Year 2, Day 164: Friends are Fun!

Well, Justin has had a grand day having his friend Bryce here for a sleepover! They've played 4 hours of video games, played basketball in the front yard, played in the pool after we cleaned it out with Abishai, washed dishes together, made muffins, and just generally goofed off. Bryce will be here for most of the day again tomorrow. But, we did learn, that Bryce is moving to Georgia before August 1^st. So Justin will loose another friend. I really need to get Justin an email account and let him have more access to Skype and Facetime just like Benaiah did with his friends when we were in Canada. We will miss Bryce and his family, but he may come back on occasion to visit his Grandma, who is usually willing to share him with us. His grandma has been a member of the Creek for 25 plus years. Anyway, I'm glad they've had some great time together. We are always happy to have Bryce around.

Meanwhile, Benaiah's been puttering with projects between our house and Grandma's house, trying to get his hours in that he's behind on. He's working on chipping up the old floor in Grandpa's garage, a very tedious job. Most of the help I need is just carrying boxes around, but that doesn't take up the whole 4 hours he needs a day in order to catch up. Plus, I still need to supervise. He started to work on a project I was going to do, organizing DVD's and board games, but got fustrated when one of the games fell out of its' box. He even asked if he could do the books and I said, um, no way, I look forward to that! Plus, I don't have a plan for that, and that's the next to last project. He can go weed the garden areas though. And he did put a seat for a doll on Keturah's seat for me today. Keturah is getting an 18 inch doll for her birthday, and she asked for a seat for her bike. I'm super happy that she's finally into Barbies and dolls! So, I can't wait for her to be surprised on Friday, her actual 9^th birthday when she sees that her oldest brother lovingly and carefully (I'm not being sarcastic here), but the seat on the bike for her. It will be awesome!

Meanwhile, Jared's day was a bit interrupted with having to take the truck to the repair shop for some repairs (they were expected repairs) and then the piano movers called and he had to go meet them at the condo. It did cost a pretty penny but it was worth it. Not only did they know what they were doing, I feel good that we were helping a local business. So, the piano is in, and the Howell nativity set is already on top of it! Now, where are the piano books? Probably in that massive stack of book boxes in the sunroom, lol. Jared went back to work for a bit, and then after supper he finished constructing a makeshift mailbox pole and screwed the new mailbox in place. Did I mention it was 90 degrees today? But yeah for home ownership! Jared's been very good about setting an example and putting in an hour worth of work in the evening on the house projects. I'm so grateful that he a) has the right tools now for any job b) has the skills from working construction jobs and c) has the motivation to do it, where as before, it would take him quite some time to get around to these things and it would fustrate me to no end. But, now we have both made a ton of progress in our respective areas, and I am very grateful.

Let's see, Keturah is at camp and Abishai had a great, big day following the big boys around. At one point, he was copying Benaiah's farting noise and try to squeeze out a toot with some grunting and then did a few short spitting sound like it was a serious of little toots! The things that kid comes up with! He also almost escaped to “Ice Cream's” house today! I was outside with him and I was letting him test the boundaries. He got this big smile on his face and a glint in his eye and screamed “Ice Cream!” and went for it! Oh no! I KNEW we would have to watch him carefully! Also, while they were in the pool, Abishai would try to float on his back and when the water would cover his face, he would flip over, which meant his face was completely under the water. When he got up, he wasn't upset and out of sorts at all. He kept on doing it! Again, we have to watch this one because he is so fearless! And stubborn. And awesome!

And finally, yes, I worked my tail off today, too, trying to keep up with where everyone was at, keeping Benaiah busy, cleaning up after the boys, chasing Abishai making sure he wasn't make the house wet with his swim diaper, etc. I did manage to unpack the two boxes of scrapbooks once Benaiah brought them in, fixed a few items in the kitchen area, distributed the last of the “household supplies” like hammers and nails, mouse traps, screwdrivers, carabeeners, glue, tapers, etc. Just in my stash alone, we have 2 regular size hammers, two short handled hammers, one small head hammer, and one kid hammer from Lowe's Build and Grow program. Never mind what Jared has in his massive stash of tools! Time to declutter the old tools I think! And some tapers, and even some screwdrivers. But after I get Jared's tools altogether in one spot in their permanet location in the garage. I told Benaiah that he and Dad can decide how to organize the garage cabinets and toolbench and corner, once I free it from the boxes that currently in front of that area. I do want to keep all that stuff together and available and with enough room around them so that the men can do their work. Unfortunately, until we fix the shed, the garage has to be the long term storage holding area after I remove all the boxes that belong inside the house and move the stuff over from storage. I also told Benaiah that when we do bring boxes over from storage, we are NOT stuffing and stashing. They will go from truck/van into the garage in designated areas. I hate shuffling boxes after the fact.

