Year 4: March 11th-14th, 2019: Daylight Stupid Time, Again

Yup, "spring forward" happened yesterday and that's why we woke up late yesterday and today.  Even Abishai didn't wake up until after 8am today! I let everyone sleep in because I couldn't rouse myself either.  And I figured we all needed rest to get over our illnesses.  However, sleeping in did NOT ruin our Monday because I was determined that it wouldn't.  I am trying to implement some new boundaries for Keturah (I shouldn't be surprised by this) and she did not meet them today.  She has until Friday at 5pm to finish her week's worth of work, and if she doesn't, she doesn't get to go to a movie or out to brunch this weekend.  Same goes for Justin.  I'm praying this doesn't backfire and she thinks that "well, I'm not good enough to do it, so why even bother" kind of thinking.  She will be seeing a counselor next week though.  She said she had a stomachache, which she hadn't complained about all week last week.  And since she bounded out of bed at 7:30 yesterday to do her church things, without having a stomachache, I don't believe her one bit about having one today.  I left for 4 hrs today for appointments and she didn't get any work done.  We are considering alternative schooling methods for her as well, like Southside, but a decision needs to be made quickly to reserve her a spot before they are all gone.  I talked at length to my counselor about this, the pros and cons, how I would feel if this was a short term or long term choice, etc.  I still have mixed feelings about it, but we have to do something different.

Justin got his work done and was only supposed to watch the rest of his Pirates DVD, but ended up playing Fortnite because his friends came on (they can chat while a DVD is running on the PS4).  He isn't supposed to play Fortnite until Thursday when new challenges come on.  But he promised me that he would only watch another Pirate movie tomorrow while we are at Rooted.  Sigh.  Abishai did his normal day of playing, screentime and snuggle time/cuteness with Mommy.  I came home from errands to find all three kids on the trampoline outside because it was nearly 50 degrees today!  Yeah!  I'm so glad that procrastination paid off and we left the trampoline up.  And I'm glad there is one benefit to daylight stupid time: more time outside in the evening to play before it gets dark.  Abishai was balling because he didn't want to come inside.  Grandma had dinner for us for yesterday's lunch, so she brought that over today because we had stayed home sick yesterday.  Instant supper of chicken and rice!  Yeah!

Oh, and I also heard the songbirds singing the last couple of days.  Spring is on it's way!  I'm going to start walking to the stop sign and back everyday in a loop so the kids can still see me, but I can get some exercise.  I weighed myself the other day and not surprisingly, it had gone up, again. I'm extremely upset about it.  Now I have 25 lbs to lose.  Sigh.  I've only had about 500 steps a day because of illness and being at home.  I want to aim for 4,000 again.  And eat less sugar and carbs.  Sigh.

Abishai, are you eating or playing with your food? Both! Take my picture, Mommy!  He also ate a ton of my cashews, so I called him a squirrel and taught him the "squeaky" language from the squirrel scouts in "Emperor's New Grove."  Cutest squeaky face around!  Part of me thinks that Abishai gets all the praise, Benaiah is moving on in life, Justin never gets in trouble, and Keturah is jealous of all them.  But to convince her that if she would just cooperate, then things would go better for her, is near to impossible.  She's her mother's daughter because that's how I feel right now.  I don't want to do the best things because I didn't see any benefit in them.  So, it starts with me treating the kids more fairly and changing myself and my attitude.

Tuesday was just as frustrating with Keturah as Monday was.  And so today, we officially saved her a spot at Southside Christian School where Benaiah goes to school.  I felt not at peace, but confident until I was quickly trying to tell my sister about it.  But it was time to leave for Rooted, and I didn't have time to process again.  If we hadn't have had Rooted tonight, I would have been balling in another room.  My heart is broken for whatever Keturah is doing or going through.  I'm also saddened that some of Benaiah's peers couldn't care any less about school and don't care if they fail.  I'm not saying everyone should strive for A's, but to not care at all? Why?  Keturah refuses to work, and I can't physically make her do it.  I will continue to carry out my plan this week and treat Justin to movie if he finishes his work on time, and not her.  There's nothing else I can do at this point.  We'll keep working on it with a counselor and maybe things will change before August.  But for now, we need something to change.  I can't change who I am fast enough to meet whatever it is she needs to get unstuck.  She didn't ask to go to school.  She knows the consequences.  And that's the story of my day.

Rooted was decent.  I still feel a bit uncomfortable so we'll see how it goes in two weeks (we are skipping next week because of spring break) when I have to present my story.  Justin, Abishai, and I had a great time outside on the trampoline today because it had warmed up a bit.  And now another day is done and I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted.  Sigh.

Abishai's hair is so long!  And the static from the trampoline is crazy high!

