Day 332: In the dark

Well, we weren't in the dark, but a lot of our friends on PEI were and still are.  They had a nasty first snowstorm of the season.  I will miss having the snowstorms.  We get some here, but they are not as frequent.  I was told it was nasty wet outside today, but when I stepped on the porch tonight, it felt warm, so it was like a spring rain, not a winter rain on PEI.  I'm glad I stayed home today from co op, because I feel much better.  I drank lots of lemon water, hot with honey or cold and plain.  I slept when Abishai slept.  I puttered around putting Christmas books in place and I finished the mantle!  Laundry got done, too.  I wish I had more computer work done, but it's actually not a necessity right now.

Jared took the kids to co op for me and picked them up when they were done.  I'm grateful we live close!  And I'm also grateful for the moms who are very flexible.  I feel bad that I've missed a couple/3 co ops, but there's nothing I can really do about it.  Thankfully my classes are for young kids and they aren't on a rigorous schedule like the older high schoolers.  I had the littles watch a DVD story of Madeline and my math kids worked with the other two young ones with one of the other teachers on words.  Otherwise, they had  pretty normal day.  It did feel kind of odd packing up their lunches, making sure they had everything and sending them out the door to meet Jared in the parking lot because he had just come back from a breakfast meeting.  Abishai was upset that he couldn't go with them.  He even pulled down his jacket to put on.  It was very quiet around the house, and I missed my built in Abishai babysitters.  But Abishai ate up all the extra attention from Mommy and Daddy of course.

Then when they came home, Keturah did a little bit more school work and Justin decompressed from all the people time (he's just like me, introvert to the core!) by building with Legos.  Abishai wanted to play with them, so he kept bouncing back and forth trying to get their attention.  Another Abishai story from today was that he knocked some dust off the lampshade and tried to catch the dust "bugs" in the air, like he's seen Daddy kill moths and fruit flies.  Or think of how little kids catch bubbles and try to pop them.  Hilarious!  I think Abishai has a tremendous advantage of watching how his older siblings and parents live life, because he is catching on to things like that at a much younger age than the rest of them did.  He's trying to say "ice cream" and "drink" (for juice).  He sees us trying to capture his antics on our phones or on the big camera and then stops what he's doing to give a big "cheesey" smile.  He found some raisins on the floor and actually threw them away without prompting!  He helps Keturah put away the utensils (non sharp ones) when it's her turn to the dishwasher.  Oh, and he asks for a bowl when he has something to eat.  He's such a delight, can you tell?  The others are, too, each in their own way.  I guess this is what it means to be the baby of the family.

A true Johnson eats peanut butter straight from the jar, right Uncle Aaron?  We tried giving him PB on bread, but he opens up the sandwhich and picks out the PB.

Mr. Cheese!

It's hard to get work done with the cutest distraction on the planet.

Another J6 trademark: lots of dips!

It's done!  I've saved that snowman mantle lace for over 10 years for just this moment!  And I also saved those cute snowman stocking hangers for that long as well.  My mom made the stockings with each of our names.  I took one that she had made for one of our family's animals and remade the name part for Abishai's stocking.  I don't care if anything else gets decorated, THIS is my perfect Christmas decorations for the year!

Mr. Distraction again having a grand time on Keturah's leappad while she's at "school."

And here he is again, having lined up all his cars perfectly.

It was getting close to naptime though.  But he had to keep adjusting his cars.

Too cute.