Around Here Week 25: 06/17-06/22

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

photo cred: Tausha Garrettson

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 253+ hours (of 1000)
Up 33 hours this week and I'm inching closer to my summer goal of hitting 40+ hours a week outside! I have been loving so much getting out in the morning with a cup of coffee and my book on the porch soaking in that early sunlight. I'm beating my outdoor hours at this time last year by about 30 hours which is pretty exciting. Looking even further back I'm beating my 2016 and 2017 time at this point in the year too (so fun to see what we were doing this time, teeny kids)! We had some new trampoline tricks learned this week - Grey learned to do a backflip and Violet can do a front flip!  Grey and Gem also learned to ride a bike together (Grey driving and Gem on the pegs)! And the kids have been hard at work on building up their fort in the woods behind the house and they invited me to come check it out (it's actually kind of impressive). The pups are always happy and eager to get a walk in and we got two in this week, but they could probably use more (me too!)

Reading and finishing The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney with the Book Love Foundation Summer book club. I have enjoyed following along with the discussion threads on facebook and really liked the book; it is an important and powerful read about the civil wars in Sudan and the refugee experience from a young girl's perspective. Then I read and also finished this week Where the Crawdads Sing be Delia Owens. I loved reading Kya's life and the perseverance to children in the harshest and loneliest conditions. It always touches me in some deep spot in my soul to know how humans can push forward and find a way to love and live even when it is unimaginably difficult. (Really had my heart aching to read both of these books right now as I followed along with all that is happening at the border to the children there - you can help here at TogetherRising). I do have to be honest to say that I wasn't fainting with obsession over it like most people I spoke to about it. I loved all the beautiful details about nature in the marsh most of all.

Honoring the Daddas in our life for Father's Day. My sister Uch and I 'kidnapped' our Dad at 5a to take him for a sunrise kayak trip on Hinckston Run Dam. Unfortunately it was drizzling and really cloudy, so there was no sunrise to see (hah), but it was a perfect morning anyway. We kayaked in the light rain and took cover under some low hanging trees toward the bank when it downpoured for a few minutes. Then we had a big breakfast and then it was off to Pappy and Gigi's house for the day with lots of playing catch, running on the top of the pool cover, and even a quad ride to Devil's Rock (that overlooks our town). Gem spent Father's day at Idlewild with our Garrettson cousins eating her weight in funnel cake (hah, thanks for taking her Taush!)

Loving Rusty's new big boy haircut! Gigi cut his hair on Sunday and it looks so cute. It still curls up a little on top when it's clean and washed but the #georgewashingtonhairdontcare is gone for now and that's a relief.

Grateful for good surgeons and doctors who cared for my Dad on Monday when we got rotator cuff surgery. The girls and I visited him this week and he is doing well; he's a tough cookie (the kids heard me say this and now it's Violets favorite phrase). The hardest part is going to be getting him to just relax and let it heal - Dad problems, amirite?

Celebrating freedom on Juneteenth with sparklers in the yard!

Spending special time with family and friends. Grey had a special treat to go with the Conn family to the Steeler Youth football camp on Wednesday afternoon and meet former Steelers player Arthur Moates. Gemma had a sleepover with Rourie at the Stankans while Violet got a sleepover with Gigi and Pappy during Grey's birthday party. Then the next night both girls had a sleepover at Aunt Kitty's house, including temporary pink hair dye! We got a visit from cousin Heather and Caleb after a trip to the Ligonier farmer's market where they surprised us with some of our favorite finds - cheese curds & Jarr'ed mustard. (thank you!!)

Sleeping over at fishing camp for a very belated birthday party for Grey.  Grey chose 5 friends to join us and we headed out to our fishing camp in Bedford on Thursday night with a Sheila full of nine year olds (the conversations had me laughing the.whole.way). They stayed up until 2a and then were all up by 8a to spend the day fishing, riding bikes, building the fire up, and swimming the (freezing!) creek. It was basically all of Grey's hopes and dreams for a birthday party. Rusty got to come and tag along with the big boys and they were all so encouraging and patient with him. #nogirlsallowed #mommaisntagirlshesjustmomma

Party hopping on Saturday. We congratulated our cousin Mackenzie who graduated from high school this year; she's headed to nursing school at IUP and we are so proud. Then we headed over to Halen's pool party and our kids had an absolute blast swimming, snacking, and playing cornhole all evening. (thanks for having us Angie & Scott!) B and I were passing ships on Saturday as he participated in a fundraising trap shoot most of the day and I was with the kids party hopping. At the end of the night, we were both like - 'oh hi, who are you again?' haha.

Summer sporting with Grey's sanction baseball practices (two of them, and two more of them were cancelled due to thunderstorms) and I played volleyball with our Roxbury team in six games on Tuesday night (3-3). B had to miss our games because of a school board meeting. All four kids had to come with me for the full two and half hours we were at the courts - with the exception of Rust screaming, "I WANT ICE CREAM" they did amazing. The big kids took turns keeping score and chaperoning the little ones at the playground; my little park rats.

Making (for the kids) spaghetti, chicken fingers and fries (air fryer win!), frozen pizza, mini blueberry muffins, and pumpkin roll for Greyson's birthday party (his favorite).

Keto'ing and still loving it. Stayed the same this week for weight but when I look in the mirror, I like the reflection so much better. Not sure how that works, but even if the weight isn't going down - things are moving and shifting and my clothes feel better. I had a NSV (non-scale victory) on Saturday when I put on a pair of pants that I bought last summer but couldn't wear because they were too tight and they fit perfect as we did party hopping! Bigtime Yay! We had some good Keto eats this week including - steak'um & pepper 'fajitas', Big Mac casserole, buffalo chicken dip (with cucumber 'chips'), and old bay shrimp over garlic & butter zoodles. Breakfasts are always delightful with eggs, keto bagels, or bulletproof coffee.