Around Here Week 24: 06/14-20

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

photo cred: Malinda C

photo cred: Abba

 at Ryan's Artisans

our in-house whittler 

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 230+ hours (of 1000)
The investigation was underway to figure out who/what is breaking the chicken eggs and eating the contents. Fox problem seems to have dissipated (thank goodness) but now we have something else, eating the eggs. Some of our chickens lay in the coop and then some of them lay in spots around the house: under a pine in the front flower beds and in the cat house on the back porch. We check both of the spots everyday to get the eggs, but twice this week, the eggs were broken in both spots. On Friday night, B heard something in the outside cupboard and saw a black tail and said, "Come on Nova" and out waddled a skunk! 

Reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (really enjoying it, Cassandra is a sweet and funny narrator. Definitely giving Francie vibes - from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) Also reading, My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (our next Lit Ladies book club pick!) which is pretty engaging but campy horror isn't really my favorite. I attended book club with the Somerset teachers and we chatted about It's Not Her by Mary Kubica at Pour on Center in Ebensburg. It was a beautiful afternoon and we had an outside table - perfection! Most of us did not like the book, which was a relief since I absolutely hated it. hah. 

Summer to do list completed: (I want this summer to be a very strong mix of getting things done + relaxing + growing as a person...very eldest daughter/Virgo coded of me, I'm aware). 

• eye appointments for Gemma and Reddy and I picked up my glasses
• the summer feeding program started through the school and we picked up our food items (so helpful and always grateful for it!)
• Gemma had two PT sessions and a check in with the orthopedic doctor who is discharging her from PT after her eighth session next week because she's made great progress (yay!)
• I created and printed off the summer chore charts for the kids! 
• I organized my week into a flow: Monday = Home admin tasks (to do list randoms, website checking in needs, party planning, etc) Tuesdays and Thursdays = creative days (blogging, family yearbook, working on my book, creating videos, etc). Wednesday = school focused (Spanish podcasts, Spanish teacher blogs, working on curriculum map, professional development, etc) Friday = limit screen time, play, read
• Violet and I rearranged the girls' bedroom to make for more space (which included her making some tough choices on getting rid of some stuffies - this girl loves her some cozy comforts like blankies and squishies, but her bed was too full! even she agreed) 
• I cleared out the snack cupboard and re-organized
• I cleared out and purged the expired items from the medicine cabinet
• I emptied my school bags and got rid of papers, organized office supplies, and stashed away old planners (which are my form of journal, lol)
• Grey and I had a chiropractor appointment
• Red & Olive helped me spread wildflower seeds at the turn in the driveway. Maybe they'll grow, maybe nothing will happen. Worth a try! 
• Gemma completed an enormous undertaking of clearing out clothes from the attic steps and her drawers - she filled 8 garbage bags full for donation!! (the handmedowns we receive are always appreciated but can certainly build up to overwhelming status quickly). 

Mini road trip date to Altoona for B and I to return his wedding tux. Thank you to Abba & Chum who gave the kids a fun afternoon so that we could run out there together! (shhh! we got ice cream on the way home) 

Massive change (mind, body, soul, & logistics) from Shutterfly to Mixbooks to make family yearbooks (!!) If you know me, you know this is shocking. Brandon literally said, "Holy shit, how are you feeling?" because he gets what an insane pivot this is. I have been making my family yearbooks and using Shutterfly exclusively for 15+ years!! But within this past year, they updated their book creation editor and I absolutely hate it. It is so clunky and unhelpful and really appears that it does not want the user to make the book- they just want everyone to pick for the tool to make it for them. I go full custom and resize photos and move things around and this new user interface makes it awful. I have been seeking out internet users' reviews and everyone agrees that it is terrible - someone even saying it feels 'anti-user aggressive' and honestly, yes. I waited six months because I was hoping they'd give an option for people to go back to the original editor (they did not) or change it back because everyone is reviewing it poorly (they did not) and this week, I just abandoned ship. I'm now going through the painstaking process of moving all photos from this year August-Present from google photos to Mixbooks (actually not too terrible because it syncs with google photos - which was one of my criteria) and the editor is very similar to the old editor from Shutterfly. I have A LOT of catching up to do since I'm losing any work I did in this year's yearbook already which feels pretty overwhelming but that's how committed I am! 

Afternoon fishing camp visit when B suggested we load up and head out. Reddy is always asking to go fishing and we had a free afternoon, so we hopped in the truck and headed out to Bedford. Grey was at team basketball camp and Violet was at a sleepover with her friend, Bristol - so it was just B and I with four kids! Gemma and I mostly read on the shore (she's currently reading First and Forever by Lynn Painter and liking it), Olive waded into the water and played games about witches making potions, Rusty fished, waded with Liv, and whittled, and Reddy fished from the moment we got there until the moment we were literally dragging him out of the stream to leave. 

