Year 6, April 30th - May 2nd, 2021: April Showers Brought May Flowers

 And Mayflowers bring Pilgrims, lol! What a gorgeous Friday! And I was on the ball and finished the May IAHE Region 9 monthly enewsletter today instead of tomorrow! Woot! Woot! I still have to correct one of Justin's papers, but he did finish it before we went to park day. I had my counseling appointment, too. Keturah went with my friend Renae to her house to earn some money cleaning. Jared got his first round of the Covid shot and thankfully, doesn't feel sore or sick. He got the Phizer brand one and has to wait a month for the second round. Then he worked from home again. He had trouble loading some large video files, but after making his computer take priority over other devices on the wifi, he finally got it done. Abishai had karate tonight and he was so tired from the whole day that he went to bed in tears. 

It was a great, full day. It was 65 degrees, very sunny, and very windy at the park. We had about 8 families represented, including a family I hadn't seen in over a year! They were the ones who adopted a boy last year from the Ukraine and it was so good to see them again! And then one of our regular families came who we hadn't seen in a few weeks. Abishai was not happy at first that we were at Southeastway instead of "the park with the river snake" aka Fall Creek. But after we got out of the car and saw his friend Mckenna, he was off and running. Mckenna is twice as tall as he is and more than twice his age. She was hanging out with a couple of other older kids, but they all let Abishai tag along. I told her mom to let her know that she can tell me to redirect Abishai at any point. But she's too sweet of a girl and only minded him a little bit. Abishai told Mckenna good-bye and hugged her when we left. At one point, he was sitting on a bench between two or three lanky teens, his feet dangling and kicking. It was so cute! He just loves people so much. He always wants to say good-bye and give hugs. He wants to love on us all day long just to check in, with no ulterior motive. He's a fierce love warrior. And then he throws huge tantrums when he's hangry or exhausted. He's just so tender and compassionate and I love that about him.

Justin enjoyed Pokemon with his friends and hanging out in general. And Keturah enjoyed the peace and quiet of home. Oh, Justin finished his science and math books this week and Keturah is down with IEW and science, too. We have 3 weeks left of school!

We have no agenda other than groceries tomorrow and the normal routine on Sunday. Thank goodness. I'm sure I can find things to work on, but I just haven't wanted to. When I find room in the schedule where I could do something, I find that I just want to rest and waste time. Perhaps I'll be more motivated after school is out. Or not. Organized closets and spaces are great, but it's all going to burn up someday anyway, right? Who knows. That work/life/fun balance is a hard one. 

So adorable!

Shot #1 of two. Second one will be in a month's time.

#truth

That's nice. Over HALF of the state's budget goes to public education and YET we have many cities and areas that have the WORST high school drop out rates and kids that can't read or write. Something is seriously screwed up here. And teachers are still spending their own money on things for the classroom. Where do all these funds go?

Who says homeschoolers are not socialized? After following around the big kids twice his size and more than twice his age all afternoon like a little puppy dog (and they tolerated him quite well), Abishai got to hold and talk to 8month old Benjamin. Abishai was so tender and sweet. And then tried to teach Benjamin how to play rock, paper, scissors!

This is my FAVORITE pic of these 5 pics. Abishai's smile and tenderness towards Benjamin was amazing! Abishai can be so tough sometimes, but then he can reign it all in, too. He was talking to Benji and growling with him. Benji was talking up a storm at him, too. Abishai said on the way home that he thought Benji might like to hear him say, "Goo goo, gah gah," too. Oh, and Randi suggested peek-a-boo and Benji smiled huge for Abishai. It was so adorable! Two kids, both the youngest of 4 by 6 years, having a conversation. My heart was a puddle in the dirt, I tell ya!

By the way, Abishai decided that he wanted his outfit to be all the same color, red. That's why he choose it. Daddy then suggested red socks and shoes and tried to show Abishai how his Avengers rain boots had red in it, but Abishai opted for his regular shoes instead. Good call.

When I pulled the leftovers out for dinner tonight, I discovered a ton of vegetables I needed to eat before it went bad. So, I ate all of this on my plate and some of the raw greens as well. We'll see if I'm hungry for grains later on. I love just sticking a fork in the greens' buckets and eating directly from there. So much flavor all by itself!

And, Jared's got that magic piece of paper. Sigh. I don't know if he'll have an online record or passport or whatever, but he will have the card. Blech. Just blech.