Just check out these pictures!  But he was so happy to be outside again!  Keturah and Justin had been as well.  Best $150 or whatever I've spent in years!

Mohawk!

Bwahahaha!

Now he looks like our pastor's newborn son who ALWAYS has hair like this!

Outside!

The funny moments I capture!

60 degrees and barefoot, Justin is the crazy man!

Trying to get away from Justin?

I swear Justin is an octopus or something.  He's got the longest appendages!

Not flattering of Justin but when Abishai got up there, he tooted again!

Yes, Abishai is on the outside of the trampoline so he could invite the dog over to be petted.  Best friends outside together.

Even more playtime at rooted!  Abishai said he met some new friends and even tried describing them and what they did!

Enjoying snacks before we left the church for the evening.  We love having a place to stash our stuff and hang out in Daddy's office.  Having the office there has been a super huge blessing, especially when someone has an activity and the others have to come along or Daddy has more work to do.  Or Mommy has work.  It's a nice quiet place.  And comfy!

Wednesday, another day of waking up at 9am because of Daylight Stupid Time!  Seriously! Only Benaiah seems to be getting out of the house/starting the day on time!  It was a decent day, however.  I had a pretty emotional late evening, so I've felt exhausted and out of it most of the day, but the warm weather and open windows really helped to keep the momentum going.  We managed to get through history, and Keturah actually got up and dressed, and did her math without too much protest.  She did some work while I was going picking up Benaiah from school and taking him to church.  Abishai went with me and we had a great time double backing to Meijer to get rakes for the yard, Paw Patrol garden gloves, yogurt and butter for me, and a bubble gun for him!  He almost threw a fit in the toy aisle, but then held onto the cart without being asked for the rest of the store.  He even got to pick out the bananas!  And ride Sandy the horse of course.  Then we got to work on the front garden when we got home.

Because I was already exhausted, it didn't really bring me much happiness to work on the garden and I had to go slow.  I think we might just clean up the dead stuff and throw some dirt on top to level it off (around the major plants we know about) and then put mulch.  That way, whatever does makes it threw, we can identify better.  There's already a bunch of grass in there, dead and regrowth and I have no idea to handle that.  But this will be our 3rd year here and I am not waiting any longer.  I only worked for an hour clearing debris and trying to hand aerate the dirt.  I raked the little patch of grass, too near the sidewalk.  I think we need to add some dirt where the old sidewalk was so the layer is thicker and can handle grass.  Again, I wondered why they didn't tear out the old one and now it's making it harder to grow grass.  I guess we could scrape away the dirt and jackhammer it ourselves.  Anyway, I know that we could have a few more days of cold/frost, but if I don't start now, I won't finish.  I usually get that first patch done, or up to the front concrete pad, but then don't do anything under the windows.  And it's going to rain tomorrow, but on the next dry, warmish day, I hope to continue.  If I don't do it perfectly, who cares.  I just want it done.  And the same goes with schoolwork some days.

Yee-ha!

Abishai and Keturah went through the whole bottle of bubbles somehow.  I don't know if they spilled it or what.  I'll have to watch them more carefully next time.  I hope it lasts!

My little helper!

The "after" shot.

Kind of what the "before" shot would have looked like, just a layer of dead material.

Raked up the leaves.

He ate a whole romaine lettuce leaf!

It was nearly 65 degrees today!

Hiding from everyone.  But her hair had been flying everywhere and was caught on the net above her!

More trampoline hair.

So glad we get to go outside again!

End of the night squeezes, perfect for tooting!

Thursday was sort of quiet, but the weather was not quiet!  We were all distracted and than "KA BOOM!" It sounded like a cannon was shot off! Huge downpour for a few minutes.  Several heavy bursts of rain and then clear skies this evening.  It was very warm, but now the temps are going to go down to the 40's again.  And I noticed more growth in the garden, so I KNOW I have to at least get dirt and mulch for the part I did clean up yesterday to prevent more weeds coming up.  Yes, I should put a barrier/liner but I'm not sure what is what at this point. as far as plants, so I don't know what holes to put in a liner for it.  I figured if it's supposed to grow, it will push through direct and thin layer of mulch.  Anyway, hopefully we can get that done on Saturday/Sunday for that section.  It might require unearthing the truck though, which we haven't used all winter.  Hm,...

Benaiah was home all day because he's officially on spring break.  He slept in, got up and ordered Arby's from Ubereats, went back to bed, got up and ordered Starbucks from Ubereats (this kid spends money until he's broke), played a little piano, played a little guitar, talked to his friends, played video games, and coughed and sneezed all day (he has a head cold).  Well deserved fun day, and there were some fun moments with siblings, especially at dinner when Justin asked Benaiah, "Hey, what kind of meat is in fried mozzarella sticks?"  Bwahahahaha, none!  You goof!

