Year 7, January 17th-23rd: Normalcy, It's a Great Thing

 Monday - Cold

- Super, duper cold. I couldn't get warm to save my life. My toes feel like they are frostbit. I had to double up on my socks although I was wearing my slippers. It's 22 degrees aside with a windchill in the teens, but this house just wasn't warm enough for me. I raised the regular thermostat during the day, kept the heaters on in the sunroom, and even finally added the extra strip of material to the window next to my desk so it wouldn't leak anymore. I had two cups of coffee, too. After I write the blog, I'm going to head over to the fireplace room and enjoy the fire Jared made for me. I'll bring my computer to watch videos on because I don't like how Facebook, YouTube and Amazon Prime does it on the phone. But I'm not staying in the sunroom tonight. Blech. I caught up on other paperwork this weekend, so I'm not needing anything else in here.

- Justin had work and got his first paycheck today! It was for his first week of work so it was a little on the smaller side. He's getting paid minimum wage so I was a bit shocked at how little it was, but hey, you have to start somewhere. Justin is content with it, or at least not phased by it. He's not working that hard for it. It's not that busy there right now and it keeps him occupied. I just need to check in on his homework though to make sure it's not suffering. For now, he's going to work M/Tu/Th for a total of 18 hrs a week, 8:30 to 2:30. Works perfect for our schedule at the moment. He's slowly reaching those milestones, just like he always has, emphasis on slowly, lol. Or for him, just at his own pace. You can't rush Justin. You can push Benaiah and put him out there in the mainstream and throw him in the deep end and he'll swim. But you can't do that to Justin. Justin will sink. Justin needs the extra time. He will do just as well and sometimes even better than Benaiah. It's almost a little bit like the tortoise and the hare. Just a little bit. And I'm totally ok with that. Justin will get there. I'm thankful for the slower pace because it means I can enjoy it more. No need to rush it. Because once it's done and they are out, they're out. I've learned that the hard way.

- Keturah, Abisahi and I tried to do our history lesson first this morning to see if it would work better than doing independent lessons first. It went ok. But independent lessons then took forever. So, I don't know which was is better. We'll just have to keep trying one way and then the other. But with Justin's work schedule, it should work out to do history read alouds on his work days. And then review day should be Friday but Grandpa's been having Bible class on Friday morning so that won't work this week. Grandpa's being inconsistent again. I said on the onset of the school year we needed to stick to a certain day, and it's starting to slide again. I'm going to have to put my foot down again now that we've figured out Justin's schedule and gym day. Although in reality, gym day is the same as park day and that day really is off limits and Justin needs to take responsibility to set time aside to talk to Grandpa like Benaiah did at this point. I was no longer in charge of Bible class because Benaiah had Jared teaching him at Southside. Grandpa would occasionally ask him about his spiritual walk I think. I've done my job teaching the history of ancient times and it's now Jared's turn to hold his older boys accountable. Gary took over that, but really, as soon as the boys became teens, it was no longer my job. Obviously, it's my job with Keturah, so that's my next step and I plan to sort of maybe take over Bible class with her next year. That would eliminate two kids needing to get together with Grandpa per week. Then maybe Grandpa could take Abishai out to lunch or something for his class like he used to take Benaiah when he was Abishai's age. Keturah will be in 9th grade. She's got the history of the Bible because I've taught her that. The spiritual growth really needs to be from a woman's perspective at this point, like in Titus 2. She has the rest of her life for the rest of the spiritual growth as she listens to sermons, is in small groups, does her own personal Bible studies, etc. So, it's something I'm considering for next year.

- Jared was helpful today in picking up Justin from work and bringing him home. He also bought Justin a celebratory pizza and Mountain Dews for his first paycheck. So at least I didn't have to outside in the cold. I'll probably have to go get Justin tomorrow though. And then we have ASL on Wednesday. So I have to be brave then. Nuts. We did have a few flakes of snow though. 

