Year 2, Day 292: Flower bed or Sandbox?

Well, that was the question of the day: flower bed or sandbox? But also, how many errands can I run with 4 kids in tow before the toddler takes a 20 minute nap in the car and then doesn't go back to sleep but for maybe 30 minutes a little bit later? Hm,...it was going to be a rough afternoon, so I just let it be and let them play and didn't work myself too hard.  Plus, it was another gorgeous day!  We spent 2 hrs of it in and out of stores though looking for miscellaneous items for miscellaneous projects.  But we seriously need to spend more time on how we behave, especially in public.  From the oldest to the youngest, no one seems to know how to be nice, listen, have fun, but reel it in when it affects other people in the store.  I wish I could say I had time to take them to the store just to practice, but I don't.  Maybe I should go when I have just a couple of items, and some non rushed time.  Bwhahaha, like that ever happens!

But like I said, I know we were beat from being out and we needed our own spaces, so I tried to relax and let it go, as they say.  I did end up helping Keturah stuff all her non clothing items into a big box to sort later so we could clean the floor from sparkly items like sequins and glitter so that I could get into the closet to deal with the clothes.  I plan to go through that big box at some point BEFORE she dumps it out again.  She did put away her Barbies up in the closet and under her bed she has perfected for her dolls.  And the majority of her Legos are in one place now.  So, it shouldn't take too long to get the rest done.  Then we went through the priority items for fall/winter, like long pants and long sleeve shirts.  Poor girl needs some clothes!  She's grown out of all her pants for sure! She's growing up and well girls' bodies change proportionally to match.  Eek!  I'll probably put out an SOS and scour some of the online garage sales, and hit up Goodwill in the next month or so, and then these things will definitely be put on the Christmas wishlist.  It's a good thing the boys needed practically nothing.  (And whoops, I totally forgot to take a picture of all their new shoes.  I can do that when I show you the new shoe racks I bought.  Or I'll forget and it won't matter anyway.)

Tomorrow evening starts a big weekend for the church as Indian Creek is turning 40 years old!  So friends and family are here and us introverts will all be exhausted by the end of it.  I hope to put out something on the blog tomorrow night, but definitely by Sunday night.  I might have to make Monday a lighter day of school, too.   We'll see.

Abishai LOVES oatmeal and asks for it constantly!  And I don't add any milk or cinnamon, just a few raisins.  He needs lots of carbs to run fast!

A bit foggy out and the battery on the truck wasn't quite hooked up properly, so the truck wasn't starting.  Abishai was very concerned about it when he said Daddy was taking the van or that the truck had an owie.  Jared rolls down the driveway in neutral so when the truck wouldn't start, he had to leave it at the end of the driveway and finnagle the van into position, which he ultimately didn't need.  But he let Abishai join him out there to "help."

Finally the dog gets some roughing up!  Then we roughed up Benaiah to wake him up, too.  Socks will only nibble at the boys IF they are under the big blankets.  He's super careful about it, too.

I found the boy lining up his cars facing all the same direction again.

Yeah for big brothers who can candle the screaming toddler at the drop of a hat.  Abishai had several moments of melting down when he didn't get what he wanted and I could just hand him off to Benaiah and concentrate on where we needed to go next.  I still have a list of things I didn't find and need to look for tomorrow at the dollar store.  Then it's to Amazon Prime I go.  I saw a customized welcome mat that said something like "top knots, leggings, and Amazon prime" ("are where it's at" or something like that).  Point is, I'm not the only one to rely on Amazon prime.  It's either my gas or someone else's.  And it's so much faster to hop on and get exactly what you need instead of going to 10 stores and coming up empty.  Things like watch batteries, or name tag holders, or even batteries!  Anyway, boys, fishes, meltdowns, need to correct so much wrong behavior.  Ah!

At least this minute was cute!  So much random stuff like deodorant for Benaiah, craft supplies like modeling clay, gold paint, and red posterboard  for Keturah, Calgon water softener for the washing machine, a couple of food items like GRITS and I bought the BIG bag this time!  Which means I hit every department in Meijer, which is one of our big box stores.  It's so tiring to walk through so much stuff listening to kids whine for stuff only to pick up a handle of items.  It's why I don't do this more than once or twice a month.

Always the reward unless we are totally pressed for time. Benaiah said, "Smile like you actually WANT to be on it, lol."  Oh, and the pop machine was out of most regular pop and it was hard for kids to decide on something so they could share.  I got the last of the cherry syrup for my diet dr. pepper.

