Around Here Week 34: 08/17-23

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

photo cred: Onara C

photo cred: Jackie F

photo cred: CT yearbook

photo cred: team mom photog Stacy B

photo cred: Uchie

photo cred: Jenn V

photo cred: Uchie

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 446+ hours (of 1000)
Time mostly consisting of practice or game side watching and cheering. I feel like I am doing so much chauffeuring right now in my life - one kid needs dropped off right as the other one needs picked up and then it's back to pick up the first one. It's a lot of car time right now and I am grateful when I get time to just be outside, even if it is just on the sideline! 

Reading Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. obsessed.

Listening to nothing but my to do list running through my head!?!

Very belated birthday celebration for Grey. The last sleepover before the school year (2nd year in a row!) The boys made smash burgers on the grill and I made some "burger" cupcakes and they camped out in the woods in hammocks (Reed constructed a log bed!?) They stayed out there all night and laughed and got a few hours of sleep between keeping the fire going, mosquitos, and 'hearing' coyotes (actually was just them teasing each other playing coyote sounds on their phones). In the morning, they hung around playing golf in the yard, riding the dirtbike and quad, and playing with the little kids. How grateful I am to these boys who are so important to my Grey (and bonus big brothers to all my kids! They've all been best friends since Kindergarten!!)

ai googling myself after my sister sent me a funny ai link earlier in the week about my Olive birthday post (you know how ai adds little clickable buttons under websites on facebook? it added links under Olive's birthday blogpost like "more about Loopy Lou's family" which is both weird and hilarious). Aaaaaanyway, I ai googled myself and then one of the clickable links under that said "How does Tabitha Studer balance teaching, writing, and family life?" LOL, Wait...how does she? Not me, in my back-to-school stress and panic, clicking the link with actual curiosity and hopefulness. LOL, but for real - ai gave me the self-reflection and pep talk I actually needed on my last day of summer, so thanks babes for that. Good grief.  (*disclosure: for better or worse the internet knows me pretty well after writing a blog for 18 years, having a post go viral -Rules for Moms of Sons, making another monetized blog - Team Studer Mom, guest writing on bigger blogs, and starting a publishing company - The Hunting Daddies...I don't think it is normal to get this kind of feedback from google ai. LOL)

Meet the teacher night for Olive and Reddy at Maple Ridge! I took the two babies out to school on Tuesday night to meet their teachers an see their classrooms - we even got to take a little bus ride. They'll start school next week and I'll drop them off in the morning and then they'll take the bus to the high school in the afternoon where I'll snag them. They got their name tags and got to visit the different rooms while the parents got a run down of information with the principal (he's awesome!) The kids seem excited and me too - all the kinks aren't exactly worked out yet - like how I will get them up, dressed, and hair/teeth ready by the time we leave or like what we will do after school and how that will work getting my classroom stuff finished up while they are in the room after a full day of school. I don't know all that yet - but I'm feeling confident that things are looking good for the upcoming school year. 

Happy half birthday to my Gemmi Rose. Thirteen and a half this week. Absolutely unbelievable. We measured her on the kitchen doorframe, had chicken fajita bowls, and snickerdoodles in her honor. We are so lucky to have you in our family, Roie Poe. 

Back to School Prep: 

• meal planning the next two weeks 
• taking the girls to get their emergency period/ hygiene kits for their backpacks (make-up pouch with the essentials: pads, deodorant, extra undies, mints, chapstick, body spray)
• taking snacks to Brandon's office and my classroom for after school hungry kiddos
• taking Gemma to set up her locker at school 
• making our first day of school posters
• having all the kids sign their names on their signature papers - Grey made it to the last 'row' of the paper! The last three years - eeek!
• Lamont came out to give all the boys fresh haircuts for the new school year (we love you Mont!)
• Thankful for Miss Baylee who came to babysit for the babies while I went into school for the first days of the new year (and the big kids were 

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL for the kids. Gosh, the starkest reminder of the days being long, but the years being short. Everyone got up and ready without any issues and I was cleared to go in late to my in-service day to see everyone off on their first day. We have a sophomore, eighth grader, fifth grader, and third grader this year! So very grateful for their teachers, bus drivers, coaches, principals, secretaries, lunch ladies, resource officers, and every person who helps shape their days with learning, curiosity, and kindness. We are grateful for you all! 

Celebrating Wells birthday at his house with a campfire and an "Outdoor Boys" theme. That sweet Welliker is four years old and he is so very loved. Happy momiversary to my baby sis Uchie - you are such a good momma to your fella boys. 

