The J6 Journey: Year 6, May 3th-6th, 2021: May the 4th, Revenge of the 5thO, and This Is May! (Star Wars)

We had a great Monday! I woke up in a lot of pain. I must not have moved very much in the night and was laying the wrong way or something. I had to work out some of the knots before I got up. But, once my muscles warmed up a bit, I was ok. In fact, I ended up doing the vacuuming today because I was tired of the corners and bathrooms looking so nasty. I also cleaned the inside and outside of the toilets. There's some toothpaste still left on the wall, but at least the majority of things feel cleaner. Keutrah made the taco meat for dinner instead of doing the vacuuming. Back to the morning, Abishai wanted to resist doing school, but once he settled down, he zoomed through it in record time. Justin and Keturah seemed to take just as a long to do 2-3 subjects as they had been doing 4-6 subjects. What's the deal? Oh, Keturah had her phone in her room and then lied about it when I confronted her. Sigh. Justin was trying to redo an outline for his super essay without the rough draft in front of him. The rough draft was in the binder sitting next to him. I had said to extract the outline from what he had written and THEN rearrange it. Good grief! But at least we got through the normal amount of arguing and read alouds.

I also was in a better mood overall and called an osteopathic doctor's office. And the first one was actually a residency one through Community South and yes they were always taking new patients! And they take our insurance! Woot! Woot! The scheduler was very happy to assist me and put me on the schedule. And, it's not far from us and near several other doctors' offices. Yeah! I still have one more follow up with my previous PCP which I won't cancel because I just wanted to say good bye. She's been very good to me and I want to wish her well and give her something. It's not her fault that I've gotten stuck in my health care. She's helped me through several pieces of it and didn't question my knowledge and research. So, praise God it was easy to do this today and that I have an appointment in 11 days! Woot! Woot! Now these are young doctors, so we'll see how that part of it goes, but I've had some good luck with the younger ones. And now I'm in the Community network, same as Jared, lol. Oh well. Whatever works. We are grateful for MANY networks of pretty competent doctors all over the city. Not all people can say that, even just an hour from us. So, here's to hoping for some progress! I also left a message with the vet about Socks' growths. I got a shower in and did my Bible study. I took some gut supplement and felt gross, but that's because I hadn't taken it in a few days. And it also tells me that it's doing something and balancing things out. I felt that way the first time I took it a few weeks ago. I just need to keep taking it.

Abishai was high energy today and nearly locked Jared and I outside before dinner. Jared had to chase him down to punish him. And then Abishai didn't want to sit at the dinner table because he had too many snacks (despite me staying on top of it), and Jared made him upset again. Abishai just needed some wrestling time with Daddy and a bit of screen. It was raining all day so we couldn't go outside. I wasn't particularly upset, but I wanted to start the week out well, so I had the kids recite and/or listen to the verses on obeying parents and the THINK before you speak acronym. Anyway, I'm happy I got those phone calls in and the rest of school. Tomorrow is haircuts, then Wednesday chiropractor appointment, then Bible study, then maybe a drive through dinosaur thing at some point. I don't know. We'll see! And it's teacher's appreciation week, too. And Mother's Day is on Sunday. Fun times!

Well, I did add, "And a shout out to all those traditional homeschool parents, too! Thank you!" to the posts done by the church. They mentioned it yesterday during church, but once again, skipped over us homeschool parents/teachers. Sigh. This was my subtle hint at the social media team. Next time, I'm going to voice it to a staff member directly. I told myself I would be the voice for homeschoolers at the church, even if I was the only one, and this is how I start.

Yup, I'm a spoonie. I vacuumed today, but I couldn't do the steam mop. I guess I could, but it took a lot of effort to vacuum properly. I did weigh 161lbs this morning, but that's because I didn't eat much for dinner and I was very shaky and hungry this morning. I don't like that and I don't think I'll get used to that. Anyway, I'm a "spoonie."

Look what we found at Aldi's! Abisahi insisted that we each get some to try. They were ok. I prefer the GFree brand from Aldi's. But how cool for the kids!

Somebody likes to sing song while he's in the bathroom. Same as his siblings.

Abishai said, "Mommy, the cones are so you can't come in." He and Keturah were sitting on the van seat bench eating snacks. Um, ok, but it's time to read aloud so come back inside please.

Abishai found a purple bunny Peep friend for Grogu! And Grogu's wearing an outfit my mom made.

My "Jeffrey" baby Cabbage Patch doll and the outfit my mom made for him next to Grogu wearing that outfit. A little bit big for Grogu, but cute all the same.