This one, though, LOVED the horsey, and rocked back and forth on it like he was really riding it!  Hilarious!

We also went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some plastic tubs with lids that Operation Christmas Child put out with their logo, exclusively at Hobby Lobby!  And they cost the same as you find ones in the dollar store!  We also looked for rafia but came up empty and I didn't want to ask an employee and backtrack through the store.  The last stop was Aldi's on Washington St again because they have the biggest selection of the non food items and I wanted a second bin for the boys' closet and another shoe rack for the back door, which they only had in white, but oh well.  Now I have three of those shoe racks, one being 6 or 7 years old from Alid's!  And then when I put those away, I saw the perfectly shaped and colored red maple leaf on the van's bumper.  So pretty!

Aren't you hungry for lunch, Abishai?  No, Mom, I'm busy playing cars and trucks (yes, he actually said that!)  And he also said that the tow truck didn't have a siren and it was a silent siren.  At least he's honest!

Keturah was watching Abishai outside while I finished up my lunch and I came out to find them in the front flower bed!  And they had taken out the electronic dump truck!  Eek!  I made sure it came inside at the end of the night, but, instead of being mad, I went back around to the shed and pulled out the other sand/water toys so they could dig properly.  It's "clean" dirt, so why not?  They had a blast!

We didn't have to go anywhere to find our beach for fall break!

Dump it out truck!  And he kept chattering away about all the things he was doing with it!  He's definitely imitating Blippi, too.  Blippi may be very corny, but there's no technology, it's real world information, like the names and functions of different trucks, shapes, colors, and numbers, the guy actually plays with toy versions like a little kid making sounds and stories as well as show the real life versions.  He has talked about garbage and recycling, truck washes, aquariums, construction vehicles, police cars and fire trucks, he's visited indoor playgrounds, monster trucks, etc.  Pretty cool!

He kept saying, "Mommy, Justin, play with me!" and would hand us a bucket and shovel.  "Watch me!"

Keturah really got into it, too.

Justin played for 60 seconds, but didn't want to get dirty.

Little red cheeks from playing out in the sun.  Working hard!  It was in the low 70's, but the sun was directly on us.

Scoop it in.

Dump it out.

Beautiful dirty baby feet.  This reminds me of being on one's knees in prayer, which reminds me that Abishai has been asking to pray every night at supper!  He says, "Jesus, family, supper, amen!"  And maybe, "Miah home (or come back)" "sissy here" "playtime" etc etc.  It's adorable!

What a great big sister to play along with little brother.  She will ask for hugs at naptime and bedtime, too.  And take note, Jared swept the front porch and tidied it up!

The calendar says it's October 20th. We still have a few flowers blooming.  It's fall, y'all.  Plants, go to sleep!

I did finally pick up the dead brush and pulled some nasty looking weeds while the kids played in the makeshift "sandbox."  I'd much rather be out in my favorite weather than inside anyway.  And this is some of the brush that I picked off.  I found it fascinating that the flower stems just crisped up like this.

These are the bases of the flowers!  So cool!

A couple of random daises, too.

It's going to be peak fall color this weekend and week!  If we had more time with the out of town family, I would insist on going to Southeastway park for some pictures.  I might blow off part of Tuesday after the library to go there instead.  I need to see the kids run throw the woods with piles of colorful leaves around them.  And there's a nice stream down there as well.  No excuses!

Jared decided to hack off what looks like mold on the big J.  It makes me sad.  But he'll clean it up and put a protective coating on it.  It was on both our Beech Grove house covered porch, as well as Gary and Leah's porch, so it was out of the direct hit by weather.  It had discolored, but it wasn't this bad until the last 3 months when we put it on our uncovered porch.  I love it because it's so rough looking and unique and Jared made it directly out of section of tree that it was helping a friend cut down.  Hopefully it won't eat up too many batteries or saw blades. 

Now we're off to prepare for and celebrate 40 years of Indian Creek Christian Church's existence!  From a handful of families meeting in a school's gym to Gary and family arriving on the scene in 1990 to a small sanctuary and set of offices/classrooms, (which is now still offices and the chapel), to opening the Family Life Center, (which is where it was at when I came into the picture), to opening up the big auditorium a month after Benaiah was born, to The Box, now Kidustrial Park (which changed when we were in Canada), to having it's first satellite location on Shelby St. this past year.  1,000's and 1,000's of people have come and gone through those doors, thousands more will come and be changed.  More stories to come as we celebrate this weekend!  Happy birthday, church!