Year 4, June 24th-27th, 2019: People! People! People!

Well, the introverts in the group have nowhere to hide this week.  Keturah is at CIY Mix with lots of people.  We are expecting Gary and Leah home from vacation early in the week, and then Shauna and the girls arrive on Saturday.  Now, we won't be spending a lot of time with Shauna and the girls but, there will be a lot more for me to do on my end coordinating people.  Maybe that's why I've been so calm as of late? I haven't had to coordinate 50 different schedules! With Benaiah driving on his own, we have another person to transport siblings if needed and we don't have to transport him.  Today, he got ready for work early and I said, "Uh, where are you going?" "Uh, oops, I forgot to tell you I'm stopping at Ava's before work."  "Is her mom there?" "Yes." "Ok, then, bye!" This is after they had spent 90 minutes together last night after Ava's work shift.  They seem to be finding all kinds of time to see each other.  Oi! So, you have time to put Grandpa's wifi extender in? Nope, not yet, so he thinks he'll do it tonight after work, in the wee hours of the morning.  Well, if he doesn't, I'm having Jared pull him out of bed.

Meanwhile, Justin is a little bored and asking himself how he can be productive! Well, now, SOMEBODY has some initiative here! I gave him some suggestions, which weren't terribly appealing, but none of them are urgent, so whatever.  He can really think through how to organize his Lego, even if he doesn't have the proper containers yet.  I need to start him on a PSAT workbook because I want him taking the PSAT 8/9 in October.  He's reading (slowly) books leftover from school.  He's doing his exercises.  I urged him to practice skateboarding and playing with his little brother so I could get work done.  But nope, nada.  Oh well.  Abishai was climbing the walls today, although we did get some outdoor time this afternoon.  We probably could have gone out this morning, too, but there has been some sprinkles of rain here and there.  I think we've had some amount of rain every day for a month!  And now the beastly heat is coming in a few days.  At least the pool looks ok.  It looks like tea because of the tannin but at least it's not full of leaves.  It was still a little cold, so I left the cover off for a bit.  It didn't look like the chlorine had dissolved very much.  We'll see if it doesn't anything over time.

I made some phone calls this morning, took a nap, played outside, and then swept Gary and Leah's porch.  We can't wait to see them!  This vacation seemed a lot longer than other vacations, because it was!  Just one more sleep!

Another day, another line of storms.  I honestly don't remember the midwest being this stormy!

Once you stop moving for a moment, you just might find yourself with a buddy.

Abishai's Parking Garage, at your service!  Or is it Abishai the Valet?  This kid has more ride on toys then he knows what to do with . Actually, two of these belong at Grandma and Grandpa's but were brought over here while they were away.  At least some cars can fit in our garage!

A weed or a wildflower?  I called it a weed, it's more likely a wildflower.  Jared thinks someone planted them.  Um, I don't think so.  But they are ready for all bees, birds, and bunnies to visit!

Justin is much more compliant than Keturah when asked to try to enjoy the weather.  And this is what I mean by "enjoy."  They don't have to be physical active.  They just have to enjoy the fresh air like Abishai is doing below.  Abishai and I also scared Justin when he came into the garage.  I was thinking Justin was playing along when I was looking for a "mouse" or "skunk" but he wasn't.  So when Abishai popped out of the toy box, Justin was genuinely scared!  Because Justin is often thinking about something else in la la land, he tends to not pay attention so it's easy to scare him.  My favorite time is when he's saying something to himself or singing while he's going to the bathroom and then washes his hands.  I stand on the other side of the door and yell, "Boo!" when he opens it.  And since we are eye to eye right now, I can get right up in his face.  You should hear his "Moommmmm!" with a little growl.  It's so hilarious!

Who's that in my window?  Abishai!

Finally! Blue sky!

See, we are outside snuggling!

I can't believe how big he's gotten!  He's been loving this swing for 3 years though!

The dog...is still....shedding!  Why?! Shouldn't he be done by now?!  I brushed the dog for another 10 minutes and got just as much.  We have to rake this up because it's getting stuck in the mower.  Although, we've found plenty of animal nests using it!

Toy Story 4 came out this past weekend and well, I've been singing "You've Got a Friend In Me" for days although I haven't seen the movie.  The movie came out in 1996, but I honestly can't remember if it was my brother who watched it over and over or Benaiah got hooked on it for awhile, although it was nearly 10 years old by then.  I think maybe both?  Either way, I do know Toy Story 1 and 2 fairly well from watching and listening to it over the years.  I wasn't a fan of Toy Story 3.  Anyway, the clouds and blue sky today reminds me of Andy's room.  Ah.....

