Year 3, November 15th-18th, 2018: More Chaos with Cousins

Ok, the "fun-ness" wore off after two days, at least for me.  Cousins are still enjoying their time together, but unfortunately, the tired, sick mean Mommy has come out to play.  She comes out under stress and I had no idea that having 2 more kids to keep track of, no matter how responsible they are, would through me off this much.  And this is why you won't find me chaperoning a summer trip to CIY or KidJam.  And why did I ever think I would be able to handle more than 3 kids is beyond me.  But alas, I now have 6, so,....wear of my essential oils! I mean the new ones I bought 5 days ago! Bring on the Frankincense, Copaiba, and Lavender!  I gave my bottles to Shauna, so I have none here. But I never expected to have a chronic illness either.  I'm just trying to cope, and I know, but I don't always do well.  I had vertigo today much worse than yesterday, so taking medication for that makes me sleepy and I needed a nap, so I laid down.  Which meant, none of the kids did all their scholwork and ended up watching Fireman Sam with Abishai.  Of course.  Let it go, Melinda, let it go.  I will next week.  We aren't doing school next week, period.  Ok, reading and anything that doesn't get finished up on Saturday (we are too busy on Friday to finish up the stragglers).  But, I guess we did finish up nearly a week's worth of work in 4 days, so, there's that.

Sigh.  And, Jared was not pleased with my tirades either.  And he's right.  It's not necessary.  I just never thought that when we got to this season in life we would be short financially, short on health, and in a culture that thrives on busyness and not depth of character and relationships.  But we are, so we must deal.  Today was library day, which went fine.  It ended up being just my friend Robyn, her two young kids, and the 7 of us.  Let's say THAT again! 7 of us!  5 Johnsons and 2 Johnsons.  Ok, again, that's 5 Jared Johnson's and 2 Aaron Johnson's.  But it's still a bit weird.  Anyway, homechool group at the library was about Thanksgiving of course, which is NEXT week.  How did THAT happen? The kids did an acrostic with the librarians and came up with their own crafts from a bunch of materials.  They all had fun with that.  Abishai ran circles around all the chairs and I let him because it was just us and Robyn/librarians.  Kids had computer time, too.  They finished their day watching the Greatest Showman.

Oh, and we had an ice storm!  It closed or delayed lots of the schools across the state.  Not Benaiah's though, so he still had to go.  Roads were fine, but the trees and grass were covered and all pretty.  And it snowed for a bit, too.  The girls really loved that.  But as Nora puts it, "It's bitter cold."  Well, Nora, yes, it's now about 25 degrees and while that is cold, it's definitely NOT bitter if you are dressed properly.  Thin knit clothes and hat are NOT enough when it's bitter outside.  Silly Southern Belles! They are enough for the Canadian though of course.  The poor dog, Socks, was outside for 2 hrs in the icy drizzle though.  Yikes!  He had no wear to lay down outside without getting wet and cold so I think he stood at the door for a long time before we remembered him.  Some of the ice melted, but not every bit.  It's still drizzle out there, so cars will be covered again with ice in the morning.  Fun times as we want to get out early to gym day.  Sigh.

It's hard to tell but ther's ice on the trampoline net and the on the mat and on the sides and on the ladder.  A friend of mine said this week that they don't put away their trampoline for the winter.  Well, in Canada we did because we felt that the weight of the snow would put too much pressure on the springs, plus the very cold and changing temperatures could still negatively affect the springs and mat especially.  And this is exactly why.  While it may be fun to slide on (which the kids did NOT do because they are afraid of the cold), I just think the weight of the ice could do some damage.  Oh well, when it thaws in a couple of days we'll put it away, maybe, if we have time and helpers.

Icicles everywhere!  If I hadn't felt ill and pressured to get things done I would have brought some in and sampled them.

I made sure the dog didn't bolt out the door like he normally does because I don't need him injuring himself.  I went out on the deck to take pictures and had to hold onto the house for support.

Ice everywhere!

Poor leafless baby maple tree all covered in ice!

The logs were also completely covered.  It's kind of hard to tell though.

Justin said he had fun smashing the ice off of the cars when I had him turn the van on for us and scrap the windows.  The advantages of having teenagers in the house!

Outside the library window!

Birdie icicles, which did fall off when the temperature slightly rose.

Screens, of course.  I think Nora (who hates her picture taken by the way) was drawing, Keturah was designing something, and Abishai was watching videos on how to prepare for Kindergarten, like how to line up in a line and what to do in the restroom.

Justin just dropped in age from 13 to 3.  Yup.

Cute looking book!

We made up 5 out of the 7 students there today.  There were about 25 students there in September for the apple day.  Silly weather keeping people home.

