A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.
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| photo cred: Deanna M |
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| photo cred: Deanna M |
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| photo cred: Violet |
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| photo cred: Eva Mc |
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| photo cred: Gabey |
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| photo cred: Onara C |
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| my velcro children. hah. |
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| photo cred: Miss Emma |
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| happy birthday in heaven, gigi. |
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| photo cred: Onara C |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 152+ hours (of 1000)
hammock is up, let the summer reading in the hammock begin! Up 16 hours this week thanks to sports, graduation, and pretty evenings!
Reading and finishing Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score. Cute and exactly what I expect from Lucy Score. A nice, brainless read that has me smiling at the romcom. I stopped by my favorite local book store The Leaf and Laurel Bookshop and picked up my summer reading book haul! The first true sign that summer vacation is here: A giant pile of TBR books! Brandon and the kids had to endure my read aloud of the back of every book and then we participated in a sniff test and decided that Heart the Lover by Lily King had the best book smell!
Listening to It's Not Her by Mary Kubica and sorry, I'm hating it. Pushing through though because it is a book club choice...but literally rolling my eyes constantly at the awful writing. The story plot isn't terrible but the writing is so terrible I am completely disengaged as a reader/listener.
School stuff this week:
- Violet had a field trip to the aviary with the fifth grade
- Since Red and Olive didn't have school all week, we made arrangements for their care - Pappy had a playdate with them on Tuesday, Miss Baylee came to our house on Wednesday, and they got to hang out with their Moore cousins and Miss Emma on Thursday and Friday (including a sleepover - thank you Uch & Kev!)
- Grey had finals this week which meant after tests, they were dismissed early. Grey and his friends took advantage of that by fishing literally every single afternoon!
- Violet and I finished organizing, labeling, and packing all the fifth grade promo tshirts and delivered them to the ceremony on Thursday night. Our dining room table was filled with the bags all week
- Fifth grade promotion ceremony and party this week for Violet!
Blessed with bonus kids - I don't ever remember anyone telling me how wonderful it will be to love your kids' friends as they grow up, so let me be the one to tell YOU! The bonus kids we have in our kids' friends is some bigtime joy as a mom. There are some of our kids' friends that we have known, had over to our house, and cheered for in sports for 10 years now! And we know there are still friends of our kids that we don't even know yet as they continue to grow up. If our kids (who we adore) pick a friend who they like - it's pretty much a guarantee that we are going to enjoy that kid too. (our kids have picked some pretty freaking awesome young people to spend their days with!) Not just a bonus kid to Brandon and I, but bonus siblings/friends to all our kids too. All of our kids are cushioned in joy from the friendships of their siblings. As just one example - Grey's besties Reed and Bryce helped Rusty with his pitching this week and I couldn't help but marvel at how cool it would be as a ten year old to get pitching tips from three of the starting infield Varsity players (big bro Grey and his two best friends). Our little kids get high fives and hugs from so many teenagers (siblings' friends, teammates, and the entire football team). Our big kids have their names shouted across fields and rooms by younger kids (siblings' friends and teammates) who are looking for recognition and high fives. Truly, what a gift it is to be part of a community and let people in.
Celebrating Violet who had her fifth grade promotion ceremony and party this week! She and I got all the tshirts organized just in time! Then Brandon got to give her the promotion letter on stage at the ceremony since he works at the school. On Friday, B and I both volunteered at the PTA organized annual 5th grade promotion party where the kids rollerbladed through the school, played on the bounce houses, and got their faces painted. B helped with bubble soccer and Rusty and I manned the dance party room. It was a great party and our fearless PTA leader Jess Claycomb did an incredible job making the entire promotion events go beautifully (we appreciate you, Jess!) So proud of our Violet and she cannot wait to get to the big school next year!
Wishing a happy heavenly birthday to our Gigi. We sang over cookies to her. miss you everyday, gigi.
Releasing our painted butterflies. Red, Olive, and I let our butterflies loose on Saturday morning. We had four survive (one didn't form it's chrysalis correctly). We let them go in the front yard, right near our blooming flowers.
