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A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute. Intentional Hours Outside :  331 hours (of 1000) omi, I did terrible this week!  Only up 13 hours! We had a heat wave up here so the humid heat and the bright shining sun had me hesitant to take Rusty outside, thus keeping me in during the day too.  We did rack up some hours at Grey's last all-star baseball tournament on Friday night (he bawled when they lost; he was so sad that the baseball season was over!).  We snuck out to Gigi and Pappy's pool one evening for a wonderful night swim and I got out with the dogs a few days for a walk.  Must, must, must do better this week! Reading When Breath becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi  and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling with Greyson before bedtime (we're on chapter five!)  I finished The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain this week and had that feeling that I was glad it was over because I got sucked in a little too much (meaning I was igno

There's a dance craze that's been going on for centuries, maybe since the beginning of time.  It's immediately recognizable, I'm sure you've seen it and probably done it yourself.   I call it the babymomma shuffle.  you know that one? There's variations on the moves, but at it's basic level, it's a momma holding a baby and bouncing or swaying gently. I've been doing the babymomma shuffle for the past six years, almost continuously, so my body does it even when I'm not holding a baby.  It might be cause for concern. In any case, the other week in church, I handed my Rusty off to Gigi to give my arms a short break from the babymomma shuffle.  (Gigi of course, immediately started the Grandmomma shuffle - which is nearly identical to the babymomma shuffle only even more gentle and snuggly).  And there I was standing with my empty arms, trying to remind my body that I could stop swaying, when Violet reached her arms up and whispered, 'hold you me.

the big ones they are the best of friends, they are the worst of friends.  every other minute this is true with our two big ones.  they are either totally obsessed with each other; following each other around, giggling to the point that you want to smack them both, or sitting so closely together their legs are intertwined.  Or they're screaming at each other, "I don't like that!" mocking each other, tattle-telling, or threatening to never play with each other again. And the noise these two create.  Sweet baby Jesus, the noise.  There is no phrase I say more often during the day then, "please try to be more quiet."  Their regular voice noise level is set at an eight -so any kind of excitement knocks it up to about a fifteen and puts me at risk of sending me over the edge.  I know, someday it will be quiet, I know.  but seriously....it.is.so.very.loud. They are polar opposites in almost all ways which brings out the lacking part in each other.  Grey gives Gemm

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute. Intentional Outdoor Hours :  318 hours (of 1000) Up 21 hours this week (bleh, still short).  We got time outside with time visiting family and friends at their houses, kickball on Sunday night (boo, we had to forfeit this week and Booboo got a chance to pinch kick for Pappy!), family & pup walks back behind the house where we saw the blackberry bushes all bedded down from our resident black bear (!), a swim day with cousin Caleb, and Grey's all-star baseball game last night where he played second base for the first time.  Booboo's team won and Grey caught a flyball which meant ice cream....Violet and Gemma each made a huge mess of their cones; Violet all over herself and Gemma all over Sheila.  Reading The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain which I'm finding to be such a fun and easy summer read that I can pick up and put down a million times a day without being too crabby about stopping and yet also

We celebrated our sweet Rustin James at his baptism two Sundays ago.  The kids had stayed up late the night before at our friends' wedding, so I was up by 5am buzzing around trying to get every possible thing together so that we could let the kids sleep in as long as possible before having to leave for 10am mass.  Grey had a baseball tournament that afternoon, and we had kickball that night, so there was quite a bit of organizing to accomplish. By some miracle, we all were dressed and loaded in Sheila ON TIME and the only thing left to do was to get the dogs in the house....and Bullet is nowhere to be found.  hon.est.ly.  if it's not the kids, it's the animals - amirite!? Brandon and I walked the perimeter of our yard (we have an invisible fence) and called out for him for about ten minutes - finally, B spotted Bully sitting in the tall weeds way down towards the fruit trees.  After that debacle, we strolled into mass about 5 minutes late (again.  hon.est.ly). Immediately a