Year 2, Day 215: Swim! Maybe?

*......after I have my son push me back up the slanted floor of the sunroom because I accidentally scooted too far out of reach of my desk! Good grief, boys, build me a ramp to level this thing out!....*  Ok, now that I have cried laughing tears for the 2nd time today.....

Explanation: Benaiah was in rare "derpishness" form today.  Apparently he wasn't fully awake when he started doing work for the day.  We were hanging pictures and well, he dropped tools and made jokes and just...acted...stupid...on...purpose! I try to take the time to post a video I took because I can't describe it in words.  BTW, boys don't know how to hang pictures.  Sure they can wield a screwgun and screws, but as far knowing WHERE to put those screws, yeah, um, no.  I'm a little scared to tackle the big wall with him because I don't know exactly how I want it yet and he's a "good enough" type kid.  Now, Jared, as a pretty good eye and has experience with getting things straight and will take the time to do it well.  So, maybe......wink, wink....

Otherwise, we were home today.  Warning: I'm going to mention my health again, but briefly.  Skip this paragraph if you don't care and I won't be offended.  Ok, still here? Let's get started! (I think the boy child made me a little slap happy today!)  Anyway, yes, I just wanted to say that after listening to a podcast by the Trim Healthy Women (who are so funny and honest and real and awesome oh my word!) about the keto diet, which is very similar to taking the Whole 30 program and extending it for months and years, I think I may have pinpointed why I'm not feeling what I had hoped to feel on it.  Yes, I finally lost those 20 stubborn pounds!  But no, I'm not pain free, and no, my stomach is still misbehaving a ton.  And with my continued sluggishness (and lack of sleep because it's a stupid habit I have of staying up way too late), I think I might have gone into ketogenesis(?) What's that you say? Well, it's when your body eats up your fat, yes, and it can get send your chemicals out of balance.  Point is, after my doctor's appointment on Monday, (by the way, is with a new doctor because my doctor left the practice, boo! But that's very common here, unfortunately.  I had 3 different doctors fro the first 3 kids at my ob-gyn in 7 years because of this!) I'm going to beg to get back on rice and pasta (that isn't made with corn and other yucky things like sugar, if there is such a thing, who knows!) and gluten free bread.  Very carefully, so I don't add the weight back on.  That's how it's supposed to go, I think, but since I "cheated" on Day 14, and I was supposed to start over, I'm letting the 30 days stretch a bit and make sure it sticks.  Please pray that a) the new doctor is understanding and will trust that I've done a ton of stuff already trying this out and I'm fairly knowledgable already and b) for this re entry process so that I don't binge.  I'm still craving pop and chocolate.  I'm still tired and hurting.  I did start a very minimal new exercise program which I paid $13 for that a homeschooling mom and her husband, who is a trainer, put together.  I bought as a reward for losing the weight and doing what I could on the diet.  Now, I need to get my muscle tone back so I can fit in that bathing suit properly! The one I bought right before Abishai's pregnancy.  Not the one I wore before we were married.  I love my current bathing suit.  I really do!  It will fit better by next summer.  And I'm grateful that I have made it this far and I've lost those pounds finally.  That part feels incredible!  Time to go clothes shopping in the jeans I saved over the years! I figure I'll do that when I make the fall clothing switch.

Ok, now back to the day.  So, I've been very tired, and I need to eat, but I don't feel like eating because everything has become boring.  Therefore, I have no energy.  And I'm procrastinating on lots of things, like school prep.  And I could have put the books on the bookshelf finally. Or I could have gone to the store with the kids this morning....again, none of that has as strict timeline, so I procrastinate.  And I'm imtimidated by the new programs for homeschool this year because they involve more of me and more prep time because I don't know Latin and I'm not a natural writer.  Don't say that I can write.  I've only learned how to ramble and rephrase things as I've used Facebook and this blog.  It's not a natural thing for me.  But once I get in the throws of planning, I'll be fine.  I'll get excited.  Kids are probably ready, too.  They seem pretty bored, although I told them to draw or paint or something as well as play a board game together before screen time, which they did without protesting.  And we all went outside this evening to play in the freezing cold water.  Teaching these two can be hard at times, but at other times, it clicks and they can work well together and we have fun together, just the 3 of us, like we did yesterday running around town.  We have fun with Abishai, but he's 2 which comes with his own things of naptime and meltdowns and running off and yeah, he's 2.

So, I'm hoping to get bed earlier tonight by not watching a TV show, not reading too many "20 top funny moment" posts and just moving along.  Oh, and I did exercise today.  We'll see if I'm sore tomorrow.

We woke up to little man saying, "Supper time! Supper time!" It was breakfast time, but I love that he was calling all of us to get up and eat!  Then he found his own breakfast because we weren't moving fast enough.

Mr. Derpishness himself!