Meanwhile, my cold got worse with a runny nose, headache, sore throat, and sore muscles from working in the garden yesterday.  I'm just feeling yucky all over! We took Abishai for a haircut, then visited Daddy, then played at the library.  And each time, we missed the major downpours, yeah!  But I'm worn out, that's for sure!  Tacos for dinner, piano lesson, trampoline at sunset, went over schoolwork, then bedtime.  Keturah caught up a little bit, but still has more to go.  At least she didn't scream as much today and yesterday.  I think signing her up for Southside on Tuesday made her think about being more compliant at home.  We'll see.  Tomorrow is gym day and taking whoever gets their homework done to Aquaman movie at the cheap theater while Benaiah and friends see Captain Marvel again.  We'll see if Keturah makes the cut this week.

The rain was heavy and tilted sideways that we had leaks in the front windows! Eek! I guess they need some caulking or something.

Flooding, again.  That silly cement sidewalk is under there and so grass won't grow.  A penny wise and a dollar foolish? I think we will just build up that area with more dirt and put some planters or something.

Abishai has enough hair to make a ponytail!  This morning when he was told he was getting a haircut, he said:

....he said, "My hair is incredible!"  He truly was very upset that we were cutting it.  I don't know if he's thinking he won't look like Justin anymore, or if he wants to look like Ethan, or what it is, but he liked his longer hair!  Don't worry, we did keep it long and just trimmed the bangs, around the ears, and the mullet.

"Incredible hair."

Super long!

Nice and trimmed up, reading a book!  When we walked into the library, he asked specifically to find "Blaze" (a tv show) book and proceeded to go down the young teen novel aisle that we've been in for the older kids.  I had to show him where his type of books were.  We did find some though.  It was so cute that he kind of knew what you do at the library!

And of course, an empty shelf is very inviting to at 4 yr old.

Clear skies, but heavy winds.  We had tornado warnings all day today.

Fast moving clouds!

He looks so big!  And he's able to manipulate the computer mouse with ease!

I remember two years ago when he started loving the Dora program on the library computer, especially the soccer part, and he couldn't quite do it.  Now he can do it all by himself, and here he is helping Dora's twin baby sister and brother!

He used to only get through 1 or 2 levels of Dora's soccer, but now he's at level 5!  He knows the tricks!

I want to play with this toy, Mommy, so I let him.  He helped me a ton with checking out the two huge bagfuls of books I ordered for school.  Actually, I walked over to the reserved bookshelves and a librarian came over and asked if my number was 8910 and she said, well, you're stack is up here!  They had just scanned in a couple of DVD's, so maybe my number had been in the front of her mind, or, they recognize us, lol.   She even helped by taking the DVD's out of the covers.  Sweet!

Bwahahaha!  Wearing Benaiah's silly hat!

$10.  That's how much two Starbucks drinks delivered to your front door costs.  Benaiah!  You're going to be broke your whole life!  Don't worry, he does budget his money actually, and some does go into savings.

Yesterday was Pi day, so Benaiah's math teacher had everyone bring in pies and drinks for it.  Benaiah said he had like 3 pieces of pie.  And yes, Benaiah and Ava switched hoodies, again, and when Benaiah got in the car yesterday with Ava's Star Labs one (from the Flash tv show), he said, "I look darn good in this one, don't I?"  Yes, you do, and I'm kind of jealous.  Ava's in his black and blue gaming hoodie on his right.  And this guys are crazy.  Two days ago, during study hall, Benaiah dared someone to put a cheese cracker sandwich into a microwave to see what would happen.  Well, the cracker caught fire and made the whole room and hallway smell like burnt popcorn.  Then he dared his friend to eat it.  Goobers.

Playing in Daddy's car with the sunroof open.  It's nice having a vehicle with a sunroof again.  I miss the LHS.  THAT was a low end luxury car! Heated seats, fake leather, sunroof, man, I miss that one!

Caught the boy singing and playing the piano! He also asked his mother all kinds of questions about chords.

Then I taught him how to figure out chords on the guitar.  Each fret is like a half step on the piano.  Once you get to the fifth fret, it should be the same note as the next higher sounding string.  Essentially, when you tune either the highest or lowest strings, you could tune the rest of the strings to it. 

Tis the season.  Although, I was trying this out for the headcold thing.  I think it did help a little and didn't make me nearly as sleepy as Zyrtec.  This is a different medicine altogether though.  Maybe like Allegra?  Benaiah didn't like it for the sniffles.  Maybe it is better as the allergy relief from seasonal allergies.

The End