Year 6, November 22nd-28th, 2021: Starting the Holidays

First up, we have Auggie, our nephew's, birthday today, and then my mom's 71st birthday would have been on Tuesday. My aunt and cousin's birthdays are also tomorrow, too. And then Thanksgiving on Thursday. We are still doing school this week because we are behind on history. We often take off a day of school anyway to go play so it shouldn't feel much different than normal. The kids don't care. We don't have any extra activities though. Well, a couple of telehealth appointments. Otherwise, it was a typically Monday with severely tired and grumpy teenagers. Abishai was busy and had finished all his chores before I was out of bed. He fed the dog, put away the clean dishes out of the dishwasher, and emptied the little trash cans into the big trash can. I didn't start his schoolwork until after lunch because I had to go over math with Keturah, but we seemed to get it done more quickly because we were racing the clock. History was just on the Korean War and straight forward. Just a few things to point out on to relate to how we should or shouldn't get involved in modern wars of today. I finally baked the turkey from last week, but we won't eat that for dinner because we'll eat supper with Gary and Leah since he'll be back tonight.

I'm glad the kids are super involved with church, but when you are there from 8:30 to 12:30 (or 2pm on rehearsal days) and then 6-7:30, on you feet, corralling kids, jumping up and down, playing nine square, you come home utterly exhausted. Then I have to deal with them on Mondays. I give them lots of grace, but it's just not the norm for most families, right? Maybe Saturdays are exhausting because of recitals and sports. Or Fridays because of the whole week of activities. Not my crew. We are PK's, Pastor's Kids. We are not normal and will never be normal. But, even Abishai got to help reset the room for the 2nd hr and he's being exposed to the leaders' prayer times and how to lead other kids and I think he's really picked up on some things already. He even brought me home a communion cup yesterday. 

And, do you know who else bought me something?! Jared! He said he actually bought me something today for Christmas! And it's not even December 1st!! That's impressive! Mercies never cease or something like that, lol!

My brother's fiance's dog had 14 puppies today! The dad is his dog, Hank. Bull Mastiff and Great Dane mix. I want one soooooo badly!!! I'm not joking!!!!! But I refuse to get a new puppy when the senior dog is still living. I think that's rude and cruel and makes the old dog feel like he's being pushed out of his territory. So, we'll wait for the new liter. But Jared did say he didn't mind that mix! They plan to breed them again, I just don't know when. We will get to visit them hopefully at Christmas. The puppies will be huge and it's going to be utter chaos and I can't wait!

Here's my brother's dog, Hank! This was during the summer I think, and he wasn't full grown yet.

Abishai saying hi to the turkey! He has no problems seeing this and eating his and realizing it it's the same thing as the live turkey on the rescue farm's videos we watch. We are all omnivores in this house. We do know that vegetables come from the ground and meat comes from animals. And we eat it anyway. And we still all love animals, too, that we could eat later. Well, if we had her own farm I guess that might be different. But I think farm children actually get over it a lot quicker than city folk. You just have to.

In it goes in my mother's roasting pan because it's way too big for the crockpot (which still has soup in it anyway). She only used it for turkey and maybe roast, too.

Bwahahaha. This one is for Jared.

The best way to do school is with lots of friends! Lol!

Zipping through his math test like it's nothing.

Perfection! Ta da! Too bad it isn't for supper! Most of it will go in the freezer for other meals. I had started thawing it 8 days ago and it was supposed to be cooked last week but I never had the time to actually be around for that long of a stretch. So now, it's done. Jared just has the owners of picking her over. 19.5 lbs. I think it was less than $25. Can't beat that for meat these days.

I've always related myself to being Piglet! Ok, not always, more like Rabbit. Now I'm more like Eeyore. Sometimes I"m owl. I'm not calm like Kanga. I'm not that ignorant like Pooh. I'm definitely NOT Tigger.

I found this on my friend's Facebook page. I have never heard of some of these things. But a neat graphic! Feel free to steal it!

