Around Here Week 30: 07/21-25

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

photo cred: Eva M

photo cred: Uch

photo cred: Abba

photo cred: Abba

photo cred: Kitty

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 370+ hours (of 1000)
My black-eyed Susans are out looking gorgeous! Tis the seasons for the annual who looks better; my black-eyed Susans or Brandon's Seedum. So far, I'm in the lead! 

Reading Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. Bring on all the Violet and Xaddy (hah) and Tairn and Sgaeyl. (And Andarna, Rhiannon, Imgoen, Bohdi, Garrick, Ridoc, Sawyer, and Mira, and still Liam forever and never Dain LOL).

Den Update - walls got painted (Sherwin Williams Misty), ceiling dry wall finished, All of this is not without hiccups; if you've ever completed house projects, you know there are problems. Our paint sprayer kicked the bucket, so B had to buy a new one. The dry wall on the ceiling was brutal (ugh, dry wall is too heavy to be holding over you head for as long as it takes to screw it in!?) We had cable wires that needed re-routed, kids using and misplacing tape measures and drill batteries. So if you're thinking this is all fun and games over here - rest assured it is not. Hah. Everything worth while takes hard work and patience but then it pays off...so don't give up if it's harder than you thought it'd be. It almost always is. 

Hosting the CT Football Golf Outing fundraiser at Oakbrook Golf Course on Sunday. It was a great day; perfect weather, and such a great turnout from the community. Becky got us matching CT football tanks (thank you!) and it was all hands on deck for setting up - everyone was so patient with me while I tried to figure out the set up. Every coach played on a team! We had current players and alumni golfers, school board members, and teachers! The football booster moms and grandmas showed up big time with a cookie table to end all cookie tables (thank you - you are all amazing!) and the booster volunteers that were there that day made everything run smoothly. We even had some current players volunteering, even being a caddy (hah! love you Huff!) Brandon played on a team and Grey played with Aunt Pam and Uncle Buck. My Dad and Kevin had a team too! It was a long, tiring day but definitely worth it. 

Wishing a happy first birthday to our baby cousin Lennox. My mom and sister Uch took the five youngest kids to Lennox's birthday party while the rest of us were at the golf outing. They had a great time spending time with cousins and "fishing" over the clothesline (eek! the childhood memories that unlocked when I saw the pictures and heard the kids talking about it!) 

Harvesting our first vegetable from our mini garden - a zucchini! Thanks to our dedicated watering (ugh this lack of rain!), the plants are growing beautifully. Tomatoes and little peas are getting bigger and we can see plenty of zucchini starting, but one was ready to be picked. The kids and I were all cheering, hah! 

Making ALL.THE.LISTS for vacation. We got packing list (clothes), packing list (supplies), grocery list & meal plan for when we get there, mealplan for this week to use up perishables before we go, farm chore list for the animal check in crew (thank you Maurer family & Pappy!), and the research for route and things to do and activities for vacation. My brain is just in a million different places, but lists help me feel better - so list making it is! 

Hosting a playdate at our house at Grey's request. All the kids had a whole afternoon to meet, play, and get goo-goo eyes for Laikyn. Literally everyone is obsessed and for good reason - she is as sweet as could be. She jumped on the trampoline, read books, and clapped for a living room dance party like a real trooper.

Dentist for Rusty and got some very interesting news. He still has one front baby tooth which has me baffled because it is not wiggly at all and I have photos of the oldest three all missing their top front teeth around 7yrs old. So now Rust is 8 and he has one adult front tooth and still one baby tooth that isn't even showing any signs of wiggle in there. The dentist took a full xray to see what the issue might be and lo and behold - Rust has an EXTRA tooth in there! Sharkboy. We will need to make a consult with our orthodontist to see how to proceed (oral surgery?) but that little tooth isn't feeling any pressure because the real adult tooth and this random extra one are colliding up there and stopping all the natural pressure. Good grief! 

Squaring up with all the random things before vacation. I got the big kids' school sports forms completed online, got the money and lock box to the booster president from the golf outing, and cleared and packed all the golf outing supply boxes to be held until next year. The girls helped clean out Lucille and B prepped the farm with hay in an easy access point. Finally, we met with the Maurers and Pappy, who are sharing farm babysitting duties in the AM and PM (thank you!) 

Nephew time! We had a little evening with the fella boys - we played outside and went to watch Rusty's football practice to play on the playground. It is always a joy to have those sweet lumpkins within my grasp. Uch was getting ready to leave for vacation and I wanted to do something to support the packing of all the things with little hands who wreck all the things (#beenthere), plus my kids always behave better when cousins are there to play - so double win! 

Millings for the driveway!! If you've ever been to our house then you know how badly we needed a remedy for our driveway. It's a quarter of a mile long and gets washed out with every single storm. It's been 13 years of frustration with this driveway, but we had an opportunity at some millings (reused asphalt that a local business was ripping out to replace) and we knew we had to jump on it. The millings man (hah) came out on the night before to do some prep work and then for most of Saturday it was truckloads dumped and millings moved and rolled. We were all fascinated and sat on the lawn watching like it was a tv show - hah. It's so much better and every time I drive on it now I announce, "Wow! Whose nice driveway is this?!" 

Kitty & Bryan PCT Update and made it to Mt Shasta, CA which is getting very close to the CA-Oregon border! It has been brutally hot and they've been keeping their eyes on the fires that are along the trail to make sure they are safe. If a fire becomes too close or they feel they aren't safe, the plan is to hitchhike further up the trail but I know Kitty would love to see the Oregon border marker in the woods on the trail - so fingers crossed they can stay on trail and be safe! 

Sporting with the first week of flag football practice for Rusty - he had three practices! Gem had one day of lifting & conditioning and two soccer kickarounds (Violet goes to the kickarounds too!) Grey had two days of lifting & conditioning. I got all the golf tournament money turned in to the Boosters and Canva'ed a shareable football schedule to post to the football team social pages. 

Making spaghetti, burgers on the grill (thank you Greyson!), chicken Philly cheesesteaks with sauteed zucchini from our garden (!), and eating all the leftovers and perishables before vacation!