Day 293: Catching Up

Yeah for days in order to catch up!  We did lots of great school work, including a writing assignment I thought for sure would give us trouble.  Nope!  I'll share some videos of the kids reading their assignments.  They listened well to our history lesson and wrote their copywork well.  Lots of playing around while I reorganized their clothes drawers.  I didn't need to necessarily go through the whole process of seeing what fits and what doesn't, because we did that a few months ago.  I wanted them to to rotate through their t-shirts since they often have favorites and neglect their lesser favorites.  Yes, they claim all their shirts are "favorites."  We have donated several shirts lately, too.  I need to redo Abishai's drawers to put the newer sizes in the right seasons in the right order.  I like to rotate his clothes as well to make sure he gets to wear every outfit at least once, especially when I find hidden boxes of a size he's mostly out of.  Whoops!  But bummers, one of the drawers to his dresser, which was my mom's, needs a little love, so I need get out the wood glue and shore it up.

I think we did a better job today of leaving Jared alone.  I tried to stay out of our room so that he could close the door and work.  Usually I'm on and off the computer, but since I was working on the clothes, it was easy to stay away.  Oh, and I am finally up to date on iPhone pics, but it's still not loading to the iCloud.  Fun times.

I haven't heard much from Gary, Leah, and Benaiah, but I think they were climbing a mountain today.  Well, maybe not Leah.  I know she will try to do small hikes that are mostly level, but she doesn't do the harder slopes.  I'm the same way.  I will include some pictures from the last few days of their adventures.

Bucket head!  And yes, always no pants because who needs pants when you have cute cloth diapers?  And who has time for pants?

We're cute mom!  Take our picture! - Justin

I WANT to start cursive, Mom! - Keturah

I know you're taking a picture, Mom! - Abishai

Abishai's new friends at dinner tonight - the baby doll my parents got Keturah that giggles and laughs and blows raspberries, plus a car with a missile in it.

You know you are a homeschooler when.....you think it's cool that in the can of salmon you find the rib bones and spine still intact!

I got a chance to look at camera straps yesterday.  This are so soft!  But I also like the ones where you can carry your camera on your side and then quickly slide it up to take a picture.  So many choices and a huge price range!

I came home and almost cried for this silly lens.  Not because it costs $200 used, but because it was my favorite lens and I specifically bought the camera package off of eBay because it had this nice lens in it.  I'm going to have to work hard to replace it.  Christmas is coming is what I told the employee at Roberts Camera.

Just thought I would take a couple of snapshots from Roberts Camera of downtown Indianapolis.  I think this is the library with a mural of ocean animals on its side.

Both Justin and Keturah now know the Chase Bank Tower (formerly the Bank One Tower) because I've pointed it out a few times.  I'm glad they can spot it now.

From Indy to California, a huge wind farm!  It was so windy that they didn't get out of the car.  42 wind farms, 3,200 plus wind turbines of all shapes and sizes and age.  They provide power to 1 million people in Southern California.  I'm glad we got to see the wind turbines on PEI and Nova Scotia, too.

Benaiah has learned how to play speed Scrabble!  The Johnsons do enjoy regular Scrabble as well.  In fact, we used to play Scrabble with Leah's mom, Grandma Cook and she would often win!  The current/usual champions are Gary (no surprise) and Shauna, who is VERY competitive.

Grandma Leah is not as competitive, but she does enjoy playing.  And we all love to play a card game called Nerts.  We can't go on vacation without at least 2 decks of cards.  Us Johnsons do have our vacation traditions!

And now for the videos:
Justin's story for word class

Keturah's story for word class

Abishai's Death Roll

I hope you enjoyed those!  I feel that sometimes I don't always write well or include everything that happens during our day.  I write the blog after the kids get in bed and my brain is usually very tired by then.  So, I hope you can enjoy what I do write and share.  No scrapbook will be perfect, right?  I used to be a consultant for a scrapbooking company and one of the phrases we used to say is that it doesn't matter what your handwriting looks like or if you have the perfect layout on your page, the point is to tell your story somehow!  So, that's why I strive to do.  I may or may not continue this blog in the same format in 2017.  Maybe I'll just update weekly.  But I do know that my kids will be able to at least look back through this past year and can know a chapter of our lives.  The kids love saying, "put that on the blog!" Or when I say, "Can I have a picture of that for the blog?" and they immediately say yes!  That's success in my book.  Enjoy!