Around Here Week 32: 08/07-13

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

photo cred & fly tying credit: Grey

photo cred: B

omigosh, Liv. I cannot.

my sweet godbaby who is almost taller than me!

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 580+ hours (of 1000)
It's been beautiful and summer sunshining all week with sporadic thunderstorms....gah, peak summertime. My Black Eyed Susans are showing off in the side flowerbed, but Brandon's Sedum is looking like it's just about ready to show it's full bloom off. Every end of summer we battle to see who's favorite plant looks more beautiful. It's usually no contest (I think) because my Susans are so brilliant - but the goats ate them both down to the ground last year and the Sedum as recovered a little better than my Susans. We will see - I haven't conceded quite yet. 

Reading and NOT finishing several books all at once. I'm kind of annoying myself. I'm reading most often from Glow Kids by Nicholas Kardaras and 1000 Hours Outside by Ginny Yurich. But I have also started and not finished How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I need to finish at least two of these before the start of the school year (and before I start our next book club book!) 

Focusing on my soul and mind. It has been a rocky road in my heart and brain the last few weeks (months? years?) Now I'm getting ready to go back to teaching full time while we have six kids all going different directions everyday...it's just been weighing very heavy on me. So I'm scheduled with telehealth to check in with a therapist, I'm taking some medicine, and dosing out grace and patience with myself like never before in my whole (enneagram2, oldest daughter, Virgo, horrible-at-boundaries) life. Thankfully, I am surrounded by people who care for me (even when I avoid caring for myself) - B took the four big kids to his parents' pool to swim all day on Sunday while I did some school planning, watched a movie, and rested. My sweet friend Jenn took Grey for an afternoon, no questions asked (thank you) and my parents had a sleepover with Violet for her special day. B made me a hair appt and has been taking car loads of kids to sports practices so I get time to myself in the evening. It's baby steps and I still really struggle with accepting help (let alone asking for it!?) but I'm hopeful and I think I'm pointed in the right direction now. 

Saying Happy Birthday to Abba and Miss Hannah who share a birthday! We are the luckiest to have both of you birthday twinnies in our lives. 

Visiting my classroom. Somehow I forgot that I wasn't the last person to 'close' my room and so I was bizarrely surprised to realize that I had no idea where a single thing was when I got to the room - LOL. Although the teacher who was in for me last year, did such a wonderful job of maintaining and caring for all my stuff (thank you Linda! I am so blessed by you!) Thankfully, B and the office ladies all pitched in to hang out with the kids so I could sort through things without them wrecking my room to pieces (they sure love my reader's theater costume bin!). I got the green light to have class pets (our two guinea pigs!) and I am feeling significantly better about one aspect of the upcoming fall season (teaching full time again) but still have quite a few loose ends to tie up in only three weeks (mainly childcare for the babies). 

Day tripping to the Quemahoning Dam with some of our favs - the Conns and Valentines. We picked up Peyton on the way so Gem wasn't the lone girl kid since Violet got a special day and sleepover with Abba and Chum (thank you!) We spent the afternoon swimming, fishing, snacking, building sand architecture, and playing water football. Us moms mostly just held babies, monitored big kids, and chatted endlessly which is what my heart always needs. It was a beautiful afternoon in the open air and sunshine which is what we all needed before we hop into full swing back-to-school mode. 

Book Club (finally!!) at CRAFT on Wednesday night. It has been two years since we met last (!) but we are all so happy to be making time to get together and set up our next book to read together (Upgrade by Blake Crouch - we are all obsessed with him). The food was great, the company greater, and such a happy news for a new baby on the way for our book club crew. A night I really needed, love you girls! 

Studerbabies this week included a visit from a sweet little girl and her BHT as well as a scheduled free play event that was Wild Rumpus themed. Both sessions went really well and I am so grateful to meet all the families and kiddos. I am really passionate about getting kids outside to roam wild and free, truly - I love seeing the kids get more brave each time they go to pick up a chicken (I've seen kids literally start out so scared and end of catching and holding a chicken within the span of 20 minutes!) They are running over uneven terrain, falling and getting back up without so much as a whine, and sweating and laughing by our storytime cool down at the end. I just love it so much and feel so grateful to have the chance to offer that kind of wildhood childhood to kids from our area. 

Dropping off Lucille the Studermobile for an inspection. ugh, grown up tasks can be such an inconvenience. 

Getting my hair done! It's legit been over a year since I had a hair appointment and I got a trim and some beautiful highlights. (thank you Jo!) The conversation was wonderful and I am so grateful to B for setting it up. 

Friday night fire with our neighbors and friends the Altimores. Violet and Giada are such sweet friends and we are blessed to also get friends in her parents and big sisters. Olive likes almost no one besides Mom and Gemma - but she loves playing with and being doted on by Sophia. We had pizza and hung out by the fire long into the evening - I even put the babies to bed and fell asleep myself (haha! sorry!) and missed the end of the evening. Those are the best kind of summer nights! 

Going for a sunbeam and spider web walk on Saturday morning. It was lovely. (this is the perfect season to go for one - you should head about between 7a and 8a before the dew dries up and the spiderwebs are all still intact. 

Family reunion day on Saturday with our extended Uzelac family (my mom's mom's side). My grandma Irene was one of 14 and our annual family reunions are always filled with a lot of love, hugs, games, and fun. The kids always look forward to this day to see their cousins and participate in all the traditions from the reunion (softball game, Bingo, kids' costume parade, the Money Tree!, basket raffle, and karaoke!) 

Sporting with two flag football practices for Violet, one cheer practice for Gem (we got rained out the other night), and a football booster meeting for me. Grey went lifting one afternoon (thanks for taking him Becky!). This was the calm before the full fall sports storm hits next week, so we soaked it up and 'relaxed' this week. 

Making loaded baked potato soup and 4-ingriedient beer bread, lazy day cabbage, pineapple meatballs, London broil with risotto and brussels sprouts (Brandon made this and it was delicious!), take out pizza (thank you Altimores!)  For the reunion I made a crockpot of meatballs for meatball sammies. 

Calling off my keto focus, because I need to focus on repairing my soul, brain, and heart right this second.