Around Here Week 35: 08/26-09/01

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute.

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 428+ hours (of 1000)
Up 13 hours this week. Outside of the long birthday party at the Que, I didn't really make any real effort for outdoor hours other than what we were naturally doing with fall sports. I'm give myself a small free pass on the first week back to school because it's a little dizzying with all the new schedules. It was still incredibly warm this week (seriously, mother nature!?).

Reading and finishing I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson and oh.my.gosh, I loved it so much. I borrowed it from fellow teacher and friend, Renee from her classroom library and it's one of those books that now I'm going to have to buy it for my own shelves because I need it to be in my home. It was so beautifully written and had me floating from the destiny and love stories - but also had me high speed thinking about the creative process and making things with your own heart and soul and how much I've let writing fall to the wayside in this swirling whirling tornado of our life with young kids and full time jobs right now. Anyway, it should be required reading for everyone and I loved it big time.

Celebrating my birthday at the Quemahoming thanks to my parents, sisters, and B. I'm not big on my birthday at all (it's because I get all sentimental and reflective thinking about how we get this one wonderful, wild life and whether or not I'm squeezing every last bit of beauty out of it as possible and how I can be better next rotation around the sun, etc etc) but they went all in for the most perfect day ever for me and it was lovely. Dad reserved a camping spot at the Que which gave us this gorgeous wooded picnicking spot and perfect entry into the dam with our kayaks. We had mountain pies and pizza, sang happy birthday, skipped rocks, and went on a long meandering walk. It was a dream day, honestly. (thank you guys xxox)

Sending our kiddos off to another school year. We've got a third grader (Grey), first grader (Gem), and the two little ones started another year at preschool/daycare. Everyone was pretty excited and in good spirits and little did I realize until after I took the picture - they all sort of color matched too (#adorbs). So far so good and everyone likes their teachers and are settling back into the school week vibe again. By Thursday we all started to feel the effects of the routine schedule - Gemma fell asleep on the couch by 5p, I had the sudden wave of 'holy crap, I'm tired' at about the same time, and Violet and Rusty starting getting a little sniffle (#backtoschoolGerms). Perfect timing as it came right at the long weekend of Labor Day!

Enjoying the (slight) decrease in sibling arguments as the back to school time offers them the much needed space from each other after a long summer together. The kids always seem a little more patient and caring to one another during the school year. The 'no personal space' statute is still in full effect around here and it's almost guaranteed to find all four of them sharing the same couch despite plenty of space for everyone around the living room.

Double date-nighting with Kate and Michael to celebrate our birthdays. My best girl, Kate, has a birthday just two days before mine so we spent a delicious and silly evening out at Pour in Ebensburg together with our guys. (love you, Kate) The third member of our best friend trio, Karpy (who currently lives in NC), had a son on the day right between our birthdays (can you believe that?! honest to goodness fate), so we always give a little toast in his honor too (happy 2nd birthday baby James!)

Fall sporting with practices and Youth Night at the varsity football game (CT won!) No game for our kiddos this week with the holiday weekend, and it was kind of nice to have a little break from the full sport schedule over the past few weeks. Per usual though, we made our weekly stop at the Silver Bell ice cream stand after practice alongside many of our teammates and friends - which the kids absolutely love.

Teaching!... because we are back to school! My students had their first day on Tuesday (one day after my own kids which was nice so I could put them on the bus and be there for all the photos). We worked some common phrases in Spanish 1 including 'can I go to the bathroom' with the Señor Wooly video Puedo Ir al Baño (always a student fav) and I had an amazing experience starting Spanish 1 Honors right off with the Dice Somos Unit by Martina Bex. The Spanish 2 students all started with the Super 7 verbs unit by Mis Clases Locas and Spanish 3 dove head first into comprehensible content learning about Tomatina and then had a their own 'Tomatina' with red tissue paper 'tomatoes.' Such a great first week and I am beaming with all the nerdy teacher feels possible.

Making chicken & gravy over mashed potatoes (our traditional first day back to school dinner - the kids' favorite!) baked tacos, frozen pizza for the kids and grilled salmon for the parents, and crumb-topped chicken supreme casserole.