A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.
 |
| selfie cred: Aunt Kitty |
 |
| photo cred: Stacy B |
 |
| photo cred: Michael O'Ship |
 |
| photo cred: Michael O'Ship |
 |
| photo cred: Stacy B |
 |
| photo cred: Jenn V |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 496+ hours (of 1000)
The babies and I took Osa for a little walk and did some acorn hunting. The kids found and wanted to carry home 100+ acorns (of course) so all our shirts and pockets were full by the time we made it back! The leaves are all changing and with no rain for so many weeks, I'm actually getting a little worried that fall is going to zip right on by before we even get to October!?!
Reading and finishing Listen to your Heart by Kacie West. It was cute (YA) and I was glad to read it and tell Gemma about it since she bought it for me for my birthday. I took it in to my classroom library in case I have students who would like to read it. I started Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I'm already loving it.
Listening to Story of my Life by Lucy Score and enjoying dinner with the book club at El Jalisco this week. I didn't finish the book yet by the meeting but we were still able to do quite a bit of chatting about this book and other books too. Grateful to have an adult night out and I am still going to finish the book even though the meeting has come and gone!
First week of Sunday school. Gemma is in her second year of confirmation classes (she will be confirmed in the spring!) and the other four youngest are all in their grade level classes. Thank you to all the wonderful teachers and mentors at St. Davids - we are so blessed to have you.
Moving the goat house and cleaning out the pasture on Sunday. Brandon, Pappy, Grey, and Rusty spent most of Sunday down at the farm cleaning, clearing, and moving stuff. It needed done in a pretty serious way and I know B is relieved to have it done. Osa spent some time at the house while they worked on the farm, so I got her brushed and took her for a nice long walk. She got to get introduced to the kitties and it went well so far - although the kitties are still a little hesitant around her because he does still have a lot of pup in her (she'll be 3 years old in October).
Getting small sparks of joy from using nail stickers that are fall themed. The stickers only last about 5 days, but for those few days I really feel like a fancy, festive girl with my nails. It's the little things, hah!
Haircuts from Lamont for all the fellas. Always grateful to see and hang out with Mont and have all my guys looking fresh and handsome afterwards!
Sneaking in some one-on-one time with Gemma after dark when we went over to the school to practice her big kick. I pulled the car up close enough to shine the headlights on the net and she practiced her big kick (thank you Coach Mowry for teaching her) and I filmed so she could see how it looked. We only stayed for about 40 minutes, but it was nice to just be the two of us.
School Picture day for everyone this week! Even me!
An orthodontist check up for Rusty to see how that tooth is moving up there. In December, he had two teeth removed (an extra tooth had grown and was stopping his adult front tooth from coming down). The x-ray at this appointment showed that his adult tooth is making progress albeit awfully slow process. Rust still has a lot of baby teeth, so the ortho said as long we are good with it, it needs some more time. He is confident that it will come down the whole way on it's own. So yay for the good appointment, but holy cow - we are all anxious for this front tooth to finally make an appearance!
An early birthday sleepover with Aunt Kitty for Violet. They went to the JH girls volleyball game and then spent the evening together at Aunt Kitty's house doing all of Violet's favorite activities (like face masks and nails and art'ing) but Violet's favorite activity of all is one-on-one time (especially with Aunt Kitty) so it was basically the greatest thing ever. She got to school on time in the morning and it was the perfect start to Violet's birthday celebrations!
Astonished on Saturday when we discovered four little chickies! Those roosters left their legacy before they departed because unbeknownest to us - one of the hens had been sitting on eggs for the past three weeks in the second goat pasture! When the boys were clearing out the main pasture on Saturday, they heard a hen in the second pasture squawking when the goats went in there. They didn't think much of it because then the goats just kept away from her...and then on Saturday, up through the fence comes a momma hen and four little chickies! What a good momma taking care of those eggs all those days and nights! There are so many predators at our house though (Osa!! fox, hawks, our kitties, etc) that we moved the four babies into the brooder in the basement to keep them safe until they grow big enough to be moved into the coop.
Day date with B when just the two of us drove out to Bedford to pick up our bulk order of chicken and beef from Fisher's Country Store. We stopped and had lunch at Horn O'Plenty in Bedford and then picked up 80 lbs of chicken breast and 40 lbs of ground beef! That also meant coming home and cutting up and separating all the beef into 2lb freezer bags for future meals. All the kids helped packing and carrying to the deep freezer. The bags of chicken looked freezable, so we put them right into the freezer...but we learned the hard way that we should have separated them because they have frozen so solid which makes prepping meals really difficult. Ugh. I hate learning lessons the hard way, but alas - here we are.
Time with friends and family. Violet had a playdate with Giada at our house. Grey worked as "security" detail at a little girl's birthday party with Gabe! Pappy came over to continue work on the retaining wall and have dinner with us on Sunday. I got to visit with Kate who stopped by to catch Gemma's soccer game in Altoona (thank you! love you!!)
Most weeks I honestly feel like I am living in a dystopian novel but that has historical relevance and scarily familiar parallels. Please, read books. literally any book.
Teaching during Homecoming week at my school. At the elementary school we learned about our first country (Venezuela) and added details like Angel Falls and the vaqueros of Los Llanos into our pasaportes. Spanish Expo worked on their geography week and Spanish 1 learned how to conjugate SER and worked on sentences and adjective agreements. Spanish 2 got restaurant vocab and started watching the movie Canela (that movie is a hit every year!) On Friday, I utilized the JH student council babysitting offer on our early dismissal at school. Red and Olive had a great time playing in the gym and enjoying snackies donated by the parents (we brought fruit snacks) while I finished out my time without students. The kids have already asked when the next "babysitting day" is again!
Sporting with three Minors football practices for Rusty. Violet had two soccer practices, one cheer practice, and watergirl'ed for the Varsity football game. Gemma had two soccer practices and two JH soccer games and she asst trained at the Varsity football game. Grey had an open gym for basketball, Varsity football team dinner and film, four practices, and a game on Friday at Portage. We put in the order for Grey's Letterman jacket this week (!!) and I attended the football booster meeting.
Making crockpot pork chops over mashed potatoes, homemade crunchwrap supremes, burgers with Pappy while I was at book club, chicken teriyaki rice bowls, copycat Olive Garden chicken over pasta, and Philly cheesesteak sammies. I made a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies too.
No Comments Yet, Leave Yours!