Year 5, December 11th-13th, 2020: Welcome to the North Pole!

 Today was just what we all needed. When I realized that absolutely nothing that we usually touch and play with would be open at the Children's Museum, I was pretty upset. There was no way I was going to take my kids that have been taught to interact with the things in their environment somewhere where all they could do is read and look. That's fine for a teen or grownup. Not for a 5 yr old. So, I had a God moment of "aha! I have supplies, let's see what we can come up with if we didn't do ANY work tomorrow? No school, no working on the budget, minimal chores, no errands, no fussing over a to do list. Just FUN stuff. Anything that I WANT to do. No pressure." So I wrote up "Welcome to the North Pole" on our wipeboard, listed off some things we could do that we don't normally do, and we went to town! Jared started us off by making the pancakes, although he needed to get to the post office. That was a huge help. And then I took it from there, making my own pancakes and Justin did his. I was going to let them pile on the sugar but they were already done by the time I got to the kitchen. Oh well. I then got into making the cookie dough, knowing that roll out cookies need to be refridgerated first. It was a bit harder than I thought, but we found a great recipe! Meanwhile, I had suggested the kids make a fort and throw snowballs at Justin when he woke up. That turned into finding all the couch cushions from all three couches, all the bedding and pillows and stuffed animals from their rooms and various other soft things and making basically a foam pit that they rolled around in all day long. Like they came back to it over and over and kept giggling and giggling. I never felt frustrated all day! We had lunch and rolled out and baked the cookies. I was thinking that they could help start the wrapping presents thing, but they wanted electronics by then, so I gave in.  I laid down for a bit and probably shouldn't have because I finally felt tired and worn out, lol. I also got Keturah's email set up and her phone started up. And I went through and decided on the jeans I had bought from Kohl's. Boy do I hate having to buy each pair in the two different sizes online and then trying them on at home and then taking them back. Grrr....I just want to take home what fits, you know? Oh well, that's done and overall, I didn't keep much.

Jared came home, we had dinner, and then decorated cookies and cleaned up the hallway. Everybody was exhausted. And now I got to unwind listening and watching a 1 hr FB "live" Michael W. Smith and Friends Christmas special. Perfection as always! I never get tired of those versions of the Christmas songs. Katinas (who I haven't seen in like 20 years), Point of Grace, and new guys Mark Martel and Jordan Smith (both have sang on the Christmas tours before), along with band members Stu G and Jim Daneker (who I just had an email exchange over his new calming instrumental record because the link that was sent didn't work), and Michael's typical background vocalists. Yup, mixing the old and the new. Perfection. A great way to end a fun filled day.

And now, tomorrow, we will finish up school for the week as planned. Just some odds and ends really. And I will make a round of errands, including picking up hot chocolate bombs! Woot! Woot! Two weeks until Christmas!

My new phone's videos are too large to load here so I'll have to do playlists from now on.  Here ya go:

Playlist for December 11th-13th, 2020 

Excellent way to end the day! Perfect! I messaged my friend about this live concert that I went with last year to see the Michael W. Smith Christmas concert with Amy Grant and Marc Martel and she says it was one of her favorite memories!  Awww!!!! I haven't spoken much with her because well, we haven't seen each other at church. Great stuff though!

Let's see if I can pull this off! I overheard Abishai and Keturah getting excited about it!

It's true. I think making cookies is a big mess and tiresome. I know it's not that hard. I know I've been quite successful. But 5 minutes or 1 hr, I have lots of tasks that could potentially fill up those spaces. And my energy spoons, too, are limited. The pj's thing is for me because I hate wearing pj pants all day. I like my pj pants very loose but when I'm up and about and working, I don't want them to feel like they are getting in the way. I guess skirts would be similar, so although I love period dramas and period costumes, I don't know if I could get used to wearing them myself. I've never tried though. Speaking of, I have a closet full of great clothes but no where to wear them. I usually put on the same things at home. Maybe I should just try to dress up more one day or even put on an actual dress (with leggings or tights this time of year). Who knows. We did add to this list as the day went on. We didn't play Minecraft or have a Dance Party, but as you will see, the snowball fight turned into a massive foam pit of sorts. And we didn't get to wrapping presents either because once cookies were done, they wanted to do screen time. The whole point was that we weren't going to do any "work." We did our chores but that's it. I just wanted a day without nagging and more giggles, especially because I'm hormonal this week. Why does teaching and learning have to be so serious? I'm not good at bringing the fun into it, but they are also older and have more serious things to study. Sigh. It was good to have a break. We'll pick up the odds and ends tomorrow as planned.

