Year 2, Day 175: Where was I?

Some days, I just don't know what's what.  The last couple of days have been kind of a fog.  I don't know if it's because I'm eating the "junk" before I officially start the Whole 30, a lack of sleep in general, stress from different areas, or hormonal.  So, I'll try to piece together what we've done the last two days.  Hm,....a lot of it was just staying home and doing our normal routine.  It rained all day today, which was hard on Abishai, but at least Benaiah and I got the boxes in the sunroom and garage sorted out.  And found an almost disaster.  We moved a box in the garage and found a square foot of maggots, probably belonging to moths, had eaten through a good chunk of the bottom of this large wardrobe box.  Ew!  Benaiah was in his socks, and I had to tell him to stop moving the box and don't step there!  So we whipped out the big black can of bug spray for ants and roaches and went to town.  The box had our best winter coast in it and I was sure they were goners!  But Jared went through it when he got home a little later and they were fine.  Phew!  This set me on edge because it is my fear that something drastic is going to happen to my stuff like a flood or critters or simply losing it.  I know I'm way too attached to stuff when it freaks me out this much.  We made sure that brown cardboard boxes were on top of plastic boxes the best we could and sprayed around the rest of the bottoms of the boxes.  I hate using chemicals, but I'm not messing around.  So, that was the worst part of the day.

We started today with Justin hitting Keturah by accident with a plastic sword sending her to the bathroom with a bloody nose.  She then spit out the blood that was getting in her mouth and it went everywhere all over the sink!  Nice one!  Then they had to argue what the best way to stop the blood was.  This was after Keturah and Justin collided yesterday in the pool and Justin now has a tooth mark on his chin.  I guess they are even now.  Abishai got to at least hear the trains and emergency vehicles (separately) this morning and lean out our bedroom window trying to catch the rain.  He walks around with a green plastic phone saying, "Daddy (or Ice Cream), doggy home! Benaiah home! Sissy home! Bubby home! Mommy home!"  He's also been sing songing as he plays, and today he combined, "A, B, C, up so high." from ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle.  He won't perform for me on camera though.  He's constantly dancing, too.  Oh, and he now likes that "Up and Down" song from a hip hop artist Jared likes.

Benaiah is finishing up his workweek and then he and Jared get on the road on Sunday to head to Bible Bowl Nationals.  Gary will join them later in the week for the North American Christian Convention.  We almost had a snafu with travel arrangements, but they finally figured it out.  It's in Kansas City, MO, so it's a bit of a drive.  Fun times!  Speaking of fun times and drives, start praying now that I survive that 7 or 9 hr trip to northern Michigan in August.  I'm going to be very sore on the day after each travel day.  Plus kids in the car that long, etc.  Plus my special foods, plus, well, you get the picture, I can get anxious and it's not helping me one bit.

It's been a bit frustrating to me lately that the house has so many repairs to be done and we don't have the time nor the funds to get it all done right now.  We are chipping away at them, but the homemaker in me who has been waiting to get out this last 5 years and actually do something more intentional with her physical house is getting very impatient.  At least I have the books to work on while the boys are away.  I just simply have too much stuff.  I say me because Jared would have to get a dumpster and start dumping.  It's a struggle for me, and I wish I knew how to be better at it, but the emotional drain of sorting and making decisions is overwhelming.  I need to switch strategies now that the necessities are all in place and the rest of the stuff is optional.  And I need to help the kids in this arena as well.  We simply do not have enough room.  And that's probably why I didn't end up going to a homeschool book sale and oppurtunity fair yesterday.  I don't need any more books, nor do we have money for a bunch of extra activities.  I did want to support them though and I plan to have a table of books there next year if I don't find a home for them before then.

Speaking of homeschooling, I get to have some quiet time tomorrow at church while Benaiah is at rehearsal for church services.  I plan to work on some notes for Sunday night's homeschool meeting with the topic of lower elementary math!  And finish a great book on Charlotte Mason and Classical Education.  Benaiah is running the "man cam" on just Saturday since he's leaving with Jared on Sunday, way early in the morning.  And I'm volunteering in nursery at the 4 pm service for the first time.  Woot! Woot!

