Fishmas 2016!

We celebrated a wonderful Fishmas this year...wait, do you not know what Fishmas is?  It's the first day of Trout fishing, of course!  It was the second weekend in April this year and perfect timing as Grey loves to fish and it falls right around his birthday every year.  Fishmas for us is a big deal and something we look forward to every year - holding traditions for each of that are memorable and meaningful.  

Late on Friday night (Fishmas Eve), Greyson and Brandon doled out their hugs and kisses to us as they headed out to sleepover at fishing camp so they could be in the creek for the official start of the season.  While the boys were on their way to Bedford, the girls and I loaded up spent a fun evening at our family friend's house with the women 'left behind' while all our guys were at their respective fishing camps (hah!) Gemma and Violet were thrilled to hang out in the hot tub with Sybil - and we got to eat yummy snacks and chat with our friends long into the night (super long! we didn't get home until almost midnight!) 

The next morning, I was awoken by my annual 'first day of fishing' selfie from B and Greyson and an update that Grey had slept good but was up bright and early and eager to get out on the stream!

For the record, Grey is obsessed with fishing.  I'm talking big time.  B said he was in the creek for almost the entire day and was casting and reeling in all on his own.  He still needed some help with baiting the hook, but besides that - he's a little pro fisherman already.  He caught a bunch of fish and played with his cousin Reid and tuckered himself out so much that I got this picture of him passed out on the porch around 5p on Saturday afternoon! HAH.

As for the girls, we spent the first day of trout hanging out in the sunshine before meeting Gigi at Saturday afternoon mass.  Then it was on to OUR annual Fishmas tradition of pedicures and dinner; just the girls.  Gigi is the only sister among three boys, and then only had Brandon - so her days of waiting for girls was well overdue.  It makes our Fishmas tradition just a little more special knowing that Gigi has been waiting all this time for our daughters and sharing these girly kinds of special treats together! 

By happenstance, we were seated right across the aisle from family, out celebrating a birthday.  The girls were so thrilled to be able to switch back and forth between the booths and get to spend time with cousin Lainey, Uncle Dave & Aunt Cindy, and Cara & Bruce. (and Gigi and were happy to have the extra hands and attention for those two girls, especially Violet who get particularly antsy in restaurants!)

On Sunday afternoon, the girls all headed out to the Bedford fishing camp.  We got lucky with another beautiful day and we even got to sink our toes in the creek for a little while (it was absolutely freezing).  Gemma and Audra were overjoyed to see each other again and didn't leave each other's side the entire time of the visit, even holding hands for most of it (I died like twenty times at the sweetness of it).  Grey and Reid were proud to show off their fishing skills to us, and as always loved spending time together roughhousing and acting goofy.

We pulled out the bikes and scooters and let the kids ride up and down the camp road.  We threw leaves and flowers into the creek to watch them float peacefully away.  Ray grilled up some delicious dinner on the grill and we all enjoyed the meal and company under the brand new roof and deck that the boys had been working on for the past few weeks - finished exactly in time for opening day!

This reminds me so much of one of my childhood favorite movies, Now and Then, that I could cry.

April always holds a bright spot in our yearly calendar.  Not only because it's our first born son's birthday month (!) but also because of Fishmas, which is like a real life holiday for us.  Oh Fishmas, we love you.

Screen Free Week 2016 Reflections

We lived to tell the story of our Screen Free Week again this year: our fourth and easiest participation yet!  Since our first year, we have steadily made screen awareness a part of our lives as a family and as a parents and because of that, we've removed screens from the equation in many instances of our day-to-day already.  So Screen Free Week isn't a big deal for the kids (at all), and a welcome refresh and reboot to us as the parents - as we find ourselves every year at this time in need of a wake-up call on our screen dependency (most often our smartphones).

For us, the parents, Screen Free Week proved this year to be a welcome reprieve from the heavy reliance we slowly accumulate during the year (especially the winter months).  I don't know what has been up (the election coverage? the negative and fear promoting news articles?) but I have been feeling pretty down lately, but couldn't seem to stop scrolling before SFW.  So, it was so nice to feel like I was somehow 'off the hook' of being in the know.  I needed the break from all the nonstop coverage of everything and everyone.  I needed to take away the feeling that I was obligated somehow to respond or 'like' or comment on things (totally made up obligation, but it sure feels real). 

I got chores done, I read (a lot!), we got in extra sleep, we woke up earlier, and were a lot more patient with each other (and ourselves) as there wasn't this weird pressure to know all the things all the time. 

For the kids, it was mostly a regular week for them with the exception of the "Happy Screen Free Week" sign hanging on the tv and that I hid the iPad on top of the refrigerator (out of sight, out of mind) so that took care of the temptations for the kids.  They went about life fairly regularly; attending Greyson's games, working on homework and 'projects,' watching our caterpillars turn into chrysalis (!), playing outside, and finding things to do in the house when the rain drove us inside (playing games, reading books, etc). 

