Around Here Week 13: 03/23 - 29

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

photo cred: Megan M

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 34+ hours (of 1000)
The weather was chilly all week and really bringing me down (for real - I need sun and warm, it's an emergency to my mental health at this point). I sat at Grey's baseball game under two blankets and with a winter beanie on and was still shivering. And then FINALLY on Saturday morning, the warm rolled in and it felt like a real glimmer of hope! Spring is that you? please, oh please, oh please. 

Reading Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Listening to Know My Name by Chanel Miller

A happy half birthday for Violet who was 10 and a half this week! We measure her, had her choice of dinner, and dessert and sang happy half birthday! She always has big expectations for everything so in general everything is disappointing to her (LOL - SAME girl) but we are working on managing disappointment with grace and figuring out a way to hold high expectations for herself but giving grace to everyone else if they can't meet our expectations....it's a work in progress! 

Solar panel installation! It took two long days, but all the panels are installed on our roof! We have to wait now for our electric company to come in and inspect them and when they give the thumbs up - they will get switched on and will start working towards collecting the sunshine to use for energy! 

Looking ahead to the April calendar and feeling like maybe it's trying to overdo it. HAH. We kick off with Reddy's 5th birthday (and Mimi's 87th!). Then it's B's annual fishing trip with Uncle Jonny, followed by the first day of trout (Grey's favorite day of the year). Then it's Grey's birthday, then my nephew Blairy's FIRST birthday (!!), and Easter! Don't forget about AYSO practices twice a week (I'm coaching 2 teams), Grey's high school baseball games, Violet and Gemma's Laurel Highlands fútbol games (Sundays), Rusty's first Holy Communion, and Gemma's first junior high semi-formal! Osa is getting spayed, two dentist/ortho appointments, and a doc visit. We have a 50th wedding anniversary party and a bridal shower in there too! Like April, you're doing too much, girl. 

Doctor visit for Reddy who has been battling a cough and fever all week. He has a bit of pneumonia and got on antibiotics which should knock it out of him in a few days (before his bday, I hope!) He missed a few days of preschool this week but was overjoyed to hang out with Chum and Pappy instead those days (thank you grandpas!) Reddy is usually my sickest kid, my little c-section baby who never got that last little bit of his momma's beneficial germ biome on the way out! Poor buddy! 

Thank goodness for Lamont who got almost everyone looking fresh with haircuts - Even Gemma and Violet got a much needed trim from him. We love and appreciate you 'Mont!! 

March Madness brackets looking a little rough at this point. B and I fell asleep and then woke up in the last few moments of the Houston/Purdue game to see that awesome out of bounds play by Houston. Bummer though because Grey and I had Purdue winning the whole thing! 

Youth Mentor Fishing Day! We got a great day with clear skies at fishing camp (it was cloudy and rainy at home). Pappy took Grey, Rusty, and Reddy out first thing in the morning. Kevin and the Moore boys met them out at camp along with Mr. Roberts, Jake, Uncle Ray, Butter, and Logan! It was a great morning on the stream!  (thank you Pappy! - me and the girls went to field clean up for the LHFC and B was at a football coach's clinic at Penn State). The girls (plus Violet's friend and teammate Bria!) and I headed out after volunteering with walking tacos, Gatorades, and cookies in tow. Red had a little meltdown (so tired and just wanted to fish nonstop - very grateful that Kev and Pappy could get him to calm down, he really just needed his momma "I just missed you!" he said when I got there). We had lunch over the fire, ran all around in the open air. Reddy is obsessed, Grey was so happy, and Rusty is nearly independent (only a couple snags in a tree, hah). 

Teaching at Eagle View some new spring vocab words with a walk-around the room discovery. My 8th graders finished up their last week with me and taking a real vocab test and then I got a new set of expo kids on Friday - the second to last group because Friday was the first day of Quarter4 which is awesome and unbelievable. Spanish 1 finished Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro and worked on the final projects and did a final conversational speaking assessment with me. They were all so nervous, but they did great and I was so proud. Spanish 2 learned about mentiras and cacahuates and Las Abuelas de la Plaza Mayo from Somos unit 16. 

Sporting with spring season on the horizon. Violet had two Sparks soccer practices, Gemma had a Gators soccer practice and lifted 3 days this week. Grey had one baseball game and three baseball practices. Brandon had a Franklin basketball game on Sunday, and on Saturday morning he went to the Penn State football Coaches seminar with Coach Chad and Coach Dig. The girls and I spent Saturday morning at the Kidsport fields helping to prep for the season. On Thursday, the kids and I attended the AYSO Meet the Coaches night where we got to see our teammates and review all the expectations for the season. I'm coaching Red & Olive's 5u team and asst coaching for Rusty's 10u team this year. Vi will play 12u and Gemma is playing 14u. I am slowly filling my planner with the game schedules as they roll in and it's going to be a doosie! Hahha, thank goodness for family and friends and team families who squeeze in to help us get a cheering face in the stand for all the kids! (we love and appreciate you!) 

