Around Here Week 42: 10/16-22

Sunday, November 13, 2022

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































Intentional Outdoor Hours: 719+ hours (of 1000)
oh the leaves!! Some trees are just bursting with color and some have already lost almost all of them now. It's a quick change over but I'm soaking it up as much as I can before we turn to cold and white. Liv and I took a little walk around the yard on Sunday morning and the kids are starting to get used to wearing jackets and shoes outside now. We even had a little frost on the car windshields once or twice this week (!) - time to clear out the garage to park in there I guess! 

Reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz and John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin which is our book club choice. The waitress recommended it to us at our last book club meeting and so we went for it - I laughed on the very first page!

Reorganizing the dining room after Chum dropped off a shoe shelf (thank you!) We pushed the table over the side and set up a little quasi-mudroom to the side. The shoes are all set up out of the way now and we put the bench over there too. It is going to be such a better solution for winter and makes the house look immediately more cleaned up without twenty million shoes laying everywhere. 

My favorite celebration week: we get to celebrate our anniversary and then three days later I get to celebrate my favorite person for his birthday. We keep it pretty simple for our anniversary (when you're married to your favorite person everyday feels lucky and loved! #iknowgag but for real) We make grown up food at home to eat and then kiss even more than usual (LOL, I hope that makes my kids roll their eyes someday). We had a busy Friday for B's birthday, so we sang late Friday night after he got back from the varsity football game and gave him a million hugs. 

Weirded out on Saturday when several strange things happened in a row. Brandon forgot the pumpkin roll I made for cousin Heather even though we both mentioned it a million times that morning. Then a bird got into the house (garage > basement > living room) and the kids and I guided it out through a window. Next, Grey was cleaning out the firepit outside and with the bucket up on the mower started to tip (so dangerous!) He was fine but it was so scary. It was just too many randomly weird things right after the other.

Always thankful for family and friends who pinch in when we are fumbling. Abba and Chum had Rusty for a sleepover on Saturday night (thank you!). Pappy and Gigi picked up Rusty early from school and took him to his dentist appointment. Miss Jo (our neighbor) got Rusty and Violet off the bus on Friday for the early dismissal while Gemma went to the Lasure's house on the bus for the early dismissal and then hitched a ride with them to basketball practice that afternoon. 

Upgrading my unofficial Mom Certification to include nursemaid's elbow! Reddy popped his elbow out on Friday night wrestling with Rusty in the living room. (All three of our sons dislocated their elbows right around 2 and a half years old. I literally just said to B the other day, "I can't believe Red hasn't had nursemaid's elbow yet!" I must have jinxed myself because) As soon as I saw the way he was holding it and screaming, I knew. I texted a couple nurse friends and then Dr. Amy talked me through some stuff from the Friday night football game and I watched a youtube video for guidance. I showed Red the video and then popped it right in! Thank you friends who responded and supported me through my "training" LOL. 

Night time fun at Violet's birthday party! We had a big bonfire, bobbed for apples, played cops&robbers in the dark, and roasted hot dogs and smores. One of her friend's dad even brought fireworks to put off (! Vi always get some random awesome surprise at her birthday parties - I swear, it's like a tradition at this point) 

Teaching and finishing up our geography unit in Spanish 1 while Spanish 2 worked through El Silbon novel (almost done!) Spanish 3/4 had only half the class present as it was also Senior Week at school. I had the juniors and I read Frida Kahlo novel on our own and then we had a little book club with snacks on Friday. I sent out Thank You Certifications to parents of some kids in each of my classes for all my solid "good kids" - the ones I can trust, the ones I can partner up with anyone in class and know they will be kind and try their best, the ones that always say hello and have a good day. How grateful I am to be able to go to work everyday and work with the literal future. #lovemyjob #lovemykids 

Sporting three football practices for Grey and then a game vs Berlin on Thursday. Miss Hannah came for the game (sweetest!) along with his regular fan section (both sets of grandparents). I am so grateful that our family and friends find ways to make it to our kids' games to cheer them (thank you all, truly). Gem had three basketball practices and Violet had a travel soccer try-out on Saturday morning. The soccer league isn't until April but they are putting together the team now. Bud took the four big kids to the varsity football game on Friday night where Gem and Vi were introduced with the youth league! 

Making baked ravioli, taco pasta, chuck roast with carrots & potatoes in the crockpot, Marianna's subs and pizzas (our favorite school fundraiser!), and Italian chicken over noodles. For our anniversary dinner, I made baked tilapia with brocolli & rice (YUM!) and we had hot dogs over the open fire and cupcakes for Violet's birthday party. I also did some baking on Sunday because it helps me feel like I have control of things when everything is going too quickly. I whipped up three dozen Snickerdoodles and five dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. 

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