Around Here Week 27: 07/02-08

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

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 297+ hours (of 1000)
Up 21 hours this week, oh sweet summertime - we are loving the long slow mornings and the late nights with the kids on the trampoline. My mid-afternoon break on the porch swing has been such a bright spot in each day, just swinging and drinking my Kombucha while reading my book. I know I'll be reminiscing about it come wintertime. 

Reading and finishing Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I will always be rooting for Demon in his life and I am honest to goodness disappointed that the book is over. I read&finished What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera which is very sweet but the drastic switch in writing styles from Demon Copperhead to this had me a little jolted at first. Next up - The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer.

Starting Whole30 because I have the right mindset all of a sudden (comes on like a light switch!). For awhile now I've just been overall sluggish and unmotivated and my gut health is whack and I'm really frustrated with my alcohol intake and just need a body, mind, soul, heart reset. Hah (who can tell I'm on the brink of my 40th birthday? LOL so much). I've done keto many times in the past and it has worked super quick in weightloss and sugar/carb detox - but I wanted to try Whole30 this time because it feels like a real detox (no dairy! no sugar! no booze! no grains!) It is restrictive, but B and I really love veggies and trying new recipes - so not worried too much about that. I wrote a big list of things that are discomforts or frustrating for me right now ranging from bloating to my cracked heels, to my shoulder pain, to that 'what just happened' snack binges in the afternoon that I have. I'm anxious to see if any of my random ailments see any changes in the next 30 days as I fuel my body with whole foods. 

Living that phone free life. Since Liv busted my phone last week, I am honestly just living wild and free over here not having text communication and living social media free most days. My phone does still work (rings, gets notifications, alarms go off) so on the off chance that anyone calls me, I get to swipe up and answer the call with no clue who it will be (so 90's!) I'm not missing anything from my phone except my camera, but B's phone has been pretty accessible and even Grey has been good about letting me grab his to snag photos (xxo)

Kid-swapping with the Rummells on Fourth eve. We swapped Grey out for the three girls for fun mini-sparkly evenings. The boys shot off their bottle rockets like little pyros and the girls (and Rust & Reddy) did sparklers and poppers over at our house. We got to peep the neighbors' fireworks display (thank you Maurers!) and had a fire with smores.

Fourth of July celebrations! We had sparklers with cousins on the eve of the fourth and watched all the firework displays in the area from our mountaintop (while Olive and Red cried and Osa ran around frantic because we are still firmly in the firework fear stage, hah). Then we stopped by for cake and singing at the Altimores for Miss Jo's birthday followed by an evening swim with dinner & Gigi's root beer floats at Pappy & Gigi's house.

Big day for B! First day as business manager at CT and first football conditioning as head coach on the same evening. So proud to be his wife. 

Getting my 40th birthday miles in! Mile 4 with Heather, Mile 5 with Olive, Mile 6 with Kitty, and Mile 7 with Ninna. The walks have all been so good and I am so glad that this is my birthday celebration plan. Spending real one-on-one time with everyone having conversations together. Most walks go more than a mile because we are talking, laughing, and remembering and aren't ready to stop at a mile. So grateful to have everyone be on board and willing to make the time to do it with me.

Summer playdays: Grey spent the night at the Valentine's and then spent all day Sunday volunteering at Slamfest (cleaning up rained fields and running the scoreboard). Uch and the boys stopped over to visit the baby goats and swim in our baby pool, Pappy picked up the biggest four for swimming at their house on Thursday and Chum snagged everyone but Olive for a Friday afternoon of swimming and fishing at the Que! For all of you always asking "How I do it"....with A LOT of help and a big village! We could never do it by ourselves and we definitely don't!

Laying the drain pipe for the basketball hoop. What a huge mess of trench, mud, dirt, and slop! We've been working on this trench for about 2 weeks and with all the rain we've been getting it's been a stop&go process. The kids have loved playing in the ditch though - they've slopped through in bare feet, hid and found dinosaurs, made mud pies, hopped in and out on ninja warrior expeditions - it has been never-ending fun. But alas, I will be glad to have that part of the project done and all that mess closed up! A heart of gratitude to Kevin who loaned us the digger to dig it out, cousin Aaron who loaned us the trailer bed to transport the digger, Chum who plotted out the plan, Pappy who has dug a bunch of the trench by digger & hand, Uncle Dave who brought out his tools to make sure it's all correctly sloped and will actually work once we cover it back up, and B for always doing whatever it takes to get it done no matter how many people and things need coordinated, purchased, or manual labored through sweat and cursing (hah). Why does HGTV pretend like everything is so simple and quick!? 

Contact lenses for Grey. He did a great job not giving up on learning how to put them in and take them out. So far, he really likes them and is excited to try them out during sports. Still doing a trial period though to make sure because holy cow batman, why is everything so expensive?!

Sleepover with the Kochs at our house. We spent Saturday afternoon at the pool at Pappy&Gigi's house with all the kids splashing and laughing. Then we headed back to our house for hanging out by the fire, jumping on the trampoline, and grown-up tonka truck time in the backyard (hah!) while B and Jon finished up leveling the ground for the basketball hoop. What a comfort and joy it is to be with our besties and their kids and all of us one giant mess of loudness, laughter, and love.

Moth mania. I've been in moth research mode after we found a giant moth at our house on Friday morning. Just like all of nature, moths are super fascinating...we are all obsessed now! We learned the Cecropia moth is one of the largest moths in PA. It had a little tear in a wing and only one antennae, so we got her set up in one of our trees and crossed our fingers that she wouldn't become a bat's dinner that night! 

Sporting with just a little bit thanks to the holiday. Grey had weightlifting once and started his AM football conditioning & lifting from 6:30-9a. Brandon had a coaches meeting on Sunday then Varsity football started their summer conditioning this week too (two evening practices). 

Making Korean beef and green beans over rice, hot dogs and tater tots, homemade pizza, candied kielbasa, tacos, and lots of yummy breakfasts for the kids including French toast (my grandma Helen's tradition), chocolate croissants. I made snickerdoodles with blue & red sugar topping for the fourth of July too! 

Whole30 meals included sweet potato & kale hash with eggs, jalapeno turkey burgers, beef and green beans over cauliflower rice, grilled salmon topped with avocado & red onion salsa (so delicious) and a side of grilled cauliflower, turkey taco salads, cajun shrimp over "grits" (aka mashed cauliflower), zucchini and chicken, and brussels sprouts and bacon. We tried guacamole and plantain chips (obsessed), and chia pudding (just meh). We are loving our Larabars and nutpod creamer too!