But first, Abishai wanted to go out and play with the doggy for a few minutes. He likes to do that and I'll leave the door a crack open so he and the dog can come inside when they are done. It usually takes them 2-5 minutes before they want back in.

I heard a thump and a whack and it was Abishai running across the deck hitting the side of the house just because he could. So we opened the window there in the breezeway above Socks' food dish and said hello.

It took several tries to get this photo, but how cute! Keturah is crouching down and Abishai is on his tip toes!

Keturah will go out for a few minutes sometimes, too. I just wish they would put on more clothes and stay out for hours! We have all the backyard equipment one needs or wants!

I told them to stage a snowball fight. This is how it started. Complete with holes to shot guns through.

It's 10am! Big Boy finally came out of his room. Now what?! Throw the snowballs!

And crash!

I just noticed Socks is yawning. He's like, "You took my napping spot in front of the heater, are you done yet?" And Keturah slipped down and she pushed the box of balls back.

I asked for and got this standing mixer last year hoping that it would be make more treats more often. I can mix up pancake batter ok, but the tougher yeast bread or cookie dough is what hurts. Well, next time I need to soften the butter a little because I still had to help it along. And I had to finish the mixing by hand. I know it's a roll out cookie and so it's a tougher/stickier/heavier dough. Oh well. We are trying.

I used butter and vanilla. Otherwise, I made this exact recipe and it was PERFECT. Way to go Betty Crocker! This is a copy of the 1963 version of this book (actually printed in China in 2002). Leah said she bought it for me at a school book sale. I thought it might have come from my family because it has the cherry wink recipe in it, but it didn't feel that old or dingy to me and I don't remember it as being the one that my mom had. But it's definitely something that my mom and grandma could have used. I might start doing cookie Friday like my friend Ami does with her three young boys. There's so many different kinds! But I'd make just half a batch or something. We made large cookies so we might have gotten two dozen out of this recipe.

Jared and mixed up pancake batter for Abishai and Keturah to get the day started (not something he would normally do on a week day) and then Justin just had to make his own pancakes when he woke up. Well, he made a HUGE one and a teeny tiny one. I choose pancakes because I was craving them and I was going to let the kids have as much sugar on them as they want, but they had eaten all of theirs before I got to the kitchen.

Sugar cookie dough ready to chill for an hour.

And this was just the beginning of the fun they all had for hours and hours. Who knew having a smaller house with a small hallway could provide hours of entertaiment? I'm impressed that they didn't knock any of the photos down! I did warn them and they play in this hallway often that I think they are aware of them anyways. They closed all the doors to the three bedrooms and bathroom. Can't do this in every house!

A-dor-a-ble! Again, it took a minute or two to compose it, but it works! Great job, kids!

Oh no! Buddy slipped and got hurt! I don't know if it was on a doorway or what. It's just a scratch so we put some lavender oil on it and iced it.

Then he said, "My energy is way down, Mommy." Yes, it takes a minute to get your composure back. So, I qucickly grabbed some MM's thinking we would share them, but he thinks that it takes ALL the MM's to refuel him! My hand is the "fuel gauge." "Is your energy back up yet?" "Not yet."

How about now? Any higher? Almost!

And just about to the top!

You need special energy bombs, too. Here, I'll put them in your coffee. I think I had mentioned that Mommy needs her energy juice, lol. I'm glad he shared!

Aww, such a heart of gold.

Trolling the sister while she was in the bathroom taking a shower. They waited several minutes.

And then boom! We got her!

I had just screen captured this and sent it to family.

And THEN I see in my email that Amazon had just delivered! I was sitting right there in the chair next to the door and didn't hear them! Occasionally they will take a photo when they deliver, but not always. It could also be because they also use the post office, too. It cracked me up to get Amazon packages right after I sent that meme!

But it's so true! I often rationalize that one of my "jobs" needs this or that item. Except for Christmas time and birthdays, I do have some subscribe and save monthly deliveries like these and I often buy my supplements or things like ink or batteries from Amazon. Easier, faster, and less expensive than me going to the store and spending money on other things I wasn't planning on spending. I was doing this way before Covid, too.

