A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.
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| photo cred: Violet |
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| yummy drinks and food from Flood City Cafe after the dentist! |
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| photo cred: Eva McD |
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| selfie cred: Heather R |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 256+ hours (of 1000)
Lots of time outside this week with outdoor chores and swimming. The weather is holding up pretty beautifully for summer; warm and sunny but not too too hot. I'll take it!
Reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (liking it!) and My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (meh, not liking it much but going to finish it for book club!)
Watching Voicemails for Isabelle (on Netflix). I cried and laughed so much. 10/10!
Summer to do list completed:
- deep cleaning the back porch - everyone worked together to move everything off the porch - including the cupboard where B found the skunk hiding the other day (no skunk this day - thank goodness) and we got the space pressure washed
- we moved the pieces of furniture from Aunt Kitty up into the house to help organize. In her move, she gifted us with a hutch with a built in fireplace which we moved into the living room - which meant we rehomed a bookshelf to Gemma's room and an end table to the back porch. We had to move all the kids' books to the basement 'kid cave' and the family yearbooks fit in the hutch (yay!) She also gifted us a long dresser that fits in the laundry room and immediately made the shoe situation in there at least look better! Thank you so much Aunt Kitty - happy to give them a home, we didn't even know how much we needed them!
- I finalized the summer chore chart and got it printed and hung in the kitchen!
- I printed off Grey's MT packing list and fishing license for his July vacation with the Conns - thank you Becky C for walking us through the steps. I did have Grey do it instead of just doing it myself which would have been faster and easier - but I have to keep reminding myself (even / especially ) in teenager raising, that they need lots of opportunities to do stuff by themselves
- Rusty, Violet, and Gemma all had dentist appointments
- Rusty had an eye appointment
- Gemma had her last Physical Therapy and was discharged!
- I power washed the rugs from the living room and the girls' room. What a difference! Immediate gratification!
- I sent out the invitations for our Fourth of July party
- Brandon, Grey, and Pappy replaced the roof on the goat house
- Violet and I brushed Osa until we couldn't get the smell of dog hair/mats out of our her hands and I literally was googling "can you get tendinitis in your elbow from brushing a Great Pyr" (spoiler alert: yes - ugghhhhh) and then Rusty and I took Osa for her annual Lyme's vaccine
- I ordered the back porch furniture and carpet (!)
A day at the pool for Father's Day. Grey was on the grill with the chicken Philly cheesesteaks and I made and brought cake mix chocolate chip cookies. The kids all got in to swim, but it was still a little too chilly for me! It was a great day hanging out and laughing - Red is getting so much more comfortable in the water and Olive was not quite ready to try swimming on Sunday (although by the end of the week at the Que, she was going under with no floaties at the Que!) We got our annual HoponPop picture with Brandon who refuses to give up even though we all tried to get him to agree to be held this time. He did it! If even only a for second for Grey and Gem's feet to be off the ground. Hilarious and wild always to set that up. How incredibly blessed the kids and I are to have these father figures in our lives, especially B, my Dad, and Pappy (but also shout out to all our uncles, godfathers, coaches, and family friends who are role modeling out there what good and decent men look like. I am so grateful for you!)
Waving to the helicopters that were so low near our house because the farm fields behind are house are used as training grounds for the army helicopters. The boys were loving how close they were (turned into a whole story line in their nerf gun battle)!
Finally having Olive's birthday party at the Que. It was Teen Beach Movie themed including a sign for Big Momma's House, surfboards, and lei's! Abba brought the paper products and snackies, while Ms. Heather brought juice bags and watermelon. I made hot dogs & sauerkraut, mac&cheese, and made the beach cupcakes and 'tire' mini donuts. Peyton and Gemma did Olive's hair with braids and curls and all of her favorite people were there to spend the day at the Que. The weather was nice enough and the water was warm enough (for the kids at least!) to swim and splash. Grey took the fishing boat and he was thrilled to get it out on the water - very lucky for him that his baby sister loves his friends like bonus big brothers - Gabey, Cooper, Brycey, and Reedy were all invited to her party too (hah)! Imagine being a five year old and getting to invite so many big kids! At Olive's request; bonus big sisters Abigail and Peyton were there with Gemma and bonus big sister Evaley was there with Violet. And she got to play with some of her own friends too like Bowen and the Mazz boys and her Moore-boy cousins; just a girl surrounded by fellas - good thing she is sassy and can hold her own!
