The J6 Journey: Year 3, September 24th-27th, 2018: Restful Week

Yeah, this week is going to be a fairly "normal" week! Lots of homeschooling got done on Monday with the kids not complaining that they worked until 6pm. They worked from 11a-6p today because they woke up around 9:30a because we were so exhausted from the weekend. Even Abishai slept in for once! Yeah for a flexible homeschool schedule! There wasn't as much battle during lessons either. Everybody enjoyed being home for the day. It was off and on rainy today, which made the trampoline wet, but the kids enjoyed slipping and sliding and giggling. Benaiah went to school, worked, and shoved a fundraiser in my face and asked if I would it on my social media. However, his teacher is my friend and she beat me to the punch! Ah! I'll try to go live sometime tomorrow but we have school, an appointment, and a piano lesson. We'll see! Abishai spent a good portion of the day sing songing the songs he learned in Sunday School, too, even watching the video on my phone which he had rest on the piano where the piano books go so he could play piano, sing, and do motions to the song all at the same time. Adorable!

Tuesday was a very productive day! We started with screen time with Abishai and we did our history lesson, followed by checking independent work, and got that part done by 1pm! Now I'm rethinking if that should be our routine instead of waiting on screen time. Unfortunately, that means Abishai will be free roaming the rest of the day, which can make it difficult if I need to make phone calls and such. But, if we did it first, then on the days I have an appointment or field trip in the afternoon, I won't feel like we didn't do our together stuff. Also, Abishai tends to watch the screen when Keturah is watching, and that means he gets way too much screen on any given day. We'll have to figure out a work around, either she uses her headphones or I start trusting her with the tablet again. Abishai doesn't usually sit and watch Justin play, plus Justin can do his turn after Abishai goes to bed. We'll see. That's the beauty of homeschooling, tweaking the schedule! Then I can fit in their independent work whenever and wherever. Hm,....wheels are turning.

I did finally have an appointment with a new personal counselor and it went very well. She has me on a sliding scale fee so I'm getting a discount, thank goodness because I'll be seeing her weekly for a bit at first. We scheduled it for late Monday afternoons for now, that way Grandma can babysit instead of my very gracious friend. My friends is going to be very busy with her dog having puppies soon, so I don't want to use her all the time. Then on Tuesdays I have one piano student so far, and hope to add some more. And after looking at Benaiah's schedule, we decided to put our foot down and adjust his availability so he is home one night of the week. Jared to write all of that up and get Benaiah to hand it over to the scheduler. I'm sure Benaiah is not please about it, but tough. We want you to be with us. This new schedule will start the Monday after his NYC trip. We thought long and hard and talked with many people about it before crossing that boundary and saying enough is enough. We made sure to make the decision when we weren't in an emotionally charged state. Budget wise, this will mean he will have to wait to get a car and he needs to stop spending money on eating out and buying clothing. He'll learn soon enough.

That was pretty much our day! At the moment I feel "caught up" but I'm sure I'm forgetting something. The schedule feels a bit more open though now that I've been careful to not commit to much. For the record, Abishai likes to "go 100 mile per hr" said in his little squeaky voice and he knows how many girls live in Keturah's friend Baleigh's house: 3! And he loves his songs from Sunday School!

Coupon books are here for Benaiah's school's mandatory fund raiser! $25 for coupons for local and national places to eat and shop. AND it's all on an app so you don't have to have the physical coupons with you! Amazing! Now who wants one?

Interesting sky combination when the sun finally came out today. There's still very dark clouds in the sky and then bright spots of sunshine.

Wednesday

How can two days, both similar in nature, feel so different? I was all happy and calm yesterday and today, everything that the kids did seemed to trigger me and I was back to "I'd rather play games on my phone than take care of my kids" mode? But, that's what it was. We didn't get going quick enough, and I decided to do step 1 out of 100 of new(er) project involving shelves that were sitting in the middle of the garage, and it was nice outside and I didn't realize that until mid to late afternoon. I wasn't about to kick myself for not letting kids play outside on the best days of the year, so I shooed them outside unprepared for the fighting that could and did ensue. I was trying to finally do something about the front garden so I had an excuse to be outside and watch Abishai ride his bike up and down the driveway. Then the 3 kids headed out back to play with kites, which then devolved into a screaming match for the whole neighborhood to year and the toddler going back and forth leaving the gate open, making me nervous while I'm trying to desperately cut down grass with scissors because I don't have the trimmer and the little patch where the old sidewalk was looks so uneven and gross. Flower beds are time consuming and I don't have that time nor know how. I don't think it looks much better but the flowers underneath won't have a chance if I let that much grass die and decompose on top of it. Basically the grass was as tall and heavy as if we had never cut it all summer, which we didn't because it was in the flower bed and wasn't caught early enough and took over. Sigh. I'm still "over it" and #notmyproblem because I just don't have time. I wish Jared cared and took care of it, or Leah could do it. I didn't even take before and after photos. Blech.