Feeling old yet? I know I made a big deal last year with the 25th Anniversary. But boy oh boy I feel old. One of the top records of all times in the 1990's Christian pop arena and maybe in the whole of Jesus music or CCM or whatever you want to call of all time period. If you didn't have this record, you weren't cool in the Christian youth group circles. I don't know what today's equivalent would be. For King and Country? I think so. Actually, I'm pretty sure. Their stage designs. Their pop feel. Their fandom. Although those guys are a lot older than these guys were. I don't know. I don't know the young and upcoming bands. I just know that around this time, they and Michael W. Smith opened up for Billy Graham and a Youth night at one of his revivals. Billy Graham took a risk and praise God that risk was used by God. Michael W. Smith talks about it often. I think the DC Talk boys, at least two of them, talk about it, too. The third one, Kevin Max, this past year, has denounced his faith. (The one on the left.) But THIS my friends, was part of my childhood.

I couldn't get photos and vids of Benaiah's lightsaber the other day, so here's a couple I got tonight.

And here's him playing on his VR headset. It totally cracks me up watching him! Oh my word!

Tuesday, Kelly and Kya day! So we had motivation to get moving. Ok, Justin and I at least. The other two did pretty well, too. Abishai finished his test booklet for his current level in math. Keturah did worse today than yesterday in math. Boo! Justin was about the same. Keturah vacuumed my car for me. Abishai got the mail and did his chore early on in the day, too. It was a cold, clear day, but decent for going out and riding together for errands. Kelly was good about reminding me to thank Keturah for watching Abishai. Whoops, I'm never done that before. I felt a little embarrassed but it's a good way for me to learn something new by example. We went down to Greenwood to Barnes and Noble and browsed for a really long time. Kya and Justin went one way and we went another, lol. And then it was off to Play It Again Sports where I found some ice skates for Keturah and I and then some for Abishai. We stopped at Marshall's/HomeGoods and found all the clothing items that were on my list: pants for Justin, pants for Abishai (I really wanted jeans but I found seatpants and some Grogu pj pants), a set of silky pjs for the more sophisticated lady (me), and some cheaper undergarments than what they were going for even on Amazon. Plus spatulas for Jared and a gift for Leah in the longest checkout line I've seen since Covid started. (I think that's the new marker "before Covid/after Covid"). But it's perfect! 

Overheard just now:

Justin telling this pun: The benefits of origami are two fold.

Jared: That pun is so bad. You are showing disrepsect for orgami. The benefits of origami are manifold. 

Did I just hear my husband say his first Dad joke? In the same week that he bought me a Christmas present BEFORE Thanksgiving? Is he having a mid life crisis, too? What?!

After shopping, Kya stayed with us. Then Jared took her all the way home since Kelly drove us around Greenwood. I thought it was fun having a shopping buddy for once in my life. Especially at Marshalls, the kids probably felt a little awkward and I had to shoo them away when I was looking at women stuff.  But they'll get used to it. I wish I was able to get Justin to stay for a few minutes longer in pants, but I think it made Kya embarrassed to be shopping for guys clothes. Anyway, I forget that they are not old enough to date like Ava and Benaiah. That's why I stopped and shooed them away. They can then just go look at toys or something and I tried to go more quickly through the store. I totally forgot this store existed and I could hop down here after a doctor appointment to shop. I'm glad we stopped here!

Anyway, it was a very good day and now the real fun begins with wrapping up school and finding time to throw together a dish for Thursday and cleaning out the pantry that didn't get done etc. Jared just heard the mouse again IN the pantry. We HAVE to do it tomorrow. Nothing else happens after Jared gets home. And I need to run to the library and pharmacy in the morning as well. Fun times!

Our stadium was listed in today's puzzle, woot! woot!

Morning tickle fights to expend some energy.

My brother said, "End result of the litter, 4 boys, 11 girls, and lost an additional boy due to a cleft palate..15/16 is not bad for a first time mommy! The 15 are all healthy and nursing great." It's going to be massive chaos with all these guys! I'm sure he'll move them to a better place with all their pee and poo action. And we'll see them in a month. But wow. 15! So sweet! Bull mastiff/Great Dane mixes.

It's a pretty full board in just a little bit of time. Even the older kids got into it.

