Around Here Week 19: 05/10-16

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

photo cred: Candace M

Mother's day charcuterie by Gemma

photo cred: Jenilee L

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

photo cred: Michael O'Ship

end of year shenanigans

photo cred: Deanna M

photo cred: B

photo cred: Jamie K

photo cred: Candace M

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 123+ hours (of 1000)
I love you, spring. welcome back. 

Reading and finishing Lost Man's Lane by Scott Carson. I really enjoyed the book and laughed a lot of the time thanks to the character Weller specifically but also just the narration of a teen growing up in the 90's. It was spooky at times and supernatural and really great characters. Giving Stranger Things coming of age vibes - thank you Russell T for the recommendation! Next up is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. It has been great so far and I am flying through it (graphic novel). Thank you Jenn V for the borrow! Two coming of age stories back to back with polar opposite settings and experiences!? wild. 

Listening to The Johnstown Flood. I also scheduled our Path of the Flood book club meeting for Wednesday of next week so we can discuss the book before the race on Saturday! 

Proud to stand with our Gemmi who was confirmed at St. David's on Sunday morning - a perfect Mother's day start! The mass was beautiful and Ms. Christy said kind and heartfelt words about each confirmand. A big thank you to all the youth mentors and teachers at St Davids - we appreciate you so much. 

Celebrating Mother's day with Gemma's confirmation, Violet's sparks soccer game, and then my favorite foods at home (perfect!) Gemma made me a charcuterie board (you know your girl loves to be snacking!) and B made so much food on the grill - all my favorites: chicken, shrimp, fried rice with green onions on top! So many sweet texts from mom friends who I am grateful to walk alongside in this journey of motherhood. I will take the pampering, but it is honestly the privilege of my life to be their mother and his wife.

School stuff this week 

• Violet performed a solo in her spring concert
• Rusty had a speaking part in his spring concert
• Red & Olive enjoyed carnival day at PreK with a petting zoo, helicopter and fire truck visits, snow cones, and lots of games
• Reddy & Liv got to visit the book fair at their school
• Violet participated in the Math24 competition and made it to semi-finals
• I ordered the babies' preK graduation outfits

So thankful to make it to everybody's stuff, even if only for a little bit. Many of the days this week were stacked with multiple activities, but through the grace of the universe and some logistical planning I was able to make it to see all the kids do some of their stuff. Monday alone was Gemma's softball game, Grey's parking lot send off for the Heritage championship baseball game, Coaching Olive's 6U AYSO soccer game, Reddy's baseball game, Violet's solo at her spring concert, and then rushing out to Marion Center (55min drive) to catch the last two innings of the championship baseball game - and they won! Thank goodness for grandparents and teammates who helped make sure all the kids got to where they needed and had cheering faces for the entire length of their activities. Our schedule is definitely full, but our hearts are even more so. 

Smh because how did this outside cat become an inside/outside cat? Nova is living his best life running wild and free and hunting all the things outside and then takes long cat naps in the house (he loves the hallway closet upstairs, Olive's bed, and the yellow chair in the living room). The land of no rules because we all cherish snuggles and creatures too much. 

Outside work day on Saturday so that we could get started on spring chores. Brandon and Grey stained/painted a bunch of things that needed some TLC (back porch posts and shutters) and everyone pitched in to mulch the flower beds around the house. I spent over an hour brushing Osa which she loved so much. We moved some seedlings to outside and did a lot of mowing. Grey and B even got the string lights hung up under my direction (hahhaa, they love that) It looks refreshed and ready for spring around here (at least on the outside of the house! hah!) 

Happy birthday party to my baby sister Uchie. We hosted Uchie's party and I made the cake, but Kevin did all the planning and food prep! We hung around by the fire ring eating delicious food while the kids all ran around and played. We had got the string lights up just in time for the party (thank you B and Grey!) so it was all the right vibes while Gemma manned the playlist. Happiest birthday to my babyiest sis. 

Time with family and friends: Rusty got a sleepover and fishing with his friend Liam, Violet had a birthday sleepover at Lillian's house. Grey went fishing with his buddies too. Heather and I had an end of the year lunch together in my classroom with sandwiches from Awakened Brewery (delicious!)