A little bit of screen time earlier in the day than normal.

Cutie wearing Benaiah's "orange working store" apron. We only own this apron and another one Justin wore today. I don't wear aprons I guess. I wish I had a cute one for today though!

Grandpa Johnson used to take Benaiah and Justin (and sometimes Keturah when she was old enough) to the "working stores" aka Home Depot or Lowe's to do the kid building camps on Saturday. That's where all those small wood projects have come from and why we have a bazillion wooden trains.

Abishai was all eager to try rolling out the dough but it was hard and he didn't like getting flour on his hands. So this was the first and only time he worked with it. Otherwise, he just did the cookie cutter part. Oh and he transferred them to the cookie sheet with the little spatula.

First cookie of the day! The mat and large rolling pin were my moms. My rolling pin is the little one, I believe. It could be the other way around. I love these old mat with it's biscuit recipe and how big the dough has to be to make a pie crust. It's super duper heavy plastic and doesn't lay flat well because I hardly ever use it and it's been rolled up for years. But it's by pyrex I think and works so well!

Abishai finally let Keturah in to help. She secretly loved it!

First tray of cookies before they were cooked. Mostly Abishia's cookies.

I didn't over bake them! I took them out and they crisped up a bit more while they cooled but were still so soft!

Justin was in the shower when we started, so we had to save a bit of dough for me. He wore the only other apron we have. I guess we are brave and are not afraid to get flour or oil on our clothing in this house. Although many a shirt has had permanent oil stains on it.

He looks so big and such an expert! He's my baker though. And I told him that we always have supplies, either box mixes or the basics, and he can make anything he wants as long as he cleans up.

Keturah's and Abishai's tray of cookies, the 2nd tray.

Justin's tray of cookies. He purposefully put the arms of the sweater out straighter I thought he said to look like a Fortnite character, but then he said because it makes it look more like a sweater? I don't know. But he did it on purpose.

All done!

OOOOO, I'm so glad that I bought these plastic drawer sets for the pantry! Not only does Abishai have  easy access to his snacks (and there's less cardboard boxes in the pantry) but I can just pull the drawers out like this! Sweet! Some of this stuff is super old, but we used what we could, threw some out, and left the rest for next time, or to use on pancakes.

I wasn't sure if I would do this today because it was a "chore" kind of thing, but I went for it. I had to buy two pairs of every jean I was looking at on the Kohl's website because I just don't know how they will all fit. And then I have to take back whatever size and/or style I don't want. Tedious. I hate it. I just want to walk into the store. Try stuff on and only pay for and carry out the things I want. Super tedious. But I got it done. I'm fat. That's all there is to it. And now, I have pull on pants like my mother did because they are just comfortable, ok? I leave my shirts untucked anyway, so you're not going to see if I have a zipper in the front or not. And the corduroy ones were super soft. So, over the last month, I've decided to keep 5 pairs of jeans/pants, most were around the $20 mark after sales and Kohl's cash. I bought one shirt and one basic zip up hoodie. I bought Keturah two sets of pjs. I bought myself maybe three sets of pjs because it's hard to choose and they aren't all in yet. Plus a pair of capris, that also haven't arrived yet. I did buy that onesie for Abishai and I from Aldis'. I'm hoping that this all totals less than what I already paid off on the Kohl's charge card, which was around $300 that I paid already. I think I got close to $700 in purchases before I took stuff back. I don't like having this much merchandise in my hands. And then it all has to be processed by the employees. I feel so bad for them. Ugh!

I also had on my personal list to get Keturah started on her phone. We got her iCloud up and running as well as her gmail email. I choose gmail because Justin already has gmail and I'm now familiar with using that app and having Keturah's email logged into as well as mine and my IAHE one. She's super happy! Now, we still have to work out some kinks about rules, but essentially she has an iPod until I get her a SIM card with a phone number on it. We'll get there. It just wasn't a priority yet.

Ok fine, it's me that blew the budget way out of the water this month. But IAHE had a sale on their merch store and I didn't have any IAHE merch! I promise I had a ton more in my cart and ONLY got this much. I bought this hoodie before my other one. I have hoodies but they are all size small or medium and well, I'm fat now and need larges so I can zip them up comfortably. No, I don't need another coffee mug but as you'll see below, now when I sip my coffee from the IAHE mug and my tea from the e2 mug, I can be reminded of who we work for and pray for them. These two mugs are the only mugs I personally use and I leave them out on the counter.