A naked Grogu! Kind of funny looking! And scrawny! Those little arms remind me of Abisahi's skinny arms.

Poor Socks was so confused. He's used to snuggling with Keturah in her bed during the day. But she wanted to do her screen time on the new van seat bench. It's the new hot/cool place to be!

Lots of rain means lots of green growing things, including the bamboo! Look at how huge they are!

Jared says it's 2 ft. I say it's at least 2 1/2 ft. But we didn't get out a tape measure.

Getting pretty thick. Thank goodness we have that huge barrier!

Well worth all the digging effort. Now we just need to weed this area again. Or spray it without hurting the bamboo. It will probably take a couple of years like the front flower gardens did to get rid of all the weeds.

Daddy and small guy wrestling time! Just what the Mommy ordered!

It was a ho hum normal rainy day of school, haircuts, screen time, and chores, until Daddy took us to the Lego store on the north side. Daddy spoiled us! Justin spent some of his own money, too. But Jared has gone a little crazy with all the Legos lately. So much so that we had $20 in store coupon from Lego VIP points! But we scored well today and got both Star Wars "May the 4th" specials including the online and in store ones! Daddy let Keturah and Abishai get a couple of little sets as well. What I didn't get a photo of was the two employees dressed up in some brown robes like Star Wars characters. The mall was as busy/not busy as it usually is. Jared hadn't been up there in awhile and didn't realize how run down even this "nicer" mall is. Yup. Signs of the times of online sales and websites. The kids chattered all the way home and were nice to each other, too! I couldn't stop smiling. We hadn't decided to do this until 4:30pm when I warned Jared that this is what Justin wanted to do. And then we weren't sure if we were going to go because we weren't sure if they were open or not. Thank goodness Jared made a second phone call and got a live employee to tell us 8pm. It's a 25 minute drive to Castleton. But what fun we had! We even visited the ThinkGeek shop, bypassing all the clothes, jewelry, shoes, and frilly stuff that a mall has. We are definitely privileged white geeks. Some talk incessantly about sports and player stats. We talk incessantly about Star Wars animated characters and the Lego sets that go with them. Both types of people bond with other like minded people, so it's all good. It just cracks me up. If only my parents, especially my Dad, could see us now! My sister and brother appreciate it, too, because they grew up with it as well.

Oh, and Jared and I finished the new "Picard" show. What a fantastic show and great nods to some classic The Next Generation stuff! It was well written as well, and the ending was interesting, leaving the show open for more seasons, but satisfactory as is, too. I think you can tell that Patrick Steward was really enjoying himself playing executive producer and his Jean-Luc Picard character. Gene Roddenbery would be proud. Next up, we'll go back to the Winter Soldier/Falcon show now that all those episodes dropped and then back to a different Star Trek show, I guess that's new. We watched one of those episodes and I couldn't quite catch what time period we were in for Star Trek, and I know my timeline fairly well. We are just following along my Dad's sci fi footsteps. I do try to teach my kids so many other things, but alas, I can only do so much. Abishai was explaining the life cycle of salmon to us in the car today. And how orcas are the predator of the sea and eat salmon. So, hey, videos on his tablet aren't all bad, lol. He does like the Transformers ones though.

We just all can't be lawyers and doctors. Some of us have to keep pop culture moving along.....

FYI, photos are in opposite chronological order again. Sorry.

Keturah's Lego set. The marshmallow even has a tan piece on it to represent the burnt part! It's from Frozen 2. Cute!

You'll see why I have a photo of this down below. But this is the original version of the game we found at the ThinkGeek store tonight. I even have the original packaging because I am a "collector" aka hoarder.

He built this all by himself!

Only in Canada! And we know the lovely lady who made this, and I think it's genius! Bwahahahaha!

Justin wants to buy enough Star Wars sets every May the 4th so he can keep getting these exclusive mini builds. We have one from 2020 and now the 2021 one.

He will be paying us back for a bunch of this. He says you buy multiple packs of the these sets so you can build an army. But now we have Asoka!

And she was done in 10 minutes.

Jumping right into it. This was an easy set with part of it pretty much made as one piece. It was part of the 4 yr olds and up beginners series.

Daddy only likes to buy the good guys and he bought this on a total whim. He really likes the Star Wars Clone Wars animated series. We have a lot of other figurines that were given to us that are original from the 80's. They've been played with so not in the best condition, but that's ok.

Abishai picked up one of Daddy's favorite books that he had left on the nightstand and started looking through it. He kept stopping at the pictures and asking what they were.

