Year 5, November 30th - December 2nd, 2020: Back to the Grind, and the IN State Museum

 Oh boy, 10pm. It's been that kind of day. I just finished going through emails, writing a thank you email to a 5 yr Lilla Rose customer (I'm still active in the system for Lilla Rose flexi/hair clips, but I don't actively sell), using the coupon code to get some IAHE merch before the sale ends tonight, answering questions on an annual survey to our State Senator, and tried to finish up some school with Justin and rearrange books to be read for the history lessons this week. Phew! We woke up at 7am to Abishai being so loud until we all got up. I heard Justin complaining and then feel back asleep for a bit, waking up to a pound headache. I took ibuprofen, CBD oil, and rubbed other oils on my head and that did the trick. I've been unusually thirsty, too, lately. I tried another coffee like tea today and it was ok. I don't like that it has barely in it, because although it says there's no trace of gluten when it's brewed, it just makes me wonder. Then I had some sips of a veggie fruit smoothie blend and it had some iffy ingredients that might be tied to gluten. Sigh. In any case, I feel like I've been running all day with no chance to stop. I had another appointment for steroid injections from the dermatologist today. She said that yes, the ICU is beyond full and they are pulling nurses from offices like hers, and even doctors. All of this is related to Covid-19. I never said it wasn't real. And we are trying to slow it down so the hospitals don't get like this, but there's only so much you can do. It's sad, yes. I'm still going out and doing my normal activities. But the kids don't have much to do outside the house again and that's hard. They fight, they play, they learn, they stare at screens, they beg for toys, sigh.

Keturah did not have a good Monday, so we'll have to go over her assignments tomorrow. I'm going to have Justin help me bring in the other mattress and switch out his mattress to see if he can use the one that was intended to be on the floor. I think that Benaiah made the boards in the bed under the mattress bow down and so the mattress wasn't properly supported. I can't be sure until I look at it. As soon as we determine if we can use it or not, then we can either leave it with Justin, or put it on the top top bunk. After we settle what's going on the top bunk, I'll put the toddler mattress up there for now until I either decide to give it away or there is a need in the community or something. I'll keep the bedding though. I hope to figure that out and then move some stuff up there for semi permanent storage. And sort out what's going to go under the new Lego table. We'll clear it off so Jared can look at it and decide on the height and mount some 4x4 posts on it. Then Justin can start arranging his stuff and the room will look more tidy. We'll get there hopefully by the end of the week or weekend is my goal. And we also have a field trip planned for the Indiana State Museum on Wednesday. It's a busy week and I am already exhausted. I think we'll try to have a rest and recovery weekend. If we make it until then. I haven't even sat down to do my Bible study today. So I'll do that here after I finish the blog. Here's the pics and vids.

Here's the deal: Things didn't download to my computer correctly, so, I made a playlist of all the vids I think that are from Monday and Tuesday. Here's the link. But also, I think some of the pics from Monday/Tuesday are duplicated below. I will try to fix it, but if not, oh well. Here's that playlist:

Nov 30th-Dec 1st J6 Video Playlist "At Home" 

Well now, somebody USED to love PINK! Lol! Keturah hates pink now. She'll tolerate at it in tiny amounts on a toy or whatever, but she won't wear pink clothes. Hilarious! The pink translucent slick sheet made the whole room look pink in our Charlottetown house in 2012.

I went in and checked on the boys twice last night. Abishai was well away from the edge the first time I checked.

Justin loves the cozy cubby down here with the puppy. My original intention was for Justin to be on the way top, Abishai in the middle, and Socks and stuffed animals to be on the bottom. Just as long as Justin uses the top if Benaiah or a friend comes to sleep over.

On my second check in before bed, He had rolled over. Man, his fingers are looking so big and lanky!

And his little boy face is going away, too. Sleepy guy! But he slept all night long as usual! Yeah for a new bed!  Thanks, Daddy!

I've loved following these tweets this month. Cornwall, England, is a gorgeous place, especially to shoot TV shows.

Check out those sailing ships! My oh my! It's like we haven't left the 18th century!

Two words: No. Fake.

It's snowing!  First snow of the season! And it's windy and cold and wet!

