Year 4, January 14th-15th, 2019: Rough Week Ahead

Oh boy, woah nellie, slow down.  Not a great start to the week.  My PMS, busy weekend, and a late start did not give us the best situation on Monday.  I also had a doctor's appointment earlier than normal so the school day was all hustle and cut short.  Plus the pressure of finding time to go sledding, and having a full day out on Thursday for an event, yikes.  I didn't do a great job of warning the kids of expectations or what the week was going to look at.  I honestly didn't do a whole lot of preparing anything over the weekend and just wanted to play.  And when I drop the ball, the rest of the balls are dropped, and we aren't at our best.  Once Jared got home, I put myself in time out, refused to go over anymore homework and said enough is enough, tomorrow we will start over.  I knew that if I spent anymore time with anyone I was just going to continue to say the wrong things.  In fact, Abishai said I was "mean."  Eek! Gut check!  But Tuesday was a little bit better.  I had in my mind to try a different techniques and just couldn't figure out how to implement them.  I'll try again tomorrow.  Ok, wait, I did try one, keeping my voice lower in tone and decibel.  I read not one, but TWO great articles yesterday addressing the exact issues I was dealing with.  One was how to deal with a toddler tantrum in the store.  But the principles also can work when a 10 year is shouting at you.  Stay calm, and lower your voice.  State the facts, like, your hands are on the floor, people might not see them there and might step on them. Your hands are on the floor.  There was more to it, but you get the point.  Not a lecture, but a series of statements.  So, that's what I tried today.  I also wanted to try touching them, but that's way out of my comfort zone (long story, and I do touch them, but I don't want to touch them when I'm angry).  Lots to work on as always.  Just keep trying and let God do the rest.  One day at a time.

I spy with my litle eye, our bag with Aldi's pasta and sauce in it!  This wasn't a church wide ask.  But it was part of the theme for the nursery and preschool kids to be giving, so they sent home these bags they decorated to fill to help restock the food pantry.  Orange bags with items listed on them and collection bins are available year round.  So fun!

Jared caught a great sunrise on Monday morning!

This was my Monday morning sunrise.

Just your average preschooler at your average doctor's appointment.  He kept getting on and off the bed so much that he tore the paper and I had to pull out fresh length of it.  Sigh.  He also wanted to be loud enough for the other rooms to hear him.

Don't we all love to stomp on ice?!  I'm glad I took the couple of minutes for him to do this instead of rushing him into the house.  And yes, he picked it up and tried to eat it, too.

New play dough from a friend who is a kindergarten teacher and couldn't use it before it expired.  I also went through all our play dough and tossed about a dozen cans.  Don't worry, we only have like 2 dozen more. 

Car garages Daddy made for Abishai.

Mommy, I want to sleep here!

Don't we all sleep like this?

I caught a live Facebook video from behind the scenes at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  They were unboxing some of the items they will be displaying at the new Star Trek exhibit starting in February.  My parents were huge fans of Star Trek (and Star Wars and lots of other sci fi shows).  It's amazing how big and awesome their collection is, not just stuff they borrow, but what the museum actually owns!  I know they have off site storage as well.

This is the elder Spock's parka he wore on a very cold planet in one of the more recent movies.  They talked about how the newer costumes are well made and what kind of materials they have, etc.  And the guy was also talking about how these gloves allow Spock to do the "live long and prosper" sign that Leonard Nimoy made up for the character.  I learned a ton of trivia in that 15 minutes or so.  Pretty cool!  I can't wait to see it and wish I could take my siblings to it!