Around Here 3: 01/13-19

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 1+ hours (of 1000)
Barely got any more time outside this week, but I'm not beating myself up over it. My sweet friend Ashley shared with me this quote that totally fits with how I've been feeling in this cold, dreary winter weather. (thank you!)

Reading and finishing The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. I only had about 20 pages left and about 300 steps shy of 12,000 on Thursday night, so I did a few laps around our dining room table while finishing the last little bit of the book (two birds with one stone is my favorite). I enjoyed the book a lot - as usual with Picoult as the author. Not my favorite of hers, but very interesting and an important read about WWII. I thought I sort of knew where the ending was headed, and I ended up guessing correctly, but then I wasn't overly pleased with being right (hah). I started reading Room by Emma Donoghue which is a borrowed copy from one of my students (thank you Abi!) So, so good.

"Getting my blood out" (that's what my children call it) at our Student Council blood drive on Friday.

Playdating twice this week. Gemma had a friend get off the bus at our house after school one night. Gem and Ava played dress up and hoverboards and even helped make dinner. Grey took the bus to his friend's house after school one night and they jammed out because they've made a two man band (hah). Halen on guitar and Grey on drums (bless you Angie for enduring those jam sessions!)

Visiting Mimi for brunch between Grey's basketball games and getting Violet's cheetah, Speedy, stitched up after he had a little tear in him. She had a 'bandaid' on him all week until she could get Dr. Mimi to give him stitches. I also got to see Mimi's first monthly newsletter and I loved it. We got her a year long subscription with Neveo which is an app that Mimi's grandkids have on our phones and we upload pictures of the kids all month long and then Neveo creates a polished little newsletter style to send to her. Since she doesn't have any social media, she missed out on most of our Instagram and Facebook posts, so this is Mimi's own printed out, fancy version of a newsfeed! She loved it and has it in a special folder on her dining room table for safekeeping.

Hunkering down for the huge winter storm that (was supposed to) hit this weekend. We did get quite a bit of wind and freezing rain, a little bit of snow too. But all in all it wasn't as bad as it seemed it was going to be. (thank you plowtruck drivers). It was such a relief though to drop any responsibility for leaving the house. Gosh, it was total bliss to not have to feel guilty about not going anywhere! We got some chores done, watched a bunch of movies with the kids, played around and goofed off as a family, and mostly did nothing but stay cooped up in the house. It was heavenly and so much needed!

Laughing until my belly hurt about Violet asking Brandon to play 'Applejack' which is basically him being a horse and her riding on his back. He played and played with her and then finally was like, "okay, Vi, I need a break" and she just leaned down over his shoulder and held out her hand near his mouth like it was full of oats and said, "Just eat this Applejack and you'll be good again"

Basketball season'ing a ton this week. B had three games with his varsity team - one of which I made it to because it was at my school! I cheered for both teams because I have the hots for the coach and my students play for the other team (hah). Grey had three games this week too, including his first game with his CT team at the Y. Gemma is very interested in learning how to keep 'the book' and I'm planning on digging up some of Brandon's old stats books from previous years to give her some practice on the blank pages (she'd love that! and it's a useful skill to have - I volunteer occasionally to keep the book at Grey's games all these years later)

Teaching pre-Capibara con Botas unit about Ecuador and animals with my Spanish 1 students. Spanish 1 Honors students are working their way through Somos Unit 5 which included a class story that went on forever and ever until my entire #oldschoolchalkboard was filled up and the kids were still saying "más!" Spanish 2 practiced their er-verbs while Spanish 2 Honors fell in love with Selena's El Chico del apartmento 512 song and learned about piropos. Spanish 3 Honors finished reading Los 3 Cerditos and had a little fluency reading. Our school also was trained on the new PA wide system Safe 2 Say Something program which empowers kids to anonymously report situations that they think are dangerous or concerning. And it was the end of the 2nd marking period which meant I had lots of LMA (Leave Me Alone) passes rolling in for bonus points to add to their final grade.

Making banana blueberry muffins and egg & spinach 'muffins'. We also had chicken and gravy over mashed potatoes, a deer roast in the crockpot, and delicious veggie chowder soup with four ingredient beer bread. Gem helped me whip up some pork chop & stuffing casserole and cake box mix chocolate chip cookies to deliver to our cousin Heather. I am currently loving hot tea in the afternoon daily to warm up my afternoon and give me a little boast of joy.

