Day 344: Mix ups

Phew! Another crazy day, with everyone going this way and that, with some unexpected bumps in the road.  So, let's backtrack and see what happened, shall we?

First off, Keturah had a dress rehearsal for the musical she's in called, "Meet Me at the Manger" which she will be performing with the Children's Choir.  It's at Indian Creek Christian Church, southeast Indianapolis, at 6 pm if you want to join us!  There will cookies and drinks afterward, too.  Jared didn't realize what time they were leaving, so it was a hurry up and go kind of wake up.  I stayed home with the boys, and we started to putter some more decluttering and prepping for family to come.  Gotta love Christmas time because it makes you clean your house as you decorate!  Speaking of decorating, Keturah rearrange her lights AGAIN because I found a strand of icicle lights (that blink in all kinds of patterns) hidden in Justin's room.  Both rooms need some Mom TLC, and I need to help Justin and Keturah both with one last corner each.  Not perfect clean out, but just simply putting things back where they belong.  I had made sure that everything I took out of boxes fit on the shelves and then I stopped taking things out.  Thus, there are brown boxes in everyones' rooms.  We decided to cover them up with flat sheets to make it look a bit nicer.

Lunch was leftovers, and we did a great job clearing out them out.  Then it was nap time and showers.  Jared left with the boys to go to church at 4pm because they were going to Benaiah's friend's house for a holiday party at 5:30 or so.  Well, Jared barely made it to Gary and Leah's with the truck.  The clutch is not engaging properly and it takes him several times pumping it for things to happen.  So, there it's going to sit until we can find a mechanic.  The clutch itself is new, so it's something probably with the other mechanisms.  But here's the funny for the evening.  We often trade cars/borrow cars with Gary and Leah.  So, Jared thought his Mom was already at church with his Dad and decided to take his Mom's car to church when he had to leave the truck.  Well, Mom was still at home!  So we both get these texts from her saying, "How am I going to get to church to babysit in nursery at 5:30?"  Whoops!  She said she went out to the garage to put something in the recycling bin and noticed it was gone.  She thought, ok, maybe I left the car in the driveway.  She peered out the front window, and um, no car!  Whoops!  So, Jared had to go back to the house to take her to church.  What a goofy situation!  I'm glad we can laugh about these silly mix ups (whereas some families would be really mad at each other for them).

Church was a quieter service, with candles lit, and several quieter praise songs mixed with Christmas hymns.  Sweet.  Then I went to pick up Abishai and he had a completely different outfit on.  They said he had a dirty diaper, but I think it was just that the cloth diaper was so full it leaked because I saw no evidence of other stuff.  There were extra pants in the bag, but not a shirt.  His shirt got wet because it was a onesie type shirt.  Then I discovered that they had to use a regular diaper from the nursery because I had forgotten to restock the bag with them!  Oh my goodness, I had no idea!  So, tonight I restocked the bag with diapers and snacks and took out other odds and ends (like summer hats) to make it lighter.  Sometimes, Mommies just forget these things.

Abishai got to wear another hat that Grandma Howell made, and it fits him better than the blue one.  He actually leaned towards me so I could put it on.  He also said, "Cold," when Keturah gave him a bite of ice cream!  And he says, "Cookie," too.  Lots of new vocabulary lately.  Fun!  But also lots of tantrums, too.

Benaiah and Justin stayed at the holiday party for a long time with Jared, and then they were going to sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's so Justin could go to Sunday school.  I'm not sure if Benaiah had to do the volunteer kiosk or not.  Then tomorrow, I have to brave the crowds and go to the grocery store and dollar store for last minute items for tomorrow and Monday.  Oh, that's because Mr. A aka Cookie Monster, opened up the red snack bag that had some sandwhich cookies in it, and helped himself to 3 cookies for breakfast!  No one else was in the kitchen area at the time to stop him.  Cookie thief!  But he only took 3 and wanted a bowl for them, too.  We laughed and let him eat them, but I have put up the bag now so he can't reach them.  It could be so much worse, right?

This is Keturah's program she is involved in.  Come and join us! 100 kids or so! 

Abishai, aka, the Cookie Monster

Crazy after bath hair plus a creeper

Ms. Interior Decorator incorporating a new element - icicle lights.

I didn't take a whole of pictures of the kids today, so I thought I'd show you what "clean" rooms look like.  Here's Abishai's and Keturah's dressers.

And now Abishai's crib and the closet (with the corner that still needs work).

We cleared off the toy box and covered up the brown boxes with a sheet.

Justin hasn't been able to find his CIY string bag/backpack that he likes to use for overnights for a few weeks now.  Well, Mom finally took the time to thoroughly go through the corners around the bottom bunk and lo and behold, she found it!  Then we put all the books and magazines back on the shelf.  AND we found more socks and pants and shirts that needed to be washed.  Justin!  Come on! I'm so tired of finding the dirty socks everywhere.  It's because he flings them and his shirt off as soon as he gets home and the shirt could be worn again, so he just doesn't think about putting the socks in the wash either.  Pre teen boys!

The other side of the room.  And the corner that needs to be finished up.

Somewhat clean living room.

Except for the big brown box that needs to go back to storage, I moved the big gate to behind the table so we can accommodate any guests over the holidays.  Abishai is loving having more access to the table and the piano.

Look what came in the mail today!  My official Square credit card swiper/reader!  Wahoo!

Abishai is really trying to catch the butterflies now!  But then he wants to immediately pick them up before they've all gotten out of the tube to try again.

Another funny today was that Abishai insisted that he bring this piano book with him to church.  He wanted to give it back to Baba Justin.  He was upset when we had to leave it in the car to go into church.  He was also very, very upset after Grandma put him in the van when we were leaving church because we were giving her a ride home after the mix up (and Gary didn't know she needed a ride), but quieted down when she got in the front seat.  But he threw a major fit when we dropped her off at her house, so much so that we had to dig out paci and blankie to calm him down.  I know he's really enjoying his one on one time with Grandma at her house on Mondays and other times of babysitting.  So sweet!