Year 3, October 9th-12th, 2018: On the Funny Farm

Another week down in the realm of parenting, another bazillion to go.  It wasn't our finest moment this week.  In fact, it was fine until Thursday when one outing and one too many times of repeating myself while dealing with vertigo and Dramamine made us all snap in front of people we didn't know.  Yeah, that happened.  But let's take a look back and see what did happen right, shall we?  (And now I'm unhappy that I chose to be lazy and not write a single thing and I can't remember anything from a few days ago, but that's life.) (And now it's Sunday and I'm so unmotivated to finish this post off.  I did write the next post on the days it happened and that feels so much better.  No blog is perfect!  And I'm totally ok with that.)

Tuesday. At home day.

You should have heard my squeals from one end of the house to the other when I found out that both NEWSBOYS and MANDISA will be here for WinterJam!  And it will be all 6 Newboys!!!  I guess the tour has been so popular that the BOYS are staying together even longer!!!  I keep asking Keturah if she wants to go, but she doesn't want to without Evelry, who loves WinterJam.  I'm stoked though!  Seeing the Newboys twice in one year!  Amazing!  Smaller set list of course, and we'll probably be in the first tier of the upper seats, but I'm looking forward to seeing them from that perspective.  I don't know many of Mandisa's songs but she is an incredibly sweet person that I follow on Instagram and sings her heart out for Jesus.  Can't wait!

Not sure what to call this little guy's outfit, but it sure looks fun!

Ta da! I finally bought a frame (at Goodwill no less) that fits Abishai's collage!  The previous frame broke nearly a year ago I think.  But this frame is a tad bigger than the others so it looks like we favor him more.  Whoops!  I don't mind the non matching frames because they are all different kids.  The point is that each kid has one even if they don't all have their scrapbooks yet.  Someday though!

I texted Jared and said the kids "decimated" one frozen pizza between the three of them.  He corrected me and said to use "devoured" or "destroyed."  Point is, three younger kids ate a whole frozen pizza.  Usually we split it up between 4, sometimes 5 people.  Eeek!

Now that some of the other shelves are exposed, Abishai is finding all kinds of new things to play with, including this old chalkboard from my childhood.  It still has the same chalk from back then because it doesn't get used often.  One of the pieces is actually in the form of a bear that I know was mine way back when!  It's hard to write on this board, and it looks like it's a tad rusty or something got on it, but it's fun to mess around with all the same.  He even had me write everyone's names on it.

Then he found stamps! And proceeded to line them all up because he's a type A, organized, bossy, OCD kind of kid.  Yes, I just labeled him, but it's true!

Abishai also has the biggest heart and is the biggest helper.  I love this stage where they actually want to help!  Mrs. Mary and Mr. Dan have been redoing the outer walls of the shed and Abishai has been helping carry the old wood to the wood pile and sweeping up the crumbs.

Socks and Abishai both like to supervise the work.  I had no clue that this project was on the agenda, but I'm grateful it got done and there are no more holes in the shed!  There was some fresh termite damage near the bottom and a ton of wasps in the eaves though.  Dan's going to spray some insect repellent stuff and properly seal up the eaves and caulk everything.  It's a humongous shed and very solidly built probably 20 years ago or more.  Again, because we don't have a basement and we can't store anything in the attic because ladder is broken (and it's too hot up there anyway), and we don't have any closet space, having a shed like this is essential.  I'd say it's the size of our storage unit we had the first year in Charlottetown.  And it's organized, believe me.  I can find what I want.  That trick of "if you haven't opened the box or have completely forgotten about it, then get rid of it without opening the box" doesn't work on me! I'm too organized!  Lol.

Cutest helper ever!  Reminds me of the Lowe's or Home Depot Build and Grow clinics but in real life!

