Around Here Week 41: 10/04-10/10

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  509+ hours (of 1000)
We got in a beautiful fall walk on Sunday with my parents and sister on the Staple Bend Tunnel trail. Rust and Vi rode bikes, Grey and his cast walked, and Gemma and Red were in strollers (LOL, because of Gemma's boot). It took us 2 hours to walk the round trip, but it was so beautiful and great to be in the open air all afternoon. The leaves are really turning up for fall this year and looking gorgeous. Everyday we are screaming out the window, "It's a magical day!!" 

Reading and finishing The Grip of It by Jac Jemc. It was so spooky and I really enjoyed it (reminded me a lot of Haunting of Hill House series on Netflix). I wasn't crazy about the ending, but the book gave such creepy vibes the whole time that it was able to hold it's own. 

Visiting the doctor some more. Grey had his follow up x-ray and all looks to be healing well. Only three more weeks in the short cast and he should be good to go with a sling for a week or so after that. Violet and Red had their well checks (6 years and 6months respectively). They both look good and after some quick pokes for Red - we were cleared to go. 

Receiving surprises! Our neighbors surprised the kids with Halloween oreos that were gone in one evening, but not before Red got to try one and blew his mind! (thank you Buncichs!) and then I got a huge package delivered from Sam's Club that contained an 8qt Instant Pot (which has been on my wishlist for so long now!) It was from my personal fairy godmother and most thoughtful friend, Heather (thank you so so much!) and I've been pinning tons of Instant Pot recipes to try out next week! 

Celebrating our ten and a half year old. It was Grey's half birthday this week and I left the house without even wishing him a happy half birthday! I called when I got to school and sang him Happy half birthday over the phone before he got on the bus (hah). We got Silver Bell ice cream after practices that night in his honor. 

Hosting my school's homecoming after party with the Spanish Club in the teachers' parking lot on Friday night. My Spanish Club students and I rode in the Homecoming parade first, then we set up our event in the parking lot during the homecoming game. After the game, the court and anyone else from the community stopped over for dancing, refreshments, and hanging out. The event was in lieu of a homecoming dance (#thankscovid) but the kids seemed to have fun and we didn't end up getting home until 11:30p! Thank goodness for my Spanish Club kids who did so much organizing and last minute changes and updates. I am so grateful for those good kids. 

Getting a kid free night! My parents (Abba and Chum) hosted all five (!!) kids at their house on Friday night into Saturday while B and I advised the Spanish Club after party. It was their first time with all five for a sleepover and in true grandparent all-star fashion - all was well and the kids did not want to leave on Saturday to come home. Thank you so so much Mum & Dad! It was such a relief to not have to worry about bubbas and bedtimes in between helping my students. 

Fall sporting with just practices this week after the covid scare last week. Cheerleaders practiced two nights and football players got in three practices to prepare for our game on Sunday. Gemma also had a night of basketball in her boot - so she just did dribbling and hand drills which was a bummer. 

Teaching during Homecoming week at school which is kind of teaching and more like holding it together through the dress up days, excused student absences for event practices, and having kids in and out of the room constantly working on posters, needing a place to hang out during weird periods, and just madness over all. Spanish 1 worked through the geography unit including our 20 bonus point opportunity test (!) while Spanish 2 finished El Cucuy and started their pre-work on our first novel of the year El Silbón de Venezuela. Spanish 3 Honors started Somos 1 Unit 19: El Biblioburro and Spanish 4 Honors finished their novel Robo en la Noche and got the writing retell information for the final project to close the book unit. 

Making baked pork chops and haluski, breakfast for dinner (egg & bacon sandwiches), and ordering in pizza one night. We were gifted dinner from Pappy & Gigi on Monday (beef over noodles and homemade rolls - yum!) and enjoyed dinner at Abba & Chum's house after our walk on Sunday (roast beef and all the fixins - yum!). I also made walking tacos to sell at the Hoco Spanish Club After Party. 

Around Here Week 40: 09/27-10/03

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 499h+ (of 1000)

Grey and I took the dogs for a walk after his casting and it was nice to just be with him and get to chat and be together for a little while. The weather has been dipping down into the 30's at night, so the morning and evenings have a pretty severe chill in them. But as all the four-season states know, 'tis the season for a sweater in the morning only to be ripping it off while sweating by the afternoon! 

Reading The Grip of It by Jac Jemc (in school) and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (after school). 

Calling off on Monday to take Grey to the ortho doctor to confirm a clean break in his right wrist. He got a cast (4 weeks) and was totally bummed. I was glad to be there with him and then catch up on chores, blog posts, and even got a walk in with my cast boy and the dogs. 

Celebrating our 6month of baby! Red is not a half of a year old! He can roll over both ways, kind of hold himself up while sitting but he can't yet go from laying to sitting on his own. He can, however, pull himself (inch worm style) all over the place and even went around the ottoman in the living room on his own chasing a little ball he kept accidentally pushing away from himself. He loves all baby food, but especially peas. No teeth yet and still the sweetest little cheeks and nose I ever did see. He's honestly the most pleasant child I've ever raised. 

