Around Here 51: 12/15-21

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours:   629+ hours (of 1000)
yeah, same hours. I don't want to talk about it (ha). We did get a little bit of snow this week which had the kids happy and suited up to be outside.

Reading The Astonishing Color After by Emily X.R. Pan. and The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer still - slow and steady (and barely because of holiday madness). We had our Project Lit meeting on Friday at school and discussed The Both Die at the End and The Hate U Give. The discussion was great and then we watched The Hate U Give movie and the kids loved it (me too!)

Cherishing our Sunday breakfast at Mimi's house tradition. Usually just Brandon and the babies get to go while the big kids and I are at Sunday school, but this week the heat wasn't working in the church hall, so classes were unexpectedly cancelled. Our whole family got to spend Sunday morning at Mimi's eating her world famous (hah, it is to us!) breakfast and catching up with her before church.

Organizing my planner like a crazy person since it was dress up week at both the kids' school and my school, winter parties for the big kids, little kids, my students, and Brandon's work gift exchange/luncheon, 7 teacher gifts for all the kids, and oh ya know - regular holiday craziness like Marco the Elf and less than 10 days until Santa arrives. I just kept telling myself to take it one day at a time, one foot in front of the other. Massive apologies to all the people who haven't heard back from me via text, email, or phone calls for this entire month. It's been legit survival mode for me and this baby.

Figuring out a solution for our Christmas cards by enlisting the help of our resident artist, Violet. We opted for postcards with illustrations and a message this year and with the help of the kids- we got everything stamped, addressed, minimally colored and sent off in time for (most) people to get them before Christmas day!

Being inspired, as always, by the board members of You in Flood City at our quarterly meeting. We met at Franklin Street bar & grill - so the food and company were both great and had us all excited about the upcoming year.

Happy for Gemmi as she got to have a sleepover with her bestie, Sophia. (thank you Kate!) They swam in the hot tub, made sugar cookies, did all the girl talking possible, and stayed up until 1am! Best night ever!

Chaperoning the winter formal with B on Friday night while Miss Hannah watched three of the kids and Gemma had a sleepover with Sophia (which included hot tub swims & sugar cookie making! so fun - thank you Kate!) The winter dance went great and all the students had so much fun on the dancefloor. All the adults were cracking up because most of the songs that they enjoyed dancing to the best were all songs from our time...um, hello - we're clearly cool still. (LOL). Plus, I was able to book the photographer for the prom date - so check that one off the prom planning list!

Visiting with long time friends the Jurichs who were int own from Virginia. Brandon and Mikey were best friends in high school and it's been such a long time since they got to see each other. Mikey is in the Air Force and he married his high school sweetheart too (hi Shan!) Brandon and the big kids, Coach Hinton and Kam, and the whole Jurich crew got to have lunch together on Saturday afternoon and catch up. (I took the little kids home because I was starting to feel sick with a sore throat and the littles were pretty cranky/tired).

Thanking the neighbors that put up lights and decorations this season that we get to enjoy every time we drive by their house. The kids colored little thank you notes and they were so excited to deliver them and to wish them all a Merry Christmas.

Toasting the shortest day of the year at Uch & Kevin's winter solstice party on Saturday. The kids loved getting to see all their favorite grown ups and play with Lady too. We had great soups, beautiful and delicious snacks, and lots of great conversation. All of our cousins, the Hagerich girls, were in town too (Kara from Arkansas, Morgan from Colorado, and Becca from Florida with the Navy!) So Gemma and Violet were over the moon to see them and sit in laps and get all their attention.

Winter sporting with two practices and four basketball games with the Duke Andrews league this week. Grey woke up on Tuesday with a little bit of a pulled groin and spent the day hobbling around but pulled it together for his game that night (shocking....not) and worked through it. He had some good buddies at school who helped him get around (thank you Reed!) and he was feeling better by Wednesday. Now to get some new shoes for that flat footed kid!

Teaching Mexican Christmas traditions to Spanish 1 (including Pastorelas, Día de los Inocentes, and 3 Reyes Magos). Spanish 2 finished El Silbón de Venezuela, Spanish 2 Honors learned about the Tío Nadal tradition from Cataluna, España and got to try out the theory with our very own caga tío named Jerry. Spanish 3/4 honors finished their Navidad Commerical brackets and celebrated with a mini food day on Thursday. Friday was an activity day - so after the Project Lit book club and movie in the morning, I hosted a Navidad fiesta with my Spanish club that included food brought in by the kids, a white elephant gift exchange, and mini (tossed!) piñatas. I also organized Teacher Pizza day on Friday which was a big hit (and delicious) in place of a potluck because ain't no momma (or dadda) who has time to add another thing to their plate the week before Santa?!

