Year 4, June 1st-3rd, 2019: The Start of Summer

Although we got out of school weeks ago, everyone else is officially out for the summer and summer happenings start this week.  We had Conner and Kaylin Strunk's high school graduation open house today and the kids have summer kick off parties on Sunday.  All the kids get promoted to new Sunday School classrooms also tomorrow.  Benaiah's routine doesn't change, but Justin is now expected to attend a regular church service, either with Grandma at 9:15 or at 4:30 by himself.  He will still serve at 11 in the 1st grade room.  Keturah will now go to Middle School Crave for one or both hours in the morning, and that happens on most Sundays in the summer, except when they are traveling for CIY.  And then we just have one kid left in the elementary Kidustrial Park area, Abishai, who moves up from the 3/4 yr old room to the 4/5 year old room at the end of the hall, the last classroom for preschoolers.  Next year, he'll be in the Kindergarten room across the hallway! Ah! For not having big special birthdays this year, (17, 14, 11, and 4), we have some special big promotions! That means we have a 4/5 year old, a 6th grader, a 9th grader and a 12th grader this coming school year! Time marches on!

Anyway, the open house was at the same park as we were yesterday, so we got to also show Daddy what fun things Abishai can do.  I got to chat with a friend for a few minutes, and Justin involved himself with some of the high school boys in a game of frisbee.  It was good to see him engage with them since at least some of them will still be in high school next year.  I know Justin prefers some of his younger friends, but I don't want him to alienate himself from the older kids either.  Benaiah was MIA today, although it was Ethan's siblings, because a) he didn't want to and then b) work called him in earlier than expected at the last minute. I don't know what's up with Benaiah except having a girlfriend/job/truck/freedom has him shifting some priorities I think.  We need to have a little bit of a chat with him and see if we can help him see what's going on.  Otherwise, we gave Ethan, his mom, and his sister the low down and they all said they would kick him in the behind.  Ethan said that Benaiah told him to tell Benaiah if he becomes obsessive or changes his habits or opinions because having a girlfriend.  I'm not going to say because of Ava because she is NOT a distraction and we love her, but just having this new phase of life is a distraction.  I'm glad that Ethan and Benaiah's friendship is the "deep accountability" kind.  They don't always get to hang out, but they know each other's deepest secrets and struggles.  Benaiah's friend Chase is the "chum around/hang out with" kind of friend.  I'm grateful that Benaiah has both kinds of friends and knows the differences.  But now we just have to convince him to show up for the pool party tomorrow because as a leader, he's supposed to be there.  He doesn't have to swim or talk to many people, but he needs to be visible, just as Jared and I try to show up and be visible no matter how we feel about a certain group of people.  Oh, the joys of teenagers!  Benaiah isn't drama, but there's still all the figuring out of how to handle people and life's responsibilities.  We will get there.  As Benaiah says about so many of us that are going to make sure he fulfills his promise/dream of college, he's got too many of us to let him slip too far in other areas.  Too many people praying for these kiddos.

After the open house we went grocery shopping, where I picked up a few throw pillows.  Not sure if I'm going to keep them all.  I might go to a different store and see what they still have.  I did pass up the foldable wagon I really wanted, so I might still sneak off to get that.  It's a $80-$100 wagon on Amazon for $40 at Aldis.  Yes, I should have grabbed it but Abishai was tired and Jared was anxious about getting home.  Grrr. Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow.  Then we came home and napped.  The sun wiped us out!  Justin mowed, Keturah puttered, but the rest of us napped.  We had a late dinner and then it was time to finish chores and clean up ready for Sunday.  It was a very full, but good day.  Abishai thanked God at supper for it being a Daddy stay home day.  He was very clingy to Daddy all day, too.  And he went down the fireman pole multiple times with Daddy ready to catch him if need be!  Yeah!

Daddy patiently told Abishai had to find the edges and look for certain colors or parts of the puzzle.

Everything ends with a wrestling match in a houseful of boys!

I think Benaiah meant to say, "During the school year/on my way to school."  Whoops!

Eek! Promotion Sunday!

This is Michael W. Smith's immediate family.  His mom, Debbie and he, the 5 kids with 5 spouses, and all the grandchildren! I think that equals out to 13 grandkids, all under the age of 13!  I can't tell if his sister is in the picture or not.  I don't think so.  13 grandkids seems right.  Wow!

Awesome idea!  I didn't take pictures of them, but Conner is a 3D artist, so perhaps he made the green lollipop as one of his art projects.  I think it's wrapped in unused paper that comes on a roll that you would feed into a machine to wrap the lollipops.  Don't know how you would order that, but it's possible.

Easy way to do cake, although kind of messy!  They also had a taco bar.

