Around Here Week 5: 02/01-07

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

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

selfie cred: Reddy

photo cred: Peyton L

photo cred: CTHS

selfie cred: Uch

photo cred: Uch

photo cred: Uch

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 5+ hours (of 1000)
We got another tree dropped off this week and it was a big one from a local wedding venue. The goats were thrilled and it was perfect timing with all these freezing temps and so much snow! Thank you to The Willow for the giant goatie snack! On Saturday, we added more hay and wood chips to the goat houses and chicken coop to keep everyone nice and cozy as the temps continue to stay in the freezing levels. Ughhh, I know it's just the start of February, but winter - can you please move along (Groundhog Phil said No on Groundhog's day. 6 more weeks of winter, unfortunately!) 

Reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami and This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger both of which are books for my Lit Ladies book club. I am just not getting into The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, so I'm skipping it for now and jumping into This Tender Land in hopes that I can get one of the finished before our next book club meeting! 

Projects all around! Grey had to do a Vietnam project (he chose to create and write about an example of a care package that a soldier would have received during that time) It was actually so interesting to learn alongside him. Rusty had a Valentines' card box to create. He picked out the design of a mailed package that looks like a dinosaur eye is peaking out of. We printed out mail stickers (like: Heavy: lift with care and Warning: Live Reptiles) and then ripped the brown wrapping paper so the giant dino eye was peeking through. Violet is working on her art submission by sewing little felt creatures and then she plans to crochet a white mitten that they can all fit inside and putting them all within a watercolor background (sheesh!). All inspired by one of our favorite winter books: The Mitten by Jan Bret. I updated our fridge calendar for the new month of February and I also submitted the order for the 5th grade promotion party tshirts after the PTA meeting. 

Proud of Reddy who won the Student of the Week award and got a Sammy Eagle. He has been holding and sleeping with that little eagle stuffy ever since. He and Olive both got their report cards this week and they are doing so well and school and learning so much. Impossible that my two littlest babies are growing up so much - how do mommas ever not baby the youngest ones? yikes. So very proud (and also a little heartached about the growing up). 

Laughing about the two very different personalities of our kitties. Blazey is completely domesticated and loves to be in the house lounging or snuggled up with one of his people. He goes outside for a little and then will wait by a door to be let back in. Meanwhile, Nova would prefer to be 95% in the wilderness. Wants some food every few days, but would rather hunt and run all over the mountainside living that feral life. He was gone for 2 days this week in our extreme cold warnings (wind chill -25!!) and I was sick with worry - didn't sleep properly for two days. I kept going down to the doors to check for fresh cat prints outside, praying we wouldn't see his frozen body somewhere in the yard. At 4a going on day3 of him missing, I thought I could see fresh cat prints, so I opened the back door and whispered 'Nova' and he comes bounding happily around the corner without a care in the world. Are you kidding me?! 

Thankful for a mostly quiet Saturday morning as Uch and Kevin took four of our kids to the trampoline park! Grey, Rusty, Reddy, and Olive all spent the afternoon bouncing with their cousins. Thank you Uch and Uncle Drip, best day! 

Major rearrangement happening! We moved the girls' bedroom furniture to one part of the living room because we really need another bedroom. Four kids (ages 11-4) in a double bunked room was just not cutting it anymore. So the girls are moving to the living room and Brandon and Pappy are building a semi-permanent (approx 12 years temporary, LOL) wall to put up to give them their own space. We pushed the move up to now because we got our new carpet install scheduled for next week and since we'd have to move furniture anyway - we might as well just really move it! That space in the living room was really not being used in a functional way anyway - just a toy dump zone and gave a lot of space for the kids to run and play. It will be a big change for them to not be able to play indoor baseball (LOL) or set up winter four square in that space (Grey is probably our worst at change and he was a little mopey on Saturday because it is hard for him to get used to things not being the way they've always been). But I feel a lot better about having an extra bedroom for now in this phase of our life and we will figure it out! 

Time with family and friends Olive, Reddy, and Rust got an evening with Abba and Chum so that they didn't have to trek all the way out to Grey's basketball game in River Valley (thank you!) Rusty got off the bus at Chum and Abba's once this week and had a sled riding party at school with the third grade classes (thank you 3rd grade teachers - you are amazing!!) Violet spent a day at Evaley's house, sewing class with Kuma, a birthday party for Jacey, and sleepover at Bristol's house.  I got to visit for a minute with my friend Renee at her bookstore The Laurel & Leaf when I picked up my book order and I got plenty of time with Peyton (one of Gemma's besties) at all the basketball games (love you Peytie!) 