We did have some special things planned for the week.  The favorite of which was the night the big kids got to make dinner all on their own for Taco Tuesday!  Grey browned the beef and added the seasonings and Gemma was in charge of making the (instant) rice and heating up a can of corn.  I gave them each a little checklist of items to do so they wouldn't argue over who got to do what.  Their lists also included things like putting chips and salsa into bowls, setting the plates and silverware out on the table, etc.  They asked if they could light candles for our 'feast' and so they worked together to do that as well (such big kids!)  

We sat down to dinner in the dining room with the candlelight and the kids were so proud.  Of course, Brandon could not help himself from teasing them saying things like, "I don't like this food, make me something else," or "this is gisgusting, I want cereal," because seriously, every night one of our children makes those comments when WE make dinner (hahha).  The kids did their best to impersonate us too: "This is the dinner we made and you have to eat it!" 

Gemma actually was on a very big cooking kick (since forever but especially) last week.  She was constantly asking to help make food all week including potato soup, adding chocolate chips to our pancake dinner, and making our chocolate chip cookies.  She also has repeatedly asked at any meal, if she can sit on the counter and watch me cook - she is so eager to learn how to prepare and cook food!  Maybe we have a little future chef on our hands? It has my wheels turning that maybe she needs some more time in the kitchen with child-friendly recipes for lunch.  That sure will come in handy in a few weeks when their baby brother arrives!

The girls and I headed out to the library one afternoon with my children's book wishlist in hand.  They were thrilled to discover the library's playroom was open during our visit too!  I let them play and then we got a chance to browse books and I picked up eight children's books to check out for the week.  Alas, in true pregnancy brain fashion, I hadn't switched the key accessories yet from the truck to our new van keys, including our library card!  So, we actually couldn't check any of the books out!  Hahha, they weren't too upset considering they got to play and then after leaving we met our Aunt Uch out for lunch - so it wasn't such a big deal, and it was the reminder I needed to finally finish that key task! (done!) 

To get their bodies moving on Saturday while Brandon was at work, I took the kids to Stackhouse park to hike and play in the creek.  They had a lot of fun running wild and jumping over logs and pretending to be spies.  I have to say, the hike and out was brutal for this big belly of mine (!sometimes, what am I thinking?!) but it was good to get everyone good and worn out - and get outside after a long gloomy week.  The big kids got a chance to hike 'by themselves' on the way out - they took the trail that was wooded while Violet (in the stroller) and I hiked out on the road-type trail that runs parallel to the wooded trail. 

And on Friday night, we had a special 'no electricity' night where we kept all the lights off and traveled around the house with candles instead, "like the olden days!" After dinner, we moved the candles to the living room and ate marshmallows and told 'spooky stories' and made hand shadows around the inside fire.  We definitely would have done it outside, but we were trapped in by the rain (enough to cancel Grey's baseball game that night!) and it worked out just fine.  

As in SFWs in the past, our kids are always tuckered out through the week, falling asleep in random places during the day and going to bed early.  We were ALL in bed every night last week by 9:30p!  Which was a big win considering we almost due for the Rotten first 8 weeks of newborn next month!  Violet took multiple naps on the couch last week and Grey fell asleep for a nap after school one day before we had to wake him up to go to his Spring Concert (very unlike him)! 

Using their little brains all day long and playing so much makes for sleepy, worn out kids which is always a welcome (and needed) reminder from Screen Free Week.  Their brains and bodies get the work-out they need when they get a break from screens! 

Mother's day felt extra special because it was kept to ourselves.  (Although, personally I missed seeing all the pictures of my momma friends and their babies until Monday!)  We got to spend time with Gigi on Saturday night and Abba on Sunday; just enjoying their company and celebrating them in our lives.  We made some memories that were just ours for those days.

The morning after we had planted a bunch of new flowers around the house, the kids came up with the idea to first go out and sketch the new plants and then take my camera out and take pictures of each.  I had no clue what they were even talking about when they were trying to explain it to me, but then I was actually cracking up looking at their drawings including the names of the flowers copied from the tags and their photos.  The whole thing lasted about an hour and they worked together and completely independent of us to do this weird investigation they made up at 8:30am.  Perfect example of SFW at its finest!

stinky fertilizer on the grass seed! haha!

My favorite part of SFW is always to see how the kids figure it out - they find ways to have fun and explore when the option of zoning out in front of a screen is removed.  They play with toys they haven't touched in ages, they make up weird games and inventions (including a pulley/basket system they rigged up in our laundry shoot for toys!), and best of all - they work together because it is a lot more fun to play with someone than to play alone.  There is always teasing and arguing, but more than that (by a lot) is laughing and silly memories made.

