CRYSTIR

A look into what it is like to live in this wild, beautiful, chaotic whirlwind that is our life right now. one of my Spanish 3 Honors students, Mattison, is a seriously talented artist Intentional Outdoor Hours : 517 hours+  (of 1000) I've surpassed my outdoor hour count of last year (510 hrs all year!) I'm pretty sure I'm not going to reach 1000 before the end of the year, but I'm already pretty pumped that I beat last year's attempt. Always moving forward, right? I snagged some outdoor time this week in the beautiful sometimes crisp, sometimes warm, sometimes downright cold air doing all sorts of activities related to the season, including spending an evening well into dark raking and jumping into leaf piles illuminated by the light of the tractor headlights (hah!) Reading and finishing Tenth of December by George Saunders and loving it! We then got to enjoy our monthly book club night, this time at The Windber Hotel on trivia night where we ate, chatted about th...

A look into what it is like to live in our home just this minute. Intentional Outdoor Hours :  496+ hours (of 1000) I did terrible this week (only up 3 hours!) It was pretty chilly and kind of rainy, so my level of interest in being outside was at an embarrassing low. I scored some time though with football, volunteering, and playing in the yard. Reading The Tenth of December by George Saunders and eating it up. I really loved the short story Home and Saunders' ability to create characters and a world that you can become so invested in within a short story of a few pages. I lent out a few of my favorite books to one of my favorite friends this week ( Dear Mr You , Dark Matter , and Big Magic ) because we are nerds and wanna talk about all the books all the time. Beginning the new year of Sunday school. I'm teaching grades four and five again this year and Grey moved up to the exciting year of second grade (first reconciliation and first Holy communion year!) and Gem started K...

Each night as we tuck the kids into bed, we have this baffling moment where we look at each other and ask, 'wait, what just happened?' Whole days swallowed up in the fast paced whirlwind that our life currently is.  There are flashes that we hold on to: Grey cracking up about anything Rusty does and reading so fluently now, a proud Gemma announcing that she had 'no cries' at school and is soooooo close to getting on the letter wall, Violet's scrunched up nose giggle when we give her a big snuggle that turns into a tickle, and Rust Man running with arms held high and open for a hug. It is a good time right now, gosh - these kids, and their smiles and their love for us and each other; their general enthusiasm about life.  And this marriage that feels like we're camping out in a foxhole together awaiting the next attack from the kids, or life, or work - but we have each other's back so we're going to be okay.  But it's definitely a whirlwind and I'm...