Around Here 32: 08/04-10

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

photo cred: Onara C

Crater Lake, OR  photo cred: Kitty

photo cred: Kitty, a double burned forest!

photo cred: Mindy

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 428+ hours (of 1000)
Still earning plenty of time with beautiful weather and grateful for the rain we got this week too! I have some sunflowers growing in my potato plant buckets (!) and I can't wait to see them bloom. My black eyed susans are looking 

Reading Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. I started back up again on Sunday when I was down with the stomach flu because I just needed to distract and dissociate - HAH. 

Garage to Den project with nothing other than purchasing a carpet to put down there when it is done. Grey helped me pick it out and he also lugged it out to the car and into the garage. It's nice having big kids to carry big stuff! 

Stomach flu strikes! Gemma and I got hit with the pukes on Sunday - it was miserable but at least we got to quarantine ourselves in my bedroom streaming movies, reading, and sleeping. Kind of a wonderful day minus all the nausea and dehydration (lol). We watched Armageddon because I wanted to finally introduce Gem to my teenage #1 crush of AJ (aka Ben Affleck's character). She liked it just fine but was confused about why of all the cheesy rom coms we love - why would I like an end-of-the-world story the best? Which is a hilariously valid question. But remember in the 90's and early 2000's - we lived for end of times movies or at least movies where there was major disaster. (Day After Tomorrow, Final Destination, Dante's Peak, Twister, Pearl Harbor, Titantic). Like yes, give me the love story, but also make me very stressed and cry too. 

Peaches (the pup) visits! Gemma got a dog-sitting job while a neighborhood family is away on vacation and the whole crew has been loving visiting Peaches. She is the sweetest pup and Gem has been so good about making sure she gets there three times a day for walks, snuggles, and check ins. She has actually enjoyed biking down and then we pick her up after a little while. 

Blackberry hunting. The Maurers stopped by unexpectedly on dirtbikes and the sidebyside asking if the kids wanted to go blackberry picking - best kind of drop in visit! While my kids were off staining their faces purple and visiting the Maurer's show pigs - I got some much needed planning and emailing time (thank you Deanna!) Then we stuffed our faces some more when my nephews were visiting! Despite some scorched blackberry bushes, we are still finding some around us that survived the dry, hot summer! Thank goodness.

Gemmas (very very belated) birthday night swim party! Gem's birthday was back in February, so this was more like her half birthday, but I was determined to get a party in for her before we went back to school. I picked up several of the soccer girls after practice (and Violet!) and we headed to Pappy's pool for takeout pizza, fruit, and a smores charcuterie. I was in all the girlhood glory on the car ride over as the girls were all singing on the top of their lungs to every song and giggling together. They were awesome at the pool too - doing dive and jump competitions, cheer stunts in the water, and relay racing. It was a great time and I was so glad we got to officially celebrate our Roie at 12 and a half! (thank you Pappy for letting 10 tween girls take over your pool and patio for a night!) 

Celebrating Abba for her birthday. We had such a great dinner out with Abba, her bestie Shelly, Uch, and I at Applebee's on my mom's birthday. We all left with aches in our stomachs from laughing so hard and I'm sure we were either endearing or absolutely annoying to the tables around us. (lol). Happy birthday to my mumma. 

Back to school Prep! 

• Plotting out the next four weeks - when it's back to school season, I try to focus on 'making it' to Labor day - if we can get to that long weekend in tact - we'll be okay (LOL). So I taped two papers together, made a detailed planner that might qualify for psychotic status but it helps me stay on track, so let me cook. 
• School Shopping dates with Pappy. First he took Gem & Vi and then Grey & Rust got to go. Everyone gets lunch out with Pappy too. The girls picked Chinese and the boys picked Primanti Brothers
• School schedules arrived this week and teacher assignments arrived this week! 
• Reddy and Olive helped me drop off all the paperwork to the preschool this week, including their pediatric forms (why do I always forget to get those until last minute?!)
• Dentist appointments (and required school paperwork for our 7th grader) for Gem and Violet
• Orthodontist appointment for Grey to pick up his last set of Invisalign trays! 
• having kids do a last minute sweep of their dressers and closets to bag up any clothes they don't wear anymore. Donated! 
• but even still with getting rid of some clothes - the LAUNDRY. laugh or cry - I choose to laugh. 