Time to build the Millennium Falcon micro build!

So exhausted after all that playing but concentrating so hard!

Still goofing off in the hallway. I wonder what his fellow 10th graders would think of this nerd. He doesn't care too much what they think, thank goodness. And he and I discuss it often. I tell him that I'm glad he can still be goofy and a kid and play with his siblings (unlike Benaiah did at this stage because he was gone so much). I'm glad he has friends (especially in the homeschool groups) that also play with their siblings. They should be natural and normal, but culturally, when you segregate kids by age and grade all the time, you are getting something that is very unnatural and won't happen past their college years. You have to be able to talk to people of all ages and stages. And I'm glad our kids can do that.

Decorating cookies time! I didn't make any frosting, so we just used what we had work. And it did. No one complained about it. I wanted Jared to help because he has in the past, but he was grouchy. Abishai liked doing the sprinkles though. I had to help him with the frosting because it was hard to squeeze out.

We eventually switched from frosting and sprinkles to just sprinkles. Abishai was already tired, and although I knew the sprinkles would come right off, I was carefully to try to keep them on as I transferred them back to the plate.

Keturah spent a lot of time on hers and did such a great job! I think she had a lot of fun! But of course she won't admit it. I'm just glad I do have things like this on hand just in case. Way to go me!

Keturah made this!

Look at her go!

Even Justin got into it, although more goofy than Keturah.

Too many sprinkles! And this is why we used the cookie trays!

We only had new tubes of white and orange (maybe it was supposed to be red at some point, I don't know). And then we used smaller gels of colors to do the rest. Keturah was fond of her little chili peppers. We used any and all cookie/cheese cutters we had, lol, even pumpkins!

Shamrock!

Keturah made a 2020 sweater! We've had those letter things for oh probably 8 years from Canada. In fact, several things were from that era. But it worked!

I love her second snowman, too!

Randomness.

Very random.

The star on the left looks like mayo, ketchup and cheese. And the ugly sweater is just to much! Oh Justin!

Oh my. Time got away from us today. Abishai got up at precisely 7:01 am and bounded into our room to show us his new Hot Wheels thing. Then he went off to play. I asked him if he needed help with breakfast and he said, "No, Mom, you can go snuggle Daddy." Well, we didn't wake up again until 8:30. Whoops! So, we had a late start. But we just kept plugging away all day at various things. I helped the kids with some loose ends on homework. Then I wrote down the library books they read so I could take them back to the library. Sidenote: the library will be returning to curbside only on Monday, Dec. 21st. Ugh! I hope there's not a complete shut down again! I think I need to go ahead and start ordering next semester's books just in case. That means they might come in while I'm gone on Christmas break, but, I can call the library and just tell them to put a note on the stack as to when I'll pick them up. Grrr. Today was the first time I had been out of the house all week. Like I had literally not gotten in my car since Sunday when I briefly took Justin to the church for small group. I hadn't been in a car since that Sunday afternoon after we got groceries. I had planned to, but then I got sick with vertigo on Tuesday and Wednesday (and my ears still hurt a little). And then we didn't go the Children's Museum yesterday, so today was it. I had to go out at a certain time to pick up hot cocoa bombs from someone at 2pm. They are wicked expensive, but they are going to be so fun! Then I dropped off/picked up library books, picked up prescriptions, dropped off recycling, and went to that new Spark Nutrition healthy smoothie place. Well, I think they are using a line of products from a company called Herbal Life, which I've heard of before. And that's fine. It's good to have a place like this around. But, you can't just buy a smoothie. You have to buy an energy tea/bomb/coffee, too. So all told with tip (which I think is optional), it was over $13. Yes, it's a meal replacement and there was protein in the coffee. Yes, it still tasted like protein powder, albeit good powder. The coffee protein had whey in it (they are very upfront about the ingredients) and that's what I had this afternoon, saving the shake for later. It upset my stomach like any dairy and/or coffee would. It was good though. Not too sweet. It sounds like they are doing well and were hiring more people. I'm not sure if it's the best time of year to start something that is cold and with schools closed, I'm not sure there will be that many that stop in there from/to work and school. But, there's also holiday shoppers right? And there is in person seating for now.  I guess you could go and split up the combo with someone, too. I just wish you could order things separately. I think it's a little gimmicky to do it that way. I won't be going monthly that's for sure.

