Around Here 32: 08/04-10

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

photo cred: Onara C

Crater Lake, OR  photo cred: Kitty

photo cred: Kitty, a double burned forest!

photo cred: Mindy

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 428+ hours (of 1000)
Still earning plenty of time with beautiful weather and grateful for the rain we got this week too! I have some sunflowers growing in my potato plant buckets (!) and I can't wait to see them bloom. My black eyed susans are looking 

Reading Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. I started back up again on Sunday when I was down with the stomach flu because I just needed to distract and dissociate - HAH. 

Garage to Den project with nothing other than purchasing a carpet to put down there when it is done. Grey helped me pick it out and he also lugged it out to the car and into the garage. It's nice having big kids to carry big stuff! 

Stomach flu strikes! Gemma and I got hit with the pukes on Sunday - it was miserable but at least we got to quarantine ourselves in my bedroom streaming movies, reading, and sleeping. Kind of a wonderful day minus all the nausea and dehydration (lol). We watched Armageddon because I wanted to finally introduce Gem to my teenage #1 crush of AJ (aka Ben Affleck's character). She liked it just fine but was confused about why of all the cheesy rom coms we love - why would I like an end-of-the-world story the best? Which is a hilariously valid question. But remember in the 90's and early 2000's - we lived for end of times movies or at least movies where there was major disaster. (Day After Tomorrow, Final Destination, Dante's Peak, Twister, Pearl Harbor, Titantic). Like yes, give me the love story, but also make me very stressed and cry too. 

Peaches (the pup) visits! Gemma got a dog-sitting job while a neighborhood family is away on vacation and the whole crew has been loving visiting Peaches. She is the sweetest pup and Gem has been so good about making sure she gets there three times a day for walks, snuggles, and check ins. She has actually enjoyed biking down and then we pick her up after a little while. 

Blackberry hunting. The Maurers stopped by unexpectedly on dirtbikes and the sidebyside asking if the kids wanted to go blackberry picking - best kind of drop in visit! While my kids were off staining their faces purple and visiting the Maurer's show pigs - I got some much needed planning and emailing time (thank you Deanna!) Then we stuffed our faces some more when my nephews were visiting! Despite some scorched blackberry bushes, we are still finding some around us that survived the dry, hot summer! Thank goodness.

Gemmas (very very belated) birthday night swim party! Gem's birthday was back in February, so this was more like her half birthday, but I was determined to get a party in for her before we went back to school. I picked up several of the soccer girls after practice (and Violet!) and we headed to Pappy's pool for takeout pizza, fruit, and a smores charcuterie. I was in all the girlhood glory on the car ride over as the girls were all singing on the top of their lungs to every song and giggling together. They were awesome at the pool too - doing dive and jump competitions, cheer stunts in the water, and relay racing. It was a great time and I was so glad we got to officially celebrate our Roie at 12 and a half! (thank you Pappy for letting 10 tween girls take over your pool and patio for a night!) 

Celebrating Abba for her birthday. We had such a great dinner out with Abba, her bestie Shelly, Uch, and I at Applebee's on my mom's birthday. We all left with aches in our stomachs from laughing so hard and I'm sure we were either endearing or absolutely annoying to the tables around us. (lol). Happy birthday to my mumma. 

Back to school Prep! 

• Plotting out the next four weeks - when it's back to school season, I try to focus on 'making it' to Labor day - if we can get to that long weekend in tact - we'll be okay (LOL). So I taped two papers together, made a detailed planner that might qualify for psychotic status but it helps me stay on track, so let me cook. 
• School Shopping dates with Pappy. First he took Gem & Vi and then Grey & Rust got to go. Everyone gets lunch out with Pappy too. The girls picked Chinese and the boys picked Primanti Brothers
• School schedules arrived this week and teacher assignments arrived this week! 
• Reddy and Olive helped me drop off all the paperwork to the preschool this week, including their pediatric forms (why do I always forget to get those until last minute?!)
• Dentist appointments (and required school paperwork for our 7th grader) for Gem and Violet
• Orthodontist appointment for Grey to pick up his last set of Invisalign trays! 
• having kids do a last minute sweep of their dressers and closets to bag up any clothes they don't wear anymore. Donated! 
• but even still with getting rid of some clothes - the LAUNDRY. laugh or cry - I choose to laugh. 

