Around Here Week 29: 07/19-25

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

selfie cred: B

photo cred: Lena D

photo cred: Lena D

photo cred: Jenn V

photo cred: Kitty

photo cred: Kitty

Incredible cookies by @jill_bakes_stuff 

selfie cred: B

photo cred: Lena D

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 344+ hours (of 1000)
Summer time and the livin' is easy. Beautiful weather and the blackberries are abundant! A great summer weather week! 

Reading and finishing Heart the Lover by Lily King. Ripped me open in the way readers love to be filleted. Finished it while sitting in the front yard sobbing my eyes out while multiple kids randomly walked up to me to ask, "Mum, you okay?"  

"She (mom) never knew my boys, but she has helped me raise them. I know how much she loves them. I feel that. I talk to her. I pray to her. I shut my eyes now and beg her to keep them all healthy and safe while I'm away" (pg. 164) 

"You know how you can remember exactly when and where you read certain books? A great novel, a truly great one, not only captures a particular fictional experience, it alters and intensifies the way you experience your own life while you're reading it. And it preserves it, like a time capsule" (pg. 189)

"But standing here in line, with all these good people working to help others get better, it feels okay to me to have this moment and nothing else. It feels vast, open, beautiful. Only this right here right now." (pg. 239) 

I also started and finished This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. The first few pages I almost quit because what the hell was even going on (!?) and then I pushed through and absolutely fell in love with it. One of my top 10 books of all time (!!) I want to write love poems because of it. The importance of words and time and love. Good Lord. After I finished it, I laid my head down on the book and took deep breaths trying to take it into my lungs and bloodstream and mycelium, so it becomes part of the make-up of me. 

"I love you. I love you. I love you. I'll write it in the waves. In skies. In my heart. You'll never see, but you will know. I'll be all the poets...and every time love's written in all the strands it will be to you." (pg. 150) 

"Sometimes you have to hold a person, though they'll mistake embrace for strangulation." (pg 182)  [if parenting teens could be simplified down to one single sentence, LOL]

"Books are letters in bottles, cast into the waves of time, from one person trying to save the world to another. Keep reading. Keep writing. Keep fighting. We're all still here." (acknowledgments pg 201) [this is the truest sentiment in my heart to the way I feel about books. deep deep in my bone marrow, I know this to be true.]

Hosting the Lit ladies book club meeting at my house since Heart the Lover was my book choice! It was the perfect evening of weather to be on the back patio eating delicious food, deep existential conversation, and a little activity at the end to let go of the things (or people) that have an unhealthy hold on us. We had fresh quinoa and cherry tomato salad, a gorgeous charcuterie plate, tiramisu, apple crumble, ambrosia salad, seltzers, and @jill_bakes_stuff made the most incredibly detailed cookies to go with the book. I made ham and cheese slider sammies and Ramen noodle salad. 

Watching two movies on repeat because the kids' love of laughing and quoting them. First, She's the Man because that movie never tires and makes us all laugh. Second, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls which is a new one for them - B introduced the boys to it while I was in NJ for beach blast and they think it's the most hilarious movie of all time now Both lead actors, Amanda Bynes and Jim Carrey win the kids over with their brilliance at physical comedy, exaggerated facial expressions, and incredible one-liners. God bless cult classics that score terribly on Rotten Tomatoes. (another one that fits that criteria for my kids is Land of the Lost with Will Ferrell. we haven't watched it in a while but man - they can really get on a kick with that one too). 

Summer to do list completed: 

• I finished the registrations on the school athletics page which is always a terrible hassle (all the signatures and checkboxes and uploading physical forms, etc) but it's done! Got both Gem and Grey in and paid for and now I can not think about it again until next summer - LOL.
• cleared all the egg cartons off the top of the fridge
• B cleared out and mowed part of the goat pasture (I helped a little bit!) It was a big job and looks so much better now. He replaced the tarp on one of the shelters, emptied and cleaned out the food tubs, and removed some broken pallets. The electric fence needed a fix up too because the goats got out several times this week, but now it's all good to go for vacation! (God bless my handsome goat and chicken dadda)
• Reddy had a dentist appointment and I got his kindergarten dental paperwork which was the last of the paperwork I need before the start of school! Yay!
• I did one last chiro appt before the school year starts (and scheduled my next one for late September!)
• Did Round1 of cleaning out the cupboards near the fridge of craft/ office supplies. (this is a clean out that will be multiple rounds, yikes)