I've never been done here to this site before, Site A.  It's behind the main building, tucked in near one of the hiking trails with a nice huge parking lot.  Lots of shade.  The boys were playing frisbee here. I happened to catch one because I was standing nearby and it flew in the perfect position! Go me!

Jared talking to Kaylin.  Such a sweet family!

Abishai of course wanted to be like the big boys.

Then we drove around to the big playground.  Daddy scared Keturah on the personal merry go round.  Eek!

Abishai wanted to try and hung on for a few seconds of course.  Then we showed Daddy all the rock climbing walls he could climb.

Big boys played chase in the big boy playground.  Silly teens! Ethan on the left and Berkley Wagar on the right.

Yeah, Daddy gets to push the merry go round this time!  Although Abishai showed him how he can do it too!

I looked up from talking with my friend and boom, Abishai was halfway up the "spider web" with no help.  Yesterday, I think he was combining events but when I said the big hill top playground and I think Keturah mentioned the spider web, Abishai said, "The spider web one where Beniah fell down in Canada." Um, maybe? We did have one at one of our parks.  But how would he remember?  Maybe he's remembering Benaiah falling down at another park nearby us in the last year.  Don't know, but he's got a great memory!

I'm glad I insisted that we go to the fireman pole to show Daddy our skills.  I really wanted Abishai to "get back up on the horse" after his semi fall yesterday.  And he did! Multiple times!

Jared just gave him a reassuring hold on his bum and to slow him down a bit.  Abishai, however, came down pretty controlled though.  Yeah!

Abishai the entertainer!  He said, "I sing for you Mommy! This song is called Ma Ma Ma!"  He even got out piano books and put something in front of the pages to hold them open.  He swayed back and forth and crooned, too!  And then he did some showmanship type hands at the end because he was so excited!  She the video clips below!

Sunday Funday.  Benaiah had tech stuff at Shelby St. and the rest of us went to the 11am service at Franklin Rd.  Because the roundabout is being put in at Franklin and Edgewood we had to take the long way around.  Thankfully, it only took a few extra minutes this time.  It was also promotion Sunday, so everyone moved up to their new class/routines.  Abishai moved from the 3/4 yr olds to the 4/5 years old at the end of the hallway in KP.  Keturah went to middle school Crave.  Justin did his volunteering in 1st grade.  Justin will either attend 9:15am regular service with Grandma when she's back in town or he will sit by himself at 4:15.  The high schoolers and anyone that serves in the kids' ministries are pretty much required to go to one of those services.  You can't just serve, you also must have the opportunity to grow spiritually through corporate worship.  Jared and I were in regular service.  Then I had nursery duty at the 4:30.  Well, I thought the day would go one way and went completely another way.  Both Keturah and Justin were asked to hang out with the same family who has kids their ages.  It happens to be our hairdresser, Jennae's family.  I didn't realize her daughter was in Keturah's class and I'm really, really working on saying yes to every social oppurtunity for both Keturah and Justin.  They are still introverts, but I notice how much they light up when they talk about friends and hanging out.  So, they both went to the Schneck household to go swimming.  Jared, Abishai, Benaiah and I ate at home.  Then I left early so I could take swim suits to the kids.  I ended up visiting with Jennae until it was time for service.  That meant I had to do my errands after church.  Oh well.  She then brought all the kids to the church.

The girls stayed at church because they are now in 6th grade, middle school, and they had their first summer hangout tonight.  Then I had to transport Justin the high school pool party.  They encouraged the teens to carpool and Benaiah was supposed to take Justin with him, but it was too complicated for him to pick Justin up from Jennae's or the church.  I let Benaiah do his own driving and I worried about the other kids.  Then Justin was supposed to go home with Benaiah, but Bryce was at the pool party and Bryce's aunt got stuck at the hospital with Bryce's grandma, so he needed a ride and to stay with us for a little bit.  That meant I had to go back to the church and then the pool party to collect everyone. I had 5 pre teens/teens in my car at one point.  I had offered to take Jennae's kids home because she had already done some driving and I was out running errands.  I forgot to mention that Jeannae's son is actually two grades behind Justin (but he is actually pretty mature and sweet), and so he's still in middle school with the girls.  I then went to Aldis for more outdoor furniture stuff, Goodwill to drop off some clothes (we just needed them gone and it was just Keturah's clothes), and Meijer.  Well, I got stuck at Meijer because I went through the women's clothes area and there was a ton of winter/spring stuff on clearance.  I tried to be quick about trying things on but I was still late getting back to the kids.  I found out that a) I don't look good in those long rompers, ew. and b) I still don't look in yellow no matter what shade it is.  Mustard yellow clothes is all the rage now and I don't like it.  There was one top that had three different fabric patterned stripes on it that I think would have looked ok if it wasn't yellow.  So, I did make progress on what I do or don't like or do or don't look good in.  I did find a few nice pieces and a young friend of mine texted me some great suggestions. I've told her before that I love her simple style and she's on the short side, and oh so sweet.  I had put on Instagram a pretty body shaming photo of myself in the romper.  I wasn't emotional at the time I was trying things on, but I had a full on meltdown when I got home.  It wasn't pretty.

