The J6 Journey: Year 5, February 10th-13th, 2020: Abishai's 5th Birthday Week!

Well, the little guy WILL get some snow on Thursday, his birthday, the 13th, but it won't be as much as the 4 ft we got in Canada during the week he was born. Today, Monday, was clear and 35-40 degrees, so not bad. We didn't even bother with coats when we went to Keturah's choir practice because we were "two steps" to the car and "two steps" into the building. Bad mom? Maybe, or just lazy, or didn't want to fight it. Abishai loaded up his cars to share with the other kids and in fact, he did do a GREAT job at sharing and including the other kids in his playtime. It's been so much fun watching him interact with the other 2-5 year olds. I have high hopes in what he could become. I just hope I don't mess it up like I feel like I've messed up the others. While I'm excited to "start over" and do things a lot differently with Abishai than I did the first three times, I also know I will probably fall back on what I'm comfortable with, too. That's why I'm excited about our homeschool convention in March. I just peeked at the speakers and some of the workshops they will have and my oh my, so many of them pertain to our homeschool journey right now! It reminded me to also get out the other audio mp3's of the previous years' speakers, because I'm sure some of them have been done before. From toddlers to teens, that's how it goes.

And it goes, and it goes, and it goes. Another Monday is in the books. Keturah and I got some work done together today because I'm going to be gone for the afternoon tomorrow and Thursday. That means she didn't finish school until really late and missed out on screen time. Well, when you wake up at 9:30/10am, you've already missed a good chunk of your day. So, we decided to try alarm clocks tomorrow. My goal would be for Keturah and Justin to wake up with alarm clocks, get their breakfasts and chores done, and be at their books by 9am. I'm slow to rise, but I'm technically awake usually around 7 when the men leave and Abishai bounces into my room. I don't want to give up that special snuggle time with Abishai, plus I do better with a slower wake up and time to stretch. I can move a little faster as well, and I did get to my computer to work on some things by 10 or 10:30am today. I know, this all sounds super late to most of you. That's why I would like to start working towards a more productive pattern. Granted, we have the freedom, so why not use it, but we have such stressful late afternoons and evenings trying to finish up school and fitting screen time and free play in, that I'd like to try to shift the routine a bit. Maybe on Mondays I'll let them sleep in a little bit since Sundays are exhausting. I'm also tired of them relying on me to wake them up. They need more independence. So there's that.

I've got a plan in place for this week, and it's a busy one, but I just need to work my plan. I scheduled in times for baking the cake, icing the cake, cleaning, showering, etc. things you wouldn't think need to be scheduled in, but it frees up my mind when it's all out on paper and spread throughout the week. I can't power clean or do it all in one day, especially with the rest of the week full of appointments and activities. Today I was catching up on yesterday's photos and videos, which took forever it seemed like, but I think I was distracted my internet wanderings. And by Abishai's "I'm a police man" antics all day, and having to keep him away from those that were studying. He's cute, but sometimes, we just want to get things done. He did help me with laundry. He couldn't put away his pjs in the storage container at the end of his bed because there were books on top. And I said they can't be on the floor with the dog hair. So, he piled up his half dirty clothes and put the clean pjs on top of them! Smart! But still not right. I went back later and fixed it. He also didn't let Benaiah sleep when he came home to nap between school and work. In fact, Abishai stole Benaiah's new stuffed animal and hid him. I told Benaiah that when he's not at home, I don't let the kids mess with the stuffed animal at all.

And that seems to be all we did today. Cooked supper, cleaned up, keep kids from screaming, nag about school and electronics, all the normal stuff. Sigh.

Now he's asking for morning snuggle selfies every morning. How can I say no?

There's supposed to be no jumping on the bed,...but,....he's too cute! He also was excited to show me how he can get from our bed to my dresser without touching the floor. There's about a foot gap between the two. He's such a monkey!

Justin said, "Mom! I have a science experiment for you!" I thought it would be the fact that ingredients were creating bubbles. No, it was him spinning the bowl and checking out the g-forces. Pretty cool!