Road trip back from NJ to PA. After the last soccer game on Sunday morning, the girls and I grabbed pizza on the boardwalk and then made the long road trip back home. Nearly seven hours after hitting traffic near Philly. I was really hopeful that Olive would have slept most of the way; alas, she slept about a half hour and yapped, sang, or complained the rest of the ride (LOL). We are a no screens in the car family, so we find a way to get through and it generally makes for funny memories even if it is frustrating in the moment. She was a trooper though, along for the weekend and long rides at only five years old! 

Golf Outing for the Football fundraiser. A successful and great day for the fundraiser; big shout out to the coaches and the football boosters who worked to make it great. There were over 90 golfers and all the booster moms and grandmas made sweet treats. Booster parents made raffle baskets and we had beautiful weather. B played on a team with Coach Joel, Uncle Johnny, and Jimmy McCann. Grey played on a foursome with Uncle Buck, Huffy, and Mr. Telenko. Thank you to Oakbrook Golf course for hosting us and our football fundraiser!

Vacation Prep all week with laundry, stocking up on farm food and securing farm care (thank you C.Dail; football player/ friend), creating packing lists for the kids to follow and pack independently, plotting the route back home with a stop in Norfolk with a college visit for fun, intentionally adding perishable foods into our home meal plan for this week, choosing my beach reads (I picked First Time Caller by B.K. Boris and Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine - which also happens to be the August Laurel & Leaf book club choice). 

Occupying excited-for-vacation kids with lots of chores and games. Everyone was pretty antsy-pantsy this week anticipating the beach, so we had to be intentional with adding fun non-screen distractions. Everyone had vacation prep chores and regular chores to do. We played games at the kitchen table like Famous Person Go-Around (3 rounds: describe, then just one word, and finally charades/ no words), a game called Contact (Grey taught us all this one - we are not good at it but that makes it more funny somehow), Uno, and Spot It. We took several walks in the wood to snack on blackberries. The kids took off a paper chain every morning to count down the days too. 

Making blackberry pie from scratch with Violet. The blackberries were perfect and ripe this week for collecting six cups (!) to make Violet's pie. Olive, Red, Violet, and I went out on the hunt! The kids were very serious about it and did such a good job picking them and not eating them this time (hahha). Vi and I used a recipe from Pinterest to make the crust and get the blackberries ready as filling. The pie crust recipe was perfect and now I'm thinking I want to make more pies with this crust recipe. Am I a pie girl now? Violet weaved the pie crust and everyone got at least a taste. But that pie didn't make it 24 hours in our house - it was devoured. All that work - gone in a flash! Vi was very happy to make another one (she and I made one a few summers ago and now she insists it is our tradition - just she & I - so I am glad we got to make one this year!)

Cousin play day! We got to babysit the nephews on Thursday which meant it was fun all day! The kids played outside and we went on a blackberry walk where Blairy ate his body weight in fresh blackberries; he had stainted hands and cheeks for most of the afternoon. I swear by feeding little kids via charcuterie that has lots of random options that you can guess everyone is going to get at least a decent amount of quality calories. So we had a hot dog/ veggies with Ranch dip/ cut & open fruit/ protein granola pieces/ chippies charcuterie for lunch. 

Extended Adams/ Plunkett family picnic. The whole crew went to Uncle Matt and Aunt Lisa's house on Friday night for a cookout and fire to spend time with our extended family. Very yummy food, a lot of great catching up, and the kids had a blast on the blow ups that were there for the little ones. Our Plunkett family reunion was on Saturday but we weren't able to make it because of football and soccer tournaments. Thankfully we got to see a bunch of our family (including all three Hagerich girl cousins and their babies!) on Friday night at the picnic. Thank you for hosting Uncle Matt and Aunt Lisa! 