Anyway, I collected all the kids, dropped them off, brought Bryce home with us, had my shameful and body shame filled meltdown, and then couldn't function the rest of the evening.  I got caught up on YT videos though.  And I emotionally ate too many chocolate laden carbs.  I've only done that a couple of times in my life.  I also texted back and forth with my sister who lovingly listened to me. My body is not in a good place right now and I'm super frustrated.  It's just out of balance and sometimes I feel nauseous and sometimes I get a headache and sometimes I can't stay awake even with caffeine.  I want to look into going back to my naturopath, except she moved an hour away.  But I think I can do a lot of things with her over the phone after the first couple of visits.  She had the best advice, best tests, we made immediate progress, and it all made sense.  I get basic care at the clinic here, but I pretty much have to tell them what I want and they do the prescribing.  I trust them, but they are all pretty young still, and well, basic care.  I need more help than that.  I do love them at the clinic though because they do trust me and treat me like I know something and do try to think outside the box occasionally if I suggest something.  Their office is clean and on time and so easy to get to.  And I get a discount based on income for Jared and I and the kids have medicaid, which they accept.  Anyway, they do have dentail (which we don't need) and a full ob/gyn that includes doctors, nurse practitioners, and midwives.  They are able to do ultrasounds, and I'm going to go for one here in a couple of weeks to see what's going on.  Hopefully we can come up with a plan to fix whatever problem it is and I can get off the birth control pills and feel more like my normal self.  Feeling exhausted due to medication or medication interactions is the pits and makes me upset.  No one needs that.  I want to dig deeper into some other things, too.

Anyway, that's Sunday.  Crazy busy. And while I enjoyed helping the kids get places, I would much rather prefer my kids get picked up and dropped off or their friends get dropped off and picked up.  Maybe other moms are used to that, but I have projects to and even a 20 minute drop off cycle interrupts those projects.  Projects like finishing blog posts, getting my summer wardrobe out, and going through bookshelves.  So, now I know what I prefer, and I'm grateful for my friends who DO offer to do the driving.  And I'm grateful that Jared does a lot of the driving, too.  I was just trying to give him the night off because I wanted to go shopping anyway.  With the others and I gone most of the day, Jared and Abishai spent a lot of time together in the yard and playing video games.  It kind of backfired though because on Monday morning Abishai was in major meltdown mode when Jared left for work.  It was awful.  Abishai usually moves on with his day after five minutes, but it's heart wrenching to watch him.  So, transitioning into Monday....

Monday, Abishai was super clingy and no one wanted to play with him.  It was a gorgeous day and all I wanted to do is lay down on my new outdoor lounge chair pad and nap.  We also put up the new umbrella I got at Aldi's for $20.  It isn't fancy, it doesn't have a base or a crank handle and it doesn't tilt, but it does the job and it's so pretty! The chair pad was $13.  And some padding you usually put outside of an RV to keep the dirt and stuff to a minimum was another $20.  I want to cut that up and put some on the back deck and then maybe the front porch.  Abishai saw the RV on the package and was so excited about it that he pulled it out of the package.  Eek! I think I'm done buying things now.  I bought a lot of fun new things to spruce up the free to us patio furniture and probably have spent almost as much as I was going to on a used set of patio furniture anyway.  The space is coming together and feels more inviting to guests in my opinion.  I'm trying to entice the kids to at least sit outside and read in a comfortable spot and provide a place for Benaiah and Ava to hang out, too.  Nothing too fancy, but better than folding lawn chairs.  And the weather has been so perfectly 75 degrees with a breeze!  Ah!  It's hard to come inside and work!

But I did.  I finished the Memorial Day weekend blog post just now and will at least do these long paragraphs for this one tonight.  Then it's onto something else.  I don't know.  We had a good supper and went around the block for a walk and to water ferns and gather mail.  We talked with our neighbors for a bit and Socks and their little itty bitty dog ran around.  It was hilarious to watch.  Then Jared played Star Wars with Abishai and it was off to bed.  The older three kids have to get their immunizations updated tomorrow and then we have an end of year meeting with the principal of Benaiah's school.  Fun times!  Here goes the rest of the crazy week!

