Year 2, Days 261-264: Happenings, Part 1

Let's just say Mommy had a meltdown the middle of the week and be done with that.  We did have a lot going on, but the last couple of days have been calmer.  The new sidewalk got poured, Keturah got an eye exam, and we actually stayed home (everybody but Jared because he was with Gary on a trip) for almost two days straight.  Now everybody is home again before we split off into 10 different directions tomorrow (Sunday).  So much for Sundays being our Sabbath, lol. 

It's fall!  Sort of, it's been in the 80's but we did have fog on Wednesday.  It's a good thing there's no frost yet because I haven't planted anything or fixed the gardens yet.  And it's a good thing I didn't do much to the front garden because of the big happening of the week: a new sidewalk!

Scary trooper!

"Before" with a little of the prep work done.

It was so foggy on the way to gymnastics that morning!

But we were a bit early and got to see the train go by.  Yeah!  Typical train length for this stretch of tracks alongside Route 52.  And typical time period that it runs as well.

Homework on the go.

Role reversal? Funny business while Justin and I worked.

2nd to last run to get the boxes from the storage barn.  Again, the van swallows up a lot!

It's not every day (or week!) you get to see tractors and backhoes and cement trucks and tree trimmers!  Abishai has been watching a lot of "Blippi" lately and he loves the songs and videos about working trucks and vehicles like these.

On the way home, a hawk was sitting on the fence near Redfern and Franklin Rds, and when we turned down Redfern, it swooped in front of us, and nearly got a squirrel!  Woah!

Tree trimmers across the street!

"Baby" toy!  My baby is not so much a baby anymore!

I don't think I took a picture of Keturah's shelves that Daddy fixed and put up.  The third one goes up above her bed, but that means moving the bed out from the wall and there's usually stuff under the bed preventing that from happening.

That's it! All the boxes are home!  It is actually taking up a lot less space than I thought.  Maybe because I pulled a bunch to work on over the next couple of months.  And the shed is filled with the other 2/3 of the tubs.  Some of these do need tubs and more permanent storage, i.e. the Christmas stuff, baby clothes/linens.  I'm not sure what to do with the rest yet.  I think we'll be pushing them towards the outer wall of the garage once we are confident the termite extermination took hold.  Then we can bring a vehicle in!

Several special gift Bibles including one given to my parents when they got married, one given to my dad when he graduated college, one from a church meeting/recognition, and the "newest" one was from about 14 years ago when the youth group at their church helped repair their roof and did other projects as part of the annual MCC Workcamp week they do.  (It's no longer run by MCC directly, but that's where it started).  It's not usually in Manchester/Hooksett, but that year it was and they even had an invitation for my parents to come to the "residents' night" where they reach out to the residents and bring them to the evening worship service that they do every night of camp.  Jared and I have both participated in Workcamp when we were teens.  It's meant to being Christ to the residents, but of course my parents where already Christians, so it was just a formality. 

Cement truck!  In our driveway!  Not something you see everyday!  Cool!

Mr. Bob, the Overseer.

And there were two other men his age doing the work.  I felt so bad though because it was pretty hot.

Meanwhile, we had great "seats" to the action, including air conditioning!

It took about 30 minutes for the cement to be poured, and then it took a little bit longer to get it smoothed out properly.  But they were efficient and knew what they were doing.

Pretty cool!  I enjoy watching these things and knowing how they are done.

Gotta clean the trough pieces as soon as possible so the cement doesn't get dried on.  Kinda of wished it wasn't directly into my flower bed though.  But Jared assures me it will be fine to just put a bunch of dirt over the old sidewalk and other big pieces of old cement and then plant grass or plants that don't need to have deep roots.

Best seats in the house.

This guy was very good with the trowel.

Not the same PEI blue mussels I enjoyed on PEI.  Super sad face.  Not gritty enough and I might have steamed them too long in the microwaves.  They are mussels, but from somewhere in the south Pacific.  I have one more package and I'll steam them on the stove this time.

Tired snuggly baby.

All done!

Playtime!  Go get 'em!

No you don't!

Abishai stealing Benaiah's cards from his desk.  It was a game they were playing.

Quick walk down the road.

Impromptu walk.  Felt nice.  We didn't got far though, and not even to Grandma's house because Sissy rode past us and he wanted to follow her.

A little bit of fall color.  The other sides of these leaves are completely green though.  Hm,...at least the weed killer and a torch finally took care of the mushroom problem.

I help doggy!  Abishai brush!  Abishai still talks in the 3rd person, but I was watching videos from just a couple of months ago and my oh my his sentence structure and vocabulary has exploded!  I can't remember with Keturah, but Justin had a little bit of speech therapy because he didn't say much between 2 and 3 years old.  I think he's just an introvert and didn't need to talk.  But, it was nice to have him have contact with another person every so often.  The therapist would come right to the house.  And he qualified for First Steps not only because of speech, but because of physical things like putting on his own clothes.  You have to have more than one marker in order to qualify.  But we didn't get services for the physical part, and that's what they said at the interview, not to worry about it.  Anyway, Justin is fine (most of the time) now.  Although he misplaces his "nose" quite often.

Poor Keturah is having trouble looking at her schoolwork this week (more on that later) so we had to do math on the wipeboard.  At least she did get the concept!  It's an extended method of doing multiple digit multiplication that shows place value.  Eventually our books do it the way I was taught, but I'm kind of glad that they break it down and explain it in pieces.  Math U See is what it's called and so far, it's worked well for us.

What do you do when there's a bit desk in the middle of playing area?  Play on top of the desk of course!  I had to put the blanket on the desk (which needed to move to our bedroom once I had a chance to rearrange it) because the kids were bumping into it and putting their feet on it, etc.  They still would manage to get their feet up and under the blanket, too.  Ugh!

The next day after pouring the concrete, they came back to take away the forms and seal it.  Yeah, all done!  Now one more project, the big bathroom, and we are officially done with the major, immediate, house repairs.  Even the garden could wait another year.  I'm just done having workmen in and out of my house every week fr the last 3 months.  I want to be alone and homeschool without interrupations.

"Before" pictures for what's coming up next...

....we are just replacing the flooring hopefully under just half of the bathroom.  Then I have a couple of paint colors in mind to match the shower curtain.  Hint: the rust/burgandy is staying.

And the other "before" shots, now that the husband is home and has seen the "after" shots.  Just a spontaneous surprise to get it done since Benaiah was also here to help (instead of doing jobs or at church doing tech).

Oh, my favorite quote of the day was when Abishai was holding the duplos where doors attach to and said, "Bookcase!"  You know you are a homeschooler when....a duplo with several empty areas (the long pink ones in the picture" look like bookcases!  Sweet!