Abishai immediately took to the crafts when he wouldn't sit still for the storytime.

I cut, Mommy!  I held the part where I didn't want him to cut and that helped him actually get the basic shape down for the turkey feet.

Listening intently finishing the anagram.

Ready to craft.  Everybody picked something different to do.  Nora made a tissue paper wreathe, Keturah and Justin made banners.  Justin made a medallion thing, and Everly did her own wreath I think.  Abishai and I made a turkey puppet.

He LOVES stickers and I was impressed with his ability to take the sticker off of the sheet.  He must have picked that up in Sunday School.

Everly looks cute in her plaid, and oh so grown up (yes, she's my height), and Nora at the end is more moody and outgoing in her pink hat.

I needed to see ALL the crayons.  Yes, my all or nothing kid!

His favorite gamers and youtubers.

List of favorite things or things to be thankful for.

Anagram thankfulness list.

Must be something they talked about Thanksgiving dinner.

Awww, they had them all write their names and ages in their own handwriting on the board.  Even our friend Isaac was able to do his and Sarah's.  Robyn has gotten to know the librarians well because I noticed she knew their names and hugged them.  Too cute to see everyone's personalities about there, including Abishai's.

Watching the Greatest Showman.  But boy do we Johnsons like to use horizontal space.  I've got to get Benaiah to not leave things on the couch because there's no space to sit!

Caught Miss "don't take my picture" on camera.

Abishai did his night time rolling right into Nora's lap!  He's thrilled to have more people around, especially his cousins!  Nora is his absolute favorite though for some reason, although Nora is the louder introvert and Everly is the quiet extrovert.  (Yes, that's opposite of most stereotypical introvert/extroverts).  

Friday Funday! What made it fun? Well, lots of things!  Here goes (it's two days later and I'm sick with a head cold, so you'll get just the basic info here this time, no fun anecdotes or deep thoughts).

Yes! My free oils came!  I got all three of these using just my reward points plus $7 shipping.  Yes, that's $90 worth of free, real, 100% essential oils like frankincense, lavender, and stress away!  Yeah!  Just in time, too!

We went to the EYB weekly gym time today, but had a little trouble getting there.  I went 30 minutes southeast on I-74 instead of straight east (from the center of Indy) on I-70.  Thankfully, when I finally stopped and realized my mistake, I had to just drive another 30 minutes straight north from where I was on the same road!  95% of the time I check my directions if I've only been there once or twice.  Lesson learned that I should always check my directions!  We were late leaving to begin with, so now we were super late!  But they had fun anyways, and it wasn't too overwhelming.

Abishai chased Nora around like crazy.  There were a lot of moms and kids (and a dad, too), and we think the attendance will taper off, so it was super busy.  We rent out a gym space at a local church, $15 per family per year this year, for 4-5 months a year.  That's an awesome price for 2hr per week of open gym time in the winter!  Even if we only go a handful of times, it's worth it!

We can play with the basketballs and their scooter things the church owns, just as long as we put everything back and stay in the gym.  There are bathrooms right outside the main doors.  There are also tables and chairs out in the hallway, but we aren't allowed to be out there as it's too disruptive to the church office.  We have to leave promptly at a certain time so they can set up their gym for other activities.

Abishai chasing Nora, who hates having her picture taken.

After gym, we went home for lunch and then back out again for haircuts.  I went first, then Abishai and I went to pick up Benaiah from CFA because his shift was over, while Justin got his hair cut.  Then Abishai went last.  The girls didn't need haircuts.  It was handy to have our hairdresser near CFA and that I can trust leaving the other kids behind in the salon with her.

"Driving like Mom" because I'm short and can't see over the steering wheel apparently.  He barely tolerated having extra kids in the back seat on the way home.  But we did have many great laughs on the way home.

I'm taking Jared to see John Crist, the Christian comedian, (and three other comedians), next May!  The evening tickets sold out during the pre-sale two days prior before I could make a final decision, but luckily, they added a matinee for the Indianapolis location.  Otherwise we would have had to go to Cincinnati.  I got the cheaper tickets because these guys are comedians, so the show doesn't center as much around the stage set up and/or you don't take as many pictures of that and I knew Jared wouldn't have wanted to meet the guys or anything either.

Saturday:

I was way "done" by the end of the week so I went out on Friday night to a Mom's Night Out and to a friends "tea and oils" get together on Saturday morning.  That left Daddy to deal with getting his parents from the airport AND handling basketball practice.  Although I think this picture was from Wednesday night.  He said that Abishai said that some of these cars after to be in this certain order because some are faster than others.  He also said that Daddy had to get the van this morning to church and not the car (we bought Leah's old car) because it wasn't old enough.  He also said that Benaiah can't have a chocolate chip cookie from Grandma's house because he's too "big."  Yup, Abishai said that!

