Around Here Week 24: 06/09-15

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

all former NS students at the volleyball game!

our favorite ice cream shoppe girl! Colbie! 

photo cred: Gemma!

selfie cred; Abba

photo cred: Abba

photo cred: Eva M

photo taken at 2:55am

photo cred: B

photo cred: Bryan & Kitty

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 218+ hours (of 1000)
We had the most gorgeous double rainbow on Sunday evening - so vibrant with a colorful aura around it. Honestly, the most beautiful rainbow/sky combo I've seen in 40 years of life. Grey, Rusty, and I thought it was a portal opening up and we tried to tell the dragons to come through (hah!) Then the clouds were all red and spooky like straight out of Stranger Things - it was wild. 

Reading  Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Listening to The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

Planting Gigi's tree. Thank you Hannah & Eric for the beautiful Oak that will be perfect shade and a reminder of our Gigi forever.

Welcoming to our family a new kitty! Dwayne (as in Dwayne the Rock Johnson) came to live with us on Sunday afternoon from Miss Baylee's farm. The kids (and I!) were so happy to see her - we missed her after only one week of summer! Her momma kitty had a litter and since we are in the market for a mouse hunter, it was a perfect match. Dwayne has been so sweet and playful and we just love him. Gem and Vi even slept out on the back porch with him on his first night at our house because they didn't want him to be alone!  

Reddy's first buzz cut! B tried to trim up his hair a little but it went sideways (hah!) so he just did the full on buzz for the summer. He looks adorable albeit older (don't they always after a haircut?) 

Appointments & check ups It was well checks for the next batch of kids - Rusty and Olive had their appointments and all looked good with no pokes for anyone this time! Olive also had her first dentist appointment this week and thought she was the coolest chick wearing the sunglasses and getting stickers afterwards. Hah! 

Delighted to see sprouts in our garden! Zucchini is the hardiest maniacs of the garden and thankfully our whole family loves it - so we were all cheering when we noticed the first little sprouts after only a week of planting them! Grow! Grow! Grow! 

First Que day trip of the summer. The kids and I loaded up the van with swim supplies, a few snacks, fishing gear, and two friends (Brady and Landon) and headed out to spend a few hours at the Quemahoming Family Rec Center. It was a beautiful afternoon and even though the water was frigid - most the kids still went swimming (hah). I got to read a little and it was a perfect little getaway for the afternoon. 

A day at the amusement park for Rusty to celebrate his birthday. Chum and Abba offered him a chance to take a friend and he picked Violet! So the two meatballs headed off to spend the day at Delgrosso's with Chum and Abba (rides & waterpark!) They picked a great day to go and the kids had so much fun - thank you!! 

Planning, planning, planning. Gigi's Celebration of Life next week, CT Varsity football golf outing in July, soccer tournament food plans, Grey's basketball camp supplies, groceries/meal plans for the week. My planner has a million notes, post-its, and checklists in it. In motherhood, I find it necessary to always be thinking in hours, days, and weeks in advance to survive. I know what we are doing right now, but I also have at least a general idea of what we are doing or need to be doing in both the near and semi-distant future. It's honestly exhausting and just know I'm always pushing out love and patience to you parents out there doing the same. xxox

Picking up preschool paperwork from St. David's Learning Place. Eeek! But the babies are ready to start making their own friends and own stories, so I think we are going to go the route of preschool this fall for the both of them. We are still weighing and figuring out the Kindergarten plan (I think I want to hold Reddy because that feels right for him, but not hold Olive because that feels right for her...so they'd both go at the same time in 2026! We will see how this year goes!)

Saving Maple the goat at 2:55am! I half woke up (still kind of dreaming) from a strange sound coming through the open window. In my dream it was Grey being a goofball but then the second time I heard it actually woke me up and I realized it was definitely a goat in distress. B got up and went out to investigate to discover that Maple got her leg stuck in a pallet, so as he sawed the through the pallet, I tried to keep her calm while talking gently and held her horns so she didn't thrash about. We got her free and she scampered off unharmed thankfully. Farm life is never boring life. 

Kitty & Bryan PCT Update: still in the Sierra Mountains and pushing through the hard days (elevations, steep up & downs, snow and cold). And now the mosquitos are here and they are hangry! Ugh, poor Kitty and Bryan are getting eaten alive - if anyone out there in the internets has tried and true mosquito fix (while hiking - remember they have to carry it with them!) they'd love to hear it! They are doing well though and I got to video chat with her on Friday night which was so nice to see her beautiful face and hear her voice. It's wild to miss someone so much but also not want them to come home because you're so proud of them and love hearing about their adventures. Gem is curating a playlist for Kitty on spotify to send her tough chick vibes. If you're moving their map marker - they made to to Mammoth this week! 

Sporting with two tourney team soccer practices for Violet and one tourney team soccer practice for Gemma. Gemma also had two summer league basketball games and one lifting/conditioning morning session. Violet and Gemma then played in the Johnstown AYSO soccer tournament on Saturday and both of their teams made it to the championship! Violet's 10U team won second place and Gemma's 12U team won first place, and that closes out the AYSO soccer season for the year! Grey had four summer league basketball games, a pony league baseball game, two lifting/conditioning mornings, a football practice, and then left for basketball camp at Juniata college with the Varsity basketball team for the weekend. Brandon and I had our Roxbury volleyball game on Tuesday too! B took Rust and Reddy to the Ken Lantzy football game on Friday night to support our football seniors who got selected to participate (good job Jon & Kyler!)

Making chicken biscuit casserole, Korean beef with rice and green beans, chicken parm sliders, Hawaiian meatballs over rice, sloppy joes with mac&cheese, and Pap's deer meat at his house on the grill! I also made a batch of chocolate chip protein cookies and another charcuterie snack plate for the soccer tournament. 

Using this Summer Meal Planner tool to help ease the stress of feeding 6 kids all summer long. 2 weeks in and it has been a great framework for meal planning and grocery list making. I mean - don't get me wrong, feeding all these kids is exhausting mind, body and soul...do I leave the kitchen? not really, but I at least have a framework to work within as I'm trying to get a handle on the consumption of food over here.