Year 4, July 1st-4th, 2019: The Boys are Gone!

Benaiah and Justin headed out on their trip to CIY in Holland, Michigan today, along with over 300 other high school students and leaders!  That's right, this year they had 6, count them 6!, charter buses AND a 15 passenger van.  ONE of those buses only contained JUNIOR (11th grade) girls.  That's nuts! I think it's safe to say that our group is probably one of the biggest groups that goes to a CIY event all year! It didn't feel like they had been gone until just now, at 10pm when I usually tell Justin to wrap it up and go to bed.  And I keep listening for the door to open for Benaiah to come home.  Benaiah rarely sleeps over at someone's house, and come to think of it, Justin rarely does, too.  And they've never been gone at the same time before.  In fact, I'm not sure why we bought a gallon of milk the other day because no one here will drink it! Jared might put some in his coffee, and Abishai will occasionally ask for it, but I can't drink it and I can't remember when Keturah last drank a glass of milk.  Don't worry, we eat plenty of cheese and yogurt, and they occasionally have vitamins as well.

Anyway, as I typically do, I spent my Monday attending to business items, cleaning up from the weekend, and setting things in order for the week.  I'm always eager to dive in and be productive after a weekend of socializing and Sabbath rest.  Today was no exception.  Not to be prideful, but I actually didn't nap today and had enough motivation to keep going and get these things done.  Here's my list: I washed out two small trash cans. I did a load of laundry start to finish.  I tidied up all the boys' spaces from clothes left on the floor they didn't take, to wrappers and water bottles, blankets strewn everywhere, belts left in the bathroom, etc. etc.  I decluttered the living room, again by putting away books and a puzzle that no one did.  I vacuumed.  I brushed the dog and cleaned out his ears (they were so nasty, poor thing).  I spent over an hour watching Abishai play in the pool.  I called the IRS only to be told that they will send an inquiry over to another department to give me a call or mail me something, but to wait 60 days again before I can contact them again.  I set up my Young Living essential rewards order for the month.  I paid the credit card and briefly checked the checking account. I processed an Amazon return I need to take to the UPS to ship back to them (they sent the wrong thing).  I bought a shelving unit for Justin's Legos and as as I surprise I'm going to try and set it up before he gets back on Saturday.  I researched how to make the cupcake in an ice cream cone dessert Keturah wants for her birthday celebration on Wednesday.  I processed all my emails for the day and played my phone game.  I made sure Keturah cleaned up her room after being away and throwing things everywhere, which took awhile to convince her to do it.  I posted on Instagram (which doesn't happen as often anymore). So, yup, it was a "productive" day.

Which is funny because now Justin feels the need to be "productive."  The reason I hardly ever fight with him is because we have the same personality and understand each other.  He has more drive than the others (for some things that only have to do with him as in exercise or reading or drawing), has a big heart (something I could work on), but he also has social anxiety so he doesn't like to make phone calls and is hesitant to do things on his own sometimes (although he's gotten much better at it).  For example, he almost broke down crying last night because he couldn't find his water bottle or wallet.  And he kept saying how much he hated that these things happen at the last minute.  He's well aware that he's forgetful and hates it.  And there was a lot of money in that wallet.  That's why I tried to do some thorough searching today.  I had put in the right amount of money he wanted and I thought I had put it in his string bag, but that was Saturday evening.  I don't know what happened to it on Sunday.  I had just enough cash from various stashes around the house to give him some more so he could get the things he had planned on getting (under $50 worth) and he emptied his other wallet of his tithe money and took that with him.  Benaiah has also not done well on his budget and is taking much less than he wanted to, so I can't rely on him to pay for anything Justin needs.  It should be fine.  They really don't need anything, but both were planning on getting special drinks at Lemonjello's and the candy store that wasn't open when we went through on Memorial Day.  Benaiah pre bought his extra box fan and his own snacks to save on money later.  I did make sure both boys had the essentials as well like toothbrushes and two towels, etc.  So anyway, it caused Justin a lot of anxiety because it was already 10:30pm and he was worried about getting up on time and getting enough sleep, knowing he's not going to get enough sleep the rest of the week.  Poor thing.  I totally get it.

