Around Here Week 25: 06/16-22

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

photo cred: St David's VBS committee

photo cred: Aunt Kitty

photo cred: B

photo cred: Heather

photo cred: Heather

photo cred: Heather

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 246+ hours (of 1000)
Racking up hours left and right because it's summertime baby! We swam at Pappy's pool multiple times in an effort to beat the heat. Osa is shedding hair like you would not believe; full clumps just coming off at a time. The garden continues to grow though and we are making sure to water it everyday to keep it healthy and strong! 

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

Listening to during chores: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by VE Schwab

Celebrating the Dad's in our life for Father's Day. We made a big breakfast for B and then later met up with the grandpas at the Quemahoming for dinner. We roasted hot dogs and cheddar brats over the fire and I made cookies and buffalo chicken dip too. Olive, Red, Rusty, and Violet had the most fun swimming with their cousins (Wells, Heath and Brookie, Benny). Grey got to fish a little bit but mostly we just sat around talking and laughing and coo'ing at baby Blair who is the sweetest darlin. Brandon even found a way to keep his HopOnPop tradition alive by holding all the kids at one time (hah!) I am endlessly grateful to have these men in our life who fix all the things, have patience in their teaching us all the things, and eat all the kids leftovers (hah!)

Suffering through AC on the fritz. I usually like to hold off on the AC until July, but we had a heat wave this week (upper 80's and 90's) and with our two old dogs in the house, I caved for safety reasons...but then the AC didn't work!? Hah, the irony. After some intense googling and youtubing, B messed around with the wire configuration enough to get it to kick on for 3 days until it failed us again - flooding the basement!? Pappy lent us a window AC for the living room and the Rummells lent us one for our bedroom to get us and the dogs (!) through the nights (thank you!!) 

Shaking my dang head because it just feels like everything in our house is broken right now (AC, oven door, mouse in the house, old dogs who have accidental body malfunctions on the carpets, leaky ice machine in the fridge freezer)... the list could go on for miles. Unfortunately, that kind of seems like the standard for adulting, so to all the young people reading - don't grow up! It's a trick!!

Gemma working VBS with St. David's all week. She volunteered 6-8p each evening at vacation bible school to help with the games for the little kids and then she got to spend the whole day 9a-4p at Camp Sequanota hiking, swimming, and crafting with the VBS crew. She really is so good with kids ( #oldestsisterperks ) and had a blast with the other counselors and all the kids. I loved hearing her stories at the end of each night. Don't tell her I said this, but if she doesn't grow up to be a teacher, it will be shocking.

Hosting Marianne's Celebration of Life at Flair of Country. It turned out beautiful and exactly like I think Gigi would have wanted. Many people drove far and wide and nearby and within work and kids' activities to squeeze in time on their busy days to swing by to give us a hug and offer up a sweet memory they had of Gigi. The food was delicious and everyone was so kind and gracious with us. Thank you to everyone who stopped by or wrote us a message, the friends and family who messaged me all week to say "just say what you need help with and I got you," Jenn (Little Details by Reese) who helped me decorate and had a special toast with us before the event started, Aunt Pam and Aunt Ginger who brought photos and mementos to add to the decor, Flair of Country for being so accommodating with our wishes, and to my baby sis Uch who dropped off supplies, printed my papers, proofread every single thing I wrote or designed, and offered feedback in her gentle, helpful way. The celebration of life was a beautiful and meaningful evening and truly felt comforting and peace-giving to spend time in a room with so many people who Gigi impacted. 

Frustrated with scambots on Facebook. It's pretty common these days, but some scambots got wind of my Celebration of Life event page and created links to a (fake) livestream and then spammed a million times in comments and posts on the event page, on my personal facebook posts, responding to comments of friends and family members. Is nothing sacred? honestly. Thank you to all the people who gave me a heads up about it and shame on the programmers who did not block or remove any of the scambots because they 'didn't violate policy' even though I reported them all.

Get you some good friends that you can call when you need to rage and freak out just so you can then take a breath so you are able to respond with patience and lovingkindness to whoever made you rage (LOL). I'm looking at you Uchie, Kitty, Karpy, and Katie - what would I do without youns FOR REAL, thank you for always letting me talk it all out; I love you. 

Thrilled Heather requested two of our kids to go on a kayak excursion with her and Caleb on Friday. Grey and Violet were the finalists (hah), and Heather planned the trip through Saltsburg Kayak and Canoe Outfitters and they did the Conemaugh Dam - Saltsburg trip. The weather was sunny and beautiful (sunburns for everyone despite multiple applications of sunscreen! hah!) but the water was calm, they got to visit a swimming hole, and kayaked 7 miles! 

Clipping the wings of our chickens so that they aren't able to fly over the fence to get to the goats/Osa. They have a very big chicken coop and surrounding space under pine trees, lush with mulch and dirt for digging to cool or find bugs - so tell me why they are risking their actual lives flying over into the goat pen only to be snagged by Osa. We started spring with 17 chickens and we're down to 14, so Heather and Albert came over on Friday afternoon to help us clip their wings to make them flightless birds! It is a quick and painless process (they literally didn't even react) but hopefully will keep them safe. We were chasing them to catch them while Heather and I were laughing and shouting, "Let us help you help yourself?!" Farm life is never a boring life.

Family reunion day at the Adams farm in Patton, PA. B stayed at home to get some work done at the farm (thank goodness) and the kids and I all headed out on a hour drive to spend the day with extended family who share DNA and cheekbone structure. Grey, Rusty, and Red were delighted to spend most of the reunion fishing in the pond. Gem played (and won!) dingers with Chum (a game invented long ago by our family that is sort of a mix between horseshoes and cornhole). There was a delicious food and plenty of cousins and aunts/uncles to catch up with all day. Rusty and Violet even jumped in the pond before we left!

So proud of Reddy who has been courageous over the last few weeks in the swimming pool. No joke at the first pool visit this summer he cried and cried about just trusting his floatie. He did not want to go in at all; just terrified and crying. The next time, he trusted his floaties slowly after I was in with him and holding him. Next time, he was in on his own but wouldn't go past the shallow end. Then he jumped off the side into the shallow end. Then he went into the deep end. And now?! he's diving off of the diving board headfirst!! Give it time mommas and daddas - they get there at their own pace in all things in life. Sometimes the hardest part of parenthood is just waiting for them to be ready. 

Kitty & Bryan PCT Hike Update: They made it past Mammoth, CA (900+ miles so far!) and they even took a little side quest to Yosemite! 

Sporting with a youth league football camp evening for Rusty & Violet. Gemma had a summer league basketball game and one lifting/conditioning morning. Grey had two summer league basketball games, two lifting/conditioning mornings, two pony league baseball games, one Varsity football practice, and volunteered at the youth league football camp one day. Brandon and I had our volleyball game on Tuesday night. 

Making hot dogs & cheddar brats (over the fire at the Que for Father's day), turkey burgers on the grill, pierogies & kielbasa, crockpot beef and cheddar sandwiches, spaghetti, and eating leftovers from our Celebration of Life event (pulled pork & chicken from Flair of Country).  I made cake mix chocolate chip cookies for Father's day, Olive helped me make oatmeal and honey muffins for breakfast (they were so-so) and on Saturday morning we tried out the viral "scrambled pancakes" I really liked them, but the kids were sort of freaked out by the look of them.