Around Here Week 42: 10/18-24

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

photo cred: Coach Jeremy F

photo cred: Danielle

teacher appreciation night: my former student Colson picked me! 

photo cred: Mr. Bihun

photo cred: Mr. Bihun

photo cred: @LadyIndiansSoccer

photo cred: Mr. Bihun

photo cred: Mr. Bihun

selfie cred: Becky C

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship (Gemma & Coach Dad)

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Becky C

11 years difference! (and then they tried to make me cry by saying, "only 1 more photo left!")

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 544+ hours (of 1000)
The chill of winter is whispering. The car windows almost every day this week have been frosted (ugh) but it sure looks pretty. The mornings and evenings are very chilly but then afternoons are hot enough that we are driving with windows down and AC on in the car...which makes for very cranky kids and momma (everyone hates coats in our house, LOL). Our game bag is loaded down with blankets, winter beanies, and hot hands to try to fight off the cold of the night. I even packed a thermos of hot chocolate for the football game, hah!

Reading Train Dreams by Denis Johnson and went on a crazy research deep dive of wooden trestles for trains in the 1800s because I am a huge nerd and love learning! Why do we have access to the entire world and all of history at our fingertips and instead of learning we scroll brain rot? (I'm including myself in this question). I am still captivated and in awe of young America's ingenuity but also insanity. The history of the American railroad companies on a race to meet in the middle from the midwest and west coast....CRAZY!! (look it up!)

Listening to God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Running to do list: 

• Got Olive's Halloween costume figured out (it was never shipped) and they ensured it would be here the day before trick-or-treating. The customer service rep with Fun Costumes Store was so nice and helpful! 
• Got Rusty new basketball shoes
• Finished two letters of recommendation for two former students (so proud to know you Eva and Christina!)

18 years married to my handsome husband. We didn't do anything special because that's just not our way. Every day is special and cozy, I think especially because we had those six years long distance at the beginning. What could be better than getting to live in the same house and wake up in the same bed after all that? i love you, b. thank you for helping me create this life of ours. 

Speaking of anniversaries - wishing a happy 45 years of marriage (!!) to my mom and dad this week! Happy anniversary, Abba & Chum! 

Excited for Violet as she auditioned for the musical this week. Our high school will be doing a production of Sister Act in the late spring and Violet and two of her friends in sixth grade got approved to participate (grades 7-12 audition, but 6th grade can with special permission). She is very excited and we even sat down to watch the movie Sister Act in preparation (she loved it and it was such a nostalgic watch for me and Brandon - we smiled the whole way through it!)

Happiest birthday to my handsome fella. This is a big week for us with our anniversary and Daddy's birthday! I made pumpkin roll to celebrate at home and I brought donuts to football practice to share with the team and coaches. We went out to eat for wings at The Backdoor Saloon with Pappy and it was delicious and a nice night out. 

Finally figuring out what the awful smell was on the back porch! Literally wrote in my planner as a task: "back porch smell?" and when I was spraying the chicken poop off on Friday afternoon (if you have free range chickens you understand my cross to bear) I finally saw the RABBIT CARCASS behind the back porch furniture. Nova the hunter at it again! Apparently, he dragged the rabbit he scored onto the back porch but put it in a place that we could not easily see in our hustle bustle daily grind. The smell has been so strong that we have been wondering all week about something dying back there...guessing maybe a chipmunk or a mouse. Well, no; try an entire rabbit.  So how about, Coach Studer (head coach of the Varsity football team) out there scooping it up and cleaning dead carcass off the back porch a few minutes before leaving to go to the last regular season home game Good grief, this life.

Time with family and friends. We all got to visit with Aunt Kitty who came to Gemma's soccer game and with Uncle Jonny and Tristan at the football game on Friday night (we missed you Ninna and Tessa!) Red and Olive got to celebrate at their friend Mason's 7th birthday party at the Grove in Westmont of Saturday (thanks for having them - they loved the bounce house!) Rusty celebrated his best friend Westyn at his Halloween-themed birthday party including the annual trunk-or-treat! Violet and Rusty got to sleep over at Hickory Hollow with the Maurers and take a visit to Haunted Hollow (spooky!) while they were there. Violet had a playdate with Evaley on the early dismissal. Gemma and Noah made their Halloween costumes (10 Things I Hate About You paintball scene) and made a huge mess in the process (LOL, teens...send help). She also hosted a movie afternoon with friends on the early dismissal. Grey had a post-football game movie night at the Conns house with the girlies. Grey drove Gemma and Zolina to IUP to see the girls' volleyball team compete in the D5 playoffs so they could take photos for yearbook. It was Grey's longest drive yet (eeeeek!) and he did great. 

Teaching and learning about Día de Muertos in the elementary school and watching Coco. Spanish Expo Spanish 1 continued practicing telling time and also worked on learning the alfabeto and using those letters to learn to spell in Spanish. Spanish 2 started their scary stories and have been really creative and hilarious. One of my students has a monster going after a kid in the story and wrote: "Timmy dice "get off of me you bum" porque Timmy es Americano. Pero el monstruo habla español y entonces, no escucha a Timmy." I was cracking up!  The Planning team organized a You've been Boo'ed! and the planning committee kicked it off by 'boo-ing' two people each. Just a small little treat with an encouraging note to get all of us through the wild weeks of holidays we have coming up. I also set up a Teacher Book Swap area in the Teacher's lounge for any staff that want to participate. I also go to attend the boys' Varsity soccer game for Teacher Appreciation night. My former student, Colson picked me as a teacher who made an impact and I was so honored that he picked me! (thank you, Colson! Always cheering for you, even if you aren't my student anymore!) And finally, we had Parent Teacher conferences after school until 6:30p on Thursday but I was able to get a lot of grading done and met with the planning team. 

Sporting with Reddy's last basketball game in the East Hills league and the coaches invited everyone to a post-game dinner at Pappy's pizza to hand out medals (so sweet!). Rusty had one basketball practice and his first East Hills basketball game (at 8:20a on a Saturday morning which we arrived 10 minutes!! Sorry Coach!) Violet attended the JrH end of season soccer banquet (thank you boosters!), did weightlifting and conditioning three times this week, was a ball runner for the Varsity girls' soccer game, and watergirl for the Varsity football game. Gemma had two soccer practices and two Varsity soccer games including her first Varsity goal! Next stop - Playoffs! Gemma also assistant trained for the varsity football game and took yearbook photos for the D5 volleyball playoffs. Grey had four football practices, one sports massage with Miss Emma, and one Varsity football game (the last regular season home game!)

Making Marry Me Chicken with orzo and sun-dried tomatoes (everyone loses their minds over this - never any leftovers!), sloppy joes and shells & cheese, chicken crockpot chicken pot pie over mashed potatoes, and sheetpan chicken fajitas. We went out to dinner for Brandon's birthday at the Backyard Saloon in Ebensburg (delicious!). I made pumpkin roll for B's birthday and I made a batch of chocolate/ pumpkin muffins to send to camp with Violet and Rusty.