Time with family and friends. Violet had a playdate at Evaley's house and a playdate at Giada's house another day. Gemma went to Peyton's for a Capture the Flag game on Tuesday night. Pappy took Grey to his dentist appointment and then for a little back to school shopping (thank you Pap!) and then Grey spent the day with Bryce and Reed at their Puppa's house and then went to the annual sleepover after the first football game at Gabe's house (who also turned 16 on Saturday! Happy birthday, Gabey - we love you!) 

everyday horrified and despondent that I am raising my babies in a world that you can scroll from wholesome silliness, to cringey obvious pranks for views, to real time images and news updates of an actual genocide (that our country helps fund). everyday I tell Brandon that I don't think I am equipped as a person to live in a world where anyone thinks it is justified to hate anyone else for any reason. I do not understand that at all. I don't think I belong in this timeline and most days it feels so lonely and so overwhelmingly sad. I just keep repeating, go home and love your family. that is what you can do. keep loving your family and showing up for your students and community. it does not feel like enough. 

Teacher prepping with my first three days back in the classroom for the year (no students yet). I also got my planner organized with to do lists for the non-student days, updated my calendars, made all my first week copies, and updated Schoology so everything connects with Powerschool. We had back-to-school night at the high school/junior high on Thursday night (so I missed the CT community pep rally but was happy to get pics sent to me from friends). I spent Friday in my elementary school classroom and got everything unpacked and decorated. The students are nearly here and I'm feeling mostly ready (or I'm forgetting everything - LOL, really could go either way). 

Sporting with two minors football practice, pictures, weigh-in, and three scrimmage games at Richland on Saturday for Rusty. Violet had one cheer practice, cheer photos, Path of the Pride cheering and sidelines with the Varsity team for the first quarter, plus she watergirled for the Varsity football team too. Gemma had four soccer practices, worked the popcorn stand at the community pep rally, and asst trainer and watergirled for the Varsity football team on Friday night. Grey and Coach Daddy had four nights of football practice and their first home game on Friday night - on the new turf field (it looks incredible - bravo to turf crew for working so hard to make sure we could play our first game on it!) I made mini rosters for the JH girls soccer team for the parents and did some team mom duties (secure a concession stand opener/closer and purchase pep rally supplies) for soccer boosters. 

Making smash burgers and fries, Korean ground beef rice bowls, takeout pizza, sheetpan chicken fajitas, pierogies, and sloppy joes, . For breakfast one day we had French toast (Grey's campout). For Grey's campout, I made "burger" cupcakes, for Peyton's Capture-the-Flag party I made fruity pebble "rice" krispy treats and Coco Puffs "rice" krispy treats, and for Gemma's half birthday I made a batch of snickerdoodles. Because the turf crew was working until 11:30p every night, as a thank you from the Coach's wife, I made a batch of Mexican Wedding cookies for them! For Wells' birthday party, I made him an "Outdoors Boys" cake with the help of pinterest inspo. (Do you want to know my stress level? look at my baking...LOL)

Around Here Week 33: 08/10-16

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

photo cred: Uchie

photo cred: Uchie

every time a yellow butterfly flies around me, I believe it is my grandma Irene visiting. (hi Gram xxo)

photo cred: Bobby B

photo cred: Jenn V

photo cred: Kristy P

photo cred: Kristy P

photo cred: Stacy B

photo cred: Gregory R Sports Network

photo cred: Gregory R Sports Network

photo cred: Eva M

photo cred: B

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 430+ hrs (of 1000)
it's motorized bike fun all over the place here. Pappy got Gemma's quad all fixed up and it is back at home which makes hay to the goats a million times easier - plus the kids just like to ride around. Our two sweet kitties are still a big hit and the kids can be found outside snuggling them on the back porch or in the hammock. 

Reading Shark Heart by Emily Habeck and still loving it but taking it so slow because it is so lovely and needs all of my attention so I can soak in every moment of it. (and attention is hard to come by around here right now)

Listening to the New Heights Podcast with Taylor Swift!! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. love them.

Official football season and our whole house and family gets a little wild. On Sunday morning, the football team had a car wash to raise money for their new black jerseys and the community SHOWED UP big time. (thank you Township friends and family!) Then Sunday evening was the annual football camp sleepover - so we kissed Coach Daddy and Booboo goodbye and they stayed overnight at the field house with the rest of the team! Football camp was all five weekdays (8a-5p) and that meant we didn't get much of Coach Daddy, Grey, Gemma, or Violet at home because the girls watergirl / assistant train for the team and they spend football camp at the school to help. Gemma got lots of hours in taping ankles and wrists, and Violet is a master Gatorade jug filler at this point! Football camp went great and at the end of the week - after their team photos, they had a visit from Bobby Bridges of Bridge Perspective (a CT grad and football alum!) who got them all set up to make the new jersey reveal video! We are all excited to see it because Bobby had some awesome set ups and cool ideas (plus, he's just amazing at his job anyway!) And then we had our first scrimmage at Homer Center on Saturday to really truly start the season - it's game time, baby! Meanwhile, I'm at home holding everything else together (hah) and making sure there is plenty of food for all these athletes as they are hungry at all times and they have clean clothes because everything in this house smells like sweat. LOL 