Anyway, I tried it, it's decent, but only those with two salaries can afford it. I'll stick to my $6 Starbucks for my sweet treat.  Or Mocha Nut. I'm just glad I dropped bunches of things off and brought home very few things. I could have taken more cardboard but I don't know what I want to wrap gifts in yet. I say that every year, and then I just wrap the gift itself instead of putting it in another box. Hm,...I was thinking of putting small items in a bigger box but....space under the tree is limited and I hate wasting wrapping paper...oh wait, we NEVER run out of wrapping paper since I'm so careful. Good grief! Let's just fill the whole front of the fireplace this year! Lol. Abishai wants me to wrap and put under the tree now. We'll see. Maybe during Christmas week. Too many things are falling on that week and this next week with appointments. Then I talked to my sister this afternoon instead of blogging and budgeting and going over IEW with Keturah. Keturah keeps asking for her phone so she can listen to music and I'm like, "We aren't there yet." to that kind of freedom. She used it during her "tablet" time instead of the tablet. She can listen to music via cds we have or the radio. She has a cd player in her room. Once Abishai has his new tablet, it will be easier to tell Keturah that she has a max of 2 hrs on each the tablet and the phone. I think she deleted a lot of her stuff off the tablet though. So....we'll see how this all settles. But for now, similar rules apply. She's been reading so much and I don't wan that to come to a complete halt. I did tell her that she has to finish her Lego sorting project before Christmas or she's NOT allowed to open any new Lego boxes. I want to see more floor space.

Justin did some homework and then I don't know what. Oh yeah, he played with Bryce on Minecraft after I had to scold them both for saying they were going to be on Minecraft and then trying to convince each other to go on Fortnite. No, you had permission for Minecraft since you just got that working again. I don't know else he did.

Jared finished the bunk beds! He built the ladder and put the board at the end of the beds! Woot! Woot! Now it's my turn to move things off of the Lego table so he can do that. I told him I will put it on the schedule but no promises right now. He said he wanted to finish the bunk bed before his next massage and chiropractor appointments this week. He won't have any more of those until after our Christmas vacation, so he will probably just be very careful if he does the Lego table now. I don't care if he waits because I don't have time to work on it. Well, it's just moving a few boxes. I guess I can do that much. And then the real work begins with organizing it. That will be some Saturday in January with just Justin and me. But the bunk beds are done! They aren't as pretty as the ones on Wayfair but they are many times more solid. I wish we had painted or done more trimwork because they just look like rough wood, which they are. I'm tempted to let Abishai got to town painting the inside of his, or have Justin draw on his. But then it's not easy to clean up for the next home owners. Oh wait, Jared thinks we will be here forever....We'll talk about it some more.

Okey dokey. That's about it. A good solid Saturday. Now to catch up on captioning the above photos. And figuring out why the videos are taking up so much space. And why every photo has a 2 sec video with it taking up space. I need a balance between the great shooting modes and space since I take so many photos! We had trouble last night sharing the wifi between us and getting photos uploaded, that's why I didn't finish the blog last night. Justin's computer is old and is a wifi hog, even when he's not actively using a game or something. Sigh. Which reminds me that I need the password for the Home Manager again. It's one that Jared has just started using so I don't have it memorized. I'll ask him when we sit down (for the first time in a few nights) to  read. Here's today's photos:

Check out my new selfie camera settings! Portrait mode with lighting effects in selfie mode! Oh and a wide angle lens in both selfie and front facing camera modes! I watched a couple of tutorials on it last night.

Socks' advent calendar also has fish and I think hearts Keturah said.

Representing our ministries well in this household!

The IAHE mug is a perfect upgrade to the black "coffee" one that I got from my sister Stefanie back when I lived in Beech Grove, so like 10 or more years ago. I've loved that little coffee mug because the little green spoon fits in the handle. But, this new coffee machine I'm trying out fills that black mug way too full even on the 8 oz setting. When I poured water from the black mug into the IAHE mug there was much more room to the top, so I think it will actually work much better. Sorry, Stef! I put the black on up in my cupboard with a package of Dead Sea Salt from 2017 in it for safe keeping.