So he immediately went to the treehouse to find shelter. He still got wet though and didn't like it.

Abishai's obstacle course he made during read aloud time.

Jump ahead about 5 hours. Keturah was vacuuming and bumped into some crafting kits. Down went the jar of perler beads all over the floor. She was so mad and moody and took it out on the rest of us. The boys cleaned it up after I told him that I would count it towards them earning their Lego Advent calendar tomorrow.

I wanted to check out Jared's handiwork, and my oh my, is it nice and hard. I love hard mattresses! And it's cozy, with just enough head room. I might have to steal this bed if I get mad or something. And this thing doesn't move a millimeter!

Hello, roomie below me! Lol.

Abishai's special friends.

Waiting for Abishai to get out of the bathroom so Justin could bombard him with snowballs! They had a great time of it!

Daddy brought home a ton of "poppers" and Abishai had a blast in them! Check out the videos!

Each kid got the same amount of marshmallows as how old they are. So Abishai got 5, Keturah got 12, and Justin eats his fair share of them in hot chocolate after night, so I didn't give him any. He actually needs to stop doing that night because then his noise gets clogged from all the milk and the sugar is keeping him away.

Another angle of Jared's craftsmanship.

Getting ready for a snowball fight! Abishai was in the bathroom.

Daddy brought home big boxes full of poppers! Just get right in and jump, jump, jump!

Then squeeze until you break the box!

Then roll in them!

Then have Daddy make you fall into the poppers!

Well, I didn't hold my phone still long enough, that's why the blur. But there's snow on the ground!

Snow on the other side!

And yeah! I thought that's what the neighbors were doing! It looks so pretty! Thanks neighbors!

Snow on the cars, too.

It's a late start again and I feel like I've been running around all day, but at home. Jumping from one kid to the next, from one subject to the next, from my phone to food to dog to tasks to trying to care for myself. There's just not enough time in the day to take care of the basic stuff. And I'm exhausted. And we have a field trip tomorrow. And and and. And I want to go to bed WITH my husband, but I already short changed the blog on Sunday and yesterday because the photos didn't download properly and if I put it off, I'll only be further behind. My new phone came in, so I'll be dying to play with it, but I told Keturah and myself that I have a long list of things to do BEFORE I even touch it. It doesn't have to be activated right now. We can pretend it's still sitting on the shelf. Sigh. But the color is going to be gorgeous and I bought a case through the IAHE for it (plus a t-shirt and new large hoodie because I can't squeeze into this size small zip up hoodies anymore because I'm fat, sigh).

Ok, let's see. We read Article 1, Section 7 & 8 of the Constitution. We read a bunch in our George Washington's World book. We caught up on IEW and piano lessons and math. Abishai agreed to and completed school while Daddy was Bible study. He's working on long vowel sounds and remembers the new rule already just from yesterday. We played many "battles" in the hallway and shot guns from behind boxes and threw snowballs as bombs complete with sound effects from me! We put up the rope lights for Abishai's bed in a temporary way for now. We had to switch out the faceplate of the outlet so I could put a USB adapter one in. Now there's 4 USB adapters and 3 regular plugs. I'm sure Justin can use the USB adapter for his phone charger and if we get more lights, they can just plug into there as well. He says he wants the rope lights for his Lego table, but that's on his dime, not ours. The kids opened the dog's advent calendar before I could get to the kitchen this morning, so I missed that "first." Grrr. They had their chocolate ones this morning and earned their Lego ones for this evening, plus the Jesse Tree one. Abishai has 4 countdown/advent calendars: the old mouse one from my childhood, the Jesse Tree, the chocolate one, and the LEGO one. Sigh. Anyway, it's fun but hard to keep track of sometimes.

I trimmed the dog's nails, cleaned up the floor around my desk, took a shower, and did my Bible study. Justin had to finish school after his screen time because the timing got too late and there was a special event on his game. Keturah was eager to do good deeds to earn her Lego that she kept telling everybody else how to earn it, too. Abishai just wanted to eat all day and bug Justin. Socks tried to stay out of the way. Jared came home to get a box for shipping some e2 product. Oh, I added my favorite Christmas cd's to my iTune playlist again and synced my phone with it. It's super windy and cold outside and some people have lost power in the township. Our internet went out for a few minutes again. But I can feel the chill coming in through the windows and the heaters haven't turned off all day. Winter has come. And I'm just tired.

