Around Here Week 5: 01/26 - 02/01

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

photo cred: Jackie F

photo cred: Ang K

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 8+ hours (of 1000)
We got a little Studerbabies Farm visit on Sunday from a family who had a Christmas tree to drop off and wanted a visit with the animals. It was nice to get everyone outside and meet some new friends. (100 Small Things # 28)

Reading The Martian by Andy Weir

Listening to NOT my book, ugh. My Spotify audiobook listening hours ran out for another 11 days, bummer. So I started listening to the Telepathy Tapes Podcast in the meantime. It's wild and interesting!  

Thankful for a kid-free basketball away game on Monday night when my parents offered to keep all the kids at their house to get homework done, eat dinner, and get showers instead of traveling and getting home late. So appreciated by us and by the kids who love spending time at Chum and Abba's house. Thank you mum and dad - a much easier evening than it was originally designed to be! 

SCF January challenge: coffee & snackies. We met at Kitty's house and sat around eating girl dinner and chatting for a two and a half hours. What wonders it does to be with sisters just chatting and laughing and crying and changing the subject a million times mid sentence. xxo

Bedtime woes; per usual. Bedtime is just such a struggle when kids are antsy pantsy and want all the things (another hug, another drink, 'I just remembered I need for tomorrow!') All four youngest are in the same room (double bunk beds) so that at least has everyone with Mom, but by the end of the day when I'm so exhausted but know I still have some closing-up-shop chores downstairs - it is so defeating. I know, I know, I know...it doesn't last forever (look at my two big kids who give a kiss and goodnight every night all on their own!) Just because I will someday feel nostalgic and miss these long, long, long (never ending) bedtimes, doesn't mean it can't be actually hard and frustrating right now. 

Wishing everyone a happy Year of the Snake for Lunar New Year. We celebrate by making Chinese inspired food and trying to remember all of our animal signs for the years we were born. 

Crossing my fingers that the stomach bug doesn't run the gauntlet on the whole house. So far, it was just Grey on Friday night. Please, please, please don't pick us off one at a time! I knocked on the bathroom door and peeked in at him on the floor next to the toilet and he looked up at me and just said, "please just leave me alone" Hahha - been there dude! Definitely a sign of a big kid though to not want me there talking him through it and rubbing his back. Motherhood is small fissures in your heart in the strangest moments of realization. 

Gathering photos and interview answers for our Star Pre-school Student of the Week: Redland! They will be making a little poster of his answers and photos to display at preschool this week and I think he gets to be the line leader too. He was proud and we are too! 

Enjoying a quiet Saturday afternoon at home while B took all the kids (except a recovering Grey) to visit at his Dad's house. I worked on the family yearbook, finished up some paperwork, and read some of my book. I also got an obnoxiously long shower at the highest temp it would go. Glorious I tell ya! 

Letting the teen teach me something. I took a walk out with him so I could see how his climbing treestand works in real time and actually whoa - pretty cool and not what I was expecting. It was fun to get a little one-on-one time with him.

Teaching the first full week of school since the holiday (unbelievable!) Elementary students learned about El Ekeko and the Alasitas Festival in Bolivia. I got a few extra class periods free this week while the grade levels had a movie trip - so I took advantage and prepped future lessons and updated the word wall in my elem classroom. My Expo students finished week 1 and started some writing in Spanish, including everyone's favorite paper snowball activity. Spanish 1 watched Ferdinand this week while doing daily recaps using Spanish. Spanish 2 started their next novel El Ekeko and played a spirited "Marker Game" of Cierto / Falso. I switched the seating chart so on Mental Health Thursday, the students had a silent rebellion by placing most of their post-it notes in the "I'm not okay" area (LOL).

Sporting with one swim practice for Rusty and one Sparks soccer practice for Violet. Gemma had three basketball practices and three basketball games. She is confirmed for a 15u travel team for soccer this spring (go Gators!) Grey had one baseball pitching practice, three basketball practices, and three basketball games and his Varsity team secured the 2-seed position in the conference, so they are headed to semifinals next week! Brandon had his Franklin basketball game and I got to see him play and chat with a former student who now plays on his old man team. Let me tell you the disorientating feeling of having a former student be old enough to play on your husband's adult rec team...good grief (proud of you Andy! You'll be my student forever, haha!) I got five of the kids signed up for AYSO in the spring and enlisted myself as a volunteer head coach for 5u and asst coach for 10u if needed! The Varsity football golf outing fundraiser date is confirmed for July (thanks Coaches! Glad to get the group message back up and going, hah!)

Making baked deli sandwiches with cheddar, bacon, ranch potatoes, meatball sandwiches, cheddar and beef (fake Arby's) sammies, General Tso's popcorn chicken with rice and broccoli to celebrate Lunar New Year (year of the Snake!), copycat Olive Garden chicken over noodles, sheetpan apple / chicken sausage, gnocchi, and veggies (so yum for the adults but all the kids hated it). I made beef veggie soup with leftovers and I made Pioneer Woman's skillet lasagna too. I made a dbl batch of peanut butter power balls too! 

