Year 7, April 4th-10th, 2022: Preparations in Triplet

 Monday - Never Enough Time

- I really hate our schedule. I mean, it's fine for the kids. They can handle it. They still get plenty of down time. But I don't. I have to go from one thing to the next and I don't get much of a brain break or a physical break. Both of them are much shorter and I still haven't adjusted to them. I'm starting to resent the sacrifice of my own time and energy for my kids. It's not good. I'm just not getting any rest like I was getting. And I have no time to eat, shower, catch up, do my volunteer work, read my Bible, etc. I don't know what can change. I'm hoping maybe Justin getting his license will help. I'm hoping having a break week next week will also help. And then we only have two more weeks of school left and it's summer break. We'll still have Tang Soo, Justin's work, some youth group stuff, etc. But I will be able to rest. So I will try to focus on that. I'm just facing burnout. And this is why we've resisted having kids in afternoon sports and activities for so long. I didn't want to be on the go at that part of the day. And I know I know why. My energies start to wane after 4pm. I can manage dinner, maybe, IF, I've got that rest time. And that rest time helps me power through the rest of the day. It was a nice routine for me. And I also had a nice time slot for appointments. But I don't have that margin anymore. So, just a few more weeks, then a nice long break and reevaluation and different routine. Then we'll get into a totally different schedule for next year. Perhaps I'll do a different curriculum or break up the bookwork somehow. Perhaps Abishai will be on medication and it will make all the difference. I'll find a way, somehow. I'll have several months to catch up and clean up and I'll be anxious to start the new school year. Just watch and see. It's time to stop with school and switch gears. It's always like this. Our brains and bodies are done. Just gotta hang on awhile longer.

- Meanwhile, it was really a fine Monday. I'm just being melodramatic. We had mulch delivered today and Abishai was super excited and enjoyed playing it. We finished school just in time and the rest of the day went smoothly. Well, except the checking account went into overdraft because Jared and I don't communicate well about payment dates and then bills get paid the day before paycheck hits and you accidentally spend over $400 at the grocery store thinking you'll be fine because you think there's money in the account when you don't realize it's already spoken for because the husband moved it over there for a different purpose. Ugh. Yes, stop playing accountant and leave it all alone. Talk about it BEFORE you mess with it. I hate creative accounting. Just stop it. Can I just have ONE MONTH that is normal when it comes to finances? Nope. Nada. Nope. Not one. Not Ever.

- We won't be able to spread the mulch this week because we are super busy and it's going be soggy and cold all week. Boo! But it's on the driveway at least. I guess Jared and I can work on it next week. Justin claims that he doesn't have to help because he works all day 3 days a week. And then I remind him that Benaiah worked 30 hrs a week and went TO a school full time and had a girlfriend and volunteered at church and had friends. So, he has nothing to complain about. We'll see what he says next week with Daddy around. We'll see. I have way too many plans for that week and not enough time.

Mom, when is the mulch guy going to get here?! Dad said I could play in it!

He's here! He's here!

Leather jacket, Spiderman pjs, rainboots, dump truck, garden tool, and excavator. He might be in 1st grade, but a "dirt" pile, is a dirt pile, and it's time to dig!

Can't start the schoolwork until he gets rid of all this excitement! He actually remembers that he got to dig last year, too. Can't stop this kind of play. You have to just let it happen. School can wait. Plus he was so antsy this morning. The more I can just let him run off steam, the better. Then I can drink my tea and eat my breakfast in peace.

Ewww, so moist and red! It's dyed mulch, which I know it's the best for the environment or whatever, but whatever. I save the environment other ways.

Gotta drive the dump truck up the hill! But if you let go, where does it go? Down the driveway and you have to go chase it!

Let's try it this way. Nope, it's still going to go down the driveway.

Oh, take it to the top and release down the OTHER side of the hill so it stops at the garage door. Now that makes sense.

Meanwhile, the man child is at a real job and the daughter is fast asleep because she had done a lot of jump for KP worship team yesterday, plus small group. Don't worry, I woke her up soon after this.

BRRRRR and PEI got snow today!