Hold on, hold on! I haven't had my tea yet! They were very eager for their chocolate Christmas countdown calendars this morning.

The snow stayed until through the night. Brrrrr.....

Well, someone's ready for battle!

Hello, Mr. Imagination!

I'm supposed to hide behind the box (Abishai thought I could fit in it, ha!) and my weapons are snowball bombs and a long gun! Pew! Pew!

This was very good! Not too salty, not sweet, not spicy. So, maybe it would be bland to alot of people. To me, it was perfect! And the beans didn't hurt my stomach too bad.

Pretty basic easy to read and understand ingredients, way to go Aldi's!

Maybe I need a new water bottle that says, "This is the way (we do things around here)." Lol.

Aldi's for the win with special k-cups and whipped topping!

I had the kids open their Lego calendars before we ate because Jared got home really late from work and he had Bible study tonight. Abishai got an x-wing ship I think and Keturah got a Lego Friend's character. All the Lego pieces will stay in a bin right next to the calendars until we get back from vacation. Then they can get put in the regular bins.

Safer rope lighting! Better than Christmas lights, which, have served us well over the years. I like the rope better. I hope to string it along in the inside of the beds' ceilings and tack it down with a staple gun. I got this one as a lightning deal on Amazon, so I was only allowed to buy one. But it has like 16 different colors and 4 different modes.

Much easier on Jared's back when he doesn't have to get up and down off the floor. Mine, too. I like this height for Abishai. We didn't get the mattresses switched today, but there's always Thursday-Sunday for these types of things. My list is long and my hours and energy are short. Sigh.

Oh goodness, if none of those videos above are in sequence or make sense, I'm sorry. There were multiple ones to upload and it's hard to keep track as I was trying to also watch a TV show and get to bed earlier last night. So, I apologize.

I'm feeling awake enough right now, so let's see what we can do about today. Basically, we went to the Indiana State Museum with a group of homeschoolers. We had engineering classes and explored the whole museum, at least the parts that were open. We saw the Daniel the Tiger (an extension cartoon program from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood), the Christmas train, an exhibit about opioid and substance abuse, the exhibit on rocks and mastodons and astronomy and ecology, and Santa's front yard. We stepped out the back of the museum to look at the White River Canal, too. The Indiana State Museum is different than the Indiana Historical Society which is located a couple of blocks over. And it's also different than the Eiteljorg Museum just next door that focuses on Native Americans. It also shares a parking garage with the White River State Park and the NCAA Hall of Champions. And then another block to the west is the Indianapolis Zoo. South of the IN State Museum is the Indianapolis Indians baseball field. And don't forget, we not only have the Indianapolis Public Library, we also have the Indiana State Library nearby. But you go to the Indiana Historical Society to do genealogical work if you have Indiana natives in your bloodlines. The Indiana State Library has more older books from Indiana authors. And of course the law library is in the Indiana State House. Then you have Newfields, which used to be call the Indiana Art Museum. And of course you have the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. And then all the monuments and WWI Museum, plus the Benjamin Harrison historical home. Phew! That's a ton! But you know what? I've been to them all! Various kids have gone to the various ones over the years, sometimes 2 or 3 times, with the exception of the Zoo and the Children's Museum. I typed up on my Facebook page just how blessed we've been over the years to have all these wonderful places to visit and learn. And we can take the time to visit. Oh yeah, Conner Prairie, too. It's crazy the amount of wealth of knowledge and the effort that the historians go into making this history available to the public in such a tangible and interactive way. When you get to stand in front of Mister Rogers' shoes and sweater or a real piece of rock from the moon, there's just something about being that close to these things. What people don't understand is what it takes to curate it all, decide on what is important, how to display it, how to store it, etc. 