Squeezing in all the mini dates. What is it with the end of summer that gives me that claustrophobic feeling that we didn't do anything all summer that was worthwhile and now's the time to do all.the.things!?! Just Grey and I grabbed breakfast after his orthodontist appointment at Denny's then Gem, Vi, and I stopped for coffee and Boba tea at Flood City cafe after their dentist appointment. 

Laughing at teenagers as Grey had multiple sleepovers this week because the friend group all claimed the summer was ending and it was now or never. So first the Huffmans hosted the boys, then it was a sleepover at the Conn's house the next night with swimming at the Valentine's the next afternoon. Each night, the mothers just venmo'ed or sent snacks and wished a thank you and good luck to the hosting family because teenage boys can eat and break a lot of stuff by accident (hah!) I am so grateful for those mommas that are helping to raise these teenage boys! What a gift, truly! 

Facial at Ligonier Spa for me on Friday morning as a gift from Pappy (thank you!) It was my first facial experience it was relaxing and I loved the lip shine post-facial so much, I asked for the brand and ordered one online before I went home (hah!) 

Hugs and prayers to say goodbye to our family friend, Tootsie. After a very brave and strong fight against cancer, our dear friend Tootsie passed away last week. She was one of my parents' best friends and she and her family are included in every beach vacation memory I have growing up among many other memories of parties and laughter. Her funeral service was beautiful and meaningful with the Nurses Honor Guard present. Rest in peace, Tootsie. 

Family Reunion day! We attended our annual Uzelac family reunion all day Saturday and it was so nice to spend time with cousins and extended family. Grey and B played in the cornhole tournament, Gemma and Violet ran the bingo games, and the four youngest loved getting a chance to karaoke at the end of the night. My goddaughter Mallory is growing so beautifully and we had a full blown conversation in Spanish together as she's taken it for three years at school (so proud of her!) Great job planning and organizing to my mumma! 

Kitty & Bryan PCT Update: in Oregon and she is so blown away by the beauty (her instagram post is so gorgeous and shows the real vastness of nature on the PCT - check it out!) They had to do some walking over lava rock on Obsidian Trail. The rock is spongey and hard on the feet, ankles, and legs (so not their favorite), but beautiful and an experience to look at nonetheless. 

Teaching...well not actually yet, but I am starting to get that focus zeroed in for back to school. Our teacher Powerschool was opened this week so I got a chance to get my schedule and rosters. I emailed some folks that I needed to reach out to before the last two weeks of summer hustle, and my teacher planner arrived this week! 

Sporting with fall practices in full effect. Rusty had three flag practices, Violet had two cheer practices and both Rust and Vi had their photos. Gemma had three soccer practices and is working on her taping skills for when she is a student trainer assistant for football (Rusty and I seem to be her most willing dummies to practice on- hah!) Grey and Brandon had Heat Acc week of practices (MWF 4:30-7:30p and T/Th 4:30-9:30p) - with photos and an interview with the local newspaper on Thursday night for B. We got Grey's pony league baseball uniform cleaned and turned in (thank you Becky for delivering it!), and B attended the rules interpretation coaches meeting on Tuesday night. I had a soccer booster meeting and signed up to do the fundraiser ticket and poster design! I finished up all the little details for upcoming football camp week (scrimmage flyer, awards list, roster to Ang M for the programs, proofreading the parent handout for B, and writing my letter to Grey for football camp sleepover day). 

Making sheetpan chicken fajitas, crockpot chicken pot pie, beef enchiladas, kielbasa with homemade mac&cheese, and grilled cheese sammies. B brought home soup for the puking days (hah) and we had lots of toast and crackers until we were able to eat normally again. I made two loaves of zucchini bread and a batch of zucchini cookies from our garden gifts this week. For Gem's party I made a smore charcuterie and for the reunion we brought crockpot baked beans and a roaster of leftover breaded chicken.