Sourdough update: using my Sourdough wishlist supplies and prepping a proper sourdough bread. I also prepped a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread for Sunday morning thanks to the mentorship of my friend and sourdough starter gifter: Bobby! I also made some cinnamon sugar donut holes with some leftover dough! 

Around Here Week 4: 01/20 - 01/26

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

photo cred: CT media class

photo cred: Onara C

photo cred: Onara C

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 6+ hours (of 1000)
Extreme cold prepping the farm with lots of straw in the goat houses and extra bedding in the chicken coop. We fed all the animals a little more than usual so they would have full bellies to stay warm. I did cave though, and brought Osa in to sleep in the basement den the night it was -20 even though I reached out to our local goat farm/Great Pyr mentors and scoured the webs about it and everyone said, Great Pyrs are completely fine with their double coat in extreme cold and they were built for this! Plus Osa sleeps right in the house with the goats with all their straw and extra fur and hot breath (hah!) But at night, when she was out there barking and working (pacing the pasture if she smelled animals in the woods), I was laying in bed streeeesssssssssed about it! So I bundled up at midnight and went out and collected her and brought her in because I can't un-mommabear myself!? She looked up at me like "you're weird mom, but okay." and then in the morning she dragged us back down to the pasture checking on all her goat babies like, "is everyone okay? that was not my fault - mom made me do it!" 

Reading The Martian by Andy Weir and realizing I'm going to have to buy a new copy to return to the kids' teacher Mr. Kramer because I carry books with me all the time - so they get tossed in my school bag, and carried up the steps in laundry baskets, and fetched by toddlers when I forgot it in another room... and basically just used and abused all day everyday. Gemma saw some tears on the cover and was like, "Mom!! You cannot give that back to him like that!?" LOL, never not embarassing the teens. 

Listening to Funny Story by Emily Henry very cute. liking it a lot.

Having a lowkey day mostly at home on MLK Jr day. We headed home from our weekend getaway at Blue Knob and I was so grateful to have a built in extra day to plan logistics for the week. The kids and I talked about MLK Jr on the ride home from Blue Knob (they told me facts that they learned at school, "mom, did you know...?").  Other than that, I tried my best to avoid social media to be honest. 

Two Flexible Instruction days at home with six  kids - LOL. It was chaos and loud and a lot of food was consumed - but we made it through! We have YET to have a full week of school since we've been back in the new year!? Our kids have paper packets to work through and they were pretty good about helping each other when needed - because I have to zoom my classes so I sequester myself up in my bedroom with a makeshift standing desk of the ironing board and a plain background of the wall and my door. I get enough breaks in the schedule that I can make breakfast and lunch and check in on everyone (and give everyone a chore or two! hah) but the day feels uncomfortable and something we just try to get through.

Donuts with Dads for B and the babies at preschool. They were so proud to have him there! We are very grateful for their teachers and little friends - they've been having a great experience at preschool this year and learning so much. They are always excited to show us their 'work' after school and love when it is their snack day. Thank you St. David's Learning Place - we appreciate you! 

Grateful for modern medicine when Brandon called about a rash that has been making him crazy this week to find out it is Shingles!! Turns 40 and gets shingles - honest to goodness. He's been pretty miserable, but thankfully it is just on a limited stretch from his back, through to the side of his chest. He got a prescription and he's trying hard to ignore it. 

Sending the meatballs to the roller skating rink with the Cables. The elementary school puts on a roller skate night each year and for the past few years it has fallen on a basketball game night. Thankfully, our dear friends the Cable family requested Rusty and Violet to go with their kiddos (thank you!!) 

Teaching another non-full week (haven't had a full week of school YET in 2025!) No school on Monday for MLK Jr day, then a Flexible Instruction day for Tuesday AND Wednesday (sub-zero temps) which meant online work and zoom meetings with my classes right at the end of Q2 which is kind of frustrating with grades and missing work - but here we are. Elementary school is still getting through winter vocab because I've missed their classes with delays and FIDs. I got a new batch of eighth graders since we switched quarters! Spanish 1 learned about bullfights and Spanish 2 did some pre-novel work in preparation for reading El Ekeko. 

Sporting with three swim practices and then Division Championship meet on Saturday in Slippery Rock for Rusty. Gemma had four basketball practices and one basketball game. Grey had one baseball pitching, three basketball practices, three basketball games. I learned on the fly how to be a timer at a swim meet (!) I also got Gem signed up for a travel soccer team for the spring.

Making chicken cordon bleu pasta, enchiladas, pork roast with sauerkraut, homemade stromboli, frozen chicken fries and french fries, sloppy joes with mac&cheese and baked beans,  Gemma made homemade granola for her yogurt ...I was really stretching the grocery store visits which had us using up all the ingredients. 

Sourdough creations after nursing her back to health because I went right into it treating her like an adult instead of a newborn (hahh). This week I made sourdough cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and homemade stromboli dough. B ordered my sourdough wishlist supplies (bread box, mixing bowls, Dutch oven, kitchen scale, etc) that I had in the Amazon cart even though it's No Buy January (!) because he needed a tractor part. 

