Around Here Week 38: 09/18-24

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

photo cred: Coach Ang

2007

2022

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 681+ hours (of 1000)
Still enjoying the sunshine and warm weather - but by evening it is starting to dip down into the feeling of fall. I love me some fall weather, but I love the ease into it the best of all - the gradual drop in temperature, the wind that smells like leaves, the hoodies but still flip flops. I'm hopeful for a long, slow march into winter. Fall, take your good 'ole sweet time! 

Reading and finishing The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Oh, I loved it so much - such beautiful writing, so many pieces of fierce female wisdom and taking up your space without apologizing. Recommend! I have two books lined up to borrow from two different students and they both forgot them on Friday (bummer!) so I made my way down to my work bestie's room (she's the 12th grade English teacher, hi Renee!) and borrowed one for the weekend - I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal. 

First day of Sunday school this year! Grey is starting his confirmation journey and I stopped in for a meeting to get all the important dates and information for the next two years. The rest of the kiddos are with the same teachers as last year - although Violet will make her first communion this year!

Cheering on our Gilmore cousins at their mountain bike races. The kids and I headed up to a local (to us) park where the races were being held and we were so happy to get to catch Audra's race (she did great, it's her first year racing). We missed Reid's which was early in the morning but he did great. We got to visit for a little while (they live 3 hours away so we are always missing them) and even got to watch some BMX racing too. 

Getting into the groove of school - it finally feels like we are in a routine. I mean everyday is a sprint and it's insanity, but we are getting familiar with the blur of it all. Homework getting done, picture days this week we handled just fine, paperwork getting signed, Rusty had snack and we remembered (LOL), lunch accounts needing refilled constantly, jerseys being washed in time, ya know - all the normal school year chaos. 

Celebrating our bestie, Uncle Jonny, who was inducted into W&J's hall of fame for basketball this weekend. Brandon and Jon went to college together and played basketball alongside Dobber, Kevin, and Raul. The five of them played together through all four years and then attended each other's weddings and we all still keep in touch. Uncle Jonny is Grey's godfather and Dobber is Rusty's godfather. All four teammates showed up for the hall of fame dinner/ceremony despite their distance and grown up busy lives. Brandon with 6 kids from Johnstown Pa, Dobber with two kids in Pittsburgh, Pa, Kevin with two kids from Ohio, and Raul a wildly successful lawyer in Austin, Texas. All the wives came too and we laughed and had tears in our eyes to all be back together again. We are so proud of you Uncle Jonny! You are more than a great basketball player, you are a great man and we are lucky to have you as an example in our kids' lives. (love you basketball wives and players. gosh, I could cry forever about it). 

So very grateful for grandparents on Friday night! After the hall of fame dinner, we went out to the boys' old stomping grounds with the guys, the wives, the trainers, Mike Reddy, Uncle Jonny's family and friends, and another hall of famer. We chatted, laughed hysterically, and made big plans to get the whole crew together (kids and all) for a 'lowest common denominator sleepover (LOL, still laughing about it). We drove home that night because Saturday was packed with plans and didn't get home until after 3am! Thank you Abba and Chum for hanging in there, taking Gem to basketball and staying all night long! Pappy picked up Grey afterschool to go get ready for hunting season at their tree stands and then returned him home late in the evening. Thank you all for giving us a long night out pretending to be 20 again (hahhaa, we definitely are not and were tired for three days after that!) 

Volunteering at the annual CT color run on Saturday morning. The Studer family manned the green station and we all left covered head to toe in green dye. I don't know if Olive's white hair will ever be free of green tint. 

Smiling for Rusty who had his first school friend birthday party on Saturday. That's a bonafide rite of passage. He spent some time at our local bowling alley/arcade to celebrate his buddy Maddox and was so excited about it.

Teaching Spanish 1 about conjugating SER using mad minutes, mazes, and translating sentences both ways (sp to eng and eng to sp). Spanish 2 started some pre-novel learning about Venezuela including the documentary about the tortoise in los llanos (always a fan favorite). Spanish 3/4 learned about Richie Valens and watched La Bamba to get into Hispanic Heritage Month. And unbelievably quick, midterm grades were due this week for the first quarter so I pulled the data for Leave Me Alone Passes! 

Sporting with a golf tournament for Brandon (one of his favorites of the year. He golfed with Uncle Jonny, Coach Joel, and Jimmy McCann). Violet had two flag football practices, Gem had two cheer practices and then a basketball practice (season cross-over time!) Grey had three days of football practice and then a home game vs Meyersdale. The girls played on Saturday night at Blacklick, Brandon took Violet to her flag game (I kept the babies at home as they were exhausted from the color run) and then Gemmi and I went out to her night game to cheer where Abba and Chum joined us.

Making chicken tacos, sloppy joes & mac and cheese, egg roll in a bowl, copycat Olive garden chicken over pasta, copycat Chik-fi-la sammies, ravioli casserole (our kids love this! easiest recipe ever using frozen ravioli), kielbasa and pierogies, and homemade pizza.