Day 363: Stir the crazies!

Yes, we aren't snowed in, but we are definitely stir crazy!  We don't want to be out with the crowds at the Children's Museum or at the ice rinks or indoor pools.  We also don't want to be out spending a bunch of money either, i.e. 3 trips to Meijer in 24 hrs hits the bank account hard.  I probably should have bundled the kids up this morning and went outside to run around the parking lot for awhile, but I've had a wicked sinus headache (or sugar headache), so I didn't.  So, Jared relieved me of the two youngest and took them to Meijer to run around for awhile.  He had taken the older boys to Meijer twice yesterday.

Because of my headache, and trying to stay involved and available if the kids wanted someone to play with (which they hardly ever want to play with Mommy), I didn't work terribly hard on house projects today.  I did wipe down every surface with Lysol today to get rid of these nasty germs.  I plan to get just the countertop, doorknobs and lightswitches every day until we kick this thing.  Thieves oil cleaner is good for that, too, or lemon and vinegar.  But I have the Lysol, so I'll use it up.  I don't normally wipe everything down because I want to allow the kids' immune systems to build up on their own, but this cold is ridiculous, going from one person to the next, to the next, and then back to the original person.  I'm tempted to call the doctor and ask for everyone to be put on antibiotics so that we can all get over it at once.  Mine is definitely a sinus infection because of the color of the nasties.  SO, all that to say, I cleaned and I'm tired of being sick.

When you've got a somewhat picky eater, you let him (reasonably) pick out his own breakfast.  In this case, it's goldfish, raisins, and a cookie, with a side dish of egg casserole.  He really likes the goldfish/raisin combo.  I do offer him string cheese, hot dogs, veggies, bagels, etc. but he will just shake his head.  He did eat some ham tonight though, and tomatoes.  He loves fruit like grapes and oranges, but his rear doesn't like them much.  Oh, which brings me to the funny of the day!  I let his little bum air out for about 20 minutes, meaning he went diaper-less during that time.  I told Justin to keep an eye on him in the other room in cased he peed on the floor.  I told Keturah to stay in her room while Abishai was running around diaper less.  Well, Abishai comes into my room, gets close to me, and proceeds to pee on my slippered foot!  What?! He just peed on me like a dog might! Hilarious!  I knew he would probably pee somewhere, but I didn't expect him to hit my foot perfectly! Oh well, it's just a sign of what's to come when potty training rolls around.

Yeah, the Simpson chess set got some use today!  Abishai enjoyed playing with the figurines that weren't in play anymore.  I told the kids that they couldn't have any electronics today just to give their brains a chance to think about other things.  And to my surprise, they didn't complain and they did well finding things to do.

Yeah, sissy's bed is the best place to nest!

He had me put all the stuff from his bed up to her bed to get comfy cozy.

I let Abishai have a few minutes on the Leappad too give myself a break.  He pointed to the earphones, but he didn't want them plugged in or on his ears.  He wanted to use the end of the earphones as a "pen" to tap on the screen like the pen that is actually attached to the leappad!  What?!  How smart is that?!

Then there's these two crazies.  They had a blast calling each other names, making Justin laugh until he almost coughed up a lung, and throwing money at each other.  We talked about where Benaiah could go to college (yikes!) and his current grades, and homeschoool vs "real" school transcripts (which aren't different by the way).  It was a nice reprieve from listening to a 2 yr old whine all day.

Then I showed Benaiah what Keturah had done with the label maker, and demonstrated how it worked by printing this sign out: Benaiah's Brain.  Yup, he''s goofy.

Then Justin grabbed the label maker, punched in "I am smrt" (from a Simpsons episode), printed it out, and ACCIDENTALLY put it UPSIDE down!  Oh my word, pre teens really are illogical, emotional, and have temporary ADD or something (no offense to those with ADD, but the forgetfulness and low attention span fits the category).  We had a great laugh over it.

After the littles came home, I let Abishai have a couple of MM's. First of all, he's always about having a bowl for any food, and says the word, "bowl."  Second, he took the MM's out of the bowl and lined them up!  Seriously?! I have two messy/creative kids (Benaiah/Keturah) and two very perfectionist/Type A/orderly kids, Justin and Abishai.  It just cracks me up!

Mmmmm.....MM's....just like Grandma Johnson and Mommy love!  Too cute!

I told Jared I would post this picture he sent me plus share what he wrote about it, so here goes.  He said, "I hear a low rumble, like the fabric of the universe ripping or the ground beneath about to open up...."  Bwahahaha!  We tease each other and say something like this: I'll say something about "Will the world explode if you washed the dishes/fill the water picture/get your dirty kleenex into the trash can/refill the toilet paper/put your dishes in the dishwasher" etc.  And usually the answer is, "Yes, the world will explode if I do those things."  So, this picture proves that yes, the husband can do the chores he doesn't like to do and the world doesn't explode, lol.  I don't know why he didn't use the dishwasher, but at least the dishes got done, right?

And finally, I have a fun story to share.  I was looking up what was the oldest email that my email server has saved.  I usually keep important emails from Jared ever since we started sending emails to each other while we were dating.  I would print them out, too, and I'm glad I did, because the emails only go back 15 years!  Yes, I have some emails in my email account, that are saved, from 15 years ago!  I've had that email account for probably 17 or 18 years!  So, when I opened up the folder of emails from Jared that I saved, I found this one was one of the oldest:

It was sent to our college age small group called 24/7 a few minutes after another email about the group itself.  The title of the emails was NEWS and it was sent on Monday, October 22, 2001.

Here's the message Jared wrote:

i woulda put this in with the last message, but it needs to be seperate. we announced this to class yesterday, but since many of u r gone, i have a request to make. anybody wanna start a kid's ministry for 24/7? CUZ WE HAVE A BABY!!

BJ (Baby Johnson; i know it's goofy but still better than calling a baby "it") is due end of may or early june...same time as Amy Case! mel has 2 appts in the next 3 wks for this, 1 with a nurse & the 2nd w/ doc.

any suggestions for a 1st name to go w/ a middle name of Elisabeth?

SWEET!
j

Awww, I totally read this and hear Jared's voice and how excited he was, and how, wow, our life is going to change!  We were the first ones married in our group, and to have a baby.  Fun times!  And that little "bean" was Benaiah of course.  And that little BJ is the big brute of a man child you see today.  From this:

Benaiah at age 6 months.

To this handsome guy at 14 years old.  And he still has time to grow bigger! Wowzers!  Kid, you were wanted and loved from day 1! Although, it was a tiny bit difficult to sit through college classes with you kicking inside me!  Thanks for making me a Mom, Big B!  We love you!