Around Here Week 45: 11/03-09

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

photo cred: Jeri H

photo cred: Jeri H

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 609+ hours (of 1000)
We got the kids out in a leaf pile this week as the weather is still warmish. But the evenings are shrinking as it was Daylight Savings time this week. One bonus though - the sunrises are being a little bit of a show off which is not such a bad view heading out to work in the morning. 

Reading Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

Listening to Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus until my Spotify audiobook hours ran out for the month. bleh. 

Attending All Saints day mass at St Davids for Gigi. Pappy was there with us and Gemma was acolyte. It was special and I was thankful to have that time to think about her, light a candle for her, and sing and pray together. (we miss you everyday, Gigi. love you forever). 

Having a meeting and making sure I speak my piece and be true to my self and self worth. It was a good conversation and I feel confident and proud that I had the opportunity to have it before I made any big decisions. 

So very thankful for the village we have. In a pinch when the preschool was closed for election day, our sweet friends the Hunsberger family took the babies for the day at their farm. They had the most fun playing with their son, riding the giant corn field tractor, and visiting with their animals. I was worried about how we were going to make the day work and then they ended up having the best day ever! That's usually what happens when you resolve to ask for help from people who care about you and your family - Thank you so much Jeri & Ruben!

Voting.  It has been alarming as a teacher of elementary students and a mom of little kids to see how easy they can get swept up in the loudness that has been the election season in the last few years. Commercials, yard signs, and just a general buzz of stress and panic. If you felt worked up in the weeks leading up to the election, please know all those hums of worry are making their way down to the kids; they can feel that the grown ups in their world are worked up but with only pockets of information, their little minds spin out in worry and questions. Election day at school felt like it was buzzing, the kids all knew that it was the big day and that it felt really important to the grown ups but they could do nothing about it. There was a lot of antsy-pantsy movement and trying to figure out who else had a house that was voting like their house. In an attempt to give kids a space to look for the helpers (thanks Mr. Rodgers) and hold space for them to live in wonder instead of worry - here was the election day speech I gave my elementary students and our children

Nobody has to tell anyone who you they are voting for. But everyone who can vote should vote and make sure they know who and what they care about voting for. But you know what my favorite part about election day is? Did you know that early this morning before all of us probably even woke up, there were some grandmas who got dressed, got to the polling booths, made some coffee, and put out all the stickers. Those grannies will be there all day long, keeping everything organized, so that every person has an opportunity to vote today. My grandma Irene was a polling booth volunteer, and when I grow up I think I would like to be an election day granny too! So if you get to go with a grown-up to the polling booth today, you make sure you look for the election day grannies and tell them thank you! 

Listening to the coughing and trying to figure out who needs a doc appointment and who needs more rest and movement combo. Right now in our house, we all have some form of runny nose and cough, but Grey and Reddy sound the worse. I know Grey is so beat down from football season and probably needs to sleep for 23 hours a day to heal but he is really toe'ing the line of going in for a check up! (I believe in medicine! haha, I just prefer to give our bodies a little time and rest to see if we can work it out themselves first). 

Thanksgiving decor up and Halloween decorations to the attic! 

Seeing camo. A lot of hunting going on around here in the final few weeks of archery. No worry though, fellas - rifle season right around the corner. hah. Grey, B, and Pappy spent a very long morning and afternoon in the woods on Saturday. It was Brandon's first time out this year and he said it was the best morning (without a harvest) that he's had in years; so many animal sightings, sounds, and the morning was crisp but beautiful. He was visibly rejuvenated when he got home, so I'm grateful he got to go and spend time with Booboo and his dad. 

Brunch with sisters and all the kiddies on Saturday morning. Uchie hosted and made the eggs, bacon, and tots. Kitty brought the yogurt parfaits, and I made a honey bun cake and brought most of the children including the kid coraller herself; Gemma Rose (hah). It was wonderful and needed conversation and time together like you get from no one but your sister. We laughed and chatted around her dining room table while also giving bites to tiny ones, and wiping hands, and swaying babes, and kissing booboos. It was perfect. 

Visiting my parents' new house on Saturday night and blown away how much work they have put into and to see it all nearly all together now. The upstairs is almost completely finished and the downstairs is just about finishing touches. They finally have appliances in the kitchen and almost their storage container completely emptied! It has felt like such a long time coming - they've been working on the house since January; a complete gut job! But it is so beautiful and honestly, I can hardly wait to see it as the backdrop of Christmas! Proud of you Abba and Chum! 

Teaching Me gusta / No me gusta at the elementary school. We finished week 1 and started week 2 in eighth grade Spanish expo. Spanish 1 started the first week of pre-novel Capibara, so we learned about Ecuador, got our novel vocab words, and practiced reading stories and understanding them through translating, illustrating, and answering comprehension questions. Spanish 2 started their pre-novel work learning about Mexico and getting their vocab words. They actually got to read Chapter 1 of their novel, Tumba this week too! We did Fluency Friday and made a deck of cards with 10 useful phrases that we should have in our back pocket to help us sound more fluent as speakers. Our school also had the Rachel's Challenge assembly this week and I was asked to be part of the FOR group. Very excited to see what projects our students come up with to make our school a more kind place. 

Sporting with three swim practices from Rusty, Violet had one practice and two basketball games (I kept the book for one game!), Gemma had two open gym practices for basketball, and Grey had one open gym for basketball. I did some behind the scenes booster work for both the football and the soccer boosters. Football boosters needed a menu flyer for our upcoming fundraiser at Forbes Trail Brewing (11/24!) and the soccer boosters needed tickets for the upcoming Middle school Friendsgiving dance fundraiser so I did some Canva magic and got those done this week. 

Making Pappy's deer meat, homemade stromboli, honey garlic pork chops with roasted veggies, pot roast with potatoes and carrots in the crockpot, Pappy's meatloaf, beef veggie soup with the leftover pot roast, chicken, veggie, & biscuit casserole. We took the whole crew out to eat at our favorite local inn (Tollgate) and imagine having such a big family that the waitress asked us how we wanted to split the checks. Hahhaha, it was amazing.  Reddy helped make peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and I made a double batch of cake mix chocolate chip cookies. I made honey bun cake to take to my sister's house for brunch on Saturday morning.