Making taco pasta, orange crockpot chicken over rice, hot dogs and mac&cheese, and pizza from one of my student's fundraisers (we love Mariana's subs & pizza sales!)

Baking Christmas cookies which always seems like the last thing I have time for but makes me feel so happy to pick them out, get the kids to help, and create a spread of cookies to deliver to our neighbors and have on our table for the season. We made Peppermint pinwheels, peanut butter blossoms, christmas bark (saltines, chocolate, and butter/sugar toffee), and snickerdoodles this week - which we froze batches to save for Christmas Eve. Rusty helped me on Saturday whip up a batch of pretzel/hersheykiss/m&m snacks that we all gobble down for Uch's solstice party too!

Around Here Week 50: 12/08-14

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours:   629+ hours (of 1000)
Held steady this week with not enough to push me over the hour mark.

Reading The Astonishing Color After by Emily X.R. Pan. and The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer still and enjoying them both -but just moving really really slowly.

Chopping my hair off on Sunday because I'm pregnant and annoyed by it being one more thing I have to wrestle every day (hahaha, besides this belly into clothes and my little kids into socks and shoes and my big kids into the darn shower. sheesh!) I got about 8inches cut off and was immediately relieved. So less heavy, so much less to deal with. woohoo! Some people have noticed and then lots of people haven't noticed at all (!) B explained, "it's weird because it was so much cut off, but also somehow you look exactly the same still." niice.

Reminding myself of all the ways my husband is everything I love as I bite my tongue and find chores to do in other rooms as he butchers his deer on.the.kitchen.counter. Lord, patience is what I need - always patience, please.

Eating pizza, sipping hot chocolate, and watching the Polar Express with our besties as is our December tradition. We headed out to the Fiores' house to enjoy the evening and it was so nice to spend time with them for the evening and to keep the tradition alive!

Clapping for Grey and his school mates at the 4th&5th grade winter concert. We had the full crew in attendance (both sets of grandparents and aunts!) while the kids sang a medley of Christmas tunes and we all got to see Grey wear real pants (!) and a tie. A Christmas miracle in an of itself!

Debating whether to bail on Christmas cards or not. I tried to get a pic of the kids and that was a total fail (kids fighting with each other, dogs smacking kids off the face with the tail so that kids start crying...not holiday magic at all). And we are so close to Christmas at this point, getting them printed & delivered doesn't even seem feasible.....but there might be another option that I have in my back pocket. I'm not giving up on it yet because with every card we receive in the mail my soul aches to send ours out....so we'll see if I can pull something together in time!

Snagging gifts here and there - thank goodness for online shopping. I have lots of stuff ordered and I feel like I'm in okay place for being gift-ready so far. The big kids are kind of hard to buy for this year because they're in a weird stage of not wanting toys but also they definitely aren't getting tech-y stuff either...so then what? I'm using Gemma's enneagram to help me buy for her (she's a two too), so she's getting a cozy blanket and a succulent/cactus kit to take care as part of her gift. Grey wants a hunt in Alabama with his dad (LOL) but then I remembered months ago that he mentioned wanting a chin-up bar for his bedroom door - so that's ordered! He's getting a trail cam and waders too for his outdoor loving heart. The babies are still easy and Melissa & Doug toys are my favorite; puzzles, wooden food toys, and a car track rug. Target had an awesome sale that I was able to snag everyone's "Something to wear" items including three pairs of leggings for Grey to wear under his mesh shorts all winter (ugh).

Opening gifts immediately after school because Grey and Gem cannot wait to give their Santa's Workshop surprises for anything. They both had the workshop visit in school on Thursday, and everyone had to open them that afternoon! They were so sweet with their choices and they both picked a little something for their new baby brother too.

Swimming! Gemma's friend Mya had her birthday party at the Somerset indoor pool on Saturday and was so sweet to include Rusty and Violet on the invite. They felt so special to be included and get some swimming in even though it was freezing cold outside (blew Rusty's mind!) Gem got to have a sleepover afterwards and it was peaceful sleeping for the other two because nothing wears kids out better than swimming!

Winter sporting with the start of basketball games. Grey had three nights of practice and then on Saturday he had two games in the morning followed by his travel team practice. It was a long day of basketball for us to watch all day - and he was so pooped on Saturday afternoon but happy tired.