What could possibly be done or said by this administration that would be too awful for it's base? There is no end to the hypocrisy and crudeness and indecency and immorality. The headlines of the next terrible thing come at us so fast and it appears to have liquified backbones and muddied moral consciousness. It will be studied in the history books and I know with absolute certainty that our great grandchildren will look back at this time horrified and bewildered. When you know better, you do better - so find your spine. 

Teaching my elementary students in my new room which requires some practice in logistics and expectations. Then we started watching Pachamama since we learned about Bolivia. My Expo students began their geography unit. Spanish 1 watched Ferdinand this week and finally finished their bullfighting unit (extra long because of all the FID days last week). Spanish 2 finished the Ekeko novel this week, also extended due to FID last week. We are all just trying to get through these dark, cold, and bitter months of the school year! God bless Loni who organized the Souper Bowl potluck this week where everyone brought soups, desserts, and sides to share for lunch all week (xxox - love you community builder and friend!) and Miss Heather who stops by my room for lunch and chatting during the week. And Miss Jenn from the elementary school who pulled some strings and got me a proper desk in my new room (you are amazing!) I find I can get through these long months a little easier when I recognize all little kindnesses that find their way to me from good people. 

Sporting as Violet had one Sparks indoor soccer practice and one basketball game. Gemma had two basketball practices and two basketball games. She twisted her ankle in the game on Friday and will probably be out for a few days as it is very painful and can't hold much pressure. (Ms Jenilee our trainer is incredible! we appreciate you!!) She did not play in her Gators indoor soccer game on Saturday because of her ankle, but she went in support of her team. Grey had one baseball open gym, three basketball practices, and two basketball games. Brandon had the SAFCA dinner and was proud to be there to support our two football players, Brennan and Liam who were honored as offensive and defensive players of the year with the Southern Alleghenies Football Coaches Association. 

Making Salisbury meatballs over mashed potatoes, crockpot meat spaghetti, copycat Chick-fi-la mini sammies, Korean beef (with brisket - not our favorite, we like ground beef better for this recipe), chili, teriyaki chicken with noodles and broccoli, baked Hawaiian sammies, and take out pizza.  For breakfast I made cinnamon rolls and boiled icing from scratch and Olive helped me make some brownies for dessert. 

Around Here Week 04: 01/25-31

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

storm snacks!

photo cred: Joanna A

photo cred: B

Ms Jenilee! We are so grateful for you!

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 5+ hours (of 1000)
Always a lot of stress when we have sub-zero temperatures with making sure the animals are all good at the farm. Fresh hay everyday for warmth, warm water to drink multiple times a day, everyone fed hearty amounts. It is just a lot of stress on my soul. Brandon climbed the pine tree to shake a branch to get the chicken to fly out just so I could catch it and put it in the coop for warmth!? (the chicken had been hunkered down way high up in the pine tree for two days in the sub-zero temperatures!) Meanwhile, Osa is living her best life flopping and hopping through the snow without a care in the world. I did give her a good brushing though to make sure her coat is as fluffy as possible....because again, I always been stressing with these temps.

Reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Enjoying storm snacks since I bought chips that I never buy normally only because of the snow storm (Hah). We had flavor twist Fritos (literally everyone in our family loves them but I can't buy them because the entire bag is gone in minutes), Doritos, and Jalapeno kettle chips. The kids kept asking, can I have a bowl of storm snacks? LOL

Yeesh, this weather. It was a lot of kids stuck in the house for a lot of days (and everyone was hungry). It turned out alright for Grey's foot because he got extra days of rest from snow days and 2hr delays from school this week (another reason I wanted to get it checked pre-snow storm because being stuck at home and not knowing if it was getting better or worse would have been such a nightmare. Again God bless the staff at Pittsburgh Children's ER). We got about 15 inches of snow along with sub-zero temperatures all week - so the kids weren't really even able to go outside for very long because it was just too cold. Despite the weather, we still had most of our evening activities because after the morning arctic blast, it warmed up to the single digits so games and practices were still on! 

Zoom school for Red, Olive, and I every day this week! The kids were absent on Friday, so they did not bring their school iPads home in preparation for the storm. They attended zoom school together on laptop (Red's class in the morning session and Olive's class in the afternoon session). God bless those preK and elementary school teachers leading these kids on Zoom! They are incredible (we love you Mrs. Lesko and Mrs. Gongloff!) Reddy and Livy also had FID packets to do and they kind of liked having some at home school work, so it all worked out - but a whole week of Zoom school is too many days of Zoom school - hah!

