Around Here Week 47: 11/19-25

 A glimpse into what it is like to be in our family just this moment. 

two and a half!

Rusty's favorite Thanskgiving tradition - toasting with Sparkling cider!

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 680+ hours  (of 1000)
the colder temps really have me shying away from getting outside much, but I was grateful that our football morning and our trip to Central Park downtown Johnstown snagged a few hours this week! 

Reading Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano and enjoying it.

Pink eye update: Rusty got it next (missed a day of school) and then Red and Liv kind of looked like they had it but mostly just watery eyes and a little pink - not as severe as Rust and Violet. 

Singing happy half birthday to the Loopy Lou. She turned 2 and a half this week and sassier than ever!

Trying to heal a sick goat. Our little Oak has been struggling with coccidiosis and Brandon has been exhaustive in his attempts to help nurse him back to health. Twice daily oral doses of meds, running stools to the vet, researching all over the goat interwebs. The poor thing is looking so pitiful, but he continues to spend time with the herd, he's eating and drinking, it's baffling and heartbreaking. We are just trying our best and hoping for the best.  

Hosting a Turkey Bowl at our house on Thanksgiving morning. The little kids helped me make some muffins, B ran to his dad's house to get some dry firewood then came home to build a fire on the back patio, while Grey and his buddies played two-hand touch football in our makeshift field (Grey outlined the perimeter with pumpkins!) Everyone got entertainingly muddy, they drank hot chocolate and gobbled up muffins next to the fire, and I played "The Thanksgiving Song" on repeat on the speaker. It was a great start to Thanksgiving morning and one of the ways I'm trying to help our holiday traditions grow up with our growing kids. 

Thanksgiving eats and treats and hugs at family gatherings. We were lucky to get to celebrate at three family dinners. First Thanksgiving lunch at Kuma's house with our extended Sleek/Gilmore/Studer family. Then we headed to Indiana, PA for Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Mar's house with our extended Adams/Connelly/Mayer family. And finally a Chumsgiving celebration (thanksgiving but really my dad's birthday!) at my sister Uch's house. 

Dropping off Gem to be a mother's helper at our friends, Kirsten & Dustin's house. They have three little sweeties and asked if Gem could come play with the kiddos while they decorated for Christmas and got ready for their son's birthday party. Gem was so excited to 'work' and I felt a little teary eyed about it, hah! Not only because my girl is growing up, but also because when I was a teenager, I used to babysit Kirst and her little sister. full circle people, it's crazy. (thank you Kirst and Dust for asking my girl - she had a blast!) 

Shopping local for the holiday season! We visited Young Hearts Books & Toys in Westmont (my friend Renee will be the new owner in December!) We snagged books for our nephews and a fun holiday game for our family. The kids I stopped down to visit Aunt Kitty as she worked at The Write Cup and we got to pick up our Shop Small Crawl bag while snagging our first two buttons - from Kitty's coffeeshop & from Lambcakes. We sipped hot chocolates and ate cakepops as we strolled Central Park decked out in their annual Christmas decorations. 

Bringing home the piggies for the holiday break. Olive is so happy about it! 

So impressed and pleased with the back porch winter protection project. The stain is done (hah! in the freezing temps!) and then Mr. Darren came up to install our window shutters for the winter. They are perfect (thank you!) Last step is to get everything organized and put away for the snow season!  

Teaching just two days this week due to our annual Thanksgiving early out volleyball tournament on Wednesday (my favorite day of the school year!) I had to keep the learning going though, because the days drag on if we aren't doing the learning! Spanish 1 read chapters 1-3 of the Capibara novel. Spanish 2 presented their Bolsa projects to the class and then we played wits&wagers in Spanish and it is always a class favorite! Spanish 3&4 finished up the Superstiticiones unit with a vocab test and we had Classgiving together on Tuesday! 

Sporting with one basketball game for Violet and for Gem one basketball game with G6th grade team and 3 practices with the Jr High basketball team. Grey had one baseball practice and 4 basketball practices. B and I played in the volleyball tournament day at North Star together and we tied for the championship with the top student team. It is such a fun day and I always feel grateful to play against my students but alongside by fella. 

Making Pioneer Woman bowtie lasagna (with leftover spaghetti sauce for the win!), chicken & broccoli alfredo, copycat Panera broccoli & cheese soup, Korean turkey& green beans over rice, and bbq chicken wraps. I made chocolate croissants for Olive's half birthday with big help from Violet. I took in a veggie tray (with peppers as my dip bowls!) for our Staffsgiving potluck on our early out dismissal. I signed up to bring pumpkin roll and sparkling juice to all 3 of our Thanksgiving dinners; so I made 4 pumpkin rolls this week and I also made green bean casserole to take to Chumsgiving. For Football & Bonfire morning, I made fruity pebble muffins, pumpkin muffins, and a crockpot of hot chocolate.