Squeezing in all the mini dates. What is it with the end of summer that gives me that claustrophobic feeling that we didn't do anything all summer that was worthwhile and now's the time to do all.the.things!?! Just Grey and I grabbed breakfast after his orthodontist appointment at Denny's then Gem, Vi, and I stopped for coffee and Boba tea at Flood City cafe after their dentist appointment. 

Laughing at teenagers as Grey had multiple sleepovers this week because the friend group all claimed the summer was ending and it was now or never. So first the Huffmans hosted the boys, then it was a sleepover at the Conn's house the next night with swimming at the Valentine's the next afternoon. Each night, the mothers just venmo'ed or sent snacks and wished a thank you and good luck to the hosting family because teenage boys can eat and break a lot of stuff by accident (hah!) I am so grateful for those mommas that are helping to raise these teenage boys! What a gift, truly! 

Facial at Ligonier Spa for me on Friday morning as a gift from Pappy (thank you!) It was my first facial experience it was relaxing and I loved the lip shine post-facial so much, I asked for the brand and ordered one online before I went home (hah!) 

Hugs and prayers to say goodbye to our family friend, Tootsie. After a very brave and strong fight against cancer, our dear friend Tootsie passed away last week. She was one of my parents' best friends and she and her family are included in every beach vacation memory I have growing up among many other memories of parties and laughter. Her funeral service was beautiful and meaningful with the Nurses Honor Guard present. Rest in peace, Tootsie. 

Family Reunion day! We attended our annual Uzelac family reunion all day Saturday and it was so nice to spend time with cousins and extended family. Grey and B played in the cornhole tournament, Gemma and Violet ran the bingo games, and the four youngest loved getting a chance to karaoke at the end of the night. My goddaughter Mallory is growing so beautifully and we had a full blown conversation in Spanish together as she's taken it for three years at school (so proud of her!) Great job planning and organizing to my mumma! 

Kitty & Bryan PCT Update: in Oregon and she is so blown away by the beauty (her instagram post is so gorgeous and shows the real vastness of nature on the PCT - check it out!) They had to do some walking over lava rock on Obsidian Trail. The rock is spongey and hard on the feet, ankles, and legs (so not their favorite), but beautiful and an experience to look at nonetheless. 

Teaching...well not actually yet, but I am starting to get that focus zeroed in for back to school. Our teacher Powerschool was opened this week so I got a chance to get my schedule and rosters. I emailed some folks that I needed to reach out to before the last two weeks of summer hustle, and my teacher planner arrived this week! 

Sporting with fall practices in full effect. Rusty had three flag practices, Violet had two cheer practices and both Rust and Vi had their photos. Gemma had three soccer practices and is working on her taping skills for when she is a student trainer assistant for football (Rusty and I seem to be her most willing dummies to practice on- hah!) Grey and Brandon had Heat Acc week of practices (MWF 4:30-7:30p and T/Th 4:30-9:30p) - with photos and an interview with the local newspaper on Thursday night for B. We got Grey's pony league baseball uniform cleaned and turned in (thank you Becky for delivering it!), and B attended the rules interpretation coaches meeting on Tuesday night. I had a soccer booster meeting and signed up to do the fundraiser ticket and poster design! I finished up all the little details for upcoming football camp week (scrimmage flyer, awards list, roster to Ang M for the programs, proofreading the parent handout for B, and writing my letter to Grey for football camp sleepover day). 

Making sheetpan chicken fajitas, crockpot chicken pot pie, beef enchiladas, kielbasa with homemade mac&cheese, and grilled cheese sammies. B brought home soup for the puking days (hah) and we had lots of toast and crackers until we were able to eat normally again. I made two loaves of zucchini bread and a batch of zucchini cookies from our garden gifts this week. For Gem's party I made a smore charcuterie and for the reunion we brought crockpot baked beans and a roaster of leftover breaded chicken. 

