A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.
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| calavera design: Grey |
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| photo cred: CTHS |
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| photo cred: Megan M |
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| photo cred: Michael O'Ship |
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| photo cred: Michael O'Ship |
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| photo cred: Daily American |
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| photo cred: Stacy B |
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| photo cred: Michael O'Ship |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 568+ hours (of 1000)
The chill is officially in the air! Winter is starting to make her way to us. It is hot cocoa season!
Reading and finally (!) finishing The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It was a good read - different than I was expecting but I did enjoy it. Poor Eleanor and I could relate to her in some ways myself and could see my students in her too; in the way she would work herself up into delusions just from focusing too much on imagining what others thought of her. And because I love trees and think they are so wise and old and incredible, this quote stood out above all the others -
“Around her the trees and wild flowers, with that oddly courteous air of natural things suddenly interrupted in their pressing occupations of growing and dying, turned toward her with attention, as though, dull and imperceptive as she was, it was still necessary for them to be gentle to a creation so unfortunate as not to be rooted in the ground, forced to go from one place to another, heart-breakingly mobile.”
Listening to My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Unpopular Opinion: I actually love Daylight Savings Time and the clocks changing. You don't have to tell me twice to put on my jammies and have a hot tea at 6:30p when it's dark! Hello bedtime, call it a day! LOL I do love the long hours of summertime sunshine, but when winter comes - it is time for rest and healing. I embrace early bedtime with arms wide open.
Compromising with the babies that they can pack their lunch once a week. So we look at the lunch calendar and decide which day has the 'yuckiest food' (hah) and they pack that day but eat hot lunch every other day at school.
Putting together a raffle basket for Gemma's volleyball team with her. We tried to make it something that teen boys would like so we loaded it up with weird chip flavors, ice tea, donuts, and a Fortnite gift card (hahh!)
Another massage and cupping visit for Grey with Miss Emma from Peak Performance Therapy. We are so lucky to have her and Grey always feels so much better and more loose afterwards.
Afternoon double date lunch with Uch and Uncle Drip! We left all the kids under the supervision of Gemma and Violet at our house and went out to dinner at Woodside just the grownup parents! Then we all hung out at our house into the evening just hanging out and chatting. It was the slowest, longest goodbye (like always! our favorite!) but the kids even know now that when Tia and Uchie say "okay, we're going home" that it is a lie and we are definitely going to have 40 more things to talk about and Uncle B and Uncle Drip are definitely going to find another 40 more topics on top of that.
Time with Family and Friends. Rusty played at his friend Jase's nerf gun birthday party and then hag out at Chum and Abba's house after his dentist appointment (thank you for taking him, Chum!) Gemma went to Peyton's birthday party (happy birthday Peyt! We love you!) and she had her confirmation class this week too.
Grateful for election day. Grateful for the opportunity to vote and have a voice. Grateful for all the voters who used their voices as well. Always grateful for the poll booth workers who spend all day there so that we can all have voices. I love those poll booth grannies who hand out candy and stickers fueled by coffee and the belief of democracy.
Teaching about Costa Rica in the elementary school and bringing the students' pasaportes back out for learning. They all loved seeing the photos and hearing about my time living in Costa Rica during my study abroad experience. I also taught them about the natural hot springs around Arenal volcano and their minds were blown. Spanish Expo started week 2 and practiced camina/corre and translating some sentences in musical chairs style. Spanish 1 got started learning about Ecuador and capibaras as we prepare for their first novel of the year. Spanish 2 took their final assessment on El Silbon (including a speaking portion) and then started watching Coco to celebrate Day of the Dead. I ordered more tissue paper because these kids are obsessed with making paper flowers - so we did some more of those during the movie!
Sporting with equipment return of the youth football and cheerleading (thank you to the volunteers who were out until after dark collecting all the stuff - you are appreciated!)Violet had her first indoor soccer game at Turfside with her Sparks team. Gemma had two basketball open gyms and it was another week of Varsity football because we made it to the district championship game! It was rainy and cold but an incredible game that truly came down to the final seconds. So proud of this team - 2nd place team in District 5! Every person in my family cried a little bit for the last game and to lose our senior players - how they have been such a big part of our family over the last three years and how they have loved and laughed with all of our kids. We love you Cohen, DJ, Dawson, Barty, Baker, Kaden, Burnie, Brennan, Liam, and StevenStango! On our way out of the game, I looked at cousin Becky and we both took a huge sigh and then laughed about how only just at that moment at 10:30p on Friday Nov 7th did we realize how tired we truly were as coaches' wives from June-now. What an incredible season but sheesh - this momma is T.I.R.E.D.
Making baked ravioli, Korean beef and rice with roasted broccoli, Pioneer Woman skillet lasagna, chicken and biscuit casserole and chicken gravy over mashed potatoes (both at 10:45p on Friday night - because I can't take away the heartache of the last football game, but I can make comfort food to warm their bellies before bed). I made a batch of cowboy cookies too.
