Around Here Week 51: 12/15-21

 This is it, parents! The week we train for all year! Coffee and Holly Jolly spirit fueling us all the way! 

photo cred: Jackie F

photo cred: Uch

cousins!

photo cred: Shannon L

selfie cred: Olive & Peyton

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 613+ hours (of 1000)
Outside for a minute to stick our toe in the snow and howl at the moon for winter solstice! (hah). Up only about 15 minutes from one afternoon of farm chores! 

Reading A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and happy to read such an easy YA historical fiction which is perfect for this busy week! 

Listening to The Measure by Nikki Erlick and really enjoying it on my morning and afternoon commutes. I will say that I was more invested in the beginning of the story, it feels a little like we are trying to span too many people's experiences and too much time as the book continues. I still really like it, but it has a lost a little bit in the stretching of the story for me. 

Marco the elf antics: sitting in the wreath in the dining room, tied up and hanging from the lamp by two little wrestling figurines, using wrapping paper tubes as legs and my boots as his feet to hang out with Santa, drinking syrup from a straw right out of the bottle, peeking out of the popcorn tin, hanging from the garland in the kitchen, sharing Christmas coloring pages, 

Christmas movies watched: Gremlins, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (me & Grey's favorite!), While You Were Sleeping, Elf, Noelle, Home Alone

Christmas cookie baking: chocolate covered peanut butter balls (Grey helped), white chocolate covered pretzel rods, peanut butter cookies with kisses on top (Violet helped) and pulling out my Grandma's recipe cards - I love seeing her writing and thinking about her while I bake (miss you everyday gram xxo). 

Feeling oddly calm even though this is pre-Christmas week - but the way the calendar works this year, we are done with school on Friday 12/20 - giving parents a FULL FOUR DAYS until Christmas which feels so luxe I don't even know how to behave properly. I'm still trying to stay on top of holly jolly tasks so that I'm not panicking at the last minute, but this little cushion situation is GIVING ME LIFE.

New shoes for half the kids thanks to Chum! Rusty, Violet, and Gemma all got to spend an afternoon picking out (much needed) new shoes and out to eat with Chum. Gem got a special day on Sunday shoe shopping and then hanging out at Chum & Abba's house. Then Rusty and Violet got their shopping trip in and my dad also took Violet to her basketball game that night too (thank you!)

Making a Pinterest board called "Rusty's Christmas Diet" full of holiday themed milkshakes since his oral surgery to remove his extra tooth is on 12/23! He still seems pretty excited to get the chance to eat milkshakes and pudding for all of Christmas, thankfully. Praying the surgery is simple and his pain is manageable. Poor kiddo, doing everything I can to make it feel like a holiday adventure instead of a total freaking bummer. 

Dress up weeks at schools! We had three different themes most days: high school, elementary school, and preschool. I didn't participate in my school's theme days because my ES and HS don't have the same themes either, so it would have been impossible. The four little kids all worked with me to pick out their clothes on Sunday so we had four piles of clothes for each day of the week!

All of us cheering that we got a Bedford Candies popcorn tin delivered this week, an annual highlight to Christmas week from my bestie Katie. Love you, Kate - thank you for always doing this and knowing that the only way I survive this week of magic is because I am fueled by this popcorn (truly!!) 

Cousin mania in the bleachers at Grey's game at Valley. We had eight cousins 4 years old and younger in our section that night! Reddy, Livy; my nephews Wells, Heath, and Blair; my cousin Morgan's two girls (all the way from Montana!) Gracie and Nonie; and my cousin Rebecca's son Lennox! It was a squirming, giggling, heaping pile of children! Thank goodness for Gemma and Peyton who took them on multiple hallway walks and to play in the aux gym when they got bored. Thank you so much to our family and friends who always show up for our kids - love you and so grateful for your cheering face in the stands. xxo

Christmas eve mass (dress up clothes) shopping with the two oldest girls. I was exhausted, but knew that I'd feel better to just go and do it. So after Gemma's home basketball game on Wednesday, the three of us headed up 'on the hill' to Boscov's to just crank it out. The Olive, Reddy, Rusty, and B are still easy to buy for (they will wear whatever I get, God Bless them). Gem found what she wanted relatively quickly, Violet wanted to try on 12 different things. I found a top and pair of dress pants that I can wear for work too after one glance because I hate shopping and want it to be over as quickly as possible (hah). I had to call to ask B what Grey's waist size is for pants (he was at basketball practice)...I swear I know already because we just went shopping for semiformal in the spring...but B couldn't find the dress pants in the house and was gaslighting me (LOL). So I compromised and bought the black pair in the size B thought and a khaki pair in the size I thought (they were BOGO thank goodness and he can wear them for away bball games too!) In case you were wondering....Grey says the black pair are uncomfortably tight, so I was right (duh). We went to Primantis Bros after for appetizers just the girls and I and brought home leftovers and pizza for the rest of the crew and Grey got a Philly cheesesteak and 10 wings because #teenageboy 

Clapping for Red and Olive who participated in their preschool Christmas program. They both had a speaking part! (so cute I could swoon). Reddy said "It says Happy Birthday!" and Olive said "S is for Star" - we've been practicing their lines and their little songs for weeks. All the kids did so good and God bless those preschool teachers! They had a little reception afterwards to share refreshments and the kids ran around like crazies all over the fellowship hall. 