So, not much else to say because it's late. I watched the kids at Rooted tonight while Justin had Bible Bowl which was just a change of scenery really for me. Watching kids climb and learn to potty and make huge messes just like I do with my 1 kid that age makes me even more exhausted. I made the most of it, but I'm still unable to do any real productive thing tonight besides this. I was able to tackle a couple of things last night though. What I do is I organize the pile of papers first and decide on what is needed to finish the task and it's priority. Then I put the paper in order of deadlines. I still have a HUGE pile of papers of "non deadline, but fun informational papers" to go through from the big summer paper declutter. I'm seriously thinking of taking a late October fall break week so I can focus on a few of these things and switch kids' clothes because there's no time on weekends to these things either. Or, they will just sit until next summer, which I'm contemplating on tackling the boys' room and finishing properly unpacking that room, putting up shelves, helping organize Justin's mess of stuff including Legos. It's not a very functional room either. Sigh. But I also need to go through books on bookshelves, so we'll see. One bit at a time, and I did just that today. I wish those projects would involve me actually getting rid of stuff instead of finding a way to stuff it all back into an area, but that wasn't the point today. I mentioned that I have decision paralysis sometimes and I mentally could not get to making those decisions. I was focused on the actually moving of pieces of furniture. Thankfully the switch was easy and the stuff all fit for the most part and there's room for other things because the shelves weren't full to begin with. I could 5 minutes and just double check each shelf though. We'll see. These projects get done on my mood, which I cannot fight. So it looks like I hop around from one project another, and I do kind of do that. But I loop around eventually and do the next step and eventually it gets completely done, even if it's years done the road.

It's a bit harder to do that with school and I really should put us on a "loop schedule" for some subjects, skipping something if we run out of time, but making sure it's the first thing we get to the next day. Things like history, science and read alouds. I might do it casually with their individual subjects, too. That's why we plan for 4 days with a 5th catch up. Ok, that's enough, I'll throw up some pics and move on. Hopefully the kids will forgive me for being too emotional today. Tomorrow is a new day.

Cube shelves before switching them out.

Occupied preschooler while working on project.

Cube shelving after. It's 3cheap shelves I picked up at a garage sale for $10 total. The other cube shelving is going in my room because the cube slots are big enough for cube drawers. The openings on these are too small so the shelves will stay open. Plus they don't have a backing to them. Oh well, cheap and holds the same amount of stuff.

I"m thinking about putting this on my Christmas wishlist. Not that we have room for such a fun creation! Wowzers, Lego is awesome! (Screen shot from IG)

New t-shirt the kid got at his retreat for his school.

Besides the temperature barely reaching 70 degrees, I see the first peek of fall colors! Apple picking on Friday and perhaps Eagle Creek or the Art Museum to see more of the colors in the next couple of weeks.

It's hard to get a lone time when this one comes and finds you.

Those eyes! And that pitiful "cutie whine." He almost whimpers like a dog, it's hilarious! Then he hugs my arm and snuggles in. Sigh. Why do you have to be so active child? Just sit still for half a second!

I was just thinking about how many months Abishai was able to play with this big car racetracks toys in the nursery C room. I thought about buying one for him, but he has all his other garages. I'm glad he got to spend time with these and the two Thomas the Tank Engine train tables every week because we didn't have them home. It was tricky finding out which cars would slide down which track. But if I have to put back one large piece of furniture/toy like a clubhouse one more time....the kids we have in there are a bit holder, ages 3/4, so they can push the bigger toys around all by themselves. We don't have any issue with them as long we put them back by the end of the night. Little relationships are starting to form and each week, even the shy kids feel more and more comfortable and don't cry. One little girl who hardly ever talks was singing and dancing and smiling tonight. Yeah!

Thursday

Ugh, late start to blogging again. Abishai took a long time to fall asleep for me. Jared ended up staying at work because he is way behind on editing one of the books the guys have written and it needs to get to the publishers for a reprint because their inventory is low. But let me back up for a second. Somewhat normal day at home, although I feel like I puttered around a little too much and didn't follow up with the kids' schoolwork much. They took all day to finish their work and it was a half day! I also didn't get to any reading, either. But I did manage to move the cube shelving into my room, so that's something! I keep trying to think of ways to engage Abishai in preschool activities and we have done some of this week. I want to do this fun preschool curriculum with a poem with actions and he doesn't seem interested. But he has let me read to him a little more, so maybe soon he'll be ready to sit down and do things with me. We did have a lot of snuggle time though this morning AND tonight.

After morning studies, I had this grand idea of taking the kids to a park WITH Benaiah since he had a little bit of time between school and drum rehearsal tonight. Well, it was about 65 degrees today, and overcast, but surprisingly not terribly cold at the park. I had Jared drop Benaiah off directly at the park instead of coming home because I just knew if he came home first, he wouldn't want to go anywhere and he'd play his video games. Thankfully, the men both agreed to this. Well, the kids were glad to get out of the house although it took a lot to get them there. Between trying to finish their schoolwork and Abishai not wanting to give up his TV time and having a hard time deciding what shoes to wear, I almost gave up. But I'm glad we went. We need to get out of the house sometimes. I just didn't feel up to planning a trip the art museum or fancy park today. Everybody got to burn some energy, and then, Benaiah fell on an apparatus and it was both comical and a bit unnerving the same time. I was filming at the time and caught 4 seconds of the fall. He posted the video to Instagram and his friends (and I actually) can't stop watching it and laughing hysterically over it. One of his bottom teeth did punch a hole in his upper lip which is now swollen and he can't say words with "f" in them very well. He also got a scrape right under his nose. There was some blood but not a profuse amount. Such an innocent little smack to the face and he has turned it into a joke instead of being mad at me for making him go to the playground with his siblings. I gave him some space and then he joined us again for a few minutes. I was a bit concerned about the swelling so we didn't stay much longer at the park. Plus, he needed to get to practice early so he could practice before he was working with the whole band.

