Year 2, Day 339 & 340: Better Days

Tuesday was ok. We were home that day, but were slow on the uptake. I made cranberry bread and a nice dinner. We finished our studies and checked over work from Monday. I think Abishai threw a few trantrums that day, because it seems like his tantrums are getting louder and more frequent. He refuses to potty train/give up paci. He is very picky about bowls and silverware and food. He can be quite mean at times, but he does have to push hard on the others sometimes. As we all are, he is a work in progress. At least he did sleep well. At this stage, those naps are crucial for all of us introverts.

Today was a good day. Keturah made a big effort not to back talk me. Abishai listened to me when we were at gymnastics. Justin didn't cry at his math lesson. And Benaiah had fun trying on his tux for the play tomorrow night. We went to the library after gymnastics and I think I checked out over 50 boxes I had ordered (vacation reading!). I've worked a bit on cleaning out some photos on my phone. It's a process when you don't like to get rid of anything, but I was ruthless with it today. It's the amount of videos I keep on there. I know I load them up to YouTube and we can access them anytime, even without wifi if we use our data (but we rarely do that), but having it right there on the phone is nice. I want to think I'll use them to entertain Abishai but in reality, I don't. I need to be more ruthless. I did have to laugh at several of them today as I watched each one in order to decide what to get rid. (It's a process! Leave it alone!) And we all had a good time at Bible Bowl tonight, including little man throwing our fake soft snowballs at Daddy. Then Abishai had some great laughs with Jared in the bathtub blowing bubbles, while Keturah put away her massive amount of clean laundry she was hiding in her closet. Justin did dishes and Benaiah did homework. Now the littles are in bed and the bigs are getting there.

Cranberry bread!  I misplace my GF recipe every year, but found a decent paleo recipe that used almond flour and a ton of eggs, some flax, backing soda, etc.  It came out great!  The key was to let the batter sit for a bit so that the apple cider vinegar reacted with the baking soda and flax in order to make the bread fluffy.  We also added nuts this time.  I made two loafs, split them in half, and froze 3 halves.  Otherwise we would have eaten it all up in a day!  I don't bake very often, so the kids gobble it up when I do.

Who said you can't garden indoors in the winter?  We planted these in April.  Still going in December!

Two more tomatoes from the vine I thought would certainly die.  Awesome!

I did get a chance to play piano Tuesday evening when Jared took Keturah and Abishai to fill up the gas tanks in the cars before the price went up.  This is the only sheet music I have out of the 3 Christmas albums Michael W. Smith has done.  And let me tell you, if that man ever does 6 key signatures in one piece of music again, I am going to write him a letter!  Granted, this was back in 1988, but still.  it makes a piece of music very difficult.  Anyway, great songs, some of my favorites, like All Is Well, which was my mom's favorite.

A newer favorite we learned at Cornwall Christian Church, Emmnuel by Chris Tomlin.  It's even in the same key as the original recording, so I played along with it.

Remember these?  View finders!  They still work!

All set to watch "The Polar Express!  But this little guy cried out in anguish at every wrong thing that happened!  He was very concerned about all the snow and when the train was going too fast.  But, he calmed down and now he won't let go of the bell we had gotten when we went on a local "Polar Express" in Connersville in 2011 when Keturah was 3 1/2 years old.

Cranberry bread for dessert!

Daddy left this protective sleeve for the kids to play with.  Abishai put it on his foot!  And then he used it to carry the viewfinder and his bell to and from gymnastics today.

This is how you do gymnastics, Mom.  Abishai likes to copy the girls and their moves.

Backward rolls.

Boing! Boing! Jump! Jump!  We love the bouncy floor!  He ran back and forth on the mat on this side of the tape.  He even sat with Justin a bit and played with another little boy that likes cars.

We can now see the girls on the beams in the back thanks to this TV monitor!  The girls were super excited to show us!

Working on back bends.

Very random posing on the steps outside of the gym.  He loves his hat and mittens and doesn't mind that his thumbs aren't in the thumb holes.  He also likes wearing the hat far down over his eyes.

Keturah voluntarily practiced the parts of the body on the library computer.

Coloring robots! I.e. C3PO and R2D2.

I'm so glad my kids can cook their own lunches!  Hot ham and cheese!

Yogurt with extra blueberries and chicken nuggets!

Abishai just eats whatever we prepare, well, at least some of the time.

Ready, set, go!  Snowball fight at church!

What else do you do with an empty long hallway? Abishai also ran all the way to Daddy's office barefoot!  We made sure he took a bath when he got home because those rugs can be pretty dirty.

I've got all the snowballs now!

Watching his favorite songs about trucks and cars and vehicles.  Also, he was saying letters when playing with an alphabet puzzle at the library and trying to spell, "Bliipi!"  No joke!  Blippi spells his name at the end of his videos, so I'm not super surprised but this.  Too funny!