Year 3, January 10-12th, 2018: Errands Before the Ice Storm

"Got your storm chips?"  Yes and no.  We bought chips last week and haven't opened them.  But, we didn't buy them because a ice/snow storm was coming, like Atlantic Canada does.  Friday was a storm day, but let's back up to Wednesday and go chronologically, shall we?  Ok, let's go!

And boy do we go places!  In fact, we went 7 places on Wednesday!  We went to gymnastics first, where the kids received their huge prize packs for doing a scavenger hunt in our homeschool group that is based out there.  65 families and only 2 families filled out the scavenger hunt.  One was a Bible fill in the blank, and one was an Indiana info sheet.  Keturah and Justin didn't complain about filling them out and they had no idea what they were getting either.  Double win! After gymnastics, we stopped at the Dollar General for dish soap and a treat for each of us because I told Abishai if he stayed off of the gymnastics equipment, I would get him something.  He picked a $5 car of course, go figure!  And it took him 10 minutes to decide!  He finally decided on a red "van" which is really an SUV, but it reminded him of our van I guess.  Onwards to drop off my laptop for a quick tune up.  Good news is that the external hard drive was salvageable! And so was my printer!  Yeah!  Last stop was the library to drop off a bunch of books and pick up just a couple.  I haven't ordered much in the last month, thank goodness.  Lunch, naptime, and school.  Then Bible Bowl (where Keturah and I worked on more school), recycling drop off and prescription pick up.  Phew!

Thursday, we had 3 more stops to make.  We dropped off a couple of old VHS tapes that will be put on archival DVD's.  I had just thought about doing this earlier in the week and then someone posted an ad on a local Facebook group with a big discount.  So, I thought I'd try them out!  Super nice guy and if it goes well, I'm sure I'll be bringing more to him, maybe a dozen in total?  He took over the business from someone else, and they license out the name of the company from a national service, but he does it from his home.  He's got all the latest equipment and has done photography and videography for 30 years.  And he works with any media format, too.  Anyway, I'm excited to start that process!  And he's less than 10 minutes away, sweet!  And right near him, is the ICE TREE!!!!  We finally got to go!  It look a bit "sick" and in fact, they even said so today, but that's ok.  I'm just happy 3 of the kids and I got there.  We can go back next week I'm sure.  They did ask for people not to show up today and tomorrow because their driveway was full of ice from the storm.  After that, we headed north to an indoor playland where the kids had a blast for 3 hrs!  And I only had to pay for Keturah and Abishai because it was designed with preschoolers in mind.  We also stopped on the way home to pick up my computer because it was done.

Friday, we hunkered down at home because in the wee hours of the morning, sleet fell and the roads were covered in ice. Jared had a couple of video calls to make that took up most of the morning, and then worked on other regular work this afternoon.  The kids and I hit the books hard, really hard, and will finish up tomorrow because we have nothing else to do tomorrow either.  Benaiah slept half of the day away and spent the other half with his butt glued to his desk chair or the couch not doing much of anything.  And Abishai played and slept hard.  I started the Whole30 yesterday, and once again, feel like I have nothing to eat, because we eat up protein so quickly, so I'll be going to the store again tomorrow.  We managed to eat almost an entire 3 lb bag of chicken thighs for dinner last night between the six of us!  I wish I could buy more at one time but we don't have the budget for it nor do we have the room in the fridge and freezer for it.  I'll be putting a deep freezer on my wishlist, along with an Instapot to replace my crockpot sometime this year.  An Instapot is basically a pressure cooker, although you can use it like a crockpot and let things take a bit longer.  I just don't like standing in front of the stove stirring a pot of soup or chili.  I'd rather fix it and forget it, although I think you do have to let the steam out of the pressure cooker right when it finishes.  Anyway, I have more to learn, but I'm pretty certain is something I would use.  Like earlier this week when I forgot to put meat in the crockpot in the morning and then it's like 2 pm and I don't really have time to cook the meat the way I would want to.  I prefer not to roast meats because it becomes too dry most of the time.  Anyway, enough about appliances.  I've got a major headache, but I'm doing a bit better in getting enough calories.  Not perfectly, but better.  I just need to constantly eat to get all the calories in since vegetables don't have many!  I've added a bunch of oils, but I had one too many today, and made myself sick.  I explain more on my "Instastories," i.e. pictures on Instagram, but it's worth mentioning here that I'm doing it.  And it was necessary because my mind and gut need to be reset after the holidays and gaining a bit of weight for the first time ever (unless I'm pregnant, which I'm not).  I enjoyed my holiday food and don't regret it.  #foodfreedom

