Year 4, September 13th-15th, 2019: Friday the 13th AND A Full Moon!

Ok, we don't really believe in the Friday the 13th thing, although Abishai was born on a Friday the 13th, so maybe that's why he's such a crazy one! But there is a little bit of truth in the full moon making kids in particular a little crazy. And, what's also crazy is how hot it's been this week!  It's been in the 90's F and wow, my little wound and lotioned up body can't handle it.  I've been using this NatPro progesterone lotion to help shrink my ovarian cyst, but I LOATHE lotion, and especially on hot days.  The sliminess tests my patience.  But anyway, we went to park day and ended up staying for 2hrs.  There was a bit of a breeze and some shelter, so that helped. I left Keturah home with Benaiah, who was sleeping because he had just gotten home from his school's retreat where he slept only 6 hrs total. Yikes! Keturah hates heat, hasn't found a friend in this particular group, and had homework to finish. We were a little longer at the park than we originally planned, so Keturah was anxiously waiting for us at the door for screen time, which I made her wait because Justin and Abishai do screen time together if at all possible so that Abishai doesn't watch Justin play his video games.  Then Keturah can take the tablet into her room where Abishai can't go in and watch. So, it all worked out in the end. And I managed to make a nice meal of hamburgers and homemade french fries and salad. With interruptions, that takes me about an hour.  We then briefly went over homework after dinner.  And there wasn't much to do for over the weekend!  Yeah! It was a hot day on Friday, but overall, it worked out just fine.

The following pictures were taken by one of the adults at Southside Christian School and posted on their public Facebook page from their retreat this past week.  Here's my boy and the school worship band doing their thing.

Someone is choking my boy who is in the back row next to the guy in red.  And Ava's on the far right in black.

All the kids from SCS!  I love how each grade has a different color! 6th-12th graders only.  The three smallish guys in dark blue in the front are the only 6th graders they have.  If we had sent Keturah there this year, those are the guys she would have had to hang out with, lol.  So, if you are looking for an affordable option to public or more expensive private school, check out SCS! There's room for your child!

Abishai is loving his new car garage!  We don't have the right size vehicles, but Hot Wheels works fine.  You can also fold this into a stand up racing track.  No we didn't need another car track.  But, it was the one we saw and played with at Nancy's funeral in December and we loved it.  It's Fisher Price brand, so it's quality, too!  $15 at Goodwill.  It retails for $100!!! It's missing one or two ramps, but that's ok.  We could add a number of different ramps things to it anyway.  I might stop in at the Goodwill again this week just to see if the ramps were hidden in the back or something.

Another oldie but goodie.  A Lego City game with micro figurines!  The jail cell is long gone in the big boxes of Legos because Justin loved that when we originally got it, but, a lot of the other pieces were still in this one.  We have several Lego games like this but the pieces are everywhere.  Abishai made up his own rules and ran with it.

Seesawing with new friends at our very hot park day. It was just 4 families (or parts of families), but we still stayed for 2 hrs.  I had wanted to stay for 1 hr, but was enjoying my friend's Molly's company too much.  They are always there at park day and Justin plays with her two oldest kids on Minecraft constantly, usually right after park day! But the new family is great, too!  I think the rest of our normal crew thought it was too hot.  The other partial family was a Dad (because the mom was working, who usually comes) and his son Caden, who also plays online video games with Justin.

They found a creek!  But no, they didn't get in.  This isn't in the best of areas, or rather, upstream isn't in the best of areas.  It's the Buck Creek trail and it's not a trail you want to travel on by yourself.

It was a steep incline to get to the creek but some girls helped Abishai and I get him down so I wouldn't have to get down and back up.  He threw some rocks in the water.

Justin, Esther, and Eli found a large log to walk across over the creek.  It's a good thing Molly and I are somewhat relaxed and want our kids to explore things they feel comfortable with.  They made it across and back just fine.  I remember doing this same thing as a kid in the woods one of my friend's 40 acre property.  They will survive.

What a trooper!  Abishai was borrowing Esther's penny board, but he saw his bike, and wanted to bring both of them to us under the shelter. I had Justin go help him but he mostly did it on his own.  We were at a park in Cumberland.

I made 5 potatoes into french fries for dinner and Abishai was determined to get his fries on his own while the rest of us were at the table and couldn't see him.  Well, his eyes were bigger than his stomach because he definitely didn't all of these.  But, he reached up to the plate they were on on the counter without a stool and served himself.  He's way too grown up!

