The J6 Journey: Year 5, February 14th-16th, 2020: Celebrations Continue

Boy this kid is having a stretched out birthday week! From Stefanie and Auggie's gift on Wednesday, his actual birthday on Thursday, and then dinner and birthday gifts with Grandma and Grandpa, he's a bit spoiled. And then tomorrow is his birthday party! I've been pretty much a mean mom on a mission and I'm sure the kids and hubby aren't happy with me. I just have a hard time tolerating their inconsistencies and slowness when I've got stuff to do. I'm great with deadlines, if I'm by myself in my own little world. Get in my way, and horns grow out of my head. I'm going to have to remember that for next year, a) don't schedule appointments the week of Abishai's birthday and b) slow down and enjoy the process. I'm pretty sore tonight, but I think it's because my glands in my throat are so swollen that it's hard to swallow. I'm headed for a nasty cold, and so my body is starting to ache I think. Now, we haven't been the least bit sick since before Christmas. And everyone else around us has had the flu. We don't get the flue shot either, so who knows what this head cold will turn into. I'm still holding out that the flu shot doesn't help us. I'm not sure if it's like other vaccines where it helps to not spread it to other people who are more vulnerable to complications like the measles or smallpox ones do (by lessening how much of the overall population actual gets those diseases, it's complicated, but you know what I mean). Anyway, my throat hurts a ton, but I'm grateful it's happening now and not earlier this week. That would have been a really big disaster. I still have a busy week ahead but it's a little less crazy.

Today we had our Valentine's Party at gym day. We didn't exchange Valentine's, but we did bring food and I brought the games I made last year. We have some different kids this year, and although our overall numbers were down and it took them awhile, by the end of the 2 hrs, there were a few kids dedicated to playing the games over and over. My counselor asked me what makes me feel validated because I often feel invalidated and unwanted or not needed, and it's these kinds of things where something I did helped someone or kids actually like the games I put together or there's an "I told you so" moment (which is rare, btw, because often, I just don't see the right outcome). Again, "Known, Valued, and Loved" is the youth ministry's motto and I wish we had adopted it as our mission in big church. But hey, I'll still run with it. Whoops, yeah, I don't do that for my own kids. Ouch. Gotta keep working on that. Especially when I'm stressed. Whoops. I'm a work in progress guys! The first steps is acknowledging the problem, right? Anyway, everything went well, especially when I got Abishai to cling to Justin and his friends instead of me. Sigh. I played with him for awhile, but I really need him to run around and burn off some energy. Thankfully, we didn't make too much of a mess and all the food was kept in an area that I think the Boys and Girls Club uses for food and of course we cleaned up well after ourselves. It's our first year there and we want to make sure we are doing our best to abide by rules and such. We could have brought food into the smaller gym, but I'm glad we didn't.

Then it was rush back home (after getting gas because the light came on and letting Justin buy some Mountain Dew Kickstart because I couldn't find the right ones yesterday), so I could decorate the house and the cake. I did end up having something for everyone for Valentine's Day, although Jared doesn't like talking to me when I'm "hustling" and in a "foul mood" so he didn't read the massive card I got him weeks ago. I didn't show it to me either. Perhaps tomorrow. He doesn't like it when I get this way (he shouldn't like it when I get this way) and doesn't understand why I do. So he stops talking and walks the other way. Ok fine. I did get Abishai the dinosaur that is similar to Ava and Benaiah's squirrel "Timothy" and he loves it. It's so soft and squishy! Justin ended with half frozen bananas because I left everything in the trunk of the car from noon until 10:30pm. Whoops. Keturah got the snack mix she wanted. And I gave Ava the photobook on Thursday so I pretended our copy I gave to Benaiah today.

