A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.
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| photo cred: Onara C |
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| photo cred: Chum |
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| photo cred: Shannon L |
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| photo cred: Shannon L |
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| photo cred: B |
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| photo cred: Stacy B |
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| photo cred: Stacy B |
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| photo cred: Violet |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 455+ hours (of 1000)
Gemmi took a walk with me on Saturday afternoon and it was nice to spend some one-on-one time and chat. The boys fried chicken wings on Saturday night and we invited the grandparents over for wings and a fire on the patio. Still getting the most hours at the fields for sports though.
Reading Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Happy the outside of the house is all done! Mr. Darren came up this week and finished all the little parts that still needed siding (we had to order a few more pieces). He also made us beautiful custom steps for the front and the side. Brandon, Gemma, and I took turns powerwashing all the outside patios and the difference is insane. What a wonderful experience of immediate gratification it is to powerwash! Now if we could just keep the roosters off the patio (!?!!)
A free fall (no parachute! hah) week into the back to school cyclone! Whew - we jumped right into the deep end and found our way back to the top before we ran out of air - so that's good. Hhahaha, but for real - that first few days of everyone back to school and trying to get into the swing of things is so wild. So many random things I forgot to do until I was needed (like putting money in the babies' lunch accounts), all the random paperwork that is needed for powerschool and behavior contracts and syllabus signatures, and book covers! It was pretty wild, but we did it and things seem to be okay so far.
Celebrating my 42nd birthday! I had a wonderful day that was nearly exactly "normal" but with all the most special non-intrusive delights sprinkled throughout. The first day of school for my students (and the babies) fell on my birthday - so it was a day of firsts and figuring it out but so good. I wore new clothes (my bday gift from my parents - thank you!) and I had an incredible smoothie bowl from Good Day Juice Company delivered to my room by my best zero cousin Heather along with a bouquet of flowers and a bag of chocolate chips to keep in my desk from her (you know me so well - I love you! xxo). So many text message, voice messages, and comments wishing me a happy birthday. The kids and Brandon got me an ice cream cake for after dinner which B cooked for me (shrimp and scallop alfredo!) and two beautiful purple mums and lots of my favorite Aldi chocolate bars. I am loved so well and dearly by my people. What a gift it is to get older. I am so very grateful for this life and for all of you.
Feeling pretty proud of myself that I had it all together on day 2 of full back to school. I got everyone to where they needed to be and checked in with B that the big kids were all covered. I was upstairs vacuuming with dinner already started when Rusty came upstairs and asked, "What time is my football practice?" THE GASP, I GASPED. Here I was thinking I had everything under control and I completely forgot about his practice which was 6-7:30p and he asked me at 7:15p. Your girl got humbled real quick. Good grief.
Grey's first sports massage from the incredible Miss Emma of Peak Performance Therapy. He felt so comfortable during the entire massage and had his specific needs and pain points addressed. He had his first ever cupping session and said he felt a lot of tension relief afterwards (his back has all those crazy circle bruises - but he said it feels so much more loose!) He is already asking when we are scheduling another one! We have Miss Emma booked up bi-weekly through football and basketball season! What a blessing it is to know and love her.
Getting into the after school groove. The babies take a short bus ride to the high school at the end of their day and they come upstairs to my room with some bigger teachers' kids (thank goodness for those Mayer boys!) Then they have some snacks from my giant snack bin while watching an episode of Wild Kratts while I 'close up shop' and get stuff prepped for the next day of school. So far so good (after the first day of tears when they thought I wasn't going to find them in the high school cafeteria!)
Time with family and friends Olive and Redland had a sleepover at Abba and Chum's house and played all day on their official last day of summer break (I had a teacher day at school). Rusty had a sleepover at Liam's house. Violet got to spend Sunday at Kennywood with Evaley and her family (thank you!)
Recognizing this narrative from so many books that I've read about historical regimes. It's dizzying to watch it all unfold and keep thinking, 'wait, I've heard this story before' and spoiler alert, it does not end well for the majority of us. Militarizing our own cities, speaking in divisive language and hyperboles like it is fact, creating false flags to hide the real policy and investigations that are going on behind the scenes. All while a literal genocide kills kids, babies, and entire families. I will continue to stay aware, I will continue to support those that I believe are standing up for decency and kindness, I will continue to love and raise my family (and support my local community) to build a world I recognize again. The only way through is through and so I continue with hope.
Teaching for the first week of school! In the elementary school we learned the words Mano and Flor because we are making unique flower decorations using cut outs of our hands. Expo started on Week 1, Spanish 1 picked out Spanish names, went over procedures and expectations, and had a little listening quiz. Spanish 2 got back into Spanish through review, writing, and some reading. Overall, it was a great start to the year and the weather was comfortable so my room wasn't too hot!
Sporting with one Minors football practice for Rusty (because I completely forgot about the other one - oops!) and Violet had one cheer practice. Gemma had four soccer practices and one game at Berlin. Grey and Brandon had four football practices, team dinner and film, and an away game at West Shamokin (1.5 hours away!) Brandon and some of the football players spent Friday morning at the local food bank (St Francis sharing and caring) unloading food donations and organizing their supply room. I uploaded photos and videos to Blast and helped Grey film his Blast thank you videos (thank you to all our friends and family who have donated to the Blast fundraiser - I hope you are enjoying the update emails each week! If you have any interest in donating to the Varsity football team, you can do so here: CT Varsity football Blast Athletics)
Making hot honey chicken with mac & cheese, ground beef tacos, copycat Olive Garden chicken over spaghetti, meatball sub sammies, and homemade chicken wings. For my birthday dinner, B made me shrimp and scallop alfredo (it was perfect!) For breakfast on Saturday morning we had chocolate chip pancakes at Coach Daddy's request because when you are the winning coach, you get what you want (hah). For desserts, we had ice cream cake for my birthday and I made a batch of protein oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies.
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