And what I found today was that we were the only ones in the museum, our little homeschool group. It was super quiet. But the staff were all there cleaning and answering questions and making sure people had their wristbands, etc. The staff that did our classes was super friendly and excited and raring to go. They want to share what they know with others. It's an incredible resource. Indianapolis might be the talk on the news about the high Covid-19 numbers or our obesity rate or our high crime, but if people would take the time and money to step into these magnificent buildings full of knowledge, I bet things could change. And if you're on Medicaid, you get to get in some of these places for $2 each! Or going with a school group rate, where chaperones are often free! And then you get to explore on your own. And yet, the museum was pitifully empty. The IMAX theater that was there isn't operating right now. It was way too quiet, even for the middle of the week. It was sad. And everyone was cleaning well and there were lots of signs that said only one family in this particular area at a time and the water fountains were covered and they had hand sanitizing stations. Really. It's safe to be in these places at least. So, we are taking the month of December and visiting all our favorites and enjoying all the Christmas exhibits that we usually avoid because of cost or the crowds.  Because seeing things in real life is more important than just reading about them in a book or watching a YouTube video about engineering and problem solving. I don't care how exhausted I get. This is what homeschooling is all about. Learning and having fun and exploring.

Speaking of engineering, before I get too tired to write well, I will start with the beginning of the day when it was just Abishai and I in the engineering class for the K-2 students. Oh me oh my! If he was in a regular classroom, the teacher would probably send home notes like, "Abishai talks a lot. Abishai won't sit still. Abishai interrupts the teacher." He was up and down and all around and yet, very involved in the projects as well. He did listen and understand what was said. We had to back a shovel or scoop of some kind that we could only use two fingers to hold onto it and then scoop dry beans from one place to the next. I asked questions like, what could we use for the scoop? What about the handle? Should we put tape here or here? Let's test it and see if we need more tape, etc. So yes, I had some very prompting questions, but he saw it, too and bosses me around. He then took our workable prototype and kept tweaking it. Our final prototype you'll see below includes a double handle and "teeth" like a real back hoe has. And then we were to make a bridge. I made the main suggestion about using cups as the pillars, but Abishai knew how he wanted the tape to attach them. And then he had the genius idea that the bridge needed ramps so the cars could get up on it. And he told me how to put the tape before I even had a clue what he was talking about. The wheels were turning in his head so fast! It was awesome! And then he kept asking the teacher to test it and to come see and he raised his hand multiple times without hesitating. Jeepers. I'm just used to Justin and Keturah's groaning and reluctance to say anything, lol. They had a class later in the day and built something that would keep a raw egg from cracking if the contraption was dropped from a story up. Justin's did well, Keturah's did not. And they did not want to bring them home, so I don't have photos. I have a video though. Yes, when I had class with Abishai, the museum let Keturah and Justin wander around together. Justin had his phone and I checked in with him a couple of times. And then Abishai and I had gotten free timed tickets for Daniel Tiger while the others were in class. It felt kind of weird to send the middles off like that, but they are 12 and 15. They did fine, and so did we.

I did take the collapsible wagon in and it saved my back from carrying everything. There was another mom with a stroller, but most had backpacks. I kept having to remind myself that I have an invisible disease and by using the wagon, it saves my back and saves me from being in a wheelchair. It's just how it works for us, although the wagon has become very squeaky. I might take the smaller foldable book cart next time. We'll see. But sometimes Abishai does need to sit down in the wagon, too. But anyway, I'm glad I had it. Oh, when Abishai and I went into the astronomy area, his face lit up when I would show him things like "This rock was on the moon!" And when we were looking at the planet projector, he clicked on Saturn's moons and wanted to know what their names were. Unlike Keturah and Justin, he will stop and ask what things are and listen intently. And then he can recall a lot of the information later like how the mastodon died because it fell through the ice and got stuck in the mud.

Oh, and I had no idea that Abishai has been regularly watching Daniel Tiger. I asked him where he had seen it and he didn't hesitate in saying "(Amazon) Prime" and "YouTube Kids." Jeepers, he knows his TV watching platforms! I'm so glad he has been watching it because it follows in Mister Rogers' footsteps about learning about feelings and basic social things like libraries, schools, home life, mail, music, etc. I haven't watched it, but I've heard it's really, really good and the exhibit showed and explained some of the aspects of the show. Abishai was actually exited to see the exhibit and seemed familiar enough with the characters. He loved pretending to be different cars and driving around, too. They have 45 minute time slots and then they clean the whole place before another group of kids can come in. And again, it was just like 3 families. No big deal. All the pens were wiped down. All the interactive toys. It was perfect. 

