Around Here Week 18: 04/27-05/03

 A glimpse into what it is like to be in our family just this moment.

photo cred: B

photo cred: Stacy B

3-peat champions!

photo cred: B

selfie cred: Gemma

photo cred: B

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

Around Here 17: 04/20-26

 A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment celebrating all the things! 

matchies!

photo cred: Becky C

photo cred: Jackie F

Photo cred: B

Photo cred: Becky C

8 year difference and still sweet friends!

Photo cred: Onara C

Selfie cred: B

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 80+ hours (of 1000)
I can feel it inching towards real spring. The trees are starting to bud and even some flowers have started to bloom. Still pretty chilly and mostly rainy - but the green is helping my mental and emotional state (hah). 

Reading Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy. I love the way she writes about nature; I read her other book Migrations and enjoyed that same aspect. I forgot about how she also adds in wild story lines that come in at the most shocking parts (she did that in both books) so trying to balance my enjoyment of the nature aspect along with following the plot surprises. This was my book choice for my new-to-me book club - so I'm hoping everyone else is liking it. Eek! the pressure! 

Listening to and finishing Part of your World by Abby Jimenez. So cute and I loved it. Spicy scenes were about PG13 which is my preference because I care more about the mushy gushy love stuff. The book did an impressive job of weaving in other topics too like parent-child relationships, economic differences, and why we make choices the way we do. I loved it and I think I'll keep listening to the rest of this series (two more books!)

Early morning rise on Sunday to iron 4 dress shirts for Easter mass. Then, Red was the first one up (his wrist / arm was hurting) and then Olive woke the other kids up to go see if the Bunny visited (he did!) We had Grey's sausage & cheese balls for breakfast and lots of Easter basket candy too. The kids got outside to do our mini egg hunt, Violet made her mini rice krispies treats that were in her Easter basket, and I baked the sheet cakes so they could cool while we were at church. 

Laughing and feeling like "duh" when I tried to button the top button of Rusty's dress shirt. I quickly realized that there was no way it was going to fit his thick neck. This kid has an upper body that is so thick and strong and I don't know why I thought that the neck would fit him!?  So he went tie-less to First Holy Communion, oops! 

Coming in hot to church (as usual) but we made it to 9am church at 8:59a! Thankfully we had a spot reserved in the front row since Rusty was receiving his First Holy Communion. He did great and everything felt meaningful and so joyful at church. Thankful for all the youth ministry leaders who work so hard to get our young people included. Olive was thrilled to sing in the front with the other elementary students - she was dancing and smiling and singing like everyone was there just to watch her (hah!) 

Easter celebrations with family. My parents hosted our extended Adams Family at their house (the first big holiday celebration in the new house!) The kids had a blast with their cousins, we had an egg hunt, badminton games in the front yard, and cornhole in the backyard. Lots of delicious foods and so great to catch up with everyone too. Then we had dinner at Mimi's house and got to have another egg hunt with our cousins and enjoy lots of laughs around the dinner table until everyone was totally tired from so much good food and happy hugs! 

A cast for Red! We headed into the pediatrician on Monday afternoon and they recommended a visit to the walk-in ortho clinic just to be sure since he was now saying the pain was above his wrist. He got more xrays and the PA said that it could be a tiny fracture so best bet is to cast it so he doesn't hurt it any worse for two weeks. He picked an orange cast and now he thinks he's pretty cool with everyone signing it. Thank goodness for it too because he is jumping and falling and acting like his normal nutty self again. 

Collecting and organizing fun and interesting projects for the girls to do this week while they sit out of the state standardized testing week. They have ELA, Math, Art, and Spanish stuff in their packet! 

Rusty & Kitty playdate. He was so happy to get one-on-one time with Aunt Kitty (the most fun). She got him off the bus and they played and went out to eat, got ice cream, and visited Abba and Chum! 

Smiling at Gemma's recount of her evening with Kuma (Brandon's aunt Pam) who took her to get her semi-formal dress altered. Kuma and Gemma went to get measured last week and then went to pick it up this week and then out to dinner and a stop at Ulta. Gem was thrilled to spend time with Kuma and they laughed together. (thank you Kuma!)