Then there's Benaiah, who didn't pack until nearly midnight.  Which means, we couldn't do anything if he didn't have something he needed.  He only has 3 pairs of khaki shorts, one with a huge rip in the front and now another one has a hole in the back.  If he had packed earlier in the week, we could have gone to Meijer to find him more shorts.  Sorry, bud, you're going to have to deal with what you have.  It hasn't been much of an issue because at home he wears gym shorts and most of the time he's out, he's in his CFA uniform.  Whoops.  The boys are just way different, and it helps them get along in some ways.  We've talked a lot about how to stay out of each other's way, and yet check in sometime with each other while they are gone.  Benaiah is willing to be the big brother when necessary, and Justin knows that he needs to be on his own, too.  It's actually a very healthy relationship.  And I know both of them will listen well and have a great experience and focus on more than just the food or athletic games or the girlfriend for that matter for Benaiah.  Yes, CIY is super expensive, but it really does set the tone and foundation for the rest of the school year within their D groups.  They try to have the boys room with other boys in their D group and have their discussion times together.  It's a way to really bond with one another.  And I was hoping I would see more of that with Keturah and it's been awful with her since she came home.  My expectations were too high.  And with family coming in, I wasn't at a good place to be patient with her.  Today was very hard for us until about lunch time.  But after she gave in and obeyed and I rewarded her, it was a much more pleasant experience.  I pray that it continues the rest of the week and I can pull off her birthday thing and maybe do some art projects with her later in the week.  I had wanted to do special things while the other kids were gone for both weeks, but I haven't been able to make that happen.

Anyway, that's a lot, and I think it's going to be busier the rest of the week, so we'll see how that goes.

You would think we were native Canadians with all the things we've got here, lol.

Goofy hat, but otherwise I get a headache.  Happy Canada Day!

The boy doesn't text me or post anything about being the Notre Dame University stadium.  No.  He's more concerned about being hot at night.

And every other room has Lego in it!

He swam and played by himself for over an hour again.  The water was very warm and some had evaporated, so we added more cold water from the hose.  At first the hose was on too high, so it kept snaking around by itself and wouldn't stay in the pool.  Once we lowered the force, it was fine.  Then Abishai asked for a beach ball like the one in Keturah's Lego set.  It wasn't the same color, but it worked!  There was goop on it from a rotten piece of elastic strap from a pair of googles.  And Abishai wanted it to sink so he could kick it like a soccer ball.  But once he realized he could do other things with it, he was fine.  It was 90 degrees but the breeze was pretty high again so I bet it was maybe 83 in the shade and the wind kept me from sweating and feeling sticky.

Watchdog.  He literally sat there watching the boys take all their things to the truck.  Benaiah drove them in his truck this morning.  I had signed all the paperwork, but there was no need for me to go at 7am in the chaos.  Jared wasn't too far behind them anyway.  So they signed themselves in and away they went!

Wait, why are my buddies leaving?  Sad dog.

A friend posted this.

Since I wasn't there this morning, I'm borrowing some pics from Instagram.  6 buses, y'all, 6 buses.

Last year, the kids stopped at Notre Dame University at a famous cross and took a group photo.  This year, someone phoned ahead or something, and they had the opportunity to get onto the field!  Notre Dame is famous for their football program and is a top school (Ivy League? almost Ivy League?).  Anyway, it was a very special privilege.  Justin was a little excited about it, maybe because his athletic friends were.  Benaiah didn't care.

Abishai has already taken up residence on Justin's couch.

Aaron Shroeder, one of our interns turned staff member, played football growing up (and his three brothers) so I'm sure it was an honor to throw a football in this famous arena.  There might have been a few tackles, too.

Swimming for day.

Beach ball fun.

One of his gifts from Gary and Leah's trip.  It's a marshmallow!  And it's supersoft and super sweet!  Definitely NOT your average marshmallow that comes in a bag! He didn't eat the whole thing obviously.  Much easier and less sticky than a typical lollipop that size.

Abishai's grass seeds from Sunday School just last week are already sprouting a ton!  Isn't this so cute?  And he gets to learn about how things grow at the same time.  I need to share this on the KP Facebook page and Instagram!  Adorable!

Have fun!

