Year 3, November 1st-4th, 2018: Get Your Party On!

Well, it was just me and I was at a baby shower, and I became an emotional wreck after listening to an irrational teenager at home and then thinking about him as an innocent baby and how did we get here to teenagehood?  So, there's that. The baby shower was for the new pastor and his wife, who are expecting their first child after two miscarriages.  They are a very sweet couple, so I tried not to ruin the party.  But several people noticed my distress and did come alongside me, giving me hugs and prayers and kind words.  I attended the party in between dropping Justin off at Bible Bowl competition and picking him up.  I'm so glad I didn't have to sit in Bible Bowl all day, so I didn't mind the driving back and forth.  Jared held the fort at home, trying to pour concrete, while keeping an eye on Keturah and Abishai, who didn't do chores but rather played and strewn toys all over the floor.  Then Benaiah got up for work, just as Abishai had a poop accident.  Ugh. Sigh.  Therefore Benaiah was late to work.  We got home, but after waiting in line for at least 30 minutes in order to vote early in the midterm elections.  I hadn't updated my address with the voting registrar, but thankfully, I was able to fill out some paperwork and make it work.  I officially voted in our old township of Warren, but that's ok.  I'll be registered and ready for the next presidential election in two years.  And I love this whole voting early thing because it gives us more time to fit it in.  It was in the same building as Keturah's basketball clinic, which was Jared's old middle school building.  We finally got home, cleaned up the house, made and had supper, and then went over homework from Friday we hadn't gone over in preparation for Monday.  Thankfully, it's going to be a pretty quiet week, unless I want to go hiking again.

P.S. I'm a bit behind and had a problem with my new SD card for my DSLR camera so I have no idea where I left off.   It's been a long week and weekend.  Here's the rest of the pictures to finish out the weekend.

Two days, two different storm fronts that has us connected to New Orleans.  Pretty big storms, too.  Very windy and rainy.

Too many drink cups!  So I put some away, and threw away the drink cups on the right side.  I decluttered that area in general, too.

Baby snuggles at sunrise.

Baby nighttime slumber.  He's been so tired lately.  He ate a huge breakfast on Sunday.   I think he's in  a growth spurt/  Hm,...

Burn't out plug.

Fun! Not!

Benaiah hanging out with girls at a girls' house.  He's gravitating towards the girls around him and pushing away the guys because they won't change and they are "drama queens."  I don't blame him, but he needs to balance it out with other positive influences like Jared and I.

It only took a year for this happen!

The overhead lights are super bright and finally complete!

The monkey eating snacks in odd places.

"How was your day, Abishai?" "Tired."

Reading stories with Keturah

See below!

We actually have had some great conversations about it already.  My head is swimming, but this is totally fun to do with Jared!

There's the lazy monkey, too.  Doesn't everyone eat their animal crackers out of the box out of the liner with their winter boots on on the kitchen rug?  No?  Ok, it's just my kid then!

Coloring!

Pumpkins!

Hm, do I want to stick my hand in there?

It feels so funny!

Abishai wasn't fond of the goop either, so Jared did most of the work while Abishai bossed us around.

We haven't used these pieces that are strictly for pumpkins in ages.  I'm glad somebody still likes Ironman.

I move it myself!  We took the tablecloth cover and put it on the kitchen floor before we started carving.

Sweet pumpkins!  Abishai house is on the other side.  Justin used characters from Overwatch.  And Daddy helped Keturah with the symbol from Rainbow Dash.

Great book using Scripture to say that God takes the goop out of us and put his light in his so we can shine bright.

President Trump was in one of our small towns within the city, Southport, today campaigning from the Republican running for US representative (I believe, but I could be wrong.)  Pretty neat!

Meanwhile, back in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, the For King and Country boys played a show!  Yeah!  Not many artists go up north and that far east.  Proud of them!

From the fall dance on Thursday evening.

Individual tournament.  Daniel got 2nd place in our room.  For the team tournament, they won 4 games and lost 6 and were in bracket 2.

