Year 2, Day 344 & 345 & 346: A Live Nativity

Monday was tough, especially for Justin and he didn't even hang out with his middle school buddies!  Justin is our super sensitive guy, and he recognizes that his mind can be very scattered and it's frustrating to him.  I try to make light of it as much as I can, but on days like today, I'm like "Please get it together, buddy!" He's learning and working hard, but he loves to play with Abishai, who looks up to him a ton.  They've been playing with Justin's more expensive Lego sets, and Abishai does listen when Justin says to be careful.  Justin is very patient with his little brother, too.  They run around a lot together.  And that's the beauty of homeschooling, cultivating these relationships, but at the same time, they can be a distraction, too.  There's a balance somewhere, but sometimes it's hard to find.  Keturah is staying on task much better as well.  I've been telling others that I really don't want to stop schooling for the holidays because we finally are in the groove and have  good routine going, especially on days we are at home all day.  But, we need to take the break and enjoy family, too.  I asked them today (it's Wednesday as I type this) if they would rather do school in January or June and they said January.  We were doing an activity where they needed to do a "scavenger hunt in the library."  Well, we found out two things: 1) they need to work on their thinking and observational skills, and perserverence (they give up too easily) and 2) they couldn't get to half of our library of books!  While I know that I can't focus on house projects and homeschooling at the same time, it frustrates me that I made plans to have these books finally accessible to them and now they are hidden behind boxes that I don't have time to get to until summer.  I understand why my mom never did clean out our basement (it was like a scene from the hoarders tv show!) all those years of growing up!  There's simply no time!  And I knew at that time, she was choosing to prioritize our education and outside activities over housecleaning and even her own sewing and knitting.  That's why she was so happy to get back to her needlework when we all graduated.  Alas to say, I will push aside those boxes until summer and deal with them then.  Thankfully Jared understands that as well.  He wanted to get a vehicle into the garage for winter, but that didn't happen either.  We'll work on that in the summer as well.  #priorities (sorry, I've been using Instagram a ton lately, lol).

Speaking of school, we decided to skip the toddler time at the library on Tuesday (again) because I wanted to focus on school in the morning and then leave the afternoon free to help Justin bake cookies for his Bible Bowl friends.  Abishai was happily nesting at home anyway and today (Wednesday) he woke up sick with a runny nose and sore throat.  So, we worked on our sharing skills with our siblings instead.  The middles and I went to the library to exchange books on Wednesday.  We also picked up Keturah's new glasses, yeah!  She said that it will take a bit to get used to them, but she should be fine.  Let's hope that's all she needs to fix her eye issues!

Meanwhile, Tuesday evening, Benaiah came home from school sounding sick and had a headache, so we left him home with Grandma and the 5 of us went out to Greenfield to the Brandywine Community Church to go through a live nativity event.  It was AWESOME!  It was free, everyone played their roles to the max, and it took over an hour to go through it!  It was mostly inside, thank goodness, because the temperatures have dropped into the 20's F here.  There's a big storm brewing tonight (Weds) with up to 45 mph wind gusts, snow/rain mix, and our heat has been running all day (without me turning up the temperature).  I think Jared was pretty impressed with the Nativity, too.  I found out about it through one of my homeschool groups.  It was well worth the 30 minute drive, on which, Abishai fell asleep going out to the church because he didn't take a nap yesterday.  He was hard to put down today as well, but finally agreed when I let Socks sleep on Benaiah's bed and the door was fully closed.  I guess he just needed a buddy in there.  I'll put more details of the Nativity under the pictures below.

We had to put our names and zip code down on the "census" scrolls as we walked into "Bethlehem!"

We were greeted by some carolers with songs and then, since we were in the synagogue, a priest came out and gave a message!

He read parts of Isaiah and talked about how God has been silent and not to lose hope under the pressure of the Roman government.  He also had bells on his priestly garments and the vest that the priests wore that is specifically described in the Bible.

Then we had about 20 minutes in the marketplace!  We were given coins to use to "buy" things.  There were leather workers, bakers, carpenters, jewelry makers, seamstresses, a farmer, sword makers, candy makers, cloth workers that dye cloth, etc. 

A sword! His favorite!

All the stalls had names in English and Hebrew.  There was even a well in the middle of the room!  And Roman soldiers were walking around taking "taxes" out of the jars we put coins in when we bought something.

Abishai and Justin wanted to participate in the little crafts, and Keturah was content just to watch.  Daddy made Abishai's pot for him.  He was just waking up from his little cat nap on the way out to the church.

Bakers!

Jewelry makers.

We smelled myrh and franicense oils and Justin bought cinnamon, chamomile and willow bark spices.

Abishai helped at the carpenter's stall.

The carpenter's helpers.

We, the tribe of Judea, were then told to make our way to the throne room.  I thought it was Herod's throne room.

It was God's throne room!  And it was sermonette on how Jesus had to leave the Father and the Spirit and go down to earth to save his people.  The angel helpers played "devil's advocate" and asked all the "why" questions.  It was pretty powerful and well played.

Listening intently.

Then we met a spinner on our way out of the marketplace, dropped off any extra coins we had, and made our way to the next room.

In the next room we found the shepherds and live goats!