Looks like we might have a few flakes of snow on the weekend. It's April, it's not supposed to be like this.

If you play in red mulch, it's like playing in the sandstone on PEI. You get covered in the red dirt/sloopy red dirt roads. Fun times! It means Abishai was really digging in the dirt and staying grounded.

Oh no, not the feet and pants, too! It's only 45 degrees outside! Weren't you freezing?!

Oh phew, it was only these pants! I thought he was wearing his good gray church pants! This I can deal with because they already have holes in the knees.

I was reading this page in this book about all kinds of tombs about ziggurats and he ran to get his Lego one from the other room. He still had it from when we went over them a couple of months ago. He wanted one more photo of it before he destroyed it. So here is that photo.

Pretty clouds.

Tuesday - This or That?

- Am I sick or am I hormonal? That is the question? Hot flashes or flushing with a fever? Nausea or cramping? Sinuses or head cold (Covid or not, it doesn't matter at this point)? It doesn't really matter the cause, I just have felt crummy all day. But Mommy doesn't have sick days. So you take some Aleeve and bear the pain. You lean up again the edge of the counter and do your read alouds standing up so you don't fall asleep. You put a cold back on all your hot body parts until you cool down, although it's about 50 degrees outside and you're normally increasing the thermostat. You blow your nose extra times with real kleenix instead of your regular hankie because it's extra drippy. And you skip some school work because half a day is better than no day at all.

- Then pick up Justin from work, wait on Justin at work because he's helping Jim with weekly manual inventory. Then drive to Jared's office and wait on him because of a last minute order, again. Then, make it 5 minutes to our appointment. Have our appointment, which went well enough. Then, ended up stopping for dinner at a nice restaurant on the way back which really hit the spot because I didn't want to scrounge for myself for dinner. They had an early dinner menu which was perfect and we were done in under an hour. The kids had leftover pizza (yeah for leftovers). We were home in time for Abishai to still have Daddy time and chores to be done like laundry.

- And now my pain is increasing again. I just want to rest. But no rest for the weary, there's still a lot of week left.

- Abishai wanted to do his science experiment in his science book today, so we did that today. He was so cute with it. He also loves being read aloud, too.

- Both Keturah and Justin gave me grumpy words when we got home this evening. Teenagers. Sigh. What?! I didn't do anything to you. Justin hadn't grabbed the right sheet from the basket to put back on his bed so he had to redo it. Our blue sheets and his blue sheets were in the same load. Ours are very light blue and his are a medium to light blue. But, they are also different sizes. He's got a twin bed and we have a full size. You would have though he would have noticed the size difference. Nope. But there was no need to take it out on us. I didn't create more work for you, you did for not checking or remembering what sheet goes on your bed. Plus he had taken one of our pillow cases. Sigh. And he took the sheets but not his other laundry from the load. Oh Justin, think through what's going on here and look up from your phone for once. Keturah was just moody because Keturah. I don't know. She had already eaten so it wasn't because she was hangry. I know it wasn't appropriate either. Again, teenagers are hard work. 

- Oh, and so is being gone for 10 minutes and coming home to find Legos in the sink because Abishai wanted to see if they would float and an empty can of creamed soup in the same sink right next to them, unrinsed thank goodness. Ghee whiz! Stop making more work for me! Watch what you are doing! I don't know who put what in first, but, don't do that! Thankfully I just had to dry off the Legos but still. And don't dump the whole can of soup in knowing you probably won't finish it all in one sitting. You can always pour more into your bowl. We had already talked about this. It's two servings per can. Sigh. More training is necessary I guess. I'm sooooo looking forward to this staycation. That's for sure. I'm going to sleep for the first day. Then I'll work. I'll figure that all out with Jared on Sunday. But next, ASL, friends come to visit, small group, and Tang Soo Do tomorrow.

Bwahahaha, 'tis true. I hate cleaning. The kids hate cleaning. We don't have time to be good at both homeschooling and cleaning. So which do you think gets neglected more?