Ok, I'll let the pictures tell more of the story now.

Yesterday, I was planting the mosquito plants because I knew it was going to rain today and found that one of the drainage pipes was full of dirt and weeds!  What?!  Who fills in a drainage pipe with dirt?

I tried to mark off the mosquito plants well so that the men wouldn't pull them out when they finished weeding and tidying up the these flower beds in the backyaard.

Ready for the rain!

Master plan for the sunroom and garage.  That way I could tell Benaiah exactly where every box needs to go so I can access it easily.  And the plans worked!

I labeled each shelf to help us in the process.

I was looking through the Aldi's ad on a whim after getting the mail and saw this item in it!  So, when I went up north to the condo to get food our old neighbor left for us, I stopped in at the Washington St. Aldi's to get one!  It was only $16! And it reminds me so much of the blue elephant slide we had at our gramma's house growing up.  It's much more flimsy than that one (which was made by little tikes I believe) and I told all the kids to stay off of it besides Abishai, but it already has helped give Abishai something to do to use his energy.

Abishai was so thrilled to get this random gift!  There were plenty of these slides and teeter totters there as well.  I prefer that store because it is newer and bigger and most of the time, the things that are advertised are abundantly stocked.  Our other store was one of the first ones built in the area and had to squeeze between some buildings so it isn't as nice, but will do in a pinch. We live right between the two Aldi's.

Abishai is checking out the torrential rains we had today.  He was very obedient and did not lean out too far.  There is no screen on this window right now.  He says, "Rain, wet!"

"Daddy, cheese!" as in Daddy, say cheese because you are looking at a mirror.  Some of that Barbie furniture was passed down from my cousin I believe, so it's from the late '70's or early '80's, can you tell?  Mr. Social loves playing with dolls.

I had to run an errand so this is the face I left behind.  Abishai had been there in the doorway, too, but had backed off when I took the phone out of my pocket.

I want to see the trains!  But we can't.  The whistle is very loud though!

When the flickering of a screen is just in the corner of the eyes, they will gravitate to it.  Daddy was watching some kind of "people are awesome" video channel on YouTube.

Doggy home.  And is eating and drinking well.  In fact, he ate two big bowls of food today!  I cleaned his ears and brushed the fur on his behind.  Justin did a great job getting the rest of his fur yesterday.  He's a happy dog.  I just wish our vacuum worked longer than 5 minutes so we could vacuum up all that hair!

This is NOT Abishai going DOWN the slide.  Nope, this child is going UP the slide!  I have never seen a child do that!  And he nearly made it, too!  We brought the slide inside for now, but I plan to take it outside soon.

It rained all day long today.  Tons of flood warnings.  I don't know if it was because of the tropical storm Cindy making it's way through or just a summer thing.

No joke.  There is an inch of water sitting on top of the walkway!  NOT good!  Jared had to shovel all that water out of the area.

Is that the right way to use G'pa's chair?

Showing off his skills.

Big brothers are always up for a laugh.

Peek a boo!

Justin, head in the clouds, walking through the house with muddy shoes on.  I made him clean it up.  I simply can not keep this house clean all by myself!  They have been doing most of their chores without complaining though.

Ta da!  One person's cast off is another person's play table!

Yeah, the boxes are in front of the right bookcases, Abishai has his playroom space, and I tenatively put the folding table for crafts in the school area.  Now for organizing and possibly purging, because I know not everything is going to fit on these shelves.

Waving to the neighbors.

Sunset time.

15 minutes of dog brushing and it is THIS MUCH hair EVERY day!

Abishai wanted to go outside so badly, but he keep getting splinters in his feet and then complaining about them.  Plus, he's in his pj's and the ground is soaked.  But he's testing to see how far he can go to get outside with the doggy.  Again, he listened pretty well and stayed inside.

Not gorgeous, but it's still pretty.  Nothing will beat PEI sunsets, but, I'm trying to take it all in here as well.