Abishai said, "Justin, you're under arrest! You can only make pancakes for breakfast, not for lunch!"

Of course Justin couldn't let himself get arrested (because I'm not standing over the stove making pancakes, it was Justin's idea). So, the cop had to sit in time out himself until he left his siblings alone. This rug has become our time out spot because if I'm in the kitchen, I can keep an eye on Mr.

I spy with my little eye, a cement truck! Are they doing the driveway today? They've been working on grading it and everything. Well, when we drove by, it was just the pour for the porch (cement porch?), and maybe the sidewalk? I'll know more when I drive by it tomorrow. How exciting!

Playtime during choir.

Who knew you can combine music with math? Actually, music is very mathematical in nature. Not only note values need to add up, but the actual tones in major and minor keys and their frequencies are very mathematical. Our brains are wired to know what sounds right and what doesn't. It's hard to explain, but it makes sense in my own head, lol.

So, can you guess who got suspenders in this house?

Daddy was late coming home, so we had started eating without him. Little Man finished first, but he didn't want to be too far from us, so he dumped his toys out in the kitchen. Cutie. I don't mind too much for a bit, but this play spot needs to be cleaned up before bed. It's in the pathway, and Momma is obsessed with having clear pathways in emergencies.

And the lucky winner of this pair of suspenders is.....Jared! Because pants that actually fit him press on his sciatica, and having a belt on does the same thing, he has to wear pants a waist size too big. But then they want to fall down, hence the suspenders. I can't stop laughing about it. I didn't think in a million years that he would suspenders. He plans to wear them UNDER his clothes, so don't tease him about it, but boy, am I going to tease him about it. My dad wore suspenders, and it's hard to think that my man has become a little bit more like my dad now. We are definitely function over fashion over here at the Johnson residence.

Our new van is a 2006 and doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles. It doesn't have a center console in the front between the two captain chairs like the gray van did, so Jared is making one. That console in the gray van provided 4 extra cup holders plus space for Jared's books. And we all know how many bottles and coffee travel mugs Jared lugs around with him every day. So, here's his attempt at making a box to suit his needs.

Three cup holders.

Abishai was highly intrigued with what Daddy was doing, putting in the new water filter. Well, Jared messed up this time and it became an hour long project that included an ax handle, bolts, saran wrap and who knows what else. I didn't go in there to look. But the water is running and it's clean. That's all I care about.

Poppies! He even instructed me to jump on them and spin around like he was.

Ewwwww!!!!!!! This is how much is tanin is filtered out of our water. And there's STILL new evidence of it in our bathtub. Get well water they said. It would be healthier they said. Well, after going to the water treatment plants, I'm not minding the idea of city water that much. Well water can be such a pain. Eww!!!!

Sargent Johnson reporting for duty. He's got his tools and his vehicle. Although he really wants a motorized police car.

Yes, he has a radio, and a gun stuck in his pants. Adorable.

You are under arrest! Again! You have to come with me, right now, Mister!

Reading Star Wars books, watching a Bible story on Daddy's phone, Daddy saying a prayer, and now, the new thing, asking for a story directly from Dad instead of from a book. Aww.....Daddy told Abishai about his birth story, again. I wish we had done this with the other kids. We tried, but never stuck with it. Sigh.

Oh these days where I'm out and about and have a million and one things to do at home. Note to self: DO NOT schedule appointments the week of Abishai's birthday. Or any party I'm doing at home. I only have one mostly day at home, and that's tomorrow, so when am I going to attempt to make a cake? I'm not sure. eek! Tomorrow we clean though because just running in and out of here today I was like "ah! I can't stand to see the toys in my pathway! ah! there's more dust over there! ah! somebody do the laundry and empty the dishwasher! Ah! I don't even have time to make sure you are off your electronics on time!" Ok, yeah, it was stressful. I left at 2:45 for a consult on my wisdom teeth extraction, then rushed through a major grocery shopping, then home just long enough to cook a pizza and pull it out of the oven so I could make sure the oven was off before I left again. Kids were home this afternoon and then again this evening because Jared and I had an appreciation dinner this evening. I have no idea how much electronic time they had. So tomorrow, no electronics. And I have to finish up read alouds tomorrow because Thursday and Friday are jam packed. I got a couple of things done this morning, so I'll back track to there.

