Year 2, Day 182: Yes, you can touch that truck!

Praise the Lord! The weather held off and we were able to enjoy the Touch A Truck event at a local school parking lot.  It was muggy, but not terribly hot and it was overcast.  Maybe 70-75 degrees.  It was $3 each for Justin and Keturah, free for Abishai and I.  Woot! Woot!  I was a bit disappointed because I thought there would be more trucks.  And there wasn't a very large crowd either.  The school that were at is in a fairly quiet area of the city, so maybe that's why.  But, we did get to touch some trucks we don't normally get up close and personal with.  And Abishai learned how to take turns and didn't throw a fit when it was time to move on.  Justin and Keturah did get a touch bored, but it wasn't an event directed at them anyway.  Meanwhile, Jared and Benaiah drove home from Kansas City today.  And Gary flew in this morning, ate a quick lunch and with his energizer bunny mentality, was off doing his day job activities like making videos within 2 hrs of his plane touching down, go figure.  It is fun having a family with such diverse personalities.  Fast and slow and in between, lol.

Then I worked on those 2013 taxes, spending 40 minutes on hold waiting for someone who told me the other guy I talked to last week was wrong and I just need to send in the info that proves we lived in Canada all of 2013.  Good grief.  Make up your minds people.  And I also worked on cleaning up my computer and phone because they are about to crash.  Books will have to wait until another day.  I would like to be "in the mood" to be critical and purge as I take out books anyway.  I can do it, I can do it, I can do it, right? Sigh.

Now it's thundering, which is good because we need some rain.  Naptime was nice and quiet and long, and then the guys got home.

Trash smasher!  Abishai loved this one and kept saying "trash!"

Yes, we eat a lot of popcorn.

Nice protective underwear, lol!

The palm size of a couple of Colts players.

We went into the Colts trailer first because they had given the kids melty ice cream bars and we didn't want to climb in and out of truck cabs with gross hands.  Good thing I had a thing of baby wipes with us!

Justin tried out corn hole and did it really well!

Um, we thought the school buses were part of the display, but actually, the kids were inside the school building because it is also a community center.  The bus driver was very kind and laughed it off, even letting another little girl on because she had come just for the buses.  Whoops!

It was right up Abishai's interest level because he watches Tayo the Little Bus all the time.  

He''s a natural bus rider!  Too cute!

This is what she would look like if she rode a bus to school.  I remember riding the bus when I was in public school.  It was ok.  Some slight bullying by the bigger kids, not at me though.  I always remembered the story we were told about the kid whose head got severely injured when he stuck it out the window and he got hit by a light or telephone pole.  I never stuck my limbs out the window because of that.

I had to take away the umbrella after this because I didn't want Justin using it as a weapon.  What a goof!

The driver on the bus says move on back, move on back,  move on back.  The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep! etc. etc.

Wee-oo's are Abishai's favorite and he got to put the lights on!  Fire trucks are ok, but police cars are his favorite because he likes to play them in the "Need for Speed" video game.

Never too old to enjoy sitting in a fire truck.

They were able to pick up a fire hose, and that nozzle is pretty heavy.

Wheeeee!

I, personally, have NEVER seen a person's hands and feet be so large!  Size 18 shoe!  I've seen 11-13 sizes before, but never 18's.  Oh my word!  I guess this guy is on the Pacers basketball team.

Justin cried out, "A Zamboni, a Zamboni!  I've always wanted to drive one!"  Ok, Canadian convert.

I just had to get our Canadian up on the Zamboni!  Cute!

That's a big hook! 

An even bigger hook!

Wup, wup, wup, wup.

Lots of levers!

One very clean cement truck, lol.

Blue tongue and she fits in the big tire of a dump truck.

Happy as a clam with all the vehicles he can "drive."

I think he has more growing to do.

This makes it the third time they've been to the "library" this week! This time, it was a mobile library!

Abishai wasn't happy that he couldn't actually get IN the Indy Car.

But you could sit on it and touch any of the exteriors.  This was this year's designs.  Actually, I noticed that the back tail(s?) wing(s?) or whatever they are called were designed differently than other years.

Beep, beep!

And this is how a toddler plays cornhole!  Take them all out and put them in the other side - no throwing involved, lol.

After naptime and suppertime, we waited for Daddy and Benaiah to get home.  It started pouring!  But, we watched as a bunny took shelter under a tree in our front yard.  Abishai kept alternating between "bunny hop" "vroom wash" "bunny wet" "rain," of which were correct.  It was fun watching the bunny just sit there.

