A glimpse into what it is like to be in our family just this moment.
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photo cred: B |
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photo cred: Stacy B |
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3-peat champions! |
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photo cred: B |
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selfie cred: Gemma |
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photo cred: B |
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photo cred: B |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 94+ hours (of 1000)
Spring sports knocking it out of the park and getting outside everyday (yay!) We got a huge thunderstorm on Tuesday afternoon with dangerously high winds and we had family and friends with power outages for 24+ hours! Gemma and Rusty were putting the chickens in the coop when it started to get too crazy outside with the rain and the lightening that they ended up just staying in the coop for 20 minutes until it slowed down enough to run back up to the house (!?)
Reading Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy and The Neurodiverse Classroom by Victoria Honeybourne (for my school book club). We had book club this week to discuss Cloud Cuckoo Land and Once There Were Wolves. The snacks were amazing and the conversation was top notch. You know I showed up with my post-it notes and quotes marked because Nerd Life is the only life for me.
Listening to Once There Were Wolves because I was trying to finish that thing in time for book club (hah!) I didn't finish it, but I'm down to the last 2 chapters. The book club kept the ending a surprise yet - eek, excited to finish it.
Waiting on a new mower starter and laughing every time we come up the driveway because our yard looks like a wild prairie! Laugh or cry, right?
A dirtbike for Grey! He was so happy and thankful to have a dirtbike. He had worked out a deal with Uncle Buck for when he traded in cousin Morgan's quad. Between fishing and dirtbikes, I am so grateful that this kid has fun things to do outdoors and screen free!
Chicken population: 34! We had 12 laying chickens (eggs out the wazoo, thank goodness I'm selling at school and we have family and neighbors asking for them! thank you!), 5 teenager chickens who moved out to the coop this week. And then B and the kids brought home 17 new babies this week - LOL, exactly what we need. The kids were all so happy though - we love those teeny chickies!
Moving Osa back into the goat pasture since she got her stitches removed this week. She looks great and is all cleared for security detail again. She was happy to roam wild and free in the pasture and watch after her goatie girls again. I am happy that she's out of the den and we were able to get it all cleaned up and un-dog haired and un-dog smelled!
Violet's Scrabble tournament day! She was partnered up with her friend Cooper and they won some and lost some at the tourney that day. My own Somerset students actually ended up winning for the tournament (you can bet they loved telling me that! hahha!) She had a great time and it was fun to watch her try something new. Proud of you Vially. xxo
Smiling at the boys who have been frying frozen sausage on their homemade fire pit in the yard. They even fried an egg once this week (we fed it to Osa). The building, the wood chopping, the fire making, the cooking - it was occupied quite some time for the boys and that makes me happy. Outdoor, risky play is the best kind of play!
More fishing for Grey which is the only thing he wants to do in any free minute. That boy and his love of fishing!
Ice Cream season! Our local ice cream shop The Silver Bell is open. We have friends who are Ice Cream shop girls (love you and proud of you Colbi, Grace, and Gina!) and so we picked up Rusty's friend Liam for a playdate, but stopped at Silver Bell first to fuel up on sundaes!
Fangirling at the North Star musical production - The Spongebob Musical. They did incredible and I went in knowing nothing about the show. It was really funny actually - Gemma, Violet, and I were laughing the whole time! My friend Renee (and a former teacher at NS too) met up to see the show together. Gah, I love those kids and I am so proud to have been their teacher! I got to chat with everyone post-show while my girls were so patient so that they could give me details about what is next in their life - so many seniors!
Hugging and reminding my kids that I am THEIR momma even when it feels like other kids need me too. This is one of the trickiest things both B and I have had to balance through parenthood as a teacher and coaches. Lots of kids need and want to be near us - and our kids are sometimes frustrated that we seem more patient and more happy when we talk to other kids. Occasionally we need to remind our own kids that we only have small opportunities to support our students / players (sometimes only minutes) and our own kids have access to us literally 24 hours a day, at any moment, every moment, never not thinking of them. For the most part, our children are used to sharing us with lots of students and players - but every once in a while, one of them will need reminded that there is no contest.
Infuriated and embarrassed (in a million ways) but specifically about the official White House social media account. It is everything I try to teach my teenagers and my students NOT to do online. Everyday - sometimes multiple times a day - I am shocked by the immaturity and unprofessionalism of the social media platform. I am out here trying to teach young people about privacy, etiquette for future employment, that the internet is forever, and to post like your grandma is looking at it. It is already impossible enough to try to parent a teenager, I do not need the leaders of the free world doing everything in its power to be an awful example in social media accountability (and in literally every other possible way to be an example, but for today at least this one example specifically).
Teaching during the last week of PSSAs and then my elementary students about the meaning of Cinco de Mayo and playing Bingo with them. My 8th grade expo students finished their last week with me and I got a new group (the last one!) on Friday. My Spanish 1 worked so hard on their Cuentos and they impressed me so much with their creativity and effort. Spanish 2 started the pre-novel work for Robo en la Noche. It's pretty hard to keep everyone on board since we are down to only 21 student days - but I'm trying to keep this train on the tracks!
Sporting with AYSO games in full swing. Red, Olive, and Coach Mom had two 5u soccer games and Rusty had two 10u soccer games. Violet had two 12u AYSO games, two Sparks soccer practices, and one Sparks soccer game. Gemma had two 14u AYSO games, two weightlifting days, and she took yearbook photos at the Varsity baseball game. Grey had four Varsity baseball games (three of those games in white pants - Lord help me). We had AYSO photos on Saturday and that is always a debacle because there is so many of us. I was in two coach photos, we could only find one 5u jersey so Red and Olive did a swap in between pics, and Violet's shirt was damp because you know I was pulling that thing out of the dryer 30 seconds before we had to be there. Yeesh. Brandon and his Frannklin basketball team won the championship again (3-peat!) Those old men still got it!
Making meatball sub sammies, ground beef tacos, frozen chicken & stuffing (thank you Miss Janell - leftovers I froze after her parents' 50th wedding anniversary party), homemade strombolis, sloppy joes and cheese balls, For desserts, I made cowboy cookies and rice krispie treats (cinnamon toast crunch version!), and a double batch of Chocolate Chip PB oatmeal cookies