And hours later, we have another downpour.  Good grief!

There goes that line of storms from earlier.  I think Gary and Leah will get to their destination before it hits though.

Tuesday we picked up the grandparents from the airport! It feels like they've been gone forever!  Keturah is still at CIY, and Benaiah refused to get out of bed because he had a headache, but at least two of my kids and Jared and I were there to greet Gary and Leah.  All flights went well, even when other planes were majorly delayed at Laguardia in New York City. Then we had lunch at Steak and Shake.  Yes, the teenager gave up free food, oi! Don't worry, he did stop at his grandparents' house for a few minutes before work.  Anyway, I had no motivation today as usual, but we did get outside for Abishai to swim a little bit and he, Justin and I, with Socks made the walk around the block. Jared didn't go with us because he sprained his big toe.  He was on the trampoline yesterday with Abishai, his knees buckled, and he scraped his feet on the trampoline.  Well, he must have landed funny on his feet because he's in severe pain.  And I'm not very sympathtic as a nurse.  He won't use essential oils. He even said he felt nauseous and dizzy and had chills.  So he went to lay down for awhile after supper. Ok, then, whatever, maybe the body is in shock. Maybe you don't have the same pain tolerance as I do. Not sure what I can do about it if you won't use essential oils, you're taking ibruprofen, I don't know if you should splint it or go to the doctor, I just don't know.  I was honestly a little mad because I've basically been Abishai's playmate all day.  Justin won't do it.  Keturah's not here.  And while I'm ok now with not doing much if I'm just engaging with Abishai, I feel like I should be doing more.  So, when my downtime doesn't happen by 7pm, I'm a little miffed.  I did teasingly say, "I guess when you turn 40 your body completely falls apart!" and it's definitely true on several things for Jared he said. Alrighty then, why did my body fail before then? Anyway, complain or fix it, and I'm preaching to myself here.

We visited with Grandma and Grandpa and the kids were paid for doing the chores they were asked to do.  It was a gorgeous evening.  I think it reached 80 degrees today and it is going to be near 90 degrees by this weekend.  Summer has finally arrived!  And there's hardly any rain in the forecast! Finally!  Gary and Leah have missed all the rain and all the cooler weather.  Fun times!  And to think that kids only have another month before school starts again, so they hardly have any real swimming time! Not ours, but public school kids.  That's kind of sad! Oh well.  What else for today? I don't know.  I think pictures and videos will tell a better story.  Here goes.

Airplane landing with downtown Indianapolis in the background.  We also saw all the construction being done on the new FedEx sorting building.  And as we passed the FedEx planes, Jared listed off what kind of planes they were with just a glance.  Who does he know that?  He loves planes and yes, knows the differences between the planes' noses, tail cone, number of engines, where the engines are, etc.

Phew! We thought we got there too late to be at the exit hallway upstairs.  Thankfully, we were right on time!  Yeah!  Jared circled around with the van while we waited for their bags.  It seemed to be a small flight with very few people having checked luggage.

Yes, he's grown taller, again!

Abishai asked if he could have "bessert".  It didn't want a milkshake, but asked for a cookie!  He ate all his chicken tenders and fries first of course, plus the cookie!  I guess he didn't get enough to eat for breakfast!

At one point, he tried to pick out the chocolate chips!

Juvenile lone male mallard duck just hanging out in the tree pot in Gary and Leah's flower garden! Aw!

Abishai was very excited to show Grandpa how he did his job like he was asked to.

EWWWWWW!!!!!!! So, before we left for the airport, I found Socks outside eating the charcoal from the grill we used on Sunday.  We had thrown it out on the firepit without thinking about it having gristle and fat from the mat.  Well, we brought him in and left.  Apparently, he got sick soon after.  Benaiah was home but still in bed and typically doesn't go in the sunroom, so he never found it.  Ewww!!!  Thankfully, it didn't stink and it only drizzled under a couple of plastic totes and didn't even get on the rug.  Smart dog to go to the backdoor! Sigh. I wish Benaiah paid more attention to things, but whatever.  Socks was fine as far as I know.  It's just charcoal, which is treated, so we'll watch Socks, but he seemed fine when we walked him later.

