Intentional Outdoor Hours: 129+ hours (of 1000)
We racked up our outdoor time this week with volunteering at a local event, baseball games, outdoor daily playing, and a mother's day walk! The weather took a turn for the beautiful and warm (mid-80's some days!) and we are all eagerly counting down the days for summer vacation.
Reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and posting our Inspired Readers book club Summer Book Checklist. Make a goal for ten books this summer - or double them up and try to just get them all checked off. Our book club is all online and open to new readers - join us! Happy Reading! (The Handmaid's Tale is going to count for my first checked box - first the book, then the Hulu Series! yay!)
Volunteering at the Rec the Alleghenies expo that my little sis, Tasha, set up for the community. The event was held on Saturday all day in Greenhouse park and Brandon, Greyson, Rusty and I were on hand to help - along with join in on the fun demonstrations offered by the various active groups. I did yogasong, zumba, and pound (so fun!) Grey threw knives at wooden blocks with the Renaissance reenactment group and played nerf obstacle course with his cousin Caleb until he nearly passed out. Also there were therapy goats and I wanted to keep one. The girls came after our cousin's bridal shower with my Mum and Kayla and they both rode horses and enjoyed the bounce house. It was an awesome - 7 hours worth of outdoor time! - day!!
Celebrating Momma's Day. We spent the evening at Gigi and Pappy's house on Saturday and Brandon made us all dinner (delicious) and we got to just relax and catch up and me and Gigi get all weepy because that's how we do (love you Geeg!) And on Sunday, I had a special breakfast just for me (my favs!) and surprise chocolate covered strawberries (really my fav!!) and a "dime-on" necklace from Greyson that he made me at school. Later that afternoon my mumma, dad, and sisters came to our house where Bud cooked again! (I'm a lucky lady) and we had a big feast and spent some time together. We also have our second annual "Mother's Day walk" late in the evening and we all take the dogs out for a short walk in the woods. It was bliss, all of it.
Finishing our CCD year this past week. Grey and I attended our last class and he said thank you to his wonderful teacher for the past two years, Ms Cindy. I told her though, 'every time you 'graduate' a Studer kid there will be one to come up in their place!' Gem will start CCD Kinder next year. I said a loving farewell to my fifth graders - fourteen of them!- and said 'see you next year' to my fourth graders as they'll have me for two years. I'm so grateful to get to know these young people in our church and be an active member, alongside the other incredible teachers.
Baseballing. holy cow. We were at the field Friday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. Hello so many concession stand snacks. The kids not playing in the game do really well with constantly being there and since we have a no-devices rule at games/practices - they use their imagination to find ways to pass the time. They watch the game, Grey helps coach the teeball kids and even pairs up with some players in the outfield to help them, take naps (!ha), or they make friends with other kids at the ball field. It's surprisingly near painless, especially now that Rusty is walking better - he loves free range baseball games! And always so grateful for the family and friends that come to cheer on our kiddos. (thank you!!)
Patching Grey up all week. He slid into home to try to get a runner out and ripped his elbow pretty good, so we've been bandaging it and then watching it rip open again after each subsequent baseball game (hah!) Then during yesterday's game he slid into second and the second baseman went to catch the ball but missed and it came down and cracked Grey in the shoulder. oh, and he had pink eye. Goodness!
Mending three sick snot kids too this week - While Grey was bruised from baseball, the other three were sporting serious stuffy noses, coughs, and runny eyes. Gemmi get so mucous-y that she ends up throwing up just to get it out of her. I'm hopeful these warmer temps and sunny days are here to stay to smack the sickness right out of everyone.
Saying goodbye to our Painted Lady butterflies this week. They were all anxious to fly away, so Gem got to hold one on her nose for about a second and Violet had the last little one linger on her cheek for a few seconds. As they fly away we yell, "We love you! Good luck!" One of our favorite spring time traditions!
Giggling about Violet - she really is coming out with some funny little one liners these days. We were walking across a parking lot this week and she said, "Here we come Sheila Rose!" (Sheila, our van, has a new middle name apparently - so fancy). She also asked us "Is the boat in there?" when we reach our local poll station to vote on Tuesday because we kept saying we were going to vote, and well, boat made more sense to her.
Making Korean ground turkey with green beans over rice, slow-cooker Au Jus beef sandwiches, chicken tacos, and bbq/coke slow cooker kielbasa.
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