Year 3, February 14th-18th: Everything but the Birthday Party

I'm just going to dump some fun pictures from the last week so I can catch up.  We had a rough start to last week (my fault) but it ended peacefully and well with Abishai's birthday party and our long church day as usual.  I wish I could remember all the funny little moments but I'm not good at writing them down or remembering them several hours later (or days) when I got to post them.  But I do my best.  Here's what we have:

#preschool  I downloaded some Olympic worksheets for all 3 younger kits and there was a preschool version!  Abishai definitely understood what to do.  He thoroughly enjoyed putting the dots on the letter pages using do a dot (bingo) paint markers.  It's not something we do everyday, but it's nice to keep him busy sometimes.  Otherwise, he terrorizes his siblings when they are doing their independent work.

This is what a "perfect pick up" looks like in the sunroom.  I pushed the table back to block Benaiah's stuff and Abishai found a way to climb over and get into his stuff even more! Abishai keeps us on our toes!  In fact, trying to keep a house picked up and ready for a party several days before said before because you can't do it all in one day is nearly impossible with a 3 yr old!

Yup, he's mine!

Abishai's new parking garage for his new trucks.  I say, "Park it." and he parks them here.

OOOO, big boy did VERY well on his vocab test with very little studying!  You're welcome for making you read great books!  And for Grandpa teaching you how to use your vocabulary.  He also got a 105% correct on the next one!  Way to go, Benaiah!

I forced them to do an assignment together again.  I don't do it often because they do fight, but, it teaches them to work with a partner and they actually had some giggle fits over it, too.  They were working on a map of Alexander the Great's empire and how it was divided up into 4 kingdoms after his death.

No particular reason why, but Abishai wanted to lay down on my lap like he was an infant.  Ok, I'll take it!

Oh, just baking a GF yellow cake I made into a chocolate "dirt" cake for the birthday party!  I used two boxes of cake mix, which would normally make 24 cupcakes, so I put both mixes into this one pan.  I had a feeling it was going to be pretty tall.  I then leveled the top before I turned it over to ice it for Abishai's 'struction cake.

Brothers watching TV.  I think they were watching the car show that was from BBC but is now put together through Amazon Prime called The Grand Tour.  And Abishai was waving the flag as they raced around their dirt/asphalt race track.

Watching a cake bake.

This angle makes him look chubby, which clearly, at 23 lbs, he is not.

This guy got a big surprise today!  He's joining his middle school friends on an overnight to CIY Believe!  He was in the middle of math and frustrated, so I handed over the packing the list 2 hrs before he was to leave!  Thankfully, he was very excited and not panicked.  I would have panicked because I don't like people messing with my schedule.  He had a blast!  His leaders really wanted him to go and found a way to financially make it possible.

Aww, admit it, they all love the dog.

Funky balloons that came in the box of goodie bag treats for the birthday party guests.  Which, we forgot to give to them!

I can't remember if Abishai was defending Justin or tackling him.  I think he was defending them.  But what a pile of boys we have of all shapes and sizes (23 lb for little guy, 80 lb for middle guy, and 225 lbs for biggest guy).

Daddy has all kinds of fun things at the office!  Actually, I'm sure this hoop belongs to the student ministry.  I think this is a permanent fixture.  But this guy loves balls and Daddy.

Big boy drinking out of an e2 green mug!  No spills either, but it was just water.  And what's with the pj shirt, again?  Lazy Mommy!  Or smart Mommy for choosing not to fight that battle!  The kids really do adhere to the pjs being the uniform of homeschoolers and they wear out their pjs faster than their regular day clothes!

Sister's turn at the basketball hoop!

Yeah, Grandma's (and Grandpa's) home from their trip to India!  Time to play with her toys!

THIS KID!  How does he belong to me?????  The leaders did an Instagram video story and my kid is the only one who got up out of his seat and danced in the aisle.  And, how is he a Johnson?  Johnsons don't dance!  For being an introvert, Justin brings a lot to the party and lets loose with his friends and it's such a great thing!

First of two brand new albums to come out in the next two weeks!  That's right, A Million Lights, a pop album with very edgy music, by Michael W. Smith, released on February 16th.  Surrounded, a worship album, drops the next Friday on February 23rd.  Releasing two albums in two weeks is almost unheard of.  And yes, I preordered them and got the signature copies.