Dan and Mary are leaving for a few weeks to check on their rentals in Florida, so all the details didn't get completely done.  However, Dan basically picked out and designed and hand built these doors!  Oh my goodness, how lovely they are going to look!  There's going to be some decorative corner pieces in the corners and an awesome latch. He said he has to redo the doors a bit and rehang them straighter, but this works for now.  I'm so excited!  He's going to leave the trim white as well.  We love our Mr. Dan!  So much talent!

Somewhere in there is a bunch of kids goofing off with some playground balls.  Then the storm, aka Mommy, comes in and rattles the whole tent and lots of screaming ensue! 

Beautiful sunset as always.

This kid can now put his feet on the swing from behind and wiggle forward until he sits on the seat like this all by himself!  Who taught him that and when did he learn that?  Such a big kid!  Although, if you ask him if he's big or little 95% of the time he'll say he's little and he's the baby.  Spoiled and he knows it!

Yup, unlike me, Jared would rather hear and see kids than not.  I'm more of the mindset that some silence is bliss.

Meanwhile, the worst hurricane in 50 years hit the Florida panhandle.  I think there's upwards of 20 dead now.  The airforce base down there has no habitable buildings.  Thankfully fro us it went through the south and the Carolinas and out to sea instead of sending the remnants our way.  It missed New Orleans and Gainesville (where some friends live). It's been a bad year for hurricanes.

Wednesday. PSAT day.

Fall colors are finally starting!  I just hope they last until we get to go on our hike in a couple of weeks!

Soo.....these apparently white irises did not bloom in the spring when Leah's purple irises did.  We did have some leaves come up, but it wasn't until this week that the buds were formed and opened.  We aren't sure if they were bred to bloom in the all or because the weather is all wonky, it tricked them into blooming.  It's been 80 degrees here most of the week after having a cooler snap a couple of weeks ago.  Hm,....

I don't know who took it harder today, he or I.  I've been looking forward to this part of high school ever since he was born.  I knew exactly how I wanted to go, how much he would study for it, and I've failed on both accounts.  But now that it's been a few days, we've talked about it and I've calmed down about the timing.  Unfortunately, he can't retake the PSAT because it is only offered once a year.  He could have taken it as a freshman and sophmore like I did and had originally intended to do.  The SAT and ACT can be taken multiple times even as an adult, so there isn't a rush.  I think we're going to wait until February and April to do them after we get the PSAT results back.

Grandma and Keturah had discussed this yummy version of cinnamon rolls with apples rolled into them in such a way as  to look like rosettes!  Abishai said he just had to climb up there and smell them!  Grandma made them and brought them right over and they were still warm.  The kids thought they tasted  so good that even Abishai ate several of them!  He doesn't usually finish sweet breakfast foods like this or toaster strudels or even doughnuts.  Yeah Grandma!

When your hair is too long and you don't want to make the extra loop to tuck in the end forcing you to upsize your flexi when your favorite flexi styles are in this size, you leave the tail down like a pony tail! Lol.  Actually, I hadn't realized it because I always wear my hair up, that it is now almost to my waist again!  Crazy!  Time for a good trimming!

Active sleeper.  Always ready to move about.  Gotta put pillows on either side of him to keep him from falling off our bed.  Jared transfers him to his own bed when Jared goes to bed. Jared did say we need to stop letting him fall asleep in our bed because he sometimes wakes up in the transitioning.  But neither one of them want to stop their special reading and snuggle time! Babies of the family are just that, babied!

Abishai is getting a lot bigger though.  So precious.

Thursday.  Dairy farm day.  Hm, I should add pictures from the DSLR, but at the same time, it will make this blog super long so.....here's a preview from my iPhone pictures and I'll do a longer blog about it when I get around to it.  It was a rough day, though.  I woke up with vertigo, and I was out of it and on edge, which resulted in everyone snapping at each other by the end of our time there.  It's an awesome outing, but I wish I had had more patience.  I hope the kids remember what was fun instead of how it ended.

