Around Here thirty-seven: 09/09-09/15

What it is like to live in our home just this minute...

Intentional Hours Outside:  438 hrs (of 1000)

ugh.  Up a measly 9 hours from last week.  I was reading back through my Around Here posts from April and we were averaging almost 20 hours a week back then!?  I need to step up my game big time.  Once I get back in the early afternoon from work, my first instinct (after nursing Rust) is to dive right into chores which take me almost nearly until when Grey gets home, then it's homework and dinner and clean up and bedtime and I squeeze in almost no outdoor time at all.  With working now, even though only part time, I think I need to re-arrange my chores a little bit so that I have more time during each day to get outside and PLAY with the kids.  less pressure for all the things to get done, and more focus on fun with the wild things a little more each day. 

Reading (still...slow and steady, hah) Home Field by Hannah Gersen and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling with Grey before bed

Enjoying our annual tradition with Abba and Chum (and Uch & Kevin!) at our county fair.  We all headed out and had a great evening of good 'ole fashion Americana fun.  I'm working on a whole post about it coming next week because all the bright colors and smiles and animal tails are worth their own dedicated post :) 

Celebrating our wonderful grandparents this weekend for Grandparents' Day (it's the second Sunday of September every year).  Our kids are blessed to still have FIVE grandparents, including their great grandma Mimi.  We got them a giant photo strip of all four kids' faces from Social Print Studio and they loved it...and I'm kind of jealous I didn't order one for myself! (2 strips are only $20!)

Cheering Grey on at his flag football game at Conemaugh Valley last week.  This does not seem like that big of a deal, but let me break it down for you.  B and I are both CV grads...B coaches varsity basketball at CV...I work closely with the CV Alum Association....we give our yearly scholarship to CV grads....and here we go sitting in the visitors section bleachers wearing our son's CT red and black colors.  hahhaha.  it was bizarre but you gotta do what you gotta do for your kids, right?  Grey's team won in the last few seconds of the game but it was a hard battle, especially since we were playing against Cam, who runs "super fast! faster than me!" (says Grey). 

Pumping every morning right before I leave for work.  All the rest of my kiddos have seemed to be 'over' nursing around the 5 month mark and so I know this stage will be short lived, but waking up at 5:18am every morning to be able to get ready, look over my lessons one last time, and pump before I have to leave is making for one very early-to-bed momma.  Like 9pm, you guys; not.even.kidding.

Loving our sleepy napping girl Violet this week.  Usually she takes a snooze every 2-3 days and we can expect a late bedtime if she does nap (ugh).  But this week, she took a nap every day and went to bed at a regular time.  Maybe a growth spurt before her second birthday which is only a week away!  waaah! 

Happy to see Gemmi's new friendships at the playground during Grey's football practice.  It gives me hope about her next year at kindergarten as she's still a pretty serious "momma's girl" but also can be kind of a dramatic 'mean girl' sometimes too...that girl gives me some worry (hah). We walked up from the car this week and as soon as she was spotted, two little girls ran over and shouted, "Hi Gemma!" and Ro looked over at me and smiled proud before saying, "Hi, guys!" and then off she went to play babies or big girls who have boyfriends - or whatever little game 4-6 year old girls like to pretend.  Her playground playdates are easing my restless momma's heart.

Switching some kids' clothes out this week.  I changed over Rusty's clothes to 3-6 months and had a little whimper about saying goodbye to all of his 0-3 baby clothes (why does this happen every.darn.time I change clothes?!).  Same with Violet as I switched her clothes to 2T fall/winter clothes and I smile wistfully (like a total weirdo) at all the clothes I recognize from Gemmi's two year old days.  Being a mum is the strangest feeling sometime, so much nostalgia it paralyzes me sometimes. 

Teaching a mini Spanish lesson on Wednesday to our friends from the Elks Club.  Abba & Chum and our Aunt Dar and Uncle Mike are all headed to the Dominican Republic for vacation and they invited me to one of their meetings to give a few Spanish pointers.  It was such a fun evening - any time I can use my bossy teacher voice, I'm happy - and everyone was actually pretty eager and sweet about learning some new words to use in the DR. 

Thankful for our babysitters this week: Aunt Dar, Uncle Mike, Chum, and Pappy.  Our new regular babysitter should be starting this coming week and I'm (and the girls!) are so excited to get into a routine so I can take that little scheduling stress out of my mind!

Making chicken and zucchini casserole (one of my favs) and chili over elbow macaroni for the Steelers' first game of the season.  The girls and I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for Tommy, one of our favorite firefighters to say thank you to him as a first responder in honor of 9/11.