Abishai taught dinosary how to do math but then found it award to help Dinosury write down the correct numbers. But everything is better when you do it with your best friend.

Welcome to Keturah's detailing service. I can't wait to go back in my vehicle and not be bombarded with dog hair. That's all she had to do today. I can live with the rest of the smudges.

Abishai thought it was cute to put Socks under the pop blanket. Poor dog.

I think this was an accidental screenshot but it would have been my mother's 71st birthday today. I'm glad I wasn't sitting around the house moping about it today like I usually am.

I sent this cartoon to the family because we all eat our eggs in different ways.

So, Tyler Michael Smith, Michael W. Smith's 3rd child, who is a composer, just put out a second Christmas album or something and it was promoted on Michael's FB page. So, I decided to look him up a bit because the promo photo was a profile shot and I wanted to know what he looked like now, etc. One of the links led me to IMDB.com which is for movies which makes since since he writes scores for films. And lo and behold, look there, he wrote music for the homeschooling movie that came out. Yeah!

Here's Tyler, who is around 34, I think. But something about his looks has me thinking he looks more like his mom than his dad so investigated.

Michael would have been a bit younger here than Tyler is, but I figured it out. It's their noses, and the arches in their eyebrows. Same eye color and hair color (Michael has a perm in this photo).

I then looked up Michael's oldest son, Ryan, on the right. who is 39. I think this is him.It was harder to find photos/links. He's a film maker, or he wanted to be, or whatever he's up to these days. I think the resemblance is a little stronger..

Michael's bio I found when looking him up cracks me up. Just a weird site that says he's worth 14 million dollars and says he's not involved in an affair. And the English is off, so it's probably someone from overseas putting this stuff together.

This is a more updated photo of Ryan I think, and the middle name is a dead giveaway that I have the right person, lol. Plus I recognize some of the kids' names and the ages sound right. Yup. Some similarities, but not quite the same.

So Ryan's oldest, who I believe is the oldest grandchild, or at least close to the top, is 14. I was right. I think his sister, Whitney got married first so she might have had kids first by a year or two. I'm just paying attention to detail like a fangirl does. But remember, I "fangirl" about lots of topics, homeschooling, CRT in public schools, TV shows, health stuff, politics, etc. Because I'm hypersensitive to the things around me. I notice things. And keep them in mind. End of story.

I woke up the kids with a couple of old Sunday Schools from my past like "Rise and Shine/Arky, Arky" and they were NOT impressed. And then I played DCTalk's "Jesus Freak" and got yelled at. Well, we have a lot to do today and I thought I'd start the day on the right now with something God honoring. But no, I got booed. "Put on loud music and dance in the kitchen." Nope. My kids hate it. They don't even crack a smile. Even Abishai hates it. I'm at a loss on that one. But I tried. I'll try again. Maybe it's like trying a new food as an infant. You have to expose them to it multiple times before they actually will eat it. But we also had a full to do list today and I had to assign people to do certain tasks or it wouldn't get all day. It still hasn't completely done. I don't know who will let Socks out tomorrow. I left all of this up to Jared and apparently today was a super busy day at the office. Well, Gary was at the office. Things are always busier when he's around. Jared thought he was coming home early but that wasn't the case and he didn't return my texts. I had planned my day around that and so it was a mad dash to finish everything up in time to be ready to leave by 8:30am tomorrow morning. We'll be lucky if we are out that early. 

Now I'm exhausted and there's still a ton of mouse poop in the pantry because we didn't get that one major task done. And it's now grossing me out because I've never let our house get that bad. And watching shows about hoarders doesn't help.  I'm grossed out by it and upset at myself. I thought it wasn't going to be that bad. I was wrong. I wonder if we'll need to fumigate the house or something. Because there's probably more than one mouse. I'm pretty upset really. This is out of control. I'm really embarrassed. And I'm exhausted and hurting and I couldn't take care of it tonight. I hope I get some good naps in the car tomorrow. Time to knock out. Good night.