- Lastly, my favorite school lesson moment of the day was reading a picture book about 9/11 to Abishai. It described some of the details and gave some real names of some of the victims and survivors and their stories, but had rough illustrations to make it less scary. Abishai had some basic questions as we read. And then I did play a video for him that went along with the Michael W. Smith song "There She Stands" which he wrote the day after 9/11 about the US flag. We played the updated video for the 20th anniversary that he put out last year and it almost made me cry again. And I think it hit home for Abishai. I told him if the images were too scary, we would turn it off. But it was just clips of the second plane hitting the tower and some of the people running away from the tower with all the ashes covering them, etc. And Abishai said at the end that if he ever found Osama bin Laden that he would kill him himself. So he recognized him as the bad guy and put the pieces together. And then Abishai and I pieced together how playing the bad guys on his video games with Daddy at night is not a good thing. Bad days do evil things in real life. And real people get hurt. Bad guys are bad and it's not funny. And he said he wouldn't do it anymore. Not sure if he remembered that when he got on tonight, but at least his wheels were turning. So, I'm reminded and grateful that I can introduce these lessons early on and instill a sense of empathy without frightening a child and without overprotecting them either. Because children see and hear things. Ask today's children what they know about the viruses and masks and vaccines. They will parrot back to you all the narratives they have been taught. Children 20 years ago would parrot back to you all about the war on terrorism and jihad and how bad Islam is. They weren't taught necessarily how kind and awesome most Muslims are. They were taught to fear them. I have the privilege to teach the difference between extremists and how to respect a culture at the same time, and to start doing it at a very young age. Even Osama bin Laden needed Jesus. Because Abishai is such an empathetic person anyway, I knew he would connect with this so I brought it up and sowed the seed. That's what I love about homeschooling. Planting those seeds day in and day out. And that's what is frustrating when the kids say something that is totally opposite because it means those seeds never germinated. Or they did, but then then they withered and died. I only have a brown thumb, not a green one. I can only do so much. But I will keep trying. 

This is what happens when you leave your phone unattended. Your child takes 55 photos and 3 videos. These are the highlights.

Not sure what this was.

School was done here today. But it still took forever because....distractions......

BRRRRRRR

I guess New England got it's snow from Izzy last night.

So is PEI having snow or rain right now? Looks nasty! It's going to be nasty if it's sleet and then freezes. Very dangerous!

Nasty! I'm glad we only have the cold and not the precipitation!

I was looking up what the locals on PEI were saying and they are starting to compare this year to 2015 already. I think it's slightly early to call it that yet. I've been following this year's storms pretty closely. It's only their 4th or 5th significant storm so far. Not sure if it's really going to be every weekend. But 2015 was like that. Pretty much every weekend. And it was exactly that for when Abishai was born. It snowed Sunday-Tuesday, cleaned out Weds/Thursday. He was born on Friday, it snowed Saturday-Monday again. Yup.

Oh how much I have Candace Cameron Bure! She is so bold! Despite an article that I read that was said that people were making fun of her for being so bold, she just won't let her faith go, not at all. DJ Tanner is my fav! Actually, she was my fav on Full House, too. She was the horse lover, the oldest, and the closest in age to me when the show ran. We loved Full House growing up. Anyway, her shirt says, "Love like Jesus, Hug like Bob Saget" What a perfect tribute knowing how much Mr. Saget meant to all of them as the "Dad" on Full Set and America's "Dad" to many watching the show.

Celebratory meat lovers' pizza and Mountain Dew for receiving his first paycheck! About 1/6 of it was taken out in taxes but, hey, that's life as an adult, right? Moving on up in the big world! Jared was going to take him to the bank to deposit it and open up his first official checking account but the banks were closed do to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

I finally got rid of Grandma Cook's memorial flowers (they were beginning to stink!) and the table just looked so bare with nothing in the middle. So I put Keturah's fabric tree and Abishai's new snowmen in the middle for a little winter theme. I guess I could have left to naked for awhile. But you know us, the Johnsons have to have every single horizontal space covered with something. And the vertical spaces, too. No white space! No margin! Not in our schedules, not on the walls, not on the tables, not even on the floors! Just clutter everywhere! Lol.