At first, I was looking way too closely at this one thinking is something hiding in the tall grass? Is that a rock? I had to "zoom out" and then I figured out it was a bison. I don't think it was meant to be one of those tricky pictures, but it was to me at 8am this morning!

Abishai like this kitties, Kitty Cola, Cat Pawchino, and Meowtain Mew.

Woah! Check this out! It's the same game I have had for 30 years! I wonder what my parents paid for it? The kids have tried it. I was a pro with this! I used to play it on my way to my Gramma's house.

This is an extremely rare sight. Jared in a mall. Very rare.

Gotta love when we are spontaneous, which doesn't happen very often. Thanks Daddy!

Keturah with her new favorite Friends set that has elephants and a sloth!

That mega Millennium Falcon is HUGE!

Our purchases, plus the two free sets! The one set I got for the kids was $4 and had hockey nets, archery, roller skates, ice skates, and skis in it. It was an accessory pack but we don't have any of those fun extras. Daddy also picked up two 48x48 gray plates, too.

Not sure why he thinks he needs to wear a hat with short sleeves on, but he did it earlier today as well. "I want this one, and this one, and this one...."

SMH. This kid!

My Misfits produce box came today so I got to make FRESH green beans, broccolini, and some kind of hybrid cauliflower/broccoli. I LOVE fresh green beans because they have sort of "fuzz" on them. I steamed the green beans and sauteed the rest. I had previously cooked the squash, potatoes, and taco hamburger meat. It was leftover night!

We scored BOTH free sets!

Now THIS is a GREAT meme for May the 4th! The angle with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace in Daniel.

See! My sister Stefanie understands this Star Wars thing! Actually, the Star Wars periodic table was posted on John's FB page, lol.

The third bunch of irises has a bud!

Amen.

The first bloom!

Only Keturah would a) ask to buy coleslaw at the store and b) eat it for breakfast.

May the 4th be with you!

Awww, I remember those days! And in a month, they will go back out to sea and haul in those lobster traps for the lobster season in June! Sweet! I'm sure it's more money now, but we could get $5 per 1lb lobster straight off the back of a pick up truck parked at a local gas station. The lobster had been brought in that morning. The best lobster ever! Goodness I miss this!

Oh, this is really good! Bwahahaha!

I got this off of FB, but someone was wearing this at the Lego store tonight. Bwahahahaha!

Wednesday. Sigh. Why are Wednesdays always the trickiest of days? I had to cut Justin short from schoolwork to he could mow. He loathes mowing more than Benaiah did. But it had to be done. The trimming isn't as good as it could be though. Grrrrr. I know he wanted to play video games before going to small group. Sigh. Keturah growled about her extra chore of sweeping the deck and porch of the maple tree helicopter seeds. I'm not done with that yet because I'm going to have them clear out the flower bed, too. Why is it that they can do all of this for Grandma and Grandpa but not say a word of grumbling to them? But to me, they grumble the whole entire time? Grrrr.....

Anyway, Abishai and I had a snuggle session before school, and he, too, wanted to grumble through school. Maybe Jared and I grumble too much. I don't know. But Abishai got his stuff done pretty quickly while sitting (mostly) in his chair at the dining room table, so maybe, we need to move to the table next year. I think Benaiah did his lessons kind of on the floor at the bottom of the Beech Grove stairs going into the basement and then we switched to the dining room table a year or two later and definitely by the time Justin was joining us. And then in Canada, I know we had Keturah at the dining room table there (the gaming table). So, yes, sometimes, the comfy approach is not the best approach. We had moved so that he could keep playing with his new Legos on the table while I did his read alouds to him. So, we'll see if we do it that way tomorrow and if it will continue. 12 more days of school.

Oh, Justin's paper! I do NOT want to do it! He needs more help still. And I'm procrastinating. So tomorrow, we will tackle it first thing. My friend was having to go home after Bible study and do math homework with her 4th grade son and I said I would gladly exchange math for high school English papers. But I wasn't prepared for her answer. She said she wouldn't tackle that either. Granted, it's not a homeschooling mom, and I usually say this to another homeschooling mom and that's what we always say to each other, I'll do math, they do the English. I was like, "Oh yeah, whoops, wrong crowd." Why am I always surprised by these things? I don't know. I always assume everyone is like me I guess. But otherwise Bible study was fine. And I still don't want to fix an English paper. I mean, I know I could fix it and be done with it, but teaching Justin to do it and taking him through the thought process when I can't articulate my thought process that well. Yikes! He needs to rewatch the DVD's I think, too. I'll have him to do that, too. This is a project that is worth taking the time to do well. So, we just have to stop procrastinating and do it. And no, I can't hand it off to someone else because, Jared is not an English major and he won't understand what our curriculum is asking for. It will be worth it. It's one of my primary goals. I just have to do it.