Bwahahaha

Not me. Although Michigian is often that way. I like the sunshine and yes, the cold is fine. But when I read this tweet, for some reason I started thinking about my Thanskgivings growing up and how it was only my immediate family. We never went anywhere. It was a day that my Dad was home. There was no tradition except for some basic extra food. No extra relatives. No traveling. No school. So the weather didn't matter. How sad, thought? I never saw extended family on Thanksgiving. It kind of upsets me. We didn't have all these fancy side dishes either. So, all this prepping and traveling isn't in my DNA. We did school today. We'll do school on Friday. Do I have to think ahead on all this just for one meal? I've been with this family for 20 plus years but I've got some personal struggles right now that brings a different perspective. I'm glad it's still the status quo for everyone else. I'll just go and try to put on a brave face. I might end up taking a walk though.

I might put a few of these photos together and put up a post online that talks about how many places you can homeschool. Today we actually did it on the table. I haven't done it this way in forever!

Well, we made it to the Walk Street Journal! Carmel is just north of Indianapolis. I didn't realize their population was so big! Yikes! But noblesville and Fishers aren't far behind. Crazy!

Paul-Mike said all the puppies are satisfied and passed out being "milk drunk." Howe cute!

I thought I was doing him a favor by saying don't bother with getting my prescriptions and minor things at the grocery store, but Jared did go through traffic just so he could to to Half Price books  to get audio books for our drive tomorrow. And when asked why he couldn't use the library he said because the one time he tried, they were closed. So try again! Oh my word we don't need these cds sitting on our shelf. Sigh.

I took more photos, but this one gives you an inking of what we are dealing with. I'm so upset over it. And grossed out by it. It's just a stupid field mouse. I'm not a bad house keeper. Not much food is stored down on that level. But it makes me sick to my stomach. Ugh.

Thanksgiving, Thursday

Thanksgiving went fine. We got out of the house around 8:45am and got home about 10pm. It's about a 4 hr drive and we stayed longer than I had expected. I was moody when we left and moody when we got home. But for those few hours with family, I was perfectly fine and that's all I had prayed for. I Immediately went for the real caffeine, coffee, went we got to the church in Lansing, Michigan, Holt Christian Church, same as always, and a few minutes later I was ready to go. I was only triggered once but it's an ongoing issue at home.

I am grateful that we can laugh and play Scrabble games and Risk and eat lots of food and catch up without any fighting over politics and religion or education. This is what a multi-generational Christian family looks like. I know I can be very annoyed about the differences, but overall, it takes a deep faith to keep these many marriages and relationships flourishing. There's a few of us missing, too, this year. And we prayed for them of course. But we've made it another year (actually two since we didn't get together last year) still serving God in our corners of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. This is the Cook side/Leah's side of the family with the Matriarch/Grandma/Mom Mary Ellen Cook, age 94, in the middle.

Well, Jared got what he wanted. The usual dreary, cold rain of a mid-west Thanksgiving. Blech. I need my fall leaves and white cbhurch steeples and bright blue skies of New England please and thanks.

Ok, this is a brand new preschool TV show, but it's actually true. It's a great business strategy, but as Christians, we kind of need to be the opposite.  We are replaceable but we will have different leadership styles. But don't make the organization revolve around you. It's a team effort.

On our way to Michigan.

Some pre dinner "hi, how are you's" while waiting on Grandma Cook to arrive.

Usually an email is sent around so the basics are covered and then everybody also brings whatever they feel like. It changes every year so it's like a church potluck. But it's always a great variety.

Thanksgiving prayer.

My two oldest couldn't be more opposite, could they? #brothers

Don't they just have the most gorgeous heads of hair ever? Makes up for their Daddy's baldness. And they won't go bald because my side of the family's men never did! But they did get the waves and curls from the Cook family line! Eek! So jealous! Actually, Benaiah's is more like the Cooks. Justin has more of the straight, shiny dark brown Howell hair. My mom's side of the family are Finnish so of course that's the blonde side.

It's easy for the 240lb son to lift the 135lb son. Add the 115lb daughter and it would be even.