Going out for Father's day. My sisters, Dad, and I went out for drinks and dinner to Tall Pines Distillery on Friday night. The place is so cool with tons of outdoor seating and such a relaxed vibe. We had a great evening chatting and laughing. We tried a tiny whiskey tasting flight and shared great appetizers. It was the perfect evening with just Dad and his daughters for father's day! Love you Dad! 

Celebrating Tanner and Zion's wedding! We all (minus Grey who was at team basketball camp) hitched a ride on a tractor over to Tanner's wedding on Saturday afternoon which was perfect and so cute; Tanner and Zion both come from farming families. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was meaningful and so fun. Tanner has a beautiful voice and she sang and recorded the father/daughter dance song as a surprise for her dad (okay, sobbing!) Tanner was also the football asst trainer all through high school, including for Brandon - so we got a picture of her and the two football coaches to share to the football page! What a perfect day and congratulations to Tanner and Zion! 

Grad Parties this week: football player/friend Cohen "Curly" Stahl and basketball teammate/friend Carson Brotz

Time with family and friends. Rusty got a sleepover and fun with Chum this week, Violet had Evaley over to play and got a sleepover with Bristol at the Maurer's house. Gemma had vacation care duty of Peaches the pup and babysat Norah and let Olive tag along to play (Olive's best day!) Grey went fishing with Gabe, The kids spent the afternoon at Abba&Chum's house while B and I went to Gemma's soccer game and then returned the wedding tuxes in Altoona (thank you!) 

Sporting with one all-star baseball practice for Rusty. Gemma had two soccer kick-arounds, two basketball open gyms, three summer league basketball games, her last Gators soccer game, and two physical therapy sessions on her ankle.  Grey had one football practice, one summer league basketball game, and then left for basketball team camp at Juniata on Friday morning that will go through Sunday. They played seven games in two days and won six of them (six-sevennnnnn). He patiently sent me updates on his feet because you know I be worrying after this past basketball season's fiasco!! Grey and Gemma also went to weightlifting/ conditioning five days this week. 

Making church picnic grill chicken salads, teriyaki chicken, roasted broccoli and noodles, take out sub sammies from Em's, Leftovers with a side of mac&cheese, Korean beef over noodles with green beans, and crack chicken sammies. B, Grey, Violet, and Pappy made the first stop on their unofficial summer local chicken wing tour at The Grove and B, Gemma, and I had brunch at Ryan's Artisan Goods after her PT appointment and after B's iCare appt where he picked up a Zpack for a viral infection (my poor honey).  I made a quad batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for our house and also for Weightroom Wednesday snack. For breakfast, I made banana bread. 

Movement: I skated 4.9 miles in total this week! I rollerbladed four times and took another fall which ripped up the same knee; removing the previous scab. Yikes (!!), it was gross and pretty painful. I took a long walk with the kids (to let my knee injury scab over!) instead of blading two days in a row. I am getting strong enough now to track miles while rollerblading and I'm doing a mile with ease (and usually NOT falling, hah). I tried out a new rollerblading spot - Sandyvale Memorial Park while Gem was at PT (I liked it!)

Around Here Week 23: 06/07-13

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

my former NS student, Drew!
(once my kid, always my kid - even when you're literally an adult with a job, LOL!)

photo cred: Lisa G

photo cred: Lisa G

photo cred: Tausha G

photo cred: Heather R

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 204+ hrs (of 1000)
It was a hot and muggy one! We did get a really great summer thunderstorm that hit right at the point that everyone was feeling like the mugginess was absolutely unbearable and then the cool driving rain brought the temperature down to manageable (it was perfection). I did choose to turn on the AC on Friday because I had a big day of baking cookies for the wedding and I knew the oven was going to be on all day. Friday morning at 6:15am the house was already at 79 degrees with a forecast of a high of 80 degrees and humidity of 90%. Yikesss. 

Reading and finishing The Correspondent by Virginia Evans It was beautiful and terribly heartbreaking. But I loved it. (readers get it). The style of the book - all the letters was such an engaging way to give enough unique and specific details to feel like you really knew the characters. It was not the whole story; so much was left out: spans of time, what people ate and drank, descriptions of settings...but then it was intimate enough through the letters. I loved it. Then started I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith which was a recommendation for people who like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (my favorite book). I feel the same vibe and I'm really liking it so far. 