The water in the pool looked clean, but there was a layer of tannin stuff from the well.  Abishai called it sand.  Thankfully it was not stuck to the bottom but was mixed back into the water as Abishai played.

Sigh. Well water sometimes is not a good thing.  The outside hose does NOT go through the filters and water softeners.

Summer vibes.

"I'm done swimming!" Splish, splash, dive.  No you're not!

Sitting in the sun for 10 minutes so he could warm up.

You can't see me!

Peek-a-boo!

That's a fun way to bring home one of the ride on toys that ended up at our house while Gary and Leah were gone.

Getting that big payout! (It's all in $1's).  Don't forget to give some back!  Yeah, little man can start tithng, saving, and spending! He's so excited!

Wednesday was a good day.  It was much, much warmer with a high of 89 degrees!  But if you sat still in the shade, it was fine! Well, at least for me while I watched Abishai play in the pool for over 1 hour!  But first, I had my counseling appointment and Benaiah had school and lunch with Grandpa.  Then Justin went over to Grandpa's to mow when I came home.  Abishai and I went on the trampoline for a bit and then I worked on another bookcase.  I also condensed two brown boxes and threw away a bunch of paper stuff and now I have a small tote that is only half full! Yeah!  I finally cleaned out Benaiah's backpack from last year, no not the school year he just finished, the previous year! It just wasn't a priority and I wanted to go through and keep some of the papers he didn't want to keep.  And now that the bag is empty again, he wants to use it.  Sigh.  After my project is when Abishai swam.  I made dinner, we ate, and then Ava joined us on our nightly walk.  That was fun showing up at Grandma and Grandpa's without Keturah but with Ava.  At least we got Benaiah to expend some calories. Goodness that boy can be difficult to deal with some days! When he laughs because he didn't do any real prepwork for his 5 minute presentation in health today, a part of me curls up and dies.  It's not funny, son, not funny at all. Anyway, we made him take a walk because he and Ava couldn't stay home by themselves.

And then they left with Justin to get their vehicles and head to 4th meal and we stayed a played with Grandma and Grandpa some more.  We being Abishai, Jared, I and Socks.  Abishai had a grand time! Again, I don't want to get out of this brand new positive habit, and since it does cool off enough by 7pm AND we are shaded by many trees on our walk, we are going to keep it up.  Plus, Jared and I can talk a little bit, too.  Abishai was really worn out for the day.  In fact, he had pink cheeks from the sun, sweaty smelly hair from well water, and a blue tongue from the blue moon ice cream Grandpa gave him.  Grandpa! The whole point of a walk is to expend calories, not take them in! Well, at least the two that did have ice cream are the ones that can afford to have ice cream, Abishai and Justin.

When we got back and settled, I looked out the sunroom window to see if any bunnies were in the yard because Socks was anxious to go out, and yes, there were!  There was a big bunny and a baby bunny!  How exciting! I took lots of pictures and videos! Those baby bunnies are like my own babies to me sometimes.  And speaking of my babies, Keturah is coming home around 11:30pm tonight!  Woot! Woot!  I also received pictures from her group leader of her climbing the rock wall!  And she didn't think she would even try it.  Go Keturah! So overall, it was a great day! I've got a plan and hopefully I, no scratch that, I HAVE to go to bed on time tonight because I need to get bloodwork done and although I don't have to fast, I was encouraged not to eat a lot and probably not to get my birth control pill until afterwords because we are testing the hormones.  I wanted to do it today but I just wasn't prepared enough to get up early and such.  I'll let Keturah sleep in and then we will run some errands in the afternoon in order to beat the heat.

And it got even closer! But when I take pictures through the window screens, it's hard to see them.  They bunnies looked so healthy and happy eating their dinner!

Keturah climbing the rock wall at CIY Mix! She's the one in the pink tie dye shirt!

Sweet!

For the next hour, all I heard was "Splish, splaish, Mommy watch me!"  Over and over and over!  Just playing by himself so contentedly.  And since I had just finished my "work,"  I got to sit in lawn chair and play on my phone.  Now THAT was heaven on earth.

Look at me, I spill water on myself!

I just kept thinking, "Yeah! He gets to experience what the others got to experience, their own little pool in their backyard!" Sometimes these things are so totally worth the effort!

Then he went on the trampoline, made it wet, and slipped on it on purpose.  Earlier when he was dry and bouncing he asked for socks and gloves so that his feet and hands wouldn't hurt from the hot jumping pad.