Gemma's spring semi-formal. Her bestie Colbi came over to get ready, I did her hair (!), and the girls coated our bathroom in seven layers of glitter spray (hah). Kitty, Uch and the nephews came too to see them off and then we met up with all the friends for photos beforehand and everyone looked so great and I cannot believe we have made it here with another big kid. The semi-formal is a non-date dance, but you know these kids are pairing up anyway even if just for outfits and photos. Gemma went with her long time friend Cooper - they've been friends since before kindergarten because Cooper's big brother Gabe is one of Grey's best friends. The moms made me them recreate a photo from Kindergarten because moms be like that. The kids had a great time at the dance! B and I picked up the whole group of kids in Lucille after the dance to take them to Chili's for post dance food. Jenn V chatted with us at the bar while the kids all hung out (everyone did great being polite and paying for their own food!) and then we did the Lucille uber back home to all the houses. Grateful to be part of their adventure even if only as the chauffeur! 

Youth Turkey hunting for Grey and B who headed out to Uncle Jonny's house at 4am on Saturday morning. No luck on harvesting a turkey but they did see some and made some great memories together. 

Sleepovers. Rusty and Violet got a impromptu sleepover with the Cables where they made giant gummy bracelet chains (they are seriously like 12 feet long each). And I was loving having an extra teenager in the house on Saturday. Colbi slept over after the semi-formal and she and Gem hung out all day: they braided Olive's hair and did chores together. There's that funny meme that "if your friend's mom doesn't make you do chores while you are over, you're not really the best friend..." LOL, love you Colbi! 

Getting a new pet: a Worm! Reddy decided he wanted to "save" a baby worm on the blacktop so now he has a little terrarium in a Tupperware container for 'Wormy' who lives in our house.

Reflecting daily on I Must Betray You by Ruta Septys which is an incredible book about communist Romania in the 1980s when their leader Nicolea Ceausescu was in power. A clear example of Cult of Personality and feels so much like what we are experiencing now in this country. I have been recommending since I read it a year ago - but here are some quotes from the book that I keep reflecting on. 

"Mistrust is a form of terror. The regime pits us against one another. We can’t join together in solidarity because we never know whom we can trust or who might be an informer."

"But the person responsible - he wasn't suffering. We were. Our hero, Draculescu, sat in his cardboard castle wearing a hollow crown, surrounding himself with clapping men who bowed to him as the Golden Man of the Carpathians while his people suffered, starved, and lived in terror."

"He isolated Romania from the rest of the world and then proceeded to further isolate individual citizens by separating and positioning them against one another."

"Ceauşescu wanted to increase the population, to breed more workers. Population growth meant economic growth. If you were childless, you were taxed. Everyone knew Ceauşescu’s decrees: The fetus is the property of the entire society! Heroic women give children to the homeland! Anyone who avoids having children is a deserter! Mama had only managed to have two children. She felt guilty about it. “Fertility under state control? That’s an abuse of human rights!” Bunu would wail. “How can families take care of multiple children with no electricity and so little food? Cristian, there is no happy ending here."

Teaching only 3 days this week with no school on Monday for the holiday and on Friday I attended the language conference at IUP with my co-teacher Ella.  It's state testing at the elementary school so I proctored the test with my small group of third graders. Spanish Expo started the geography week while Spanish 1 got classroom object vocab and practiced using prepositional location words. Spanish 2 continued with Direct Object Pronouns and commands, especially the irregular commands!

Sporting with two 5u AYSO practices for Red, Olive, and Coach Mom. Rusty and asst coach Mom had two 10u AYSO practices. Violet had one 12u AYSO, two Sparks soccer practices, and one Sparks soccer game. Gemma had one 14u AYSO practice and some weightlifting. Grey had two baseball practices and three Varsity baseball games 

Making chicken quesadillas with leftover birthday chicken, ground beef tacos, and chicken, veggie, biscuit casserole, Pioneer Woman lasagna, take out pizza (because I forgot to turn the crockpot on before work and the chicken sat in there all day - ew), and leftover cleanout meals on Saturday. For Easter / Rusty's First Holy communion, I baked shortcake with Snickers & Granny Smith apples.