Around Here Week 31: 08/01-03

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 407+ hours (of 1000)
Oh, praise! Some rain!! Finally!! I even chopped the tops of the grass where it was sporadically growing taller in preparation for the rain. First time I mowed in weeks!?

Reading The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler and loving it. 

Garage to Den project - B, Grey, and Pappy added the flashing to the ceiling and then got half of it painted black (we used Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black). 

Scheduling and trying to get ducks in a row because...AUGUST! It's go time baby - as a teacher and a mom of 6 (4 in school and 2 in preschool this year!) and the wife of the Varsity football coach - it is time to lock in folks. I actually love it and where others might be overwhelmed and want to puke (don't get me wrong, I am both of those things too), I kind of love being in that suspended state of plan, schedule, and accomplish all the things. So it's that time of year to pull out my planner, make list after list, cross reference practice and game schedules to meal plans! Let's gooooooooo. 

Getting tiny little flashes of serotonin when I think of autumn on it's way to me. Take me as I am because it's just the way it is - fall brings me JOY to the max. The breeze, the coziness of sweatshirts, the crunch of leaves, the warm drinks, the flavors, the COLORS everywhere, the back to school routine, the holidays, eeeeeeeeeee. I honestly can't think of it too much because I go full on geek mode of happiness and wishing time away.  I can wait patiently Summer - do your thing, girl. (But FALL - I SEE YOU on deck!) 

Seeing LEGOS! The Meatballs (Rusty & Violet) are on a lego kick right now and they moved all the legos to the attic to try to keep Liv and Red out of them (yeah right, it didn't work but valiant effort). Rust & Vi go up there for half hours at a time building to their little hearts content and then come down sweaty (no ventilation in the attic - hah!) but excited to show us their creations. 

Nephew time! The Moore boys had a playday at our house on Friday and everyone was deliriously happy to be covered in huggas and giggles from our favorite boys. Gemma was desperate for some baby snuggles even while we were on vacation (she kept saying she missed them so much) so she was thrilled! 

Date night with B. Grey and his friend Gabe needed a ride to the AAABA baseball game, so we both drove them down and had a quiet-we-didn't-make-the-delicious-food-or-have-to-clean-up meal at Asiago's. It was indulgent in all the ways (food, time, and money) especially after just coming back from vacation, but we didn't get one on vacation so we rationalized our little hearts away. 

Getting some work done at the farm before we run out of time with Dad. Football season makes for very little time to do bigger chores, like fixing the roof of two of the goat sheds, patching up electric fence, and mixing up big batches of goat feed. Every family member got to help a little and it made light work. I was delighted to see that we have a mini pumpkin patch growing in the goat pasture from last Halloween's leftover pumpkin feedings to the goats. We have two actual pumpkins growing already and a few more blooms looking like they are going to be successful! (Studerbabies farm plug: if you have carved or uncarved pumpkins at the end of the spooky season that you're looking to get rid of, our goats would love to eat 'em! Just no painted pumpkins please!)

Kitty & Bryan PCT Update: Oregon! They had to hitch north to bypass some fire areas, so they walked south this week to make up the miles they missed (aka "Sobo" southbound instead of "Nobo" northbound...I love learning the PCT cool kid lingo!)

Sporting with youth football and cheer for Violet and Rusty. They each had practice on Thursday night. B and some seniors spent Friday afternoon at a local high school for the county media day with newspapers and radio stations (he did this interview). He also had a meeting with the coaches on Saturday night at Tollgate to do a last check in before Heat Acclimation practices begin next week. I met with our Red&White Tailgate committee on Saturday morning at Thomahawk to get our event planned for the football camp inter-squad scrimmage night. It is going to be great - I'm so excited and happy to work with those football moms on planning! (Hi Stacy! Hi Missy!)

Making chicken flautas, homemade pizza, ground turkey &broccoli pasta (super easy but everyone loved it!)