Abishai and I worked on moving the table and decorating. Keturah helped a little bit, but then wanted to butt in every once in awhile. We filled the pinata, Abishai set up all places for everyone, I got out the snack containers. I decorated the cake after everyone started screen time so one would bother me. I think it took about 2 or more hrs to do everything cake wise. "Crumb" layer in white, put the screen printed edible icing on, covered edges using frosting in a piping bag and pretendeding I knew how to make scalloped edges. I should have taken the time to look it up on YouTube, but I just winged it. It's fine. It looks semi professional. Or that a 10 yr old did it, lol. I piped chocolate frosting on the gluten free cupcakes, stuck the road signs in, and called it good. I went to take a shower but Benaiah had just come home from work, so he quickly went first. I got my hair dried with 5 minutes to spare. Then out we went to Gary and Leah's house.

Leah had invited Ali (who is single) and Jerry (who is a widower) over for dinner (with my permission since it was Abishai's birthday dinner) which was perfect. Ava came with Benaiah as well, but her mom called her home earlier than expected. They did get to sit at the high, but small table and have some "private" dining but with Justin as a third well, again. He didn't need to do that. There was room at the island to sit. Abishai ate his homemade chicken nuggets Grandma made and then purposefully ran around the house "to get my energy out, Mom." He asked once or twice about when dessert would be and a couple of times about his gifts. He was very patient. Grandma made these fancy Alaskan bake things with meriting on top, ice cream in the middle, and a cake on the bottom. She also made chocolate covered strawberries. Grandpa said she had worked hard for 2 days. Yup, me, too, therefore, I'm not helping with clean up, sorry. I did send the middle two to help because they wouldn't leave Abishai and his new toys alone. "Oo, look, something shiny!" Jared wanted to come home soon after that because his back was hurting. He's been such a party pooper lately, even two months after our trip to New Orleans. Sigh. Abishai was exhausted, too, and shed big tears just because we wouldn't let him carry his big box of stuff. I hope that little dude sleeps in a little tomorrow. I told the kids to shut off their alarms so they wouldn't wake Abishai up.

So, the only thing left to do for tomorrow is to go get balloons and buy strawberries and blueberries. Easy peasy. Hopefully. The kitchen is thoroughly cleaned up. Toys are picked up. And that will last until Abishai is awake. I'm uber tired, so let's end this.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dino for Abishai. $15 until I punches in my Kroger card which brought it down to $7.50. But I think this is the last "on a whim" toy I'm going to buy for awhile. They are all getting too used to being spoiled. At least the boys didn't ask for McDonald's today!

A huge card for hubby!

For Justin, half frozen bananas which will probably go rotten quicker because they got so cold. Whoops.

A new favorite snack for Keturah.

A book of memories for the young couple.

I will always love early morning sunlightbouncing off of snow. It's not the same look when it's just dead grass.

Organizing his Skittles. Oh, I just realized that bag of candy didn't come home. Someone must have thrown away the ziplock (which I could have reused if I had just dumped out the candy, oh well). Yeah! But they didn't eat the animals crackers or chocolate mints. Sigh.

A little bit of partying.

Cupcakes and a lot more showed up as people arrived. For once, we were some of the early people.

You could tell both gyms were quieter. I think because some were scared of the "organized games" and some don't want to make the extra effort to bring treats. But, it was below zero wind chill, too. There was a newer family with a newborn girl though and 4 older boys all under the age of 7. The dad came, too, and they were all so sweet.

I love this Coloring Club that Esther put together. It's not just for girls, and I encouraged Justin to join in, but he refused. It was cool though!

Abishai did manage to get the ball up pretty high on his onw! He gets frustrated though because he's used to Daddy helping me make a basket. Daddy can't do that anymore.

Playing soccer with Mommy with a basketball in an empty gym. Kind of strange. But I did get some extra steps in for the day.

Finally, I'm free of Abishai. He's Justin's "problem" now.

Playing a "left-right" game. The item being moved around tends to not go very far. That's why you should use more than one prize. It teaches listening skills and directions.

Keeping any eye on the boys from afar so Abishai doesn't reattach himself to me. So far, so good.

Kids were playing the games I brought! I was a little nervous that the moms would shut it down becauuse of the germs on the straws that they used to blow q-tip darts and blow petals across the table. Whops.