See him there on the right side of the tree?  So cute!  And the dog wanted to meet him, too, of course.  I had to make sure the front glass door was shut securely all the way, otherwise, Socks would have charged out there after it.

Perfect cheese face!  Too bad I don't own any photography properly lighten up the left side.  But that's our Abishai.  Full of it!

Socks missed his biggest brother, who, I think, punched the sheep toy so hard he broke the squeaker.  Bad big brother.

Abishai was in predictable crazy mode screaming and running and trying to get everyone to play his games.  And we took turns chasing him.  He loves his people!

His favorite game is attack mode.

Indiana Pacers bam bams!

Daddy's turn to get hit by baby.

Yeah! Abishai wants to pull out all his books again!  I'm going to have to find a special spot and arrangement for his books.  He likes to read them to us as much as he wants us to read them to him.

Are you comfortable, boys? Can't imagine that they will take up even more space at some point.

Abishai almost didn't get in Daddy's lap to read because he "reads" to himself now.  But finally he did.  But Abishai points to many more things and tells us what they are, like Abishai's bike and Ice Cream's "vroom."

Baby and doggy waiting.

So adorable.

This was all Abishai's idea.  Socks just sat there and didn't move like the great people dog he is.  But then when Abishai walked away, he gently tried to get it off.

Earlier, Abishai was using Socks as a highway for his cars and again, Socks didn't move.  He's always been very tolerant of the little kids.

I think I see 3 boys in this picture, or at least parts of them anyway.  Boys are always moving, even the video gamers' move in their own ways.

Well, boys are home safe and sound.  The rain has stopped or now.  Benaiah has to get laundry done at Grandma's house in the next two days because he leaves at 7am for CIY on Monday morning, with Grandpa, who never.....stops...moving.

Oh, and my vacuum cleaner problem is solved!  I've just inherited my in laws vacuum cleaner! I was just going to borrow it, but they said, "Here, take it as a birthday present."  Sure!  It's heavy, but it will do the job well.  We burn through vacuums pretty quickly with all the dog hair, so we'll see how long I can make it last.  Anyway, you have no idea how stressful it is to live in an environment that is normally clean and it gets covered in dog hair filth hourly (yes, hourly) and you have no way to keep up with it.  It just makes me feel better when the floor has been vacuumed and most of the dog hair is gone.  Clutter mess I can deal with, but dirt, stinky clothes, and food dishes left out are a big no-no to me.  I grew up with clutter, and only parts of the house were truly clean like the kitchen.  I am determined to keep a cleaner (not perfect) house than my mother did.  She could have, but choose to homeschool us and drive us everywhere.  And then she wasn't physically able.  She did what she could, but I want to do one step better (again, not perfect, but one step better).  Sigh, thank you for the vacuum cleaner!

Year 2, Day 181: More Friends!

First of all, some choices need to be made.  My phone pictures are no longer syncing with the iCloud and my computer is full.  So, no more unpacking until I fix that.  Plus those silly 2013 Indiana State Taxes, blech.  Which is good because I physically can't do much right now.  I've made bad choices all week in food and sleep patterns.  I am trying to eat up the non plan items before I start the new Whole 30 plan on Saturday.  Bad idea.  Now I have a sugar withdrawal headache, and achy legs, on top of the ear ache.....

Anyway, I was telling Justin that he made several choices today that interfered with his reading of the "Lord of the Rings."  When another family with two girls right around Keturah's age asked if she could go to the library with them, they also invited Justin because they had an extra seat in the car.  He said yes.  To a van full of girls.  Anyway....Then he stayed with them through lunch until 1:30pm.  He finally came home and then a friend came by at 3 and he went out to play with him.  Then I called for chores to be done before and after supper and no more friend time.  Abishai was stir crazy, I was trying to clean up and finish up some projects I had started today and I needed Justin's help to watch the toddler. So, choices.  But they were fun choices, too.