First paycheck day!

Tuesday - Kellie and Kya Day!

- Yeah! Our first Kellie and Kya day of 2022! And it was a good one! Lots of "word vomiting" between Kelli and I so obviously we needed it. She lifted my spirits and I got to inform her about something that helped her solve one of her issues. Win-win!

- The kids and I did independent work first, and then together work. I had to rush through Abishai's science lesson and then rush through history but it was just Adam and Eve and it came out ok. Tomorrow we have ASL, so I will just have Abishai's homework to do while we are there. And then I'm going to try to sit down with both Justin and Keturah to go over what they've done. I think I'll start with Justin first if he'll let me. He might want to work on his independent work though. If so, then I will just make Saturdays our day to go over a week's worth of homework at a time. But I have an appointment at 5pm so it will be an interesting end of the afternoon to deal with.

- Pretty normal day otherwise. Just trying to keep up with some not so fun dirty areas I didn't really know about that I discovered today. I want to be a good housekeeper. And despite my physical disadvantages, there are little things I could improve on, like dusting a small section at a time. There are methods, like the FlyLady method, that are great for that, and I could use it. But I understand the principles and I'll just keep chipping away at things as I can. I think our bedroom is one of the areas I need  to tackle here in the winter months. The garage will be the summer time. I just need to do some declutter and dusting and it will make a huge difference. I know I took out a few things right before Christmas but I could tackle the windowsill and desk a bit. 15 minutes at a time. That's all it takes. And I need to not be so hard on myself. I'm not back there that often. I get in and get out. I spend more time primping rooms that people actually see, namely the bathrooms, kitchen, and sitting/fire room. But, I don't feel comfortable in my own room and it's not inviting to me. But I can change that by at least cleaning that. And that's all it takes, a change of attitude. Do what I can do without spending a dime. Can I clean something, rearrange something, reuse something a different way. No need for more things to take up space. I think I want to move that nice desk out of my room and into the fireside room. I know that room is already heavy with furniture and you shouldn't do that, but, I'm not using my room to do crafts because it's too hot or too cold. And I'm too far away from the action of the house. It could go where the kids' school books are. But then what would I do with that? I could put that behind the couch and then move that bench to a different spot. I usually just have library books there, but I can condense the kids' books and the library books, etc. But all of that might narrow that area more, so I don't know. Or I could move the bookcase that's there to our room but I would be possibly covering up a window unless I switched out a bookcase that's a bit shorter that's already in our room. Decisions! And it takes a lot of time and effort to move things, and can we do it all in one day? It would take a lot of planning. So back to thinking I go. I just something more efficient and usable. I could still keep my handicraft supplies in our room though. Anyway, I have ideas, but to get the men in my life to actually execute them is another story.

- Now, let's see if we can all of ourselves to ASL tomorrow. I'm really tired and would like to finish the day early.

I agree, Mr. Gaffigan, and the person who repsonded to you with this graphic. And actually, I was in a focus group who talked through what it might look like for cable companies in the future when channels, now called subscription services, became more popular. Well, here we are now. And I don't know many people who still have cable. But that's what I feel like. I feel like we pay more in subscription services than we ever did for cable. But we had basic cable. We didn't have any add ons for sports or movie channels. The nice thing about subscription channels is that you can watch on our own timetable. I just I wish I could pay one bill and not 5.

Are you comfy, dog? I know Abishai coached him up there and put the pillows in those specific spots, but still. Abishai said, "Mom, he's old. Don't you think he deserves to sleep on the comfy couch?" Ok, yes I do.

His paw is even tucked UNDER the pillow! Ok Fluff Bucket, you win.

And then Abishai got his turn later.

Leah shared this funny with the family today. I said, don't surprised if Abishai actually does this in real life someday. What I was really thinking is that sometimes Abishai has been up for 1-2 hrs already "working" on his Legos or reading a book. He is going to be that one housemate someday reading his Bible and drinking his coffee after doing his morning workout just waiting for the rest of the guys to roll out of bed. I can just see it. And then he'll be the last man standing at midnight or something.