Happy for Gemma that she's getting special one on one time with one of her favorite people and it's mutually beneficial for them both - so win/win. Ms Hannah is studying to be a teacher and with covid this year, it is vastly limiting student teacher's abilities to be in the classroom. So Ms Hannah needed to find a student to tutor a few times a week and lucky for us (and her!) our Gemmi is always in need of some extra practice. So the two of them started working together this week and Gem is so happy to have Ms Hannah all to herself and to get some extra help on her homework and studying! Then she got to have a sleepover with her bestie, Sophia and it really was the icing on the week for her. (Plus I got to see Kate during the pickup/drop off and we even facetimed Karpy together - gosh, miss being your roommates on a weekly basis - hah!)

Moving the little chickies to the coop. They were outgrowing their set up in the garage, so B moved them out to the coop in the run area. He set up their own little fenced off section (the big chickens are still bullying them a bit) and installed the heat lamp too for night until their full feathers come in. They are loving the space and seem to be growing twice as fast now (hah!) We have a few big chickens molting and getting new feathers and those poor things look so pitiful!

Seeing camo. Archery season is here officially. Bye Daddy and Grey. They both attended a youth pheasant hunt on Saturday morning (Grey using his middle finger as the trigger finger since he is casted up - good grief). Cousins Ray & Reid were there, in from Etown, so Grey was thrilled. The four of them stopped by the house after to shot the crossbows before heading back to the woods to bowhunt for deer later that afternoon then. 

Drawing. We found a step-by-step drawing book and since we ran out of printer paper, the kids have been asking me to draw them coloring pages. They are obsessed and it occupies them and keeps them relatively stationary and not making huge messes for a sustained period of time - so I'll take it! Also, my drawing skills are on the up and up!

Fall sporting with Grey's last game of the season at Blacklick. He didn't even get to take a snap in the game before he had missed a tackle at safety and landed on his right hand/wrist. He didn't get back into the game and is done for the season. Our team actually lost two other players that game too (!! our running back broke his collarbone and our back up safety broke his wrist too!) Gem practiced and cheered in her boot this week. The rest of this week practices and games were cancelled because on top of breaking our players (!) the other team's coach also tested positive for Covid, so we were asked to hold off on practices for a week and games with other teams for 2 weeks. 

Teaching Somos 1 Unit 2 (camina vs. corre) in Spanish 1. We listened to El Cucuy by Joe Hayes and did our Spanish writing retell in Spanish 2 while Spanish 3 worked on their Frida Kahlo inspired self-portraits after learning about her for Hispanic Heritage month. Spanish 4 completed chapters 7-10 in Robo en la Noche. We had our first Early Dismissal day for teacher training on Friday and the day with students flew by and then I spent my extra time helping our secretaries and principals in Schoology and so, my room has yet to be organized from the start of the school year (LOL). 

Making white chicken chili, taco salads for taco Tuesday, left over hot dogs with corn on the cob. 

Around Here Week 39: 09/20-26

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 492+ hours (of 1000)
I took the three littles and the dogs for a wonderful walk on Sunday afternoon and Rust knew enough to stop us half way around the cornfield and ask to go back the way we came because "ya know what? I'm going to be too tired to go the whole way!" I took that for a win, so we made our way back and I let them climb the apple tree. 

Reading and finishing The Crooked House by Agatha Christie. Still continuing Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and borrowing a spooky story from my co-worker and bestie at school, Renee. The book is The Grip of It by Jac Jemc and is already getting me into the spooky vibes for the season!

Laughing because 2020 and the universe and God and destiny and karma and the manifestations of the seven year old version of myself-all have a sense of humor. And the whole point of life is to laugh and love - so that's what we're doing. Laughing our butts off and loving each other through it all. 

Getting a boot for Gemmi's busted foot.  Still no sign of a break on the x-ray, but she hasn't been able to put any weight on it for four days (literally crawling to the bathroom). So Brandon took her to the ortho walk-in clinic and got her suited up with an air boot and crutches. She was so grateful to get back to school on Monday morning afterward. She has a follow up appointment next week to see if she's on the road to recovery for a bad sprain or if it's something worse (a tendon tear?) 

Saddened and defeated about the verdict of the Breonna Taylor trial. How do her neighbor's walls get more justice than her life?

Celebrating our newly minted 6 year old! Our Violet Mary turned 6 this week and is still a mighty little peanut. She can do 15+ chin ups, 15+ push ups, can do her own ponytails, loves scary movies, and can sing the chorus to Cielito Lindo in Spanish ( #mommasgirl ). 

Loving the newest look to our back porch that B decided at the last minute to hang up the light bulb strings from our wedding reception (that have spent the last 11 years in a box in our attic) for the party. I loved the porch before...well know it's a full blown obsession. 

Hosting a football birthday party at our house for Vially's birthday. We set up the projector under the new porch with a white sheet and played The Little Giants (best movie everrrr) and had food and snacks and kids running in every direction all night long. It was honestly kind of madness but the grown ups mostly hung out around the firepit while the kids went bonkers and it was perfect. I made the cupcake cake (a stadium) and the grandmas and aunts all brought food to help contribute too (thank you!) 

