Around Here Eleven: 03/11-03/18

A glimpse at what our life looks like just this moment: 

Intentional Hours Outside:  (31.5 hours of 1000)
We did quite a bit of hiking this week as it was so beautifully sunshiny. We headed out for a walk to the 'big rock' of my childhood with my parents, and then the kids were overjoyed to see that our neighbors (two horses and a pony) were finally out this week for the first time.  When we went to see them again another evening, they weren't out so we climbed trees, collected pinecones and ran wild in the fields instead.  Because of my outdoor hours goal, the girls and I were motivated to attend Grey's first outdoor baseball practice on Thursday night where we shivered as we explored the various empty dugouts and added another hour to our weekly count.
...and this week, I can add a new tracking point...

Collective family tick count to date: 3
Gemma, Greyson, and I each had a tick attached this week from being outside. I got a great suggestion on a kid-friendly bug repellent (No Bite Me cream from SallyeAnder) that I'm ordering this afternoon to try to keep us tick and mosquito free as we continue with our outdoor adventures this summer!

Reading our Inspired Readers book club choice for the month Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin and loving it.  I've decided to work on three habits 1) being consistent on a nightly routine and in bed by 11p 2)cleaning clutter and 3)taking time to write for an hour daily.  Still listening to Tell the Wolves I'm Home on audible and finished Dear Mr. You by Mary Louise Parker, it was just wonderful and one that I'll hold on to for my own library to revisit again later.

Learning to make my Mum's enchiladas!  They are so so delicious and one of her signature dishes that was passed down to her from her Aunt Mary.  We spent Tuesday evening at my parents' house where we made enough to eat for dinner and TWO frozen enchiladas meals for after Studerbaby4 arrives!  I also got to check off Number26 on my 100 Small things list!

Supermomma moment this week came from my solo trip to the vet with our two nearing 100lb dogs, a four year old, a 17 month old, and my 28 week pregnant belly.  The vet nurse literally looked at me with panic in her face and asked, 'how are you doing this right now?!' hahahhahaha.  When I have hard tasks to do, I make myself feel better by creating mental lists of all the things that could be worse, like it could have been raining...but it wasn't!  One of the girls (or worse, both) could be sick that day...but they weren't!  Then before I got out of the truck, I gave myself a final confidence boost by whispering, 'if this is the hardest thing you do today, you are blessed.' and it wasn't so so bad, and Gemma was such a big helper girl, and now the dogs are all caught up, and it's d.o.n.e, done.

Being bested by a pesky leprechaun once again this year!  The two big kids set up their trap on Wednesday night which included a spot for the little guy to sit and rest and a place for him to put his gold where a box would fall on the gold and trap it!  But, the leprechaun was too smart for us and tricked us by leaving marshmallow cereal instead!  So not a total loss.

Chugging my glucose drink this week with both girls in tow.  Longest hour of my life.  They weren't too bad really, just a lot of finding things to do.  Since out and about are considered handheld free zones for us (sports games and practices, waiting rooms, restaurants, etc), we did some walking in the halls and they had a little snack, and said hello to about 150 nurses and patients that were walking the halls.  I know it would be so much easier to put an iPad or phone in their hands, but I'm old school and think they need to learn how to deal with boredom on their own (and it's good practice for me too; the dealing with boredom!)

Flabbergasted about Gemma the fashionista who when I asked her to please go upstairs and get dressed, fifteen minutes later had not changed at all and had only color-coded her clothes in the closet.  She also rolled her eyes at me on St. Patrick's day and explained, "Mom! Some people wear green on Patrick's day, but I don't!" I also had to make the statement this week, "Roey, high heels aren't really the best shoe choice for the baseball field, honey." There's a whole lot of drama crammed into that one little girl.

Making for the first time these Cranberry Banana muffins.  We had two mostly brown bananas left and I wanted to make banana-blueberry muffins, but alas no frozen blueberries on hand.  We always have dried cranberries around (they are our favorite salad topping!) and so I tried them out and we all loved the muffins!  We also Irish'ed up our chuck roast on St. Patrick's day by adding sauerkraut and it was a big family hit, one of Violet's favorite meals this week! and for dessert I made Brookies (half brownies, half cookies) and my baking streak of perfection has thus officially ended.  Boo.  I have been whipping up some great desserts and breakfasts as of late, but not with these brookies.  They turned out edible, but certainly not up to snuff on my recent baking and it was a little disappointing, I had high hopes.