 

We heard and saw 4 army helicopters heading straight east today. They were flying under the cloud cover, so not super low, but low enough to be very loud. I'm not sure what they were up to of course. But now I'll always wonder if it was Jared's friend doing it on purpose or just random army guys drilling. Or maybe even a president or former president or other important politician coming or going. Sometimes they are around at random times. Former VP Mike Pence does still live in Indiana. But I think he's more from up north, not Chicago area, but straight north I think, Ft. Wayne perhaps. He's a down to earth Hoosier, not a wannabe suburb of Chicago or Kentucky or Ohio, but truly out in the nowhere Hoosier. Anyway, Abishai loved seeing them. They freaked out Socks though. I think he hears more of the frequencies they make.

Wednesday - Mammogram Day

- Woot! Woot! Yes, time to celebrate! Most people wouldn't celebrate it, but I've been looking forward to getting mammograms put on my annual to do list for awhile. I knew I would need to because of my family history and my peace of mind and today was the day. And boom, it's done! And man, it wasn't that hard. Yes, it hurt for those few seconds per scan, but good grief, it's worth it. And I was there and back again within an hour. Now we wait for the results, which I expect to be just fine, and the cost, and tick mark that off my list! Yeah!

- Meanwhile, I can also tick mark going over Keturah's homework today, that got done, but not without a fight. Good grief. Why do kids have to sneak around with their phones and do the minimal amount of work? What's wrong with kids? Do they know what's good for them? Doesn't anyone have any work ethic? I mean, where did I get mine? I guess I always had a people pleaser attitude so I worked hard so I wouldn't get in trouble. Which has backfired on me on occasion. But, for the most part, it has pushed me to keep going and do my best work. But kiddos, wow, attitudes abound between Keturah and Justin and they rub off on Abishai. It's like I run a "I don't want to" club or something. Abishai's been giving me ultimatum's like "I'll do it today but I'll never do it again." I don't get it. And I don't know how to change any of it. I can just keep on working hard and setting examples. That's all.

- I left them in charge of chores and supper since my appointment was at 5pm. When I drove past the church, Jared had already left, so I knew he had gone to Kroger already and was on his way home. I'm sure that helped with getting it all done. 

- Maybe I should assign them all to think about what their dreams and goals are in life. Not necessarily a career choice, but what do they see themselves doing in 5-10 years or more. And how do they think they'll get there kind of thing.  Some dreamcasting. Stuff I used to do all the time, and still do, all the time. Maybe it will shift their thinking a bit. I don't know. Just quit floating and do something. Seeing a purpose in what they are doing should motivate them. I don't know. This generation or these personalities are all strange to me. I don't get them at all. I struggle a lot with it.

We bought some special ice cream cones back in December and they came specially packaged with a plastic lid to them to protect the fancy pattern. Keturah said the ice cream tastes like raspberry ice cream. Very, very pretty.

Abishai, who usually likes to include others, including his siblings when counting kids in his class and in his picture of his class. How sweet is that! He also wanted people to know the actual name of his teacher. And his favorite part of his day is snack time.

The picture is of the three of them, Abishai, Keturah, and Justin, on the couch during read aloud time, with Socks sitting on the floor. I'm in my red chair reading to them.

When you homeschool, you can bring your drink and snacks to your desk. Abishai came prepared.

Just a really funny response by a fellow homeschooler. Sometimes it does feel like we rescue books from their ultimate demise of a landfill or a fireplace. Lol.

Thursday - Homework at Night

- Keturah got up when Jared pulled off her blanket at 8:30am, so she said she accomplished all her work by noon. However, she only did one more vocabulary word in her history before stealing her phone off my desk (she had already been grounded from it for today because of yesterday's failure to finish her work in a timely manner), so she had to work on more homework when I left for an appointment. She then had to spend her screen time watching a history DVD on Billy Graham.