How true this is! Lots of Canadians embrace it, why can't we?

From picking up the boys from the 8th grade takeover at the bowling alley on Friday night.  The high school staff and leaders like Benaiah were hanging out with 8th graders so they get to meet who they are going to spend the next 4 years with starting next year.  Just a way to connect all the ages.

Of course when Mom isn't there, you go to sister's basketball practice in pj's!

Yup, I did this thing! Selling Lilla Rose product directly on FB and IG.

"I miss you, Socks."

This describes this week perfectly!  With cousins around, this guy gets way more animated and into way more trouble because he wants everyone paying attention to him.  I had a great big meltdown on Saturday morning about many things, but it's partly because when I took on the extra girls this week, I had no idea Abishai would be like this.  I was worn out.  So on Saturday, I said "Not my problem" to everyone and just did what I wanted to do.  I felt so much better afterwards.

Lots and lots of laughs between these two.  Nora and Everly spent the day with their parents and Shauna's family so we could all feel like we were normal again.  They also went to someone else's house on Sunday to give us a break.  I told Leah to keep the girls as much as possible (and my kids) because I need to get some stuff done before I am back in charge for the next two weeks while 3 (really 4) of the adults are off doing other things.

Headcold = using lots of toilet paper as kleenex because 1) cheaper 2) softer 3) more absorbent.

Yes, I purposefully gave Abishai a box of styrofoam peanuts.  Yes, it's a mess, but it's fun.  He wanted to cover up the doorways of his Veggietales pirate ship and then have the ship sail through the rest.  Cute!  Jared was so awesome to me on Saturday and not only let me cry on his shoulder, but took care of the kids all day including going to Kroger for a fresh pizza to bake.  I didn't have enough energy to go grocery shopping yet for the week and aren't desperate yet, although we are out of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

We finished out the weekend with going over leftover homework and normal Sunday routine.  Keturah had finished up her work, but Justin still had 5 subjects he forgot about!  He gets so easily distracted when cousins are around!  After they finished everything up, they had some screen time on Sunday afternoon.  I stayed home from church because my nose was really runny and had to have Jared take my spot in nursery and my co leader lead our homeschool meeting by herself.  I have to rest up so I can be productive for the rest of the week.  I finally gave in to a little bit of cold medicine to give my nose a break and so I could work on this blog post.  I've had the typical scratchy throat, hot/cold flashes, and body aches.  I've used all the essential oils I know how to as well, and those bring some relief, but don't get rid of it altogether. So, that's the end of this post.  Here's to a hopefully productive week, although it is a vacation week from school for everyone.  It's going to be a tough one though because Shauna's mom is not doing well at all and is in a lot of pain.  They are spending almost every day, all day up at the hospital.  But this week I have Leah to help with the girls and I'm going to take full advantage of that!  One day at a time!

A little fun with a box at Grandpa's house.  Grandpa thought Abishai might like it.  Justin likes it more than Abishai!

13 year old's fingers!

Who's in the box now?

Jill in the box (not jack in the box!) Keurah!  Or Pop Goes the Weasel!

"Look, Mommy, I have mad (mad means good or great) drawing skills!"  She copied this "caticorn" i.e. cat unicorn, from her sock!  And she's got more, too.  I'm very happy that both Justin and Keturah are drawing more and more.  I think not having screen time during the week is helping them find other things to do.  And yes, they DO have some skills in drawing.  I'm also glad that Keturah is proud of yourself and saying, "Mommy, mommy, look at me!" very excitedly.  That means she is happy and proud and secure.  She needs that right now, especially when her cousins are around that are in some ways better than her.  So, I don't care what kind of drawing it is, I'm very, very proud of Keturah for giving it her all!  She's our creative one, and it's awesome!

Oh the little boy who wants to eat mustard with his 8 fish sticks (yes, he ate 8 of them!) so we took his shirt off and then he spilled orange juice on his pants.  Sigh.  And he's a streaker!  Ah!  But we did have fun saying "cheers" and hitting our cups of OJ together for fun!  Daddy had the rest of the kids at church and was catching up on grading papers, so it was just Abishai and I tonight.  It was very nice and sweet to have alone time with him and give him attention BEFORE he does something to get attention!

He loved watching the popcorn maker to it's magic.  It's in pretty sad shape and I don't know where the butter melter pan went.  Oh well, I won't give up on it yet because it was my parents.  It gets very hot so I have to watch it carefully, but it does it's job.

Three military helicopters maybe?  Maybe on special assignment/drill?  Very, very loud!