The kids DID wake up with their alarms but were at each other's throats before I could get out of bed. So, the new routine backfired a bit. But at least I didn't have to tell them to get up. And you know what? By getting up at 8, they were actually mostly done with school by 1pm. Go figure. I still don't plan on getting out of bed quickly, because on slower days, I need to stretch. My neck is very tight because I've had no time to stretch it later. And I've been sitting in weird chairs or driving a lot, etc. If I can just get through the next week and a half, I think the schedule will lighten up a bit more. We'll see. Once I got up and going, things calmed down. I feel like I hardly saw the kids today. I took a shower and washed my hair, so that took a bit, plus being out for 3 hrs this afternoon and 2 hrs this evening. Is this what other parents feel like when their kids are in school? It just feels weird. But as I was telling a friend tonight, I'm trying to get used to the idea of not doing everything as a family. I'm taking Abishai to a maple syrup demonstration, but leaving the other two at home since they were old enough to remember when we did it in Canada. I'm taking my big family homeschool mamas' lead and letting go a bit. It will make it more pleasant for Abishai and I not having the whiny, bickering middle kids around. I can work one on one with him to cultivate that love for learning. He loves hikes, the others don't. He's in the exploring stage and I want to make the most of it this time.

Ok, I'm quickly shutting down. That's about it. Oh, the appreciation dinner! It was incredibly delicius and we sat with our new small group! I felt kind of guilty leaving our 4:30 service crew alone, but at the same time, we had planned to go as a small group because then the guys wouldn't be upset about missing Bible study and the ladies were going to skip Wednesday because Erica is in FL and Benaiah and I have an Israel trip meeting. Oh fun.

3/4 of our small group!

Our lovely KP director and hubby. Baby is due in 3 weeks! Mrs. Alison and Mr. Justin are ready!

I miss "First in the Nation" primary season in NH! They only time NH gets on the news! Iowa cacaus was last week, actual voting primary is in NH. Trump and his wife were also there. Awesome! Don't forget, I walked with several of the Republicans in the 1996 primaries. What a fascinating thing to follow! Lamar Alexander, Bob Dole, Col. Oliver North....

The police office added a bucket to his brigade.

Tools of the trade.

Must have been a busy day when I took zero pictures between 8 am and 6pm. Cute table decor.

Food catered by Prime 57, a restaurant downtown, where one of our members has connections.

Oh my goodness! The steak was the best steak I have ever had! With horseradish cream sauce! There was a cheese board, too. And vegan macaroni (which I didn't ate of course). And the best sweet tea! Roasted brussel sprouts. Yum!

The only dressing Jared can have is plain olive oil. So he went to his office to get some. It was slightly embarrassing in front of our small group. I refrained from telling them about the suspenders though.

We didn't sit with them, but our 4:30 service crew dragged us over for a picture. Thanks Ali for doing that and understanding why we sat with our new small group! I don't look half bad. I love that our friend put the heart over Leah's head, lol.

Bad guys are in big trouble!

Ah, it's amazing what a good "stay at home day" can do! You can actually get all the things done like laundry! Actually, I deep cleaned for 3 hrs. I hate cleaning. I really do. Because with fibromyalgia, it hurts so much to do it. No, my house doesn't have to be perfect for a birthday party to happen. However, out of respect of at least one individual whose house is immaculate, I wanted to try. Plus, there are spots I purposefully try to ignore but secretly can't stand, like dust on the front windowsill. So, twice a year, I dust as much as I can. And I cleaned the bathroom floor. No, I don't do it that often because we have two huge rugs in there. We vacuum the rugs often enough. But the dog hair, especially on where the carpet meets the walls, and you have to use that special tool, ugh! That was a killer! I wish I could just have the kids do it but they still don't understand the meaning of thoroughness so I can't trust them. When I call for "do the edges!" they know it means take the hose off of the vacuum and use it by itself, but they don't it. Drives me nuts! Anyway, it's done and I'm satisfied for now. I'm working my plan.

