Around Here Week 37: 09/13-19

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

photo cred: Mr. Bihun

photo cred: Mr. Bihun

photo cred: Mrs. Feathers

photo  cred: Mr. Bihun

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Peyton

photo cred: Coach Ginger M

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 492+ hours (of 1000)
Definitely starting to feel like fall. Chilly mornings and evenings and blazing hot afternoons (my classroom is a sauna). The yellow! The yellow everywhere is giving me so much joy even if I don't want everything to change just yet but it sure does look pretty with things making the switch to a new season. Still a lot of green, so that's a good, slow start.

Reading The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong for my Lit Ladies book club and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith because I haven't finished it yet. 

Listening to Good People by Patmeena Sabit and really enjoying it. Grateful for it on my commute to and from work each day. I truly have no idea how the story is going to shake out.

Running to do list completed: 

• I got the contact information for one of my student's family that has a litter of lab puppies! 
• I ordered the gifts for the football senior night from Etsy (bracelets & pins)
• I got everyone's school photo forms completed and boy does this company hate to see the Studers coming (lol). They have a great program that with the purchase of two photo packages in the family, the rest are free; great idea of families of three and even four. But the Studers roll up paying for only 2 kids and get 4 free packages of the same value! Very thankful for that even if we are their worst nightmare! 
• Grey went driving for TDS driving school again and worked on his online courses

Thinking about ways we can try to tackle Gemma's 'episodes' now that we have to wait for the next round of blood work after the antibiotics. Some of the things she is willing to try is practicing breath work during games and practices (or when she feels like her heart is starting to ramp up) and possibly starting to journal or track symptoms and connections (sleep? hydration? etc). I looked into some nervous system reset exercises on Youtube but you know that sounds absolutely ridiculous to have your mother suggest that to her teenagers (ugh, eye roll galore). I just want our girl to feel better and I'm trying to grab at any straws while we wait for the next round of blood work and her cardiologist appt in October. 

Missing Gigi (always but a little extra) as Pappy came to be Gemma's guest of honor for the Cancer Awareness game at Somerset. He walked with her before the game in honor of "Gemma's late grandmother, Marianne Studer, who battled hard against Pancreatic cancer." It was a beautiful moment and Pappy was honored to be part of it. Thank you Somerset (and my dear friend Loni) who organized the event and invited CT players to participate too. 

Second lost tooth for Olive this week! She waits until it is basically dangling out of her mouth, so it's no trouble for B to just give a yank and it's free almost painlessly! 

Officially football on tv season (LOL, exactly what our family needs! more football!) and so it is on most nights. I know that Tuesday and Wednesday nights are open...but every other night, we got football playing on the tube. It is still warm enough that we've been hanging out and watching the games on the back porch though so that's nice and I'm very grateful we have all of our cozy furniture back there. B and I had a nice evening on Saturday night together just the two of us on the back porch - he watched the game and I got to read. Basically, my perfect evening! 

Mostly adjusted to the back to school schedule, but kind of laughing that by Thursday night, we are all pretty much running on fumes. Everyone is falling asleep with no problems by then (me especially! barely making it into bed before falling into unconsciousness!) Friday everyone gets a quick jolt of excitement because of Friday Night Lights and then Saturday mornings are for sleeping in and waking up slow. It's a steady rhythm that I really appreciate about the fall: total running craziness Monday-Thursday, then Friday Night games (home around 10:30p and yapping about the game while looking up all the articles), then very slow Saturday mornings. Kind of my favorite. 

Time with family and friends. Rusty got to sleepover for his friend Maddox's birthday party. Violet got to have a sleepover and spend the day with Pappy for her birthday. Rusty and Violet both hosted a lemonade stand at my parents' house on Sunday afternoon (thank you Abba & Chum for letting them live out these wild dreams - hah!) Gemma got to hang out with cousin Becky to get her nails done (thank you!) and went to the Varsity girls soccer hang at Gina's house. Grey went to a party with friends on Saturday night. 