So, that's the basics. I'm sure I'll think of some fun stories as load up the pictures.  I'm feeling good now that we've caught up on errands and school for the week.  It was a little bit crazy for a few days.  And we aren't actually snowed in.  We did get a few inches, and there is ice underneath, but even if the temps don't rise above freezing, the major roads will be fine in a day or two.  And you just have to take it slow on the side streets.  But I don't think 50% of Indiana gets that based on how many tweets police officers and the DOT have to make throughout the snow "event" for EACH AND EVERY event! Ok, Canadians don't always slow down either.  But it's common sense and we shouldn't need big brother to remind us all the time about it.  'Nuff said about that.

Saturday we will clean up and prep for Sunday, which is full to the hilt as it always will be.  Benaiah has Monday off because it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means he's had a 3 day school week this week (his first day of school was Tuesday), then a 4 day weekend, and then another 3 day school week next week!  Same for Jared since he is teaching 1 class every day over there.  Not for the homeschooled.  We take off an afternoon but catch up on Saturday, lol.  Snow doesn't stop us, either.  It was really windy today, so I don't think they would have wanted to be out there anyway.  Maybe tomorrow.

Wednesday: I am purposefully taken less pictures so I have less to process, but also so that I am more present with the kids.  I'm even putting my phone down for longer periods of time, using a timer that will go off every hour when I can pick it up back up again to check email/social media.  I have chimes for texts, phone calls, and direct messages from Facebook.  Other than that, everything else can wait.

Abishai tried his hardest not to touch their game of Poke'mon, but it's such a temptation because he just wants to do what his big siblings do!

Abishai kept a lookout for Keturah and her friends.

Huge bags of goodies! From snacks to coloring books to colored pencils to puzzles, so much fun in one little bag!  Oh, and huge glow sticks, too!

Abishai knew exactly what to do with markers at the library!  They have a tablecloth that you can PURPOSEFULLY color on.  Pretty neat!  I've seen some Pinterest ideas about getting a blank canvas cloth like that and having guests at Thanksgiving write down something every year and then resue it the next year and find previous "entries" to read from!  A variant on that theme is that one family has all of their guests sign their name underneath their large wooden "farm" style table instead of a guest book as a reminder of table fellowship.

Abishai and I played for a long time with the duplos at the library.  I built a little house for him and he kept having the Daddy come and go, saying hi to the Mommy, parking his car in the garage, etc.  He also built ramps for his cars like you see at the monster truck rallies!

I bought some goodies from an online retailer to use during my Whole30.  Gluten free, dairy free, soy free, sugar free, bean free! It's a pretty strict program, but this website, Thrive Market, lists their items by "diet or program" and most of these items say "Whole30 approved" on them, so it takes the guesswork out of deciding whether or not I can have them.  Plus, you pay an annual fee and you get these items for less than your typical health food store.  Things like coconut aminos, nutpods, avocado oil based mayo, ghee, and avocado oil, plus a few dressings/marinades.  Yummy!  And yes, that's a lot of packaging but 100% of it is from recycled materials and is recyclable.  Plus, every jar, (most of them are glass), was wrapped individually with paper and in plastic to protect breaks and contain spills.  I was thoroughly impressed with the packaging after having the mishap with Amazon.com putting heavy fruit flavored water in the same box with a DVD and a Supergirl doll withOUT much packaging!  I'll pay for a service where they take the time to think about what they are doing, thanks.

Playtime after Bible Bowl.  I think these were set up because the high schoolers have a Bible study breakfast on Thursday mornings.  Otherwise, the gaga ball pit and the nine square are taken out right before youth group and taken down right after.  Just think, in a few years, the kids will have their own space and won't have to worry about this all the time!