And then I have to stop waiting so long to figure out dinner. I'm procrastinating about that, too. I told myself I would roast veggies early in the day and lo and behold that didn't happen. So tomorrow it is. Tomorrow we have no where to go and nothing to do besides our normal bit of school. I can do it. I need to menu plan. I need to change up this food thing. I need to take the guesswork out of it. Failure to plan is to plan to fail. Well, at least some of the time. In a general sense of the word.

It was gorgeous outside and I wished again to have spent more time out there. But I did choose to push Abishai on the swing instead of cutting up vegetables, so, there ya go. I choose a different choice this time and I'm better for it. I had to gulp down cold leftover food for dinner but, it's worth it. Abishai ate leftover food from lunch and Keturah and Jared had other leftovers. Justin's small group met at Chicago's pizza so he ate there. I have had an upset tummy all day so I really didn't want to eat but knew I needed to. I should have just toasted some bread or something. I would rather just eat a granola bar, but a)they are expensive (the kind I can eat and choose to buy because of their better ingredients, so I try not to eat more than one a day) and b) I can't sustain myself on those, or can I? Nope. This is why I need a plan so I don't wait too long to eat and then just grab a bar. Hm,....

And now I get to plan on manning a table for IAHE at a book sale in a little over a month. Yeah! So I started to formulate that plan. It won't be hard. I know what kind of spin on it I can do. It's 10 minutes from my house. I have everything I need at home since I did all the Lilla Rose stuff. It'll be fine. Ooooo, maybe I should bring the big umbrella we never use! That's not hard with the stand and all. Anyway, I'll have fun with it. But first we have to finish that English paper and end the school year. Patience.

Bwahahahahaha! Abishai just came out of his bedroom, scampered past Daddy to tell me that he's bored! Buddy, you're bored because you're supposed to be asleep! Bwahahahahaha! Life is never boring with you around buddy. He played a lot with the new Star Wars clone troopers today. And his Legos. And outside. And he put the trampoline all by himself into the garage and then jumped on it, ran through the fireside room, into the sunroom and back again. All because he was bored. Oi!

Happy as the day as long with a new police helicopter Lego and Grogu and Star Wars clones.

The start of the Star Wars clone army.

The General standing at attention on his rounds this morning. He likes to go around and turn on all the lights, help the dog go outside (although the wood bar was moist and he couldn't pick it up because it swelled in the track) and sometimes he even opens up the front blinds.

Attention!

Lots of story telling going on today.

In Abishai's ABC animal book originally written 150 years ago, U was for Unicorn. The author meant rhino but mentioned this Scripture in the King James Version. By golly, it DOES say unicorn! The rest of the versions we use say wild ox. Totally different.

Ooo, good. Sleeping on her freshly salon washed, cut, and dried hair didn't change it too much. Keturah has some very thick healthy hair going on here and looks like her mother. Oi! She says she's growing out for 3 more years until she's 16 and it's down to her waist and then she'll donate it. Grandma asked why she doesn't donate it now and I said because we need 8 inches and then when you trim it up after the initial cut, that doesn't leave much hair to mess with. And we don't do short hair, bobs, or pixie cuts. So, we'll do it when the finished product will still be at the shoulders.

There's a few layers in the front, too.

I thought of my Mom when I heard this verse.

It's a good thing we still have a swing set for this monkey! It's not the best looking thing but it still works just fine!

Abishai said that Keturah put him like this the other day. And then he immediately got down and said it hurt. Well, I told you that before I put you up there.

This is how I get on the tall swing all by myself, Mom.

Spring!

No filter.

Used the zoomed out feature for this shot.

White flowers?! Those are new! Tiny daisies? Among the purple ones and yellow dandelions?

We have a whole field of these three kinds of flowers.

Big boy can pump his legs now.

Abishai LET Daddy take ONE guy to work, and it had to be the PLAIN one from the first time the clones showed up in the movie. The rest of the clone troopers are from the animated series between the 2nd and 3rd movies.

Farm fresh eggs! Look at the speckles! I can't wait to eat these! Nothing tastes better than these! Someone gave these to Jared at work.

My mom rocked the jean jumper, thank you, and I loved going to farms. Lol!