Teaching and really feeling the end of the year looming. I am sporadically seeing my elementary classes as they are bouncing around on field trips, but I got to celebrate with them at the end of year carnival day (where the PTA gets the teachers a coffee from the Tom's Coffee truck - yay!) The high school students had state testing this week, so the week is all off for scheduling - I missed two of my classes three times this week due to the scheduling changes. 

Sporting with two 6U AYSO soccer games for Olive and Coach Momma. Reddy had one coach pitch youth baseball game and Rusty had one youth minors baseball game. Violet had one sparks soccer practice, two Sparks soccer games, and as a 'mathlete' she participated as the only girl on her team in the Math24 competition where she made it to semifinals! Gemma had one Gators soccer game, two softball games, and her last softball practice with the end of the year pizza party. Grey had one baseball practice, two baseball games - including the Heritage conference championship game that they won! Heritage Conference Champs! He also had his sports massage with Miss Emma this week. We all got to line the school parking lot on Monday afternoon to lead the baseball team out on their way to the championship game with cheers and honking! I got Rusty signed up for fall youth football, and scheduled everyone's well checks for the summer months so they could get their sports physicals for next season. 

        Gemma pitched for the first time ever (in her whole life) at one of her games this week and it was the epitome of what we believe is the value of sports as a parents. It was brutal, she's never pitched in a game before (practiced pitching for only the first time this season at home and at practice a few times) but her team needed her. It was brutal...brutal because pitching is just hard, because everyone at the field is literally looking at you do something you don't feel confident doing, because the entire game hinges on your performance. (It's still nerve-wracking to watch Grey pitch and he's been pitching since he was 9 years old). But despite the pressure, our girl HUNG IN THERE. She tried, tried, and tried again. She walked plenty of players, she struck out a few, she took deep breaths, her teammates gave her encouragement, she looked to her coaches for words of guidance and she tried so many times that the merciful other coach had his players make intentional errors to get out of the inning (which she was embarrassed by because she just couldn't make it happen herself while I was sending gratitude vibes to the coach for being so gracious about it). It was one of the bravest thing we've watched Gem do in a long time. She stuck it out and just kept trying. She kept herself composed on the mound, took a breath and faced the batter time and time again. At the end of the inning, she sobbed in the dugout out of frustration, out of disappointment, out of shame that she couldn't just do the thing she wanted her body to do. I got to hug her and said, "That was so brave!! Your team needed you and you stepped up to do it even though it felt like an impossible task! There is no shame in the way you held you head high and didn't give up. We are so proud of you!" 

    At Grey's championship game, he went to the mound to pitch the last two innings. I knew his shoulder has been bothering him and I sat wide eyed as he walked out there with the game on the line. (mommas to pitcher, IYKYK). He stayed calm and level headed, even as the game was incredibly high pressure. At one point, the count was full and the batter hit (I'm not even kidding) five foul balls - I knew Grey's shoulder was killing him, but he took a deep breath and shook it out and locked in to his job for his team. In the bottom of the last inning in which the game was tied up, I was wishing with all my might for a run - please don't let him have to go out again...I knew he would though, he would do what was needed for his team. God Bless, Brycey Conn (one of Grey's best friends) who hit the walk off RBI. When I got down to the field after the game, I gave Grey a hug and was overwhelmed with the smell of Biofreeze (thank you Reedy Conn for loading him up!) 

That is why we value sports: of course, it is great to win, it is cool to be athletic - but sports expose and exploit your weaknesses and if you have the mental toughness to not give up - you get to stare the challenges in the face and say, "I'm going to try anyway." When the pressure is on and your teammates and coach are looking to you and saying, 'we need someone to keep their head even when the stakes feel high. We need someone who is going to help lead us to glory or carry the burden of defeat, can you be that guy?' and THOSE are the skills that serve you for the rest of your life. 

Making instagram chicken with rice, meatball sub sammies, sheet pan chicken fajitas, beef ramen, take out pizza from Martin's (our fav!), spaghetti, For Uchie's birthday I made funfetti cake with homemade whipped cream icing and Kevin brought delicious food (burgers, shrimp, crab cakes!)