Taking Reddy to the Peds to check his bee sting. Red has skeeter syndrome and a general overreaction to any insect bite. Mosquito bites swell up so dramatically and then this week he got a bee sting on the bottom of his foot. He got very red and then slowly over the next few days started to look like red streaks leading from the bite up his foot!!? So I got him in to be seen on Saturday and they also thought it looked wild. He's on antibiotics for infection and we also got some antibiotic cream to apply to it. I felt much better getting ready to drive six hours from home and spend the week in sand and sea water with some antibiotics in his system and instructions on what to watch for to make sure it is healing.

Tetris level extreme in Pappy's truck bed and our car to prepare for the vacation. Pappy and Brandon were impressive in the feat to make all the things fit (beach chairs, boogie boards, clothes bags, beach wagon, sand toys and floats, crockpot, and all the things!?) Everything was loaded up before we went to bed so that the morning could just be taking kids from their beds to their cars! 

Time with family and friends. Rusty and Reddy got a swim day at Pappy's during the golf outing. Rusty had his friend Liam over for a playdate and played 20 games of ping pong. Violet had a playday with Bristol and Bria at the Maurer's house and a sleepover at Evaley's house. Violet and Gemma got a nail date with Aunt Kitty so they could be fancy for the beach trip (thank you Aunt Kitty!) Gemma babysat Norah at our house. Grey went swimming at Gabey's and went out to eat with the football boys once for breakfast and once for dinner. 

Sporting with Gemma's last Beach Blast soccer game with the Gators on Sunday, had two Varsity soccer kickarounds, one 7v7 soccer tournament at Somerset, and three days of weightlifting & conditioning. Grey had five days of weightlifting and conditioning, one football practice, and one 7v7 football tournament at Richland. Also, Grey and Coach Dad played in the football golf fundraiser.

Making ground beef tacos, toast deli sammies, bbq chicken sammies with tater tots, kielbasa and hot dogs with sauerkraut, Pioneer Woman Lasagna, and lots of leftovers because I'm trying to get rid of food pre-beach! For desserts, we had blackberry pie For weight room Wednesday I made snickerdoodles For breakfast I made zucchini bread For my book club night I made ham and cheese sliders and Ramen noodle salad.

Movement with no rollerblading this week because I actually think I pulled something in my calf last week when I did my speed blading! I want to be able to rollerblade at the beach next week, so I took this week off to let it rest. I did weighted vest walk 6 miles though

PS If I were to list my top 10 novels of all time in this current moment: 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
This is How you Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 
Legend Born by Tracy Deonn

PPS to be in the top 10, that means I think about it regularly - The writing, the story, the characters; live in my mind and come to the surface randomly. 

PPPS in that way, those writers have reached through space and time and will live through me and my thoughts. how incredibly superpower-y to be an writer. books and stories and writing are ways to collapse time and space. I will never not be amazed by this. 

PPPPS if you read Time War then I'm winking at you in these postscripts

Around Here Week 28: 07/12-18

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

photo cred: Abba

photo cred: Becky C (thank you!) 

Violet's Junior counselor; Lily

photo cred: B

photo cred: Kristy H

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 321+ hrs (of 1000)
Beautiful (although hot) weather until Thursday when our state was blasted by the smoke coming from the Canadian wildfires. The low air quality is very frustrating (and has me worried about our goaties, chickens, and Osa) but I cannot stop thinking of how terrible it must be up there if it looks and smells like this all the way down here! Our air quality around our home got as high as 310

Reading and finishing Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. I really loved it at multiple levels and made so many notes in the margins. Then I started Heart the Lover by Lily King which is my book club pick for my Lit Ladies club. Also still reading, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Summer To Do List Accomplished: 

• created the happy ads for my varsity players and Coach Daddy
• Rusty and I worked hard in the basement den to clean up, clear out, and deep clean. We had two big bags of garbage and one donation bag. Moved the shelf cupboard in to hold children's books (the shelf cupboard that used to be on the back porch) and rearranged the furniture layout. 
• Updated the August calendar to include school dates (eek!)
• Finished my PD course and earned 5 Act 48 hours