Abishai's science experiment was which will melt faster? An ice cube in hot freshwater or an ice cube in hot saltwater? Think carefully. If salt LOWERS the FREEZING point of water, then....basically the answer is opposite of what you think. The freshwater ice cube will melt faster because fresh water is less dense and that lets the colder ice cube water fall to the bottom of the cup faster allowing more ice cube water to keep melting and sinking. And there's more to it than that. But Abishai wasn't going to get it, so I skipped over some parts of the lesson. The book is geared towards K-6th, so I do have to skip the more complicated pieces sometimes. I'm just glad he insisted on doing the experiment today. He had fun with it.

Science Experiment Set Up

Going, going....

Gone!

Found this on my homeschool groups. Fun!

My Justin says, "When did I become a golfer?" Lol.

Wednesday - Downpours to Raindrops

- Well we left for ASL in a drizzle and returned in a drizzle, but while there, it was a deluge of rain and we drove it the downpours, which was totally not fun. It was awful when I wasn't sure if I needed to merge or not, but a semi was trying to and nearly crushed me because I was in its blind spot. I hate those times! Not the driver's fault, but mine. I hate being next to semis! I try to give them as much room as I can because they have a job to do. They can't break as easily, they can't see me, and they are bigger than me. And I know I'm not a great driver. Traffic patterns were strange this morning, too. I don't know what was going on. But we did make it to ASL this morning. Our teacher was sick, but the kids needed the extra practice so we went anyway. Maybe next year Justin will be driving Keturah up here alone and I can just focus on Abishai at home. Next year, they are redoing the exits again in the area of the church where we meet so it's going to be a nighmare. This did that area 20 years ago to facilitate the new growth in population  and now they have to do it again for the same problem. If only they would stop building and selling houses! Ugh! Well, we made it in one piece. We got a little work done, but not nearly enough.

- And we didn't finish it at home either because friends came over. Which means we are really behind for the week. So, we are doubling up tomorrow. And little man got away with screen time with Daddy because I didn't catch them when they came home from karate. And because screen time is what kept Abishai and Colin busy while Kellie and I talked, Abishai still had his normal time. So, no punishment there. He's about to get a little shock in the morning about how much work we have to do tomorrow. But the thing is, I have so much work I have to do that isn't getting done for Saturday's event that I can't really follow through with it either. I guess I don't have to do read alouds with him until yesterday's paper work is done. I just need to do some printing and label sticking. Printing done! I uploaded the booth printable to staples.com and I'm paying them to do it. I'll pick it up on Friday. I'll print some labels to put on bookmarks when I'm done with this part of the blog IF I have more label paper, and if not, I'll pick some up on Friday when I'm there. Then I'll print and do what I can Friday night. Otherwise, the bookmarks will be blank. See, not hard! Just needs done!

- Oh, I'm out of it again! Silly kids were at each other's throats again, the instant they were together in the car to and from ASL and again at the lunch table and the dinner table. You'd think the older kids would understand how to be nice. But that wasn't the mood at all today. Super frustrating to me, especially when I don't feel good. Again, I felt better today from the head cold, but I'm not sure about all my symptoms. I still feel grumpy. I need sleep but I need me time but Jared needs his time. I can't wait for next week. I don't slow slow until then. I bet stop before I fall asleep so I can enjoy a few minutes of shows.

Heavy rain today. And yes, snow in Minnesota! Oh and on Facebook's throwback photo page, I found some photos and vids of our Charlottetown house 7 yrs ago and a snowstorm raging there on this date! I reshared that post for my PEI folks who got some snow this week. It's definitely "normal" for them to have a spring snow.