Final living room and den additions right before our annual Christmas eve party (thank goodness!) Our propane tank got delivered for the den wall mount heater. There was a leak originally, but Pappy met with the propane guy one day while we were at school to figure out the problem - they got it fixed and now it is warm in the den! (thank you Pappy!) B picked up our ottoman from the furniture store on Tuesday and now the living room is complete! 

Two birthday parties. Not only did we have birthday parties this week, but there was a special birthday too: our cousin Caleb who turned 14 this week, love that boy and so proud of him! Rusty had a birthday party at his friend Logan's house on Friday night and Reddy has his first friend birthday party! He went to ACRP Play Center for his friend Gabriel's birthday party; he was over the moon happy about it. God bless those Christmas week birthday kids (and their parents doing double magic for them!) 

Everyone everywhere on Satuday. Violet went to the wrestling tournament with the Cable family to watch her bestie Evaley wrestle (thank you for taking her!) Gemma went to WVU with Pappy to see our cousin Morgan graduate nursing school (so proud of you Morgan!) Reddy had his first birthday party for a friend! He attended his little preschool friend Gabriel's birthday party at the ACRP play center. Grey had a sleepover at the Valentines' house with chicken wings and football in the snow (thank you!) 

Locking ourselves in my bedroom and wrapping on Saturday afternoon with my sister Kitty. BLESS HER. We got everything wrapped in a few hours and laughed and chatted while the kids randomly came up and banged on our door asking if Aunt Kitty could come out to play yet (LOL). I am so grateful she was there and honestly I was putting the wrapping off but now am deliriously grateful it is just done. (thank you Kitty!! xxo).  In our house, Santa brings one present and it is unwrapped next to their pile of wrapped gifts. So they know we buy them presents. If you are at the start of magic in your house, this method has worked very well for us! 

Teaching the chaotic last week before holiday break but with the surprise mini bonus of a 2-hour delay on Monday (!yay!) My elementary students learned the song El Burrito de Belen and did some Navidad activity pages. Spanish Expo worked on the Camina/Corre unit including 'snowball' fight and post it note unscramble. Spanish 1 finished their capibara RAFT projects, and Spanish 2 finished The 33 and learned about La Lotería / El Gordo in Spain. We even did a Lotería game with food prizes and a LMA pass as El Gordo - the kids had a blast and kept walking around singing to the tune of El Sorteo. My senior high students all earned bonus points by singing Christmas carols onstage at the assemblies on Friday!  I got to chaperone the Spanish Club at a local nursing home to sing Spanish Christmas carols on Wednesday, I moderately participated in the theme days, and I got some very sweet teacher gifts from students. But by Friday, we were all - teachers and students alike - honestly barely hanging on to sanity.

Sporting with two swim practices for Rusty. Violet had three basketball games as playoffs got started. Gemma had three practices and two basketball games. Grey had three basketball practices, two regular season basketball games, and a tournament game at Central Cambria on Saturday. The all-area football team was announced in our local newspaper  and Grey was listed as Honorable mention QB along with many of Coach Daddy's CT players for various positions including Dawson Statler as second team Defensive Line! (bravo to all our football players!) 

Making baked cowboy casserole, homemade stromboli, pot roast with potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker, sheet pan chicken fajitas (at 10p after Grey's game), the girls and I brought home food from Primanti's after our shopping trip, deer roast in the crockpot, and quesadillas. I made a batch of blueberry muffins for breakfast, and 2 dozen double chocolate / pumpkin cookies for the preschool Christmas program. 

Around Here Week 50: 12/08-14

 A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home in this whirlwind of a week. 

photo cred: B

photo cred:  Onara C

photo cred: Shannon L

selfie cred: B

photo cred: Shannon L

photo cred: Jenilee L

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 613+ hours (of 1000)
The three youngest and I took the tree stand walk around the yard just to get out in the fresh air on Sunday. It was sunny but still chilly, but low wind so I was brave, hah. We found a headless rabbit (probably a hawk) and lots of footprints in the snow (bunnies, deer, birds). 

Reading and finishing Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls and really enjoying it. It was not fast paced at all, but just a good overall story and heroine and I always am so fascinated to learn about the early 20th century; pre-great depression era (ie. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, my favorite book ever). 

Listening to The Measure by Nikki Erlick and liking it a lot! 

Marco the elf: he wrote funny potty-themed version of Christmas tunes on our toilet paper in the downstairs bathroom (example: "Last Christmas I gave you my fart"), made a Christmas tree design out of post it notes on our back door window, he built a MagnaTile castle, he had a sleepover with the action figures in socks under the tree, he got stuck in a booby trap, and playing cards with action figures.

