Around Here 7: 02/10-02/16

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  10+ hours (of 1000)
Just slowly snagging hours, but really doing it only as they are convenient for me (hah). I haven't made yet this year a concerted effort to spend a significant amount of time outside like I have in the past - but just trying to go with the flow and do what feels right and is needed (ie. chickens) - it feels good to not be so hard on myself because I'm still trying to snuggle up and live like the winter; knowing that once the snow starts to melt and things start to grow again - i'll be racking up outdoor hours.

Reading Educated by Tara Westover with my Books & Brews book club which I purchased at our local Books-A-Million store after I wandered into it even though my whole family knows I'm not to be trusted in a bookstore (hah! I was alone though, so no one was there to stop me!) I reasoned that it's been some time since I bought some new books, right? So I snagged this, this, this, this, and this (...gulp) I spent nearly an hour walking between the shelves and reading covers and flaps and putting down and then picking up again and putting down in an attempt to show self restraint, only to ultimately pick it back up again and add to my stack. I purchased a new chapter book for Grey too (Who was Jackie Robinson?) and two books for Gem (Fly Guy books) oh, and a new Valentines book, and two for our Easter collection (this & this). #sweetLordhelpme The cashier was like, "um, I hope you have a rewards card, because...girl!"

Snuggling up for another week of weird school days. We had two 2hr delays and a snow/ice day at my school. Our big kids had an extra snow/ice day thrown in there (they hung out with Gigi while we schlepped to school). I taped out Four Square on the living room floor with washi tape for a big win while we played 800 games of family four square to get those cabin fever wiggles out.

Celebrating Gemma's birthday early (multiple times!) Gigi made us all lunch and we sang happy birthday to Gem and Pappy (who have birthdays only a day apart). Then we got to sing a double stack of chocolate chip cookies with Gemma's bestie and cousin Audra

Spreading love on Valentines Day. I made some pink icing cinnamon rolls on Valentines eve for snack after the big kids were in charge of prepping their school party fruit donations. The babies helped them clean and pick all the grapes off the vines and Grey and Gem were in charge of cutting the strawberries into heart shapes. All four kids have Valentines parties and Brandon brought me lunch at school (Yamatos!!) Daddy brought home bouquets of flowers for the girls and I (they love this tradition so much!) I made frozen pizza for dinner and used the pizza cutter to make it into a heart shape and we had sprinkle cake box mix cookies for dessert.

Letting the kids have all the fun! We had a classmate's birthday party at Glo Golf for Gem, a sleepover birthday party for Grey with the Conn twins, a sleepover at our house with cousin Caleb, and a playdate visit with our Gilmore cousins from out of town! B and I had a little fun squeezed in there. He went to the St. Greg/Barnabas gun bash with our Gilmore cousins and I had my glorious afternoon in the bookstore followed by a quick eyebrow wax which made me feel like a human woman again (LOL, but seriously).

Basketball season'ing with Brandon's team last game of the season! We made it another season (his 6th!) with Coach Daddy. It is nice to have him back home again:) Grey had only one basketball practice this week because of weather and then had his game with his CT team at the Y on Saturday. It was a loss, but Grey had a whole lot of hustle in there.

Teaching as much as I can squeeze into 2 full days and 2 half days with this wild weather! Spanish 1 is right in the middle of El Capibara con Botas and we had some hilarious Readers' Theater actors for Chapter 8 when el mono salta encima de la cabeza de Carlos y dice "Salta!" (#jaja) Spanish 1 Honors did the pre-learning for their next novel Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro which included the Martina Bex mini unit about Carrie la perra bailarina. Spanish 2 is already reading BBQP and Spanish 2 Honors started the Martina Bex Niños prisoneros unit. Spanish 3 Honors started the pre learning to read Señor Wooly's La Casa de la Dentista next week!

