Around Here week 24: 06/07-06/13

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute (green phase of Covid-19 pandemic!)

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  145+ hours (of 1000)

Up 25 hours this week with some beautiful summer weather. I was able to snag some reading time in the hammock (bliss!) and we logged some time at the fire pit on the back patio too with some smore making. Brandon moved a bunch of dirt into the goat pasture to build them a little mountain under the shade of one of the trees as we have found that our goats love both dirt mounds and shade - always learning! 

Reading and finishing (in 3 days) A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi. Oh, I loved it so much! It is one of the Project Lit books from last year and again proves that they are all incredible YA choices. I am continuing with Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson too. 

Listening & Learning from Black voices. Brandon and I watched Just Mercy (it's free to rent for the whole month of June!) We made a donation to 8cantwait.org to help support the awareness and adoption of 8 restrictive use of force policies that every police department can enact immediately to save lives. And I can't stop thinking about and rewatching the Hanifa Pink Label virtual show. I actually watched it when it was released on instagram at the end of May, but I cannot get it off my brain and keep telling people about it. The lockdown has made everyone have to think outside of the box to survive in these 'new normals' but Anifa Mvuemba (who is only 28 yrs old!) took these challenges and is THRIVING. 

Throwing a water battle birthday party for our four year old Rustman!It was a beautiful weather day and perfect for water balloons and water guns. The kids needed very little direction, but we did have a target water gun shoot, a water balloon battle, and I sprayed everyone with the hose. The goats were a big hit with all the guests and everyone seemed to have enough food and merriment to kick off the green phase of the pandemic in PA. 

Wishing a happy birthday to our Aunt Kitty!

Receiving official notice of my PA teaching certification approval!!

Feeling buried alive by laundry. Why are there so many clothes? Why does this chore never end? 

Printing off a list of all the updates we put into the house and yard since we moved in back in 2011. It was empowering to go through each room and the outside and write down each thing we had spent time, money, and labor of love into this house. I had read that it was a good thing to do and then give to the appraiser when they come to the house and it was actually really validating for B and I to remember all the work that we've done together while we create this home. It so easy to look around and see how much more we have/want to do and get caught up in the daily chores of raising a family (laundry, sweeping/mopping, dust) - but to see a comprehensive list of all the projects we've completed in nine years was pretty cool. 

Getting the house appraised which meant a lot of tidying up and then loading Sheila up with all five kids AND both dogs and driving around for an hour so that the appraiser could do what he needed with no distractions. Everyone did really good for about 45 minutes and then it was just too much - Violet was whining from the way back, "Muuuuuuum, please can we get out. Trixie is breathing into my mouth!" We had to get the appraisal to get a loan to buy the land surrounding our property, so we will (finally!) own everything around us, including the parts of the yard we have been mowing/maintaining for the last 9 years even though we didn't own it. So yay!! 

Deciding that Red has Rusty's eyes and the rest of Grey's face. Redland is still the sweetest little nugget on the planet and none of us can stand how cute he is. Rusty literally says all day, "He's soooo cute I could pop his head off!" 

Congratulating Gemma who figured out how to swim underwater without holding her nose this week! 

Trying to donate blood but coming up short on iron. ugh. 

Fixing the water pipes in the basement which has been on our to do list for forever! My dad came over to help Brandon unhook the well filter and rework the pipes and even though it only took half a day - it has been amazing to be able to turn on all the hoses again (the water line to them was leaking before this fix) but even more than that - we have no moisture in the basement anymore! We have been running a dehumidifier for NINE YEARS in the basement and now it's not needed. Our minds are blown - thank you so much Chum!!

Playdating with friends. Gemma got to have a fun day of swimming with her friend Amiyah (thank you!), Rusty and Violet spent the day at Abba and Chums and Violet slept over (Rusty chickened out - he's going through a momma thing - thanks 'rona). Miss Hannah came to babysit after 12 weeks of missing our personal Mary Poppins during quarantine while B and I had our volleyball games. We had a visit at our house with our besties the Fiores where the kids got to meet our goats, Soph and I talked books and favorite authors (I gave her a list of the Project Lit middle school titles too! Soph and I basically need our own book club) and Kate and I got to chat which is always my favorite. Grey had a sleepover at his cousin Caleb's house (thank you Heather!) and all of us had dinner after the scrimmage at the Bittner's house. 

Summer sporting with our first co-ed Roxbury game of the season! Due to the shortened seasons (thanks 'rona) we are playing multiple matches each week, so first week back after 12 weeks in quarantine, we played 6 games and omigosh, it was a little rough. hah! It was so nice to be back with our team though (two teammates are my former students!) Grey had baseball practice twice and then a scrimmage on Friday night. 

Making Kit Kat candy cake for Rusty's birthday party, hot dog leftovers, salads & fried cheese curds (thank you Heather for bringing our favorites from the Ligonier Farmer's Market!), spaghetti and homemade garlic bread with leftover hot dog buns from the party, breakfast bowls with eggs, sausage, and cheesy potatoes, take out from the Tollgate. I made banana oatmeal cookies with some brown bananas and whipped up some blueberry scones for breakfast this week.