schedules at different locations, so we are trying our best. Continually grateful that we have so much family in town that attend the kids games (thanks grandparents & aunts/uncles!) And our soccer/baseball friends who cheer on all the kids and keep an eye on everyone and the siblings who help and play with the babies...we are so grateful for all of you!

Making meatloaf, noodles with peas and parmesean cheese, ground beef tacos, church picnic chicken with veggies, and frozen pizzas. I also made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for pre-game fuel up because the kids are starving all day every day - so those are at least filling and easy to throw in bags to eat before or after games at the field! 

Keto check in: woohoo - down another 2.8lbs at the start of this week! which puts my total weight loss in 4 weeks to be 11.8 lbs. I still have a long way to go until I really feel like I'm back like my normal self in the body that works and functions like I want and that I can basically ignore and take for granted - but it's one step at a time, one meal at a time, one pound at a time. In Keto food this week: chicken/broccoli casserole, taco & Brussels sprout bowls with cauliflower rice, and grilled shrimp and veggies.