Around Here Week 46: 11/13-19

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 736+ hours (of 1000)
We got our first real snow this week and boy did it show up in a hurry. It was off and on flurries all morning and then right at school dismissal it just started dumping on us. All the bus drivers were amazing and got everyone home safe (in all of our local districts - parents, remember to thank your bus drivers!) but it was pretty wild. We saw snow squalls on Friday afternoon too with whiteout conditions! B and the kids winterized the chicken coop this week but we still have quite a bit of buttoning up to do outside (back porch, outdoor furniture, etc) Now we are just waiting for this batch of snow to melt so we can get it down before the next storm! 

Reading and finishing It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover in 24 hours (hah). It was a borrow from my student Maryn (thank you!) and it was such a great and emotional read - worth the hype! I'm also working on The Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron and How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong

Resting on Sunday when 8 out of 8 family members were knocked down with the stomach bug. Everyone laid around all day long including a 3 hour nap on my bed sandwiched between Reddy and Brandon while they both snoozed and I finished a book. It was wonderful and although it was frustrating to not make the most of a Sunday and finish all.the.chores - it was also a blessed relief to just lay around. We battled illness all week between us - sick of the belly, sick of the pants (!), all the stuffy sinuses, general malaise. We will all be ready to move on from this lingering sickness.fu

Taking turns staying home with sickos. I stayed home from school on Monday with Grey and Gem. Then B took a half a day when the babies (and Miss Emma, poor thing!) was sick. It's been a slow and snotty week of lots of laundry to do - but hopefully with it running through everyone we will be over and done with it! 

Loving our new windows! Especially our big beautiful kitchen windows. I mean, do all our windows already have tiny smudgy handprints on them? yes. But are they still big and beautiful and full of natural light? also yes. 

Discovering a whole pile of chicken eggs in the shed - hah. We were thinking they chickens were just slowing down production because of the season, but nope! they were just laying in the shed instead of the coop. Yay for steady egg production! 

Discussing and reviewing our financial goals. We were in contact with both our tax accountant and financial planner this week to make sure we are pointed in the direction of our financial goals for present day and for future life (kids in college/retirement). Now was a great time to do it before the end of the year to consider upcoming holiday season spending and also tax preparation. Here's a reminder for you to reach out to your people if you needed one! 

So proud of my cousin Heather who gave birth to a perfect baby girl. She is a surrogate (for the second time!) and she gave the greatest gift to a family this week. I am in awe of her and her beautiful, big, generous heart (and body). She is incredible. (love you xxox)

Celebrating Thanksgiving a little early - it's my favorite to stretch holidays out as much as possible! B and I enjoyed our school lunch "Thanksgiving dinner" together on Wednesday (he even brought a candle to make it fancy, hah! that man of mine!) On Saturday, our family headed out to Kuma's house to celebrate with our Studer/Sleek family.  The food was great, the company was greater, and there is nothing quite as soul-uplifting like a warm house filled with delicious smells and laughter from people you love. All of Mimi's great grandchildren were there too - 13 in all! How lucky we are to have Mimi at 84 years young in our lives. 

Teaching pre-novel in Spanish 1, next week they will start their first Spanish novel! They made their capybara designs this week and everyone went so hard on them (I love when kids work until they are proud!) Spanish 2 worked on personal belonging vocab and finished up their What's in my bolsa projects. Spanish 3/4 learned about the legend of La Llorona before we start reading a novel inspired by her legend next week. The sunshine committee and I hung up a grateful for NSHS turkey in the staff lounge and organized our charcuterie potluck event for next week. We also picked teams for the school wide volleyball tournament for the day before Thanksgiving break. It's my favorite school day of the year and Brandon is coming down to play on my team! 

Sporting with almost nothing - it is our last lull week between sports seasons so we soaked up a lot of time relaxing and trying to catch up on chores. Grey did have a baseball lifting session and Gem had one basketball game on Sunday. We had the end of season youth banquet for football and cheer. Both Gem and Violet were recognized and it was fun to be with the whole league enjoying a yummy dinner on Friday night. 

Making chicken & dumplings in the crockpot, Instapot Lo Mein noodles, cheddar brats, copycat Olive Garden chicken over pasta, ground turkey Philly cheesesteak and air fry potatoes. I was bumming to not be able to make my pumpkin roll for the Studer/Sleek Thanksgiving on Saturday, ugh- this oven!