Christmas movies watched: none! to many things happening this week

Happy fishermen! Since we had to last minute cancel our steelhead fishing trip to Erie last week, the boys (Brandon, Grey, Pappy, and Jonny) all made arrangements to go to Yellowcreek on Sunday to fish for trout instead. B took a crockpot of hot sausage for sammies and they spent the day fishing to their hearts' purest content.  

Dropping off Jillian the Pilot to get patched back up again after I ran over the well water pipe. That means Lucille the Studermobile (aka our 12 passenger van) has been running all around this week in place of our vehicle. My sweet husband elected to drive Lucille around and I took the truck since I have a longer commute- bless him. xxo

Two orthodontist appointments this week. Grey got his official retainers and Gemma got brackets on the back teeth and updated her bands to light blue (so cute!) 

Three Christmas Concerts this week! First, Gemma had her middle school chorus concert (her favorite song: Winter Fantasy), Then Rusty had his Grade 2-3 Christmas concert (his favorite song: Snowman on the Lawn) and finally Violet had her Grade 4-5 Christmas concert (her favorite song: All I Want for Christmas is You)

Smiling about the era we still get to enjoy with imaginative little kids in the house. My dinner table still hosts the most incredible guests who can spare only a few minutes to eat with us. We have princesses in bright colored high heels (aka "tippy tappies") that take a break from ruling their kingdom. Two spies who pull down their mask and lay down their swords to break bread with us. Sometimes its a mother of 12 children - usually one of her babies laying face down on the table next to her plate. Sometimes it is explorer boys who have found their way back to the dinner table from a lost land of zombies and monsters, their backpacks loaded down with weapons, ropes, and hand-drawn maps. How thankful I am to meet these characters of themselves that show up my kitchen table for a few quick bites - a little time out before they head back into the land of make believe. 

Still battling coughs around here, we just cannot shake these coughs and it is really getting annoying.

Fun with friends this week. Violet got to visit the giant Johnstown Christmas Tree downtown with Evaley and the Cables (thank you!) Gemma and Peyton had their annual cookie dessert day at the Lasure house (thank you Jennilee for letting them take over your kitchen!), Violet got to host a sleepover with Bria at our house. Best of all Uncle Juice brought a pizza party to our house (him and four different pizza place options!)

Setting up our new living room! Our new couch arrived on Saturday morning! Before the delivery truck came, we had everyone helping to move the last two couches to the basement den, sweep, mop, and clear a delivery pathway. Everything looks beautiful, although we have to pick up our ottoman on Tuesday (it was accidently left off the delivery order). B and Pappy got the tv and sound bar mounted on the wall too - so it really feels like a real living room. I love 'momma's reading chair' (a swivel yellow chair) and the Christmas tree obviously gives it all an elevated cozy vibe. 

Feeling so grateful for the living room and basement den; it took almost FOURTEEN years to get to this point that we felt comfortable enough to have a proper living room. It's been fourteen years of babies and baby equipment (playpens, swings, and bouncers) taking up space, and toddlers wrecking all the things...but we have made it to our youngest being three AND having a separate space that they can eat on a couch and jump and play (the basement den). All of my kids can go to the bathroom by themselves, they can dress themselves, every child is capable of a real, meaningfully helpful chore. I am living in a vastly different familial landscape than ever before. It finally feels relatively safe and realistic to have a space that is properly grown up cozy. If you are in thick of raising little babies and toddlers. And if  you are overwhelmed that there is so much stuff and so much mess and so much broken - GIRL, you are good. you are exactly in the right development of family life!! It will come, but right now you are getting through the physically exhausting, extra equipment demanding, and the tiny human relying and learning stage....it is absolute chaos. You are good. Keep hanging on momma - you will get there, but it takes its good 'ole time.

Teaching the elementary students about Jose Feliciano (writer/singer of Feliz Navidad) and we did color by number Navidad themed papers to practice Spanish color words. I got a new group of 8th graders in Spanish expo. Spanish 1 finished the capibara novel (!yay!) and took the book final. Spanish 2 finished up Somos Unit 12 including their Bolsa presentations and started watching The 33 Movie. I took some time on Wednesday night to tutor a local student in Spanish. We met at the Thomahawk and we went over some verb conjugation, made some manipulatives to practice sentence creation, and I made her some graphic organizers to hopefully help during her online Spanish class. 

Sporting with one swim practice for Rusty (his cough is still making it hard to swim without cough breaks). Violet had one basketball practice and Gemma had three basketball practices, a shoot around with the Varsity team, and two basketball games. Grey had two basketball practices, a a shoot around, two regular season games, and then two games at the Mt Cat tournament at UPJ. I signed up to provide snack for the Jr High girls at their away game on Thursday and I got my assignments for concession stand duty for the Varsity boys basketball boosters. 

Making pork roast with sauerkraut in the crockpot, taco pasta, a pizza party from Uncle Juice (thank you!), copycat Olive Garden chicken over pasta, cowboy ground beef over roasted potatoes, pierogies & kielbasa,  For sweets, I made chocolate/ pumpkin muffins for Sunday breakfast and a double batch of peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies.