Year 4, March 25th-28th, 2019: Glorious Sunshine!

It's spring! It's 50 degrees, the birds are singing and the kids want to....sit inside all day and stare at their walls.  Say what?!  Yes! I've had to beg them to go outside.  I know I'm not that active, but still, we have all the equipment you need to be outside, just go ride your bike!  Thankfully their bikes still fit and are in good condition.  I stored them at the front of the garage for easy access, too.  Abishai went outside with me while I continued the garden project.  My whole body is sore for one hour worth of work, but whatever.  It just means I need to do more with it.  School is going ok for the week, too.  I've got to spend some time inside though catching up with the blog and cleaning off my phone for WitnerJam videos on Friday.  Woot! Woot!  And I am SO dragging Jared with me this time, regardless of his "meh" attitude.  I used to be all like "he doesn't like it, so I won't make him go" but recently I've been "brave" enough to just make him do it anyway because I want to EXPERIENCE life with him.  Now, maybe someday I'll drag him to the home education conference again, too.  I didn't push it this year because I truly just wanted to be myself to think and sit still.  I didn't volunteer to do anything either.  It was my time, my retreat.  No spa days for me.  I got to homeschool conferences to get away, lol.

Anyway, I'm excited for the weekend, and I hope we don't get rained on as we wait in line for the first come first serve seating.  Lots of stuff coming up in April and into May, and then we can finally breathe again.  I don't think I'll be doing many home projects until June.  Family will be coming into town to hear Gary preach at Indian Creek for the next 4 weeks, his last sermon being on Easter weekend.  Sigh.  If only I could go to bed before 1 am and have the energy to actually enjoy these next couple of months! But I'm trying to!  Rooted is going pretty well, and I shared my story this week.  I think it went as well as it could have because I rehearsed it.  Jared shared some things during discussion as well that I was kind of aware of but never heard him really talk about.  So that was interesting.  I haven't taken as many photos and videos just because I am busy, but also because I would then have to process them, which I don't have time for.  It already took me hours to sync the iCloud and back it up properly through Tuesday.  Now I have to go back in and clean it off.  Sigh.

Abishai made his own police station complete with stairs and a place for his weapons.

Someone needs some lovin', isn't that right Dogo (the kids say that nickname all the time).

More lovin'

He wasn't sleeping but could have been.  Abishai was super clingy after I was gone for a couple of days.  He would not leave my side, and sat down next to me or climbed on the countertop while I did things in the kitchen.  He just wanted to be close to me.  How sweet!  But also, a bit of a pain when you have things to do.

Baby toes.

Look, Mom, I found a comfortable place to take a nap!

I told the kids that I'd paid $.01 per stick (longer than their hand) that they picked up.  Keturah earned $.75 and Abishai earned $.25 towards a toy he wants.  Aw! And yes, those are my pink crocs he's wearing.

Sunshine and warmth are on their way!

Cheers! with popsicles.

Mom, my legs are hurting sooooo muuccchhhhhhh.  Well, her chain did get tightened, but she's also been lying around for the last month or two (after basketball season ended) so I know her legs are weak.  All the more reason to get out there and exercise!  She went around the block once!

Justin had a hard time going around the block, too, however, his tires were low on air.  So he filled them up, including looking at the PSI all by himself.  I had no idea he knew how!

I had already done my 1 hr of outside work and was exhausted, so I sat in the van to watch Abishai.  He decided to join me for a little nap!

Working hard learning to pedal.  He looks so big on that tiny trike!

Taking a nap in the warm sunshine!  Maybe this year I'll get a full three person swing with awning like the one we had in Beech grove.  I miss that swing!

Abishai decided it his bus needed to be pumped up, too.

Dinner on the go to eat with Daddy. And, simple is best.  No seasonings in this dish, including no salt for the rice or veggies, just the way I like it!

Hanging out with Daddy in his office before Rooted.  We go a little early so we can do just that.

Having fun popping bubbles.

Peek a boo! You can't see me behind Dad's door!  But I can by looking through the window!

Aw, such a beautiful face!

 Abishai behind door

I'm waiting to hear the whole story, but this is part of what Benaiah is doing to officially ask Ava to prom.  He's going to cut these up and then paste them up in her locker during lunch.  He has permission from one of his teachers to be near the lockers in the hallway upstairs because he's helping her as well.  He's been hinting at it via digital notes for days and sounded giddy when he said he had even more plans.  He's a pretty decent romantic, although, inexpensive and simple, like his Dad.  Jared wrote, "Uh....will you...marry me?" on a piece of paper and slipped it under my bedroom door at his parents house.  And then when I opened the door, he had the ring dangling on a thread in the doorway and he was on one knee I think.  Yeah, super romantic, pfft.  Anyway, yeah, my boy will actually have a real date for prom this year, how exciting!  That means he has to buy a corsage! And pay for her dinner! And, I think we'll still have to drive them because new drivers can't have friends in the car for another 3 months after getting their license.  AND, we'll have fun prom pics under trees in our front yard(s).  Crazy!

Wednesday was the same as the other days: I had to BEG for kids to go outside.  What is with them?!  I worked more on the front garden, too.  I have the kids making shadowboxes for history, a room in a castle, and man oh man, this is why I don't assign projects like this!  I know what I would do if I was assigned and I've made suggestions and showed the kids what they could use.  But they just don't want to do it because it's tedious work! So now I'm trying to enlist Jared in on being the parent.  The teacher (me) assigned it, now the parent can help.  Is it a big deal if we don't do it.  No, but I can't let these kids leave without doing some kind of hands on project just because it's tedious! Same thing goes with coloring.  They don't know how to color! I thought I was doing us a favor by not doing arts and crafts when they were young but boy was I wrong.  Eek! I might be adding that to next year's rotation (again) but I'll have to drop something else.  We'll see.  It's just frustrating because I remember making all kinds of things and my mom never got involved.  I think it's all about problem solving and the kids' generation really lack the experience with that.  If it doesn't come in a pretty box with just the right amount of glue and stickers, it can't be done.  Anyway, we'll see how it goes.  But for now, I've got tons of other things to think about.

Silly thing that the student ministries' IG account put up.  I didn't fill it all the way out because CFA will always win in my book, lol.

"Before" of the garden.  The whole thing is covered with dead grass that had not been taken care of last year.  Justin didn't trim the edges, so the grass went to seed and blew into the garden.  There were tons of roots that I had to break up by hand by loosening the dirt around them with a 3 prong hand tool.  Tedious.  And I know there was probably a better method/tool but I was tired of waiting on myself to figure it out.  I just went out and did (see the after photos below).

Dog! What?! In daylight?! You know you aren't supposed to be up there! But he looks so comfy!

I was scratching his "armpit" and he was so relaxed. Oi!

Hi, doggie!

Ssshhhh,.....it was so quiet! And this was why! Abishai fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon and slept for 90 minutes!

I guess Keturah saw him and added her blankie and narwhale/unicorn plush.  Aw....

Boy was playing the piano and Daddy was actually petting the dog (he's allergic to the dog, so it doesn't happen often.  My big men of the house bringing in all the $$.

Flippies!

Abishai's hair wants to stick up but his hood is in the way.  Abishai loves to be outside, and begs for the others to join him, but they often won't.  Sigh.  A trampoline is the best purchase ever!

Found this in the bush near the door of the house.  I have no idea what kind of plant it was, but I love how the seed pods opened up and scattered all over the bush with white fluff.  Cool!

That's right! This is THE pile of stuff I took out of the garden.  Three wheel barrows full!  I couldn't shake all the dirt out of the grass clumps, so there's some in there, too.  Oh well.

I hope these stains come out of my favorite pair of pants I wear every day!  I should have treated them first.  Whoops!

??????  What are you doing? Oh, talking to your girl, eh?  Cheering her up, eh? Goof!  Actually, the boy had a rough day with making some poor choices.  He needed some alone time to figure himself out.  Glad he got outside, though.

Abishai wanted to help with dinner, and without being asked, he got out an orange for everyone, just like Daddy does!

Looking gorgeous!  Can't wait for dirt and mulch!

Yes, there ARE bricks around the flower beds!

Ta da!

It still doesn't look "clean" but believe me, it will once the mulch is on.

Bricks!

"After."  You can compare this one to the first picture in the series.

Our Flower Garden Tour

Thursday - oh my goodness. It's done!  I finished the front garden!  Now all we need is dirt and mulch!  I hurt SO MUCH but I DID it, proving, if I really wanted to actually exercise and endure the soreness, I most certainly can.  No more excuses! Especially since my summer pants and shorts don't fit. Grrr....anyway, the front garden is done and I'm so PROUD of myself, ok? I don't care if it wasn't the best method or done perfectly or whatever, it just looks BETTER.  Here's to hoping I didn't kill the good flowers when I sprayed both weed and grass killer.  I tried to keep it away from the edges of the plants I want to keep knowing that the roots will soak that up, too.  Crossing my fingers  didn't kill everything.  We'll see! And I got it done because we stayed home this week.  And they kids managed to get most of the their work done on time or by 3/4 pm.  And I spent 1 hr a day on it.  I know that people work in their gardens all the time, but for a person with fibromyalgia, this is a HUGE HUGE HUGE accomplishment.  But you know me, I birthed our fourth child at home unprepared, SO, I CAN do things when I WANT to do them.  Sigh.  Sounds like I need to lecture myself more often instead of just the kids, right?   Concert tomorrow, and to be honest, I can sit down for at least some of it.  And then a prayer thing on Saturday, so I know I can sit most of the day then, too.  I did rest my back several times and stretched.  Anyway, yup, I did it!


So, here's to another somewhat quiet week before a busy weekend!

Year 4, March 22th-24th, 2019: Excuse the mess!

 P.S. Now where did I leave off? With being focused on other things this week, I've kind of lost my place! So, enjoy the randomness and I'll get back on track soon.  Pictures are pictures, right?  Who cares if they aren't perfectly chronological! Cheers!

Now for the weekend's post:

Let's see.  Two days of socialization and high mental alertness has left me, well, very drained.  You know you're an introverted homeschool mom when.....yup, over stimulated.  So after being out on Friday and Saturday, I rested and did no major physical or mental work on Sunday.  In fact, I rested for 3 hrs in bed! And it really helped! Now I'm a little more recovered and can start the week better.  But I'll have to take the week easy as well because this Friday is Winterjam and we have a prayer thing with our Rooted group on Saturday.  Sigh. It's a very, very spring for us.  I don't know if or when we'll get back to the Children's Museum, or go to the park, or finish cleaning out the front garden (I need two days to recover after 1 hr worth of work, and that's not a joke).

Anyway, it did feel good to get out of the house and just focus on some things.  The workshops I attended at the home education conference were insightful and more theological than practical, so I felt I got a lot of spiritual content as well. My opinions and convictions were affirmed.  I did attend more lectures this year than the past two years, partly because I had nothing else to do.  I did talk to some vendors, but unfortunately, there were less vendors there than in previous years.  In person conferences are going to continue to decline, but we are trying to hold onto this one as long as we can.  We love our organization and want to support it, but we can also just financially support it through the year, as well as attend the conference.  But there is something about the one on one interaction and concentrated time focused on one topic that I find helpful.  I've tried to be part of online conferences but get distracted by kids or chores or life.  So, an in person conference is helpful to me.

Thankfully, I can just up and go with very little preparation for those still at home.  I left a bit of a list of food ideas and what I wanted the kids to do for school on Friday.  Of course it wasn't done perfectly, but I didn't stress about it.  Everyone, even Abishai, is capable of finding nutritious food and cleaning up after themselves.  For the most part, everything was cleaned up ok.  I am grateful that I can just go and do something now, that we've reached that point that I can trust them to manage, and that's partly because I try to lower my perfection standards.  They definitely survived without me, which is good.

I won't go into detail about what I learned at conference because a) it could be offensive to some if I don't word it well b) I'll have to go over my notes and my brain is fried c) I still have to process some of it.  I did find a new curriculum for Justin for high school with classic literature and some history, along with some electives, etc. that will cover a bunch of credits if I stick with it.  I wasn't in the market for it, but it was written awhile ago by a couple who raised 6 homeschooled kids during the beginnings of the homeschool movement and is trusted by one of their fabulous speakers there.  I hadn't heard of this speaker before, but I ended up attending several of his sessions because he was speaking my language! I bought all his books (conference bundle.)  A homeschool grad, who was homeschooled when it was illegal, and very passionate about home educating his 10 kids, ages 18 and under.  But so intelligent and well spoken and "normal."  Israel Wayne is his name and I can't wait to read his books.  I also bought a math book for Keturah, and some little random gifts for each kid, including a bug catcher and net that Abishai can't wait to use!  Yes!  And I bought a $70 chemistry kit for Justin that goes along with one of the high school courses.  He specifically asked for a real kit with real chemicals, not just kitchen supplies, and since we need to support the vendors that do come, I went ahead and bought it.  You just never know when you walk in there, what you will walk out with, lol.  And there's lots of info booths as well like some colleges, health items, support groups, music schools, etc.

Anyway, it was good, it's in the books, and now we keep marching on with only 5 weeks to go until Gary's transition.  And now, he will be home for most of April (I think) as he is preaching the next 4 weeks including Easter, which is his last sermon he will preach as a paid staff member of Indian Creek.  Wowzers! And then there's an open house on April 27th, and a guest preacher/final day is April 28th.  But we have concerts, and I have jury duty, and appointments, and special guests on the weekend, and school to do, and Keturah's musical, and and and.....ah!  It's a very busy season, so let's get to it!

Keepin' on with the count! And several family members will be town in the upcoming weeks!

Which service should we go to and which one(s) should we serve at?

Look for more info on that in the coming weeks, probably shared on social media rather than here.  I'm waiting on a book I ordered to read before I misquote and get it wrong.

Cue the tears.

He's so big!  I don't know what we'll do when he outgrows this bed.  I think we'll need a regular set of bunk beds because Benaiah will not be leaving for at least another two years and will need a bed on breaks.

Not sure what all got posted last week, but I found it funny how every kid is different in an elevator.  Here are our big three!

I look forward to more days like this where Benaiah gets to play taxi driver. Only one more month until he can try for his full fledged license!

I literally bought this folding rolling cart from Aldi's for this very purpose: the homeschool convention.  I loved it!  My back doesn't hurt!  I think I might even bring this on trips to the museum instead of carrying around a backpack!

It's not every day that I get up before the sun rises.  But the moon was nice and bright!

A homeschooling couple that has a YouTube channel and does video parodies.  They live here in Indy, but are known nationally for their channel.  They are different from our generation and a little wild and crazy.  I just kept thinking how this was NOT the style of our Mennonite friends sitting in the audience.  But it was a fun addition for me and other younger/less strict/millenial/social media addicted generation.

Parents making animal noises for an animal chorus! And my friend Jocylyn who is a first time homeschooler, got up there!

One of the workshops with a long time homeschooling speaker.  She's actually retired from speaking, but again, lives fairly close.  I even have one of her books from when my mom bought it years ago!  And she loves history!

My friend Corinne sharing curriculum with other parents with children with learning or physical disabilities.

Yes, I actually have that dictionary from my childhood.  You can't read the nation's founding documents without knowing what the words meant before 1828.  This definition of education is all encompassing, not just academic subjects, but life skills, too.  And it's about equipping students to be life long learners instead of just force feeding them facts.

I just found a new favorite speaker! Israel Wayne was homeshcooled by his single mother with his 5 siblings beginning in 1978 when it was illegal to homeschool.  He has 10 kids up to age 18.  And he knows his stuff.  He's a very popular speaker on the homeschooling convention circuit.  He knows the history of homeschooling, which is a workshop I attended and loved because I learned new things!  The passion he has for home education is incredible.  I bought his whole book bundle and can't wait to read them!  I will finally have a concise resource that explains my opinions that I can share with others.

And we met a REAL actress!  Sam Sorbo!  I looked her up and she has a net worth of $10 million!  Her husband has a net worth of $20 million.  Her husband is none other than "Hercules" from the TV show, Kevin Sorbo.  Eeek!  I really wasn't that star struck, but it's incredible to have such a "powerful" person in a place like California where it can be incredibly hard to homeschool.  She has used Classical Conversations in the past, too!  Actually, she's just like me, super, super passionate and serious.  I went back and watched her most recent movie, that she wrote/directed and starred in and it's a pretty serious topic of "Let There Be Light." Kevin Sorbo also starred in it, and they played ex-spuses turned remarried spouses, so it was interesting to see them be able to show their real life relationship.  Two of their kids played their kids in that movie as well.  Anyway, yes, very serious mama bear.  And she came to spoke at OUR home education convention and presented a couple of workshops as well.  Sweet!

Meanwhile at home....it's going to be a super sad day when Abishai stops snuggling with us.  But I don't think it will happen any time soon.

Sam Sorbo on stage.

Random picture of the Johnson side of the family that cousin Donna sent Jared and I.  That's Jared in Gary's arms and Aaron in Leah's arms.  Grandma and Grandpa Johnson in the back row.  And the youngest cousin hasn't been born yet.

Another one of my favorite speakers, Peter Heck.  He's a high school civics teacher/preacher.  He's very intelligent and dynamic and in this workshop he talked about being on the offensive for Christ and our kids instead of defensive.  He also spoke in the main session.

Abishai enjoyed the gifts I got the kids.  We haven't had a bug catcher for awhile, or rather I haven't seen it, so I picked one up from my friends who run a fun nature centered booth of goodies! He's LOVING it and wants to go outside with it!

Abishai loves the pinchers that came with it.

I think Abishai caught a bug!

This net has a telescopic handle.  Nice!

Noise maker of the bunch!

I know, not many weeks left....

Abishai thought he needed to charge the tablet, and he mentions it every time he uses it.  So he randomly found a plug to use under Benaiah's desk!

Finally!  A bigger step count!  This was day 2 of convention, although I sat down a lot of course, just the distance between the exhibit hall and workshop rooms were enough.  The first day didn't get recorded, unfortunately.

Abishai wanted "dessert."

Abishai's famous sayings  of the week: "Sweet! Sweet means good, Mommy!" "I'm faking" (when asked if he's crying on purpose or not). And "Mom, you see those pine trees over there.  That's where the Thompsons live.  That's Ava's house, and Grady's house." (Benaiah only mentioned it once).  And Abishai was very clingy all day Sunday and Monday because I was gone for two full days.  Poor little Mama and Dada's boy!