Around Here 33: 08/11-17

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

photo cred: Gem

selfie cred: Gem

photo cred: Gem

photo cred: Stacy B

photo cred: Stacy B

photo cred: Pappy

LOL...not even close to ready

photo cred: Colbi H

photo cred: B

photo cred: Chad R

photo cred: Uch

photo cred: Stacy B

selfie cred: Abba

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 456+ hours (of 1000)
Getting our first eggs from the chickens! We were so excited to open up the coop for the day and find two little eggs waiting for us! Yay!

Reading and finishing Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. I'm invested and will definitely read Onyx Storm (the third book in the empyrean series) but it won't be available until January 2025. I am having fun in the interim sending 8 million Fourth Wing memes and reels back and forth with my friend Taryn though (hah!) I picked The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler back up and yep, still loving it! 

Back to school prep! 

• ordering from Shutterfly: big kids' locker magnets and Brandon's office photo update.
• daycare online ordering: these nap mats and these bento lunchbox containers
• school shopping in person with the 4 littles: backpacks, pencil boxes & supplies
• daycare practice: lunchbox opening/closing, nap mat open/close, and lunch making (for me!)

Celebrating Rusty's 8th birthday (belated!) He got a one-on-two date with just me and Brandon to Molly's ice cream shoppe, followed by a round of Mini golf at Jake's! We had so much fun (Daddy won of course), but the course was honestly beautiful and so thoughtfully designed! Each of the three of us got our balls in the water and there are sticks with nets on them to fish them out! After mini golf, we headed to Walmart to scope out the merchandise before Rusty got to pick 'the grand finale' which was anything he could carry, we would buy! He snagged a bunch of WWE toys, a giant nerf gun, and a light saber! I felt a little bad that we didn't have a regular party, but he was just as happy to do something special with just his parents and then have his 'what-you-can-carry challenge' shopping spree. 

THE BIG Grocery trip & meal plan. Since the next two weeks are going to be a total whirlwind, I meal-planned and grocery-listed for the next 14 days with all our favorite, no fuss dinners and then plotted them out on nights that would make sense based off of practice and game schedules. I also scoped out ideas for preschool lunches (nut free only!) and tried to research some easy grab&go and make-ahead breakfast options since the mornings are going to be wild. Finally, I loaded up the four littles and we headed out to Aldi to do the big trip - we stopped at Krause's ice cream shoppe first though because we needed fuel, hah! The trip was fine and we got most of what we needed (I will need to put in a Walmart grocery order, but I honestly saved so much money going to Aldi and even though it was overwhelming, I'm relieved I just did the hard thing. Oh! I also put in a Sam's Club order with my cousin Heather for all the snackies that we need for Brandon's office for the kids (they start and end their school days there) - thank you Heather! 

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Planned Dinners (in case you need some inspiration): burgers on the grill with fries, sheet pan chicken fajitas, Korean beef with green beans and rice, copycat Olive Garden chicken pasta, "please make more" meatballs and mashed potatoes, sheet pan kielbasa with roasted veggies, beef taco night, chicken/veggie/biscuit casserole, Pioneer woman skillet lasagna, chicken flautas with queso blanco, and Sloppy Joes with shells & cheese

New (to us) trampoline because ours was ripped the whole way through - haha. It was only a matter of time. First, it got holes burned from sparklers on the fourth, then Grey put his knee straight through, and then the kids went all the way through - like a giant slice from end to end. Thankfully, Uncle Buck and Kuma already had one they were hoping to get out of their garage - so B went to pick it up and with the help of the kids, we got it up in under and hour. Thank goodness too because we literally cannot go a day without the trampoline! 

Hosting a birthday party for our nephew Wells. Uch and Kev started the day by taking our four littles and their boys to the trampoline park on Saturday morning. They had so much fun (while we were at the varsity scrimmage so I was grateful they were somewhere having a good time instead of bleacher brats like normal, hah). Later in the evening, the Moore fam and Chum and Abba came over to our house for yummy dinner, m&m cookies for dessert, and all the smores a three year old boy's heart could hope for! Uch made everything so special, she is the best mumma and I am so grateful to be her sister and my nephews' aunt....waaaaaaaah, crying forever. xxo love youns.

Kitty & Bryan PCT Update: they took some ZERO days in Bend, OR to rest their weary soles and souls. Who knew Bend, OR is the most happenin' town in the USA, because there were cool concerts every night they were there - they even saw Tyler Childers just hanging out at REI! 

Teacher Prepping 

• two visits to the classroom this week! First time was with the four little kids and they were mostly helpful (hah) - we cleared out a bunch of closet and shelf space and threw lots of things away which felt good but also makes me feel bad to trash stuff. Second time was to meet with my co-Spanish teacher and do some curriculum planning. I am relieved to have some ideas organized and a common plan in place and even more grateful to be working with Ella. She and I have so many similar feelings about teaching and learning languages.
• turned in my teacher laptop for updates
• created Schoology course cards & updated my page
• worked on my syllabi
• updated my teacher planner with district dates and the agendas for the upcoming in-service days
• worked on my full year curriculum map for all levels (elementary school, Expo, Spanish 1, and Spanish 2)

Sporting and it's REALLY GO TIME NOW, BABY! 

• Rusty had two flag football practices and a flag scrimmage in Ligonier. 
• Violet had four cheer practices (still working on that back handspring!) but her routine and all the stunts are coming along right on time! 
• Gemma had three soccer practices and team photos but spent most of the days at football camp working alongside our trainer Jenilee in preparation for the upcoming season of Friday Nights on the sidelines. 
• Grey and Brandon had the whole week of football camp most days 8a-5p (which included the sleepover on Sunday night, The Red&White Intersquad Scrimmage, and Family Tailgate). They also had team photos and community service on Friday. The fundraisers also went out this week - discount cards and all the contacts entered into Blast Athletics to be pushed out next week. On Saturday morning, our B, Grey, and the Varsity team scrimmaged Purchase Line at home!
• As for me: for the soccer boosters, I got to work on designing, printing, and cutting all the upcoming fundraiser tickets (90's House Party!), the football boosters had a meeting on Sunday night after the parent meeting with Coach Studer (good job B!), and I was part of the committee that planned the Red&White Scrimmage Family Tailgate - thank you to all the families who donated food and especially to Stacy and Missy on the committee! (I loved working with you girls!)

Making Texas Toast personal pizzas, spaghetti, crust-less chicken pot pie (helped comfort stuffy noses and sore throats!), buffalo chicken dip, turkey-broccoli pasta, rigatoni, chicken patties, and very yummy food from Uch & Kev for the birthday party! For Wells' birthday party I made m&m chocolate chip cookies!