Around Here Week 4: 01/20 - 01/26

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

photo cred: CT media class

photo cred: Onara C

photo cred: Onara C

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 6+ hours (of 1000)
Extreme cold prepping the farm with lots of straw in the goat houses and extra bedding in the chicken coop. We fed all the animals a little more than usual so they would have full bellies to stay warm. I did cave though, and brought Osa in to sleep in the basement den the night it was -20 even though I reached out to our local goat farm/Great Pyr mentors and scoured the webs about it and everyone said, Great Pyrs are completely fine with their double coat in extreme cold and they were built for this! Plus Osa sleeps right in the house with the goats with all their straw and extra fur and hot breath (hah!) But at night, when she was out there barking and working (pacing the pasture if she smelled animals in the woods), I was laying in bed streeeesssssssssed about it! So I bundled up at midnight and went out and collected her and brought her in because I can't un-mommabear myself!? She looked up at me like "you're weird mom, but okay." and then in the morning she dragged us back down to the pasture checking on all her goat babies like, "is everyone okay? that was not my fault - mom made me do it!" 

Reading The Martian by Andy Weir and realizing I'm going to have to buy a new copy to return to the kids' teacher Mr. Kramer because I carry books with me all the time - so they get tossed in my school bag, and carried up the steps in laundry baskets, and fetched by toddlers when I forgot it in another room... and basically just used and abused all day everyday. Gemma saw some tears on the cover and was like, "Mom!! You cannot give that back to him like that!?" LOL, never not embarassing the teens. 

Listening to Funny Story by Emily Henry very cute. liking it a lot.

Having a lowkey day mostly at home on MLK Jr day. We headed home from our weekend getaway at Blue Knob and I was so grateful to have a built in extra day to plan logistics for the week. The kids and I talked about MLK Jr on the ride home from Blue Knob (they told me facts that they learned at school, "mom, did you know...?").  Other than that, I tried my best to avoid social media to be honest. 

Two Flexible Instruction days at home with six  kids - LOL. It was chaos and loud and a lot of food was consumed - but we made it through! We have YET to have a full week of school since we've been back in the new year!? Our kids have paper packets to work through and they were pretty good about helping each other when needed - because I have to zoom my classes so I sequester myself up in my bedroom with a makeshift standing desk of the ironing board and a plain background of the wall and my door. I get enough breaks in the schedule that I can make breakfast and lunch and check in on everyone (and give everyone a chore or two! hah) but the day feels uncomfortable and something we just try to get through.

Donuts with Dads for B and the babies at preschool. They were so proud to have him there! We are very grateful for their teachers and little friends - they've been having a great experience at preschool this year and learning so much. They are always excited to show us their 'work' after school and love when it is their snack day. Thank you St. David's Learning Place - we appreciate you! 

Grateful for modern medicine when Brandon called about a rash that has been making him crazy this week to find out it is Shingles!! Turns 40 and gets shingles - honest to goodness. He's been pretty miserable, but thankfully it is just on a limited stretch from his back, through to the side of his chest. He got a prescription and he's trying hard to ignore it. 

Sending the meatballs to the roller skating rink with the Cables. The elementary school puts on a roller skate night each year and for the past few years it has fallen on a basketball game night. Thankfully, our dear friends the Cable family requested Rusty and Violet to go with their kiddos (thank you!!) 

Teaching another non-full week (haven't had a full week of school YET in 2025!) No school on Monday for MLK Jr day, then a Flexible Instruction day for Tuesday AND Wednesday (sub-zero temps) which meant online work and zoom meetings with my classes right at the end of Q2 which is kind of frustrating with grades and missing work - but here we are. Elementary school is still getting through winter vocab because I've missed their classes with delays and FIDs. I got a new batch of eighth graders since we switched quarters! Spanish 1 learned about bullfights and Spanish 2 did some pre-novel work in preparation for reading El Ekeko. 

Sporting with three swim practices and then Division Championship meet on Saturday in Slippery Rock for Rusty. Gemma had four basketball practices and one basketball game. Grey had one baseball pitching, three basketball practices, three basketball games. I learned on the fly how to be a timer at a swim meet (!) I also got Gem signed up for a travel soccer team for the spring.

Making chicken cordon bleu pasta, enchiladas, pork roast with sauerkraut, homemade stromboli, frozen chicken fries and french fries, sloppy joes with mac&cheese and baked beans,  Gemma made homemade granola for her yogurt ...I was really stretching the grocery store visits which had us using up all the ingredients. 

Sourdough creations after nursing her back to health because I went right into it treating her like an adult instead of a newborn (hahh). This week I made sourdough cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and homemade stromboli dough. B ordered my sourdough wishlist supplies (bread box, mixing bowls, Dutch oven, kitchen scale, etc) that I had in the Amazon cart even though it's No Buy January (!) because he needed a tractor part.