It's a good thing we left a bit earlier than planned because tonight was the homecoming parade for our township and it was going right through the area we needed to drive through in order to pick up some McD's before heading to church. We barely made it through the area before they blocked it off. Then we went inside the McD's to order because I needed the restroom and man was it slow! I don't like the new kiosk ordering thing because I don't know where everything is located. And then I forgot to order Jared food, so I had to make a 2nd order and wait for it to be made. And it wasn't busy in there at all! By the time we got through some of the rerouted traffic from the parade, our food was cold and soggy. We took our fast food meal to church and ate dinner with Jared there. Then he could stay and edit and Benaiah could go drum. Abishai had a tiny nap on the way to the office, so he was pretty restless trying to fall asleep tonight. I tried hustling everyone to get ready for bed quickly, and they did do it, but it still took almost 2 hours or Abishai to settle. So I'm now exhausted and probably not writing as well as I could. Let's throw up those pics and the most hilarious video of a poor teen falling on his face, shall we?

Yes! I can't wait to find a time and place to actually enjoy a fall hike with older kids! I need this!

Where did Abishai go? I had to remake Benaiah's bed (he forgot to put the mattress protector on) and Abishai thought he would help. I also cleaned up Abishai's bed area because there were too many stuffed animals and unused blankets that needed folding. We've been trying to prevent Socks from sleeping with Abishai because Abishai is feeling squished and wake ups occasionally. However, every barrier we put up, Socks finds a way around and we are hearing a "crash boom bang" every night when he goes to bed (usually when I do). So, I give up. The dog has his routine and you can't change it. And I vacuumed up all the dog hair, too, well, at least in the areas I could reach.

Finally! Two more boxes of stuff empty and put on shelving! These handicraft items have been in these boxes for almost 7 years! I've rifled through them pulling things out as I needed, but the stuff was stored in these boxes in the boys' closet in Charlottetown and then in my closet/bedroom in the condo, and finally more than a year here in our bedroom. Again, it's not about actually purging. It's about seeing what I actually have and what takes more priority with the limited shelving I have. I still have totes of scrapbooking to go through and add to the mix.

Ta da! I didn't want the cube shelving left in the hallway over the weekend, so I decided to just get 'er done! Now, it's a work in progress as this Instagram photos will tell you.

That's now two steps closer to all of our belongings out of boxes! I have another bookshelf to clean up and put in the playroom and organize, and then I'll go through individual shelves or boxes to see what can be tossed so everything fits neatly (instead of crammed) on their respective bookshelves. I'm getting there!

Jared played with us for just a couple of minutes, but this was one of my favorite scenes! Daddy chasing his not so little boy around! This ring spins and because the guys do weight differently, they ended up off balanced.

Really?! I KNEW this kid needed to still be a kid! He needs this and I'm glad he obliged without complaining today.

Aww, lots of boys on another spinning thing!

Rub a dub dub, 3 kids in the tub.

I think Abishai's coat actually came with the pants. It's rare that I pair the original outfit together.

Musical keyboard thing played bye the kid wearing his favorite "floppy eaed" sweatshirt.

Go,go, go!

Aww....

Ready, set, laugh!

Gotta document it or it didn't happen! Ouch! He'll be fine and now he's made his friends laugh!

Another spinning around thing! I'm glad all 4 of them could be on at the same time!

Woah!

More musical instruments, especially the drums! Benaiah tried every single one!

I helped him get down from the platform and spotted him across the rope bridge and then he cautiously did it twice on his own! No fear!

Playing peek a boo with big brother!

It's a gorgeous playground! It's connected to a large subdivision but open to the public. In fact, they are making a huge new parking lot for it so people don't block up the entrance to the neighborhood. Unforutnately, it does NOT have a bathroom! What is it with city parks not having bathrooms? It does have a picnic shelter and large basketball courts. And a walking bath on the outskirt of the whole thing. They have plenty of land if they wanted to build more things. And the best thing is that it's less than 10 minutes from our house and it's a bit out of the way from the normal rush hour route.

Little and big up there.

Swinging across.

Getting a lecture from Benaiah on how to listen and obey mom and dad (insert eye roll here).

Rings, Mommy, look what I can do! Swinging!

Look, 'Miah!

Just your average kid, right?

Nice and lazy pull ups! But he did breathe heavy so he was working hard at going up and down! (upside down push up?)

I miss our pyramid structure behind our house in Charlotteotown. We were just getting to the point where we could let the kids go the playground alone (in pairs and I could see them from the porch).