Franklin and Edgewood's roundabout going in.  Thankfully, they are letting local traffic and/or not noticing that we are using an older neighborhood and the old middle school's parking lot to get around the intersection.  I haven't seen too many cars take this route as they have redirected traffic away from the area a mile in each direction.  Thank goodness, because it's a lot easier to carefully, slowly, and respectfully cut through the neighborhood than go all the way around a couple of miles out of our way, especially when we're late.  It was much easier to come home with less traffic, too.  Hopefully this one will be done at the end of the month.  It's right near Ava's neighborhood, too.

Promotion Sunday!  And he's a lot less scared this year! Such a big boy!  Next year he will promote to Kindergarten!  Time needs to slow down!  Also, he insisted on wearing his police shirt today.  And he was excited to see his friend Tyson was still in his call with Luke and Christy Collins as his teachers.

We didn't notice this on the way in this morning because we use the other entrance, but check out the fun chalk designs the kids' teams did!  Yeah for Promotion Sunday!

I think we might do some of this at home!  Could be a ton of fun!

I was waiting for the kids to be dropped off so I could take Justin to the high school pool party, and Sam I Am was there.  Well, he saw the kids coming and hid behind the pylon.  And then he scared them as they walked thruogh the doors.  Oh how we love Sam!  In fact, Abishai was wearing a VBS shirt today from 2008 that Sam I Am had autographed.  He loves our youth!!!

It's never a good time to try on clothes and nope, I'm not built right for these types of rompers.  Ugh.  I did find some nice stuff though!

Almost full van of 11 to 14 year olds!

I LOVE this one! The colors are so pretty and the delicate flowers!  Lace on the top is my new thing! I want to slowly update my wardrobe and Meijer had a sale.  I tried on pieces that has awful trendy color "mustard yellow" in it and oh my, it's not my color at all.  I'll stick to my roses, baby and dk blues, reds, dk green, and purples.  No yellows and no oranges.  Cringe.

Pink and white and navy blue cardigan sweater that goes to my calves!  For like $13! Score!

$6 trendy skirt that doesn't make me look too fat.  Now I have to find a shirt to go with it, BUT, a young friend of mine had some great suggestions.  She's so sweet!

Each time there's an "event" in my mining game, I get better and better.  I did spend about $12 on upgrades this time and one of them literally lasts forever and it's now making a huge difference in the next event, plus all my other mines.  I don't normally spend money on games, like ever, but I figure that just with the one upgrade (I  did several that only lasted an hr or two as well), it was well worth it.  I play it when I'm resting my back.  Maybe I should be reading a book, but sometimes my brain can't function well enough to comprehend what I'm reading.  I can listen to my Bible app and do my game at the same time, too.

This umbrella was only $20 at Aldi's! It doesn't have a stand or a hand crack, and it doesn't tilt, but I LOVE the paisley swirls underneath it!  Woot! Woot!

Trying out the new lounge chair pad I bought.  It's PERFECT!  So thick!

A walrus! Or, some creature from Star Wars!

All the pieces are coming together!  Yeah!

Finally, somewhere to sit comfortable and have a place to put your drink and bowl of ice cream cake.

This shirt used to be to Keturah's shins.  We got it when she was probably 4 1/2 yrs old when the hockey team on PEI used to be called the Rocket, which was our first year there.  Then the 2nd year we were there, they became the Islanders.  She used it as a bedshirt for YEARS.  Awww, she's so grown up!  She turns 11 yrs old in a couple of weeks!

Always wrestling.

I took this pic after I had just woken up from my first outdoor nap on my new to me lounge chair!  Awesome!  I had my feet on the footstool, not the table, though.  It was such a gorgeous day to be outside!

Jared and I need to get on the exercise bandwagon and since we have things to do at the parents' house every for a while, we are going to start walking the block every day.  We'll go one way to get there and one way to get back home.

Watering the ferns and indoor plants is Keturah's job.

Getting the mail is Abishai's job, and he takes it very, very seriously.

I wanted to bring the weedwacker home and then we were distracted by talking with the neighbors, so Abishai picked it up.  It didn't have a battery in it and there's a safety on it as well.  So, he started making his own true to life weed wacking sounds, moving it back and forth, and then bent down to tear the grass by hand as if the weed wacker had done it.  It was SO cute!

I'm glad we can chat with neighbors! And Socks got to chase their purse sized dog Lucky around.  Socks actually got tired pretty quickly and Lucky was a bit concerned so it didn't last long.

Come on, Dad, let's go home.  Abishai can pedal the 14 yr old motorcycle trike all by himself and with great speed now.  He grew a ton over the winter and can reach the pedals well!  Crazy!  And then on the way home, we practiced some names of some foreign countries' capitals.  Check out the video below!

The End