Around Here: Vacation in Delaware 07/26-31

A glimpse of what it is like to be in our family just this week...on vacation!

photo cred: Jenn V

photo cred: Jenn V

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 403+ hours (of 1000)
Beach outdoor hours are some of the best. 

Reading and finishing How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang and I liked it. Very cute all around; a great beach read! The chapter of them in his childhood bedroom had me in a chokehold - the chemistry was crazy even though that particular chapter was very PG (Haha, there are definitely not PG parts -spicy!!) but I loved that whole interaction in that chapter! Then I started reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler and WOW. Loving it!! [I left Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros at home because I was afraid it was going to consume me and I was going to miss out on family time (lol).]

Leaving early in the morning (even though we didn't have to) because that is some of our favorite childhood vacation memories growing up - getting in the car in jammies and sleeping most of the way to the sounds of our parents talking in the front seat. We drove through PA to MD by the time we were driving over the Chesapeake Bay, everyone was awake and anxious to see the water. I planned a pit stop in Matapeake Park, MD where they had a public beach since we had plenty of time to spare before we could actually get into our VRBO house. We looked for shells & rocks, the kids put their toes in the water for a little bit and then we loaded back up for the last hour of the drive to Bowers Beach, DE! 

Grocery shopping because #bigfamily. We stopped at Food Lion in DE (about a half hour from our beach) to grab things from my mealplan and snack list so that we would be stocked for most of the week. There was no grocery store right in Bowers Beach, so it was then or never. We don't usually go shopping as a whole family and good thing because we are a spectacle - HAH - all 8 of our light eyes and light hair family members walking en masse through the grocery store...I get it, we are overwhelming (hah). The amount of times strangers have said to us "you've got your hands full" is outrageous. 

Getting comfortable in our VRBO house in Bowers Beach, DE. We stayed at Windsong right on the bay in Bowers Beach. The house was two stories with spiral staircases between the floors which the kids loved. (I didn't love that - it was hard to carry stuff up the steps, like suitcases and coffee cups, hah). The house was beautifully furnished and had two decks and was literally right.on.the.beach. There was a lot of big family helpful pieces of the house too - like a washer/dryer, dishwasher, a propane grill, full house bluetooth, wifi, towels & linens already there, loads of storage space for food and snacks, and the screened in deck. The house was perfect for our stay and our host, Karen, was really responsive and very kind. A reccommend from us if you find yourself interested in staying at Bowers Beach, DE! 

Obsessed with horseshoe crabs. Delaware Bay is well known for their horseshoe crabs and they were everywhere! It was not the full mating season, but we still saw plenty and we were all so fascinated with them. Rusty and Reddy loved rescuing them by carrying them back to the sea when the tide was changing to low. Keep reading if you want to go full nerd: Horseshoe crabs are incredible creatures that have been around for 450 MILLION years! They have blue blood that can be used to test our medical injectables to make sure that they are safe for human bloodstreams. The horseshoe crab eggs are the meal for the endangered birds the Red Knot, who stop on their migration from South America back to the artic! If you want to know even more - watch this video! 

Learning, tracking, (and enjoying!) the low and high tides. I refreshed the tide times website each day so that we knew when to expect swimming or low tide exploring! The tide change was drastic everyday. In high tide, the water was only about 15 feet from our deck and we could swim in 4-5ft of water right in front of the house. There was a little ridge that we had to be careful with that was covered in sharp oysters, so we kept our shoes on when we went swimming. During low tide, the water receded 200 feet and we could walk all the way out looking for sea snails, horseshoe crabs partially buried trying to wait out the tide, and minnows. It was honestly magical during low tide and I just had no idea that it could be that drastic! 

Fishing. Brandon and Grey visited the Bowers Bayside Bait and Kayak Rentals shop on our first full day of vacation. The owner was so helpful in getting them a fishing license, proper bait, and giving them tips on what, when, and where to fish. Grey was in his glory fishing all week and he caught a couple croaker. He and B also caught a horseshoe crab each by accident (we untangled and threw them back in unharmed), and B caught a stingray?! It was crazy and kind of scary, but he broke free before B could get close enough to cut him off (thank goodness kind of because he was flailing about and I was worried about someone getting spiked!) We saw a fellow fisherman down the beach catch a baby sand tiger shark (!!) and the bait shop owner did warn us that if we had any idea how many sand tiger sharks there were in the water that we'd be shocked......um, yikes. But we didn't seen any fins and sand tiger sharks are fairly cool about humans. 