Always!  Remember those key tags that other members of the congregation can pick up?  There's multiple people praying for every single student in any of our camps.  How cool is that!

Tuesday, Day 2 of No Big Boys.  Well, that's not true.  Abishai is very much a big boy sometimes! It was a good day with some quiet time in the morning before we decided to not go to a movie and just do the last minute errands for Keturah's little "party" thing tomorrow.  To be honest, I procrastinated somewhat because I wasn't sure of the weather. So, in the last couple of days, we decided not to do a pool, but then had to figure out what else to do.  Keturah has settled on roller skating again.  But now we have to coordinate everyone else and how they get there via me or their parent(s). And then because we aren't doing an actual party, how do we make and take and then give out as a favor the ice cream cone cupcakes we have to make in the morning and keep on ice so they don't melt?  Eek! I think I might call the roller skating rink to let them know what's up before we go.  They of course have a no outside food or drink policy, but we won't be consuming the cupcakes there. We are wrapping them up for each kid to take home as their party favor.  I'd leave them in the car but it's been over 90 degrees the last few days and they would melt horribly.  Anyway, that's tomorrow.

Today, I dragged Abishai and Keturah to three stores but were VERY successful at each one.  First up was Bed Bath and Beyond for a ice cream cone cupcake baker/holder (you'll understand after we make them).  They had one left!  Online, you couldn't reserve it for in store pick up, so I was going in blind.  I hate doing that, but I had done some research as to who else carries Wilton's products.  I SO miss the Bulk Barn and all the things they had for cake decorating!  Anyway, I did have some back up plans, too, like using different cones/equipment.  I had done all that research yesterday.  I also picked up parchment paper because I was out and it comes in handy sometimes.  Then we stopped at Party City where I quickly remembered I had promised Keturah those really expensive foil balloons in the shape of numbers.  Whoops!  No one will really see them tomorrow, but I promised and they last forever.  I did find the triangle icing bags, and they have cute hearts on them, that we will put the ice cream cone cupcakes in like a treat bag.  I found some cool icing "markers" so we can do more intricate details on whatever we do bake (which isn't often but now we have them).  And finally, we stopped at a different (newer and bigger) Aldi's in that area and picked up the $20 portable soccer net I was eyeballing in the ad from a couple of weeks ago.  It's a full size net, but collapsible.  The regular nets on Amazon start at $80.  So, once again, Aldi's has made my kid's dream come true for a much lower price commitment! Yeah!  We also picked up a couple of grocery items, and found Minecraft summer pj's for Abishai who couldn't wait to put them on when we got home.  I think we were gone for about 2 hrs but felt very accomplished.

We set up the soccer net, ate dinner, had piano lesson, and now Everly is spending the night.  Tomorrow is a our big day out, so it's off to finish this up, watch my show, and go to bed.

Man child has blocked me from sending texts.  Sigh.  Time to stalk Instagram!  But seriously, is that a scrunchie and a man bun?  Say it isn't so!

Would you want to wake up to this? Hm,....

Kind of scary that if he wasn't taking a gap year, Benaiah would be moving into a dorm next summer for college.  Eeek!

Yeah for great CIY apps!  I was able to let JUstin know that there are LEGO bricks at Move!  Go show them how it's done, boy!  Although I know he wanted to try ultimate frisbee, too.

Why, yes, that's our group!  Over 300 people, students from 9th-12th grade plus graduating seniors and tons of volunteer leaders and paid staff.  On the famous football field of Notre Dame University in South Bend, IN.  How incredible is that!  It's overwhelming to think we have that many teenagers in our midst!  These guys and gals are the future of the Church!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, aka the office....someone was trying to run his energy out.  And he kept sneaking wallets and keys all the while trying not to giggle too loudly because Grandpa was on the phone.  He's so wild sometimes!

Just a blur!

Abishai loved this!

The gang's all here!  And home, for the moment.

Keturah and I spied some awesome balloons for Justin at the party store!

More fun things for Justin.  Although, I heard somewhere that Party City was closing down.  I hope it's not true because it's where we've been going to get our balloons filled.  It's got the best variety of party supplies!  The website is pretty good, too.  We'll see!

