Year 3: June 23rd-25th, 2018: Mood

It's a term that is used on Instagram, "Mood." I think it stands for when someone's in a mood or the situation as a certain vibe to it.  Not sure, but in any case, I've been in a mood, so the title fits.  Not sure what else to say at the moment, so I'll start with some pictures.

Saturday: It was putter around the house until it was time to drop Benaiah off at work and pick up Justin from the airport.  We spent the evening at home.

You never know what kinds of things are happening downtown.  I happen to follow this fitness expert/motivational speaker from California and she happened to come to Indy this past weekend as part of this Beachbody convention or whatever.    She doesn't seem to travel to too many cities, so it was pretty neat for her to be here. 

But check this out! 20,000 people all working out at the same time for 2 hrs at 6 am in downtown Indianapolis!  Crazy! 

The Texan travelers are almost home!

Jared parked on the roof of the garage so we could see these clouds and stay away from other people scratching our car doors when they opened theirs.

Wow!  That's cool!  You scan the square thing and it will take you somewhere on the internet to help you remember where you parked. Great use of those square things!

This is also pretty neat.  The airport had free airport for travelers on our way in (or out) of the terminal.  We didn't take any, but what a kind gesture.  KIND, btw, is the international abbreviation for the Indianapolis International Airport, and IND is the national abbreviation. They are using that word/logo to describe an updated airport.  The airport terminal is maybe 8 years old, but I guess it's never too soon to start giving it facelifts.

The blue turns to red when you walk under them.  Abishai loved that!

There's also something fun to see at the airport!  Paris!

You can charge your phone by creating electricity when you pedal a stationary bike!  It was difficult because my legs are short, but it worked.

I like to go early to the airport so we can watch the comings and goings of people and planes.  When you have little people, it's not all about efficiency or get in/get out.  We did get to see many cool things while we waited!

Like watching this huge FedEx plane land!

Abishai's favorite downtown!

Grandpa, Grandma, and Justin's airplane!

They had to fly north of the city and make a huge loop in order to land going south.

Waiting for Justin to arrive.  It always seems like it takes forever for the plane to land, turn around and park, let the people off and THEN they walk down the terminal to the exit.

One of our favorite things to do at the airport, hand on the railing.

There's big brother!  Except, Abishai completely ran past him to Grandpa!

The crew!  I love our airport and how open and easy it is.  And you see that sign down there that says, "Welcome, coaches?" That's for the Beach Body event that happened this weekend.

Benaiah received his "chef's coat" this weekend.  It's vented at the sides and back.  We stopped at Chick-Fil-A on the way home from the airport because it was lunch time.  He was just about to start his shift.  I wasn't sure if we'd be back in time, so that's why we dropped him off earlier.

Look at the size of our purple daisies!  I have small hands, but still.  Humongous!

They are really tall, too, and the bees and butterflies love them.

Abishai is glad to have his Lego buddy back.

I think Justin really missed his Legos.  He does still play with them every day.

It's a family affair!  Snuggle time for Abishai and the dog.  I think they both missed Justin a lot!

 Sunday:

Tried a new hairstyle by wrapping some hair around the pony tail as the hair "elastic" and then securing with Lilla Rose u-pins.  It only held up for 4 hrs, which is not surprising because my hair is so slick.  It was pretty tight though.  I'll have to try it again.

Getting way too big for the rocking horse.

Abishai took some of his cars and trucks outside at Grandpa's house to play in the rocks.  He's obsessed with moving rocks lately.  The garbage truck needs to unpack the rocks that the other trucks put in it.  Abishai pulled Grandpa and Daddy outside to see it, too.

Monday:

Running around the backyard on a gorgeous 80 degree day with his dog.

I saw this cool homemade bubble maker experiment on Instagram, so I thought we would give it a try.  You put a sock on the end of a bottle that has it's bottom  cut off, and you secure the sock with a rubber band.  You dip the socked end into bubble solution and then blow from the smaller end.  The bubbles then come out in small chunks because of the little holes in the sock.  Pretty nifty!

Bubbles!

Helping Daddy water the trees!

It was a beautiful day, so I did my little exercises with the door open.  That way Abishai could go in and out as well.  I tried encouraging the kids to be outside all day, but they are not very motivated.  I want to get them so big ticket items, but in the meantime, I know that kids can come up with their own games and things on their own.  I know I did, and I grew up with a computer and TV in my house with similar restrictions, 1 hr a day on each because we had to share.  There are days that are very hot, so I don't push it as hard, but today was a perfect day to be outside.  I did go outside with them and we did take a walk later with Daddy, but my main projects of the year are inside, not outside.  I did work on a box near the door while Abishai was playing in the dirt though.  I don't remember my mom ever coming outside with me to play.  I just went outside on my own.  I read, I rollerbladed, I walked the dogs, we went to the nearby playground when I was a teenager (it was a bit too far when I was younger to go alone), I "tanned" and read a book and dragged my boombox outside with extension cords.  I guess I had the horses to take care of, too, at least when I was in high school, so that kept me busy.  We had a slip and slide and metal swing set.  A volleyball net at one point.  That's about it.  Sigh.  We bought a house with a huge yard and I want them to go and use it!  Why is that so difficult to grasp?