- Meanwhile, Abishai could have done his written work before I left, but flitted away his time. He said he would do it tonight instead of during screen time, and well, that left me pressed for time trying to do other household chores and playing parent trying to help the child with his homework like other parents do. I'm not fond of this arrangement and it won't happen again. 

- Then I had tried to text Justin on my way to my appointment and when he was finishing up work (Jared had to pick him up from work because of the timing) to remind him to work on schoolwork first and then screen time, but I guess the text didn't go through. Jared told him to do school though. But when I got home, Justin was on the PS5. I asked him why he wasn't doing schoolwork and he said he would do it later. So he, too, had to do schoolwork after dinner. This was after we had a huge discussion this week about how he feels he's doing doing well with it in the evening. Well, then switch up when you do it, Son. Saturday is going to be very interesting when we sit down and all is revealed as to what has been happening the last couple of weeks.

- I'm a teacher by day. I really don't want to be nagging about homework at night. Come on, obey, get it done. Obedience is not optional, it's required. Maybe I've taught them too well how to buck the system. Because now I'm tired and I have no brain power to work on other things. Like transcripts, budgets, and birthday party invites. Ugh. 

- But, what I did accomplish this week was the mammogram yesterday, and I got the results today and of course they were negative, yeah! And then my annual gyno appt today, with the pap smear (now every 3 years), so that's done. And then I just have the ultrasound on my ovarian cyst. The doctor said it's been 2 yrs since I had an ultrasound on it, which is odd. I didn't think it had been two full years. But maybe so. I mean, it's been almost 2 full years since Covid started, which is unbelievable actually. And it's really close to being endemic instead of pandemic. Thank the Lord!

- Next week, I don't have any appointments, meetings, or extra activities! Just the normal weekly stuff! So, what extra stuff can I add to make things go crazy?! The Children's Museum? Maybe....but I need a partner in crime....Hm,....we'll see. Or I could just stay home and put together the bathroom shelf myself. That's an option. And I could invite the partner in crime over to help me. Again, I'll think on it. Gotta finish this week first. Gym day tomorrow.

What a contrast! Well, the British PM probably still recommends the use of masks, but at least it's relaxing it's rules which has always been high, but Pres. Biden is pushing for mask usage by handing out more masks when we, too, should be relaxing our rules as soon as this surge is over (give it just a couple of more weeks in my opinion.) The world is strange.

And do you know why this is? One reason is that most campuses are requiring you have the Covid vaccine to be on campus. Another reason is the expense like stated here. Another reason is that kids like Benaiah have discovered that there's more money in trades than in jobs related that require a college degree. This also means that colleges are desperate for students and so they will be willing to work with students to get them in. So if you don't have the most perfect application or transcript, it's ok. They will help you figure out a way to take a class to bump up that GPA or qualify to be admitted. There might even be some extra scholarship money involved. That's why I tell parents not to worry. College acceptance is not a big deal, at least for the average student and above. If you have a really poor student, then obviously, it's much more difficult. But pretty much any average person can get in and really, they can pass the classes, too. Benaiah will sail through his classes. I have no doubt. If he puts enough effort in, he could carry a 4.0. If he does the bare minimum, he still should be a 3.0. I'm not worried one bit. I will worry about Justin, but only because he might not get assignments done on time or turned in, not because he couldn't understand or memorize or even do well on a test or paper. His problems are with executive functioning. But I'm not surprised by these statistics. Not at all.

Sister didn't make room for the doggy today so he had to lay down on the floor.

Abishai claimed he needed to have 7 things for breakfast. Well, candy counted as 1 thing, kind of like the "themed" gifts count as 1 gift that Grandpa gives. Abishai wanted something sweet and he knew that I had a hidden stash of candy in the garage fridge so he brought them to me. Ok, fine, you can have some. He insists that they are of all the same color so he can make a snowman. And the piece in front is a pile of snowballs.

Another day, another photo of doggy laying on the couch. I'm going to have Abishai clean the couch this weekend. This is getting to be too much.

