A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.
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photo credit: Onara C |
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photo cred: Kitty |
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photo cred: Peyton L |
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selfie cred: Gemma |
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photo cred: Heather |
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photo cred: Heather |
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photo cred: Peyton |
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family yearbook! |
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photo cred: Candice M |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 288+ hours (of 1000)
We got in a lot of snuggles with our sweet kitties who are getting adjusted to their new home. They experienced their first rain storm (while Violet and I sat inside the door being strong for them - just like I used to do when the kids were learning to sleep in their own beds, hah!) They are so funny in the morning when they are ready to eat (circus kitties hopping everywhere!) and they've explored both sides of the house but haven't ventured too far in the yard.
Reading Good Material by Dolly Alderton and The Sirens by Emilia Hart. Both books are for my book clubs and I have not be doing very well on reading with my eyeballs this summer (I've been doing more "reading" with my ears)
Listening to and finishing The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez and I loved it. I love her and her stories that always have me smiling with romcom butterflies in my belly. This one actually might be my favorite of her so far (it as the fifth book of hers that I've read!)
Visiting with Maddi and Marshall who stopped over to deliver their baby shower invite and catch up. It was so sweet of them to stop by and so nice to hear about how things are going in their lives. They are both former students of mine (high school sweethearts, now married and awaiting their first baby later this summer!) I am so grateful to still be in their lives as a friend - love you guys! thank you for the visit!
Starting our engines! Rusty and Violet got their motorbikes from Pappy this week. Rusty got a quad and Violet a dirtbike. They've been running all over the yard and woods this week. Reddy burned his ankle while riding on the back of Rusty's quad but he was actually pretty tough about it. Gemma got him bandaged up (our in-house trainer) and he learned the lesson that you wear pants while you ride!
Sketching out the rest of the summer so that I could plot my summer project to do list and make sure to get it all in before we go back to school. There are some projects that I know will make me feel better once the whirlwind of back to school and football season begins, but if I keep summer living it over here easy breezy - they are never going to get done. So I sketched out all the rest of the weeks and put in about three projects to tackle each week to see if I can get it together over here and be kind to future Tab.
Front door closet clean out - which was one of my summer projects. It was holding a lot of random stuff and I finally went through everything with a giant garbage bag and donation bins and just did the dirty work that needed done. It also forced me to tackle the kids' book collection (at least what is currently in the living room) which was another big bullet to bite - but I threw away the ones that needed to, made a pile for donation, and put away a whole box of board books that I'm saving for someday when I'm a grandma (!!!)
Well Checks & paperwork for five of the six kids. Grey and Gem both got their PIAA physical paperwork with their well checks. Red and Olive got their preK paperwork and well checks. And Rusty got his well check. Violet was happy to sit it out since her birthday is the only one later in the year. Thankfully the Pediatric office lets me double and triple up on appointments - so I only needed to haul kids up there two days this week and we are all squared away and everyone looks good!
Rusty's birthday pool party at Pappy's house. We order pizza from Primos and I made Buffalo Chicken Dip and Fruit dip too. Rusty asked for pumpkin roll for his cake so I made that for the birthday song. He had seven buddies come to the party and our family too!
Pop up project: Light string around the blacktop! Also one of my 100 small things tasks this year #78 on this list is done (at least temporarily, but I love it)
Fourth of July celebration at our house. We opened our home and yard to the neighborhood, family, and friends to celebrate with fireworks, food, and fun for the fourth. (Okay, too much alliteration even for me.) Everyone brought yummy things to share and Uncle Drip (aka my bro-in-law Kevin) hooked us all up with an incredible firework spectacular and all things ka-boom. (thank you Kev for being safe AND explosive - hahhahha, love you for real). Everyone had a great time which is the most important thing to me even if I am a nervous wreck the whole time and just want it to be over and everyone still have all their fingers and eyeballs and no serious sparkler burns. I cannot help my extreme MommaBear mode.
Family yearbook work time! Our family yearbook is a labor of LOVE that takes me a year and then some to finish. I like to make some time at the beginning of each month to at least push all my previous month's photos into the project. Inevitably, it means I also work on a few pages too which is fuel for my creativity and makes me happy. I finished Olive's and Rusty's birthday pages and added photos on other pages like Fishing, off season, and the kids' individual pages.
Fun with friends and family. Violet had a sleepover at Evaley's house and at Lillian's house plus a playdate with aunt Kitty where they visited the Creative Corner & Co and made bracelet's with the talented and wonderful Katie of Firewood and Free . Violet is officially obsessed and wants to live at The Creative Corner & Co now! Gemma went kayaking with Chum and she and Violet both went with the Mocks to see the fireworks in Somerset on Fourth of July eve.
Sporting with just a little because of the holiday. Gemma played up at the Varsity summer league basketball game once and went to three days of strength & conditioning. Grey had just one Colt city baseball game. He also went to five days of strength & conditioning using my Canva skills to support the baseball and football boosters
Making chicken alfredo, tacos, ordered in pizza (Rusty's birthday) I made buffalo chicken dip and cream cheese / cool whip fruit dip for both Rusty's birthday party and the fourth. I made mini banana bread loaves for Wednesday weight room treat, I made pumpkin roll for Rusty's birthday party, and patriotic desserts for July 4th (chocolate covered pretzels, monster cookies, and Puppy Chow!)
Miles Walked: 5.5 miles and about a mile and half of those are from taking Reddy back and forth from the big puddle in the field where he has a little trap to try to catch tadpoles. Hah!