Well, at least this one still gets it.  Daddy dumped some potting soil on the back flower beds (not sure if they are staying flower beds or need to be turned back into grassy areas after till up the packed dirt).  It makes a perfect dirt pile for little man and his toys.

Boy child got up at 1 pm again, and it kind of makes me mad because I go to bed at the same time he does, and he needed to mow.  And he only ate three different carbs for breakfast, no fruit, vegetable or protein in sight.  He's having a very laid back summer compared to last year, and it's of my opinion that he should be working 40 hrs a week so he can afford all the things he wants.  That means, he should be doing yard work along with Chick Fil A, which only gives him 15 hrs a week. I think he's going to be shocked at how little he's earning compared to last year.  School's been out for over a month and he's earned almost nothing.  I don't like it when people eat the "bread of idleness" myself included.  I push myself as hard as I can but there's a fine line between idleness and having to rest because of things like fibromyalgia.  But considering a stay at home mom wears many, many hats like "preschool director" and a person working as a "preschool director" outside the home only has to focus on that job and not expected to do house projects and daily do's (houses stay clean when you are gone all day so there's less to do at home, in my opinion) at the same time, I could say I do plenty enough and have earned my phone app game time and social media browsing throughout the day.  Rest and work, work and rest.  Not hours upon hours of resting.

When you are tired of preschoolers changing their videos on YouTube by themselves and ending up on toy ads and reveals or a show in a foreign language that you aren't sure of the content, you take the controllers and remote into the bathroom so you can shower.  Also, after having 4 major accidents through his underwear, not even attempting to go the bathroom, I had to put him in a diaper so he wouldn't have an accident while I showered.  It's so counter intuitive but Mommy was on the edge of losing it.  I've been pretty good at staying calm and trying to stay on top of it, but enough is enough.  I needed a break!

Huge monarch butterfly on our flowers!  It makes me wonder why we try to groom our flower beds instead of just letting nature take it's course.  Yes, I don't want our house to stand out among the neighbors' very nice looking front lawns, but at the same time, it's such a low priority on my list because weeds just grow back.  We keep the grass mowed, but don't treat it because we don't have the money, so it still looks straggly compared to others.  But I guess it's all worth it when we're the ones with bunnies, squirrels, birds, butterflies, and bees in our yard.

Gorgeous!  Monarchs used to be (maybe they still are) my favorite butterfly.  Did you know, it's the state insect of New Hampshire?  Yes, it is!

Still fits in Daddy's lap like an infant.

Abishai knew that Grandpa usually leaves his water hose on and went immediately over to it and turned on the sprayer to water the plants.  We had taken a walk over to Grandpa's house because it was so nice out.  These days are hard to come by in the summer when it's sometimes brutally hot.

Ready to race.

Doggy came with us, too.  But Grandpa and Grandma weren't home because, come to find out, they had gone to Benaiah's school because he was giving the chapel message at summer chapel.  The school wanted to do a few chapels over the summer so that the kids would stay connected to one another and the new kids could get used to the old kids.  I dropped him off at the school on my way to my appointment and didn't even think that one of us should be there to here him.  Oh well.  At least traffic was heavy but not horrible on a route that can be stop and go traffic at 5 pm.

We didn't let Abishai bring his bike this time because we usually have to carry it home.  He cried almost the whole time on our walk over there, only stopping when he realized he could ride the scooter there.  But he had to leave the scooter, so on the way home he helped walk the dog home for a bit and then spent the rest of the time "up head" on Jared's head.  Jared got him up there using just one arm and Abishai knew where to place his feet to twist around and sit down.  It was one fluid motion!  And Abishai wasn't hesitant at all at being flung up there.

Abishai is playing a lot of hide and seek games lately.  I chased him around the yard for a bit when we got back from our walk.

More rocks!

Jared cut down the last branch of the big bush.  He had left it there as an experiment to see if it would regrow. I guess he decided he was done with the experiment.  It kept it's leaves and everything, but I'm not sure if the experiment did what Jared wanted it to or not.

Let me out! Let me out of jail!

He did need help, but I'll always be afraid of his uncanny ability to get through any barricade we put up.  He's always pushing the boundaries and escaping and thinks it's a hoot when he does.  Ugh.

He is now tall enough and brave enough to grab one branch, swing for a second, let go, and then go to another branch, grab it, swing, let go.  He went all around the bottom of the pine tree hanging off 7 or so branches in turn.  Little monkey.

Then the monkey ran up the culvert, tripped and fell, and skinned his knee.  Owie!  This is his scraped up knee after it was cleaned up.  Play hard, get bruises, heal up, then repeat.

Doin' his preachin' thing.

When she isn't on electronics, or wandering the house looking bored, she does like to color and craft.  She's coloring in the sheets to her sticker maker kit so it's easier to know where to put the colors.

Typical pose.  Leappads are educational, but they are still electronics and shouldn't be overused.  This one, however, doesn't connect to the internet without first connecting to my computer so it's a ton safer to use apps on it.

Lots of randomness, but that's what life is like sometimes, especially when Mommy is tired and her brain can't form full thoughts.