And the wisemen! And the Christmas star!

Oh my goodness, it was SO cold! I'm glad I had my thermal stockings on under my jeans!  They did have a live horse and maybe mini horse, and of course Mary, Jesus, and Joseph.  Again, another sermonette on opening our hearts to Jesus.  Hard to listen to when you are freezing, but how cold would it have been in the manger back then?

Hot chocolate and cookies to end the tour through Bethlehem!  It was awesome and took a ton of volunteer work to make it happen, that's for sure!  What fun!  And much different than going to see Santa or driving around seeing the Christmas lights.  Pretty neat!

Meanwhile, "back at the ranch...." Yes, Justin fit himself in a soft cube box.

Abishai is all comfy in his "nest."  The other day he had nested in our bed with all his stuffed animals and 4 blankets from various corners of the house!

Keturah had to use these sliders to pretend to ice skate!  You would think she would ace this trick with all the practice she had on real ice, and she didn't do too bad, but I think because she was giggling so much she fell off a few times.

It was super cold in the gym and Mrs. Christie lets the girls wear their socks and/or shirts/sweatpants until they warm up after they do some of these drills.  Keturah very proudly told everyone that her other Grandma (Howell) made these socks and that they are very warm!  Aww!!!

I got this book because we are coming up on Esther in our history studies and the author wrote a novel about Esther and other books like this one an it sounded interesting!  It's a well worn book from the library and I already love it!  28 day spiritual "cleanse" of devotions.  Lots of great advice on all kinds of inner and beauty topics.  I can't wait to see what it all says!

Super excited that all the Newsboys from the '90's will be touring together next spring!  I'm taking Justin even if the tickets get a bit pricey.  It will be worth it!  He loves all the older songs, and I told myself I would take the kids to concerts when they were pre teen/teens just like my mom took me.  We might have to sit up high depending on price, but I can NOT WAIT!

The creative artist arranging the candies in a specific way.

I walked past the bedrooms and heard some giggling from wee one and it was already 9:45pm! Justin had just gone to bed, the dog had followed him into the room, and found his way to Abishai's bed, possibly waking him up?  And then Justin was leaning over the side of his bed making Abishai giggle.  Abishai said he moved his stuffed doggie (the big one) to make room for his Socks.  Socks will probably move to Benaiah's bed once he goes to bed.  We've always let Socks sleep on the boys' beds.  I don't think he's been in Keturah's bed because she went from sleeping on a toddler mattress right before we left for Canada (after the crib rails broke, long story), to a loft bed.  But he did sleep in her room, too, while we were in Canada.  But Socks is not allowed on other furniture and definitely not our bed because his hair makes Jared itch.

Fitting into a box is fun!

Keturah had a box full of rejected toys and Abishai found it and took it over before I could go through it.  Crazy boy!

The Troublesome Twins, again.

Justin made chocolate chocolate chip cookies dipped in sprinkles with a Hershey kiss on top cookies for his Bible Bowl friends.  And his friend Kylie made a yummy for them as well this week.  These kids have big hearts for one another!

Cookies ready for the oven on my new RED SPARKLY cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.  Benaiah just asked to use it for bacon and I said, NO WAY! You aren't not messing up my new cookie sheet before I make my Christmas cookies!  Our cookie pans get messed up quickly, so it was time for a new one.

Forming the balls.

Our goodies from the live Nativity.  Spices, money pouches, pots, and oops, leftover coins.  Not pictured are the swords that I'm sure will be in pictures soon.

Finished products! I've never done the Hershey kiss on top of the cookie recipe before so I was a bit nervous.  You put them on warm so they melt a bit, then push them down a bit more and then they cool.  Well, Justin pushed them down a minute or two after I did and this was the result.  They look like a witch's hat or something!  Cool and humourous!

What I think they should look like!  I froze the Hershey kisses for about 30-60 minutes beforehand because they had been on the somewhat warm counter and I didn't want them to melt as I took the foil off of them.  That was a totally right idea!  The paper came off very easily and quickly!

Baby car and Mommy car in between a police car and tow truck.  He likes to hook the tow truck onto the windshield of the blue car and tow it around.

Playing with big brother's Lego guys!  Always the bad guy/good guy kind of story with lots of fighting and death sounds.

And then I was playing with the tiger puppet and instead of making it mean and growly, I made it into a meowing kitty.  So Abishai wanted the kitty to hug Superman, and Kitty did!

When it's cold outside, you bring you trike inside.  Abishai is very good at navigating the tight spaces with his bus and now the trike.  And it's good practice for him, too, because he just learned to pedal TODAY!

Abishai, aka Linus from Peanuts, had to take blankie and paci along for the ride.  He also covered his feet with it.  Silly boy.

And as I finish typing this, a windstorm is roaring through.  45 mph winds and 36 degrees F.  It sounds like it should be 0 degrees and 3 feet of snow should fall.  Our sunroom is designed for all 4 seasons complete with HVAC and regular windows and falls, but with all those windows, I can hear the wind wanting to come through.  It's nuts!  I'm hoping it dies down before tomorrow before I head out again.  Thankfully Jared came and got Justin for Bible Bowl tonight.  Brrr!!!!