Summer to do list completed: 

• Violet and I went to the eye doctor where my former student Drew was our technician!! So proud of him and loved seeing him and catching up. #oncemykidalwaysmykid 
• Gemma went to physical therapy twice this week for her ankle/foot
• Reddy, Rusty, and Olive washed the car for me with the hose and sponges!
• Stopped by The Laurel & Leaf bookstore to pick up summer reading for the girls (and I unnecessarily bought three more books to add to my list...I cannot be trusted in a bookstore - this is a well documented fact). I got Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe (and joined the Laurel&Leaf book club with this first pick!), Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, and First Time Caller by BK Borison
• Figured out how to clean up the storage on my phone so I stop getting error messages. I have so many photos and videos and I was hesitant to delete them because I couldn't figure out how to delete them from my phone but NOT delete them from google photos (cloud storage). But the internet provided helpful information - I needed to delete them from Google Files on my phone which only removes them from my device and NOT from google photos(cloud). YAY! (this was also one of my 100 small things!)

sad, sad, sad. we assisted Bullet over the rainbow bridge on Tuesday evening. Our kindhearted vet made a home visit for our 17year old boy. He has honestly been a menace his whole life up until these last two years where he was such an old man, he couldn't get into much trouble. We got him as a pup from the shelter and ever since then he has been his own special kind of nutty. Over the years, he has been skunked innumerous amounts of times, once porcupine quill'ed in the face, ate many full sticks of butter, brought a playing-dead possum into our house and set it under the Christmas tree, was caught in a fox trap thrice. He snatched food from tables, counters, and hands if you weren't paying attention. He terrorized every single person that drove up our driveway (sorrynotsorry to all! We always knew if someone was here). When large groups of people were here, we had to put Bullet in our room because it was too overwhelming for him and he was always too overwhelming for everyone else. If you have met Bullet, you remember Bullet because he probably did some bizarre thing while you were here and probably thought to yourself- why the heck do the Studers keep this dog?!

But also, he was our first dog as a married couple. We rescued him from the shelter six months before our first kid was born. He saw and cared for every baby we ever brought into this house including our kids, our nephews, any friends' kids, and all baby animals (chickies, duckies, puppies, kitties). He was a child's dog for sure - they dressed him up, rode his back, made him wear party hats, danced and snuggled with him. He loved catching snowballs in winter and jumping through leaf piles in the fall. He would swim until he drowned if we let him. Bullet and I have walked hundreds of miles together just to get his energy out. On Christmas morning, he would wait until the kids were all downstairs, then sniff out his gift and sit in the middle of the room among piles of wrapping paper gnawing on his bone while surrounded by Christmas morning joy. He did his job when I was here up on the mountain alone with all these babies - no one was ever showing up to the house unannounced - Bullet was sure of that. He was not a very well behaved dog (understatement of 17 years) but he was a good boy in his own way. This pup had one hell of a ride. Bullboy, we loved you and were blessed to be loved by you. Your loyalty to us was unmatched.

Officially summer with pool days! We hung out at Pappy's house on Sunday and the boys grilled lunch (kielbasa, veggies, tortellini on the blackstone). It was hot enough that we were all able to get in and enjoy the very cold first time in the pool for the season. Then later in the week, the kids and I headed out to Altoona to spend the afternoon with our favorites, the Fiores! Delicious snacks, yapping the entire time with Kate, and the kids laughing and playing - a perfect afternoon! Thank you for hosting, Kate! 

Clapping for our solar panels because we got our electric bill this month and it was -89$. hahhaha, NEGATIVE dollars. I'll take it! (fyi: that doesn't come as a check, it will be applied to our account and put towards the winter months when the panels aren't making so much - but still a win for sure!)

Wedding outfit shopping with just the girls.  I am grateful that all the boys (even Grey!) just trusts me to get something that looks good on them and goes with the vibe. And thank goodness for Marshalls who always has things that we need for all the sizes of our family and affordable enough to swing it in our big family (not sponsored, just actually thankful. but by all means Marshalls - we'd love a brand deal - LOL). 

Rolling our eyes at the guinea chickens because they chatter so much. All day long they squawk around in a little group. Olive calls them "The Goonies" and sometimes when they start yapping, she says, "Hit it Goonies!" and starts dancing to their sounds. (this child! She is a riot!) The Goonies have started tapping on the sliding glass door in the mornings to let me know they are ready for me to come feed them (!) We do still have a fox situation going on, so when they get super loud at the same time Osa starts barking, we know to look out to for the fox trying to sneak in. (swiper, no swiping!)

Cousin day at our house with the Moore Boys. We got to host the nephews at our house on Friday and it is always more fun with cousins around. They played nerf battles and jumped on the trampoline and had picnic lunches together. 

Thankful for Lamont who got all the boys trimmed and shaved up just in time for the wedding! (We love you 'Mont!)