Front Deck sittin' My favorite part of the beach house was the double deck. The first floor deck was screened in and we spent a lot of time hanging out there; playing chess and cards, eating on the bar overlooking the bay, and listening to music on the house wide bluetooth (amazing!) The upper deck was not screened, but somehow was high enough in the air that the bugs didn't really go up there (hah). Gemma loved that spot, just sitting up there doodling in a notebook and watching everyone on the beach. That was my favorite sunrise watching spot too - the sun came up right in front of the house over the bay each morning and with a cup of coffee and my fella next to me - it was perfection. 

Family dinner night out at The Boatyard at JPs on Saturday night. They had live music and their food truck and cornhole! It was our one scheduled restaurant dinner on the meal plan and we all got dressed up a little bit to make it feel like an official vacation dinner.

Ferry Ride from Lewes, DE to Cape May, NJ. We took a little drive down the DE coastline from Bowers Beach to Lewes to catch the ferry on Monday morning. The ferry ride was about an hour and it was a fun experience in itself. I purchased tickets for the ferry+shuttle before we left for vacation and I'm so glad we did because the shuttle from the dock to downtown would have been full if we hadn't! (I suggest just buying the combo ticket!) The ferry was clean and easy - you could even take your vehicle if you needed to!

Beach hopping over to Cape May, NJ where our friends the Valentines were spending the week on their family vacation! The kids (and me!) LOVED the big waves and asked that next time we do a beach trip we go somewhere that has waves that big again. Rusty and Gemma swam and dove in the waves almost the whole time we were there. Grey and the Valentine boys played in the ocean and on the beach (football, Spike ball) and the grown ups got to chat and laugh together. The babies were kind of scared of the waves and then spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping on beach chairs! It was the perfect visit mid-vacay with friends - thank you Valentines for showing us around! 

(trying to) avoid the bugs. Our only complaint about the vacation was the mosquitos and horseflies! We were all pretty bit up and despite using bug spray, we still were the targets for the bugs. It wasn't constant - if the breeze was coming off the bay, then it was all good. But if the breeze was coming from land - it was pretty buggy. We had that gorgeous enclosed deck though so it became a great spot to enjoy the view and sounds with safety from the bug bites! 

School shopping on the way home to break up the drive a little bit. We stopped at the Hagerstown, MD outlets and got each kid a few things for school clothes or shoes. The babies were so excited to get new preschool clothes (they wanted to put them on right that moment, obviously) and it felt good to stretch our legs and do something productive before we got home. 

Joyfully surprised to drive up our newly milled driveway (yay! so smooth - who's driveway is this?!) and to see that Pappy had cut down all our dead pine trees along the driveway while we were away! Thank you Pappy!

Greeting all our pets and thanking our animals watchers again for taking such good care of everyone while we were away. Pappy and the Maurer family - we are so thankful for you guys! The pups were all so happy to see us! 

Breathing a sigh of relief to be back in our own house with our own stuff. Even though it was a great vacation, there is always just the relaxation to be back in the familiar again and that's part of the gift of vacation too - a reminder that it's pretty good to be at home too. 

Sporting by making it back home in time for cheer and football practices for Violet and Rusty on Wednesday night. Vi was happy, Rust was kind of bummed but then was glad he went afterwards. 

Making meals at our beach house this week and Brandon did most of the cooking. He said he'll do 5 days of the year if I can do the other 360 days - hahahhaha, that's a joke marriage police (kind of, hah). But not having to cook on vacation is actually a deal I'm willing to make! We had frozen pizzas, church picnic chicken on the grill, spaghetti, shrimp, taco night, and sheet pan nachos. We ate out at The Boatyard one night and while in Cape May we had lunch at Hot Dog Tommy's.