Sending Uchie and the Moore boys big hugs and kisses for taking care of the farm while we were away at the soccer tournament and graduation party. My speech for anyone who takes care of our farm while we are away is, "Thank you so much and if animals die, they die. It's fine." LOL, if you have a farm, you get that. It's the wild wild west out here man; foxes that eat chickens, goats that get fatally sick at the drop of a dime, a 17year old dog...you never know what's going to happen in a day. Thankfully no animals died while we were away, however, I did get a text, "Two goats are out, so now what?" I told her if she felt safe leading them into the pasture with goat feed she can do that, or whatever leave them out too if she was nervous to which she responded, "I am not letting them eat your flowers!!" So it was Uchie to the goat retrieval rescue with her three little boys helping lead the parade! (Officially Goat Queen, we appreciate you Uch!)
Driving practice for Grey continuing to go very well. I am grateful he is a cautious driver and honestly, being a passenger princess is just fine with me! He got big time practice this week when he drove the Turnpike from Pittsburgh to Elizabethtown!! Teaching a kid to drive is such a great reflection on all the things that need talked through for decision making. We have always been a No Screens Car with the kids, so they have watched us as drivers their whole lives - often times asking us why we make choices or noticing how close we are to grandparents' houses by looking out the window. But now with an actual kid driving, the little things that are so random that could use talking through and practiced keep popping up. I am a forward thinking and preparing person, so I prefer to talk through and practice as many things as possible together before my teen driver has to face them on his own. Some of the things I have added to our practice list include (and probably will continue to grow as things come up naturally):
- Highway/turnpike: cruise control, blind spots of tractor trailers, etc
- Bad weather: downpours (you know the ones I mean - like a bucket of water thrown at your windshield), windshield wipers speeds, four-ways, braking on wet roads, etc
- Busy times of tricky intersections: right-a-ways and why
- Windshield madness: ya know when the windshield starts fogging up and you don't know what combination of what to press to clear it (AC/heat/wipers/wiper fluid) - LOL, that is the worst.
- Using GPS maps while driving (not relying on the passenger)
- Alternative routes: when you miss an exit or turn onto the highway by accident, or just taking alt routes through our town to frequented places
Grad parties this week: cousin Reid Gilmore in Elizabethtown
Time with family & friends. Violet and Rusty had a great time at Yogi Bear with the Maurers, although I had to pick Rusty a little early because he had too much fun and ended up getting sick. Violet stayed on over the Memorial Day and came home with the cutest beaded braid in her hair and lots of memories (thank you Maurers!) Fishing for the boys, B, Pappy, and the Conns on Memorial Day.
Teaching the last week of school! No classes at the elementary school because of their early summer break, but I did get all my stuff packed up and moved to my new space for next year. Thankfully everything fit inside of the closet space and it can just hide there through renovations! At the high school, we had Somerstock (annual field day) and I got to spend the afternoon with my friend and coworker Loni as we chaperoned all the outdoor activities, including Live music from our school's rock band and a student band (so proud to know them!) We also had Tractor day (students drive their farm tractors to school), and awards and the last short day. It was a whirlwind, but my students all helped me take my room down and they finished Selena the movie just in time! Oh, and lots of Just Dance (duh). Graduation was on Friday night and I have never attended a graduation ceremony that I didn't cry - that still holds true. So proud of those kids and so excited for what is to come next in their lives. Congrats class of 2026! I know you'll make the world a better place. xxo
Sporting with Rusty's two youth league minors baseball games.Violet had one AYSO All-stars soccer practice, one Sparks soccer practice, and it was the Alliance tournament this weekend for Sparks (she played two games on Saturday). Gemma had physical therapy for her ankle twice this week, She had one kickaround for SHOFCO, and one summer league basketball game. Grey had one summer league basketball game and attended the QB Combine at Valley HS on Saturday morning (thank you for taking him Pappy!)
Making Ranch porkchops with green beans, sheetpan chicken fajitas, roasted broccoli and mac&cheese, copycat Olive Garden chicken and pasta, take out pizza.
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