Around Here Week 26: 06/28-07/04

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

photo cred: Eva McD

before & after

photo cred: Peyt

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 283+ hours (of 1000)
Oof, a heat wave slammed PA this week and it was brutal with temps in the 90's (feel like temp was 98+) with humidity usually over 80%. The air was THICK and hot this week. So it was multiple trips to the farm to refresh with cold water and we froze little chicken treats too (veggies frozen in water). We swam in Pappy's pool most days this week too! 

Reading and finishing My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. We had our Lit Ladies book club at Ryan's Artisan (after hours! thank you Jacinda!) and it was a great time. I didn't love the book (Horror and campy isn't my thing, but it was enjoyable and book club saved it for me because Katelyn - who picked the book - did a DnD style game where we all had roles that went along with the book and she read it really dramatically and it was so cute and fun actually! Bravo!) I'm also still reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith which I am enjoying, I just need to dedicate more focused time to reading. Because I picked the next Lit Ladies book: Heart the Lover by Lily King and I'm reading along with the Laurel & Leaf Bookshop book club: Margot's got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe.  

Watching The Sheep Detectives with the kids and it was very cute. We watched it all together (the four littles and parents) on the back porch! The kids had so much fun guessing whodunit - we are going to have to watch more mysteries as a family! 

Summer to do list completed: 

• The back porch space is done - and just in time for our Fourth of July party! Our furniture pieces all arrived and Grey and B got to work assembling and screwing everything together. B picked up a discounted tv and wall hanger (hooray for saving money because we took the already-opened ones!)
• Grey got his eye appointment done and contacts ordered (he was the last one of the crew!)
• I emptied and cleaned out my purse
• We printed off Violet's Camp PARC peer buddy packet
• I talked to cousin Morgan in MT to help plan Grey's upcoming vacation with the Conn family and Becky and I have been chatting nonstop about packing lists and plans (!! so excited for Grey! Thank you Conns!)
• School: I started work on an ACT 48 (Professional Development class) online. I'm taking a class on family communication - one thing I know I can be better at as a teacher (I just want to be more consistent and for it to feel meaningful and not forced)
• Updated the beach vacation spreadsheet with to pack and dinner plans (thank you Uchie for keeping us all organized!)
• Well check-ups for Olive and Gemma and got all the paperwork for all the girls for the upcoming school year. (PIAA physical for Gem, sixth grade & kindergarten doctor/vaccine records for Vi and Liv!)
• I had a chiro appointment
• I cleaned off the kitchen window ledge (collecting zone for all things tiny: earrings, bobby pins, change, etc) and washed the windows and the screens

Rejoicing that all six of the kids can swim! Olive had an aha! moment and realized that the last barrier she had to swimming was being brave enough to try! She got a little courage at the Que at her birthday party last week, and then at Pappy's pool, she gave it a try and has been a little fish all week. She can swim underwater no problem - and now we are working on coming up for breaths and practicing doggy-paddling. Not that anyone younger than 14 is allowed to swim without an adult still - Rusty and Violet, even though they are incredible swimmers, still know they need to wait for a grown up - it is still an huge sigh of relief to know that everyone can swim! 

Printed off and working on editing my motherhood book! Over the last year or so, I have been collecting some of the best posts over the last 18 years of writing this blog and organizing them in Reedsy in hopes to publish a compilation of my blogposts about motherhood. This week, I printed them all off and started editing/ revising/ re-organizing to see if I can get one step closer to actually publishing the thing. Even if no one else wants a copy - I do! So documenting this here to keep myself accountable to keep working towards the goal! 