And one last display I'll here is the one on opioids and other addictive substances. It was a very well down exhibit explaining not only opioids, but how any addictive substance can affect your brain. Hopefully the middles took from it a little bit of an understanding about not only drugs, but caffeine, smoking, drinking, shopping, social media, and pain in general. We watched a short video about Narcon which is something I guess anybody can have that will counteract a drug overdose. They had photos of people that have turned their lives around and a huge blanket made from all kinds of materials indicating that addiction can happen to anybody at any time. Even Abishai picked up on a couple of things.

So, it was a great day, but I'm hurting something fierce. Jared and I had a interrupted sleeping night and we are both feeling it in weird ways, too. I've pushed myself really really hard physically the last 5-6 days and my body is about to say "enough is enough." But I have several more things in the next couple of days, so my own "I should do but don't have time limits" projects will have to keep being pushed so I can rest. The kids will need some rest, too. But tomorrow is Winter Lights, so that should be fun. I think I will end the blog with today and then do a 4 day blog for weekend since I'll have a lot of photos for both. Speaking of that, I handed Abishai the DSLR today and within 30 seconds, he messed up the auto focus on it. So I couldn't use to take photos. Which meant I used my phone, which means I was only at 50% for most of the day even after charging it. Good grief. And now I have to figure out my DSLR camera before Winter Lights tomorrow night. I hadn't planned on it. Plus I have an appointment over the phone with behavioral health for my ADD.  Loads of fun there. And teach school. And remember to eat, shower, and feed the kids. Yup. That's why I finished most of the Christmas stuff already. I need to go out again, but I just ordered some different pants online from Kohl's, this time in two different sizes knowing I'll be taking half of them back. Craziness.

I'll try to see if I can load the pics and then do a playlist for the videos. I might go back and do that for yesterday's videos as well. Time to move on.

Today's playlist:

IN State Museum Dec 2nd, 2020 Westside Homeschool Friends 

The 2nd day of the countdown and I get to give the dog his treats! Yes, Socks has his very own countdown calendar this year! I happened to be in Aldi's on the first day of the new sales week (Wednesday) and they still had one! Yeah! Their advent calendars are very, very popular. They have wine ones and cracker ones and the chocolate ones. Yum!

All the treats are the same. And Socks is ok with them, despite not usually like the chewier treats.

Pics from the DSLR go here. Abishai then messed up the focus on my camera so we couldn't use it the rest of the day. Bummers! This is what I did get on my phone though. And I did fix my DSLR the next day. It was just a setting that he turned off thank goodness!

Time to go to school, kids!

Got to build a new scoop for the paleontologists! But there's a twist! You can only pick up using two fingers. I asked, "What could you use for a scoop?" And Abishai replied, "The cup!" "And what about the handle?" "The stick!" And so on. I tried to not insert myself too much. And he did a great job figuring it and tweaking it multiple times.

We reinforced it with a stick on the outside and held it in place with rubber bands which led to other tweaks, too.

He wanted to put the smaller stickers on somehow. So we started with them further apart, and then brought them in closer and they functioned like the teeth on a front loader scoop!

Ok, Mom, we'll put it on this way AND put tape on like this.

I wish we didn't have to hide his pretty face behind the mask. But it's a cute mask that I got at CVS.

Now, here is when I was trying to figure out what button Abishai pushed that messed with the auto focus. So, I got a few out of focus pictures and then switched to my iPhone when I couldn't figure it out. Thankfully, I was able to fix it the next day before Winter Lights. This table was for them figuring out how nerves and addictions and cravings work.

Shopping addiction.

Other pillars with different addictions.

The kids controlled the lines. The bots would move if it was on a line. The red dots were the cravings.

