Day 263: Play, work, play.

As always, not much school gets done in the chaos of a toddler, but we did manage to go outside and walk around the parking lot, Abishai in the stroller with me pushing him for 1 mile worth!  And the other two rode their bikes.  Normal workload of school and chores.  It's usually a day of transition and adjusting attitudes after being at co op.  But we managed.  Then after dinner, Jared took the kids outside again so they could show him their tricks.  I didn't take the camera out today, but I will next time to capture some of them.

I decided to take selfies with the middles because I was getting jealous (yes I know jealousy is a sin) of others that naturally take pictures with their kids.  It's not that I hate being in front of the camera, I'm just too shy to ask someone to take my picture.  Thank goodness for the ability to turn around the camera on my phone!

But, I'm pretty sure I need a selfie stick.  My arms are way too small to do a great job at it.

Who knew that the first thing that the kids would want to work on would be art?  This week is about abstract art!  I think Justin understood the concept a little better than Keturah.

I think Keturah had ice cream on her brain, and she got the squares of abstract art, and her crooked smile is like abstract art I think.  I just didn't know how to explain it better so I'll leave that up to Miss Trixie to do.

Woke up to an "air quality alert" on my phone today.  What's that?! Oh, just some high pollen.  Nothing to be too worried about.

I'm sure there are worst places to be with pollen, but I know Indiana is pretty bad.    Even with a closed up house and air going through a filter our noses run pretty bad.

I happened to notice the other day that I had a Cows' Creamery shirt on with my Cows' creamery Doctor Moo mug.  I'm going to miss their clearance sale this fall.  It made for some great Christmas shopping.

Hopefully this dark color means that it's rich coffee.  You see, the mug is 12 oz and my other mug is 8 oz.  The keurig is an 8 oz machine.  So, I tried using this 12 oz carafe today, and I still think the coffee was too weak.  Hm,....

Who is this handsome fella?  Why Jared, um, almost 20 years ago!

And who is this one who is ready for his first school picture day?  Jared Jr.? Almost!  Same weight and almost the same height, too.  Yup, they are related.

And here's a picture of Benaiah at church on Sunday.  He loves wearing ties to SCHOOL EVERY DAY.  What?!  This kid wore only gym shorts at home all day every day.  Now he goes to school like this?  Wow!  BTW, Jared went through a phase like this too in high school I guess where we would wear these neat ties to school and sometimes they were Christian ones from the bookstore he worked at.  Guess what? I saved those ties from the "Goodwill" pile and kept them for Benaiah!  I'm so glad I did!

Keturah keeps asking why she has to share a room with her little brother, but then she goes and takes care of the little guy like this.  Oh so sweet!  And our neighbor lady brought us groceries, I think from the food pantry, just because she could.  And 90% of the items we use on a regular basis!  Very, very cool!  Sugar free stuff, and gluten free stuff as well.  I don't think she knows my dietary needs, so I found that an extra special blessing today.

Abishai enjoying one of the yogurts Miss Judy brought.

Not to mock our God, but it does look like Abishai is praising God.  He was talking and proclaiming about it too.  Or he just likes the canned lighting.  But Abishai is very expressive and could easily be the next Gary Johnson, passionate, wise, and full of energy.  Oh, and meticulous about everything, including making sure his hands get clean.

We haven't had a pillow fight in a very, very long time!

Abishai kept getting concerned about the state of his siblings.

Justin might be a few inches shy of 5 feet tall, but he's still lightweight enough for Jared to throw him over his shoulder like a ragdoll, lol.  Just be careful of Justin's bony knees and elbows, and rear end, lol.  Speaking of Justin, Abishai can now say, du-din,, dada, mamama, baba, but has no word for Keturah yet.  "Keturah" and "sister" are hard to say I think.