We finally got Keturah's animal net up! (Thank, Howell parents were purchasing these many, many years ago so we could use them in our family!) She always makes everything look so cute!  She also asked me to open a box of things that were being saved like her first dolly I bought her and my old thin pink blanket.  And when we opened the box, we found the big versions of her mini purple blanket she was using for her Joanna Grace doll, as well two other special dolls, a Raggedy Ann my mom made, and another pink doll with rattles on it.  We also found some latchhook rugs my dad made, one was a Strawberry Shortcake one we put on the wall, and one was her bear and pink hearts one that has been used as a rug for years.  That means we made 2 brown boxes empty today!  Yeah!

Justin set the table for dinner and even folded the napkins!

Where did the husband go? Can you find him? And why are there pallets up there?

He used the pallets to climb up higher on the tree.  And no, they weren't screwed in!  Or maybe they were just with a couple of screws.  I don't know.  I didn't watch the whole process.

Putting up a new tire swing!

Keturah made a telescope with some plastic connecting blocks and watched the trash man go by, and the boys did as well.  Or as the little guy says, the "yucky man."

These are those blocks up close.  Made into a garage of course.

Mr. Stink taking a break and letting his stink infect his stuff behind him so no one will touch it.  Yuck!

We got a couple of green peppers growing from our seedlings from co op! Awesome!

Here's the second one!

The only flowering bush around the patio.

Why yes, I thought of this and even suggested it!  The kids were kind of bored of the pool, especially while their friends are in school, so I tried to get creative and rekindle their desire to be in the water.  It worked really well and no one was injured!  The pool water, however, was very cold because I didn't fill it until this evening right before supper and well water is extremely cold!

But the cold water didn't stop these kids!  Even when Abishai was shivering he said, "not cold yet!" when I asked if he wanted out of the pool.  It was a combined idea between Keturah and I to put the slide in the pool.  Our old slide used to go over the pool, but this one is smaller and has braces on the bottom sides.  So, after remembering how some local water parks have objects in the water, I thought, why not?!

Proof that I put my bathing suit on and attempted to get in the water at home (vs. a city pool or hot tub).  Um, I couldn't feel my feet it was so cold! I don't enjoy cold water at all, or even pool water that much anymore.  It needs to be 95 degrees or warmer, so bath water temperature!  The indoor swimming place on PEI would write down how warm each pool was, for example, the lap swimming pool with the diving boards were the coolest, then the kid 3-4 ft pool with the water slide, then the toddler pool was warmer (which is where I would hang out), and the hot tub was the hottest.  None of those sections were directly connected.  Anyway, here's proof that I played with my kids.

Water straight from the hose!  Yikes!  But they all ran through the splash pad/sprinkler/frog game.

Nice action shot!  BTW, I did make sure Abishai didn't attempt this.  I tried to get him to jump off the pink chair and/or the steps of the slide, but he was too scared.  I don't think he'll attempt the big jump just yet, but I'll be out there watching him anyways.

Swinging in their bathing suits! Abishai likes to mimic his brother and will ask to take his shirt off if Justin has his off.  Abishai looks up to his big brother a lot.  He was playing with Justin's Legos earlier today, and Justin was upset, so I had to remind him that Abishai doesn't purposefully destroy his Legos.  He sits and plays with them, arranging the figures carefully, just like he sees Justin doing.

Cute idea #2! Put the pink chair IN the pool and sit and kick around.  That way, you don't submerse yourself directly in the freezing cold water!

Pallet going up! But why?!

Goofballs thought it would be fun for Keturah to army crawl under Justin as he swung.  He did end up bumping into her when she lifted one of her elbows/shoulder.  But she was hysterically laughing the whole way.  We had to be careful that Abishai didn't attempt to copy her and follow her under Justin!

We decreased the water so that the sprinklers wouldn't hit Abishai in the face, and he, too, had fun walking through the cold water on the splash pad.  No crying, except when he did slip and bumped his head and back.  But he was up in no time doing it again.

Sunset!

This is why I shouldn't be reading stupid stuff on the internet!  I took a bite of this banana and freaked out when I saw this!  There's a hoax going around that someone is injected bananas with HIV infected blood.  I looked it up and it's just a fungus of the banana.  But, I still threw away the banana.  Gross!

Poor baby is very, very sensitive to bug bites.  They don't seem itchy though.  Keturah has some, too.  My sister Stefanie also has a hard time with bug bites so I showed this to her to ask for advice.  I need to spray the kids with the essential oil bug spray I made before they go out, each and every time, because man, the bugs are fierce here!

Aw, Abishai has loved this chair ever since he could sit up!  He used to use it to climb up on and then over the armrest on the old plaid sectional couch.  Now he can climb up on it and read all on his own.  I'm glad I put his board books in here instead of leaving them in the sun room.  The other two kids, especially Keturah, likes to bring in the picture books to the living room, so Abishai will have opportunities to see them . In fact, she read some ABC books with him yesterday.

11 pm and the husband just "has" to finish his project! And he was on a ladder doing it!  Subscribe to the blog to see what he put up on the tree tomorrow.  Good night!