 The weather cooled down significantly on Saturday, so we aren't as miserable driving up to Castleton with Justin and his friends to a new trampoline place called Defy for his birthday "party." Justin started with finishing up a bit of school he didn't do because he took Monday, his actual birthday, off.  No biggie.  Then we puttered and waited for Wolf, Bryce, and Kylie to be dropped off (I would later take them all home, which is a long drive to me, but only fair for their parents.) They got to play a little bit of video games, jump on our trampoline, sing Happy Birthday, and eat cake. It's a good thing I never put away the birthday stuff after Abishai's birthday! A quick grab of the numbers to make "14" and away we go.  His birthday party was a last minute thing, but it was also a success.  I hate doing it last minute, and poor Justin always gets the short end of the stick, but we manage, praise God. It's less about doing a themed party at home, and more about doing something special with friends.  And it hurts physically to do the transporting of kids, but I love getting a glimpse into what the kids' conversations are like. Even Kylie was very talkative today, but Justin said that's because she knows Wolf and Bryce well enough to be comfortable around them.  I'm glad they are all friends and have been for 3 or more years now.  Elliot was also invited, but he was camping with his family for the weekend. It's good to know my kids aren't socially awkward. Now, if we can only get Keturah to come out of her shell.....

It was a great day and a great big new trampoline/extreme climbing place.  It took 23 minutes to drive north and about 40 minutes to drive south because of all the traffic.  But we also added some time to drop off kids as well.  We left at 2:30 and got home around 8.  LONG day for me! They spent 2 hrs jumping and I got my reading done for Justin's worldview class.  I'm loving rereading a book I supposedly read in high schol.  I don't remember it, but I have the same worldview as the author so it must have sunk in somehow back the.  It was noisy, but the couches were just enough far away that it was a mostly quiet space with a little din of noise in the background. Mentally, I think I'm getting better so I was able to understand the book better this time.  I highly recommend it! How Then We Should Live by Francis Schaeffer. That just leaves reading ahead in a novel Keturah is doing so I can correct her when she reports what happened in the story.  Oo, I just remembered, she needs to learn the basics of what makes up a story, like plot and characters.

Ok, I'm falling asleep, so I'll come back later to journal and add captions.

Abishai organized some of his cars by color! He did this all on his own!  He's good with colors, shapes, and most numbers.  It's letters we need to work on and he refuses to "do school" and recognizes when I try to sneak it in.  Oi!

A rainbow of hot wheels!

Almost! By next birthday, Justin will be tall enough to reach the Howell cake tupperware container on the top of the cabinets.

Download this pic and/or look at this closely.  It's incredible when you see it!

14 yr old's hairy size 9 feet.  He's always had the skinniest feet and longest toes.  That's the first thing I noticed about him when he was born.  So different than his very chubby footed brother who has to get the wide size in shoes.

This is what 14 yr olds do.  Actually, I think he's obsessed with one certain game right now.  I hesitate to take it away because he's my one kid who won't sneak and will make an effort at doing other things when asked. But it does slow him down during the day and distracts him.  Sigh.

A little birthday wrestling and spanking before big brother heads off to work.

Come on, Justin, don't let your brother defeat you!  You know his secret kryptonite!  Tickle him! With your toes if you have to!

Playing Minecraft while we wait for the last guest to arrive.  It's funny how all of Justin's friends still love Minecraft.  I told him that if he gets teased by his high school friends because he plays a "little kid's" game that he's been warned.  He says that his high school friends still play it sometimes too, although Fortnite is really the fan favorite.

Trampoline fun BEFORE we got to the TRAMPOLINE park?  Ok then.

Someone really gave Bryce the extra bounce!

Quick birthday cake and song before the jumping begins. We had Wolf(gang) Wagar, Bryce Giyer, and Kylie Yoshida with us, Justin's regular gang when he's not with his high school small group.

When you turn 14, you make your own birthday cake and you cut it, too!

Justin gave Abishai the biggest piece I think!

What was left of Abishai's piece of cake!

The trampoline park is actually only 30% trampolines.  I only got a few pics because I actually spent a whole hour reading ahead for Justin's history.  It was noisy, but it was the kind of din where you can't hear other people's conversations, which would distract me.  For the first hour, I sat in an upstairs area with some comfy couches.   The place was packed and there were several birthday parties, but the lines for each element weren't very long because there were so many of them!  Here is Bryce in the dodgeball trampoline area.  He spent a lot of time there.

