Year 4, September 27th-29th: It's A Rough One, Will We Find Any Rest?

Well, monthly hormones, have kicked in and I've had level 9 pain most of the day. Yes, that bad. Nothing has helped. So I'm glad we always front load the week and work hard on the days I'm feeling good, so I can take it easy on the days I'm not feeling great.  We did make it to park day today only because it got switched at the last minute to one of the parks that is 10-15 minutes from home that we know well, Southeastway Park.  The park that had been scheduled was a good 30-40 minute away and we would have gone through the worst traffic patterns just to get home.  And apparently no one else in our park days group wanted to do that either!  It was just us, Molly M. and her Eli and Esther, and another new mom with 3 girls! We've had many new somewhat younger families join our ranks, while a handful of families with older teens have dropped out.  I'm just going to have trouble remembering everyone!  I think I'm going to make the effort to bring Keturah along next time.

It was 85 degrees when we were there, but there was a stiff breeze and we were in the shade so it felt lovely. Justin and Abishai came home exhausted and with red faces from playing in the sun. I managed to finish up everyone's schoolwork, although Keturah's work did not meet my expectations, so she has some work to do over the weekend before she can have any screen time OR horse book reading time.  Yes, we are to the point that we need to take away horse books!  She's already read them all anyways.   And yes, I've heard of other moms having to take away pleasure reading because the other parts of kids' lives were being neglected. I'm not alone at all in this.

And poor Benaiah.  He's had a tough week dealing with grownups that don't agree with him.  I'm not going to say who or what they disagree about, but he's super frustrated and it came out of him tonight in an uproar and nearly tears, not at me or Jared, but at situations.  He does want to be respectful but he's got his opinions and thoughts and I know it's hard because I struggle with it, too.  So, we came up with an agreement that he PROMISES to go apple picking with us next Saturday and I'll leave him alone this week to work on his big projects.  And no, he hasn't procrastinated.  He simply hasn't had time. Welcome to the adult world, son! He's got a lot to balance and he's already feeling exhausted. Welcome to the club.  So I did my part and stayed calm and thought things through while he took a drive to the grocery store to cool of.  I made sure to say "drive safe" this time because I know how I drive when I'm upset.  I don't say it every time b/c a) I don't usually see him before he leaves and b) it's a given, he does drive safe. And I do believe in retail therapy, as long as it's practical or the extras are within budget.  He used the time to buy food for next week, so I left money I had gotten out yesterday for my NH fund on his desk to cover it since I had forgotten to (or really hadn't had money to) the last few trips to the grocery store. He's cooled off, ate supper, and ready to tackle his projects.  He has a plan, and sometimes, he actually does stick to the plan. But it's hard.  Life is hard, right?  Trying to survive today with major pain was hard and thinking ahead to what I'm going to feel like after surgery has me at the beginning of the fear train again.  So, stop, breathe, it might not be like this. It's ok, I have a plan in place.

So hopefully tomorrow we will get a chance to rest up before one crazy Sunday again.  Stay tuned.

Abishai? or Justin?  Justin! Same age as Abishai is now, but the playground was moved from where the South Rooms at the Indian Creek Christian Church Franklin Rd. Campus are to The Gathering in New Orleans where Aaron and Shauna are.  Very cute Justin!

Abishai has been working hard at matching everything up with the card.  I think he nailed it!

It's not completely done, but we have some new harvest decorations!  Abishai was super excited to put out the hay bale and scarecrow to scare away the birds.  I'm hoping to add unique different colored real pumpkins from the grocery store soon.  I have to go back and fix some keys I had made the other day.

The in laws display got a little makeover since they took out nearly everything in this flower bed.

And the new house being built on our street (we know the owners) is coming along with some new truck every day.  They started on Wednesday I believe while we were gone so I missed all of the excavator work for the basement.  The dirt will be carted away to someone local who wants to fill in their pond. Today there was a stone slinger dump truck there.  Jared thinks it's just a brand name, but I think they literally only deal with laying down rock like for this temporary rock driveway. 