Making leftover mac and cheese with some hot dogs and burgers, left over pulled pork over nachos with pineapple and jalapenos, pierogies, heart shaped frozen pizza for Valentine's day with cake box mix sprinkle cookies, and Thomahawk take out

Around Here 6: 02/03-02/09

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  9+ hours (of 1000)
Didn't get more than an hour accumulated this week but grabbed some time walking back and forth between the chicken coop. The groundhog saw his shadow, so anytime spring wants to start showing up around here would be fantastic. hah.

Reading and finishing One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fuliwiler and also finishing One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus. I really connected with One Beautiful Dream from a writing momma perspective. I gobbled up McManus's book like any good YA mystery, sorry family for ignoring you to read - hahha!

Endlessly grateful to my classroom fairy godmother, Ashley, who sent new Spanish novels my way and a whole bunch of Dove chocolate hearts with a note to me and my students for a sweet February. (thank you so much, you are beyond thoughtful and I am so lucky to have your support and kindness!)

Patching Gemma's foot back up after Grey accidentally ran over it with the hoverboard at full speed (?!!) It was more like a burn than a scrape and it's been making her crazy all week. It's right on the top of her foot so it's in a terrible spot with wearing shoes all day at school, poor thing.

Celebrating cousin Brookie's third birthday at her house with a dinosaur party!

School party supply gathering as the kids celebrated the 100th day of school this week. Gemma counted out 100 macaroni noodles to take into school. Grey started working on a valentines day box and then he and Dad ultimately decided on decorating their fishing krill instead to use as a box (hah). Next up, buying party snacks for the valentines day party and writing out all the kids' school valentines!

Basketball season'ing with three games for Brandon's varsity team this week, including senior night (thank you to the moms and boosters who made the game so memorable!) The kids and I made it to the CT game where we hung out with the Stankans and baby Sukey (!) Only one more game to go for the season and we get Coach Daddy back again (yay!) Grey played in the championship game series for his Duke Andrew league. They won on Monday night and then ended up losing on Friday and Saturday morning to come in second place. He was so bummed but always a lesson to be learned in sports - even when you lose; mostly how to take the disappointment.

Teaching through Señor Wooly to celebrate Wooly Week 2019! Señor Wooly is this wacky former Spanish teacher who has created a whole website (ie: Spanish teacher cult) t in which he teaches through weird and interesting songs. The idea is to captivate the students in these odd songs and music videos while using total comprehensible input in the target language to help them understand and be able to respond. It was an awesome week and one in which I feel like I grew a lot as a teacher too. I joined the Woology facebook page, tried out some new CI techniques, and we listened to so much Wooly music. We had fiestas to celebrate including wooly-inspired food, students who dressed up as Wooly characters, and had the new song: Una Canción Original stuck in my head for about 5 days straight. (even my own kids and Brandon have been singing it at home - jajaja!)

Making shredded chicken and brussel sprouts, ramen noodles, pulled pork in the slow cooker, french bread pizzas, and little noodle soup with copy cat red lobster biscuits.

happy valentines day, b

B,
I posted a picture of us for Valentines Day. It was our first picture together, all the way back from the Homecoming dance in 1999. We weren't even dating then, but we had been flirting with abandon for weeks. Gosh, your smile and persistence and that floating kiss was undoing me.  So we met at Ang's house to ride together with her and Tom (who are still together and married with four kids too!)

The face you made when I came down the steps was everything rom coms are made of and 20 years later I don't know that I've ever recovered from the way you make me feel like the brightest star in the night sky; that night or any day since.

The thing I love the most about this picture though is our hands.
Your hands are so gently and hesitantly resting on my waist.
and my hands shyly and awkwardly held high and in front of me because I didn't know where to put them.

because even then,
even before we were anything really
the touch of you felt electric
like if we lingered too long, we might start to spark

weeks later, when we finally had our first kiss, it only proved this theory
because to this day, we corroborate that electricity passed between our lips.

Now, all these years later, our bodies have been carved and polished into a complimentary fit. twenty years worth of shared triumphs and losses and heartbreak and babies and pets and homes and work and worries and laughter have obliterated that delicate consideration as to where to place our hands when we are near each other.

we know how we fit together
and all these years later,
we are well versed in the management
of controlled fires

happy valentines day, handsome.
xxo