Kylie made her way over the regular trampolines like the ones at Skyzone.  Someone online said that Defy and Skyzone are owned by the same company, but you can't really tell because they are run so differently.  Defy had no times listed on stickers that the kids wear like Skyzone, so how do you know who has stayed longer than they paid for? They did have someone letting people into the area, but I don't know if he really was counting or not.  There seemed to be very few employees around for the size of it.  But I didn't see any pushing or shoving or cutting in line.  And my "kids" didn't report any.  Everyone seemed to be following the rules, too.  So, I don't know.  Maybe because this park is close to the rich part of town?  There were also a ton more affluent African Americans around than in our part of town.  Interesting demographics.  It was very easy to get to, right off the I-69 and 82nd Street.

Justin and Kylie jousted.  Justin said he wasn't using his full strength, but we all know that after 10 years of tae kwon do, Kylie is very strong and knows how to move her body well.

Kylie won of course!

Justin and Bryce tried out the flat tightrope.  Very hard to do.  And you can see the comfy couches in the picture down in the actual arena as well.  I love that part!

They had these awesome ziplines, too!  Check out their website to see pictures of all they have.  And all the elements were working as far as I know.  Oh, and the lockers are free, but you have to remember the random combination.  Justin didn't know that and didn't remember, so he couldn't get back into his locker! Goof!  But they all put their stuff away, got their socks on, and away they went.  It's so nice taking older kids out!  They can definitely handle themselves with little attention from me.

I wish he wasn't making a goofy face, but Justin and Kylie sat across from each other when we went to Wendy's for a bite to eat and I sat with Wolf and Bryce.  They handled their orders just fine and they all knew to try to get something cheap without me saying anything.  We all picked the 4 items for $4 and the final bill was under $25 for all of us! Sweet! They've all been brought up well! I did bring them all home because their parents brought them all to our house.  It took about 20-25 minutes to get there, and if I had come straight home, it would have taken 40 minutes to get home.  Why?  Because part of our 465 loop is completely closed off like the other side was a couple of weeks ago.  So, I had to come down Shadeland, go out to New Pal, go through Franklin Township, out to Beech Grove and then back home.  We left our house about 2:30.  They jumped from 3:30-5:30.  And then we finally got home close to 8pm.  Long drive, but the three boys had fun goofing off in the back seat while Kylie and I tried to hang in there.  Kylie has two younger brothers, so she's used to it.  Kylie, who is pretty soft spoken, was extremely talkative and outgoing today.  I'm glad she's comfortable enough around me, and especially these boys, to just be able to hang out with us.  Justin is still sweet on Kylie and always invites her regardless if other girls are there or not.  It's awesome that Kylie is not afraid to be with a bunch of boys either.  And I'm grateful that we families have known each other for years and years.  Oh, and these guys have all been homeschooled at some point.  Yup, that totally makes a difference.  We don't tell our kids who to be friends with, but,.....so far, they've kind of gravitated to the homeschooled kids, who tend to be a bit odd, but better behaved.  In general, that's how it has gone.  Benaiah's best friend Ethan was homeschooled.  Ava was homeschooled for a long time. We aren't excluded anyone, we just tend to find people with similar viewpoints, which are often homeschoolers, too. Anyway, it's interesting to see that play out.  We'll see.  Except for a little snafu in Canada with some kids Benaiah was talking to on his iPod that were actually from the church here in Indiana, our kids have chosen their friends well.  See! Home schoolers are well socialized! And they can have lots of friends! You don't need to worry about that!

Sunday was normally full and busy.  Gary was away at a church in Kentucy, so it was just Mom and the J6 for lunch.  She texted yesterday and said, "Lunch is sponsored by the letter B."  Well, all I could think about is this tagline at the end of certain TV show, see if you can guess it: "Today's episode was brought to you by, the letter 'B', and the number '3'."  Yes, I'm of the Mister Roger's Neighborhood/Sesame Street generation.  We did have cable growing up, but even then, we watched PBS.  Oh yeah and shows like "Between the Lions." However, my kids grew up on Nick Jr. and Disney Jr. It's not that we banned PBS or Sesame Street for being inclusive of different ethnicities, certain celebrities showing up, or other political correctness.  We just watched other things.  So when I asked Justin and Keturah if they could identify the show, Justin was able to, but Keturah was not.  Now a days, kids like Abishai learn their ABC's and 123's and beginning social skills on YouTube kids' shows. It's just how the world works.  But we had beef brisket, baked potatoes, berries, salad, green beans, brussel sprouts, and fried cabbage for lunch if you were wondering.  Lots and lots of veggies.  Some of us at lots of veggies and some of us only ate "salad."  Salad at the J2 household usually means iceburg lettuce, slivers of carrots, sometimes a bit of celery, and grape tomatoes.  A salad at the J6 ranch house usually has Romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, cucumbers, mini red/yellow/orange peppers (Leah can't eat peppers, so I understand this one), grape tomatoes, big pieces of celery and carrots, and occasionally avocado.  Big difference.  Both houses have a variety of toppings and dressings depending on the week, but the favorites are shredded cheese and ranch. Anyway, that was lunch.