Owl Pellet dissection day! (tell me your mom is a teacher without telling me) I bought a owl pellet dissection packets for the kids to do this summer and I forgot to do it until we nearly made it to the end of the summer! Rusty, Reddy, and Olive laughed and fake gagged their way through dissecting the pellet and we used the little charts to try to figure out all the bones. We are pretty sure our owls ate voles and moles, but maybe a mouse skull too! It was a fun activity to do with just the three youngest kids since everyone else was at football camp all day. 

Errand running day (my least favorite) but so glad that all the items got checked off. I mapped out the route to be most efficient (stopping the furthest spot away and working back towards home). Red and Olive joined me on my travels and we counted off all the stops: Staples (for my teacher planner), Tractor Supply (for Chicken and Dog food), Walmart (for sneakers for Red and Olive), Ron's (to pick up our tractor tires), Jiffy Lube (for an oil change), and Richland Vet (to pick up Bullet's pills). It was an afternoon of buckling and unbuckling (ugh) but the little kids hung in there and we got everything accomplished! 

Trying to get things organized as best as I can before we take a jump from the high dive into school and fall sports. I pulled all my papers out of my planner and folder and tried to get them organized by category and when I have things due. The fridge calendar and my planner got updated with dates and color coded by kid.  Thankfully, we all kind of thrive in chaos so the start of the madness means we will all be operating at peak efficiency and the prospect of that has me happy. 

oopsie! I got the tractor stuck in the driveway ditch and B had to use the come-along to pull it out. Hahhha, imagine having to be my husband some days - honestly. this poor man. Thank goodness he is so handy and strong and handsome and loves me even though I get everything stuck and sometimes run things over and also break appliances occasionally. Oopsie, my bad (say it in Cher's voice from the movie Clueless)

Back to School Prep: 

• School shopping with Pappy tradition for the boys and girls! (Thank you Pappy - I know Gigi is looking down from heaven smiling that you still do this tradition with all of them!)
• Sending the fall sports schedule out to family and friends
• picked up new shoes for Reddy and Olive
• got a few school supplies like planners for the girls and notebooks for the babies
• submitted my classroom / office snack order to Heather (Sam's Club - thank you!)

Time with family and friends: Olive and Reddy had a playdate at our house with Bowen, Rusty had a sleepover at Liam's house. Rusty and Reddy got to spend the evening with Chum playing and splashing in Benscreek catching crayfish! Violet got to sleepover and help at the fair with Bria who is showing two pigs this week. Gemma went with Chum to get new sneakers for school (thank you!) and Gem also got to babysit the Moore boys for Uncle Drip's birthday dinner. Grey participated in the annual football team water balloon attack on the Girls' volleyball sleepover (Thank you Mrs. Roman for hosting and all your patience with that tradition!), he also went out to eat after the scrimmage with some of the team to Texas Roadhouse. B took most of the crew to Pappy's to swim on Saturday evening (which meant I got an evening with no one!) 

Teacher prepping by finalizing my high school syllabus for each level of Spanish, buying my teacher planner (yay!), picking out some teacher friendly new clothes and shoes for my birthday wishlist for my mumma who asks every year (thank you!). I also stopped into my high school classroom and started to redecorate with the help of the three littles. We took my plants back in and they colored and played in the room while I started to unpack my summer order and logged into my laptop to try out my new SmartBoard (yay! so very happy to have a SmartBoard in my room!)

Sporting with two minors football practices and a scrimmage at Ligonier Valley for Rusty. Violet had three cheer practices and Gemma had five days of soccer practice again this week for camp. Grey and Gem both had team photos on Friday. Brandon and I went to the annual Coaches hang out at the Valentines house on Thursday night (thank you Jenn and Joel for always hosting a fun evening!)  I attended the football booster meeting (thank you Mrs. Conn for letting Red and Olive play with Mr. Watt the bunny during the meeting!) and the soccer booster meeting this week too! I made the award certificates for football camp for Coach Daddy to hand out at the end of football camp. 

Making cream cheese chicken taquitos, Marry Me Chicken and Orzo, Pioneer Woman lasagna, Fiesta roasted potato taco bowls, and leftovers.  I made a batch of peanut butter powerballs and a batch of cake box mix cookies for the house AND some cowboy cookies for football camp on Wednesday

Miles Walked: 1.5 miles in real life. thousands of miles running through my brain trying to make sure we have everything prepared for the next couple weeks (LOL).