Around Here Week 3: 01/12-19

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

photo cred: St David's Confirmation class

photo cred: Gemma

photo cred: B

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 6+ hrs (of 1000)
It was a relatively nice day on Sunday, so I parked at our local deli and walked to pick up Gemma at the church after her confirmation class (double win - time outside and steps!) She was happy to walk with me back down to the car since I promised a stop at her favorite micro coffeeshop Cafe Dodie. Then the snow fell and mother nature was NOT messing around. So very grateful for our winter tire upgrade on Jillian just in time! 

Reading The Martian by Andy Weir. The science! I love it!

Listening to and finishing The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and it was perfect! No notes. Thank you, Shelly, for introducing me to it - I really loved it. I started Funny Story by Emily Henry 

Acquiring my first ever sourdough starter from our friends Bobby and Serena. Violet helped me name our sourdough starter "Sourdough Sabrina Carpenter" so that we can sing "please, please, please" to her. LOL. (100 Small things # 66) The selfie I took with the starter has me thinking, "It made me look like a psychotic poodle" - Guess that movie! xxo

Annual check ups for B and I to go over our bloodwork and general maintenance (hah). All went well and we are both looking good!

Winter tires for Jillian, our Honda Pilot and what a difference! I am so grateful to have them on even though it was a big expense we weren't planning on spending. 

Introducing myself to my Spanish teacher mentee. She is brand new fresh out of college (graduated in December!) and teaching my former students at my old school. I am so incredibly grateful that they have her and very humbled and touched that I was asked to be her mentor. We got to chat over email and we will be meeting a few times in person for the rest of the school year and as many times as we want / she needs through calls and chats. (100 Small Things # 87)

Much needed haircuts for the boys. At one of Grey's basketball games this week, I turned to B in the bleachers and I was like, you need to text Mont! Look at our son - this is a hair cut emergency?! LOL, God bless Lamont who always does right by my fellas and makes everyone looks so sharp. xxo

Laughing so much when I told the little kids that we weren't eating the appetizers from Applebee's until we got home and Olive said with fear in her voice, "But Grey will be there!" Hhahaha, if you have a teenage son then you know that fear is VALID! (lol) I assured her that I ordered him a completely separate amount of food and that she would be guaranteed some appetizers. Girl, same though.

AKT + kids weekend at Blue Knob (100 Small Things # 84 ) Endless thank you to Katie and Michael who were the most incredible hosts and to Karpy and Matt who made the long drive up from NC for the weekend! We lounged around and laughed and shared food and everything was comfy and relaxed like it only ever is with friends who have known you so long and loved you through all the different phases and stages of you. How much I wish Katie, Karpy, and Tab from our senior year of college could peek in on us now with our early bedtimes and giant bowls of guac feeding all these kids of ours laughing over board games with the same fellas shaking their heads at us. Violet said to me on the way out, "I know they aren't our cousins but I call Sophie & Charlie and Andrew & James our cousins because they kind of are, right?" I told her yes, they are because their moms are too dear to your mom to just be friends. Words usually can barely contain the real feeling of a thing. You call them whatever will help get the closest to the feeling of it! 

Teaching another NOT full week, hah! We had a two hour delay on Wednesday and Friday due to drifting snow and it is such a blessing to have a 2hr delay when the rest of our family does not (haha, sounds evil) but that means that I get to see everyone off in the morning - fix the girls' hair, make a little something for breakfast, check backpacks and give kisses. We also got out an hour and half early on Thursday!  The snow has made most nights and mornings a waiting game to see which schools will get the call! On the days we are in school though, we are getting in the learning! Elementary students got new winter vocabulary words and my 8th grade expo students got their classroom object vocabulary. Spanish 1 learned about clothing vocabulary while Spanish 2 reviewed question words. I was honored at the Varsity Wrestling teacher appreciation night too by my student Addy alongside many colleagues. They had a ceremony and then they revealed who our wrestler was that picked us (it was a surprise!) I even got a wrestling spirit tshirt as a gift! Thank you Addy for choosing me - I love being your teacher! 

Sporting with three swim practices and the Sprint for the Duck swim races on Sunday for Rusty (he won 2 ducks!) Gemma had two practices and three basketball games this week. Grey had one baseball pitching practice, two basketball practices, and three basketball games. All these games have my washer working overtime on jersey duty, yeesh. 

Making Pappy's meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn, "crack chicken" sandwiches, Hawaiian meatballs, General Tso's popcorn chicken over rice, copycat Olive Garden chicken over spaghetti, and Applebee's appetizers (using gift cards - still upheld No buy January!) I also did my meal prepping for the work day: protein packed breakfast burritos, taco rice bowls, taco salads. And with my sourdough starter I made 2 loaves of sandwich bread, cinnamon rolls

Sourdough update: my first two loaves of sandwich bread! Still trying to get a hang of when to feed and how much and how often and if I can put it in the fridge and when and what a paint smell means and how watery is too watery and when to stir and when to discard. The learning curve is EXTREME over here right now, but thankful for the internet and my sourdough mentor Bobby!