Then Benaiah head off to AutoZone to get supplies to do an oil change in the truck on his own.  He had already gotten started when we got back from cleaning up lunch and talking with Leah.  Between him and Jared, they had it one in less than an hour.  Then he was off to an audition for playing piano and singing at youth group and then playing drums for youth group as well as attending it.  The other kids stayed home, Jared took a nap, and I worked in the nursery.  Then Jared brought the middles to church and took me home.  I had given the van to Benaiah to drive so that he could bring him and the middles home and I had driven with Leah to church for nursery.  That way Jared, Abishai, and I could stay home the rest of the evening.  Hopefully, this plan will be carried out every week.  That means one less trip to church.   It was '90's theme night at Crave and Justin was all set to dress up but then played on the PS4 too long and forgot to change!  Also, he and Keturah forgot to eat before going to youth group.  Jared didn't get up until 15 minutes before they left the house, so of course when Mama is gone, things are forgotten.  Actually, in the course of a week, 3 pre teens/teens forgot things at our house, so we had to make deliveries today: Wolf's epi pen (he has a peanut allergy) fell out in the van, Bryce left a bag of random stuff thinking we would be back to our house before he went to Montica's and didn't tell me until we were nearly to Montica's house when we could have easily run by our house to get it, and Emily and Elliot both forgot things last Sunday, so we returned those at well.  Phew!

The KP theme for today was "Meet Your Team" where we give out "rosters" of who the volunteers are in each room to the parents with our phone numbers/emails/names/pictures on them so we can better connect with them.  So, we were encouraged to wear our favorite sports team's logo and jerseys and such.  And of course I wore my new Patriots shirt that I had bought just for these type of occasions.  There were lots of people in all sorts of team jerseys, not just Colts.  Jared wore an LCC shirt that said "hockey" on it although they've never had a hockey team, lol. Jared is definitely enjoying participating in these themed things often and even put on stickers that looked like the black marks football players wear under their eyes to reflect the sun while we handed out popcorn after our service.  Yes, these Sundays where we serve popcorn can be messy, but the kids and parents love it.  They buy prepopped plain popcorn so it's not greasy, and easy to clean up.  It was good to be back in the swing of things today as I had August off due to Miss Joanna forgetting to plug in her algorithm in planning center for us every other week peeps.  Whoops! Oh well, we love her anyway.  So I came home with Jared and Benaiah brought home his siblings. Everybody had good reports and now it's time to start a new week.

What crazy invention is this?  This is Abishai's trailer he made all on his own! He took the wheels off his police vehicle, used the hitch from his truck and trailer (the other part of the hitch is on a fire truck), added a back and front bumper so the wheels don't fall out, and lined it all up nearly perfectly!  He's 4 1/2! And building like a pro!  I sometimes get annoyed by seeing all the Lego bricks on the coffee table in the living room but he's constantly over there tinkering with something.  I cringe when I see him take apart the expensive sets but at the same time, as long as they don't end up in the big box of Legos, I'm ok.  I know I can put them back together "correctly" if I want to.  But for now, let him tinker.

I downloaded the New England Patriots app!  They played the Miami Dolphins today.  And those words on my home screen are so true!  Be kind and forgive the Patriots from their error 10 years ago.  Move on. There's loads of great Christian players on that team, including twin brothers!  Everyone cheats at some point.  Move on!

The kids' staff had some games, music and sidewalk chalk art outside for the kids to play with and see before they walked into church.  So Abishai got in on the fun.

Meet your Team!

You throw the rope that has two balls, one on each end, and try to get it to hang on the bar.