Jared responds to the most random tweets sometimes, but ok. I'm glad he likes his cars.

Well, sister is now watching a DVD at Mommy's computer so Doggy has sister's bed all to himself. Might as well tuck him all the way in.

All snuggled up.

Abishai is a beast! He uses the stool to reach the bar and then kicks it out of the way. Then he hangs for a bit. He puts his feet out to hold onto the wall as he repositions his hands on a different part of the bar. He repeats this several times. I don't actually think about this chin up bar being here this often because I just walk right under it and I don't look up. I guess for our guests it's probably pretty weird to see it just as you walk in. But it's the perfect thing to have here especially in the winter time. Again, our house is all about function over fashion.

And for the third photo of the puppy today, I present to you, Socks using Justin's bed as his bed, complete with his head on Justin's pillow. I'm glad the kids love it and don't mind sucking in Sock's hair in the mouths when they sleep. Socks has just gotten used to the kids inviting him to use their pillows and blankets that he automatically positions himself that way I guess. Who needs a separate dog bed taking up floor space when you've got couches and kids' beds to sleep on, eh? How precious! We wouldn't want it any other way, really. We can always get another couch or wash the couch cushion covers and we can always wash the bedding. We won't always have out first ever pet, our precious big boy Socks. We will soak him up every minute we have him. He gets lots and lots and lots of loving all day long. So much so that he has to escape outside just to have some alone time. Lol. Sweet old doggy. There's never ever been a better dog in the world, I'm telling ya, never. I've watched 100's of dog videos now and I've never seen any other dog behave like he does, so calm and friendly and loving, only barking when necessary to alert the family someone is at the door. Never getting into stuff in the house, hardly ever tracking in dirt or throwing up or pooping in the house. I couldn't have asked for a better dog. So yes, let him sleep on the couch, on the floor, on the beds, even on the pillows. Socks is the best dog you've ever met. Hands down. Everybody adores him!

Friday - When One Comment Messes Up Your Whole Day

- Don't get triggered. Ever. It messes you up all day. Or when you do, find ways to keep you distracted so you don't have to think about it. Then go straight to bed.

- Normal Friday with Grandpa class and Gym day. More families at gym day. Yeah! Lots more activity, too, yeah!

- Restful afternoon. Justin at Kya's. Jared handled dinner, karate, picking up Justin from Kya's house while I went out to Mom's Night Out at a Mexican restaurant.

- I love spending time with my homeschool friends. I needed that time with them today.

Boy, get off my phone! #selfie

"I take a photo of you of you, Mommy!" Grrrr

One of the main reasons parents pull their kids from public school isn't because of what is being taught in public school, but because their kid is being bullied. How kids can bully other kids and adults can stand by and just watch, I have no idea. Where do kids learn that it's ok to be so mean to other kids? I think it's because adults are just not present enough to say, no, it's not ok. And they go unpunished. Parents, stay vigilant. Bullying is not ok.

Gym day! And they were all eager to play dodge ball. Yeah!

It's 15 degress F and Justin went out with just shorts on. #smh

Saturday - Cold, but Productive

- I got to do a bit of everything. Puzzles, cleaning up, making sure kids showered, budgeting, working on Justin's transcripts, listening to podcasts, signing up for IAHE Homeschool Day at the Capitol, email, printing, making hard boiled eggs, putting away Christmas ornaments, dusting the kitchen ceiling fan, etc.

- Justin worked on a lot of homework. Jared took him to deposit his paycheck finally. They didn't open a checking account because the bank lobby was full. Justin does not have an atm card so he can't deposit checks that way yet or through mobile deposit yet.

- Keturah cleaned off her bench and moved it a little bit and it opened her room up a lot. She asked to move her bed again and I said absolutely not. I like the configuration that it is in now. I can easily see her, she can reach for things, the dog can get in and out easily, etc.

- Abishai and Daddy hung out for a good portion of the day. Jared made a fire that lasted all day and made me even sweat! I enjoyed it and tried to spend a lot of time in the fireside room, too.