The oldest adults table. And then some of us younger ones sat at another table and then the teens/young adults sat with the two elementary kids at a table. Abishai is the youngest one right now until that generation starts having kids. I'm still thinking maybe 5 years if they stay on the same timeline the previous 3 generations did. Also, Grandma Cook brought her aide with her, a wonderful black woman. Yeah! Welcome!

Grandma Cook and Grandma Leah. Grandma Cook ate well and did say a few things. She can't really say or remember names but sort of remembers that she sort of remembers some these faces in this room. She's much sweeter now and quiet, no outbursts or being upset. I think she still has her wits about her a bit and can see and use her hands and all that. For 94, she is still doing really, really well. She was strong enough to stay for 3 hrs, too. Incredible!

I can't believe that these two are the youngest two. They are not that young! Where are all the babies and young kids?

Oh, there they are? They turned into adults! How? When? Good grief!

There's enough extra long hair here on these three boys to make Jared at least one wig!

Keturah played Quiddler with Grandpa. And Grandpa didn't let up on her. Boo!

Grandpa then smoked us all in Boggle. Then he smoked everyone in Scrabble. This is why I don't often play games with him anymore. And I'm pretty good at these games. We all just don't have a chance.

Getting Grandma all ready to go home after we take our family photo.

Getting kisses from the family.

Wait, did that rain just turn sideways? Yes it did. Did it just turn to snow? Yes it did! Well, we are in Michigan. It is Thanksgiving. BRING IT ON!

Why yes, snow IS on the radar for this area. I wasn't seeing things!

Not sure where this was, I assume the Macy's Day Parade but I saw it on social media.Grogu!!!!!!!

Jared's tender heart.

 P.S.

Although we always stuck to just the 6 of us at home and Thanksgiving dinner was incredibly basic, I miss having to plan when we would do Thanksgiving and Christmas with my parents. We did not have that many years together before they passed so we never established a full tradition. And in my childhood, we never got together with relatives. It was just a day that Dad was home, usually secluded in his room, and we didn't do school (homeschooled), and mom made a turkey breast, mashed potatoes from dry potato flakes, stuffing from a box, canned gravy, canned cranberry sauce, canned green beans (not a casserole), canned sweet potatoes, and we'd have pumpkin pie (basic one on the can of pumpkin) and cool whip for dessert. Sometimes we'd watch the parade on TV. We didn't have any traditions of saying what we were thankful for. I don't even remember sitting together for the meal. We didn't do many extra crafts in our homeschool. It was never this big holiday. We didn't go down to Massachusetts to see the other side of the family because we saw them every week on Saturdays. We did go down on Christmas Eve and had many other traditions around Christmas. So having a family meal and traveling and all that was new to me when I joined the Johnson family. I've been fine with it until now. But this year, I just didn't want to go far. I just wanted to stay away and stay home. I'm glad I didn't of course. God blessed me with several hours of real conversation and smiles and joy. And I'm super grateful that He answered my prayers for that. I had two others praying for me as well. The veil of depression was lifted for just those hours though. I was anxious about myself before hand and completely exhausted afterwards from being on my best behavior. I'm sure no one cared or noticed. It's not their job to notice. I didn't want to burden them and I didn't. So now I get to play catch up all weekend because I skipped using my laptop last night and just used my phone. It's better to work during the day anyway when I can drink coffee. 

It was a better day than I had asked, hoped, or dreamed of. Thank you, Jesus. Now back to my/our normal life.

Friday

Normal, slow, Saturday feel of a Friday. I had wanted to do a full school day but the body and emotions and mental health says no. I'll feel much better if I catch up on the blog stuff. Especially since Jared took my first student out to three stores on Black Friday morning. Hello. You know we were going to do school. You know it's Black Friday. No complaining about crowds. I sent him a list. Not sure he got everything because he was already complaining about everything being all over a big box store. Uh, I gave you the list before you parked so you could rearranged it in your head according to the layout of which store you are in. He's in the stores more than I am. He should know what category the products are in and where that section of the store is. So far, I only saw/heard about papaya and nerf guns, and PB shell topping, none of which was on my list. Sigh. Whatever is missing, is missing, and I'll have to go out another day. I'm not leaving my house today. Too much to do and too much recovery from being in the van for 8 hrs to today. I'm very sleepy from late nights.