"Up head, Daddy!" BTW, Dan went 40 minutes on the sermon today.  And, we are now doing all the songs first in the service, then communion, then sermon. There's an invitation at the end of the sermon and the "Porch" is then announced.  Leah doesn't think that's a great idea because then people will just take off because they don't want to stay to go to the porch for prayer.  Only time will tell. The Porch has been a vital part of ministry for a long time.  I don't know if the plan is to phase it out or keep it or they are just shaking things up a bit.  But Dan's sermons are definitely longer than Gary's. We could tell, though, that Dan's allergies were acting up today, because he sounded nasally and he was sitting down on a stool today, so he must not be feeling good.  He had walking pneumonia for a couple of months in May and June. So, just like the rest of our generation, instead of powering through, he was cautious and conservative with his energies today. Oh, and the worship band was in rare form today.  I know a lot of them went to the Hillsong concert last week, so I'm sure they were fired up to up their game today.  Hillsong is one of the top worship bands in Christianity. I don't go to worship  concerts like that because we do have a great worship experience at church and I refuse to pay for a worship time. Worship time should be free.  I'll pay to see other artists that play songs that speak horizontally to us in the audience, even if they include a short vertical worship set.  But that's just me.

Oil change time!  With a little help from the guy at Autozone to get the right products, to watching a YouTube video and looking things up in the owner's manual, this process was pretty painless.  Jared gave a little bit of direction and helped as an assistant, but Benaiah did all the dirty work.  Abishai of course was highly interested and dragged out the stool so he could see better.  The other two kids just wanted their screen time.

"Here Benaiah, you asked for a paper towel."  Abishai is always right there to lend a hand.

Ew! Motor oil all over his hands!

This should be a sight in every driveway, but it's very rare now.  Aaron used to change his oil.  Jared did it a couple of times, but didn't find it cost effective.  Gary didn't change his own oil either. But Benaiah felt very accomplished that he did this on his own today.

Abishai helped put window washer fluid in all the cars.

The grunting that came along with him carrying the stool is priceless.

Aw, another great sight!  Oldest son working on his truck and youngest son giving Daddy a hug.  That's our family!

Still watching Miah.

This lucky oil funnel has never been used for what it's intended for.  Bought in Canada probably 5-6 years ago, Jared put a trumpet mouthpiece on the end of it and used it like a horn.  Abishai loves this thing, and I'm glad he had moved on when I was asked to go find it.  Benaiah had forgotten to buy one at Autozone.  So, sad to say, but it was used for it's intended purpose today.

Our Canadian Tire funnel being used for it's intended purpose, putting new oil in an engine.

Patriots creamed Dolphins today!  And the Colts also won against the Tennessee Titans (but barely).  Go Patriots!

Got my gear on!

Mommy and Abishai fun time on the trampoline because Jared doesn't want to be outside because of his allergies.  We had a ton of fun together basically playing dodgeball and then he would fall down dramatically.  He alos did flips over me!

Abishai has figured out how to the leap forward and then roll using one shoulder technique you see all the time in superhero and action films.  He also knows how to do the gymnastics version of the forward roll when you are going straight on.  But his ability to leap over something, land on one shoulder while tucking himself into a roll and then rolling away easily and getting back up, it all amazes me.

Abisahi also told me  exactly where to put my leg and knee s he could jump over it.

Ignore the statement, but yes, I always fear someone asking me if I'm pregnant because that's how I carry the extra weight, right up front, in a round shape.  I have to be careful about what clothes I war because some make me look pregnant. But all it is is a food belly.

Interesting clouds today.

Aw, MOPS Apple Picking outing! I think our second to last or last one before moving to Canada because Keturah looks to be 2 or 3 years old here in front of Benaiah. And that's Justin beside him on the right. I haven't seen Justin's shirt in Abishai's stuff, so I'm guessing Justin was 5 years old.  You know what, I think they were 2, 5, and 8 because when Keturah was 3, I wasn't in MOPS.  Aww, sweet babies!  We are hoping to go to Pleasant View (formerly Anderson) Orchard this week or next with Ava and Benaiah depending on the weather and their work schedules.  Apple picking is a Howell tradition and we only pick a few apples and take a few pics.  Oh and we get apple cider slushies because it's usually so hot, even in September!  And the best part is that it's quiet and no more than 15 minutes from home.  I can't wait to go again and keep the tradition alive.  This is Benaiah's official "last" apple picking trip.  Ah!

He may 17 yrs old, but sometimes, he sleeps like he was only a few months old in the "touchdown" hand position.  Awwww....big Senior boy, what are we going to do with you? We love you, Benaiah!

The End