 

Because sometimes, he goes out in only boots with NO socks, in the winter. Because he's Abishai and he's Canadian. The other day he said he needed to go outside because he needed fresh air. Oh, be still my heart that at least one of my kids still likes the outdoors. Mommy's become a hermit because it's that time of year that the cold weather does bother my knees and I really don't want to put on that extra layer under my jeans because then I feel like a snowman and can't move.

Very true. Same goes with teachers and admin. We love staff, it's just the policies that they have to implement and adhere to that are the problem.

I LOVE footnotes! I used to read from a Bible that had these awesome footnotes at the bottom, I think it was one of those NIV study Bibles from the 90's. I never look up the endnotes. But put them right below the reading on the same page, I'll read them every single time. Because I'm easily distracted? But then I have to ask, if it's important enough to make an endnote, then why not include them in the text in the first place? Ok, if it's just like what Bible was used, that's cool. If it's a definition of a term, that's cool, too.

Brilliant!

I pretty much agree with you child! Unless I undercook them, which I usually do, and then I need ketchup. But usually I top them with eggs, cheese, and "everything but the bagel" seasoning. I think I need to make that for breakfast tomorrow. Oh, and he also eats them that way because Mommy is lazy and doesn't add extra ingredients to anything she gives the kids unless they absolutely ask for it. It cuts down on mess and the food budget. And it teaches them to not always need extras. So if they go to someone's house, they can eat a plain salad if the family doesn't have the salad dressing they don't like.

Nice.

Keturah cleared up her bench after I told her she couldn't rearrange her room. I told her she needed to do something with the loose Legos and stuff that was under the pillows on it. When it was cleared off, she coaxed Socks to get up there and this was the result.

Yes, He has on her slippers and we got him to lay his head down on a shiny pillow. He even closed his eyes and fell asleep! Spoiled! I don't think he will get up there by his own choice because it's too narrow. But he's too cute!

I made Jared's stocking stuffer 350 piece puzzle yesterday in about 2 hrs. I'm determined to make all the puzzles we didn't make last year. I love puzzles. So why not? It provides a reason for me to be in a warmer room, the fireside room, and I am not staring at my screen, but listening to videos and podcasts. I was going to start it and then work on it with Jared but I finished it before he woke up from his Saturday nap. Whoops.

It's so true! And correct grammar! Ok, that wasn't a complete sentence. I'm not an English major. But I do try to sound competent. Leah was an English major but she uses a lot of shorthand in her texts because she learned it in her college education. I think there was some kind of typist or secretary class or something? I don't know. But I do still use correct punctuation and capitalization and spelling to the best of my ability. I want to at least sound intelligent even when I don't feel like I am.

We got through week 1 of Mystery of History Volume 1 for the 3rd time! Woot! Woot! I had Abishai draw the Days of Creation and then I printed some cute colored drawings to put on the timeline instead of having him draw ones for the timeline. I just wanted to use the chalkboard so Jared could be involved and such. Here's how it came out. Abishai filled in 1-2 circles a day. You can take each day of Creation and use it to study Science for a whole year, and our the first Science book in the elementary Berean Builders' series does just that. There's other curriculum that base their year or years on it as well. It's fun to do it in this order. Think about it, God had to seperate light and darkness in order to see what else He was doing on the other days. And then He had to separate the waters, i.e. create the sky, and then make land and oceans, before he could make animals. But first He had to create the planets, sun, and moon, so that the seasons could take place because without them, the plants and animals couldn't go through their cycles, right? I think God created birds and sea creatures next because they help feed the land animals and they clean up after the other animals, like birds scratch at the ground and spread out the manure of land animals, and fish clean the water. And THEN came land animals, and THEN came Adam and Eve. See, Creation was created in an organized manner because God said so. I didn't read that anywhere, I just kind of thought through it this week as I was looking at the board. And of course we all know God rested, not because He needed the rest or couldn't keep going but because He was done and he was setting a precedent for us to take a day of rest. I love how Abishai depicted God has some lines of yellow or gold on a bed. So sweet.