Meanwhile, I told the other two kids to focus on their science reading and make sure they finish their weekly assignments. And I want to read aloud the history and for them to start regularly watching the the history DVD's. They can push off math for today. Abishai can watch the two short history DVD's and call it good. The history lesson is on the assignation of JFK so if he listens in, great, if he doesn't, than no big deal. I just want to finish this history book on time! Nothing else matters! I mean, of course it all matters. I just really, really, really want to finish this goal. It's silly to a lot of people and homeshcoolers would even say it doesn't matter, but to me, it totally matters! Let's finish those history high school credits! I will probably give Keturah some credits as well for American history. We'll be starting world history next year, so I'll count those as her world history credits instead of anything else we've done. We'll see. Anyway.

At least the day is sunny and we have our own turkey leftovers because I made the turkey earlier this week. And last week, we had leftovers and pizza so there's plenty of food in the fridge. We can just stay home and catch up.

Not what I would recommend you eat after you complained about having heartburn but you were describing a quickened heartbeat or racing heart beat or something yesterday after you ate all that sugar and food yesterday. Sour cream and onion chips for your 11am breakfast? Seriously? Ew!

We didn't do what I thought we would do which was school and the bottom of the pantry. We also didn't go to It's A Block Party or put up a Christmas Tree either. I think we all just needed to recover from traveling yesterday and I needed to recover from mental and emotional exhaustion. The kids do some of their school work. Abishai watched a DVD about American women pilots during WWII with Keturah so that counts. I finished the older blog posts and am now caught up. Jared painted some parts of the dining room, either touch ups and the inside part of the window edges, I'm not sure what because I didn't pay attention. It wasn't on my to do list, the pantry was. Anyway, none of us really were in the mood to tackle something new and exciting. I guess maybe I should take the initiative and plan when we'll do what starting this week.

Tomorrow is actually Saturday, not today, so we have more extra day. Justin is supposed to work with Grandpa, so Keturah, I and Jared can do the pantry. Maybe we can do the tree tomorrow afternoon before screen time. Then we can go to It's a Block Party on Sunday. Then I need to figure out when to go start seeing lights and things, with or without the cousins. I think that will be tomorrow or Sunday. Today was rest day. And I accomplished a major task, which really had way less than I thought. The one blog post I thought I would extra info to really didn't need it and I honestly don't remember what happened and what I would add to it. But now,....

I'M BACK!!!!!

With long rants, and funny sayings, and blow by blow antics.....and it only took a full six weeks from contracting Covid. Just in time to get behind with Christmas events, right? Actually, I should be able to keep up now. I've been writing notes about my complaints in my phone, so if I do that for the blog, it should go smoothly every evening. I'm just so tired. I just need to say in the moment.

(cue the music from the 80's Sunday School song list): "Little by little, and bit by bit...(we are trusting the Lord!)" I can't seem to find a video or lyric of this song but I know it's a Sunday School song we sang in the 80's in the Hooksett Congegational Church. Oh well.

On Saturday, we got a lot accomplished. Jared took Abishai again on a few errands that included the Lego store up north, the orange working store (Home Depot), and Chick Fil A. He did some touch ups on the dining room. And then he vacuumed the pantry floor after I cleaned it out. After Justin got home from Grandpa's house, Jared took him to the It's a Block Party to talk to hopefully talk to the owner, which they did, about getting a job there. The owner said he did have 3 full time employees, but he would talk to and have the personnel manager call Justin on Monday. Yippee! It doesn't sound like a lot, but Jared worked steadily all day.