Hay bale mountain!  This thing had tunnels and Abishai could hardly climb it.  Justin leapt from one section to the other like a Ninja Warrior.  Crazy fun for them, but exhausting for me trying to keep track of Abishai and helping him.

I didn't want the click of my DSLR to both the cows, so I turned my phone to silent and got this picture of them being milked.  400 cows, twice a day, takes 4 hrs and produces a ton of milk at 8 gallons of milk per cow per day on average.  The process is fairly simple and automated and the cows know what to do.  In and out in a few minutes and back to one of 4 barns.  They have a total of 1100 cows in their herd, but some are resting on pasture and some are about to have new calves, etc.  There's 1-3 calves born every day in their herd.  The immediately take the calf away, gather the colostrum, and bottle feed the calf.  (I think that's a bit cruel, but this is a commercial farm so they are as efficient as possible.)  Cows then are milked for 4-5 months before they are then impregnated and the cycle starts again.  They typically do this until they are 6-8 yrs old and then are sold to the meat market for ground beef.  Yes, definitely the circle of life.  They explained that no one puts hormones into the cow feed anymore because it was banned, at least here in the United States, and it was just a hormone that the cows already had in their system.  It's like taking a thyroid medication to increase your thyroid function.  And it takes less than 48 hrs for the milk to get from the cow to the supermarket.  It gets homogenized/cleaned, vitamins are added, and all the fat is skimmed off the top and then added back to made the different kinds, skim, 1%, 2%, and whole.  Kelsay farms sells their milk to Dean's foods.  I'm pretty sure that's less than 2 hrs away and based out of Louisville, KY if I remember correctly from when we were here with our MOPS group years ago.  Oh, and it's illegal to sell raw milk in Indiana.  I'm sure farmers that might have a cow or two drink their cow's milk, but you can't sell it anyone.  The family member doing the tour was a little unhappy when I said that yes, raw milk is drinkable but not recommended.  I think there's a bit of a gap between the "crunchy mama" side of things and commercial businesses.  The barns were barns meant for housing 100 cows each.  They had water beds to lay down on, a big scrapper came through to get most of the poop, and they were fed a mixture of alfalfa hay and all parts of a corn plant including stalks and stems, as well as added vitamins and minerals.  Again, it made me think about how maybe all that corn is producing milk that is less tolerable to people with sensitives like me.  I didn't want to insult the lady again, it is their livelihood, but it's something to think about.

They couldn't get enough of the hay bale mountain.

Selfie.

They loved racing on this airpad thing.  And there was a great area for Abishai's age to play.  Definitely worth the $8 per person ($10 is normal gate price) that we paid.  We stayed for 4 hrs or so and still didin't do everything. You can bring a lunch or there's some food for purchase.  They give tours of the milking parlor during milking hours, and the first barn is a little bit available so you go in and see the animals.  There's baby cows to pet and goats, corn crib, climbing things, human foosball, corn maze with a scavenger hunt, puzzle games, places to take pictures with, port a potties, class on dairy products, moo express rides, and even big machines on display.  It was very, very quiet day though because some kids were still in school and the weather had cooled off quite a bit.

Cool, crisp day.

Corn crib time!  Loads of corn kernels and corn dust.  Don't walk in here if you are allergic to corn.  Can you see Keturah's toes?  All three kids played and played and played in it.  They loved it!

Abishai really got into the piling the corn all over himself like it was sand at the beach.  He loved all the trucks and moving it around, too.

Perfect place to scoop and dig and dump and play.

Corn angel?

Two areas, one for the bigger kids  and one for the 3 and under crowd.  There was even a slide going into the big pit.

Peek a boo.

You know you had fun when you find corn kernels in you pull up.  Abishai was a trooper and stayed dry the whole day.  I found corn kernels in the laundry machine and dryer for several days afterwards.

Super tired baby.

He rolled over and tucked his hand into the crock of my arm.  Daddy was away for the night so I was on bedtime duty.  I hardly ever do it anymore, but Abishai didn't fight me like he has in the past.  Yeah!