Then he'd come down and dive into the pool.  And no I didn't scold him for letting some water out.  That's half the fun!  Now, if he had siblings closer to his age and they were fighting about splashing each other, then fine.  But you don't have to worry about that when you're playing by yourself.  Actually, he plays fine by himself if you're in the room.  He just wants you to be near him.

"You've got a friend in me....."

"Mommy, wook at me!  I can slide down this way or sideways or backwards!"

"And then I can swim through the tunnel!"

Wow, summer is finally here!  Just in time for CIY Move and NO air conditioning in the dorms! The New Orleans crew will be happy they didn't have to be cold with our 70 degree rainy days! Lol!

Abishai trolling on Ava and Benaiah.

He would purposefully go up behind them and make them get out of his way.  It's the PDA police!  Or, it's the dating police! Or, it's the non cuddling or touching in any way police!

Still doing his job, although Grandma and Grandpa are home.

Pink cheeks and blue tongue, that's what summers are made of.  Oh, and pjs!

Water gun fight, just Abishai and Grandpa!  Who says the youngest ones miss out on one on one attention? Abishai was giggling up a storm!

Grandpa pulled Abishai aside and whispered something in his ear.  Next thing we knew, Abishai was going after Grandma!

Sorry, Grandma, but you've been targeted!

Oh Thursday, phew, what a day!  It started out with me trying to get going and get my bloodwork done.  But the lab was over 30 minutes away, ugh! Thankfully, Keturah was sleeeping in, Benaiah and Jared were at work, and Justin managed to keep Abishai off of screen time.  Those two really do well together, Justin and Abishai. They have bonded so much over video game videos and Lego and wrestling, etc. Anyway, Keturah woke up soon after I got home and boy was she in a mood all day!  I should have been more patient with her because this was one of the first big trips she's taken where the socializing is very intense.  She was pumped about going to the Lego store, so we managed to do that.  I had to go to the northside of Indy for heartworm medicine for Socks anyway, and the only Lego store in Indy is at the Castleton Square Mall, about 10 minutes from the vet.  So, we made it a combo trip.  It also got us out of the hot house and into the cold air conditioning of the mall where we could also just walk around and stretch our legs.  We went into the Lego store and spent the majority of our time there.  Then we were in the Disney Store, Claire's and Think Geek.  It was quite weird to see Star Wars and Marvel stuff in the Disney Store.  I don't think I had been in a Disney Store for 10 years.  Eek! And I remember the one at the Greenwood store seemed bigger.  Oh well.  At Claire's, I found some hair extensions that would have been perfect for Keturah's idea of coloring her hair and it was only $6!  But she wouldn't go for it.  I also found some cute cloth headbands with those little bows that seem to be in style.  I might just have to get some next time I'm in the mall (which is like twice a year).  And of course, at Think Geek, we saw all kinds of Overwatch and gaming characters.  We spent about 2 hrs there and I think it was the right amount of time.  No one was too tired or overwhelmed.  I had brought snacks for the ride home, so no one needed to beg for food.  We went right after lunch as well.

Traffic was ok on our ride home but at 3:30pm, the Emerson Ave exit on 465 was already backed up to the I-74 exit (which is our exit thank goodness) and the on the northbound lanes, it was already backed up from I-70 to I-69 on I-465.  Ridiculous.  It's only Thursday.  It's not even rush hour.  And I had been on that northbound lane 2 1/2 hrs earlier and there were zero construction things going on.  I don't get it.  Unless people are leaving downtown at 3pm nowadays, I just don't get it.  But we made it home just fine.  Then we had our quiet time/screen time.  A quick supper and piano lesson, while the others went for a walk.  Then I took Justin to the dollar store to get the special kind of Mountain Dew he wants to hand out on the 4th of July to random strangers in Michigan.  His small group leader Ron knows about this, and I'm going to type up a little note to go on the packages of cans so it's not confiscated on the bus. Ron and another student are also contributing to this little scheme.  Justin also bought a couple of snacks and his own 20 oz Mountain Dews so a) he saves money at the coffee shops and b) he doesn't have to go into Meijer when the rest of them do to buy things "they forgot."  Just like buying the t-shirts ahead of time, it will save him time and thinking space to concentrate on people.  We found some cheap flip flops for him and I bought him more bodywash.  Yeah for the Dollar Store!