Playing "sardines." Everyone cuonts except the person to find a place. Once you find the person, you stay with him. The last person to find them is the loser I think.

Blow those q-tips!

Throw those pom poms!

Fill the pinata.

Get everything ready at the party store, he said.

Abishai set up all the plates and cups all by himself.

Time for a snack!

Kaison, my other friend, my other friend, my other friend,...

Goodness that's atrocious. I should have looked up "scalloped icing" Ugh. It all gets eaten anyway. I love the original cartoon version of the characters I found.

I lined the cake pan with parchment paper and it worked beautifully! Tricky to get the batter in and spread evenly, but perfect when it came out of the oven.

I was digging around for the piping bag tips and found some edible writing markers. Perfect! I was pretty shaky, but I did my best.

Gluten free cupcakes.

Again, not quite the look I was going for, but a pile of dirt, is a pile of dirt, right?

Benaiah bought the first part of his hand built computer he wants to make. He put a full size case, not the half size case I grew up with. Who knew?!

Styrofoam inserts makes a great shield, asap.

Praying over supper.

Homemade chicken nuggets, yellow mustard, tomatoes, and cucumbers,...a few of Abishai's favorite things!

The couple with their third wheel.

Grandma's "baked Alaska" dessert. She hadn't made them for like 10 years. Whipped cream on top, ice cream, and then cake. Oh how interesting.

I ate my quota today. Yum!

Abishai dug in without waiting for his birthday candles!

Quick, sing again for the hundredth time!

Aw, a face of pure joy.

First gift is a Storybook Bible so that Grandpa and Abishai can do Bible class in the fall together! Although we have a lot of children's Bibles, it's nice that our kids each have a stash of their own. Plus, this is THE BEST one out there and comes highly recommended.

I figured Grandpa wouldn't get the arena set that came with sand because of the mess. Lol. The ramp set is just as nice though!

And Grandpa got the RC Jeep that he though Abishai would want. Ok, fine. It won't last long in our house, but if you insist. Abishai loves RC cars.

Zoom!

Daddy figured out how to use Benaiah's sandals as a ramp for the RC Jeep!

Here's the track set, all set up! It came with a special version of Grave Digger, too! Now he's got lots of monster trucks to play with!

How many can you fit?

Waiting to how Grandpa how it works.Slap down on the lever and it launches the cars!

Jerry and Ali came tonight! And Ali brought some pencil grips from her classroom for Abishai and candy and stuffed animals she won't eat or need to give to the kids. Kindergarten teachers get the best gifts! Lol. But seriously, it was sweet of her to think of the kids and bring me some pencil grips. They were the ones I was looking at, too. I've never seen these kind before. Thanks Ali! And thanks Jerry for joining us, too!

Abishai got mail from the J4. And they bought him a magazine subscription to Clubhouse Jr. which is published by Focus on the Family. How sweet! They also sent back the missile from Abishai's super hero friends set and a set of handcuffs from his playmobile sets. Yeah!

Grandparents and grandkids, there's a special bond there. Michael W. Smith with his Nora. He's had a good rest and now about to hit the road! I have about 6 weeks before I get to see him!

Facebook did it again today. Love this picture in the hospital before we came home! They had real baby clothes in the Charlottetown hospital and I wish we could have brought it home with us. So cute! We don't have many pictures from the hospital because only the two middles came to visit. Benaiah went ahead onto his retreat, which then got shortened because of the storm that started on Valentine's Day at 3pm and didn't let up until Monday. Jared didn't bring my suitcase until like late in the day and I don't think he grabbed the camera or something. Anyway, I love this one!