The kid with the debit card and money in the bank (at least some of the time) bought his friend $20 worth of just the marshmallows that go in marshmallow cereal like Lucky Charms.  3 lb worth of marshmallows just because he can.  Last year he purchased the cereal and picked out all the marshmallows and gave his friend a box of Lucky Charms with just the marshmallows in it.  This year he found a short cut.  He had to hide them and not tell the other kids or they would find the bag and get into it, especially Abishai.  He found find a way just like the idd with the jelly beans a long time ago.  *shaking my head at this kid in a man's body.*  Sigh.

Friday brought the peace and calm we needed after Thursday's fiasco.  We all slept in a tad and took things a little slower.  Benaiah got up in time to pack his bag for his trip to NYC this week.  He has to be at church by 6 am because they are driving all day to get there.  But he has to work until 11pm tonight of course.  He said he wants to pull an all nighter but I think it's unwise.  Today was MUCH cooler than the 88 degrees Fahrenheit last week.  In fact, it was 50!!!!!!!! degrees cooler! And a friend saw some snowflakes in the air!  No wonder my body is a wreck.  We don't have a spring and we don't have a fall either with these wide temperature swings.  There's no gradual change.  Super frustrating when you've gained weight back and no pants fit so you have to make an emergency run to Goodwill in between other pre planned things.  But I digress.  The kids had a grand time despite the cold on the trampoline in their Pj's and blankets, so I just let them be.  It made up for their behavior yesterday and the house was quiet while I finished my breakfast.  My counselor suggested practicing "mindfulness" i.e. really thinking about what's going on right then, like the warmth of tea or how the cup feels in my hand, the smells, the tastes and the sights, all of it.  Kind of hard to do when kids are around, but, I'm trying.  So I did that while they were outside.

Wrapping up school for the week went better than expected.  I wanted to do a salt dough map but didn't have enough salt, so that will have to wait. The kids are grounded indefinitely from screens, so that helped give them the time to finish and clean their rooms.  They were all much more subdued and obedient today.  We are going back to character training school, again.  My friend, who is a veteran homeschooler, had mentioned that they have to circle back to character training every once in a while, too.  And yesterday, I was all gloom and doom because I'm so tired of it.  But, I was reminded that character training doesn't have to be this huge long plan and I could use the resources I know and have on hand.  Charlotte Mason's motto: "I am, I can, I ought, I will" and some printouts with some basic family/relationship rules like "Obey right away all the way with the right attitude every day" and "work before pleasure" and "Don't pass it, pick it up."  You'd think the 10 and 13 year olds would be further along with this now, but not so much.  We've got work on those habits.  Disobedience is one my biggest pet peeves because if they disobey, it means they aren't listening and aren't being taught.  And by being disobedient, it could physically harm them.  Of course I balance that out as to when it is ok to disobey, we don't blindly follow very rule, but in general, rules and laws are there to keep us safe and in order.  I'm a legalist, so it's hard to pull back and not ask for perfection in this area, however, I'm aiming for 80-90% obedience rate, not the 50% I feel like I'm getting.  However, I don't always notice or thank them when they do obey, so I keep that in mind, too and thanked them yesterday (when we got home) and today when they did do whatever I told them to do.

Anyway, they are all tucked in bed already and I am just waiting for the manchild and the other menfolk to arrive.  The menfolk were in Missouri for an e2 conference.  This one was on a Thursday/Friday and kind of threw everyone off a bit.  And the rest of the weekend is much, much quieter because it's fall break week over here and therefore, there's much less kid programming on Sunday and only a block party on Saturday.  Plus Benaiah is gone until Thursday.  He did get his shifts changed, so he's working from 8a-4p that next Friday.  He's not getting much of a fall break, is he? Oh well.  Again, #adulting.