And now back to the iPhone pics:

Testing the bridge we made! It was super strong! I did ask him questions like, "What do you think we could use for the pillars?" And, "How many pillars do you think we need?" I started putting tape on the bottoms of the cups and he wanted to put more tape from the cup to the box. And then he came up with this brilliant idea to make ramps! "No, Mommy, the tape goes this way!" And he was so adorable in class saying, "Teacher, come see how strong my bridge is!" And also raising his hand to say somewhat random things when he heard certain words as the teacher spoke. Too cute!

We also made a shovel that you can only lift with two fingers. Everyone had great ideas on both projects! For young ones, grades K-2, I didn't see too much parental involvement at all, just some guidance. It was too cool!

So many displays of trees around town! I can't wait to see a lot of them! On the left is the "school" aka classroom. I love how it looks like an old fashioned school building. The Indiana State Museum is 3 main floors. There's some other floors on the other side I think though because of the IMAX theater and offices. It's a double sided elevator to the right of this photo. We rode it probably a dozen times because we were all over the place and we were pulling the wagon.

We couldn't visit the second floor or walk out on this platform like last time, but here's a look at limestone and other layers of rock that Indiana has, like sandstone. Indiana of course is famous for it's limestone that is in the buildings in Washington, D.C. just like New Hampshire is famous for it's granite that is used all over the nation.

Abishai was super excited about the train ride! And the ladies were so sweet and excited, too. It was so quiet that we could have ridden it many more times! But Abishai is the perfect age to do these things and remember them and them still be magical.

The rest of us were a little bit too big, but we rode the Santa Express, too.

Cute little scene! Abishai liked it!

Crystal caverns!

What?! An outhouse?! Lol!

This exhibit started out just talking about opioids but it also talked about all addictions like shopping, nicotine, caffeine, pain pills, and social media.

This part you put a translucent plastic sheet with a brain scan on it and figure out what is happening like if it's a person on drugs or someone that has PTSD. And then you can go inside the brain and learn more.

Yup.

Sad but true. And my mom was half a pack to one pack a day smoker. It took us way longer to travel long distances because my dad didn't want her smoking in the car and she needed to smoke every hour. They even let her smoke outside at her nursing home the week before she died. I don't think many nursing homes allow this, but this was an older and smaller facility for medicare patients.  I remember standing outside with her and my aunt and cousins talking while she smoked. My aunt had stopped smoking at that point, thank goodness.

I'm not sure how this related to the exhibit because I didn't have time to read it all but maybe it has to do with assumptions people make about others. There was a sign that talked about how to use more neutral and/or affirming terms rather than negative terms. For example, say, "sober," and not "clean" because addicts don't need to feel like they are "dirty" when they are abusing substances.

Social media addiction. Leah doesn't know what any of these are, but Justin and I could name them all. Pretty sad, or just a sign of the times.

Addicted to approval. "Likes" and "loves" buttons, literally! Eek!

Alcohol being the most infamous drug of choice.

I explained these coins (or something similar) as being tokens that alcoholics put in their pocket so when they are thinking about going to a bar to drink, they can be reminded of the things they have learned in their AAA meetings. They are sort of like badges when you are 1 year sober, 5 years sober, etc. I remember a friend's wife talking about it on her Instagram (Chris and Mary Graham).

This talked about how Abraham Lincoln's wife was literally insane and tried to end her own life and such. The black button signifies that you are mourning.

I real lock of Mary Todd Lincoln's hair and a portrait of her that belonged to her sister.

Learning about neural pathways through the brain.

Follow the triggers and emotions. This reminded me of the movie, "Inside Out," with all the little emotion characters like Joy and Sadness.

Shredding our worries.

Counting our blessings.

The faces of addiction and recovery.

What makes up your story?

Abishai tried to sound this out although it's backwards! I remember coming here in the summer of 2017 and showing the kids this piece of art made by an artist that they had studied in art class at co op.

I love these festive snowflakes! This atrium reminds of the Children's Museum's atrium.

1 million grains of sand. I reminded the kids about God's promise to Abraham, that his descendants would outnumber the grains of sand. Well, if this sphere that is half full of 1,000,000 grains of sand, how much more is all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world? Yes, too many to fathom! Incredible!

