Around Here 27: 06/30-07/05

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

photo credit: Onara C

photo cred: Kitty

photo cred: Peyton L

selfie cred: Gemma

photo cred: Heather

photo cred: Heather

photo cred: Peyton

family yearbook!

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! 

Around Here Week 26: 06/22-06/29

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

that egg!

Chatgpt suggestion for the space

photo cred: Eva M

photo cred: Heather

photo cred: Heather

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 268+ hours (of 1000)
National Weather Service alerts about dangerous heat advisories multiple days this week. We were headed down to the farm giving fresh cold water frequently, watering the garden to keep our little sprouts happy, and keeping Bullet in the AC. Those long summer hours of daylight have us very happy though and the kids are joyful to have all the lightening bugs to chase each night! 

Reading Good Material by Dolly Alderton

Listening to Gamechanger for Grey's baseball games and started The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez without even realizing it is the next book (same characters) as The Friend Zone which was the last Abby Jimenez book I listened to! Haha, perfect and I'm loving it (duh).

Finishing the clearing out of the flower bed at the driveway turn. I operated the tractor while B, Rusty, and Reddy loaded it up with brush and branches. After it was all cleared out (we were all dying of heat and sweat), I snapped a picture to ask Chatgpt for some advice on how to update it to fit more of the vibe I'd like giving it suggestions like: low maintenance & homestead vibe. I think my AI did a pretty cute job! For now, I'm glad it has been cut back at least! (thanks B, Pappy, Rusty, and Reddy!) 

Another swimmer in the family! After a lot of patient support and positive self affirmations (hah), Reddy was brave and swam! Once he got the hang of it, he was obsessed and was swimming all over the shallow end of Pappy's pool. What a relief to this momma's heart to have only one last kid who needs to learn to swim (and she has been practicing too!) It's two of my 100 small things list to get these kids swimming and I'm crossing off # 72 off my list! 

Black snake update: spotted another one (or the same one?) near the English Ivy on the front of the house. It slithered in the ivy before we could grab it. Oopsie.

Welcoming two new members to the Studerbabies Farm: Nova and Blaze, our two little kitties we adopted from our friends the McDannell family. They are so cute and caught a mouse on the first day we brought them home already! They will be outside cats (their momma is an outside cat too) but due to our black snake situation, my softie husband was too worried about them getting snatched by the snake while we were away on our busy weekend so he moved them into the basement for a little while until they get bigger and more comfortable at their new home. So far Violet's cat allergies have been manageable (who has allergies to cats but begs to get two cats?! Violet, that's who!)

Going strong on the no tv (or screens) until 3p for the summer. I mean, it's still an argument every day but less so each day. "We don't watch tv in the morning" and then the go on figuring their way through summer boredom. It is honestly so much easier for them to have independence when we abstain from screens first thing in the morning. If they just have to start playing and moving - what a difference! Some favorite ways to play this summer include: trampoline, shooting hoops, the kitties (!), playing spies or army, and doing chores (hahah, just getting them done as early as possible so they are done). 

Felt the inspiration and push of the new moon in the zodiac Cancer which was calling for doing the thing you imagine: this week, I let me heart guide me to draft up the cover of my book on Canva! I'm going to keep looking at it to remind me to take steps towards my goal each day to get that thing properly published and into the world!

Time with family and friends: Violet had a play visit with Evaley at the Cables house, Gemma and Violet spent the day with Abba & Chum, Grey spent the day at his friend Gabe's house and also went to a pool party with his friends. We all had a swimming visit with my bestie Katie at her house and lots of visits to Pappy's pool to swim including swimming with our baby cousins Wells, Heath, and Blairy-kins.

A morning at the Que swimming and kayaking. We packed up the truck with the kayaks (thank goodness for teenagers!) and met with Abba, Chum, Miss Emma, and the nephews to spend a sunny afternoon. Grey got some kayak fishing in and Gem went on a long kayak with my parents - but the rest of us swam at the beach for the whole visit. The sun was so bright and the water so warm! Reddy was thrilled to practice his new swimming skills and everyone had such a great summer break afternoon. 