Happy Birthday! Time to Party! All my efforts on Friday made Saturday a piece of cake, literally! I was able to take it slower and be more patient with Abishai when we went back to Party City to get his balloons and to Aldi's for his blueberries and strawberries. The balloons were expensive to fill since we didn't buy them through Party City! Yikes! But he only wanted the two big ones, so it worked out. It was very windy and cold, but clear, so that was helpful. I'm still pretty sore and can't wait for the party to be over and then a couple more appointments next week and I can be back to normal. Abishai did beg for a toy in Party City, so I made him promise to give me money for it. It rang up more than I wanted it to, but that's ok. I didn't actually take the money out of his "account" yet. I'm not sure I will. I did tell him no to things at the grocery store. And I plan on a detox from tablet and anything else that could lead to the "I wants" right now. We have movies for school to watch and Disney Plus galore. Less YouTube, less ads which now play on YouTube Kids, and more wholesome stuff. I let them play together on Street Fighter and Fortnite after the party, but Justin didn't play by himself and Keturah didn't get tablet time. We ended up watching most of Pilgrim's Progress, the new animated one, on Sunday afternoon. I'm going to really stick to my guns this week while I have time to help them adjust to other alternatives. But I'll also have my own catching up to do. Now back to the party.

I was too tired afterwards, brain dead more than physical, to handle writing the blog yesterday, so let's see what I remember. I remember two families being late, several families leaving early, a crying 5 yr old because he just wanted to play and not be sung to again, and we didn't even get around to the pinata! Wow! A bit of a rant: I can understand when people had intended to be on time but can't be. One friend's kid was still napping, so that's fine. But planning or needing to leave early? Maybe I just don't have many social engagements, or, I just don't want to miss out on anything. I'm a "arrive early, stay late" kind of person, or at least stay within the hours that were set. I set the party for 2-5pm, 3 hrs, because often I've gotten distracted and haven't gotten to everything, or I wait too long to start because people arrived late. This wasn't an open house. This was a party. I guess people are just too busy or hopping from one place to another that they figure that if they spent a little bit of time at every place they are invited to, that that is enough. I don't know. What is the proper etiquette? There are always extenuating circumstances, but still. I planned a party, not an open house. Kind of bummed about it because Abishai redid the "theme" based on the pinata and now I have a filled pinata just sitting here.

Anyway, getting 5 yr olds together is quite hectic. They are still very emotional little creatures. They can verbalize a ton more but they still don't share well or they get their feelings hurt. Yikes! I miss the days where we could have birthday parties outside, too. Sigh. And 11 yr olds who was told to come out of her room to hang out with the older sister of a friend, refused to. Then, oh yeah, THEN, Justin was supposed to be in charge of Socks. Here's what happened. About 1pm, I was playing with Socks and Benaiah on Benaiah's bed. Socks was laying down and I see blood on his paw. Yikes! Sure enough, his nail had gotten caught on the bedding and ripped halfway through very close to his paw, so way above the end of the nerve. It actually didn't bleed as much as I thought it would and there was nothing on the bedding or me, thank goodness. I did some quick thinking and got some bandage tape and taped the nail back in place hoping that the body would take over and the nail would fall off when it was ready. I did NOT want to cut it off right then and there because I knew it would bleed profusely and I didn't have time to sit there dabbing it with paper towels. I was pretty proud of myself for getting the tape on securely enough that it lasted 24 hrs, despite Socks going outside several times in the mud. He did NOT lick or mess with it, because, well, he's the best dog ever! And in those 24 hrs (I'm typing on Sunday evening, and this happened early Saturday afternoon), his body did it's work cutting off the blood supply and the nail fell off by itself with no blood and no pain! It is still a bit tender overall, and there is still a bit of cut down his nail, so I taped it up again just to keep as much dirt out of it as possible until it can grow out. I'll keep an eye out for infection and change in behavior or excessive licking, etc. I didn't use any gauze because the area is too small. The tape I have is not as sticky as some because it's what I liked for my arm. When the nail fell off this evening, I gave the remaining nail a good lookover again. I didn't clean it with antispetic, which in hindsight, I probably should have. I guess I didn't want Socks to pull away in pain since I was doing it al myself. Again, watching out for infection and trusting that Socks' body knows what to do. I did trim the rest of his nails right then and there and plan to do it every month when he gets his heartworm pill.You can't trim them back too far the first time because of where the quick is. I don't know how they do it behind the scenes at the vet office, but my friend said they do have some kind of powder they put on it if it bleeds. So maybe they do trim them far back and then use the powder. She also said cornstarch works well, so I used that on the one nail I messed up. At first I thought it wasn't working but when I looked back after doing another paw, it was red but not bleeding. Success! Usually I'm at my wits' end trying to get them to stop bleeding. Yeah! I'm glad it worked! And I just avoided "wasting" (it's never a waste but I have other things to do) a morning going to the vet to sort things out. Plus money of course. I'm glad I went with my instincts this time. I didn't have any time yesterday to take him either. Praise God that my Socks boy is ok!