Making copycat Olive Garden chicken pasta, take out pizza, pork & sauerkraut with cheesy potatoes (Aunt Dar's recipe - thank you!), Korean beef with rice and green beans, slow-cooker chicken taquitos, sloppy joes, shells&cheese and roasted broccoli.  I made a batch of peanut butter power balls for Violet's half birthday and for Mentor youth fishing I made walking tacos for lunch at camp. 

Sourdoughin a proper loaf for my sister Kitty and making another for our house. I made discard chocolate chip cookies for the week and then another batch for Mentor Youth fishing because they are so yummy, easy, and quick! 

15 years of motherhood

Dear me; 15 years ago; the new mom, 

hi. it's you, from the future with six kids (!) The biggest one is turning 15 and I know that seems impossible as you look at him in your arms and he smiles at you like you raise the sun each morning.

It feels impossible to me and I am out here living it! 

I wish we could sit together and chat about all the things. I know you'd have stories that I forgot all about in the chaos of life. Would you tell me about staying up all night and diaper rash and introducing the baby to rain drops on his tiny palms for the first time? 

I would love to tell you about how awesome these kids are, how much they make me laugh and feel proud, how raising babies was so physically exhausting and now bigger kids is emotionally exhausting. How the current stretch of motherhood between 15 years old and 4 years old feels like the Grand Canyon but also the very best of both extremes in raising kids.

I could tell you so many things - but I also know that it's hard to know until you actually know. 

And, truthfully, I don't want to ruin the reveal of it all.
Just know it is going to be a wild and beautiful ride. 

What I will tell you is that after 15 years, I have learned that

what works today probably won't work tomorrow
and definitely won't work for the next kid

Everyday is figuring it out like it's a fresh new challenge
Everyday is being worried (some real worries and some imaginary because moms be like that at 11p)
Everyday is joyful surprises and aching heartbreak and laughter so deep it shakes your insides

There is so much talking and so much touching and so many questions
There are so many things that are broken or sticky or colored on with marker or have slime on them
There is never not laundry. Girl, the laundry - you have no idea.

no one knows where anything is but you
no one knows the right snack
or which jacket has the itchy tag
or which book is for bedtime
but you

there is a lot to be said about motherhood
mostly that it goes by so fast
don't blink!
I'm sorry to report - that part is actually true

One day you try to teach your son which velcro shoe goes on which foot and
the next day you will slide your son's shoes on to run outside and they will be too big for you
One day your daughter will wear clippity clappity plastic high heels through the house and
the next day she will ask to borrow your clothes and they will fit her
One day you will be flipping tiny clothes right side out from the dryer and
the next day you won't be able to tell your son's sweatpants from your husband's

The truest thing I can tell you after 15 years of motherhood is
there is no manual
there are no failproof tricks
there are no shortcuts

there is only you
and the connection you have with them

so in a way I have come to see that
the connection IS the manual

look them in the face
laugh with them
play with them
give them grace

they want a witness to their life
mumma, look!
mom, watch this! 
mom, can you do my hair?
mom, did you see the score on my test?
mum, will you be at the game? 
be a witness to all of it
the honor of your life to sit front row
while they keep looking down from the stage
mom, did you see that?
most of it is beautiful and wonderful and funny and exciting
don't look away when it is scary or awkward or uncomfortable
see them and connect

make sure they know deep deep to the deepest part of them
there is nothing they could ever do that would damage that connection
there is nothing they ever have to do to maintain that connection

there is no secret
no manual
no trick. 

there is just you and them.
in all the chaos and mess and 
LIFE
you get to be the one who raises the sun
you get to be theirs
honor of my life

good luck out there,
I hope it goes a little slower for you than it did for me,
xxo
me

Around Here Week 12: 03/16-22

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

dressing room selfie cred: Gemma, Peyton, and Colbi

photo cred: Kelly D

Intentional Outdoor Hours: 24+ hours (of 1000)
The wind this year has been relentless and our house has taken a beating. On Sunday before the big storm hit, Brandon was out on the roof trying to figure out a solution to the siding flapping and hitting all of our windows (only 2 year old windows!) Every night this week, Violet has asked why the wind sounds like that (both because it is actually very loud but doubly so as it slowly tears away the siding piece by piece). We lost a big pine tree from the Sunday winds (fully uprooted!)

Reading Cuckoo Clock Land by Anthony Doerr

Listening to Know My Name by Chanel Miller. Just absolutely incredible.