I worked steadily as well on different things online and offline like the IAHE Newsletter and email, making arrangements for this or that, and answering various posts and connecting with people. I did have to go thoroughly through each drawer and box that was on the floor of the pantry but it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. I didn't have to throw out everything. I just had to go slow. My back really, really hurts though. I'm very upset about how a simple 90 minute clean out project (which would have taken someone else way less time) causes me so much pain. This is why I don't tackle this things. And this is also why I'm literally terrified to exercise. Not after I spent 12 weeks two summers ago and didn't see any progress. I was hurting still by the end of it, not feeling stronger or having more energy, the scale hadn't moved at all, and I wasn't enjoying it. And I knew I didn't have time for it during the school year. So I gave up. It was just that Barre Blend stuff, with some modifications, a great program, nothing too hefty or crazy. I'll never be strong again, ever. And it makes me so frustrated. By the time I had rested from that, it was time to make dinner. And then rest some more.

Meanwhile, the three kids and the dog went to Grandparents' house to do yardwork and hang out. They were over there for 3 1/2 hrs. Now THAT is what it should be like. It allowed Jared and I to work on these projects uninterrupted, yes, and in silence, but more importantly, because grandparent time is necessary. 

Now I'm just waiting for all of them to go to bed so I can. Jared went to visit Jim, but Abishai was so visible upset because he had Daddy for 3 whole days to himself that he wanted to stay up until Daddy came home. Daddy said no, but in order for him to let Daddy go, I told him I had a plan. When Daddy finally left, I told Abishai I would let him "fall asleep" on the couch. I'll let him play on the tablet for a bit since he didn't get that earlier, and then I'll get everyone off before Jared is due to come home. That way I can have a few minutes of peace first to type this up. My trick worked. Abishai won't fall asleep, but that's ok. He's been up fiddling around in the boys' room anyway until late, so better to have him out where I can see him rather than have Justin yell at the both of us for him getting into his Legos again.

Justin said the new store is awesome, and open, and wonderful and I can't wait to go and see it! I wanted to go as a family, but Jared didn't tell me where he was going and why and I only knew Justin was with him because Abishai had said so. Hopefully we will all go tomorrow after Sunday dinner. Then we'll drop off some donations to a friend and after supper, get the tree and lights up. Then I will spend the rest of the week doing the rest as normal. I don't really feel like doing it, but my new Lego Advent wreath came today and I think the first Sunday of Advent is tomorrow, so I better get into it. And I accomplished all my other tasks for the weekend, so I have no excuse.

Early to bed tonight. I'm exhausted, again. That's another reason why these kids can't stay awake much longer.

Justin's science experiment having to do with vinegar, baking soda and how much volume of gas is actually produced this time, I think. I didn't read it. But he said it did work.

I tried out my new Lilla Rose headband today and it stayed on for 3 hrs! It's a bit stiffer than the others and I wasn't moving a whole lot either. I didn't brush my hair fully out and it needs to be washed, so I'm sure that helped. But it goes perfectly with my shirt! Ok, now I see there's a slight color difference. Whoops, close enough. I asked my friends if I looked too young or not, and they said I was fine. They even said the red and black is ok for me to wear. So I'll wear it to church tomorrow. I have a small or odd shaped head so it's hard to wear headbands that go all the way around my head, but I prefer this one from LR because it doesn't squish my head behind my ears like regular headbands do. Headband elastics roll right off my head.  The waves are just from having my hair in LR clips all day.

Great quote!

Abishai is always spoiled when he goes out with Daddy. He made Mommy, himself, and Daddy. I have a hat on to keep me warm, a skirt, and a present. He has a warm hat and a snowboard. Daddy has a jackhammer and a cowboy hat because it looks like his safari hat.

Can you see all that mouse poo and tiny flecks of cardboard and paper? That's the damage from the mouse. WHO, by the way, jumped out at me when I moved one of the bins. Jared went in there with his knife but wasn't sure what he was going to do with it, and eventually the mouse escaped to behind the fridge. We put more regular traps down after we cleaned it up and then put everything back and hope to catch it that way. It doesn't want the mouse trap with food in it. Smart mouse.

The contents of my pantry floor. Thankfully most weren't too dirty.

One thing I found was that the mouse was thirsty and had chewed a hole through a carton of beef broth! And it had dripped on a couple a few things. Blech!!!! But the spill could have been much worse. It was just a couple of boxes of plastic baggies.