Keturah had a great day with her new friends, but seemed very tired and edgy when she came home.  I've got to have them tell all their new friends that sometimes they just don't want to play.  They can use me as a bad guy if they need to.  I like that they have friends and that keeps them relatively free of screen time, but at the same time, they need their downtime.  And Abishai misses his siblings, too.  Keturah is grounded from the neighborhood kids until Monday, but I did make an exception today only because we hadn't spent time with this family yet.  They are homeschoolers, too, and the mom warned me about some of the other kids in the neighborhood.  So, it worked out well.  They are going away for the weekend anyway, so it will be easier to keep the punishment until Monday.   Speaking of Keturah, (my sisters would want to know this), I was pleasantly surprised to find that yes indeed she did keep our Barbies and most of our stuff separate from her own collection.  I don't know why it's so important to me, and I'm sure my sisters don't care that much, but my mom did make a lot of the clothes and I have many happy memories of our collections.  I was able to then organize it and put it into a big wardrobe brown box (yes, I know, it's brown, blech), and it will go into the closet again and be taken out only once in a while.  Now Keturah can concentrate on the small and medium sized brown boxes in her room that I want on the bookshelf or put in a fabric cube, etc.  So, her room is nearly there, except the paint.  She even made a list of what she needs to do next to organize everything.  She's a natural organizer!  And yet, she loves to make big messes like an artist, too.

The boys on the other hand, need shelving before I can finish most of their room.  So, that's on hold until Beniah gets back next week from CIY.  There are brown boxes in our room, which again, I need some kind of other storage container like a cube bookshelf so I can empty those boxes.  I'll try to purge but it's hard.  I did put away one other box of books and purged two of those books so far.  And I restretched the fencing outside to make a some kind of barrier for Socks.  It won't hold him if he really wants to take off, but now it won't be super easy either.  Socks did chase down two rabbits today and then went back to sniff at the place they had come from.  Sorry, bunnies, the yard is no longer safe for you.

Oh, and Benaiah and the team were 11th place out of 46 teams total.  The champions were from our region though, Mt. Pleasant Christian Church!  And they are near perfect, so it's no surprise.  Benaiah says he's exhausted, which, yeah, mentally exhausted, I get it.  But, he has 9 hrs in the car tomorrow, then needs to get a haircut, do laundry, and repack for CIY, which leaves on Monday at 7 am. Fun stuff!  So, get some rest, buddy, because you'll need it for next week.  And don't forget that Dad and Grandpa have been there all week, too, and Grandpa has had extra meetings and his day job to worry about.  And I've been just putting one foot in front of the other trying to survive the week, too.  Welcome to adulthood, son.

11th place!  Benaiah and the entourage of Henrys.  They all look super nice, too!

Last minute advice.  They had to play the game at 8:30 am.  Ouch.

"Hi, Ice Cream!" "No, Daddy, I don't want to talk to you right now.  Although, he wistfully looked down the drive and whined, "Daddy home?"  Aww....

Makeshift fence.  I'm going to get Jared to take a turn at it this week.

Playtime with Mommy.  Pen the Pig, a Howell classical.  Oink!

Abishai and I were stacking the pigs to the game and he kept undoing part of the tower so he could match up the one in his hand with the same color piggies in the stack.  I made sure to put this stack into the box carefully so it wouldn't upset him.

Laundry basket stir crazy before nap monster.

Justin was watching the YouTube channel called "Dude Perfect" which is about 5 guys who do cool stunts with all kinds of stuff.  I told Justin that it's all about physics and they must have had 100 practice runs before the trick shot worked.  So, Justin, with my encouragement, tried his own basketball trick shot. And he did it on the 6th try!  Abishai wanted to do it, too!

Last game for our team!

The homemade popsicles are yummy for breakfast!

Ah, memories of having juice popsicles in our fridge growing up.  We had to tear off the paper cup in order to eat it though.

 Spoilers: bug alert! If you don't like bugs, then scroll down a bit.

I was putting away the trash cans and found this perfectly intact "skin" of some kind of creature.  Now I'm thinking it was the huge nasty wasp that ended up in our sunroom that we killed with great effort.  But how cool to see it intact that like!  I was able to shwo it to Justin at least.  He didn't know what metamorphosis was.  Whoops! I failed that part of the science curriculum.  So he learned it today.

From larvae to nymph to adult.  Crazy!

Uh oh, we didn't dig down far enough yet.  The weeds are growing again.

Brown boxes are good for something, right?

Trick shot!

"Flip!" Except when he knew I was taking a picture.  Stir crazy baby.  He needs his Daddy home to wrestle him, that's for sure.  He did settle down fr some light reading before bed.  Then I told him that we were going to see tractors tomorrow (touch a truck) and he wanted to go right then.  Thankfully, he seemed to understand he needed to sleep first and away he went to bed.  Yeah!

It's supposed to pour rain all day tomorrow, so we'll see how touch a truck goes.  Sigh.  I've been looking forward to this for so long.  There's one in September we could maybe go to as well.  We'll see!