School got done, screen time got done, Grandpa class got done. Dinner was leftovers. Then I had to take Justin out to Chicago's pizza because his small group was meeting there. Benaiah's D group cancelled because of the weather. I kid you not, I officially pulled out of my fishtail tonight, it was THAT bad. Now, I usually only swerve one direction on snow, but this time, I overcorrected a bit and swerved back and forth multiple times. I almost hit mailboxes and signs. I was terrified. All so Justin could go eat pizza with his friends. I should have said no. The sleet and snow was coming down super fast and it was dark. Jared would have and I guess could have driven him, but I was already going out for a meeting about our trip to Israel. And I wanted to run a couple of errands, but only got the library one done. There are a few hills on the roads I travel, and those made me super nervous, too. I felt like a granny or someone who doesn't come from the land of snow, but I don't care. I love snow, but typically, it's from the comforts of my own home. I don't travel in it a lot. I hate driving in general, so these almost accidents don't help. Anyway, Jared did have to go get Justin and by then the roads were just wet because it had stopped snowing and the temps were right at the freezing point. In fact, I brought in my snow brush for the car thinking that it was going to be covered when I came out from our meeting and there was nothing. Oh well, it's better to be prepared.

The meeting went fine. It's great that I know or recognize faces of at least 3/4 of the group since most of them are party of Gary and Leah's small group or have been around church a really long time. It's mostly people in their 50's and 60's. And I totally don't mind that since my body thinks it's that old. Several of my trusted friends are on the trip, too. And of course I will have Benaiah and Shauna to talk to when I'm annoyed with Gary, which will happen, because well, we are family, lol. Gary shared some general dos and dont's which are fine, but I still have a couple of questions. I'm very excited but very nervous about certain things too, like packing and what I'm going to eat and using a bathroom. However, we are actually going to be on an air conditioned bus with wifi, so it can't be all bad. I'm not afraid of being unsafe or anything. It will be interesting to see military people with guns on them on all corners of the street, but I'm actually about seeing that part of another culture as well. I'm ready for the culture shock, I think. Maybe because I hear about it so often by Gary (he's been on 100 and counting mission trips, domestic and abroad. Mission trips are defined as going with a group of 2 or more and typically preaching for a long time or actual physical work. They are NOT the e2 affiliated consulting trips he takes weekly). Speaking of food issues, I'm going to try to take a week and eat gluten every day to see how I react in general since the doughnuts on the way home from Thanksgiving didn't seem to hurt me too much. If I could eat the bread on the trip, that would save me a lot of anxiety. I need carbs, especially with all the walking, so that's one of my biggest concerns. With my history of stomach issues, I need to cover all my bases so I don't get sick. It's great that they serve cheese and eggs for breakfast, but some days, I can't handle those. So am I going to get enough protein in the morning? Ooo, lightbulb! I do have some collagen, drinkable and to add to foods, I could take with me or buy the packets. That's a great source of protein that doesn't make me sick. Whey and pea proteins both make me sick, so it's got to be the beef collagen. Now, I just need to pin point what size suitcase I'm allowed. Lol It was fun to see everyone and sit next to Benaih, who is my "date" for the trip. He's excited, too. And just as long as we know each other's cues to get out of each other's faces so we don't end up fighting over pettiness, I think it will be fine. For example, he doesn't want to carry a huge backpack for me. Well, we can discuss that and I've already thought of ways to condense what we carry. And Gary said that we can leave everything on the bus because it will be protected and guarded. If we are just going into a holy site for an hour, I can leave most things behind. It's carrying the camera I worry about, which reminds me, I need a better strap for it. Time to ask Jared Ensminger what his tips with bringing camera gear are. I know Gary will probably say leave it at home and he already said to remember to not to overdo taking pictures and to sit in the moments. It's a pilgrimage, with lots of time for reflection, and not just sight seeing. I understand that, HOWEVER, as one that has never been to a foreign place like that, my DSLR is coming with me and I'm bringing a couple of SD cards, ok? Ok. I've been much better at soaking up the moments, too.