Ta da!  One adult sized travel soccer net for the only child interested in being outside.  He was thrilled though!  I've given up that the kids will be content with makeshift toys in the backyard, so I'm filling it with real stuff.  We've added the lawn furniture, cushions, a nicer pool, and now a soccer net.  What more could you want?  Oh yeah, we still need a basketball hoop on the driveway!

Wow! Summer is really here!

Whenever she rides with me driving for more than 20 minutes, her stomach hurts.  She actually did fall asleep for a few minutes.  She was up at 9am with a normal bedtime last night, so I'm not sure what the deal was.  We've all been battling some sickness lately, though.  And Jared has finally decided to go see a doctor about his sinus infection this time.  The color of his snot is really bad and has been for over a week.  His toe seems better though.  My foot also has a sprain somehow so I've lathered myself up with essential oils and it helps.

He wasn't really sleeping, but pretending.  Shopping wears us out!

More man bun pics, this time with a hat and peace signs.  Boy! You be embarrassing yourself!

Oi!

Pretty colors!

Pretty hot for 5pm!

At least Holland is under 90 degrees!  The dorms are not air conditioned, but the other buildings are, I believe.

Holland's weekly forecast seems ok.

And it looks like ours will cool off a bit, too.  Yeah!

Awww, they've been playing in the CIY soccer tornament for several years.  I know that Jack Caldwell probably was on that team since he also played on a homeschool team here.  He's now a graduated senior so this is his last CIY as a student.  I'm so glad for them!

You'd never imgaine that this guy is on the police force at Butler University.  He loves these kids!  We have the best volunteer leaders!

Playing "dead" after not catching the ball.  He just falls over and rolls.  Hilarious!  We will probably move the net tomorrow to another shady spot.  It was hot and I didn't want to fuss too much about it.  I don't want to be too loud right under the neighbor's bedroom window and I don't want balls accidentally going over their fence.  But see how big it is?  $20 and it collapses into a bag the size of the small tent bag.  Yeah!

Wednesday, Keturah birthday skate! Phew, that was a day and half! I'm trying to put these in order, but it's kind of difficult, so if it feels jumbled, it is!

I started out the day making ice cream cone cupcakes!  You have to do them right before you serve them or they get all mushy.  I don't like that, but that's ok.  I'm very proud of how they turned out.  When you use the waffle cones, you have to prop up the ice cream cone holder and fill them half full.

Trying to cool them off quickly!  No time to loose!  I took a shower while I waited.

Perfect!  And the cones did NOT burn!

We put them in these piping bags we found after we put a few (very expensive) unicorn printed MM's on the bottom to fill in where the cone wouldn't reach.  Then we piped the icing on top and Keturah put the sprinkles.  I tied them up and froze the ones that we were taking with us.  They weren't completely frozen but it helped the icing not to melt.  I was able to sneak them into the skating place in a lunch bag with an ice pack and handed them out afterwards.  They ate them on the way home.  We had some leftover at home in the fridge AND extra cupcakes (because the package made 24 cupcakes).

I picked up Everly, Nora, Sarah, Emilee and Bailey on our way to Franklin, IN to the Franklin Skate Club.  Jordan and her mom met us there.  They thought I had set up a party and I hadn't.  The owner was understanding and took Keturah's name and age and they still sang happy birthday to her from the skate floor.  They are the nicest people ever!  It was the first open skate for July but it wasn't very busy at all.  $7 to skate for 2 1/2 hrs plus get a pair of skates.  Sweet!  Here is Jordan, Keturah, and Bailey.

Nora, Sarah, Everly and Emilee.

Look at Nora go!

Jordan and Emilee played limbo!  And this young man was very sweet as the DJ.

Sarah had been skating before, but this time, she really got the hang of it.  Nora and Everly both were hesitant but enjoyed themselves.

Emilee

Birthday girl is getting tired and hungry.  The skate was from 1 to 3:30, but I had them all eat before we went.

Resting for a minute.  But anytime one of them rested, the other 6 would make them get back up!

Whoops, I almost fell!  And she's wearing candy cane socks I found at Goodwill.  Silly girl!

Playing the hokey pokey.

Taking a break during the hokey pokey.

Only Jordan and Emilee did the chicken dance on the skate floor.