After we passed a real moon rock and footprints from an astronaut on the moon, we came to the planet projector, one of my favorite parts of this museum. It's a 3D sphere and the projector can put any planet or moon or space object on it and you can twist and turn the projection. Abishai pushed Saturn's moons and asked me what the names were of each one of them. I also showed the kids how big Alaska really is when you see it on a globe.

Time for the Mastodons! I guess Indiana has more Mastodons than Woolly Mammoths.

Showing how erosion works.

A glacier ice tunnel! Abishai decided to hide in a spot and scared me! He did it again when some older folk were around and I had to quickly put an end to that. Don't scare the older folk, buddy!

Lots of examples of ancient beasts that died during/after the ice age. Which was real, by the way, but God used the flood to move things around and I'm sure glaciers were part of that.

Sad story. A farmer found a mastodon's skeleton on his property when he was plowing. From the evidence, the paleontologists had determined it had fallen through some ice in a swampy area and got stuck in the mud. They had sound effects and everything with the story and Abishai sadly and concernedly mentioned it at dinner that night.

Let's see. I think we weigh around 400 lbs or so altogether. So we used this scale to check.

This was the part where they mouths could move back and forth to show you the differences between how the mastodon and the woolly mammouths eat. They eat different types of plants, grasses vs. twigs.

Just a few differences, including where they were located in the state of Indiana.

I had to take a picture of the copper ore because that's what they were digging up in Cornwall, England in the Poldark TV show, lol.

Yes, it's as big as your hand and lives in Indiana caves, or at least used to. We walked through an ecology type exhibit showing some Indiana critters and how man has encroached on their territory.

Somebody is tired and doesn't want to be at the museum anymore. So he took Santa's seat in the Santa's front yard scene. I love how colorful this area is! I think it had those huge foam blocks last time though.

One of Abishai's favorite parts of the day, the fake fire and fake roasted marshmallows! He kept saying, "I need to roast more marshmallows for Santa!" And he did put his hand in the 'fire" just for fun. Goofball! You know better! They did have these cushions taped to the floor which was a great idea so they didn't slide around.

Oh my goodness. It took a lot longer than expected to get Abishai settled for 2.5 seconds for a photo. He was running around and around the fire trying to pick a spot. Just pop a squat so I can get a quick photo and then you can run around again. Sheesh! It made Justin and I laugh!

It was an incredibly cool fake fire and the marshmallows were wooden blocks on dowel rods. Quality exhibit, that's for sure. I was impressed.

Keturah was asking about this. I did ask her directly if she believe in Santa and she said, "Somewhat." Oh my word, isn't that awesome!? Now, Jared doesn't think so because he doesn't want to perpetuate the myth, but for me, to hear that we've been able to keep her a child a little bit longer by not exposing her too soon to too much first hand knowledge of the world makes my heart happy. While I talk about the ills of the world, I also don't want them growing up too fast. I'm more than happy to keep buying American Girl doll stuff and Legos and letting her believe in Santa a little while longer. I'm sure she would be mightily teased if her friends in her small group knew. But I was the same way. I was able to stay naive and innocent much longer than my peers. And I appreciate that.

Keturah was very excited about the reindeer barn. I should have taken more photos but they had bright paintings of all of Santa's reindeer on the walls with different aspects of reindeer, like how their hooves grow differently in winter and summer because of the change in their terrain and how their eyes change color, too. Silly Safaris even talked about that on their FB page. And then I forgot, but Keturah remembered, that male reindeer loose their antlers in the fall/winter and females loose theirs in the spring. Cool!

Then Abishai got to brush, feed, water, and put jingle bells on Rudolph. He loved that and brushed Rudolph with care. Although, he called Rudolph, Duloph?

I helped Abishai write a letter to Santa!

The lady said that Santa would write back in a few days! Woot! Woot! I haven't done that before with the kids. There is a Santa mailbox on the circle downtown, too.

Mailing the letter off to Santa.

Bored out of her mind. My introverts don't like museums and last about 2 hrs before they want to go home and show it in all the ways they can.

See how gorgeous and bright this area is?! Santa's Front Yard is what they call it. And of course they are cleaning it often.

