Day 234: Gorgeous day!

All day at home, yeah! After feeling overwhelmed for the past week or so, I actually felt free to play today.  So, play we did!  We went outside twice! And got out the play dough and color wonder markers (markers that only work on special color wonder paper)! I also moved a couple more brown boxes to make art supplies and science kits more available.  I really want us to use the stuff I saved and saved over the years.  Let's use it!  But the kids don't naturally gravitate to these kinds of things, so I have to initiate any projects.  So, today, Abishai got to play with play dough for the first time!  Yeah!

It was only 75 degrees or so today, so the windows were open, and the porch door.  But we don't have a screen door and 2 hornets (maybe more) ended up in the house.  Most of us are not allergic, but we don't know about Abishai yet, so I'm always nervous about bee stings.  They just hurt anyway!  So, hopefully we'll find a solution for a screen soon.  We'll have a few more days at least of heat, so the a/c will probably go on again tomorrow.  But at least for today, we had some fresh (although filled with allergens I'm sure) air.

Otherwise, we didn't do much.  It kind of felt good after having a busy day yesterday.  Although, Keturah asked to play with Jordan again and Justin pleaded with me to take him to the playground.  Ok, then!  Maybe we need a little more social time now that we are "settled" and are almost ready to get back into a school routine.

Abishai was able to obey when we said he couldn't eat playdough.  He kept wanting to put it back into the container.  He also took tiny bits and put them on the picture seen here.  Great fine motor skills!

Yes, I'm taking a picture of you!  First time with play dough!

We taught him to squish it with his finger.  I didn't give him any tools because I wanted to a) see how he would react to just the play dough and b) get used to having it in his hands.

When I told him to bring the playdough back to the table, he obeyed!  (He also puts away his shoes when asked).

Playground time!

Mr. Monkey Justin!  Keturah stayed home and played Minecraft with Daddy.

Abishai discovered the steering wheels at the playground!

Kid quotes: Justin, "Summer is finally retreating! (his reaction to the drop in temperature today).  Abishai is the first person in our family to have a birthday each year and he has an "A" in his name, so even his name is first!"  Yes, Justin is the one who likes patterns and order.

Keturah, "(to Dad who asked about a 100 ft measuring tape use) No, I don't need a 100 ft measuring tape to measure my leg but Uncle Aaron (or Uncle PM, my brother) does!"

And one more thing, Abishai can step up and step down on a small sidewalk to driveway without assistance!  Growing up too fast!