Trying out the wide angel lens! Woot! Woot! This will help in this house or sure! No one wants to see the distortion all the time, but boy is it helpful when you can't back up anymore!

Like this photo! I"m able to get everything in the same shot!

Jared had to re-imagine the rope ladder he was making and built a very narrow one today using the same rungs.

Let's check out some different camera settings shall we? This is regular.

This is regular portrait mode.

This might be protrait with studio lighting.

And this is whatever. I did have to go back and deselect the "live" photo thing that takes three photos or a short 2 second video and combines them to make a sharper photo. It is eating up all my memory space! And I have to lessen the quality of the videos for that reason, too. I'll keep messing with it, but I don't need to be too professional about it.

After my errands I finally got to stop at Spark Nutrition, the new protein shake place. Super expensive. It's a meal replacement shake, and I think I saw that they use Herbal Life products (I think it might be an MLM or just a very expensive product line of health supplements). You have to buy a combo shake and either tea or energy bomb or coffee to go with it. I don't know why. This protein coffee was decent and I drank all of it because I needed my caffeine fix for the day. These products are low sugar/low calorie, too, but I'm guessing they have some stevia or something in them. The coffee used a whey protein powder, which is fine. I was a little bit sick drinking it, but I managed. I felt the same as if I drank a protein coffee from the refrigerated section at the grocery store.

Peppermint bark protein shake. A tad grainy like any protein shake is. But not bad. The price tag is what hurts me the most. $13 total for both drinks. Definitely not a monthly treat. It's definitely best for the two income earning families that live in the more expensive neighborhoods. But, I said I would try it and support a local business, so I did. They are located right next to the library, so there's no traffic between my house and them. It's 1/2 mile away on our way to church. It's decent. But expensive.

Found this on FB and thought it was a great idea for the big dishes you use that you don't have covers for. But it only works for a regular fridge not a side by side.

Tada! The back of the beds is on! I'm not sure how I feel about it because I kind of liked the airflow. And now that I'm looking at it, we should either cover it in posters or paint it white to match the walls so the beds feel like they are built into the wall (well, they are screwed into the wall!) This board is a decorative board though, so it can hold shelves and such. Hm,...I'm thinking on it.

Final placement of the ladder. Not so sure about this either. Won't the board dig into the floor? Won't the top dig into the wall? It's not screwed into anything. Only Abishai will be using it. It's kind of a waste of space actually because the Lego shelf next to it was originally expanded to fit right next to the beds. Hm,... again...I need t think on this some more.

I bought the shelving unit so that it could expand at the top and give more shelf space. Sigh.

Abishai immediately started to organize all his "guys" into his little shelf space. I'm glad Jared thought about this.

This looks awkward. Justin can sit up a bit straighter before hitting his head, but this is not good long term. Once we get the Lego table into place, maybe we'll think about how we can fit a small desk in here. Not sure on that yet though.

She did have her legs dangling down between the boards (which are wider spaced than the ones on the bed that will become Justin's Lego table) and it looked pretty funny. But she wouldn't let me take a photo of them dangling. She was rearranging her American Girl stuff. I told her, "But what if you get more AG stuff for Christmas?" Well, she has already thought of where to put it all, so, ok then. You can just go on assuming that Santa/parents/grandparents will be getting you all the stuff on your list. We'll see.  You know what assumptions make, right? To assume makes an ass (out of) u & me. Yup! I said it!

I asked Gary for a link for the cabin we are staying at because I wanted to see if there would be a TV we could plug in a computer or the PS4 to so we can watch movies. Well, there is one and it has Cable TV but there's no wifi at the cabin, so, we can't use streaming services unless we use data and if we use too much data, the speed of it will slow down. So, we have decisions to make, lol. Meanwhile, I was scrolling around the map looking to see what highways we would take and where exactly it is in proximity to state borders. So I followed Kentucky Lake and saw that it is fed by the Ohio River, and close by the Ohio River dumps into the Mississipi River. We are close to the tri state area of Illinois, Missiouri, and Indiana. I was also looking at the hiking trails in our park and there's only two wimpy ones. And then I saw this big green patch north of us. A national park! Let's go see what they have! It's 45 minutes away, but has several more trails, an 1850's village, and a bison preserve! Now, most of that is probably closed, but, if the girls could get one of their stamps for their National Parks booklets and we could do a more rigorous hike, that would be cool.  Leah chimed in, "Well, I already saw bison this year when I was on a ministry trip with Gary." Yes, we know. You've already seen many more things than the rest of us. We get it. You don't like hiking anyway. I guess I thought when Gary said hiking trails, I was assuming that it was like the parks we've been to recently where's many, many trails and it's rugged. So when I saw these shorter easier ones, I was like, that's not hiking! But, maybe it will be exactly what we want. Who knows. There's a playground at the park somewhere, too. And maybe we won't take the kids with us hiking because they are noisy and whiny and will scare away the critters. I don't know. But hey, there are more parks to explore, just sayin'!