The Reindeer Barn

I gues it's the new norm to have photos with masks in them. Sigh. But Abishai loves selfies, so here we go. I wore my new favorite comfy Christmas shirt, too. It's pretty wide, so it hides a lot of things, let's just say. It was a whim of a purchase when I was looking for pants at Kohl's and was $12. Basic old lady t-shirt. But I love it!

The kids were allowed to walk the museum and attend their class by themselves, woot! Woot! So here they are waiting for their class to begin while Abishai and I go to the Daniel Tiger exhibit. It was a timed entry ticket and I figured the other two didn't care to see Daniel Tiger. It worked out perfectly!

Daniel's clock tower.

Pretty much the end of the White River Canal. I saw a few people running alongside it. It bends to the north near the Indiana Historical Society which is that big building you see to the right. Here we are looking north and east out of the 3rd story of the Indiana State Museum.

Looking west and north. The Indianapolis Zoo is just over the White River to the west of here.

Wow! These look like they were actually worn by Mister Rogers'! I love him so much! I need to watch the documentary of him and the new film that a famous actor did. I loved his kind and gentle voice, too.

I know his mom made the first few sisters he wore on the set, but this one looked like it was machine made. So cool though!

Abishai got to prented he was different vehicles! He loves to play make believe! And he tried his best to explain to Daddy what these looked like and how to put it on.

Now he's an ambulance! He had all the rescue vehicles sitting outside of Daniel Tigers' home ready for action at one point.

I don't know any details about the show, but just by walking around and reading these small signs, I gathered that the show really does follow Mister Rogers' goals in teaching kids about feelings and social situations, especially from a moral and Christian perspective. Mister Rogers' was a real minister, ordained and everything. The town looks super cute and bright and playful with a library, music store, and post office.

Daniel's house. Oh and lots of cute ditties and sons.

Now Abishai is a police car! He made me the trolley once and then "caught" me because I was going too fast!

Mr. Speedy Delivery postman! Too cute!

The music store! So whimsical. And the keys hitting the metal dish sounded like the sounds the trolley makes!

My littlest guy in the Trolley. My heart melted.

We briefly went back to Santa's front yard and I made a snowman with magnets.

I randomly opened up Instagram while Abishai was playing and saw that Benaiah had posted something. Um, I don't recognize any of this. I wonder what he's really listening to and what's influencing him. Hm....

The kiddos came out to experiment with their egg dropping contraptions. They were supposed to build something that would protect the egg and slow down the descent so it didn't break. Justin's had wings and his egg didn't break. Keturah's was more of just the egg nestled in the cup and it did break. We did this experiment with our Charlottetown co op in 2015. It's a fun one! They didn't want to keep their contraptions though.

One of the original Santa Express trains.

Cute sign. I expected the Santa stuff to be all in one place but it was scattered. I think it is hyped up more than it really is though.

We stepped outside to see the steam powered clock! How cool! The kids thought so, too, seriously! We were right alongside the cold canal.

A pit stop for dogs? We aren't sure, but there were three sizes of doggie doors (boarded up). Abishai, without any prompting and we didn't talk about it when we took this photo, told Daddy how Lucky would fit in the small one, Cheney would fit in the medium one and Socks would fit in the big one. Yup, you are right, little one!

I still don't have my own house key, so we had to get Daddy's from him at work, and then we stopped at the library, too. So it took a little bit longer to get home. But as soon as we were home, Abishai changed, had screen time and then waited for Daddy's arrival.

I knew exactly what was in this package because I could feel and smell it! I've supported these missionaries for 4 years or more I think. The wife was in my MOPS group for years. The husband was just here in Indy for a bit with two of their boys because one had to have surgery. So I'm guessing he brought these here with him for us supporters. So, straight from Guatemala with no middle man, coffee! Yum!

Abishai and Keturah worked on this setup of a hideout so when Daddy walks into the "surprise," Abishai can get him! Yes, Abishai will get INTO the box and hide. The stuffed animals are on top of the bookcase and they plus the mattress help to keep the box from sliding. What a set up!

Abishai said he doesn't like the rope lights because they turn off. I'll have to work with the settings so that they stay on for him when we put them in permanently. But he came but asking for his regular Christmas lights. So Daddy got him all fixed up with those.

I think it looks fine though. We'll see.

The End