Teaching the Spanish Alfabeto to Spanish 1 including a recorded voice assignment that they both hated and loved. We had a listening "spelling" test at the end of the week and played lots of games to practice the letters. Spanish 2 continued El Silbón chapters 5-9 and Spanish 2 Honors created "invisible characters" for our class story. The reveal of the characters were hilarious and I was reminded again on what a valuable exercise it is to create characters through calling out suggestions in the target language ("la cabeza - "grande o pequeña?" Tiene un bigote? ..etc) while another classmates draws the character to match their thoughts. Spanish 3/4 Honors started watching Navidad commercials and completing worksheets to go along with them as we decide which Spanish Christmas commercials we like the best in a tournament style bracket.

Making chicken, potatoes, and brussel sprout Italian bake, crockpot swedish meatballs, pork roast and sauerkraut, crockpot salsa chicken over rice, and having appetizer night (chicken fries, soft pretzels, and cheese sticks!)

Around Here Week 49: 12/1-12/7

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 629+ hours  (of 1000)
Up one hour this week. I know my soul could use more time in the outdoors but between the cold temperatures, chores, and runny nosed kids around here - I can't get my act together. Still proud to be ending the year with more hours than last year, but it ain't over yet!

Reading The Astonishing Color After by Emily X.R. Pan. and The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer.

Celebrating our three and a half year old! Rusty had has half birthday and we sang and measured his height. He is so very proud to have the half added on there and will correct anyone and everyone if they say he is three; "No, I not three! I three and a half!"

Watching all the Christmas movies. The girls loved A Cinderella Story Christmas Wish (they call it "Sexy Santa" movie - HAH) and we also watched The Knight Before Christmas and The Holiday Calendar over the course of the week. We are watching the classics too like Home Alone and The Grinch too. Basically we've sworn off any television/movies that are not holiday themed around here.

Waking up to all kinds of surprises from our elf Marco. He's pretty low key, but still knows how to make quite a mess that has the kids smiling and shaking their heads. He helped St. Nicholas leave candy in our shoes on December 6th and turned our milk green (classic Marco!) on Saturday.

Getting holly jolly in the classroom. I let my Spanish 2 students pull out all the Christmas decorations and do whatever they thought looked best, Spanish 3/4 hung snowflakes from the ceiling (and they broke a table while they were at it?!) and I changed my laptop background to a fireplace to keep it cozy. We are tying up loose ends before  winter break in my two clubs; Spanish club deposited all the fundraiser money and ordered our club tshirts this week while Prom committee deposited their first week of prom raffle ticket money and made some calls to potential caterers.

Cheering for the end of Brandon's deer season as he got a buck on Saturday. Grey and his Dad were out with him for the day. Grey got to shoot twice at doe (he missed!) and then when the three of them were trying to push deer, B had an opportunity at a six point. Grey was so excited and proud - he came home and recounted the whole story to us.

Giving Gem a hug after she completed her first reconciliation on Saturday. She was a little nervous beforehand, but then felt great after she finished. The third grade students and their teacher (our Miss Hannah!) put on a little celebration afterward with cake, juice, and a craft. Next step - first Holy Communion next spring!

Visiting Abba, Chum, Kitty, & Uch at the downtown Christmas market where they were selling their homemade goods! We got to spend some time in the shop, peek in all the windows of the miniature houses in the park, and even see Santa! Rusty was brave and sat on his lap and then when Santa asked what he wanted - Rust panicked and started looking around the park for ideas. He said, "ummm, a house" (as in a miniature house) and was Santa was like..."well, I'll have to see about that" Only pretty sure he didn't think Rusty meant a mini house and Central Park Santa definitely thinks we're homeless....so thanks, Rust.

Winter sporting with basketball season for Grey. Still only in the practice mode, but he had one practice each for three of the teams he's on (he actually on four, but one didn't start yet). He loves it and it keeps him motivated in school - so I guess I can just shrug and carry on.

Teaching four days this week since here in western PA we get the following Thanksgiving off for deer season (hah). Our winter break is so close and the kids are already antsy pantsy, but I am determined to keep as close to business as usual because first, we have things to learn! and secondly, the days honestly go by quicker if we are on task and working. So Spanish 1 worked through Somos Unit 4 (quiere ser, habla, toma) and did a level-up reading/writing exercise. Spanish 2 started El Silbón de Venezuela Chapters 1-4, Spanish 2 Honors worked on Somos Unit 12 and learned about personal belonging vocab, and Spanish 3/4 Honors finally got to watch The Curse of La Llorona after finishing our novel.

Making taco turkey over baked potatoes, kielbasa and mac & cheese, fridge clean out day, frozen pizza, and chicken and gravy over mashed potatoes. We also made a Walmart pick-up grocery order to hold us over until the holidays arrive.