Out to the theater to see Hadestown. Many of my former NS students are actors in the Potter's Players theater group and this summer they were putting on Hadestown at the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center. What a coincidence, because earlier this spring, our friend and semi-neighbor Michelle told me that her favorite musical was Hadestown when we were yapping for an hour+ about books and musicals and history and all things nerd (MY FAV CHATS!! love you Michelle! xxo) So I reached out to her and her daughters and we all bought tickets and went together! I loved seeing my students; both that were acting in the show and that had come to the show to support their friends (#oncemykidalwaysmykid !!) and THE SHOW. My God, the show. I cried and then cried again on the way home talking the girls through some of the parts, and then sobbed again describing it to Brandon. Brilliant in the ways that some stories live on for generations, brilliant in the way we keep telling sad stories even though we know the endings, brilliant in the power of love, brilliant in talent of my former students' talents. Okay, crying again. If you get a chance to see Hadestown - I cannot overexaggerate this: You Must.
Grad parties this week: friend Nathan Dail and friend/football player DJ Bambino
Time with family and friends Olive & Reddy got a movie date with Miss Heather - they went to see Toy Story 5 and then got ice cream at Silver Bell and got to visit with cousin Caleb who was working ( thank you Heather - best day!!) Violet enjoyed Bria's birthday sleepover and then had a sleepover with her friend Evaley at Abba's house (thank you for hosting them, Mum!) Gemma went thrift shopping with the Lasure girls. Grey went fishing at our Bedford camp with his buddies and had a sleepover at Gabey's house
Isn't it so bizarre to live in a dystopian story? Like actually living in it. If we were reading a book about this moment in time, we would be screaming at the characters because how do they just go about their normal every day lives while all this insanity happens around them? I know the reflecting pool debacle is the absolute least of the egregious offenses...but it is also a blatant metaphor for the entire administration. And the literal lying directly to our faces about it. It is so far gone now that it feels futile to get worked up - like yeah, we all know he is lying, we all know millions of dollars were wasted and/or funneled to his friends - but like whatever I guess?! (by the way this is one of the goals of a cult of personality leadership style: to wear you down so far that you give up caring...so if you can still find it in your guts to be regularly pissed off- proud of you!)
Sporting with weightlifting/conditioning five days this week for Grey and Gem. Also, Gem had three basketball games, her last physical therapy on her ankle, volunteered twice at the youth soccer camp, and asst trained at football practice. Grey took a break from basketball games this week because of his ankle sprain at basketball team camp over the weekend but had football practice on top of WL/C. I attended the football booster meeting on Thursday night and signed up for our team dinner (and maybe to help with the volunteer schedule or for the games meal coordination)
Making chicken Philly cheesesteaks on Pap's Blackstone for Father's Day (Grey did most of the dinner from prepping/cutting to grilling!), meatloaf and roasted broccoli, spaghetti, sloppy joes with mac & cheese and baked beans, baked turkey and cheese sammies, copycat Olive Garden chicken over pasta, For breakfasts I made chocolate croissants For desserts we had cake mix chocolate chip cookies (Father's day), I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for Weightroom Wednesday, and for Olive's birthday I made beach cupcakes (graham cracker crumbs for sand), broccoli salad, a crockpot of hot dogs and brats with sauerkraut, shells & cheese, and baked beans. The girls and I stopped at 7 Brew for our first time on the way home from Hadestown
Movement This week I skated 4.7 miles in total. New rollerblading skills: I can do 2 miles straight! Very proud and definitely feeling stronger. It feels very similar to running: the first mile you are miserable and then after the first mile you feel totally fine and energized! I bladed at Sandyvale (my favorite spot!), the elementary school parking lot, and the fire hall parking lot near Pappy's house,
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