Speaking of, not many pictures again today. But I did get some one on one time with Abishai, his last day as a 4 yr old. I never used to make that a big deal, or I didn't really know that people did, when the other kids were younger, so I'm trying it with Abishai. Also, Jared has told Abishai a bit about his birth story (he hasn't done that with the other kids as much, sorry older kids!) and Abishai now asks for him to retell it. It's the sweetest thing. Actually, Abishai was talking about it, but he was talking about the part where I told Jared I was pregnant. So Abishai said, "Mommy had gotten up and then came back to snuggle Daddy. She then told Daddy that they were having a baby, Abishai!" Those aren't his exact words, but he tells it so sweetly. He's excited, that's for sure. It's still a whirlwind with Valentine's always in the middle of things, but oh well. Tomorrow he wants pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And he wants hamburgers. Then we will have supper with Gary and Leah (and Benaiah and Ava because well, they can't stay at our house alone and they have no one else to go and no money to do anything with, lol, so they get to actually come to dinner!) for Abishai birthday.

Stefanie's and Auggie's (and John's) gift for Abishai arrived today and it was a set of 4 official monster trucks. I don't know if it has the Monster Jam logo on it, actually, but they are the same size and made by Hot Wheels so close enough. Abishai was so excited! Grandpa got him something to do with monster trucks because I sent him links for them. This boy is having a very eclectic theme, and that's fine. The birthday party part is on Saturday. Thus the cleaning. Tomorrow night I will bake the cake and cupcakes, and we'll decorate after gym on Friday. Phew!

Then there's one more week of crazy schedule with appointments and then we are free and clear for awhile. So, I just need to hang in there for a bit longer. Things will get done. I still have time before IAHE convention to make phone calls. But right now, we have to get these appointments done. I'm so sore and tired. And I only have 1 hr left on my wifi. Ugh. I never will catch up on videos until these weeks are over. And that's ok, but it's not because it's how I relax. When I don't have enough of that, I feel out of whack. I rush from one thing to another during the day and into the evening and then I'm exhausted and don't have energy to try to work out or do the next thing. Sigh. I need a brain break.

Oh how fun!

Yup

I tried to teach Benaiah these things. But he's actually taking the high school course of Dave Ramsey in his adulting class. So, maybe he'll start ot listen a little more.

Yup, a credit score is bogus!

Special delivery!

What?! Yikes!

So, here's the story. Justin heard the dog barking at the door. He noticed the parcel guy bringing up a package to the door as usual. Then, he went back to playing his video game while he waited for the delivery guy to leave . 30 minutes later, I come in the room after trying to take a nap, and asked where's the package? Justin says, "Whoops, it's still outside." Ok, that's not good, it's RAINING, Justin, and we don't have a covered porch! It's stuff like that that bothers me. I've been chalking it up to adolescence but it could be mre than that. We'll see.

And this was in the package from Auntie Stefanie! 4 monster trucks!

I had opened the package carefully enough that it became an instant display case. Whoot! Whoot!

Snow, the day before Abishai's birthday, pretty normal. It's supposed to snish until noon tomorrow, but not much was happening after 8pm.

Oh my. I'm not going to get it all down, am I? Time to sacrifice the "me" time so I can make it work. When I was going over my week with my counselor today, I realized, wow, holy cow, I have done a lot despite having all these appointments! I do have my "hustle" on! Jared probably feels neglected, but I can't do it all. I can't go to be when he does, and there's no time right now to plan a date night or something. Maybe next week. We didn't even get to talk at the appreciation dinner. We aren't fighting or anything, we're just busy. But next week is the last week of the back to back appointments. Then we'll get a break for a bit. I think the next big thing on the radar isn't until my crazy exhausting 3 day weekend March 27-29th. Anyway,...

