Team Studer: Around Here Week 22: 05/26-06/01

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

photo credit: Aunt Kitty

selfie credit: Becky C

happy heavenly birthday Gigi

first and last day of 8th grade

first and last day of 6th grade

first and last day of 3rd grade

first and last day of 1st grade

photo cred: Jenn V

photo cred: Eva M

photo cred: Jackie F

photo cred: B

photo cred: Jackie F

photo cred: Becky C

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 155+ hours (of 1000)
PEONIES!! eeeeeeeeeeeee, the amount of photos I take of these flowers - haha. basically a peony fanpage now #sorrynotsorry

Reading The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride and I Must Betray You by Ruta Septys. I Must Betray You really has me captivated and I was even googling like a wild woman trying to do some history catch up on the Romanian revolution in the 80's because I legit knew nothing about it at all.

Listening on my commute to The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by VE Schwab. Still a great story, but her voice - so relaxing. Hah! I can only listen to it when I am not tired even a tiny bit; otherwise I honestly start to feel like I'm being lulled to sleep.

Enjoying moth season! Our first mega moth sighting of the season was a Luna Moth!

So thankful for a quiet and solo (!) afternoon at home when B took all the kids fishing and hiking - they even took Osa! I was home to read, get caught up on laundry, and enjoy the peace for a few hours. It was heavenly and really needed even though I would never ask for it because I have Virgo+enneagram2+oldestSister complex. (thank you B for seeing me).

Spending Memorial day at a family picnic with our Gilmore cousins. We had delicious food on the back porch while we chatted and played magnet chess (so fun!)

Excited for Grey and Gem on SHOFCO day! It is the annual charity soccer tourney at their school and Grey and Gem played on the same team this year. They did great but didn't make it out of the school day competition (final competitors play in the evening vs. the teacher team!) I was grateful that Brandon and Mrs. Conn sent me pic and video updates all morning (thank you!)

I want to remember...that when we say it's bedtime, the two babies say that they want to watch basketball with Dad on the couch first. The big kids go upstairs because it's a school night and the two little ones squeeze in next to B and watch NBA games until they fall asleep cozied up to him.

Singing a heavenly happy birthday to our Gigi. love you, miss you so much.

Waiting anxiously for updates about my Dad who went to the ER this week. It was scary but all was fine and it was all due to a tick bite! Please make sure you are doing your daily tick checks! They have been terrible this year and there have been so many people with complications. So relieved Chum is on the necessary antibiotics and is feeling better!

Finishing my safety training requirements for school. There were five online trainings that took an extraordinarily long time to complete, but I actually did learn some helpful information - terms like "compassion fatigue" - hah! yes, as a teacher and a mom! I also wrote down the phrase, "all behavior is communication" to try to focus my patience with students, our own children, and even frustrating adults (hah, but for real).

Last week of the school year! Yeesh, those first and last day of school photos always have my momma heart disorientated. What a blink the school year truly is. On to Freshman year for Grey (!), 7th grade for Gem (junior high sports!), 4th grade for Violet, and 2nd grade for Rustman! We had incredible teachers, bus drivers, coaches, administrators, and mentors all year - thank you to all of you for loving and caring for our babies so well all school year. Please enjoy your summer respite from all these wildlings. You are appreciated!

Shaking my head (at myself) because I completely forgot to book a hotel room for Violet's soccer tournament in Lancaster. Thank goodness for teammates who took Violet into their room (thank you Eva!) and local Lancaster cousins who took in Brandon and Rusty (thank you Ray & Lisa!) The hotel booking time was supposed to happen in mid-February; literally at the time of me changing schools - so apparently it just completely fell through the cracks. I actually joked to B on Friday before they left for the tourney, "I don't remember booking a room so good luck!" I thought I was joking but, hah - I wasn't!

Kitty & Bryan PCT update: They entered the Sierra mountains this week which this section of the trail (CA Section H) has a total elevation gain of 30,646 ft and a loss of 28,455 ft, including Mount Whitney; the highest point in the contiguous US! (watch the Google Earth view of this section of the trail here!). Kitty was telling us how it is so hard in the mountain range because of the cold; they have to start hiking really early in the morning (before sunrise) to hike as far as possible while the snow is still hard. So it's not only the elevation and the difficult work of ascending and/or descending, but actually the frigid cold that you need to do it in just so that you aren't slipping and sliding everywhere! (mind blown!) It's been tough on the mental fortitude the past few days for her (send her all the badass vibes) but she still has her eyes on the prize (the full hike) and she makes us proud everyday!

Teaching the last week for the year! I was the high school on Tuesday doing coverage in the morning and then helping with Somerstock (field day) in the afternoon. We had a beautiful day and the kids all had fun visiting different stations in the stadium (great job NHS!) On Wednesday, I was in third grade where part of the day included the Senior walk through. Then back to the high school for the last two days of school for the year. Closed out the school year in Loni's room (yay!), got my required security trainings done, and did my last hour of the school year perusing Loni's English12 book shelves for some summer reading (a new annual tradition I hope, hah!) On Friday night, most of the staff and myself attended graduation and smiled, cheered, and clapped for those big kids who are flying out of the nest on their own. It was a beautiful ceremony - congratulations class of 2024!

Sporting with regular season AYSO games for the kids; Rusty & Violet had two 10U soccer games and Gemma had two 12U soccer games. Violet had one Sparks practice and then left for her tournament in Lancaster (with Daddy!). Gemma had tournament team practice for AYSO and then won first place at the CT AYSO tourney on Saturday. Grey had one JR&S pony league baseball game, one summer league basketball game, and a day of Chaos basketball tournament (thank you for taking him Pappy!) So on Saturday we had B, Violet, and Rusty in Lancaster for 10U soccer tourney, Tab, Reddy, Olive, and Gemma at our home soccer tourney, and Pappy & Grey in Pittsburgh for a basketball tourney (sheesh!)

Making chicken patties and pierogies, Mexipasta (with leftover taco meat), Korean beef with green beans and rice, Pioneer Woman's skillet lasagna, chicken nuggies with broccoli and shells&cheese. I made peanut butter power balls for Grey & Gem to take to the SHOFCO tourney, and cowboy cookies for the AYSO tournament on Saturday.

Still Keto'ing and hitting the 2 month mark. Protein fruit smoothies continue to be my go to meal in a pinch. When I start to get discouraged (or tired of paying attention to what I'm consuming - but seriously, sometimes you just want to eat whatever is in front of you because of laziness) but then I go back to photos because that is such an immediate reminder to stick with it. I think my face is always the easiest to notice when I'm paying attention to sugar and it seems really obvious in my comparisons over the last two months. Granted, I have a tan now too so maybe that helps a little (hah), but the sugar/carb inflammation is really obvious in the first picture and now I feel like my full smile has room on my face; hah!