So, Justin was supposed to help me keep an eye on Socks and make sure he didn't lick himself or the bandage didn't come off or his nail didn't tear more. Well, instead, Socks ended up making friends with all the adults in the room. What a love! Most of the kids have dogs and loved on him, too. He was a very happy, and distracted, boy. Like I said, Abishai was just excited to play with all his friends. He seemed to share fairly well. We didn't play any games because the kids were just playing on their own. Lots of swords flying! Abishai then opened gifts and immediately wanted to open the packaging, including Legos. I told him no Legos in the chaos, but he got to open a new Hot Wheels Island chase thing and these cool newer Hot Wheels tracks where there's a "button" you press down on the connector that releases them oh so easily! Not that we needed more Hot Wheels, but hey, the whole set was cool! He got a Monster Jam truck set, too, some books, a Spiderman music bracelet, and some movie money with a McDonald's gift card.

Because we opened gifts first, he wnated to keep playing and playing and playing. Therefore, when it came time to do the cake, he ran away! Yes, my child, my 5 yr old ran away! We could NOT find him! I think he was in his hideout spot on the shelf behind his bed! Daddy had to drag him out, hold him, and let him cry into his shirt while we sang happy birthday! What a scene! Thankfully, moms of 5 yr olds understand these tantrums. It was funny and embarrassing all at the same time! So note to self: cake first, gifts second. Honestly, I think Abishai was already getting a bit overwhelmed and tired. We have had many social engagements this week, lots of screen time, Mommy not being home, etc. Too much birthday! That's why we need a detox this week. Get back to normal. Eventually we let Abishai go back to playing. He didn't eat his piece of cake until the guests had all left. So weird. None of the others did that! Run away from your own cake?! What a goof! His set up of all the plates and cups and things didn't work great either. Too much confusion. We did get a pen out for drink boxes though. But, I ended up throwing away several half emptied ones. Not many kids were interested in the fruit or goldfish. I'm glad we didn't invest in other snacks or in decorations.

Once all the guests left, I made the smart choice of pushing through for the next hour to clean up. I enlisted the middles and made them vacuum because there was cake bits and goldfish crumbs everywhere. We set the table back up, put away the berries, took out the trash, picked up and resorted all the toys, and we were done. I will reset the garage this week. I just kept flinging things out there like boxes from his new toys or party stuff. Plus Jared had started a ramp for Abishai's RC vehicle. I think once the IRS refund comes in, I'm spending a lot of it on house stuff. I'm done waiting. Three years to do what I want done. And a husband who now can't physically do it anyway and procrastinates big time when he doesn't want to do it. I guess we'll be like Grandpa and hire it done. I have plenty of friends who can help. Jared just has to be humble enough to let them. I'm done waiting on having functional/efficient spaces. So, garage fridge, shelving above the washer/dryer, workbench, large bathroom, and front garden. It's my turn to take over and hire it done. Jared keeps clogging up the garage with his woodworking stuff, which is fine because he can't do it outside right now, but if the tools were properly put up, that would help. I do have a certain couple in mind that would do it. Giving up control would be difficult. Anyway, that's the plan, clean up the garage this week, at least my part.