I carefully put everything back in slightly different spots because of where Jared put the mouse traps. I also didn't leave any cardboard boxes or foil bags that are easy to chew through on mousy's level. I just hope it doesn't try to climb up a level. I'm going to be watching the next shelf up very carefully. If there's even a hint of evidence, I'll put things out again. I just don't have a lot of space to leave stuff out in the kitchen or hallways while we wait for it to be trapped.

I love my walk in pantry. The only home I've lived in with a walk in pantry or closet of any kind.

Gorgeous sunset. I'm glad the kids spent some time outside helping Grandpa with his yard.

A girl and her dog, again. And always.

Sunday we all went to church. Keturah got to sleep in because there was no middle school worship and she didn't have to do worship for KP either. So she rode with me for the 11am. Jared took Abishai as normal, but he came home after the 9am after nearly collapsing trying to do the nursery at 11am. He had done some painting and lifting of the wet vac yesterday and had thrown his back out again. He went home and put heat and then ice on his back for the rest of the afternoon. He missed Sunday lunch. Since Benaiah has small group now, Sunday dinner was super quiet. I could have spoken up about a few things, but wasn't in the mood and completely forgot, whoops. Leah made Jared a go to plate and he ate that for dinner when he woke up. So, the day went completely upside down. Oh well. I still got donations dropped off to Alisha and Jared was able to direct the kids enough to put the tree up with lights on. Justin did the lights all by himself, yeah! Benaiah didn't join us because he had to make food for his lunches this week. Oh well, gotta move on from the traditions at some point. I put up a few decorations, but not all of them yet. And we called it good for the day. Benaiah did play drums for Franklin Rd. today, too. So, at least I got to watch him from the distance. And our long time friends, Rob and Stephanie Brake, were the special interview video today about how they serve in different ministries at the church doing "Kingdom Work." I can't believe how much the kids have grown! 

Overall, it was a good day. It did end on a sour note with some interesting revelations between Jared and I again. We can't seem to shake it. We've got a lot of work to do and learning to do before we can come out of this. I'm praying that we come out of it ok, with minimal scarring. It's just hard going through it every single day. 

Abishai was very upset when Jared went to Mr. Jim's house to talk, so I told him I had a secret plan. That secret plan was that he could play on his tablet a little longer and then he could lay on the couch and pretend to be asleep when Daddy got home. Well, Daddy stayed out later than he expected and Abishai actually did fall asleep. My secret, SECRET, plan worked!

Yes, that would be the very dead mouse that's been plaguing our house for the last couple of months. All it took was thoroughly cleaning out the bottom of the pantry and buying the old fashioned traps. Jared baited it with the chips it had been eating. I was on the couch in the fireside room when I heard a loud "snap!" Bingo! Mouse caught! I did apologize to it because it is a creature, but dude, enough is enough. Go live outside or somewhere I can't see you. Don't come inside and make a mess where we eat and live. Nope, nada, done. Yes, I know the say that where's there's one mouse, there's probably more. That has not been our experience, so, I'll keep looking but I think we are good to go for now. Sorry, Mouse, but you got to go! Justin picked up the trap and mouse and took it directly to the outdoor trash can. I suppose we should have put it on a plastic bag first. Oh well, deed is done. Sigh.

Frost on the table on the deck except where the leaf is.

Nice ice crystals, photo taken by my iPhone 11.

I did not clean up the fireside room for you two to lounge over here. Up and at 'em so we can get the tree and lights out.

Time to fluff the branches, aka, expand them. We've got experts among us. We just directed them.

When Abishai was done fluffing the branches, we let him give Socks a doggy ice cream treat.

The advantage of having long arms is that you basically become the tree unfolding your arms and hands like a butterfly's wings.

The ice cream makes us feel good. (That's what I wrote first). (I think I meant to say) The ice cream makes us (both) feel cold.  (Bwahahahahaha!)

Keturah and I worked on finishing up some gifts she wants to give Everly and Nora.  We'll wrap them later when we get the wrapping paper out.

Not too shabby for the first go around.

Ah, now that looks much better. Clean, pillows put back nicely, no toys. colored lights on the ceiling. That's so much better. I've missed this!

The End