Around Here Week 38: 09/17-23

 A glimpse into what it is like to be in our family in just this moment. 

photo cred: Uch

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 595+ hours (of 1000)
these fall sunrises and sunsets have my soul filled with joy! it's starting to get a little chilly though so we've added an extra blanket to our beds. Trying to hold off on turning on the heat until November (!)

Reading and finishing Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I loved it!! I was going to force myself to finish The Lumineers by Susan Dennard but I just can't do it. The writing just feels too immature? forced? overly (unnecessarily) descriptive in some parts and then impossible to follow the clans/family/characters. Ugh, I hate giving up on books, but I was just rolling my eyes the whole time, so bye. Instead, I started Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (which has been suggested to me by friends - thanks Jenn! and also my enneagram, LOL).  And I am LOVING it so far!

Sunday School! The first week of the new school year and Reddy attended his first preschool Sunday School. He did such a great job and was so proud to be big enough to have his own teacher and friends (hehe). The big kids were all so happy for him too and giggling about how he's growing up. (...imagine being the fifth kid and all your big siblings cheering for your first day of preschool Sunday school! like a rockstar! gosh, I just love big family dynamics) 

Sending Gem and Vi off to Uch's house to act as mother's helpers on Sunday. The girls played with the boys, helped carry in groceries, buckled and unbuckled out of car seats, and were just another set of eyes and hands while Uncle Kev was out of town. The girls loved it and Uch loved it too. 

Seeding the back yard where we tore it all up this summer for the blacktop. B put the grass seed down and then got hay on top. I am under strict orders to not drive over it...but then I was coming home and it was raining and the kids were so cranky and I ran over it. As I was driving I literally announced to the kids, "Tell Daddy I said I'm sorry, but I had to!" Now there are tire tracks and divots because I'm a spoiled brat. He still loves me though. 

I'm not the only Mom eating dinner straight out of and over the pots on the stove every night, right? Like grab & go every dang night between practices/games, homework, baths, and chores. Yeesh, I know, I know "you're gonna miss this" but honestly, I'd like to sit down and eat off a proper plate occasionally, ya know? 

Finishing Rusty's Bio & photo submission for the homecoming advisor. I also got his suit ordered too. He is going to be homecoming prince and he is so excited.

Dropping off dinner for a local family who could use a little homemade love through food. (xxo always in my heart). 

Participating in a zoom meeting/interview with Living Room Conversations and the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday night. I was so grateful to be part of the conversation as a small town/full-time working/momma of six. The other participants were insightful and the format of Living Room Conversations lends itself to respectful and meaningful dialogue (seriously - check them out!) If you're interested in reading the article that came out of the interview, you can find it here (but you need a subscription to WSJ). 

FINALLY going for a check-up at our family doctor. It has been a minute for me (a minute = 2 years) and 5 minutes for Brandon (10 years!) since we were last checked out. Don't be like us - get annual check ups, people! We both got thumbs up for now but are going to also get some standard bloodwork done just to make sure all our numbers look good. And I got my orders for my first mammogram too! Happy 40th to me, hah. (LADIES! did you get yours yet? Reminder to do it!)

School pictures this week! So making sure everyone looked (somewhat) put together with hair fixed before school and feeling very thankful that the photo company has a family discount for 2+ kids because no joke - everything is so expensive and I could cry. 

CT color run on Saturday morning. Rusty and Violet were our 5K runners this year while the whole rest of us manned the teal color-throwing station. We brought our Rock Blocker speaker and danced and cheered the whole time. 

Celebrating love at Kylee and RG's wedding on Saturday. (Congrats you too! love you both!) It was a beautiful ceremony and they each added soil from their childhood homes to a planted tree as part of the unity tradition. I had tears in my eyes about it; how wonderful! We had a great time laughing with our tablemates (High Ridge Hunting guides!) and even got to chat with two former students who were working with the caterer! A beautiful celebration for a couple we adore. 

Teaching personal adjectives and the SER verb in Spanish 1, Somos 9 in Spanish 2 which includes animal vocab and target structures like mira and tiene miedo de. Spanish 3/4 started the pre-reading activities for their first novel La Llorona.  

Sporting with two flag football practices for Rustman and two cheer practices for Vi. Gemma had a cheer practice and a basketball practice. It was two baseball lifts, 3 football practices, and an away game at West Shamokin for Grey (too far for me - but thank you to Momma Conn who sent me videos and pictures!) Brandon had team dinner&film, 4 football practices, and a Friday Night Lights game at Homer City (with a beautiful fall sunset as the backdrop!) Can I give a shout out to my student Kaylee W who has been painting my Majors cheerleader run-throughs every Friday for me (!!)

Making dinner with some pantry shopping because we have a bunch of stuff that we need to use up. I did major meal prep on Sunday for our packed lunches: roasted broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes to use throughout the week. For dinners, crockpot meat sauce spaghetti, sloppy joes with shells&cheese (dbl batch: one for us and one for a local family), slow cooker cream cheese chicken taquitos, ham & potato soup, chicken&veggie stuffing casserole, and take out pizza. I also made a double batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for us and my dinner drop off!