I did end up pushing my counseling appointment until 1:30 because she couldn't come down south for our normal time at 11 but her 1:30 cancelled. That worked out better because I had my ultrasound recheck on my cyst at 3:20. So I only had to go out once, not twice. The cyst actually shrunk 0.5 cm in the last couple of months! I'm not getting my hopes up that it will go away on it's own and I have other issues that needs to be "cleaned" up so I'm 99% sure the surgery will still happen. But, I'm glad it's not worse. I will meet with the actual doctor next week. Tomorrow we have gym day, and I really wish we didn't. I have so much more to do like decorate the cake and the house. And then dinner with Gary and Leah at 6. Plus shower at some point. Remember, I can't go as fast as everyone else so whatever you spend doing that, it takes me twice as long.

I wish I had done a little bit more for today, Abishai's actual birthday, but I think we did just enough. He and I snuggled this morning, but then he was raring to go with his monster trucks. Because I had a delay, I got out one of the kinetic sand bags and dumped it in a small plastic bin (with a lid) for him to play with. He loved that! Benaiah had a 2 hr delay as well, so Jared ended up not going to the school. He also couldn't go to work until 10 because the church building was closed until then. So we did have a few extra minutes together in the morning. After Jared left, the kids worked on schoolwork, and I grabbed some time on the computer. The taxes are done and sent! I wanted to get those done because by the time the money comes in, I will have had some space to think more about how to handle them and such. Which reminds me, I need to reprint them at some point. Between the federal and state, and vouchers to pay on 2020 estimated taxes and every bit of explanation, it's 50 pages long. And if my printer messes up, it starts over. So now I have to comb over what did print and find the missing pieces. Whoops. But they are done. And it's scary how much we get "back." We never owe taxes between having a low income, a housing allowance and we are tax exempt because Jared is an ordained minister and we opted out of social security. I have to look back into that, because I don't know if it includes medicare as well. Eek. We have started a retirement savings account but it's not much. Anyways, it's done, I'm happy. Cross it off the list.

Then I went to my appointments while the kids had lunch and finished school and started screen time. I got home, checked school, and started on dinner. Abishai wanted pancakes with pickles on them and hamburgers with pickles on them, so that's what I made. In the span of 45 minutes I had hardboiled 10 eggs (just because I can), in the Instapot, cooked a batch of gluten free pancakes, a double batch of regular pancakes, 2 batches of 4 hamburgers, frozen veggies in the microwave. And I used my big mixer for both batches of pancakes, so I had to wash things out in between. Then Ava and Benaiah came over and put hot chocolate in the crockpot and made 2 small batches of muffins, that needed another clean up process. After piano lesson, I made Abishai's cake and my gluten free cupcakes. So, all our bakeware got a good workout in just a few hours. This is why I don't do marathon cooking or baking because I'm so exhausted from the cooking part, that it's really hard to do the clean up part. I'm sore and hurting, again. I didn't get much playtime with Abishai, although he was asking for it. Jared could only give him a little bit because his back was flaring up again.

Gary and Leah sang to Abishai but I don't think we actually sang it to him. I'm sure he didn't notice becasue we did say Happy Birthday. I gave him the gifts he found early this month and he was very excited about those. But he's even more excited about the 3 things that Grandpa got him. He just has to wait until dinner on Friday night.I was able to pick up the plus he wanted from Kroger that match's Benaiah's "Timothy." And I found Keturah's snack she wanted. I couldn't find Justin's pop though. So, when I put out the other two items from them as a "valentine's" gift, I gave Justin some half frozen bananas. I had purposefully left the stuff in the car and the temperature has only been dropping all day and it's now at 0 degrees. We almost had literally bananas on our hands. Whoops!