Well, we intended to go grocery shopping today, Saturday, but Jared's project took all day. That's ok. It was a beautiful day and I'm glad he took the initiative! He's just in severe pain now. Sigh. At least he doesn't feel bad from his covid vaccination. He thinks he's going to put this in living room. I'm putting my foot down and saying no. I know we don't use the couch on an average day, and that's only because we put stuff up there to prevent the dog from sleeping on it. I had Keturah take off everything that wasn't supposed to be there and of course, it looks much nicer. I think our living room also feels squished because of the Hot Wheels garage which is hanging out very close to the recliner. Anyway, I don't want to just leave this project in the garage, but I'm not sure what else to do with it right now. But it's done and he's happy it's done. And all his tools got put away as well.

Meanwhile, I took a shower, edited Justin's paper with him, and got those digital notes ready so I can just copy and paste blurbs into social media posts, complete with website links. I'm sure I will tweak them as I go along and make them specific to the situtation as well. I started out in Notes on iCloud, but then I couldn't copy and paste the links. So, I copied the whole thing and put it in a word document and added the links. Then I thought I would try the Evernote app that I used to use, because you can create folders and individual notes in them. That way I could separate each blurb and instead of highlighting a section of a bigger note, I can just Ctrl-A to copy all and it's faster to post. When I opened Evernote, I discovered that I hadn't used it in 5 years, almost to the day. I had notes in there of "What I want to do before leaving PEI." I didn't break down and cry, but man, that's not fun to see. I didn't take the time to read through them all, but I'm sure I will as I use the app. I'm glad I got those notes done though. It's going to save me tons of time hen pecking out messages on my phone. 

The kids were in and out today. Justin mowed at Grandpa's house. Keturah worked on her Matthew 5, 6, and 7 copy work. Abishai was everywhere. Screen time and chores. Dinner was leftovers and I had to make mashed potatoes with a bag of red potatoes that were starting to rot. I cooked them at dinner time but didn't put them together until afterwards, so they are ready for another meal. We had just enough raw vegetables left for a big salad. And we have a log of ground beef to cook, so maybe we'll fit in grocery shopping tomorrow. I just want to get back to normal with our grocery shopping. I want Jared to go with me and I want to get a big, full load. I don't know why. I know Justin could help me, sort of. And Keturah could, sort of. I just want to do it like we used to I guess. 

Speaking of Keturah, she got high compliments from Mrs. Renae on her cleaning job. I think it's going to be a great little job for awhile. It keeps Keturah busy earning a little money and learning to help someone else and do better at cleaning than she does at home. And it helps Renae not be too lonely without her grown daughters around. I know she sees them, but that empty nest thing is real. I'm already feeling it. It's a win-win!

Jared had this project on his mind today. Watch the transformation take place! These are seats from the gray van we drove to Canada and back twice!

He put them on a platform to create a bench seat.

They can still slide back and forth.

And they can recline.

Hi, I'm Mrs. Claus. And this is Buddy the Elf.

Are you comfortable?

Jared took this photo. I need to make sure he tells me to sit up or something. Ugh. I only look 9 months pregnant here, and I'M NOT PREGNANT. I also feel it, too. So frustrating.

All the pieces before it was constructed.

All done.

Jared wants to put this in the living room to place the sectional. I'm adamant it's only for a man cave. Guess what? The garage IS Justin's man cave! Ding, ding, ding! No more sitting on the floor for him! At least for now. I'm glad Jared took the time to put away his tools despite being in severe pain. The kids had brought everything in, he just had to arrange them on the shelf. He's getting a bit better about being neater. I'm perfectly happy with where everything is located right now. The aisles are wide enough and the rest is fine. Puppy has more room to lay down, too.

Stuff happened on Sunday.

 I was curious who was up on deck to preach today and what Benaiah was up to, so I checked the schedule. And of course, without fail, either the Sunday before or the Sunday after my Mom's Going to Heaven Anniversary, Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) is played. And of course Agnus Dei. It was a great song set. And they actually changed Amazing Grace into an upbeat version. It was very cool! And I heard people clapping, too. I thought I might ball like a baby, but I was ok. Sermon was ok. Dan and his family is sick, so he preached first hour and then just couldn't do the rest, so he went home. It's a good thing we record everything! They just played the video from the first hour. Technology comes in handy!  Benaiah was the video switcher and it showed! As in, he always does a great job vs. others, in my opinion. He had lunch with Ethan, so we didn't see him today. Gary and Leah are on their way home from Hawaii. They were there for a conference. That means Benaiah was home all week by himself! Awww, what a big guy he is! I wasn't the least bit worried. He's too busy to get into trouble. And if anything went wrong, and he didn't show up somewhere he needed to be, we would know about it pretty quickly. No worries! And, since he lives there, Gary and Leah don't have to get a house sitter or mail picker upper anymore. Woot! Woot! Grandpa let him drive his car, yes, including to and from work, the Veloster. Benaiah says he misses having a stick shift and has mentioned buying the Veloster off of Grandpa. We'll see.