Vacuum wars!  Abishai wanted to vaccum because Justin was vacuuming.  What a pair these two are!  I even heard them giggling at each other again this morning just because Justin was looking over his bunk bed down at Abishai.

This is the company I took the VHS tapes to.

 Thursday:  I honestly thought I had taken a whole lot more pictures than I did!  I did put my camera down a few times, and I did spend a little bit on my phone keeping up with some emails.  But I also engaged the kids in their play a lot more than I usually do.  Yeah!

Ice tree!  It was melting, therefore you see all the sticks hanging out, but it was something to behold, I'm telling you!  And it's so impressive how they do it!  24/7 water spraying when the temps are below freezing.  The water comes from their pond, not city water, or even their well, so it all goes back into the pond at the end of the season.  They use food coloring to color it.  55 years of family tradition!

"Take a picture for Benaiah!" - Keturah

Tada!  I played cashier at the grocery store!  I was super surprised at how much fun Justin had!  He was technically an adult and we didn't have to pay for him because adults are free.  But he got into all of it and even acted liking a preschooler when he didn't his way.  He was too big for the powerwheels!

"I fixin' somethin'!"

My own cave!  Plus Justin was building up a wall to the right of this picture which served as an escape route for those in "jail" at the police station.

Homemade cookies and cream ice cream!  It took 5 minutes or so for the employee to make them!  Served in a cute dish that they had to give back of course.  (More pics below).

Whoops!  The bike caught hold of the chair as Abishai scooted by and then the chair caught the rug from in front of the stove.  And he laughed about it more than he got upset!

See all those sticks hanging out?  They were covered in a ton of ice just yesterday before it warmed up.  In fact, a local newscaster was allowed to go on top of the ice tree.  The public is told to stay on the driveway, but in the back, they chop out footholds so they climb up on it and add more sticks to it as it takes shape.  Thursday, however, they had barriers up because the ice was melting and when it feel off, it would shatter.  Pretty dangerous.  You could hear the dripping and cracking.

Only Keturah allowed me to take her picture in front of it.

The biggest feature of Boccini's Family Fun Place near the Indianapolis Regional Airport (Mt. Comfort airport) was this blow up racetrack!  The kids spent 75% of the 3 hrs zooming around and around in this thing!  We had the place to ourselves for the first 45 minutes.  Then the friends that invited us came and played with us for the next two hours.  They had pedal bikes, scooters, two power wheel motorcycles, one suv power wheel (and all there of those lasted forever!, and your own two stocking feet of course.  Power wheels have batteries so you don't have to pedal.  You just "step on the gas" and go!  Abishai won't stop talking about his motorcycle and truck!

Lego wall!  Justin was building the symbol of his Overwatch video game.

This is the SUV power wheel!  "My truck!"

And this side was all the cool imagination play area!  They also had an area for the under 2 yrs old crowd, a barbershop area, a train table, some board games, and an area for a house with little recliners, a kitchen, and plenty of dolls and accessories.  Each area had it's own set of pretend toys, mostly made by the Melissa and Doug toy company.  M & D toys, book, puzzles, and games are known for their high quality and imagination.  None of them require batteries.  They pricey, but worth it!  There were also costumes in every area.  Fire/police station, movie/theater house, grocery store, diner, hospital, and post office (including UPS).

Justin took over the diner and served Abishai a meal or two!  Abishai even looked at menu!  Justin went shopping for his diner at the grocery store, paid for his goods, went back and organized them into the panty and fridge.  At one point, Justin was in the town square being a walking advertisement for his diner, shouting, "We serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  Come and get some hot food!"  He totally got into character.

Keturah also went shopping in this very well organized grocery store. We were the first customers of the day, so everything was still very neat.

This is so cool!  There's a weighted string in these condiments so when you turn the bottle upside down, it looks like the condiment is coming out!  There were also "bags" of chips and pretzels where you can undo the velcro and take out a couple of thick wooden "chips." 

Whipped cream!  The cream was made of felt!  So cool!  And they had those bottles where when you turn it upside down, it looks like the liquid disappears!

Cutest firefighter ever!  He's putting out the fire at the diner!