Supporting a student at his Eagle Scouts ceremony! I was so proud to be invited and to be a witness to his achievement to be honored as an Eagle Scout (at 15!)

Spending time with friends at baby Tristan's first birthday party and loving time to play with his big sis Tessa and our favs (their parents; Uncle Jonny & Ninna). 

Fall sporting with Gemma practicing in her boot this week which is no problem for sideline cheers and dances, but we have to pull down some majors cheerleaders to take her place as a base in the stunt of our halftime dance. Just practices this week as we had a game on Saturday and not again until Sunday. 

Teaching adjectives and ser in Spanish 1 including their first time doing running dictation. Spanish 2 started Somos 1 Unit 9 learning about animal vocab and the verb phrase tener miedo which leads into our spooky unit for the next few weeks.  Spanish 3 Honors finished their musical tournament and all of their presentations of their artists and song selections. Our winner this year was Jennifer Lopez On the Floor (so happy it wasn't another year of Livin' La Vida Loca!). Spanish 4 read Chapters 5-7 en Robo en la Noche. 

Making ham & cheese sliders on Hawaiian buns, Korean beef over jasmine rice, pot roast in the slow cookers with potatoes and carrots, and cream cheese chicken taquitos. The kids ate so much pot roast at dinner that night that B and I almost didn't get to eat - we were joking about making ourselves pb&j (but also, what is the plan when they get older? uh oh). Can we also talk about how much better jasmine rice is than white or brown rice? no contest. 

Around Here Week 38: 09/13-19

 A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home exactly right now. 

Intentional Outdoor Hours:  478+ hours (of 1000)

whew! the fall chill is creeping in now at night. It was downright cold on Saturday night at Grey's game and I was so chilled I had to go home and take a hot shower just to warm my bones up again!

Reading Crooked House by Agatha Christie. 

Getting through it. These fall weeks of sports and back to school are such a blur and adjustment. It feels like we've settled into somewhat of a routine of the week, but chores are barely maintained through the school week and it's a mad dash come the weekend to try to make up the difference. By Sunday evening, I'm started to sweat thinking about gearing up and getting through another week and making sure everyone has everything they need and are everywhere they need to be. I'm doing awful at maintaining my planner which I know is contributing to my stress (and don't even get me started on not keeping up with blogging. Recording my thoughts and our life is such a stress reliever for me, but these last few weeks (months?!) I have pushed it to the way way back burner because everything else seems so much more pressing (#enneagram2probs) 

Carrying Gem around everywhere. Literally. On Wednesday night while I was at the neighbor's house helping with Schoology - Gem fell/jumped off the trampoline and did something to her right foot. I didn't get home until 9p and everyone was still awake and she couldn't put any pressure on it. Instead of sitting in the ER all night, we got her up to bed and B took her to the Peds on Thursday morning and they sent her to get an x-ray. They didn't see any breaks/fractures so they sent her home with instructions to elevate, ice, and take pain meds. She still couldn't put weight on by Saturday and we were carrying her or she was crawling to the bathroom (literally). I called around looking for anywhere that we could get her something to help (crutches/boot) and went so far as ordering a child size boot off of amazon! Thankfully our friends the Conns had some crutches for us to borrow until Monday when we have plans to take her to ortho first thing! (thank you Conn family!) 

Organizing our first staff potluck event of the year. Since we are dealing with covid, we had a 'picnic' style luncheon and everyone brought individually wrapped items (mini sandwiches, cups of pasta salad and fruit salad, veggie cups with dip in it). It actually turned out really cute and delicious! 

Volunteering at the CT color run like we have in the past. The kids and I threw color at the start and finish of the race while Grey ran the 5k with his friends. (B was at home working on the roof with my Dad). Gem had to sit to throw the color because of her foot, but she still had fun. Rust and Vi were covered head to toe in blue color and Grey ran the whole thing in good time.

Fall sporting with two games this week the way the schedule worked out. We played a home game vs. Portage on Sunday and it went great all around (cheering & playing). The it was practices all week including painting signs at cheerleading for the final run throughs for the season. We had a night game on Saturday at home (the last home game of the year) and Gem didn't cheer since her foot was busted. Grey's team won by a lot (we even got to have our 5th grade girl run the ball- the boys were so pumped about getting her the chance to make some plays!) but it was absolutely freezing that night! Pappy, Uch, and Kevin all were able to make to the game with extra tickets from another player (thank you!)

Teaching adjectives and numbers in Spanish 1, we started watching La Canela in Spanish 2 to close out our Comida unit (the kids love that movie!), and Spanish 3 Honors learned about Richie Valens and started researching their musical artists for our presentations & tournament next week. Spanish 4 Honors started their first novel, Robo en la Noche and read chapters 1-4. 

Making turkey taco meat over pasta, burgers/hot dogs/shrimp on the grill, spaghetti with meat sauce, and sloppy joes and shells & cheese. We also ordered in one night with a Big Daddy and wings from Foxes Pizza.