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With back to school and the weather (incrementally) cooling off each day, I was happy to get this next month's meal planning done.  Am I the only one that sometimes doesn't even feel like eating when it's so hot outside, let alone cooking!  It's time to get back in the kitchen and getting our weekly dinners more regular now that Grey and I are both back to school - and all of the fall activities we have lined up (football! Violet's birthday! homework!) My main goal this month was for it to be mostly easy to make the meals (still getting a hang of this part-time working, full time mom'ing of four thing) and as usual, meals that the kids aren't going to complain about too much. For the past three years, I've planned out our meals for the week nights and leave the other two meals to left overs, random stuff we dig out of the freezer, or grandmas' houses visits :)  Brandon usually takes nightly leftovers as his lunch to work (if there are any). I was tal...

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute. Intentional Hours outside :  402 hours (of 1000) Up 16 hours this week, grabbing some hours at the football field, swimming at my aunt Lisa and Uncle Matt's house (with Mya!) and lots of mowing.  It has been a summer of gnats and sweat bees though! We did learn a helpful trick from our soccer-playing cousin Morgan:  to keep gnats away from your face, raise your hand in the air!  The gnats want to be at the highest part of your body, so they'll fly all around your hand instead of your face- who knew?! Reading next to nothing outside of lesson plans (hah).  Grey and I are still working our way through our illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling a little each night before bed. Cheering on our quarterback #8 at his first flag football game.  They lost but he loved every minute of it. It was insanely hot and sunny for the game, but Rust and I hung out under a...

Greyson and I both had our first day of the new school year this week. Our first day of school was the same day, so I got up extra early and set out all of his stuff and left him a love note and repeated to Brandon a hundred times, "and take like a lot of pictures.  Like there's no such thing as too many pictures, please." After I told him I was feeling really bad about missing him on the bus, he reassured me, "Babe, it's not his first day ever, everything's going to be fine." And with eyes brimming with tears I said, "I know, but to the Mum......nope, can't talk about it with bawling.  So just give him a kiss from me.  Like twenty kisses."  Then I hightailed it out of there to my own first day. My first day went really well.  I have three sections of Spanish I (ninth graders) and they have all been mostly engaged and excited about learning a foreign language for the first time ever (many of them).  It's been fun to get to know 'my ...

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute. Intentional Hours Outside : 386 hours (of 1000) Only up 17 hours from last week, yeesh.  Thank goodness for the outdoor reunion that got us a full eight hours outside!  I picked up a few more hours from walks with the dogs and our trip to the zoo, and lots of pacing on the patio while reading my books with Rusty in the carrier trying to get him to fall asleep.  It's just been so stinking hot and humid and overrun with sweat bees (!!) that being outside is kind of not our preference at the moment.  Worst excuse ever, but alas, the truth. Reading Home Field by Hannah Gersen , just started it as I finished two books this week!  I finished When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi which was devastatingly beautiful and one that I'll keep on my bookshelf for always.  And I both started and finished What Was Mine by Helen Klein Ross this week and whew (!), that one.  I'm writing more of my...

A little glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute. Intentional Hours Outside : 369 hours (of 1000) Up 18 hours this week, and I got in about an hour of those every morning this week while taking the pups for a walk before B left for work.  It was so nice to get in some alone(ish) quiet time and outdoor hours AND physical activity AND make the dogs happy.  That's quadruple bonus there, so really it should be happening everyday....the only downside is that I have to bail on that extra hour or so of sleep in the morning, but I think it's justified, right?  (try to tell my energy levels that at about 5p, hah!) Reading When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling to Grey at bedtime - our illustrated edition arrived this week and Grey is loving having the beautiful pictures to accompany the story as well (thanks Russ for the suggestion!)  Also dipped back into (after months!) my audible while ...

ya know what no one ever really tells you before you start raising your own young kids?  I'm talking about like preschoolers to elementary school kids right now (although I'm sure it applies to teenagers by about 1000 more degrees, good grief.  Bless you mommas of teens out there!!) The thing no one ever really tells you about is that you spend the majority of your day being The Bad Guy. "No, you can't have chips for breakfast. You have to brush your teeth. Put your dirty clothes in the hamper, not just on the floor. Clean up these babydolls and sports balls! Stop spraying your sister in the face with the hose. If you can't take turns sharing, no one's going to be allowed to play with it at all. No, you can't just eat Popsicles for lunch. When you're done with your plate, take it to the sink. That's enough tv time for today. You have to practice reading every day. We don't go to a restaurant to eat every night because it costs money, eat what I ...

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute. Intentional Hours Outside : 351 hours (of 1000) Up twenty hours this past week, enjoying some outdoor time at the Cultural Village my sister created to celebrate opening day of the AAABA tournament (my cousin Morgan and I painted faces while the big kids spent almost the whole time rolling down a hill with a new friend, hah).  I took the dogs for walks a few times this week, sometimes with Rust in the carrier, or stopping a thousand times as Gemmi snagged blackberries off the bushes the whole way.  (Did you know the updated RunKeeper app now let's you create challenge groups?  My sisters and I are in competition together to see who can get 30 miles total in this month!) We headed over to Pappy and Gigi's house for dinner and another round of night swimming too! Reading When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi and Harry Potter and Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling to Booboo at night. Astonished that the ...