Ebensburg pool day with my sisters and the kids! A very fun day at the public pool with sisters and cousins in the sunshine. Olive got brave enough to go down the big red slide only to have a grown up man go down the slide before she came out at the bottom. Very scary for a second, she was right at the edge of the slide and he came barreling down super fast and his feet pushed her off the ledge and she was dragged under by undertow of him. He did not even apologize or come over to see if she was okay?! The young lifeguard came over apologizing profusely and asking what she needed, while the man audibly said to his buddy, "the lifeguard told me to go" with a shrug of his shoulders. Needless to say, Olive did not go down the slide again but we all still had a good time and moved on because I set the mood. I let it go (because I know we live in a time that many adults and children do not have any social decorum and I refuse to let their tactlessness ruin my day!) so we swam and Red and Liv loved touching the bottom of the 5ft area and then pushing off and the girls delight in being near their aunts and Rusty and I helped the babies practice treading water, and my little nephews were hilarious as usual, and my sisters were beautiful and funny and everything good in the world. It was a good day! 

Fourth of July Party at our house! We hosted a second annual party at our house this year with Uncle Drip as the firework master. The kids were vocal about hosting again (I debated because it makes me pretty nervous with all the potential for bodily injury, but alas, the kids win). We had lots of guests despite the rainy weather and there was enough of a break in the rain that Kev and half the football team were able to put on a great firework show (God bless Uncle Kev for directing all those kids with cool under pressure and safety. Appreciate you!!) When it was a full downpour at the start of the party, you know I deferred to putting on Just Dance on the back porch as a distraction. LOL, can't help myself. There were basketball games, the Roman Candle / Harry Potter line, sparklers galore, great conversation, and yummy food. Even Osa joined us for the fireworks to try to keep her feeling calm (kind of worked).

Graduation parties this week: we had three stacked on Sunday! All football players/friends: Jacob Bartis, Dawson Statler, and Brennan Lohr. We definitely got our fill of delicious graduation party food!

Time with family and friends. Violet had a sleepover at Bria's house. Gemma had a night swim at Zolina's house. Both Violet and Gemma had a mini shopping trip with Abba and went with the Lasure girls to see the fireworks in Somerset. Grey continued his summer with friends - he went to his friend Josey's birthday party, swam at his friend Gabe's house, visited the Que to go paddle boarding with friends, went fishing with the fellas, and went to the Millrats baseball game with the friend group. We all went swimming at Pappy's house four times this week! (it was hot hot)

Sporting with all star baseball practice for Rusty two times this week. Gemma and Grey both went to Weightlifting and Conditioning three days this week (two days were cancelled because of the parking lot re-asphalting). Gem had two soccer kickarounds, one basketball shoot around, and one basketball game. Grey had two basketball games to end the summer league season.

Making homemade pizza, chicken Caesar wraps with Instagram chicken, meatball sub sammies, ground beef tacos, chicken, veggies, & biscuits casserole, beef&cheddar sammies, and lots of leftover meals. We went out for dinner with Pappy for the unofficial summertime local wing tour - this week we tried Morris's Tavern and our teammate and friend Macy was our waitress (she did awesome!) For the fourth of July party - I made buff chicken dip, shortcake with flag themed fruit toppings, dipped wafer cookies, and Grey's best friend Bryce helped make the Firecracker 'lil smokies. For breakfast I made banana bread. For desserts, the kids helped make thumbprint cookies with blueberry and peach jam for my book club meeting. For weight room Wednesday I made patriotic monster cookies (with red, white, & blue m&ms)

Movement: I rollerbladed 4.1 miles this week. I am so proud of how much stronger I am on rollerblades now; I am having fun and much less worried about falling. Little pebbles or slight unevenness aren't tripping me up like they have in weeks past. My ankles and lower back feel stronger and more capable. And it is honestly so fun! My goals are to keep building stamina, get better at stopping, and eventually learn to skate backwards (!) My friend Renee and I are in talks about roller-skating together once a week because she also has skates and my sister Uch has been practicing on her rollerblades...are we starting a community?! I hope so!  My weighted vest also arrived this week and I have been wearing it down to the farm (weighted vests are beneficial specifically for perimenopause because the loss of estrogen increases bone loss and muscle decline...ugh - growing up is hard to do).