Crafting all week for the WWE surprise entrances for the wedding. B's cousin Butter was obsessed with WWE growing up and the cousins wanted to honor that with a WWE surprise entrance mid-way through the reception - we got permission from the bride! (we love you Becky - what a good sport!) The boy cousins all spent the last two weeks studying their characters and we got the parts of their costumes ordered. This week, I made streamer arms in yellow and purple and a pair of yellow (duct tape) boots for Brandon Macho Man Randy Savage. We procured chaps from Uncle Buck for Greyson Sexy Boy Shawn Michaels, and I hot glued spikes onto Rusty & Rowen's Legion of Doom shoulder pads.  I also coordinated with the DJ to make sure he had the music and vision - LOL. 

Butter & Becky's wedding! What a perfect day! First we attended the rehearsal and dinner on Friday. The kids were overjoyed to see their Gilmore cousins! We all were secretly chatting about the wrestling entrance surprises for the wedding, trying to not let Butter hear us. We met up for a little post-rehearsal hang at the Tollgate too and laughed and chatted with all the cousins. I love seeing B so happy surrounded by his cousins. (xxo).  On wedding day - B, Grey, and Rusty headed out to the groom's suite at The Willow early in the morning to hang out and get ready with Butter. They took the xbox and wiffle ball game supplies and had a great morning hanging out with the dudes. Gemma and Violet spent the morning with Becky in the bridal suite helping set up the reception hall and even getting their hair done professionally (Becky - you were so sweet to include them!) Reddy, Olive, and I met up with cousin Lisa at the hotel pool to swim for awhile and then get ready. The weather was perfect, the ceremony was meaningful (never been to a wedding I didn't cry at!) and the reception was gorgeous and so fun. The wrestling entrances went on without a hitch and Butter smiled and laughed the whole way through it (so did all the guests!) The boys played outside including a giant wiffle ball game and my girls danced the entire time. We were so thankful to be part of your day - congrats Becky & Butter, we love you!

Smiling when Reddy was whispering to me during the ceremony. First when B walked in with his wedding partner he said, "Who is that?! Daddy should be walking with you only!" Then when Becky walked in, he said, "She looks so beautiful! I bet Butter loves this day!" and then later when I asked him who he thought he would marry someday, he said, "I don't know - maybe Becky because she is so beautiful!" 

Grad parties this week: cousin Grace at the Quemahoming Dam - so proud of you Gracie girl! 

Time with family and friends. Rusty went to his baseball games this week with friends and family (thank you Maurers and Pappy!) Violet hosted a sleepover with Evaley at our house and got to babysit Lily at our house this week, Gemma had a playdate with Abigail and got her nails done at her friend Amiyah's house (thank you Amiyah!) Grey went to main moon with the football guys and had a pool hang with friends at Quinn's house

Sporting with the first week of offseason weightlifting and conditioning with our amazing strength coach, Coach Mike! Gem & Grey (as varsity athletes) go to WL/C every single day. MWF from 7a-9a and TTh 6-8p. Coach Mike builds programs for all our Varsity athletes for the positions they will be playing in the fall and he is awesome and the kids love him. On Wednesday mornings, I send in baked goods to all the fall athletes who show up for WL/C - this week they had cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing!  This week was also the youth basketball camp that Grey and Gemma volunteered at - Grey all five days and Gemma volunteered three days because she had physical therapy for her ankle twice during camp time. Gemma also volunteered as a Ref at a 10U AYSO game, and had three basketball games, and was asst trainer at the Ken Lantzy football game. Grey had two basketball games, a football practice, and two basketball practices (on top of WL/C and volunteering at the youth bball camp). Violet had her last Sparks soccer game (thanks for hosting the post-season picnic, Mocks!). Rusty had his last youth minors baseball games (but confirmed that he will play in the upcoming allstars Slamfest tournament), and Reddy had his last coach pitch baseball game.  Thank you youth league coaches - we appreciate your time and patience!!

Making kielbasa tortellini on the blackstone at Pappy's pool, smash burgers with roasted potatoes, sheet pan chicken fajitas, ground turkey egg roll in a bowl, mini sub sammies bar, beef and cheddar sammies, For desserts I made Lucky Charms rice krispie treats. For Weightroom Wednesday (the first of the summer!) I made cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing. For Butter & Becky's wedding cookie table (a PA wedding tradition!) I made four dozen each of Sugar cookie swirls, strawberry crinkle cookies, and Mexican wedding cookies.

Movement: rollerblading five days this week and two weightlifting sessions with B. New rollerblading skills - increasing speed tolerance, "Lemon" motion with my feet, and overall stamina. I learned pretty quickly that I am NOT ready for sidewalks. I tried skating down a beautiful tree lined street in Westmont and then promptly busted and got a new scrape on my knee. I stuck to parking lots after that for the rest of the week, hah. I keep my rollerblades in the trunk of the car, so anytime we go some where that has a parking lot, I tell the kids, "Hold on, I'm going to get a quick blade in" - which makes me laugh every single time and gets an eye rolled, "Mommmmm, no you are not" from them.