Around Here 2: 01/06-01/12

A look into what it is like to live in our home just this minute.

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  1+ hour (of 1000)
We got one afternoon of 50 degree weather and some sunshine that was total bliss. The big kids and I got outside until it got dark and the (literal) thunderstorm clouds rolled in. Other than that, my outdoor hours seem to be accumulating only from our cold weather chicken duties of switching out the water and collecting eggs. My poor girls, they must be so bored all day coop'ed up (hah chicken puns), I wish I could speak hen and tell them spring does return after all this cold and wet.

Reading The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. I also started reading some new Spanish learning novels to share with my students (Clase de confesiones, La bella mentira, y La perezosa impaciente) that arrived this week from my classroom fairy godmother, Ashley. You are so sweet and considerate (she included boxes of tissues too for a healthy start to the new year!) I just can't even believe I am blessed enough to have someone who constantly cheers me on in the classroom. gracias, gracias, muchisimo gracias.

Celebrating Orthodox Christmas at lunch at Gigi and Pappy's house and then with our traditional sleepout under the Christmas tree. This year, we took all the rest of the Christmas decorations down (including all the ornaments!) but the kids were happy to sleep under our 'naked' tree (lol). Orthodox Santa came and brought one gift for the girls to share and one for the boys to share. For the record - as of January 12th, our 'naked' Christmas tree is STILL UP. #lawdhelpme

So proud and inspired by my cousin Heather who is always the kindest and most thoughtful person I know, but this week gave birth to a beautiful baby girl for a couple who so desperately wanted a baby but couldn't do it on their own. Heather, you are just incredible and being a surrogate is only one (albeit a really big, selfless, brave one) of the million examples of things that you do for others all the time. I am so proud and lucky to know and love you.

Feeling grateful that 'lasterday' is still going strong in this house thanks to Vially. So is 'lasternight,' 'lasterweek,' and 'lasteryear.'

Passing my last (?) PRAXIS test before I can register for online college classes to finally square up on this certification. I took the Fundamental Knowledge test on Saturday and after two hours of ELA, Math, Science, and Social/Civil Studies questions - my brain was mush. But I passed so onward and upward.

Meeting up with the Vordrans for a playdate! B and the girls decided to drive me out to my test (since the weather looked a little iffy) and we made the lastest last minute plans with the Vorndrans at the trampoline park near my testing site. Everyone jumped and wore out their energy while I tested, and they we all went out for Mexican afterwards. It was so wonderful to catch up and so incredibly nice to be with friends who also know and accept this is such a crazy time in our lives (with little kiddos) and when we can squeeze in a short visit then it's awesome, but when we can't - no hard feelings. xxoxo love you guys!
...meanwhile the boys had a sleepover with my parents and had a blast playing in the snow and Grey even got to try out his new snowboard. He's obsessed.

Basketball season'ing with two games this week for Brandon's team and two games for Greyson's Duke Andrews team (we had to miss his first CT game because of overlap - he was so bummed). He also had three nights of Booboo's basketball practice which keeps us buzzing around all week, but with the help of my parents (thank you!) we usually only have to either pick up or drop off. This is always the point in basketball season where exhaustion starts to set in and I start apologizing to all our friends and family about how we sort of fall off the face of the earth. Even though I have attended (next to) no games, it is still tough on our family to have a Daddy running back and forth to games/practices every day of the week. Just sending a thank you to all of our friends and family who tolerate us through the next few weeks, we always roll out of basketball season a little ragged.

Teaching review in Spanish 1 as we prepared for the Unit 3 test (#weloveGimkit). I have finally decided to just bail on teaching old school all together in Spanish 1 because it just does not do anyone the kind of good that teaching through novels and comprehensible content does. So, please excuse me while I realign my curriculum map for the 43rd time until I figure out what works best de nuevo. Spanish 1 Honors worked through Somos Unit 4 while learning about habla, toma, and quiere ser. Spanish 2 had all their privileges taken away (for forever?) because I have had it up to there. More on my thoughts about being a teacher in 2019 to come soon. Spanish 2 Honors started the Somos Unit 13 (el chico del apt 512!) and Spanish 3 Honors finished the preterito Super 7 interview and started Los Tres Cerditos fluency unit. On Señor Wooly Friday, we did an embedded reading of the Feo song and it was an awesome exercise in using their skills in listening, speaking, and reading in Spanish. After they read each level of embedded reading, they could come to me to listen to and answer some questions in Spanish about the passage and then 'level up' to the next embedded reading. Gah, I loved listening to them work their way to figure out the answers and understand the questions #geekforlife