We had the mashed potatoes I made last night plus fried bologna and fresh vegetables for lunch. Then we went grocery shopping. Then I put everything away. Nearly $400 worth! How?! Lots of pantry type stuff and some meat. It adds up when you haven't made a full run in a month. Then a few minutes of downtime before leaving for the airport to pick up the grandparents. Jared and Keturah made her beignets from New Orleans. She took them to youth group and everybody loved them. I took a few pics below. But what I loved hearing was how Jared was tenderly explaining things to Keturah instead of being stern with her. And that he wanted to do it with her in the first place. They are basically fried dough so I didn't want to do them with her. It was an awesome Daddy/Daughter moment.

Then we drove to the airport. I don't think I've done an airport run in over a year. So weird! We did 4 loops of the terminal before they were ready to be picked up. We smelled a skunk and talked about the word "skunked" and how it is now slang for "beaten in a game." We did get to see a 747, so Jared was super happy. It was a "box plane" aka a plane that carries boxes instead of people. After that we dropped Keturah and Justin off at church and took the parents home. We ate a bit and then I went to pick up the kids again at 7:30 and finally drop off the library books we had carried around with us in the van all day. Both kids said they had donuts, too, at youth group. Keturah got to play the Star Wars Light Sabers game with pool noodles where you have to try to keep a styrofoam cup in your armpit. That means you can't flap your arms around alot, lol. And Keturah said she got the Star Wars prayer cards or whatever. She also enjoyed listening to Mike Killebrew this morning in middle school worship. Jared has known Mike longer than he has known me! I guess they met when Jared was a freshman in college. Mike is a year older than him. But then Mike got married and became the middle school minister here at Indian Creek for a long time. I used to know where they lived in Beech Grove and I've watched them have their 4 kids. And Keturah's youth group went to Mike's house for the house parties last summer. Anyway, Mike can ride a unicycle and Keturah that was so cool. Justin, well, he was a pretty aloof because he didn't take his medication today. He doesn't usually anyway. But Abishai remembered that his lesson was about "running the race for Jesus" aka being committed to finish the race. And they played an obstacle course.

Oh, and Abishai had given my phone number to Esther, who is one of his helpers in his class. Esther is the teenage daughter of friends of ours. Too funny! And why does Abishai just love these young teen girls?! Cracks me up! He attaches himself to them, maybe because they don't know how to get away yet like an adult can. Anyway, my friend told me that this morning. Cracks me up! I guess my little guy is very socialized and not afraid of people. 

Now everybody is home, safe and sound.

Great songs! And two teenage brothers got baptized. Yeah!

Again, great songs!

I like this a lot.

Abishai was pretending to sleep while we waited for the volunteers to be in his classroom. He also tried to take naps to and from the airport. I guess he's a bit worn out.

Awwww, like a baby!

And ad from Facebook, but how cute! I think Keturah needs one!

My outfit for the day. Since I was feeling gloomy, I decided it was a good day to try an all black outfit. I don't like to wear black because it reminds me of funerals, but I made it work. All new clothes and new shoes I bought last year. The pants are leggins that are velour and from Aldi's. I thought I looked better than I did in the photo from yesterday at least. The shoes were tight at first, but I did break them in a bit today And my feet look so much longer with pointed toed shoes! My sister says it needs an accessory like a belt but that's fine. I wore my PEI necklace and caressed it multiple times because I miss my Island.

Somebody loves pickle juice!

Why didn't I notice these yesterday or on the way out this morning? There are so many blooms ready to pop! All of this from 2 or 3 bulbs! I need to transplant a few of these over to the other two patches of them that are struggling. Wowzers!

A nice big one over here!

Looking dapper in his new shades! He kept borrowing Daddy's and I'm sure I've buried the Thomas the Tank ones in the swim bag, so I lazied out of finding those and bought these when I saw them at Aldi's. He was thrilled!

Making beignet's together. They are fried dough things from Cafe De Monde in New Orleans, which has been around since the Civil War! 1862!

They had to make the dough and roll it out and cut it into squares.

Grogu looks great in the sunglasses!

Yummy!

Yuppers! And sometimes we even lock them out! Just kidding!

A "box plane" aka it carries boxes not people. It's a 747, the ones that Jared is always excited about when they land at HIS airport. He didn't get to see it land, but, on our 4 circles around the airport waiting on the grandparents, we did see it taxi from the end of the runway, around the terminal, and to this hangar. Cool!

From our last trip around the terminal.

The End