Thursday - Unexpected

- Shampoo, lather, rinse, repeat. Work, work, work, repeat. Eat, work, sleep, repeat. We finished yesterday's work and did at least part of today's. I guess I'll just bump things and call it even. We'll finish up history timeline tomorrow and end the week evenly, and that does matter to me because we will then be able to pick up with a fresh week when they get back. Abishai's bookwork doesn't have a stop and start to it, so it's easy to push off to the next day. We did what was planned for yesterday and then I read aloud to him though. We started some bean sprouting experiment, which actually felt great! I'm actually doing what the book told me to do! I'll take photos for him and send them to him via Keturah and maybe I'll have him draw them when he gets back when we go through the rest of the lessons. We will have done 3 of the plant lessons, but I'm sure there's a few more lessons we'll be going through, too. We won't be finishing the science book by any stretch of the imagination but again, that's the beauty of it being a K-6th book where it's meant for the whole family. We'll just pick it up next year and keep going. I kind of wish we would have time to circle back with him and reread it retain these big words, but I keep reminding myself that these big words will be repeated in the high school books, too. And in reality land, I don't know these things either, although I know in layman's terms how a seed germinates. And maybe these concepts come back when botany comes up with botanists in the other books. These books are chronological (roughly) and so several of them are based on biographies of scientists and inventors and such and major discoveries and I'm sure that there will be experiments and key concepts reviewed again and again then. Now, I'm not sure if I will be able to include other fun books that the other kids have used in our science studies or not. I don't know if I'll stick with this science series the whole way through. Or maybe I'll make this a reading assignment for him when he's older and we'll do other things, too. I'm not sure. I hope to join a nature studies group in the fall with him, so we'll cover some of those things again and draw them into nature books. And he can pull books about different animals off the shelf if he wants. I know we are going to go through animal kingdoms in this volume of the series and if you watch any animal TV show they talk about the basics of the kingdoms anyway that a mammal is this and a reptile is that. Even my Bondi Vet show does that in layman's terms because they figure not everyone remembers 3rd grade science. And we do have that stuff in our CC cards, too. It's ok, he'll pick it up from somewhere I'm sure. I just don't want to be too much into textbooks. It just makes me life so much easier than putting together this or that from other things on my shelf. It's not like he knows the difference. It's not necessarily boring to him. He loves it when I read to him, whether it's a picture book or from a "textbook." I don't pick dry textbooks anyway. Or I try not to. Although I've skipped around a bit with this one to make it a little easier for him since he is on the younger side. Ok, point is, we are doing the infamous wet paper towel/sprout some dry beans into bean plants experiment! Woot! Woot!

- Keturah was excpetionally moody at lunch time, stomping her feet because "that's just the way I walk!" (no, it's not always the way you walk) and then standing against the counter waiting for her food to cook in the toaster oven leaving me no room to make my coffee. I had already poked her in fun, but she screamed, "don't touch me!" but then wouldn't move when I asked her so I could get to my coffee stuff. Well, if you don't want me to touch you, you have to move. Both of our big butts won't fit in this tiny corner. She refused to move. So I squeezed in there and worked anyway. She wasn't happy but whatever. Then she just went to the garage fridge to get a jell-o egg that Abishai and I made that morning without asking if they were ready. Um, I don't care if they are ready, you aren't getting one with that attitude. Besides, I always wait a good 6 hrs to make sure they don't make a mess. And to teach the kids some patience. Sigh. 

- Justin, well, he's got the teen attitude, too, and confessed that he has 3-4 chapters of science left which means he's several weeks behind in school. I'm not sure on math because of when he started the book, we knew he wouldn't finish it, so I have to go physically count the weeks and such. And I just did some calculating and with his afternoon and evening screen times, he's on the PS4 for 7-9 hrs a day. He can give up his afternoon time to do homework OR he can give up his after dinner time to do homework OR both. Routines have been established. He's not doing a full school load. He should be doing a full school load plus a part time job. His friends do a full school load plus a part time job or a sport. He can get a grip. He can do more. He's not failing. He's not even slow. He's got loads of time. He's just lazy. He's almost a senior in high school. He's not ready for the real world. He hangs out with a lot of kids younger than him and I'm afraid it's keeping him younger right now. He needs to be somewhere between where is and where Benaiah was at this stage. He's not Benaiah. I don't want him to be. I know he won't be. But he's not where he could be. It's time to step it up in a big way. I have slacked in giving him the right direction. I have to put my foot down. I have to set boundaries and give out punishments and incentives. He's not making the goals necessary. He has not completed the same number of days or work hours to earn the credits for the semester yet.  He'll be working long after the official days are done. That's why I have to go back and figure out where he should be on the math because it isn't just good enough to say he needs to keep going until the science is done because what if he doesn't do any math on the days he does science? He needs to finish Algebra 2 by the end of summer so I can get him to take the SAT by the fall dates because he's already a senior. Ok, he doesn't have to, but I'm tired of delaying, we can do better than this. And I want him to do another math course next year that does take the whole year so I want him to just finish already. Plus, he needs to be doing other coursework, outside the home. How's he going to feel under real pressure then? He's been making too many excuses. And today he used ADHD as a big excuse, too. No, you can't do that. The real world doesn't tolerate ADHD as an excuse. You have to try to make accommodations for yourself but the workplace won't. It's not recognized like being in a wheelchair. If you're late, you're late. If you're unmotivated, you're fired. ADHD doesn't help, but you have to overcome it. I didn't have a name for it, but I worked hard against the symptoms for 30 years and overcame them. Find what does motivate you. And do it. You have to.