Making Hawaiian meatballs in the slow cooker, tomato soup and grilled cheese (and burning the soup on the bottom of the pot, I have been trying to get that thing cleaned for days!), super delicious pork chops and stuffing bake, and a fridge clean out day on Sunday. Brandon and I have been doing really good at making all of our weekday lunches on Sunday. The first week we had three days of beef chili (3 day work week), and this week we had five days of salads (two plain salads, 2 days of flavored tuna on top, and 1 day of taco meat on top).

Around Here 1: 12/31-01/05/2019

A look into our life just this moment.

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  less than 1 hour (of 1000)
Really doing a pretty terrible job of getting outdoor hours, but I am also sort of settling into this idea that it is best for my body and soul to mirror the seasons. Instead of getting frustrated with the short daylight hours and the cold in the winter - what if I did like the Danes and cozy up, read, drink hot tea, and go to bed early. As the days get longer, I naturally get less sleep because I squeeze every moment of sunlight out - so maybe I should treat winter as my rest and recuperate so that I can be at full efficiency.

Reading The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult to start the year off. The girls and I watched Dumplin' on Netflix and loooved it.

Celebrating the new year with friends and family. We spent the early evening visiting our besties Jon, Linds, and baby Tessa at their house. The kids were so so happy to play with Tess and the noise level was at a full blast with the five of them and their dog Bo running amok - just how we like it. Then we headed back in towards home to watch the ball drop with our Gilmore family at Uncle Ray's house. Since the kids got a little catnap in on the way home from the Kochs - we had four of four kids awake to welcome in 2019 at midnight (albeit, Rusty was pretty cranky). We cheers'ed our cups and kissed our way into the new year.

Listening to Grey retell his first experience pheasant hunting when he went on new years day with Brandon and his Gilmore cousins. Cousin Jesse has an awesome dog, Gunner who did amazing in the field and Grey actually ended up shooting a pheasant, while B got a chukar. They were so proud - Grey is hooked!

Buying a new planner and loving it. hello new year.

Working on creating my list of 100 small things for 2019 and struggling a bit. I have a lot of frustrations about the state of the world and the state of my mind. ugh. I'm trying to dig deeper and be really specific and intentional about my choices. It's taking a long while, but I think it's going to ultimately benefit my heart and soul for the year.

Attempting to register for my online college courses only to discover that I have one more PRAXIS test to take yet (!) So I signed up for the Fundamental Knowledge test for this month (5511) to try to get it done in time to register for the spring semester. B claims its all a money scheme and was like, "so you graduate high school, and undergrad, and grad school and pass a praxis Spanish test - but you have to pay over a hundred dollars to take a fundamental skills test, yeah okay" but it is what it is - so I've been brushing up on my Math, Science, Social/Civil studies, and ELA skills for another two hour test. Testing for hours is terrible - and to think this is what we do to our babies every year in the state tests!

Basketball season'ing - Brandon had only one game this week, and I have yet to get to more than a half a game this year! With Grey playing basketball and having practices two to three nights a week and two games a week, usually at the same time as B's games - it's just not happening. Grey is getting noticeably more comfortable in each basketball game. We got the schedule for his CT team and the two leagues will only have one game overlap! And bonus - these early morning basketball games end perfectly in time for Saturday brunch with grandparents and aunts!

Teaching again after our long winter break. Yeesh, that first week back after break can make ya a little weary. My hallmate teachers and I were laughing about how even after only a three day week - we were barely making it to Friday. HAH. Spanish 1 did some brain review and learned about 3 Kings day (including watching some Dora in Spanish which had them all cracking up). Spanish 2 started Somos Unit 7 and Spanish 2 Honors worked on 2019 goals in Spanish and learning about 3 Kings day, and Spanish 3 Honors used the past tense to ask and talk to each other about their winter break activities.

Making pork, hot dogs, and sauerkraut in the crockpot for New Years (PA tradition), haluski and breaded rand chicken tenders in the air fryer, B made his and Greyson's pheasant and chukar  (so delicious!), kielbasa and periogies, and fancy fried ramen noodles with leftover chicken.