Around Here Week 4: 01/19-25

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

photo cred: Kate

how the kids feel the day after a sleepover

cookies from my students Laura & Bryce - so sweet!

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  4+ hours (of 1000)
Rusty and I braved the chilly air on Saturday to walk around the yard, weave in and out of the pine trees, and jump in some puddles for a little while. I could see that his little body needed some serious movement, so he, the dogs, and I spent about 45 minutes outside just wandering about in the misty fog.

Reading The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan. It is a YA novel (also a Project Lit book!) and it is really bringing to focus to me how important it is to keep communication open with kids as they continue to grow up. To read it from a young person's perspective - the things left unsaid between her and her parents; her and her best friend - are all the things that fill her days and heart. The worrying and creation of what you think might be the reason for the 'secrets' are far worse then opening up the conversation and maintaining a dialogue about even the hard stuff.

Having all the sleepovers and playdates for the Act 80 day for MLK Jr Day. Grey got to sleepover at the Conn's house and Gem headed out to sleepover with the Fiores (thank you all!) The babes stayed with us until the morning. Violet chose to go to daycare because her best friend ever, Grady, was going to be there that day (she even got dressed up for him with sparkly tights and glitter color in her hair!) Rustman spent the afternoon at Pappy & Gigi's house. Then Violet got to have a sleepover that night with her other best buddy Pappy!

Crossing off all the third trimester baby appointments in one day! On the Act 80 day, I bounced between multiple buildings to snag all my baby needs in one clip which was great but also exhausting. We had an ultrasound first (all looks great for Baby Bro - he's weighing about 3lbs already! and my low lying placenta has scooted up a little - just a little more to go for a full green light!) Then I had a check up with my cousin/mid-wife Meg (all good) which included the TDap vaccine, then on to the 1hr Glucose test (ugh, failed), and my Rhogam shot. Sheesh!

Sharing my 100 Small Things List for 2020! I'm already making pretty good progress, including ordering Gemma's first Holy Communion dress and veil from Etsy this week. The big day isn't until May, but I'm glad it's ordered and done and I won't be in a panic when the day creeps up on us in the midst of the rotten 8 weeks of newbornhood.

Visiting the chiropractor with the two big kids. Grey kept asking, "Wait, am I taller though?" because he felt so much better after his adjustment. We are big fans of chiropractor care to make sure all of stuff is aligned and sending clear messages to our brain so our bodies can take care of themselves properly. It felt amazing to get adjusted with this huge belly putting so much strain on my back (ughhh, tailbone pain foreverrr) and I just want to know - what's the cost for adjusting every single bone in my body though? Can that be a thing, please?

Finishing the last week of raffle prizes for our junior class fundraiser for prom. In total we had half the prizes hit winning numbers and half the prizes hit on unsold tickets. Which was okay since we didn't sell as many as we had hoped. The prom committee made great progress on locking in some key people for the big date including reserving our venue, caterer, and photographer!

Celebrating our Aunt Marge at her surprise 70th birthday party at Morrison's Tavern on Friday night. Our Gilmore cousins were in from Etown which makes us all happy and we are working on planning some camping trips for this summer together. Gem had a meltdown to leave Audra and we continue to talk about how being disappointed that the spending time is over doesn't mean the time you spent together wasn't good enough. It's a lot of emotions with that child and we have been practicing some calming breaths to get her to take a minute to get herself under control.

Coloring pictures and enjoying some homemade fried rice to celebrate Chinese New Year (the year of the rat) on Saturday.

Finished the series of CHEER on Netflix. Yes, I loved it. Yes, I want to be more like Jerry.  Yes, I sobbed at the last episode. Yes, I want to be a Navarro Cheerleader. goodbye.

Winter sporting with six basketball games and two practices this week. It's obnoxious but he loves it and the other kids and I have been going to some games and then staying home for some too. The schedule slows down for basketball in February...so until then - it's a lot of jersey washing and schedule coordinating for this house of an obsessed baller.

Teaching Spanish 1 who finished the standard section of Somos 5 with a lot of translating through reading and writing. Spanish 2 worked through Somos 1 Unit 12 and did some practice with Personal Belongings vocabulary. Spanish 2 Honors started our next novel, Esperanza and read Chapters 1 and 2 while Spanish 3/4 Honors finished up their Preterito mini unit and worked on a project to demonstrate their understanding of the Preterito verb conjugations.

Making cherry 'pop tarts' with some puff pastry that needed used up in the fridge, baked pork chops and apples, creamy Italian chicken in the crockpot over egg noodles, baked Hawaiian pizza slider rolls, fried rice, and taco dip with some leftover taco meat. I organized our monthly potluck lunch at school this week and made Asian Ramen salad to share (I used this super easy and really delicious recipe!)