One last thing.  I think I'm going to aim for working on the blog related stuff every night from 9-10p.  Then emails/videos/business, etc. type stuff from 10-11p.  Then TV show watching from 11-12a.  And it will be a hard stop for each.  That means if I don't get it all done, I don't get it all done.  Isn't that what people who work at regular 9-5 type job do?  Well, not as much anymore because you can telecommute, but, I know that those that work from home do have to keep office hours in order to stay balanced.  I think I'm going to try that.  It's 9:59pm now, so I'm stopping and then will journal pictures tomorrow.  Good night!

Instagram goodness.

Yup.

50 something degrees and they are out there doing this.  It put us behind on school for the day, but after a rough second half of our day the day before, they needed to connect and I needed some alone time.  Lots of blankets and cuddles, making memories, and bonding.  I wish Benaiah could do it, too.

Motivation to lighten up on academics and focus on what matters, so we did and have new verses to memorize and new mottos to help us remember some virtues we have slacked off on lately.

They need us to keep the boundaries, and I am not always very rigid about those boundaries.  Time to button down the hatches and be more firm, and not just punish but give rewards for good behavior.

Sneaky wittle wabbit.  He loves Justin's legos but Justin doesn't always love him playing with them!

With the days getting cooler, Abishai is inside more wrecking havoc and toys are everywhere underfoot!  A big pet peeve of mine, but I try really, really hard to let it go for the whole day until bedtime.  Then I've got to clear the floors of all toys!  At least in my walking path.  It seems like he's got all his police vehicles lined up here.

Warmed up my smoothie because it's cold outside and used leftover Chick Fil A granola and nuts.  Yummy!  My smoothies are made with beef gelatin, pure pea protein (single ingredient no additives), unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a mixture of veggies but usually kale, spinach, and some kind of squash, sweet potato, zuchinni, and cauliflower (not all at once).  Sometimes a banana for extra sweetness, but I don't add honey or any sugar or sugar substitute.  Once you get used to tasting the vegetables as God intended them, you don't miss adding sweetener.  But I've always been able to eat vegetables without sugar, butter, or salt.  And I've finally perfected my smoothie skills, too!  Just as long as I make sure the jar is put together correctly so it doesn't leak.  Yeah me!

Not all days go well.  Abishai felt sick so we took of his shirt and he voluntarily went to the bathroom.  He knew what to do.  He didn't end of throwing up, but I think it's a great milestone to know that he knows where to go when he feels yucky and can tells us.  I think it's extra mucus because of the change in weather and allergens.  My ears have been clogged and my sinuses are constantly draining.  Poor guy.

Another blankie fort.  This is what childhood should be.  And because of my high academic standards I think we need to have just because we do have the intellect for it, we haven't had much of this fun play.  I need to remember that just because we can do something, doesn't mean we have to or ought to.  Plus, this is what they do when they are banned from electronics and I love it! They don't have the option of a screen so they have to come up with their own fun.  It makes my heart so much happier!

An old chalkboard from my childhood.  It's not as easy to clean and there's some permanent stains on it, but it's fun anyway.  In fact, one of the pieces of chalk are in the shape of a bear and I know that was my piece of chalk when I was like 10 or something.  It hasn't been used very often because we have the big chalkboard.  But now that it sits on a shelf that is actually available to everyone, it's easier to access and use.  Same goes with the picture book shelf.  I try my hardest to keep those shelves clear of junk blocking them and Abishai actually pulled off some picture books to look at the other day.  Say no to brown boxes.  Say no to shelves being blocks.  Use it or lose it!

Another angle of squishy fun.

The cow eraser is rescuing the police vehicles using the fire truck ladder.

Totally Abishai's idea to put the wannabe Chick Fil A Fries (frozen from Aldi's and baked, not fried) on top of his burger.  Lol!

So very true and he's been running in more and more circles because he's been inside more.  This winter should be an interesting one.  I need to pull in the little trampoline into the garage when we put away the big one so he has somewhere to burn some energy!

The End (Finally).