Celebrating the wedding of our cousin Janell to Wyatt in York, PA. Everything was so intentional from the ceremony to the decorations to the DJ's playlist. Janell has been planning since she was a little girl and she was determined to make it all come true and give her guests the best night - and best night we had! Our family is so big we had a whole round top to ourselves! Food was delicious, there was an outdoor patio overlooking the Susquehanna river, and there were two artists there painting couple portraits! The cookie table was full from treats from family and friends and when I tell you the DJ was perfect, I am not exaggerating. My entire family was on the dancefloor the entire night. Every time Gem, my sisters, and I went to sit down another favorite came on and we couldn't leave the floor. Olive belted Pink Pony Club on top of B's shoulders, Grey held and danced with Heathy most of the night, and Reddy had the time of his life breaking it down in the middle of the circle. Looking around the dance floor seeing all six of our kids dancing and singing with B made me so happy - like okay, 240 weeks of pregnancy for this moment was worth it (LOL). 

Hotel sleepover after the wedding which feels like a big deal for the kids because we rarely stay in hotels - too big of a family, we need a VRBO house! We all shacked up in a room with two queen beds and a pull out couch. The moment we got there, the little kids started claiming spaces - Violet wanted to be in the closet, Rusty under the desk, Reddy on the floor between the beds, and Olive in a literal cupboard. We distributed blankies and pillows and somehow I got to sleep in a bed with B alone (hahh! better than at home when we almost always have a kid between us), Gemma to the other bed, and Grey on the pull out couch. Everyone was happy and we all fit for one night! 

Hershey day trip with cousins! Since we were already out in eastern PA for the wedding - we met up with our Gilmore cousins and our Rummell cousins drove out and we did our annual Hershey Park visit. Rusty was tall enough for all the roller coasters this year and some of the kids even rode the new ride: Twizzler's Twisted Gravity! Reddy was big enough to ride The Comet and I laughed the whole way while he looked shocked but also thrilled. It was very crowded which was a bummer for waiting in long lines (the kids and I waited for the Laff Trakk for over an hour?!) We got two of the all-day dining passes again this year to keep us sharing and eating every 90 minutes (great big family trick!) It was a long and sweaty day, but so fun as always to be with our cousins and laughing as the rides whip us all around. God Bless Daddy who got us home safe and sound at midnight while all the kids fell fast asleep and I tried valiantly to stay awake to keep him company while nearly hitting my bobbing head off the dash a million times. 

So deeply devastated and bewildered about humanity. I am heartbroken every day to be updated on the genocide in Gaza. How much suffering and hopelessness can be endured? I think of the mommas living there trying to love and care for their babies. What would I do?  So much senseless death and suffering, I cry every day. And the obvious destruction of everything that is what our country has seemed to care about; progress and innovativeness and community and 'Give me tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free' -ness. Why do the most powerful get to do whatever they want with no consequences - and more so than that - why do the most powerful choose to do the most evil? I fear maybe I don't know anything about being a human if power, greed, and selfishness is how many people are choosing to be human.

Sporting with CT youth soccer camp: Reddy, Rusty, and Violet all attended the four days while Gemma volunteered two of the days as an asst coach for the 5yr olds. Reddy even won the challenge one day and got to pie Gemma in the face! Gemma had two summer league basketball games and attended two days of strength & conditioning and then was the trainer at the 7v7 and got to tape a few ankles and patch up some turf scrapes. Grey had three city baseball games, two summer league basketball games, a football practice, and a football 7v7 at St. Vincent college. I attended the football booster meeting and signed up to plan the annual Red&White game tailgate again this year. 

Making homemade pizza, burgers on the blackstone (thank you Grey), chicken fajita bowls, chicken/ biscuit/ veggie casserole, sloppy joes, and meatball sub sammies. For breakfast this week we had double chocolate muffins once and french toast with sausage. For Wednesday weightroom I baked snickerdoodles and then I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for my cousin Janell's wedding cookie table!

Miles Walked: 6+ miles