I'm right: https://stoneslinger.com/

Well, I found some rest on Saturday with a nice, solid 1 hr nap!  I haven't been sleeping well the last couple of nights because of the extra pain from the worst menstrual cramps I've ever had!  I've been comparing them to Braxton Hicks.  Yes, they are that bad. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad today, but I'm still sore in places I'm not usually sore.  My shoulders are messed up, too.  But Jared is going to be even more sore than me tomorrow because he started digging a 6in x 6in trench around the shed to put down termite chemicals that will helpful keep killing them for 5 yrs.  As soon as it cools off again, I'm going to have to go investigate the damage inside the shed.  I'm NOT looking forward to it.  And this is exactly why I made sure any cardboard boxes were wrapped in plastic extremely well on ALL sides.  Termites and water damage are my biggest fears.  I'm so very grateful that my parents bought so many rubbermaid totes over the years and a lot of the stuff in the shed is in those heavy duty totes. I think that project will have to wait until after my surgery because it's too hot!

It was nearly 90 degrees again today and will be all next week!  What in the world!  It's nearly October! My friends in NH are enjoying their Deerfield Fair (New England's version of the state fair) this weekend, and typcially they get to wear long pants and flannel shirts, if not sometimes hat and mittens.  Instead of selling lemon shake ups, they sell a lot more chili and hot chocolate! It also makes much more sense to me because wouldn't you want to judge your vegetables at the END of harvest?  Which around here, hasn't happened yet.  Because the corn and soybeans weren't planted until the end of June instead of the end of May because of all the rain, the plants have barely starting to turn brown yet. I'm just so done with this heat! It's hard to do any fall activities, like our block party and chili night, when the air temp is hotter than your chili! Come on Fall!

I stayed home all day and read for school, cleaned up, and made the chili for tomorrow.  Jared spent more money on tools and dug half the trench.  Justin spent the day with Bryce and now Bryce is staying over and going to church with Leah and Justin.  Keturah worked on homework, played with Abishai both inside and outside, and puttered.  Benaiah worked a bit more on his homework and then was off to work.  So, overall, not a bad day at all.  Tomorrow is much more hectic, but we have a plan.  All we have to do is work the plan.  I even contacted Emily and Elliot's mom earlier today to preempt the post church questions of "Can I go over to _____ house?" Good stuff!

This is the Beachy clan that we grew up.  Don't they look so nice and cool and fallish?  They've added a couple of daughter in laws and now a grandson.  Sweet!

Three Beachys plus two Reynolds (we also group up with them, and there's 7 siblings in that family).  So sweet!  At the New England Deerfield Fair!

When you finally finish YOUR breakfast at 11, but little man has been going strong since 7am.

Abishai was having a hard time because we turned off the TV, so Daddy build him a cage.  Except, by the time the cage was done, he was done and he used it to protect himself from everyone else all day.  Very innovative.

Abishai tickle time with Benaiah.

More "Jumper soccer!"  He LOVES to play "soccer" on the trampoline with anyone who will go outside with him.  He has quite the moves, too!  Now he can tumble over the ball and do his little stunt roll.  I could see him being an actor and doing all his own stunts someday!

Action shot!

Ready, jump, roll!

Jump, jump, jump!

Digging a trench, in 90 degree heat, when you're 40 years old and haven't exercised a day in your life equals lots and lots of pain.  But at least he cares and tries!

Daddy, I'm this tall!  And then he proceeded to tell me how the tape measure works.

Blow bubbles at me while I swing!  He giggled a ton when the bubbles hit his face.  I didn't get it on video though.  Bummers!

Wait, what?!  He can do this now?!  Since when!  Stop growing up, little man! He's just way too big!

Inside Abishai's cage.  He has all the essentials: trucks, cars, and trains, people with beds and chairs, his own seat, and a cooling pillow.  Oh yeah, and his water cup.

Neat play area, but Daddy just took it down.  Abishai is going to be very upset when he finds out in the morning after I told him we would keep it up.  Mean Daddy :(

That's quite interesting!

Someone likes to stay very organized! Who would have thought about laying them on their sides like this? Only Abishai!

On the day of supposed rest, we find no rest! Lol! Yup, it was a busy and great day, and I'm not upset or overwhelmed, but to prevent burnout from happening, I'm declaring October a "No friends come over on Sunday" month! And you know what? Keturah and Justin were VERY happy about that!  Sometimes kids really need us to set boundaries, or to have someone be the scapegoat when they honestly don't want to hang out with their friends.  I texted all three families we rotate through and they are all on board, too!  Sweet! No one is in trouble, nothing preempted this, I just think we need a break.  There's been a little bit of skirmishes lately between Justin and the other boys when they are volunteering especially, so I've also asked Justin if he thinks they should maybe break up the pack a bit. He doesn't need to be playing peace maker and keeping his friends in line while he's helping other kids.  So, when we have dinner tomorrow night with Gary and Leah, maybe we can bring it up and flesh out some ideas.  We'll see.