Justin scored a personal best on the written test!  107 out of 150.  His previous score was around 80.  Way to go Justin1

We stopped at a local school so I could vote early and I was able to show Justin this map of when Jared and Aaron were in school.  We now have two new large middle schools, so this building is used for all kinds of things, voting, basketball clinics, craft fairs, pictures with Santa, etc. It's a community center of sorts. 

Our neighbors must think I'm stalking them while I keep taking pictures of their gorgeous tree and leaf blanket.  Ah....

Abishai! He said that they were bad guys hiding from the policeman.  Two little cars were the drivers and then the get away car.  Abishai knew about the car being there and knew exactly which story to tell.  Goof bacll!

Abishai built his own tower all by himself!  He was very patient and precise.  Way to go!

Jared's Saturday DIY project was a concrete pad where he'll put fire wood for the fireplace. He wanted the wood away from the house and up off the ground to prevent termites from nesting into the wood.

See screenshots below. 

Gotta love fall storms that cover a nearly 1,000 mile area.  We just LOVE sharing weather with our NOLA peeps!  Pretty big storms with tons of wind, too.

Grandma and Grandpa got a new garage door!  And for the first time in the time I've known them, it has windows!  Leah keeps thinking the door isn't shut because there's too much light in the garage.  Gary wanted windows because it was too dark, and yet, how much time does he really spend in the garage?  Not much.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.  In my fancy boots and skirt.

"It's that time of year when the world falls in love...." (that's a Christmas song but it's appropriate because who doesn't love fall!?)

Yes, he's in socks.  Yes, we tried to get him to put his shoes back on.  No, we didn't want to die in that battle so we let it go.

GORGEOUS!

Ditto!

Celebrating fall!  They love it, too!

Oh, no!  The squirrels have gotten into Grandma's pumpkins!  Grandma is NOT happy at all!

If it was my house, I wouldn't mind.  I love critters.  They did eat the corn and ruin the cornstalks, too, though.  Silly vermin.

Hello, fall.

And yes, they both took off their socks and shoes, too.  It's a good thing Grandpa keeps the yard fairly clean of rocks and sticks.  Now Justin's job this week is to clean up all these leaves.  With Benaiah having nearly a full time job, he has zero time for yardwork.  But Justin has school, too, so finding time to get this task done is nearly impossible.  It just might have to wait until Saturday.

Abishai is thrilled to be running through the leaves!

The three amigos.

Daddy joined in on the fun and covered them with even more leaves!

Another kid who hates to have her picture taken, plus she doesn't like to be touched either.  Too bad, so sad, I'm going to take pictures and touch you anyway because it's good for you!  We were hanging out between the 4:30 service and choir practice, and seeing if we could say hi to Benaiah before he went to Crave.

Cute outfit of the day alert.  I have never been vain or cared much about clothes, but I don't want to be frumpy.  There are days that I will put on whatever makes me happy regardless of style.  But I also want to try to do better, too.  So, here's the cost breakdown: No idea on the scarf but I got it like 10 years ago.  The sweater was bought this year for less than $10.  The skirt was made by a ministry and was a gift. The shirt was a hand me down I've had since high school that I normally wear under a sweatshirt or plaid shirt, and has buttons that aren't dressy, but paired with the scarf you can't see them.  I found the heavy duty tights in my closets from probably 5 years ago, and the shoes came from Goodwill a couple of weeks ago for $7.  But putting it altogether I feel like a million bucks.  I'm embracing my figure and just making it work for now.

Went to find Justin after small groups and here he is again, playing smash brothers, all by himself! Boy! Granted almost everyone else had left, including the main youth leader, Luke.  But still, let's go home!

Even after a rough day for me at the baby shower yesterday, the hostesses encouraged me to take home one of the floral arrangements.  There weren't many decorations but this is a SMALL bouquet that a church lady makes as a hobby.  Leah got a bigger sized one.  It's weird though.  I haven't had fresh flowers in the house for a long time.  To be honest, the last few times I've been around fresh flowers has been at funerals, so the smell now reminds me of those events rather than cheering me up.  These are definitely beautiful though.  I'm grateful to have them.