Around Here Week 39: 09/25-10/01

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

Miss Emma!! 

Hoco dress up week at school! (movie character, biker, neon, and throwback)

Spanish club advisor (me!) and Outreach coordinator (Alyssa)

Saturday morning parenting, hah

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 690+ hours (of 1000)
Mother Nature went cruel on me and decided to take a plunge into cold weather instead of a long, slow stroll into fall. It was pretty brutal this week dealing with the major drop in temps. Our kids need constant reminders for long sleeves or pants or jackets/hoodies and most of all shoes when they are headed out to play (or school). I am dreading pulling out the warmer clothes and I'm downright refusing to turn on the heat - I'm trying to make it until November 1 before we turn the heat on in the house. So bundle up, Studers!! (LOL, Brandon just rolls his eyes at me).

Reading and finishing I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal - a great, quick, important read. I borrowed and finished In Five Years by Rebecca Serle from my student Ruby (thank you!) I really liked it and how it wasn't anything I was expecting but everything I needed. Then I started Love in Focus by Yoko Nogiri (my first Manga!) from my student Faith (thank you!)  Is my favorite thing about being a teacher borrowing books and talking about books with students?...maybe! (hahaha, just kidding, kind of). 

Singing happy birthday to our eight year old Violet Mary girl. I got up early to blow up eight balloons for her to wake up to (at her request, lol). We sang and measured her height and have a bonfire birthday party in the works with tons of friends. Her siblings all made her birthday cards and Miss Emma made her brownies and gave her a new water bottle. Pappy & Gigi got her walkie talkies so that she and her siblings can properly play spies (without having to sneakily steal Grey's hunting walkie talkies). And Abba and Chum's surprise will get set up next week (!!) She loved all the text messages, video recordings, and the comments/likes. Thank you all for celebrating our peanut! 

Wishing our kids happy national daughter and son day. Hah, I'll participate in the social media madness of it if only as a reminder to take a photo of them every year to timestamp life in this current blur. 

Enjoying book club night on Wednesday. We met at Franklin Street Bar&Grill and had the most delicious four course meal thanks to local restaurant week! Autumn salad, French onion soup, pear & gorgonzola pasta (!), and crème brûlée. Between the food and the company and all the talk of books, it was downright blissful. 

Amazed at Gemma and Kitty doing intense hand clapping routines. It was actually impressive how quickly Kitty caught on when Gem showed her the song/hand clap that her friend Evelyn taught her at recess. Like for real, coolest aunt ever. 

Spanish Club advising on Friday night at the Hoco events. I loaded up five of our own kids (Grey went with B to the CT game) and headed off to meet the Spanish club for the Hoco parade. We did a quick decorate of our truck (thank goodness for paper flowers!) and then threw candy to the community in the hoco parade. My kids and I watched the game (we won!) until halftime when we caught the hoco ceremony (congrats Mariellen and Cody!) and then went to the tennis courts where the Spanish club was hosting the afterparty with the NS Outreach. Thanks goodness for Alyssa (Outreach advisor) who brought the hot pizza and drinks AND her car to let us plug the speaker in for the music! Spanish club president, Stefanie had games set up, had decorated, and some members brought cookies and cotton candy too (thank you Marley, Layla, and Ava!) Kids made their way over to eat, dance, play games, and hang out after the game until about 10:30p. So proud and thankful for my students! 

First day of archery! Brandon and Grey spent Saturday morning in tree stands with Pappy fulfilling all their camo daydreams. It was kind of chilly and wet, so no luck on seeing anything - but they don't even care, they literally just want to be in the woods all day every day. Happy camo season to all those hunting families out there! 

Sending Rusty to another friend's birthday party this week. Geez, the kid is in kindergarten for a couple weeks and his calendar is filled up already with playdates and parties (hah!) Happy birthday Jace! 

Last minute postponing Violet's birthday party on Saturday. It was just too cold and too rainy for a birthday bonfire. We had half the football team coming and only two more games left, I didn't want anyone getting sick just because I believe there's no such thing as bad weather (hahah - but it really was crap weather on Saturday). She was pretty bummed, but we still had her friend Giada come over to sleepover, so she perked up a little bit - plus we told her how much more fun it will be on a night that's not wet to have a big bonfire and maybe by then even some leaves will have fallen so we can make leaf piles to jump in! 

Falling face first into my bed on Saturday evening because it was one of those weeks that looking back - I can't even imagine how we got through it! Between Violet's birthday, Hoco at my school including the pep rally on Friday, the Spanish club parade and after party solo with five kids, normal practices/games, and the weather being way too cold for this time of year...I honestly have no clue how I made it out the other end of this week still standing, no actually- I do. Love and support and above all GRACE from my family and friends (thank you!! honestly, I get by only because of the help from those who love me).  

Teaching adjectives and corre/camina/ve to Spanish 1, Spanish 2 learned about the El Silbon legend and finished their second week of pre-novel background building. Spanish 3/4 completed their oral presentations on their musicians for the tournament. On top of just normal teaching - it was a wild week in school thanks to homecoming. We had spirit dress up days, pep rally practice for our teacher dance three days after school, and kids in and out of classes trying to prepare for all the events. I had Spanish club students in my room painting boxes for the parade, Hoco court members painting their car signs in my room (#glittermania), schedule changes, and a fire drill (we included pig rescue this time! hah!). On Friday, we had a grill lunch day (yay!), and then our awesome Homecoming pep rally that never ceases to impress. The hoco court all did amazing, our teacher performance was hilarious and successful, and I got pie'd in the face along with four other staff members. Overall, most fun week but also really exhausting. When we were cleaning up after the pep rally on Friday, I looked at my teacher bestie, Renee, and said, "Wait, are we supposed to work all next week?!" hahaha, so stinking tired. If you're inclined - check out the most incredible highlight reel of our homecoming - this video made by one of my students Alyssa Diehl

Sporting Violet had two flag football practices and Gem had one cheer practice and one basketball practice. Grey practiced football after school three days this week and then went all the way out to West Branch for a game (2hrs away!) He was chosen by the coaches as the leader of the last game, so he got to carry the flag out at the start of the game! Grey also had a Jr High baseball meet & greet on Sunday too. Grey and B attended the CT Varsity football game at Shade on Friday night too. 

Making chicken tacos, and leftover fridge clean out night. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies this week too because bring on all the spooky/fall vibes. We were surprised on Monday with a huge pot of chicken & rice soup and grilled cheese supplies from my sister's mom-in-law Celeste when she stopped to pick up Wells from our house. It was the sweetest, most thoughtful surprise (she's a mom of five and said, "I remember all too well working and trying to raise babies - I know there were plenty of nights I didn't feel like feeding all those kids!" Thank you so much Celeste, I am so grateful to have you in my extended circle of loving mommas). Brandon's dad brought over his deer meat marinated just the way the kids love it on my book club night (thank you Pappy!) and my sister brought pizza over on Thursday night when she visited (thank you Kitty!)