1) Light/Darkness 2) Separation of the waters; remember, it didn't rain until the flood with Noah, so was there a water cycle? where there clouds in the sky? what did the "firmament" look like? 3) Separation of land and water, so oceans and rivers are now actually formed

4) Sun, moon, and stars; tides, seasons, day, night, year 5) fish, sea creatures, birds 6) land animals, humands 7) God rested

Sunday - Snow!

- The snow covered the roads for a bit. I didn't really want to drive on it, so I didn't. I am a wimp. I know. And I wanted to listen to church while Jared was there in person listening to it, so I did. And then I didn't have a reason to go. So I didn't. And I enjoyed my time at home. In the quiet. Alone. Again. Ok, not alone. Communing with God. But I had a few thoughts. I need a reason to go to the church building. I need something to look forward to. Like sitting with friends if I can't sit with Jared. But I need new friends. And I don't want to go through Rooted. There is a way to form a small group if you've already been through Rooted or have been in other small groups or whatever. There's a special meet and greet that happens every so often. We could try that and see if we could just start totally fresh. Again, I can't go backwards. I need to start completely over. I tried 6 years ago. Well, 3 years with the neighbors. Anyway, time to start fresh. And not through Rooted because I don't want to give my personal testimony and all that deep stuff right away. I need things to go slower than that. So, maybe something like that. And I mean totally and completely new. Hopefully with families with kids with tweens and older. Not super young families. But ones that are new to the Creek that don't necessarily know our family's history so we can present ourselves in our own ways. I'll be suggesting it to Jared.  

- Lunch with Leah which was yummy. We talked with Gary as he was driving home from Ohio and driving through part of the snowstorm you see in the photo below. He had a horrific drive yesterday on his way to Ohio with lots of traffic because of an accident. Everybody had a turn to talk, so that was nice.

- Afternoon nap for Jared, screens for kids, puzzle and YouTube for me as usual. Kids had Crave and small group as normal this evening. Keturah was very proud of herself for not being on her phone at all this morning or during small group tonight. Woot! Woot! 

- Abishai has a good friend in Sunday School named Isaiah. I guess Isaiah sometimes stays for both hours and they pal around together. I need to learn who he belongs to and see if it's someone we know. I didn't figure out what to do for Abishai's birthday yet. Abishai wants to take someone to see monster trucks but that's not until April. If he wants to do a themed party on February 12th or 13th, we needed to get on it ASAP. He's mentioned 1 or 2 other kids as well. And of course he wants all the older kids he hangs out with at gym day and I said no because they only hang out with them because they are nice kids and they all happen to be in the same room together.  Because of all the Omincron sickness right now, planning a big themed party seems daunting. I'd rather just confirm with a friend or two. We could go ice skating because that's on a Sunday afternoon. Hm,...

- We have nothing extra this week besides our weekly routine. So we might add in a Children's Museum trip or go ice skating with Daddy or who knows what. I'll probably go to Kellie's house on Tuesday after Justin gets off of work. And with Justin's transcript looked at and our budget rough drafted, I don't feel much pressure from projects at home. Not having firm dates for things leaves me kind of adrift. I have the IAHE Newsletter to work on, but I can get that done tomorrow. I can read books, but then I can't play puzzles or cross stitch so I've been listening to a lot of YouTube videos or podcasts, so I can work with my hands. I have become my mother! Lol. But it's my happy place, and I love it. Back to work!

 

It snowed for maybe an hour. How much did we actually get and how long did it stick around? Well.....

 

I still have the snow magnet on the weather space and yes, indeed, it snowed for like 2 hrs today. But how much did we get?

This is the how much we got....

And 2 hrs later, this is how much we had left.....

...and it was gone by supper time. Stupid Indiana. Just stupid. We need to move north. Way north. Back to New England I say. It's still my dream. There's still a lot of ministry work up there to do. Send us to the northeast, Lord! Northeast!

The End