I was curious so I posted this on my Facebook wall. Guess what I got for a response? Well, one friend said, "How to rock using a light saber" because I was using one (playing with Abishai) and talking to her during Abishai's birthday party without flinching. She was very impressed and won't let it go! ROFL!

Well, this actually makes me feel really good that others would feel confident to come to me if they had homeschooling questions. I definitely have answers! I do have lots of answers to Bible questions, but I'm too scared to mess up someone's theology to talk about it too much. I leave that to the "experts." I know, I know, evangelism is not that hard. I'm not talking about salvation in a general sense, but the nuances of different things, I can get befuddled on. So, I prefer not to bring it up. But I could totally rock a Ted Talk on homeschooling. Someday I would like to be a speaker or real blog writer on it. But right now, there's TONS of people already doing that. So, I'll stay in my own little sphere of influence because there's tons of people right here needing my personal (and the IAHE's) help.

I'm so glad Justin mowed today! Winter and rainy days or heavy duty school days. Nice days in fall and spring or for tossing the books and going outside. There's a time and place for everything.

Oh why are we so slow in the morning! Ah! Then 3pm comes and I'm like, "I didn't do enough!" And then I rush around for 3 hrs trying to do all the things. Actually, I did make my sheet pan of roasted vegetables. I HATE cutting those hard vegetables, but whatever. And then I also rearranged my papers on my desk a bit so I can tackle some things like quickly reading some magazines and then passing them on. And finding birthday/anniversary/other holiday cards that I keep forgetting to give when the person's birthday comes around. Sigh. I need to start gearing up for summer projects, too. And planning some fun things to do. So, there's that.

Our day did get mixed up, again, because of mowing. I wish mowing could be an evening project! Justin's meds only last so long, so doing school in the evening is difficult for him. I told him he might need to start getting up earlier so he can tackle things like papers first thing in the morning when his medication is at it's strongest. Or he's not going to do well in college I'm afraid. So, he worked at Grandpa's from 11-1, when he normally would be working on his paper. We did read alouds and then he typed a bit and went on the screen. I made him sit down and type more while Keturah, Abisahi, and I watched, "The Penguin Post Office" documentary. Abishai didn't want to watch it, but I knew once we got it going, he would be enthralled and he was. There were some scary parts like another bird eating a baby chick, so he learned about the cycle of life right then and there. But otherwise, he liked it well enough.

It was otherwise a cloudy, rainy day. I did happen upon Keturah sneaking tablet time, so she got grounded from it. AND I made her weed the bamboo and get as many maple leaf helicopters out of that area as well. Her fingers were cold but hopefully she learned her lesson. She hasn't been reading as much, so I knew something was up. She only has math and reading right now, so that shouldn't take her 3 hrs. Justin only has writing and reading to do on his own and he, too, is still taking 3 hrs! I don't get it. Stop daydreaming or if you are stuck, come to me. Get a move on! 11 more days of school left!

Abishai set himself up in the garage for school today, crazy guy. See the photos below. My gut still isn't doing well, so that's why it took me a bit to get going again. And I get distracted, too. But, we managed. The usual chores got done, and dishwasher emptied and laundry put away. We had leftovers again, but I was picky about which ones we were consuming first. I didn't do a menu plan, but it's on my list.

Ok, I need to get back to some of this paperwork stuff and it's getting late. I was letting the computer download the photos, too. So, let's go see them!

Abishai wanted the plain white clone trooper back, so he sent this red one to work with Daddy. How cute!

Abishai insisted on doing school out in the garage on the van chair bench seat. He had a pillow and blanket because it was cool out there. He even dragged the table out by himself and got his water bottles.

Reading aloud time with just Abishai.

This is how we do our work. Answer a question and then climb.

Not sure if I like this position for handwriting, but he did ok.

Look at the problem, then go climb and/or wiggle while you figure it out. THEN come back to the books to write it down. A little time consuming, and definitely not allowed in public school, but it works for us.

Abishai got the comfy chair and I got the stool with a pillow on it.

Clone troopers in position for a battle during dinner.

Abishai's Story Time at Dinner

"Swing me, Daddy, swing me!"

When you sneak the tablet, you get it taken away AND you get an extra chore. Happy weeding!

I did, I let Socks up on the couch. We had a great snuggle session during the movie.

Awwww

Penguins!

Aww, sweet old doggy.

This was very cute. Except, they showed a) reproduction and b) another bird eating the penguin egg and/or baby chick and c) baby chicks dying. Be sure to be ready to explain the cycle of life after watching it.