We chilled the rest of the evening and I didn't do any work either, no blogging, no catching up, etc. I will do that all next week. I'm "resting" until Monday. I ended up watching Pilgrim's Progress on Sunday with the kids because I wanted to explain the names if needed. No, we didn't read the book first, but it's on Justin's list in his worldview book. I'm pretty sure there's a lesson in their next Mystery of History book about John Bunyan, because I'm also pretty sure that Benaiah read it. He says he doesn't remember. Oh well. His loss. I know my mom and I did it in depth and those readers are on my bookshelves. Otherwise, Sunday was completely normal. Abishai wanted to go back to church with me because he wanted to spend time in the blue room instead of the green room. I guess he likes the toys better. He also wanted me to help out in that room. At first, I went to my normal nursery room, but Joanna came in just as I sat down saying the preschool needs help. I jumped at the chance this time (usually I'm the last one to volunteer) because I wanted to see Abishai interact with peers AND I wanted to see him sing. Well, he mostly played on his own or wanted me to come play. That's fine. But then during singing time he got all shy and wanted to sit on my lap. Keturah was up there doing the motions, too. And this is why I don't volunteer in their classrooms! Oh well. The hour went fine. There was one boy who wanted to pretend to sleep the whole time. The other workers let him, so I just assumed maybe he has some sensory issues or something. He didn't bother anyone or even yell or seem bothered when a very loud extroverted kid kept checking on him. Then there was this interesting exchange between Ms. Kennedy, our preschool assistant, and two kids. One mature 4 yr old didn't like what Mr. Extrovert was doing and he was sitting next to her. She was very articulate, through her tears, and didn't try to push or scream at him. She used very adult words like "I don't like what sound he's making, they are bothering me." in a very even keeled tone. Ms. Kennedy had her say those words to him, very gently, and suggest him make a different sound. He actually listened and made the sound she said he could make. "I don't like chickens, but I like chicks, Make that sound. Peep. Peep." It was the most beautiful exchange I have ever seen from preschoolers. Obviously that little girl has been very well trained by her parents (or maybe a therapist? I do kid, however, those words were like words I've been taught to say or think about, so,....). Either way, I loved how Ms. Kennedy dealt with it. See, I'm always learning better ways to deal with the youngsters since relationships aren't my thing. You can never stop learning, that's for sure.

Abishai and I then came home and we had some food and playtime. Jared got the other kids from their groups and now it's bedtime, yeah! Time to set alarms and get the ball rolling for another week. I actually had a thought on the way home from church this evening about chores. Keturah and Justin hadn't done theirs for the day yet, including the dishwasher, so I was going to have them at least vacuum since Abishai made a huge mess of crumbs at some point in the last 24 hrs, and the dishwasher. Well, I thought, we always struggle to get the floors vacuumed in the morning before Abishai dumps out toys, right? Why not clean up most or all the toys like I kind of do anywhere in the evening so I have "paths to exits" and then vacuum every evening? And then, why don't we do the rest of the chores, too, in the evening? We are home most evenings between 8-9 and nothing else productive is happening during that time. And when I go out for an evening, I can make sure they do the chores before I/we leave. That way, we can wake up to a clean house. Why haven't we thought of this before? Well, because I'm exhausted by evening time, so I can't do chores then. But they still have a bit of energy left. I don't think it matters to them or the overall cleanliness, but it might make my mornings feel a little more calm to wake up to a cleaner house and not have to nag about chores. Then they just have to eat breakfast and do their self grooming stuff. Bingo! Let's try it! Along with family movies or game time instead of individual screen time. I hate to do that with Justin, but he doesn't have any tournaments going. If all goes well, he can have some individual time on Friday with Eli and Caiden after gym day. We'll see!

Ok, so that was a combo of Saturday and Sunday. Not many pictures for Sunday anyway. I'm at least awake enough to sound half decent. Yeah! That was tonight's goal to catch up on the weekend blog. I still have to load and journal Monster Jam photos. Eek! Let's try this weekend first. Here goes!

Breakfast of champions! This also needs to stop. He needs to go back to eating the cereals and crackers on the other side of the pantry. This is supposed to be our "to go" snacks.

When you don't have your normal breakfast table....

I seem to remember Justin doing something like this, too.

Eating lunch with party stuff in the background.