Nora did it on the sidelines.

Awww, I caught you on camera!

With about 20 minutes left, the girls had the skate floor all to themselves!  They challenged each other to do "x" amount of laps.

Jordan, Everly, Nora, Keturah, Bailey, Emilee, and Sarah.  Why is Keturah so short?  This is before she lost her balance.

Whoops!

Opening gifts as they take off the skates. She got pens and notebooks and gum and a stuffed animal. Yeah!  Thank you!

Keturah and Jordan.

Very menacing clouds at church.  You must be wondering where Abishai went for the afternoon.  To Daddy's office!  He later said, "Thank you for taking me to Daddy's office.  I liked it being just me and Daddy."  Well, he did have the tablet for 4 hrs, however, he loves being near Daddy, too.  And Jared said he ran across the big East Hall to the bathrooms to use it and didn't close the door.  All the offices could hear Abishai when he flushed the toilet!  Oh boy!

Time for bubbles at Grandma's house.

And they LOVED catching lightning bugs! I think they had about 6 of them in this jar!

 And we celebrated Aaron and I's birthday.  I spent most of the meal at a chiropractor appointment, so it was a little weird to come in halfway through. And Leah made a peanut butter pudding pie with all the ingredients I can't eat.  Awesome for Aaron, though.  It felt a bit rushed, but oh well, that's all the time we had.

Fourth of July. While the boys enjoyed fesitivites in downtown Holland, Michigan, watching fireworks on the coast of Lake Michigan, the rest of us ended up just staying close by in the neighborhood doing our own thing.  No parties, no expectations.  No fuss.  CIY is not in charge of the fireworks, they are put on by the town, but parents now that the kids are stepping off the college campus among a bigger crowd.  And yes, a friend told me that they smelled drugs in the air and there was alcohol around.  I'm not surprised.  Our kids stay in groups and sit together.  I heard Justin and his friends were able to distribute the Mountain Dew cans to strangers just fine, so mission accomplished.  Yeah!

I honestly can't remember if the girls were with us all day on the 4th or they were here for just a bit.  But, the only time the tire swings get any use is if there are guests over.  The pictures say they were taken at 9:30am, so I must have shooed them outside for a few minutes before it got too hot.

Typical "leave me alone" Nora pose.  I'm with you, Nora, although I think the trampoline wouldn't have already been pretty hot even at first thing in the morning.

The girls got down all of the Barbies of course, which Keturah and I had put up around Christmastime.  She doesn't play with Barbies unless friends are over.  They enjoyed playing with my Barbies, which are still mingled in with Keturah's.  Whoops.  That was the leftover project, plus the craft bins, from the winter break.  Eek!  Abishai wanted a house for his cars.

Barbie heaven.

Jared and I spent part of the day cleaning up Justin's Lego corner.  We took our time so it did feel like it took longer than some people would have done it in, but it was just the right pace for us after a crazy previous few days.  Here is Justin's stuff before I sorted it into Lego and non Lego items.

I moved the bookcase over to where I had originally had it in the corner.  I picked up every Lego piece I could find and vacuumed well, including dusting the windowsills.

Still in the process of sorting.

Here we go! A brand new set of wire shelving!  I decided to just go ahead and do this project because I wasn't really finding what I wanted online in Facebook marketplace.  This was $80 on Amazon, came with the shelf liners, and is in a bronze finish.

Shauna had asked the girls to paint their toe nails in red, white and blue.  They had been planning on going to the fireworks in Greenfield with her family, but after a big blow up that afternoon between her siblings, their plans were canceled and they stayed home to watch Captain Marvel instead.  Keturah didn't want to paint her nails.  Later, I found out that the cap of the nail polish remover hadn't been properly screwed back on and it had dumped all over the rest of my nail polish bottles in the big plastic bag, which then leaked onto the bathroom counter. Thankfully, it was easy to clean up.  But now I need a new bottle of nail polish remover.

I told my kids that it would be 90 degrees in the shade soon, so they should enjoy the weather when they could.  Well, it's now 90 degrees everyday, so we are doing more of the TV screen things.  The girls are obsessed with Minecraft.  So much so, in fact, that we will bring the PS4 on vacation with us.  Jared had counted out all the parts and left to get silicone so he could glue the shelves together more permanently.  He also came back with a bamboo tree.