Meanwhile, Benaiah went to see Toy Story 4 with Ava.  He said they didn't cry, and there was one creepy moment, but it was sad in the end.  Now that just leaves Abishai and Keturah, Nora and Everly (who will be visiting soon), and Jared and I (not to mention Shauna) to go with Gary and Leah perhaps to go see it this weekend even.  It just depends on Shauna's schedule.  We'll see.  Tomorrow we may or may not go to splash pad/park/pool.  It's going to be over 90 degrees and to be honest, I just don't know that well in direct sun.  And if I'm going by myself, then I have to figure out what bathing suit to wear.  Eek!  I already have to ask Jared to come with us next week for Keturah's birthday party thing, if it even happens.  We might just stay home and rest up instead.  Or go to the splash pad closer to us.  We'll see.

We found the mini figure bin!  I was trying to steer Abishai to something cheaper than he wanted.  Well, I started messing around with the mini figure parts and found some really rare ones like Lady Liberty. He actually picked pretty quickly and thankfully understood that we could only take one accessory per mini figure.  There was a nice picture diagram that was very helpful.  It's 3 mini figures for $9.99, so 15 Lego pieces total.  A little pricey, but fun none the less.

Some of the pieces we left behind.  I opted for the hammer instead of the torch holder for Lady Liberty because we have similar pieces at home.  I wish we had gotten that cool mohawk though.  And we couldn't find Lady Liberty's torso.  Bummer!

Abishia's guy he made!  He's still very much into the police stuff.  I love the old British police hat!

Well, he did! He made his biggest purchase to date!  He debated a very long time and I finally said that I can't help him decide.  I reminded Justin of his former goals but ultimately, I love his purchase.  He's super careful with his purchases.

Ok, so we walked into the mall with stroller AND wagon in tow.  Why?  Because I just KNEW this would happen!  We filled the wagon with our purchases.  I think we buy Lego just about every month it seems.  There's no better toy on the planet! And each kid spent their own money they earned doing chores for Grandpa.  I did have to talk Keturah down from a $70 set to a $40 set reminding her how much she spent on CIY merch and that she just had what should have been "the best week of her life."  Abishai was content with his while putting what he really wanted on the Christmas wishlist.

Oooo, clearance! I asked Jared if we needed this.  He gave me an emoji with interesting look on its face.  So, I bought it when Abishai could name all the characters.  It's one of our all time favorite movies, both 1 and 2!

Anybody else remember Muppet Babies?  I actually have a Christmas book about them! And yes, I watched the show.  But how does Disney own them?  And how does Disney own the rights to Fancy Nancy, too?  Disney owns everything!

Well, that's interesting combo of 90's hair staples.  Headband meets butterfly clips!

Shauna sent the birthday kids some gifts.  Can you tell what these origami money represents?  A date with Ava!  It'a a heart, a dress and a shirt with a tie!  How cool is that!  She always comes up with the coolest presentation of the simplest things!  She really does have some talent where I do not.

Keturah's turn.  Pretty envelope and paper!

Nice note from Everly and Nora!

Beautiful birthday card!

Putting on the friendship bracelet the girls made for her with her favorite colors.

That's so true!  And this notebook isn't just lined pages but some task lists, too.  Cool!  I want one!

Donut bath fizzies!  Even Jared liked their smell!  So cute!

And Shauna is great at coming up with great names to be on the address.

Abishai's money covered the police car and mini figures and I covered the cost of the Incredibles figures.  He loves the traffic cones.  And if we can, I would love to keep the mini figure container as a travel container.  You fill it yourself with the minifigures and then close it up to purchase it.

Hiding his purchases in anticipation of Daddy coming home.

I couldn't really see in my phone, so I'm completely surprised by the sun flare in this photo!  How cool!  They were waiting for Daddy to get home.

He got "tired" of waiting.

The perfect slouch.

This set was aroound $170.  It's the smaller of the two Millennium  Falcon in production right now.  It's now 100% mini figure size, but it opens up and you can play inside it.  We are pondering about ways to final make a display rack/Lego sorting bins, etc. that would fit Justin's space in his room better.  We need to go vertical! But it costs a bit of money to get there, so we are just discussing and looking right now.

I'm bummed we can't use these because we have no plans to go to discovery centers or Orlando or California.  I'll have to give them away!  We had some of these coupons when we were in Orlando and it saved us a ton!  It's nearly $100 to go to Legoland! Eek!  Any takers?

The End