SCF Challenge - brunch at Uch's house. So much gabbing and coffee sipping and all the good soul-filling things that happen when sisters have time with each other. gah, thank goodness for them. I am so lucky to be their big sister. 

No luck catching the leprechaun again this year! Violet, Rusty, and Reddy worked so hard on the trap this year. The hot glue gun working overtime to make the tiny pipe cleaner ladder, the gold-yellow paint to make faux gold pieces out of stones. Inside of the box, they set up a tiny drop fall trap. A trap within a trap! But alas, that sneaky leprechaun escaped again!

Smiling at the selfies that Gemma and her friends sent from the dressing room as they shopped for the upcoming spring semi-formal. They went on Monday which was a day off from school and they got Pappy to drop them off at the mall and then chauffeur them to Ulta and Main Moon for Chinese buffet afterwards! I know Gigi was smiling away thinking of Pappy taking Gemma and her friends to the mall for semiformal dress shopping. Grateful for you, Pap! 

In-person meeting with my mentee and she is doing incredible and I am so proud to work alongside her. We worked through some plans for her first novel teach and talked about end of year mapping so that she can breathe easy through the last quarter for planning. I loved hanging out at Starbucks with her talking all things curriculum and lesson planning. Thankful for that grown up teacher hang! 

Wishing a Happy Fels-Naptha Season to all who celebrate!

March madness! Everyone got their brackets filled out for our friendly family competition that is worth nothing but pride (hah). 

Pulling out the Easter decor and putting away the St Patrick's stuff. All of our favorite Easter decoration is this hilarious chicken that "lays" eggs and sings "Momma Hen, back again. Squackin' Walkin' Let's begin. I'm about to show you how it's done. Baaawk, Lay an egg it's so much fun!" It's stuck in our head from now until Easter but we kind of love it. 

Speaking of eggs, the chickens are fully back to laying again and we are loving all the eggs. I started fulfilling my weekly egg request from a fellow teacher at school and our parents have been snagging dozens every week or so. Yay for henny girls! 

Sleepover for Violet with one of her besties Lillian. Lillian plays on Violet's Sparks soccer team and it is extra sweet because Lillian and Violet played soccer together on their very first 5u AYSO team with Coach Momma/Coach Tab. Lill and her parents still call me Coach Tab (adorable - love you guys!) Even though she is Violet's friend - you would have thought it was Olive's special playday. She followed them around and Lill was so patient and sweet with her. #LittleSisPerks! 

Individual kid photos because I haven't updated them in at least a year. I have them sit in front of the white batten board in the dining room facing the sliding glass door (good natural light). The big kids are pros and come plop down and get ready to laugh (or fake laugh- hah! I'm telling you, PROS) until I get the one we both can agree on. Reddy and Loopy are still learning and ask a million questions about why we are doing it and move around all over the place so everything is blurry. We pulled it together and got it done! 

Fangirl season with local high school's musicals in full swing. I attended my students' musical at Somerset on Friday night. They put on Shrek: The Musical and it was incredible. So proud of my kids and I was laughing for real and smiling so much to see all their hard work come to life. On Saturday night, the whole family headed out to the CT show which was High School Musical. So many of the kids' classmates, teammates, and friends were in the show. They did a great job and Olive has not stopped singing "Get your head in the game" and saying Red can be Troy and she'll be Gabriella since then! 

Teaching a "watch" week at the elementary school (Gr4&5 watch Legend Quest episode) and Grade 3 watched a Wild Kratts episode about sea turtles..as everyone finishes their sea turtles - hah! Spanish Expo worked on their infographs for geography week and took the big map test. Spanish 1 read chapters 5-8 in Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro including making fortalezas in class, a dictation quiz, and a perspective flip activity. Spanish 2 continued Somos 15 and working on quehaceres vocab. We had a 4-day week with an Act 80 professional development day on Monday too!

Sporting with two Sparks soccer practices for Violet and two Gators soccer practices for Gemma. Grey had three baseball practices and two baseball games (hooray for baseball weather holding up in mid-March!) Gemma and Colbi were the yearbook photographers at Grey's home baseball game and Gem got some awesome action shots - she is really getting good! (proud of you, Roie!)

Making steaks on the Blackstone, spaghetti with meat sauce, church picnic chicken on the Blackstone with airfried zucchini and parm buttered noodles, General Tso's popcorn chicken over rice,  egg sandwiches and bacon for dinner, For St Patrick's dessert we had Marshmallow Lucky Charms krispies and then another batch later in the week because the kids were asking for more (hah!) I also made Paula Dean's monster cookies because these kids are starving and peanut butter & oats help keep bellies full between meals.

Sourdoughin with discard chocolate chip cookies, discard blueberry muffins, and preparing a loaf (fold and stretch all the live long day, hah)