A glimpse into what it is like to live in our family just this moment.
photo cred: B |
photo cred: Jackie F |
photo cred: Uncle Juice |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 610+ hours (of 1000)
First snow day of the year! Both my school and the kids' school had an old fashion snow day called. B still had to go into work, but the rest of us spent the day at home and the kids got out to sled ride and tend to the farm for awhile. While the kids were outside, I reorganized the pantry which was a long time item on my to do list!
Reading Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls. It's going slow but I do really like the characters and storyline!
Listening to The Chain by Adrian McKinty and what in the good grief?! I like it, I think...? so much drama and insanity. The author took the writing suggestion of 'kill your darlings' a little too literal and the whole book is basically an exercise in making every single moment a challenge for the main character.
Chore day on a wide open Sunday at our house. B and the kids worked outside (cleaning off the back porch, closing the porch windows, etc). Pappy was in the garage working on electrical, and I was in the house doing load after load of laundry, ironing, and organizing the pantry and fridge. I did a massive clean up of our bedroom too - hanging up clothes in the closet, clearing off dressers...if you are normally dysfunctional like our family (LOL), then clean clothes get tossed over the chairs instead of hanging them up, and dressers become holding stations for whatever is in your hand right this second instead of just putting it in the place it goes. It is a survive each day right now in the blur of raising young kids - so we do what we need to do to get through the days. But it felt good to really go through everything and clean up and clear out - so yay!
Hooking up the tv in our bedroom which is a winter-only treat. I like to turn on Youtube fireplace ambience for the winter months while I do laundry or while I read before bed. It's nice to give the kids access to their shows during winter sports that Daddy and Grey like to dominate the tv with in the living room. Even in the winter, we still aren't a huge screen family, but we give ourselves a little extra cozy comfort in the long, dark (!), cold winter months.
Family hang out in our bedroom because of course with it all clean and clear and the fake fireplace on, every single child found their way in to us. There were lego building competitions and side conversations and laughter. It's shocking to me always that no matter their age, they still want to be near us - maybe not even talking to them or asking questions - they just want to be in the same room as us. Grey and Gem did the nearness thing again later that week. I was on my bed reading and first Grey came and laid next to me and scrolled on his phone, occasionally asking me to look at a reel he thought was funny and then Gem came and laid down next to me and closed her eyes and laughed at Grey's memes and reels when he showed them to her.
Ordered our family yearbook for 2023-24! Fourteen months of love, sweat, and tears (hah). It is such a labor of love to make that thing but it is cherished in this house by everyone to get all our photos and memories collected in the book to look at and laugh together. Life moves so quickly that sometimes it feels like we are doing nothing but running and sleeping - but then we stop and flip through our yearbooks and remember that although time marches on - we sure had a lot of good times in between the hustle and bustle. This yearbook was especially important to remember all the special times when we had such a hard and sad time this year (miss you everyday, Gigi). I included a memorial page and my eulogy in the book. Such a hard and sad time, but there was a lot of good times; and all the holidays and memories made with her for the rest of the year - to see her smiling and snuggled up with us for the other parts of the year is so special. I can't wait to get this book home.
A happy half birthday for Olive - three and a half this week! We celebrated with mini donuts and measured her height on our kitchen doorframe. It was a little confusing for three and a half to know the difference between a real birthday and a pretend half birthday (hah - she asked if her friends at school were going to bring her presents). I sent a quick note to the preschool teachers to let them know that we celebrate half birthdays in case Liv went on a birthday bossgirl streak at school.
Doghouse building for Osa. She is a fulltime farm dog and we want to give her a space of her own (she has no problem sleeping with the goats, but I would feel better if she had her own house) So I found these plans online and B and Pappy got to work with the kids occasional help to get it built this week. I can't wait to get the house down at the farm for her! Never ending grateful to have a handy (and handsome) husband!
Volleyball tourney for Grey at school. He participated with some of his friends and fellow teammates in the charity volleyball tournament and they won! Mostly he enjoyed playing with his buddies and getting out of class (obvi) but it was play for a cause so wins all around!
Stopping by the funeral home to give hugs and condolences to a friend and fellow coach.
Hot Cross Buns concert! Violet had her fourth grade recorder concert this week and did great alongside all her classmates. For the spring semester she gets to choose an instrument to try and she is leaning towards the flute or saxophone for now. Grey tried sax but didn't continue with it and Gemma played trumpet for two years.
Thankful for our barber Lamont of Ambitious Cuts for getting all my fellas looking fresh and clean for Thanksgiving next week!
Setting up our Christmas Budget spreadsheet. I just followed the exact video from Easesence Instagram and all my formulas and charts worked like a charm! (She has since shared a very cute, fancier one too!) Brandon added in a few more formulas because math boy wants to run all the numbers (hah). It looks so pretty and also is actually very helpful. It even has a countdown to how many days until Christmas and it is both motivating and terrifying.
Movie & dinner with Uncle Juice. He came to grab all the kids (except Booboo who had a basketball game) and took them for Chinese and then to see Red One at the movie theater. He also gifted them all giant nerf guns. Uncle Juice always takes it up several notches in fun and the kids adore spending time with him (thanks for such a special day for them!)
Couch shopping with B while the kids were out with Uncle Juice! We used the free time to check some new couches out because we really do need it and we are anxious to get our basement den finished before Christmas. We stopped at three different places and I think we found then one! Just want to go home and double check measurements and also give ourselves a 24 hour think-about-it time frame before making such a big purchase.
Wedding dress photo shoot for the girls. I took pictures of my other two girls in my wedding dress when they were three and the thought of getting Liv in it has been itching my brain. We had time on Saturday evening, so I pulled the dress out and had her put it on for some pictures. Violet and Gemma both wanted another try in it and it practically fits Gemma now - waaah! Time is absolutely unhinged.
Teaching and getting my official faculty photo taken and I can't stop shaking my head and laughing because GIRL. It was a day that I have no prep at the elementary school, so I come rushing up to the high school already semi-whiplashed and then I was the last one that needed their photo taken, but I have eighth graders - so my principal comes in to watch the class and I was in such a hustle that I didn't even LOOK IN THE MIRROR FIRST (in what world do I live!?), never re-applied lip color, didn't fix my hair, like literally just sat on the seat and said 'cheese.' I really feel like I am truly becoming Miss Geist from Clueless...like can some teenage student please take pity on me and give me a make-over!? Elementary is still working on Doy Gracias lesson, Spanish Expo is in their Geography week. Spanish 1 started reading Capibara con Botas and read Chapters 1-3. Spanish 2 finished their novel Tumba and we studied for their book final next week.
Sporting with two swim practices for Rusty. Violet had a basketball game and Gemma had five days of basketball practice (Vi went to one of them with her). Grey had five days of basketball practice which included two days of lifting and then a scrimmage on Saturday. He also played in the all day volleyball charity tournament at school on Thursday.
Making crockpot ham & potato soup, chicken & dumplings, spaghetti with garlic bread, Korean beef with green beans over rice, frozen pizzas, take out Chinese. Liv got chocolate croissants for breakfast and then take out pizza and mini donuts for her half birthday dinner. I made a batch of puppy chow on the snow day!