Grey visits Montana for fly fishing with his best friends! What a wonderful experience for him to get to travel with his best friends' family to fly fish and explore all week! They had a river right in their backyard and also booked a float with an experienced MT fisherman. I loved seeing pictures all week of him smiling and holding up beautiful trout. The Conns also visited Idaho, saw wild animals at the Bison range (including bison, elk, and a bear!), and got to fish with Nick (who married cousin Morgan and who lives in Montana with their two daughters). I am so very grateful to have Becky and Dan who took such good care of my sonny boy and invited him along on this incredible vacation! It takes so much more than just including him - I know you worried about him, cooked for him, cleaned up after him, endured three teenage boys silliness and antics, got him through the airport and traveling, and sent me pics and updates throughout. Thank you a million times; love you guys like family. 

Violet spends five days at Camp PARC as a peer buddy. She volunteered as a neurotypical designated friend to a neurodivergent camper alongside her junior counselor, Lily (a neurotypical teen) Violet slept in a camp bunk and participated in activities (like crafts and games) and meals together too. Her junior counselor, Lily, was so sweet, encouraging, and supportive (Vi loved her!) Violet's friend Brady let her borrow her phone at night to text me updates on how the day went each night (thank you, Brady!) and she sounded happy each day, which gave me peace of heart. 

However, it was a tough week for a momma's heart. Two kids out of the house for more days than I'm used to. I know that I am the one that needs practice at space (and I told them both that) but I cannot get over what a heartbreaking plan it is that as a parent you spend so much time loving, teaching, supporting, and being near your kids and if you do a good job then they grow up and leave you?! What the actual hell?! I am holding on to two mantras over the next several years as we continue to see our kids grow up and make a wider world for themselves:  

1) young adults don't spend their time thinking about their parents. They are LIVING and having fun and learning about themselves.  They think about their parents when things go sideways. If you're not hearing from them while they are away, it probably means they are having fun and everything is mostly good. (thank you Kate and Bunny for that peace of mind when I'm spiraling in worry). 

2) "A goldfish will grow 2inches in a bowl, 4inches in an aquarium, 6inches in a creek, 12 inches in a pond, and over a foot in a lake. Still the same fish, it just got to grow." My kids need a bigger world (literally, emotionally, independently,  experience-ly) to grow bigger and better. Let go of your grip, momma. Let that goldfish grow.  (I'm the momma in this scenario)...The love though.... so big it literally hurts.

Pura Vida dinner with my friends in Washington DC on Monday night. Back in 2004, as a junior in college, I got to study abroad in Costa Rica for the spring semester. I met some amazing people including some that I still talk to. I went to my friend Emily's wedding (and she to mine) and we are all friends on social media and still comment and send DMs occasionally. In some serendipitous pura vida magic - five of us were all able to meet up on the same night in DC to have drinks and dinner together - after 22 years! Emily, Meg, Marisa, Vicki, and I enjoyed an incredible dinner at ISLA and then B got to meet us all up for drinks at The Crown & Crow. How fun it was to catch up on each others' live (everyone went around the table and did a five minute highlight spiel of the last 22 years, LOL) and then reminiscing over our time in Costa Rica and sharing photos and music that we remembered listening to and dancing to in Costa Rica. How wonderful it was to collapse time on itself and laugh with friends. 

Night away for Mom & Dad since we were already going to be in DC for the Pura Vida reunion dinner - B reserved us a hotel (thank you credit card points!) and we got a road trip, night in a hotel, breakfast, and a walk in the park just the two of us. It will never not be hilarious to me the deep deep sleep that comes with a night in a hotel bed with no kids. A solid, comalike sleep; I'll take that joyfully!

Camp PARC visit & pick up. Olive and I headed out to Camp PARC on Wednesday to see the finale show, it was America themed in honor of the 250th anniversary. Violet got to square-dance with her group. The show was very sweet and included all campers, counselors, and peer buddies. We got a dinner afterwards and got to meet Violet's camper and her junior counselor who she spent most of the five days of camp with. She had a great time and said already that she wants to go back again next year! So proud of our girl and so very happy that she is back home again! 