Abishai used his new ladder to climb into his bed! Perfect for little feet!

He needed a bit more encouragement to go all the way up to the top. With all his and our talk about him sleeping on the top bunk, we are all not ready for it. The middle bunk is perfect. Daddy had asked him to get the Christmas and rope lights he had thrown up there earlier. I think this bed will just be a storage area for a FEW things for now. But it's there, if it's needed for guests and if Benaiah wants to stay over.

The video above is just an IG story that I reposted because the original post and video is not ok. It was of a distraught mother of a two year old who were told to leave a plane because the two year old wouldn't wear a mask, despite the desperate attempts by the mother and father. Not only were they told they had to leave the plane, but they are not allowed to fly on United Airlines every again. And their luggage, including the child's carseat, that were in the cargo hold, stayed on the plane and went to their destination. Their only carseat. You can't do this! This is insane! Do you not understand the battles we go through with toddlers! And they had flown all summer long, too, without a problem. All of a sudden, the airline was cracking down again and told them to leave. This is not right, and it isn't fair. And the airline did nothing to compensate them. No vouchers for food, hotel, car, carseat, nothing. I decided to follow this mom's IG to see what happens. She is a Christian and her IG is mostly about health and fitness, but eh, we'll see where it leads. It's absolutely ridiculous. But this couple did not make a scene. They left the plane. They tried to reason with the steward. They did raise their voices and the mom started to panic a bit before the video cut out, but I saw nothing that would indicate that they were mean or violent to the steward or staff. No shouting matches or swearing or violence. Which is good. There's no need to make a big scene. Poor family though. Ugh! We'll see where this ends up!

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Ok, Sunday. Church at home. Eh, I don't like the audio mix for the live version at Mt. Gilead for the worship songs, but I like Jeff Faull's sermons, so I'm watching their service at 10:30 and the Christmas series is on the Christmas story from Gabriel's perspective. I'm really liking it. The others are watching Indian Creek's service at 11 with the sermon series, "Hindsight 2020." Lunch with Grandma. Lots of talk with Benaiah about pop culture, which was fun. We got to  fanboy/girl over new TV series, streaming services, directors, all of it. Benaiah wasn't sure about being with us at lunch though because he got to church and felt dizzy and soreness in his chest and started coughing. He has to take a Covid test before going back to work, so he'll take time off on Monday and won't go into work until he gets a negative test result on Tuesday or after.  If he is positive, CFA will pay for the time he has to quarantine what he normally would have earned (I think, I'm not sure it's full pay, but I couldn't imagine it being any less).  Actually, with those symptoms, and knowing um, what he sometimes drinks and/or does or doesn't eat and not knowing his blood pressure is and such, it's not unheard of for kids to have a mild heart attack kind of stuff. Whoops. I probably should have mentioned that. He felt fine by lunch though. I do need to remind him that he did have a very slight heart murmur as a kid so he needs to be careful. I'll do that right now. It could have also been dust in the room or something at church set him off. Who knows. I have a racing heart occasionally, too, but of course I get my blood pressure checked all the time. I don't get my heart checked but once a year usually, but I could always ask at every appointment as well.  Heart attacks aren't a huge thing in my family, thank goodness. And not in Jared's either. It's more diabetes and cancer on both sides. 

Then it was home for screen time and naptime. Then a snack and small groups for older kids. Justin went to church again and Keturah did hers on Zoom. Keturah was able to share a verse about anxiety that Grandpa had her and the girls memorize. Woot! Woot! That's my girl! The only Scriptures that I have perfectly memorized including the address are ones I learned as a kid. I did do a few more in my early 20's but I only know the book and chapter or approximately where to find them and usually paraphrase them. Memory work when you are young is super important and I had no idea how important until I tried to learn a foreign language and when I learned about Classical education and the stages of a child's mind. That's why having Abishai memorize things now, or at least repeat them, will help him later hang historical events on his internal timeline. He doesn't need to understand everything now. Strictly memorize it and away he goes. Anyway, that was good.