Teaching our first five day week, but thankfully we had a regularly scheduled early dismissal for students on Friday...so still not exactly a full week (yay!) Elementary students learned to ask ¿Cómo te llamas? and we played a game which they all thought was hilarious. Language expo continued practicing camina and corre in reading and writing. Spanish 1 got a lot of new vocab including numbers to 100, colors, days of the week, and months. I also had Spanish 1 memorize and recite (or sing) Los Pollitos Dicen individually for a presentation grade this week and even though everyone was very nervous; they all did such a great job and felt very proud to learn a mini Spanish poem/lullaby. Spanish 2 continued Somos 8 and their food unit and memorized & sang Cielito Lindo for a presentation grade (everyone did so great!)

Sporting Reddy had one basketball practice and his first two basketball games this week! Rusty had one minors football practice, missed one practice (cough break), and one minors football game. Violet practiced with the junior high four times this week. Gemma had four Varsity soccer practices and played in three Varsity soccer games. She and Violet also assisted at the Varsity football game as watergirls and asst trainers. Grey had team dinner and film, four football practices, and a Varsity football game at United Valley on Friday.  I made the meal for Team Dinner & Film on Sunday for the football team! I worked the concession stand duty on Tuesday for the boys' soccer game, and we hosted the football coaches to our house for pizza and the PIT game on the back porch on Thursday. I also got some ordering and planning done for the football senior night that I volunteered to do for the boosters.

Making crack chicken sammies, beef roast over egg noodles with gravy, sheetpan chicken fajitas, buffalo chicken dip, takeout pizza, and copycat Olive Garden chicken over pasta. For breakfast I made egg/ sausage casserole. For desserts I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for our house. For team dinner I made 40 sausage and pepper sandwiches, 24 hot dogs and sauerkraut, a crockpot of baked beans, 144 pierogies in butter and onion, watermelon, and 4 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. 

Around Here Week 36: 09/06-12

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

topnotch rizz?! LOL

photo cred: Mr. Bihun

photo cred: Mr. Bihun

bravo, these are amazing, Sherry D! 

photo cred: Mr. O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

wrestling matches in the bleachers all game long!

photo cred: Gemma

selfie cred: Ev!

selfie cred: Abba

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 483+ hours (of 1000)
The teenage chickens are laying and now we have an egg surplus over here! Our rooster has finally earned a proper crow and he seems like a nice guy so far - so we don't have any issues with him as of now. We are getting HUGE brown eggs from the old girls (like it's honestly ridiculous how big these eggs are) and smaller brown and green ones from the teens. I don't know yet if we are getting guinea eggs because they are not laying in the coop like the other girls. They might be all over the yard for all I know!

Reading and finishing Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine. It was interesting and I liked the historical context and perspective. I didn't love the ramp up of action in last few chapters after such a slow moving story. I thought I had made it to the end and then like eight things happened in a row - that was wild there at the end. Also read I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I picked up my book order from The Laurel & Leaf - they were The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong (our Lit Ladies book choice for September) and Train Dreams by Denis Johnson which was suggested to me by a teacher friend (thank you Joyce!) 

Listening to Good People by Patmeena Sabit. Very glad to listen to it - voiced by a whole cast and it was giving Serial podcast vibes. I am loving it! 

Running to do list items completed: 

• Grey went driving with Mr. Saylor for TDS driving academy and worked on his online coursework for the program- hopeful to get his driver's license on October 8th!
• I called and scheduled a cardiologist appt at Children's hospital for Gemma which will be mid- October and we can re-do her bloodwork to ensure the strep is gone in the very beginning of October.
• Took the two biggest girls to get their eyebrows waxed
• Finally bought a new laptop for the house since ours died this summer and B and I have been juggling bringing home our work laptops so the kids can do homework. I got one for only $200 at Best Buy! 
• Grey and I worked on updating his X account for football season and connected his huddle and updated his photos. We are learning more from instagram tutorials on what he should have because I am clueless

A long weekend thanks to Labor day and boy, did we ever need it this year! After 45+ hours without power the laundry was stacked to the ceiling! Also, Labor Day every year is a mini milestone for back to school to me. We've had a couple days of bedtimes and early mornings. We've had some meal planning around activities. We've had some Friday Night Lights and week day practices and games with homework mixed in there. We are doing okay if we're all still standing by Labor Day (hah). 