Shelf in progress.  These shelves are meant to go in a closet for clothes so they have two metal poles for hanging clothes on, and actually can expand to fit the space you need, which is why I got them.  See the next few pictures, which are out of order, to see them in use.

The pictures with captions were posts on Instagram stories I did to show just how Lego obsessed we are.  I took about 10 pictures and then 2 hrs later, found more spots where Lego has taken over.  Enjoy!

Right side of finished project.  Yes, those drawers are filled with Lego.  I decided not to extend the shelves all the way to Benaiah's bed and instead put this heavier drawer set so that Benaiah wouldn't knock any Lego over.  Justin can rearrange any of these how he wants to.  I plan to take out all the instruction booklets and put them in binders.  And I want him to pull as many special pieces as he can and put them back into the sets where they came from if he can.

Top of the shelves.  The two sides of the shelving unit can come part so there is a gap between the two top shelves.  However, Lego boxes or a piece of cardboard would be fine to cover up the gap.  We set the hanging bar more towards the back of the unit and that's the place where you can adjust the width of the shelves like a tension rod.

Now I've taken out all the extra non Lego stuff.

More girl Lego

After I picked up all the loose Lego bricks and put them in the box and lined up the half sort Lego bricks in bags.

Living room high above on other shelves.

Left side of the shelves.

I can't wait for Justin to be surprised!  We had looked at it online and I told him he had to buy it, but then I was like, "He does so much around here and I don't want his $180 set to be destroyed so.....I'll buy it as an early birthday present."  And then he can spend the rest of the summer organizing it.

Awww

Backwards, but here's the very expensive balloons Keturah got for her birthday.  She saw them when we got balloons for Abishai in Febraury so she had her heart set on them.  We didn't buy any other themed party stuff this year.

Hey look!  I found Justin's nose!!  That's the fake nose we tease him with and it was under Benaiah's bed.

So...much...dog....hair....how?!

Cuties.

Beautiful wildflowers ready for the honeybees

He swam while Daddy planted the bamboo he bought.

New 4th of July tradition, instead of blowing up stuff, plant a tree!  3 years running!

Whoops!  I wore the wrong shirt today! Oh well!

Uh, do people not know what our flag looks like? Our are they only looking at the graphic below?

I have been wearing my patriotic flexi's though.

Abishai watered the citronella plant using Grandma Howell's watering can I've kept all these years.  It even has bite marks from the beagles we owned!

I don't own a distillery, but think about it.  Citronella plant, citronella oil.  Pure and safe.  No need for bug spray.

Time for fireworks fun with the neighbors!

Oh boy, this looks awesome!  And it was much better than going downtown and fighting traffic.  We had some great big ones, too!

Playing in the driveway before sunset.

Catching lightning bugs again.

I think this is his first time really holding a sparkler on his own.  However, when my back was turned, he touched the top of it while it was still hot and burned his fingers.  I had to dig in Gary and Leah's stuff to find enough lotions to calm it and him down.

Perfect idea Aunt Shauna!  Citronella candle to keep the bugs away and makes it easy to light the sparklers.

He started chasing Everly with it, typical boy.  Keturah ended up staying at Gary and Leah's house with the others while we were with Abishai at our neighbor's house across the street.

Why didn't I think of an ice pack before we came over to the nieghbor's?  It lasted just long enough for Abishai to be distracted by other things like fireworks and kids playing.  Soon enough, he wasn't crying anymore and he was off playing tag in the dark with the other kids.

One neighbor likes to send off Chinese lanterns.  This one went off without a hitch.

 

Nice.

Aww, that's a special lantern.  However, it would not take off.

Abishai loved running around with the big kids in the dark without his siblings.  They did have glow sticks and I made sure he couldn't run off.  It was a muggy evening but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  It was more low key than the block party was.  In fact, the new neighbors next to Gary and Leah had been invited to join us, but didn't want to.  They set off their own fireworks on the other street.  Maybe next year we'll be together.

Shauna took this picture of me.  Nice.  I didn't realize how far my hair goes down past my Flexi.  I need a haircut! Pretty decent angle though.

The End