Around Here Week 38: 09/20-26

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

photo cred: Hannah N

Homecoming community decorating!

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Mr.  O'Ship

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

decoration surprises by the Sideline Crew!

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 507+ hours (of 1000)
Heavy rain straight into chilly temperatures (but at least dry). B and Gemma tried to convince me to turn on the heat this week, but I still stand firm on no heat until Nov 1! hahaha!

Reading The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Listening to and finishing Good People by Patmeena Sabit. I really liked it - listening to it on audiobook was awesome because it was a full cast and really felt like a true crime podcast! 

Running to do list completed: 

• Olive got one filling done at the dentist office this week (one more to go!) She did so great with the filling appointment, but then sucked/bit her numb lip later that evening so we had to deal with the swelling/ scabbing of that (while I watched for infection all week)...ugh. Fingers crossed she doesn't do that again next week for round2! 
• learning more about X and scheduling posts. Grey and I worked on Sunday to schedule out the week. We still need to figure out how to download Hudl videos to post directly to X. Oof, the learning curve is steep over here. 
• I got a smart watch for Gemma to monitor her heart rate throughout the day and for her to wear during practice too (she can't wear it during games because it's technically 'jewelry' but) I want to walk into her cardiologist appointment in October with all the data I can possibly have to keep the ball rolling on whatever is going on with her heart. 
• Updating the fridge calendar with all the October activities and making my monthly doodle on the top of the calendar! 

In search of a clean up/ declutter method that isn't too overwhelming. Imagine living in a house with 8 people: SO many shoes to trip over on the way into your house. Literally, just consider that alone! That's not even trying to calculate laundry, groceries, garbage, hair ties (!!!), and general cleaning (dust, bathrooms, sheets) with 8 people; four of them three sport athletes. And if we're being entirely honest, it's been 16 years of having small children in this home. This is truly the first year we could take a big gulp of the fresh air that comes with kids that are old enough to go to school and take care of themselves in most capacities (dressing themselves/ showering/ sleeping through the night). So, I'm on the hunt for a system that could work where I can tackle 16 years of surviving in parenthood to try to clean and declutter all the nooks, crannies, and bins (!) that have been the scotch tape holding this circus together.

A wacky week all around. Between Homecoming festivities and the elementary school being closed due to a necessary mildew cleaning (thank you power outage and weather), to everyone feeling kind of under the weather, to the rain that lasted for days...this week felt like a whole month long (and not in a good way).

Homecoming festivities! The high school had spirit dress up every day and on Wednesday was the hoco bonfire. Since Gemma and Violet are both in student council, they made drink donations to the bonfire dance. They both also volunteered to help homecoming candidates with their skits (Gemma was a soccer player in Vaeda & Brandon's 10 things I hate about you skits and Violet was a jellyfish in Averie & Luke's Spongebob & Patrick skit!) Friday was the hoco parade that I had three kids participate in while the babies and I watched and collected mountains of candy. Gemma rode on the Varsity soccer float, Violet rode on the JrHigh soccer float, and Rusty walked with the minors football team. Then we had the homecoming football game and crowned the new king & queen: 

Violet's birthday! Violet turned 12 on Friday! She had a great birthday (woke up to 12 balloons on her bed and chocolate croissants before school!) Because it was homecoming and she is on student council, she spent the day decorating the field and community for the festivities (which meant getting out of classes for her birthday!) Then the sideline crew surprised her with a decorated trainers' room before the game, we got her a birthday pin to wear, and even got the announcer to call her out over the loud speaker before the football game started! After the game, her friends all came over to our house for a birthday sleepover where they stayed up most of the night playing games. Violet requested a 'purple brithday' with the addition of bracelet making. So I organized some purple snacks (Poppi, Boom Chicka Pop, and purple skittles) and then our etsy bracelet charms arrived on time for the party! On Saturday, they made their charm bracelets, sang over the purple red velvet cake pops (Violet's request), and bobbed for apples because it is one of Vi's favorite activities (hah). Seems truly impossible that my Va-vi is twelve. Like what in the actual world?! 

Time with family and friends. Rusty, Reddy, and Olive got so much time with high school friends and football players as they spent the week at the high school working on their flexible instruction packets (no classes at the elementary building). What a gift it is to have so many big kids to look up to for my babies! Violet helped Bristol babysit her cousins, Gemma helped her bestie Abigail get ready and take photos for the homecoming dance at Richland and to JB's house after the football game. Gemma, Violet, and I went to cheer on the Varsity volleyball players for their game on Tuesday night. Grey went to Primantis with his friends, Bryce & Reed's house after the football game. 

Teaching with the first real five day week of the year. Elementary 3rd grade started decorating their 'pasaportes' to learn about different Spanish speaking countries around the world. Grades 4&5 practiced numbers 1-10. Spanish Expo finished their Geography studies and took the map test on Friday. Spanish 1 got their adjective list and conjugated the verb Ser. They used the verb and adjectives to write descriptions of famous people and translated sentences in a musical chairs style game. Spanish 2 got their vocabulary Food List #2 and then started work on their Food Truck projects. They found really creative ways to come up with a menu and design their 3D food trucks that they will have to present next week. I was honored to stand with my former student, Maria, who chose me for Teacher Appreciation Night for the volleyball team. The volleyball boosters invite all the selected teachers to a meal after school and to get a photo with our player. What a blessing it is to be in young people's lives! Thank you Maria! I am proud of you! 

Sporting with no basketball for Reddy this week because of the elementary school being closed. Rusty had two minors football practices and one basketball practice. Violet managed three JrH soccer games and watergirled at the Varsity football game. Gemma had two Varsity soccer games and two soccer practices and was asst trainer at the Varsity football game. Grey had his sports massage with Miss Emma, four days of football practice and the Varsity football game (Homecoming!) on Friday vs. Portage. Brandon coached all week and attended the youth football parent meeting on Monday night.  I double/ triple/ quad-checked the details for the upcoming senior night football game (God bless the booster officers - appreciate you girls so much!)

Making sheet pan kielbasa, veggies, and ravioli, teriyaki noodles with chicken and broccoli, instagram chicken with peas&cheese pasta, ground beef tacos, sloppy joes with shells&cheese, hamburgers on the grill with frozen fries in the air fryer (thanks Grey!), and frozen pizzas before the football game and cheese quesadillas after the game and out for Chinese on Saturday night! For breakfast, I made chocolate croissants (for Violet's birthday) and French toast and bacon for everyone including the party girls. for Violet's birthday dessert, I made red velvet cake pops (at her request)

Intentional Movement with more lymphatic movements and I was even able to pressure some of the kids (and Brandon) to try them along with me since everyone feels like sickos over here.