The germs have descended. It's not a surprise, every year from September to May someone in the house is sick because we have germs from everywhere (my two schools, the elementary school, the high school, the football team, the varsity soccer team, the jr high soccer team, the minors team, the k-2 basketball team, the school buses)...so we endure. Grey, Violet, B, and I all felt the effects of cold, sinus, and sore throat this week. Uchie brought us some elderberry juice to try though! 

Elementary school open house for probably about my 11th time - but for each of my kids, it's their first time in each grade...so I go; even though I'm busy and it's the start of the school year and I've seen it all before. I go to check out all the hallway artwork and sign that I was there for our kids and to pop in on my friends who are also incredible educators in the school district. We are very grateful that we have so many caring and supportive adults in our community who help raise up our babies. We love you CT! 

Camo season prep. Violet attended the PA Hunters safety course on Saturday with her friend Evaley and passed her test!

Time with family and friends. We had a cousin sleepover on Sunday night with the Moore boys at our house, Violet and Rusty got to go to the Altoona Curve baseball game with Abba and Chum and then sleepover their house. Violet went to Idlewild with Evaley and her family on Labor day (thank you!), Gemma had a playday (a "couch rot" day - hahha!) with Peyton on Labor Day.

Teaching another four day week (honestly, thank goodness to start school off on an ease-into-it schedule). Elementary school continued with the first day of Spanish special learning about Me Llamo. Spanish Expo finished out week 1 and then started into week 2 with musical chairs translations. Spanish 1 learned basic conversation phrases and practiced numbers with the Smack It game. Spanish 2 started their food unit/ Somos 8 and they learned Cielito Lindo lyrics which they will need to memorize for next week. In all levels, we made Thank You cards for our schools' resource officers in honor of Sept 11. 

Sporting Reddy had one basketball practice and Rusty had two minors football practices and a football game. Violet practiced with the Jr high soccer team two times and was the manager for the team in two games. Gemma had Varsity soccer practice three times and one soccer game (undefeated so far!) Grey and Coach Daddy had team dinner & film, three football practices and a football game Friday Night Lights at our home stadium vs River Valley. It was a pretty tough game and Grey was very sore on Saturday - but we are getting him back to good with ice and rest! I volunteered to make buffalo chicken dip and sent cookies in to the soccer concession stand, I helped host the football family tailgate before the first true home game (thank you to all the families who came and donated food!) 

Making homemade stromboli, chicken/ veggie/ stuffing casserole, Pioneer Woman lasagna, Swedish meatballs over mashed potatoes with green beans, chicken alfredo pasta with roasted broccoli. For desserts I made rainbow sprinkle sugar cookies. For breakfast, I made two loaves of banana bread. For the football family tailgate I made rice krispies, firecracker lil' smokies, and cut up a watermelon. I prepped for my lunches my favorite food combo: kale, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, and sweet potatoes. We had some leftover kielbasa too, so I threw that in there. I cannot adequately explain how much I love this mixture, especially salted up with some pink Himalayan salt. Like, I will eat the entire thing - goodbye and thank you. I ordered some pumpkin spice creamer because I am a basic Biah...judge me all day but it's literally bringing a jolt of joy to my day so I don't care - hah!

Intentional Movement I did multiple days of Lymphatic Drainage movements that really slowed the germs to my body (I'm convinced it really did!) It helped me feel awake each morning too! Now that we are two weeks into school, I think I am ready to get back into some real actual movement - I have been craving it so much.