I tried to take some pictures and video today, but I didn't get much. I'm sure I will get much more tomorrow night when I'm not distracted and again on Saturday, hopefully.

I wrote out Abishai's birth story, again, because we have new people in our life. That's one reason I'm tired. I stayed up way too late again trying to have "me" time.

Hopefully these are in order. I'm to tired to check them all.

Facebook put this up today. Abishai as a 1 yr old! I showed it to Abishai today and he just couldn't stop saying, "Aww, so cute!" He's always been a cute and happy boy.

And, it snowed for his birthday! Yeah! It was so nasty out last night! But we had just enough warm temperatures for a little bit this morning that the roads cleared up well. Now the temps were drop significantly, so we'll have to watch for black ice, but we should be fine.

Thanks, Everly!

I was able to salvage this rug after Abishai was born. It definitely had some nasty stuff in it. I'm glad that the clean up crew, aka Benaiah and a couple that we knew who came over to watch the kids, didn't throw it away. It's a three piece set and it's one of my favorites. And I grabbed the dog towel I think Jared had wrapped him up in that day. I'm not 100% sure because the towel was possibly thrown away, but it was similar to this one. I didn't explain to Abishai what I was doing because I was rushing, but he did give me a big smile. I don't usually think to do a recreation but it was spur of the moment "do what I can before I have to take off" kind of thing.

Which one wins? Monster Truck or "Palcon."

Abishai put one of his monster trucks with his alligator last night. His hand was in the picture because he was saying, "No, Mommy, it's not that one, it's this one!" Again, I was recreating a moment quickly.

Kinetic sand is awesome! I wish I had gotten some before now! It doesn't stick to you or leave your hands colored. I can get it off the trucks easily. But it doesn't scatter like regular sand. It's a mixture between play do and sand. So weird but fun!

Gotta cover up the monster truck so it can break free!

Even big brother wanted to try it out. Sister did, too.

"Mommy, I made the monster truck into a real monster!"

All lined up. By the way, they don't make rubbermaid brand little totes like this anymore. It's so thick and solid and the top locks in tight. I'm sure I had combined or gotten rid of something of my mom's in order to have this randomly sitting on my shelf empty. Wahoo!

I tried to share that this was only $9 at Aldis, but my friends said that you can get it cheaper at Walmart or in a bigger bag. Well, it's cheaper than Amazon and our local teaching store, so, I still think it's a win. I bought 4 of the colors.

Abishai's meal of choice! Pancakes with hamburgers and pickles. It's not too bad if you think of the pancakes as just being bread and you don't had syrup. Oo, maybe this would be good for "Burger Love." He deconstructed his before he ate it.

Uh, Benaiah and Ava bought facial masks. Ava gave Benaiah a man bun and they set to work. Ok. Is this a new date night thing I didn't know about? His and hers facials?! Cracks me up! But I'm glad they like to try new things and have fun!

LOL! I feel like he's putting on make up to be a bear or something. And that man bun is cracking me up!

He got it on his eyebrows which is not good because the mask might take off his hair! Ava fixed it before it set. Masks then get very firm and you literally can't move your face. I've never tried one. But it's cute that they did it.

Abishai got the D-O, BB-8, and R2-D2 toys he found on my desk a couple of weeks ago. He trolled Justin with BB-8. And each figurine can do a little a trick. Quality product. I just know how much he loves characters and making up stories. New little buddies for him!

Yes, I actually do something put baking techniques that I've watched or read about to good use! Yes, I do know how to "marble" a cake. Tada! Abishai requested white cake with green swirls and....

And blueberries, of cuore! But I only put in on one side because his friends' probably don't want to eat blubeerry cake. Maybe they do now that I think about it. But the deed is done now.

Benaiah and Ava made muffins like Grandma Howell would make muffins when they babysat Benaiah and Justin. I'm glad Benaiah remembers that fondly! These are the Martha White brand, but my mom typically used the Jiffy mixes. Sometimes she had Martha White ones, too.