Will, one of the middle school leaders, wrote this note for us.  I love the part about him being a "natural leader and helps those around him be themselves and have a lot of fun."  So far, that's 2 of my kids that have been trained and/or gifted with leadership abilities.  And yes, since I criticize my ability to parent and homeschool almost constantly, I will take a moment and pat myself (and Jared) on the back with a "well done" and a "homeschooling works!"  Yes, there are leaders in every school setting, but homeschoolers are known to have more leadership skills because of the opportunities they are given, especially with people of different ages.  Justin is an introvert, but it's great to see that he can still function as an extrovert, too, just like I can.  Sweet note!

Jared fixed a shelf for Keturah in her room, finally.  Sometimes we just don't have the time to get to these simple things!

Abishai's new bath toys he got from our friend Sherry has saved bath time!  Abishai has been screaming and dreading bath time for several months now because the water is harsh on his dry sensitive skin.  But he actually played this tub!  Yeah for new toys!  Thank you, Sherry!

My girl has the gift of decorating, that's for sure!

Aww, I love her little cubby where she can leave out her Barbie things.  I had to pick mine up after playing each time because we had just a few square feet of bare floor in our bedroom.  It was a small bedroom with two sets of bunkbeds, a dresser, and a desk, so there just wasn't room.  She has even added strips of paper to hang down off the canopies of her Barbie beds.

The tech team at church as been planning and practicing this for a couple of months now.  But today, they finally broadcast the sermon LIVE to our satellite campus on Shelby St.!!! And it was a smashing success!  No glitches that I heard of!  Gary and Dan will continue to record the sermon during the previous week just in case there is a glitch, but the plan is to broadcast live both the 9:15 and the 11am services every week.  Shelby St. doesn't have a 4:30, so no worries there.  Both teams work hard at keeping the service to their strict minute by minute schedule.  There is a 3 minute delay from Franklin Rd. campus to the Shelby St. campus, so Shelby St. will play an extra song or have an extra prayer or something to account for that.  But other than that, what a huge moment for these guys!  So proud of them!

Benaiah played for the middle school Crave services on Sunday morning again.  And Tom, or worship director in big church, has asked him to practice some songs and come in for an audition for big church in the next month!  Big stuff is happening for the big guy!  It's so awesome that Benaiah has worked his way up from his chapel service at school, to middle school Crave, to possibly big church this summer or fall.  It's what he has wanted for a long time!  And it reminds me of our young drummer back at Manchester Christian Church, James Reynolds, who started playing drums at age 12 for our 500 member congregation, and all the times where he would speed up and we would all have to follow.  These young ones are definitely loved and cherished and known.  I love to see their servant leadership!

Abishai didn't stay too long at the dinner table on Sunday, but found his way to his car pile again and had a great time telling himself a story.  We love to hear him babble.

Time for more gifts, this time from Grandpa and Grandma!  They got him a new tumbler car.  I think this is the third one our family has had.  Benaiah had one, then Justin, and now Abishai.

OOO, perfect puzzle for Abishai!  And perfect size pieces to graduate from the puzzles that have like 5 pieces and each piece has its own hole, so it's easier to put together.  He also got 'struction site jammies!

Gifts from India!  Benaiah got a travel chess set.  Keturah got a new dress. I received a new fabric covered handmade paper journal and some stationary.

Justin and Jared got real Indian tea, of course.

Another proud parent moment!  Justin said he tried to avert his eyes, but couldn't.  I told him it didn't count as his screen time, so no worries.  Discernment is a great principle to have!

Shorty Justin in a sea of middle school giants!

Justin stuffed balloons up the back of his shirt to become a stegosaurus with spikes!  Abishai thought that was the funniest thing, especially when Justin would purposefully bump into him and make him fall down.

New favorite jammies!  I had to wash them, but as soon as they were dry, he wanted them back on.  Cutie!

(bouncing back to a few days prior) These are the paint markers and dot artwork I was talking about previously.  He knew what to do!

We decided it was ok to do the big ones instead of the little ones because the point was knowing the difference.

Lollipop twins!

This boy has so much initiative!  I'm not sure what he was doing, maybe washing his hands or a toy (which he did do several days later.)  He pulled over the potty by himself, and climbed up there.  Oi! Now, if we could just channel that initiative into potty training, we would be done in a day!  Perhaps we'll try that during spring break!