Not good. Not good at all. But not as much blood as expected and his fur caught it all. No blood on the bedding or my clothes. The nail was broken halfway through, so you could twist it.

Vet Melinda to the rescue.

I don't have a clue what he's doing, but at least he's doing something.

Miss Leah! Miss Leah! Cade is 7 and in Miss Leah's class at church. He's very outspoken, unlike Jake, the 5 yr old younger brother. He had lots of things to say to me, too. So sweet!

Kaison's younger brother.

The chaos!

I just want to play! I don't want to be sung to for the upteenth time!

Mr. Johnson! Mr. Johnson! Come play with us!

Boys and weapons.

Abishai finally ate his piece of cake after everyone left.

This was my attempt at "Phew, it's all over! Now I can lay here and finally rest my back!" I suck at selfies!

You can now play two in person player Fortnite! And the kids were agreeable to playing together so that's what they did.

Another breakfast of champions, leftover birthday cake, goldfish, and juicebox.

I cut my finger on the cardboard of the juice boxes so Abishai picked me out a bandaid. It has stayed on pretty well!

Justin said he loves this character in Street Fighter. It doesn't have any "cheat" moves like the characters Abishai and Keturah pick. I said, you like it because he looks and moves like you! So we did a side by side. Yup, pretty similar. I tend to choose characters that look like me, too.

I don't think Abishai wanted to come to church with me tonight to play with friends or sing the songs again. He came to play with the toys he misses because on Sundays he's in the green room. They combine all the preschool rooms to just one room at the 4:30.

He built the track all by himself.

Cars and trains of course. (I purposefully keep the other kids out of my pictures unless I know them well).

Oh boy, we are definitely not ready for kindergarten just yet. He loves to tease and say, "Look I scribbled!" He could have traced the lines if I had trained him, too.

And a sweet family made these for their church friends and the little girl handed them out at the end of class. I had seen them on Facebook or Instagram. Too cute! The body is made of a chapstick, which is perfect timing because Abishai now has that infamous red ring around his mouth from licking it raw. And the eyes and ears and even a nose! The mom said it took her two hours to do the whole batch. I hated to break it up, and I waited until Keturah got home so she could see it, but Abishai wanted the candy. We saved the chapstick to use on him. And I managed to preserve the face.

29hrs later and the nail had completely torn off by itself. This is what we have left with. There's still a little line where dirt and debris can get in, so I rewrapped it with medical tape and trimmed the rest of his nails. I cut one of his nails too much and it bled, but I used the suggested corn starch on it and it worked! His nails are so thick and brittle, too. I have no idea if I should do something about that or just trimming them more regularly. He is ok with me trimming them, I just have always been nervous about it.

So cute!

Oh man, I should have opened up the aperature a bit. But, here's our set up. He didn't want massive decorations so I didn't stress about it. I actually need to find a way to donate or use up the rest of the birthday supplies from the last 18 years. It's a ridiculous mess. I probably should just throw some stuff out, too.

Everything is clean and set up and ready to go.

Treats from the dollar store to hand out as guests leave. Except, we missed the first couple of families that left early.

Our way of saying the party was here. Orange cones for the construction theme and one of the balloons we didn't use taped to the front door. It worked! And all that snow is gone now, sad face! One family's kids played on the bricks on their way out out to their car. It was so cute!

I wanted to honor the original theme, construction, so the fruit ended up in orange cones!

Abishai set up each place setting on his own.

Gluten free cup cakes ready to go. They came in handy when the first guest left before the cake cutting.

I didn't have to touch up the cake at all. Yeah!

One massive balloon!

The other massive balloon. I LOVE these!

Yup, he's 5!

He didn't know what I wanted him to do.

What now, Mom?

Eli playing with Abishai.

Cade and Jake asking where to sit.

Time for gifts!

Opening up Jake's and Cade's gift.

"Oo, is that a camera, can you take a picture of me?" - Cade, the "I need to be in the spotlight" kid. He's funny. He loves Justin, especially since he's in the 1st grade room with him. So he kept seeking out Justin down the hallway to his room. So sweet to be so loved!