This "no friends" rule does NOT apply to Ava at all.  Benaiah hardly sees her outside of school and since they drive themselves around, they aren't a bother to me. Today they were able to escape their homework for a little bit and hang out at the park and then Crave.  They both needed that.  But Grandpa and I both want a few minutes with Benaiah just to check in, so hopefully he can squeeze us in this week, lol.  I don't think Grandpa is used to being turned down.   I went through Benaiah's schedule with Gary and it's tighter than Gary's! Yup! That's life, Grandpa, when the grandkids grow up and have their own social and work life, lol.  Sorry!

The rest of us went to the 6th annual block party at the Smith's house.  I was able to share about our new neighbors, glean some more info about everyone else, and just sit for a hot minute.  Actually, it was VERY hot, as in 90 degrees hot!  It will be 92 n Tuesday and then 65 for a high by Thursday.  Yeah! Sweater weather just in time for apple picking on Saturday!  Keturah went to small groups at church after spending time with Emily this afternoon.  Oh, and I did run to Kroger and get items I can't get at Aldi's and tried to fix the house key issue to no avail.  I'm very frustrated. It's Jared's turn to go somewhere else and get house keys made. He spent part of the afternoon working on the trench.  But again, it was super hot.  And we had chili at the block party of all things, lol.  But we are home, in the a/c, all tucked away, in the peace and quiet and tomorrow is Monday, our day of recovery.  I've got appointments this week, but we'll have plenty of time for school.  Then another super busy weekend with a concert, apple picking, retreat for Jared, birthday party and Sunday again.  Ah!  Make it stop!  Oh wait, it will after my surgery which is that Tuesday because it's fall break for most people.  Benaiah's fall break isn't for another week after that.  Anyway, onward!

Oh, and we had NO babies tonight, so I got to sit in the quiet nursery by myself for an hour. I had to wait until Elliot to be dropped off with Keturah and Emily and then take him with me to the block party.  Fun!

I had Jared's keys with me when I went to redo the house key.  Now, which one is it? Whoops! And it still didn't work!

New beautiful "windows" with Ollie the Owl in them!  He's the character that shares the Bible story in the wee one's video each week.

New signage as well that matches the KP area.  But I'm pretty sad that the old banners are gone.  Sigh.  Times change.

I took these photos and then found a second copy of the magazine in the e2 closet so I swiped it.  You'll see why in a minute.  First, Jared has a published article in the Christian Standard!  How cool!

Second, his article was published in the issue that was all about urban churches.....

.....and what do you know, but my good old friends Restoration House Ministries was in it!  Oh my friends!

I wanted this print copy of the magazine because someday, wouldn't bit be awesome that we got to be part of the New England story, too?! That's why I pray for!  Oh my heart!

As I was wandering around the office waiting for my phone to charge, I saw the original old Bible page that Gary gave Jared soon after Benaiah was born.  It's the passage that talks about Benaiah.  I think I'll take it down and bring it to Benaiah's open house.  Now,...do we have Bible passages like this for the other kids, nope! #Firstgrandchild

Then I saw this little book on Jared's shelf that I had given him years ago, maybe the first Christmas after Keturah was born.  So, I flipped through it, especially the pages on the early teen years and found some gems!  I cracked up at the word "fruitcake."

Both of these apply....where's the angel? And, yes, she disappears in her room for ages without apparently doing much.  Hm,...

Block party time! There were a couple of new kids there.  And they were all dripping sweat by the end of it.

Jared and Andrew who lives across the street from Gary and Leah.  They are new Creek members and he was just immersed this year.  Jared and Andrew's neighbor Jim (where we had the block party) are disclipling Andrew every week.

Taking a break from all the running.  At least Jim's "creek" is dry!

Gorgeous sunsets NEVER translate through my iPhone SE phone! But it was unique and gorgeous!

Wrapping up the party with a little dessert.  Abishai was upset because he wanted to tell Jenna that he was going to play video games with his Daddy when he got home.  Whoops.

Poor doggy is always left out of all the fun and games. But the Smith's dog Lucky is scared of him.  And it was way too hot.  And why did he have to lay on a gun?  Ouch!  May the force be with you, Socks!  Back to just your kids this week.  Oh, I forgot to mention that Bryce spent the night and both Socks and Abishai get all hyper when there's an extra guest or two around.  I could not get Abishai to calm down from 7:30 until 8:30 when the kids left with Grandma for church.  Then he was perfectly happy to play with his toys on his own.  Abishai is an extra extrovert!

The End