Girls Trip to Wildwood, NJ. Gemma, Violet, Olive, and I all headed out on a six hour road trip towards NJ for Gemma's Gators team at the Beach Blast soccer tournament on the beach! We stopped four hours in for food at Chili's (finally used a gift card from Christmas!) and then pushed through the last two hours to finally make it to the beach. We shared a VRBO apartment with Kristy (thank you for booking!) and two other soccer players: Gina and Molly. It was tight, but we made the most of it and all found a way to share space and a tiny bathroom between 7 girls! Bless those big girls who played a million games of UNO with Olive and were patient and sweet with both my girls. I packed food (#bigfamilymombrain ) and we were only a block from the beach so it was easy to get back and forth. Gemma and her soccer team visited the boardwalk amusement park on Friday night while Violet, Olive, and I went to the beach until dark. We even got fireworks on Friday night! Saturday morning, Gemma had two soccer games and in between the games - we did a lot of swimming and wave jumping. The Gators didn't win their games, but they looked awesome and played tough; never giving up the whole time. Gem got a fancy girl dinner out with the team on Saturday evening while the little girls and I got ice cream from the boardwalk and barely outrun a severe thunderstorm! I will never get over that I get to be the mom of three daughters; that they get to be sisters. I.will.never.get.over.it.

Thankful for hard working boys who spent the boys-only weekend at home working on projects! Rusty and Reddy helped get the yard cleaned up while Pappy and B cleaned up trees and trimming all around the house between the rainstorms on Saturday. Grateful for you handymen and for teaching our sons to be handymen! Their hard work was happily rewarded with chicken wings from Old Tollgate Inn! 

Time with family and friends: Rusty and Reddy got a sleepover with Chum and Olive and Gemma got a sleepover with Pappy while B and I spent the night in DC on Monday (thank you!!) 

Sporting with the fall sports on the horizon. Rusty finished his all stars baseball tournament on Sunday and then picked up his helmet/ pads/ and jersey for youth football (from summer to fall sports in one week! hah!) Gemma attended three days of weightlifting/ conditioning, had two basketball games, two soccer kick arounds, and the Gators Beach Blast soccer tournament on the weekend. I attended the football booster meeting and signed up for all my duties for the season (team dinner, coordinating senior night game, away game food scheduling, and organizing the red & white game) Gentle and loving reminder: if a mom of six kids, full-time public school teacher, and the wife of the Varsity head football coach can volunteer her time and talents - you certainly can too (I say that with love and encouragement!) B and I both worked the concession stand at the all stars baseball game too - a romantic day date! (LOL). 

Making hot honey chicken nachos, crack chicken sammies, pizza quesadillas, chicken fried rice, meatloaf with potatoes and carrots, and copycat Olive Garden chicken pasta. On Thursday, I spent most of the day cooking and baking to prepare for the weekend. For the golf outing cookie table I made: 4 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, 2 dozen rice krispies treats, and 2 dozen chocolate covered pretzels. For the soccer tourney in Wildwood I made, 2 dozen chocolate chip cookie bars, 2 dozen double chocolate muffins, french toast (ready-made for reheating), sloppy joes (ready-made for the crockpot), and shredded chicken (ready-made for teriyaki noodles). While in Wildwood, NJ for the soccer tourney in our apartment airbnb, we had: buffalo chicken dip, sloppy joes with microwavable mac&cheese, chicken and broccoli teriyaki noodles, ordered in local pizza, and Hawaiian deli sammies. 

Movement: not a great week for exercise over here, bummer but I rollerbladed 1.1 miles and weighted vest walked NO miles! I did hit a PR in speed on my rollerblades on Tuesday night but in that also made my leg muscles so sore that I was kind of hobbling on Wednesday and Thursday. To add to my minimal exercise this week though, we did walk the boardwalk and very long beach Friday & Saturday and I played in the ocean with the girls twice on Saturday. Moving for FUN! That is the point anyway.