A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this moment.
 |
| photo cred: Candance M |
 |
| photo cred: B |
 |
| the "beautiful tree" |
 |
| photo cred: Stacy B |
 |
| photo cred: Stacy B |
Intentional Outdoor Hours: 469+ hours (of 1000)
It's starting to be a little camo around here with prep season under way. All the boys headed out to the woods to set up trail cams and hang tree stands on Labor Day - therefore, happy fellas! We got more time outside on the fields this week too.
Reading and finishing Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. I absolutely adored it, the premise is so absurd but the writing so beautiful and fantastical that you are able to get to such deep feelings on love, grief, loneliness, fear, and longing. It was so beautiful. Next up is Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West which is a book that Gemma bought for me for my birthday. I brought home They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera from my classroom library for Gemma to read for her first independent read of ELA.
some of my favorite quotes from Shark Heart:
"but Wren did not know how to enjoy anything, only perfect it."
"And you know in eighth- grade science class, when they teach you that matter is not created or destroyed? Only rearranged?....Maybe we need to know these things young, because maybe we're the matter being rearranged. Maybe it's us." "You and me?" "I hope"
"The ache felt like a material object lodged inside him, and while he could momentarily distract himself from its presence, the pain was always with him."
Listening to The Story of my Life by Lucy Score for one of my book clubs!
We made it to Labor Day and that is always a mini milestone in my book for the back to school stage. Everyone got a little toe back into the water and we are figuring out schedules and working through the kinks in the day to day. It is not a well-oiled machine yet in any sense of the word - but now we have a better idea of how we can work things out since we are out of the 'unknown' stage. So yay for us!
Updating the fridge calendar for the month of September. All color coded and filled with mayhem of fall sports!
Did I ever mention "Beautiful Tree" on the blog? It is a big, gorgeous wild black cherry tree on my commute into school. It is right across the road from a big red barn right in the middle of Somerset County farm land. Everyday I pass it on the way to and from school, I shout, "You're beautiful" and blow the tree a kiss, and now with the two babies we all do this little ritual on our commute to and from school each day. Her name is 'Beautiful Tree' and she makes our commute have a daily dose of gratitude for natural beauty; our friend the tree. We also say hello to an adorable donkey along the drive too. He's so cute!
Visiting the high school for Grey and Gemma's open house night. I got to follow their daily schedule to stop in and hear from each of their teachers about the curriculum and expectations for the year. It was a busy evening (hopping between both of their schedules to try to catch as many classes as possible) and always nice to see friendly faces from other parents and teachers. I sure do love our school community and am so grateful for all those people who pour love and support into our kids every day.
Giggling about the keychain surprise I had in my mailbox from my elementary school secretaries. They gave each of the teachers one to celebrate the start the year - a tiny dumpster fire. Hhahha, just a reminder that you can smile like tiny dumpster fire even if everything is chaos. Makes me smile every time I get my school keys out.
Time with family & friends: Red and Olive got to spend the evening at Uch & Kevin's house with their cousins so that I didn't have to cart them all the way to River Valley for the football game (thank you!!) Rusty got to drive out to the football game with Abba & Chum because he had a late Minors football practice on Friday afternoon. Rusty & Vi got to spend the day with their friends the Cables Violet got to attend the Penn State Women's soccer game with her friend Lillian and her family (Evaley went with them too and then half the Sparks soccer team was there also!) We all got to spend time with family and friends like Uncle Jonny, Ninna, and their kids Tessa and Tristan, Aunt Mar, Uncle Terry, and cousin Wyatt, and Coach Sybil - when they all came to the football game.
Teaching with another four day week thanks to Labor Day. I love the slow introduction back into the school year - I think we all need it (teachers & students!) My elementary students continued finishing their Mano flowers and then we started on classroom expectations for session 2. Spanish expo finished their intro week and started on week 2 learning about Corre and Camina and working on some writing. Spanish 1 worked through Somos 1, practiced numbers, and learned Los Pollitos Dicen song/dance (always a favorite). Spanish 2 started on Somos 8 and learned Cielito Lindo and got their food vocabulary words. I made them some Mexican street corn dip to try in class during our podcast on Friday and it got mixed reviews (hahha)
Sporting with three Minors football practices for Rusty and one cheer practice for Violet. The youth league played their first game at Meyersdale on Saturday! Violet also had one soccer practice Gemma had two jr high practices and two soccer games. Grey and Coach Daddy had team dinner and family, four practices, and a game at River Valley.
Making meatloaf, kielbasa and sauerkraut sandwiches, buffalo chicken dip, crack chicken sammies on Hawaiian rolls, Pioneer Woman lasagna, Mongolian meatballs over rice with green beans. For breakfast I made banana bread and I also made a batch of chocolate chip pecan cookies. To prep for team dinner (on Sunday), I made and packed up the mini zucchini bread loaves and prepped the cowboy cookie dough for team dinner too.
Perimenopause is kicking my butt still (tired, moody, water retention, forgetfulness, restlessness at night, negative reactions to various foods and drinks...it's basically mayhem inside my body and brain right now and I'm blaming literally everything on perimenopause). But I've started this week adding lymphatic movements first thing in the morning (5 different moves to get my body awake!), walking 10,000+ steps, and focusing on getting 20-30g of protein at every meal.