So, Team Studer (as in years past) is giving Screen Free Week two big thumbs up!  It was a needed and wonderful break from screens that has given us the perfect reminder that balance is what is needed in all parts of our life - including screen time! 

Did you participate this year - how did it go?  I'd love to hear - share your thoughts or your blog reflections in the comments! 

Around Here Eighteen: 4/29-05/05

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home right this second.

Intentional Hours Outside: (122 hours of 1000)
Up 12 hours from last week, but it was a fairly gloomy, chilly week here and I know it curtailed our outdoor time which was a bummer, especially being SFW.  We still soaked up time at the baseball field.  We can't complain too much about the rain though as all of our trees and bushes are now in full bloom.  Finally, from our mountaintop we see green again instead of brown and gray trees with no leaves!  Our azalea bushes are sporting big, beautiful magenta flowers, and all of our yard trees have started to grow leaves.  It's definitely starting to look like summer around here, we're just anxiously awaiting the warmer weather for it to feel real.

Reading The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv and Bradstreet Gate by Robin Kirman.  I finished this week Name All the Animals by Alison Smith which I really enjoyed.  It was tragic and pulled at my heart more than once, but it was also beautiful and real and raw.  Very glad I finally took it off of my to-read shelf!  I also finished one of our May books for the Inspired Readers book club - The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth.  Finished that one in two days (!) such a captivating first real 'summer' read that was light and 'big bite' consumable; I literally gobbled that story up but didn't feel too full afterwards, just happy.

Catching a movie on Sunday night (right before Screen Free Week started!) for our cousin Gracie's birthday.  She, Greyson, and I went to see The Jungle Book in 3D and it was an amazing movie, but they are not kidding when they say it may be too intense for young viewers.  Grey was stressed for a lot of it because they animals really do look real and there is a lot of suspenseful parts.  We held hands, he closed his eyes, and I kept whispering to him to remember that we already know how it ends - that Mowgli is okay - but that didn't help too much.  So, this momma is calling the movie too intense for at least my six year old.  Grace (8) seemed okay, but I still warned her parents to maybe debrief before bedtime (hah).  Super great movie though, honestly!

Riding bikes, scooters, and pushing strollers over at the high school parking lot a few times this week because it gives the kids lots of energy release while I slowly waddle behind them.  They love going over there with all the room to go fast.  Violet likes to switch it up with riding in the umbrella stroller and hopping out and pushing it herself.  We celebrated Arbor Day there ('tree day' as Gem says) by stopping to hug trees along the parking lot and looking up and on them for creatures that use the tree for their home (we saw birds, a squirrel, and lots of bugs).

Cheering Grey on this week at two baseball games, his 6 year well check, and his Spring Concert at school.  It was a big "Go, Booboo! Go Booboo!" (as Violet chants) week over here.  He is really getting into baseball and we can see him getting slighter better at each game.  He has moved to the pitcher's mound now (machine pitch) and says he likes it better there because, 'there's more action.' HAH.  His concert was adorable and a whole bunch of our family came to watch as the kinders and firsts sang songs from their year in music class.  Grey even surprised us with his involvement in the Green Speckled Frog song when he was one of the kids selected to hold up his frog from STEAM class to go along with the song.  He was proud, mostly of how he kept it a surprise for us!

Getting in a lot of family time this week as our village comes together to help us in this final pregnancy stretch.  Pappy secretly mowed our grass for us while we were out last weekend because our tractor has been broken all spring and our grass honestly is out of control.  And Uncle Dave and Aunt Cindy are using their farm and handyman experience to help us get our tractor fixed!  My parents had the two big kids over for a sleepover last Friday-Saturday including planting plants and fishing!  And then Gigi took Gem to a bridal shower and my sister Uch watched Violet on Sunday.  My Mum came to babysit the girls while I headed out to my prenatal appointment and when she left our house was markedly more clean than when she came.  Gigi and Pappy brought snacks, Gatorade, and helped corral the girls at Greys' baseball game.  Mimi, Gigi, Abba, Chum, and Aunt Uch all showed up for Grey's spring concert! We had the movies with Grace and a playdate with Caleb, and Aunt Uch and Kevin took Grey out for his birthday game of Glow golf!  It was such a great week of family and we so appreciate it as everything feels slower and more difficult in these final five weeks of waiting for Studerbaby4!

Making pancakes for dinner one night because that's where I am in this stage of my pregnancy, hahhaha, bailing on dinner plans and going for easy and something no one will complain about.  We also had Loaded Potato Soup in the crockpot that was delicious - it makes a really big batch, so I've frozen the leftovers for post-baby (score! only four more freezer meals to make on my to do list now!) We also made a double batch of loaded chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and to get rid of some leftover bananas, a kid favorite: banana oat cookies (with chocolate chips this time because we are fresh out of dried cranberries, boo.)  The big kids made, all by themselves!, Taco Tuesday dinner for us one night in honor of Screen Free Week! (more on that later this week).