Abishai like the crawling tunnel in the infant area.  When we first walked in, I felt like we were watching a Blippi video!  Blippi goes into indoor playgrounds and playlands and says, "Oh, look at this!  This is an orange ball!  This is a red apple!"  "See what I can do here!  I can go down the slide, whee!"  So, I felt like I should as Blippi does!  I think it did help Abishai, and the other two, engage more with the role play toys.

Keturah donned a post office shirt and delivered the mail and all the packages!

Best toy of the day!  He got quite good at driving this thing as well.  Every time he would bump into a wall, he would dismount, re-position it, and get back on, all without fussing or hesitating.  It was the other two that I had to keep coming over and disciplining for arguing or screaming (out of delight or because she hit a wall).  At one point, Abishai learned that you can hit a button in order to put the motorcycle or SUV into reverse, so he did!  I bet they did 50 laps around that thing!

Friday: A great, strong day of "getting it done!"

I'm trying new recipes this time around with more flavors and definitely more vegetables and oils.  Sweet potato hash with onions, spinach and eggs.  And I didn't burn them and they didn't get stuck to the bottom of the pan like potatoes do.  I can eat white potatoes, but I'm keeping it to just one per day.  I made enough of this to have some tomorrow as well.  It wasn't as savory or sweet as I thought it would be, but, it was better than a plain hamburger.

This is "Poppy's watch" from the "Trolls" movie.  It tells Poppy when it's "hug time" which is every hour on the hour.  Keturah made it from some spongy sand stuff she got in her goody bag from Wednesday.

Nutpods coffee creamer!  No sugar, no sweetener, no dairy, no soy, no junkie chemicals (that are in your standard coffee creamer).  Just coconut/almond milk and hazelnut extract.  When you haven't had the right amounts of hazelnut or vanilla or peppermint extract in your coffee with plan, unsweetened almond milk in over a year, this tastes heavenly!

Glorious snow!

We got a few inches!  And the 30mph wind brought it right up against the door.  The door was nearly frozen shut this morning from the icy rain we had in the wee hours of the morning.

He loves that fire hat!  He and Justin were chasing Daddy around the house in the dark tonight, flashlights ablazing!  Keturah was hiding out in her room and Benaiah was tuning it all out, although I wish he had joined in.  But how can the 3 year old carry around that big flashlight (it has a huge battery attached to the bottom of it like other power tools) and that big light saber in the dark and not fall down?  You should have heard the screams though when Daddy would hide and then jump out when the boys passed him.  Hilarious!

And after a few years, I signed up for Quicken again!  Time to really keep track of where that money goes!  I prefer this method because then I can easily bring up different reports.  I just have to key in all the categories now.  I used Quicken for maybe 5 years or so.  It was 40% off and you do have to renew/pay a fee every year for updates.  But I splurged and got the business version so that I could keep track of Lilla Rose stuff as well as Young Living stuff.  I signed up to be a Young Living Essential Oils member, which is a direct sales business for essential oils.  So I'll be getting my kit by Monday.  I just want the discount this time around, but who knows.  I now have the tools to do it all.

Abishai ate his peanut butter and jelly from the inside out with a fork!

Lazy teenager.  Got up at 11:30am.  Sat with the preschooler for 15 minutes.  Was probably fully unplugged for just those 15 minutes all day.  Ok, he was unplugged fully for 15 minutes at dinner.  Otherwise, he takes the whole set up with him to prepare and eat food, then sits in his corner or on the couch.  I think he did some schoolwork, but it's hard to tell because he usually has both the computer and the iPod going at the same time.

Abishai traded in the fire hat for the Batman cowl! Cutest 3 yr old Batman ever!  And I vividly remember Justin in the costume and what the pictures I took of him look like.  Abishai and Justin are twins!  Adorable!

Justin loves costumes and donned the darth vader cape to go chase Daddy, too.

Keturah got too scared of the chasing game and decided to hide out in her room.  Oh, and she redecorated again.  I told her she's not allowed to redecorate until she finishes her other art projects first.  She moved her folding chair into the closet and moved the dresser out of the closet.  She also put the art supplies under her bed.

And the ground is covered again!  And it should stay that away for the rest of the week because the temperatures are going to stay below freezing!

Flashback to two years ago!