- Then, I had my monthly massage. And I probably had a nice furrowed face the whole time because I was thinking about and problem solving for next school year. From social groups to curriculum choices. Like, what Physics book do I have? What do I need to look out for at the book sales? Which phone calls do I need to make so I can get Justin's schedule finalized so we can get the rest of the weekly routine finalized like a play group for Abishai now that I've decided EYB Friday park/gym day starting in the fall won't be our go to social group anymore. Since Justin's main group of friends from there go to the New Pal youth group and he's attending that now, there's no need to prioritize Friday afternoons anymore. Unless there's a huge surge in new families I need to help along, there's nobody for Abishai to play with. Abishai needs to experience all the field trips and experiences the older kids got to do and those happen on other days of the week. I can't be out two days in a week and save an afternoon for Kellie and Kya time and still get our school work done as well as Jared and I's weekly appt and any other appts and errands. I can still see the core ladies from Friday's at the monthly MNO's and at church on Sunday at New Pal Bible Church or in passing at youth group or whatever. So, I'm not going to give up my social time necessarily. And now that another person took over Hancock County, she can make the effort to go to the group or the other ladies can make the connections or whatever. I still think it should merge with the county Facebook page and become one line of communication. But that's not up to me. I've got some incredible Indy groups that need my attention now that I want to get to know that have kids Abishai's age. Justin is on his way out. Time for little man's turn.  Anyway, the massage felt good and normal and helped my headache to go away for the most part.

- It was home again to sort out supper really quickly. Thank goodness for the calzones we picked up last weekend. Abishai had half of his cheese one. And then I took him to his Tang Soo Do class. He will be skipping all next week of course because he'll be on vacation in New Orleans. Jared had already told Abishai's teachers, so that was helpful. I worked on putting stickers on bookmarks for Saturday's events. I sent over a printing job to Staples to print so I wouldn't sit at my computer fussing about it for that event that I will pick up tomorrow while I'm out doing other errands. Expensive but for peace of mind, I'm happy. Actually, everything for that came together quickly, yeah! It was one of those things where I dreaded doing it thinking it was going to be a big production because I'm so disorganized when, in fact, I'm really organized and I left everything together just fine. I know what I'm doing. It will work out. Just show up and do what I know how to do. Help people. Abishai did a good job at karate tonight, and the rest of the kids did as welll. They concentrated well, that's for sure. Some kicks and blocks and punching practice. 

- And then Abishai and I discussed why Nate is so much smaller than Donavan on the ride home. And we talked about Abishai's appointment with the doctor about ADHD. He had some great adult type questions to ask, too. So I gave him adult answers. And I got to share with him all the positives of getting a diagnosis and why we might try medication. He was asking what the appointment was going to look like, and I told him it wasn't a lab test or much of a physical exam, but just some questions and answers and information to think about. ADHD is MY superpower, what's yours? He's such a cutie, too. Abishai works hard and doesn't deserve to be anxious or worried. He did carry around this stuffed animal that is Lassie, but reminds of Kya's dog, Skylar, so he calls it Skylar. So Skylar read with us, did screen time with him, and ate with us. etc etc. Adorable. Oh and he and I were able to put the living back to normal today. Now I have to sort through his aresenal tomorrow and get the kids packed for New Orleans, as well as my own stuff for Saturday. It will be a busy day, even when we are home all day.