And finally, sometime tomorrow morning, we will have an internet connection, praise the Lord! Finally! Benaiah kept reminding me today of how many hours left until wifi happens. It will feel good to have the freedom to use my laptop to do my business instead of looking stuff up on my phone's screen. And we can have YouTube on the PS4 again. And I can play my train game and keep up with my friends. Yes, as a youth pastor said at a meeting this weekend, having a phone or screen is just part of the culture now. It's inevitable. But no, Justin won't bring a phone and will not have his DS at CIY. The youth group allows them, but we don't. CIY has a couple of fun things they do through their app or social media, but Justin can just stick with a friend for that. And you don't go to camp to play video games. It's only a two hour ride away anyway. Find a friend and chat. Or read a book or play cards r watch a movie. I supposed he can bring his pokemon' cards. Anyway,.....

Tomorrow, I will get to update the blog from our new house! Woot! Woot! After I do about 3 loads of laundry at the in laws first. Home ownership is so much fun, right?! Sometimes. Sometimes not!

And like I told the boys today, I had to think really hard about how I set up and cleaned a pool because it's been 5 years. But we got it done and they had fun. Good night!

P.S. No Internet again today but we did get it the next day (which is when I'm uploading this post!  Woot!  Woot!)

Look, Mom, I have a hood like the Green Arrow!  Too much Injustice 2 video game playing, methinks!

Mr. Escape Artist on his way to "Ice Cream's House!"  Yes, he can say the whole thing now, "Ice Cream's House" or "Ice Cream Sit (when sitting in Gpa's old lazyboy chair.)"

Stopped in his tracks!

Another garden discovery! This time, an orange Lily!

Purple lilies!  I can't wait to clean up around this wonderful flowers!  It just needs a bit of some tlc and it this front garden will be gorgeous!

First pictures to go up!  Scrapbooks, too!

This will be a themed set of shelves that includes memorbilia from all over the place, but mainly my parents' stuff that I have as a memory corner, and lots of Canadian stuff as well.  I don't know if I'll use the Dr. Seuss quote or not, but basically, it's the one that says, "Oh the places you'll go." Or in our case, where we've been.

The big boxes here are mostly are larger framed pictures and mirror and such.  Because the walls are plaster, it will take a bit to get nails and screws in.  I'm a push pin kind of gal, so I'm saving this project for last.  We wanted to paint, and I know a can of paint isn't super expensive, but we just can't afford it right now.  So, I'm sure I'll get these pics up soon.

Good morning, sleepy head!  I let Benaiah sleep until 10 am because he had a long weekend, starting with the sleepover with Ethan.  It's pretty quiet down the hall with the door closed when I tested it today, so I don't know why I'm shushing the kids so much in the living room.

Waking up is more bearable when you have brothers to beat you up first.

Not the best trick in the book because he could fall, but that's Mr. Daredevil for you.  Thankfully, life's more fun in the living room and outside than in his room, so Abishai is not often back here by himself.  He's been going to sleep pretty well now for naps and bedtime.

Best big brother in the world.  It was a cheap bike seat for a doll, but, it actually was less frustrating than I thought it would be.  I did help him at times, though.

Benaiah did have to take the back brake apart a bit, but the seat attachment was designed well enough to go around the brake attachment.  Yeah!  Keturah then can decorate it however she wants to.

Very knowledgeable and wonderful company!  Shop local!

This is what some well water looks like when it's fresh from the faucet.  No joke.  Sigh.  It's on the priority list to get a house filter or softener or something.  It's not dangerous and I believe it's been tested.  It just looks like weak tea.

It didn't seem to bother these two after I begged them to go outside to play.  I know it's not ideal to play in a toddler pool when you are a big kid, but it's what we can afford.

Where is he going?

Abishai loves those bigger boys!

Push, push, push!

Abishai wasn't scared at all.

Jared went into the crawlspace looking for water damage under the kitchen or bathrooms.

Putting the pole in place for the new mailbox.

Easy, peasy, right?

A picture of the orange lily taken with the good camera.

Really?! I can't cross that dark line at the end of the driveway?  Nope, no baby can't cross that line.

Some daffodils in our front garden.

These two had caffeine and sugar and too much screen time.  I had to give them some naturpathic sleep medication and they still didn't fall asleep until 1:30 am (they laid down at 11pm)!  I was NOT happy about it either.  Benaiah was up until 12:30 playing as well because he lost track of time, too.  Plus, they were playing the games we rented which one of them were due back today by midnight.  But, back to regular amounts of screen time tomorrow!