Meanwhile, Abishai and I played "scientist" and "lab assistant" and used different colored waters to play with a science kit we haven't used yet. It does come with some safe chemicals, but I knew he just wanted to play around. We had a blast! He was very careful and role played, too. He took it all very seriously. You'll see the photos and videos below. I have to leave out a couple of videos I took because he's only in his underwear (I forgot that we have smocks for these things) and YouTube won't allow that. I'll try to load them here since I took them in HD instead of 4K, but we'll see. 

I also cleared off the old bed frame now Lego table so Jared could mess with it when he wants to. He got some hooks and hooked up the rope lighting better for both boys and it looks insanely awesome and fun and perfect! Ah! It's finally coming together! I'll have to remember at the end of the year to do a recap of all the projects we actually tackled this year so I can quit moaning that we don't do enough. 

And that's about it. Oh, and Jared made me Irish oatmeal and of course tea for breakfast. I think he ate some oatmeal, too. Super yummy!

My brother asked for the cherry winks recipe, so here it is!

Jared posted this this morning on his Twitter.

These snowman plates were originally Gary and Leah's. They were just a tad worn until I put them in the dishwasher in Charlottetown and then they really started to deteriorate, at least the big plates like this one did, so I've hand washed them ever since. I missed a couple of years of getting them out, but for the most part we use them for 3-4 months. There's only 4 sets of a big plate plate, small plate, mug, and bowl, so I have to leave some of other dishes out as well. I do have the mugs right next to our hot chocolate year round because they are perfect size for the kids. We have a couple of other kid themed ones, but most of my mugs are now special and decorative.

Abishai decided to wear the Lloyd costume to Grandma's house today.

Awwww

More awwwww....Because Daddy had set a timer on his phone and it had to go off before Abishai could play on the tablet.

It's been months since I've gotten a photos like these! He's our last baby and he's an extra cuddly one.

I told Abishai to strip to his underwear because we were using regular food dyes in the food, but I should have remembered that we have old tshirts of Daddy's that we use for painting and messy projects. Whoops! Then I wouldn't have an issue about deciding what YouTube will allow or not. I can't risk being banned and I've had a couple of strikes in the last year or so because of copyrighted music or some of Abishai's half naked videos. So, I'll do what I can and see if I can upload some here. I lowered the quality of the videos so they would be smaller. I'm sure they are still going to be great though!

The videos really tell the story, so be sure to watch them from the playlist above. This is a pretty cool set and I hope we can do some with the older kids, too.

He figured out the pippette pretty quickly.

We made up one half of a beaker full of each color one by one of 8 colors, the regular bright red, yellow, green and blue and then some pastels as well. Then we mixed them together and it turned out to be a blue green at the end. He did a fantastic job of being careful with the dyes and recapped them right away.

Filling his beaker with the dye in it.

Trying out the wide angle selfie! There's my dimple that shows up in my kids from time to time.

"I'm a scientist and I'm going to teach all the scientists what to do!" Yes, boss.

Wowzers that's bright! My phone used the new night mode, but still, how are they supposed to sleep! I guess Jared said that it's much better when the red is used. I love it though!

Oh my goodness, this makes me so super happy! So cool! They each have their own little niche!

I laid down on Justin's bed to see how bright it was. Jared just used eye hooks and it's perfect. It's also not too permanent so if we find it's too bright or it's interrupting their sleep patterns, we can change it. They've always had night lights or Christmas lights though, so they are used to sleeping with lights on, even Justin. I wonder if Justin freaks out at night at CIY or at a friend's house or what he's going to do at college when there's no nightlight! Lol! We would put up Christmas lights in the dorm rooms and I think I left mine on sometimes. I prefer to have a nightlight on. So I'll open the door to the boys' room and Keturah's room because Keturah also has Christmas lights on so that the hallway is lit a bit. And we leave our door open most of the time. And we don't have blinds on our windows so if the moon is bright or the neighbors' front lights are on, we have some light in our room. Jared's always been fine with a tiny bit of light for safety.

The End