Finishing the paperwork and making plans. Lots of things checked off the to do list this week with being stuck in the house, so at least for that! I finished up the paperwork for Red's and Olive's upcoming Kindergarten registration (will be in March). We got our summer vacation house booked this week (thank you Uchie for doing all the heavy lifting on that one!) I ordered the kids' valentine goodies and designed the cards on Canva to be printed, and I finished a letter of recommendation. On Tuesday afternoon, Gemma and I visited Swanky to be seen for a consultation on some ideas for skincare (and we scheduled a facial for her birthday there too!) And finally, I got all the January pics loaded into the Neveo app for Mimi's monthly photo recap (she loves those catalogs - a big recommend from us for a gift for grandparents/great grandparents. It has been our Christmas gift for Mimi for several years now and she has kept every catalog! All the cousins can upload pics throughout the month from the app and then it gets printed and mailed right to her door!)

Haircuts for all my fellas from Lamont. Mont has all my fellas looking handsome and fresh - thank you as always, we love you! 

Time with family and friends. We celebrated cousin Logan's birthday party at ACRP playcenter, Reddy, Violet, and B&I visited the funeral home for their favorite football player whose grandma had passed away (we have always taken our kids to the funeral home because we want them to know we show up for people we love especially when it is hard and sad). Violet had her sewing class with Kuma and got a snow play day with Giada. Gemma babysat baby Baker on Friday night. Grey had team dinner at Tollgate.

Your silence will haunt you. They are still killing children and women and civilians in Gaza. Sudan is still committing genocide. Our own country has turned into scenes that we are already familiar with from historical events or fictional dystopian. The Epstein files, God help us. You are either thinking a) I can't pay attention to this because it overwhelms me b) there's nothing I can do because I am just one nobody c) it can't really be that bad ...to which I would like to say to you - a) how lucky you are to be born and live in a bubble that you can choose to not be worried about the wider world. That it doesn't directly affect you and the people you love. I'm sorry to tell you, it will not always be that way in your life - maybe not this exact thing, but at some point in your life, you are going to need help and you will wonder why know one cares. It makes for a lonely world when you don't get involved when someone needs you. b) you are not nobody. you have something specific to YOU that can help. a voice. a skill. a connection/ relationship to someone with more power. a prayer. influence. a heart. a mind. there are teenagers 3D printing whistles for protestors. there are grannies knitting red beanies. there are moms calling their representatives while mixing muffin batter. You are not a nobody. c) it is. Bad things happen, and I still made cinnamon rolls. Bad things happen, and I still turn my face toward the warmth of the sun through the window. Bad things happen, and I still kiss booboos and sing lullabies. Bad things happen and I don't close my eyes to it, I do not let someone carry the load alone. Bad things happen and I find the way I can use my voice and my mind and my heart to push the scale in the favor of good and decency. you can too. 

Teaching with a weird week due to the snow and subzero temperatures. We had a snow day on Monday and then Virtual Days the rest of the week. I didn't go to the school building one day this week!? I would so much rather be in school with my students, but we found a way to make it work. Elementary school practiced their Spanish vocabulary from the year through a Gimkit practice set. Spanish Expo learned new vocab (camina, corre, hacia) and we even went over El Encierro del San Fermín. Spanish 1 learned all about Spain since we are trying to finish our bullfighting unit - so when we get back we will watch a real bullfight and then start our movie study of Ferdinand. Spanish 2 finished chapters 5 & 6 of El Ekeko, but I didn't want to read too much farther ahead for fear that we'd lose some understanding. So we practice conjugation flipping (third and first person) and did some comprehension question studying. I had Show your Face Friday for bonus points, just so kids would turn their Zoom cameras on because I felt like I was talking to the void all week!

Sporting with two basketball games, and one indoor Sparks practice for Violet. Gemma had one softball open gym, one basketball game, and three basketball practices. She also had it confirmed that she'll move up to Varsity basketball next year (cannot believe she will be a freshman next year - I do not understand time in any capacity). Grey had one basketball practice (testing out the wrap for his foot injury - thank you Jenilee!), and the played in two basketball games this week. He is very happy to be back on the court and his foot is holding up and healing great! I registered Violet and Olive for AYSO spring soccer (I am willing to coach if needed and Gemma is going to ref) and got Reddy and Rusty registered for youth baseball. 

Making so much food because everyone was mostly home due to winter (and everyone is always starving). We had baked sandwiches, pierogies and kielbasa, sloppy joes and mac&cheese, buff chicken dip, chicken Philly cheesesteak sammies, tacos and roasted potatoes, copycat Olive Garden chicken pasta, frozen pizzas, loaded baked potato soup, breaded baked chicken with baked beans and green beans, and Pioneer Woman lasagna. For breakfasts this week, I made two banana bread loaves, a blueberry Bundt cake (absolutely delicious!), pancakes, double chocolate & pumpkin muffins (with an added scoop of protein powder!). Gemma made some incredibly delicious cinnamon sugar pretzels (the blessings of teenage children never end!). For desserts, I made double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and puppy chow (chex mix, pb, chocolate, & powdered sugar). We also hammered through some letftover frozen cookies from Christmas (thank you Abba!)