Learning about the parts of seeds and seed germination! From the testa or skin to the cotyledon or food source for the embryo and the beginning of the leaves (it looks like a snake's tongue to me) and the radicle (root).

Grow, seeds, grow!

No, that's not a real dog next to me, that's Lassie, aka, Skylar, Abishai's new best friend/stuffed animal he carried around with him all day. Mrs. Kellie gave it to Keturah and Keturah did light up about it but then she gave it to Abishai since he loves Skylar, too. Justin has a small Skylar for some reason, too. I think this one came from the neighbor's house and maybe Justin's did, but I don't know. But this is how we did read alouds, today. I got to pet Skylar while Abishai took our orders and fed us.

This was my lunch complete with a doughnut for dessert.

I forgot to send this one to Kellie today, but I will do it tomorrow. Totally adorable!

And then Abishai had a jam session making up a new song. Keturah wanted to stop him and I was like um, absolutely not! We don't get to have many of these made up songs any more in this house. Sing away, kid, sing away!

Skylar got to watch Abishai do his screen time, too.

Our little martial artist is doing so well. Sometimes it takes him a second or two to realize what the others are doing, but once he realizes it, he's giving it 110%.

Check out his jump! Because he's so lightweight, he springs up there like it's nothing! Actually, they left 10 minutes in the class because it took that long to figure out a champion of this last time they did it. But tonight, all the big boys failed it on the first try except for Marcus. That kid has some great form and springs up high and tucks in his feet very well. It was between him and a girl a foot shorter than him or again, just has agility to spring up the right way. At first, they both failed at the same height, so they both tried again and succeeded, so they went up to the next height. Then they both failed at that height, so then they called it a tie and had them quit. Actually, I keep looking at this photo as I type this and I'm pretty amazed at the height that Abishai got. How on earth does his little body get up so high?! It's all that practicing on the trampoline, and my walls, and maybe even the ceilings, and the couch cushions, and his brothers, and and and. He's so strong and mighty, like a little David from the Bible. A mighty warrior. Like his namesake. Abishai, part of David's army, and then Nathan, a prophet. This photo is just perfect. I need to send this to Tess tomorrow as well. She'll get a kick, literally, out of this.

Meanwhile, Easter is 10 days away and Indiana weather can't figure itself out.

And New Orleans is already way too hot. Abishai is going to die in that heat. We can't even reach those lows as highs right now. Crazy! How am I supposed to pack them tomorrow? A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Well, mostly for these temps, with just an extra outfit in case something happens on travel day. Wowzers! Get out the sprinklers and pools already! That's like the highs on PEI in peak summertime!

Friday - Finishing Touches

- It was a struggle, but we managed to finish the school week, including the history week, yeah! We managed to get the kids prepacked. Yeah! And we managed to get the house totally guest ready, yeah! Now, nobody move! Nobody make a mess tomorrow while I'm gone for a few hours! If you do, you die! Bwahahahaha! No seriously, I'll be really mad. So clean up in the kitchen after lunch, and take all your showers before 4pm. And eat before 5pm. I should be home by then. Then a quick swish and swipe and bite to eat. Then it's Socks' birthday celebration. And then after guests go home, final pack up of kids and off to grandparents. Then I can finally relax.

- I basically refused to leave the house today, and that was a good thing. Jared went to Kroger for me to get my prescription and waited for 30 minutes! And picked up a couple of other things he needed/wanted and I asked him for a couple of grocery items. I did take Justin to a pizza and game night with the New Pal youth group, but that was a quick 20 minutes while Jared, Keturah and Abishai were eating. I did get to make a real dinner tonight. Oh, and I had a real shower as well. And I didn't get to really lay down but I sat down for a couple of minutes on my green couch today, first time in a week or two or three weeks. 

This did actually blow my mind! Although someone corrected the original poster and said that Subway sandwhiches are more like 10 inches long. But, still, we 5 ft people are really short.

Amen.

Why yes, we did have snowflakes in the air today and it was cold enough to put on a winter coat. And PEI actually did have a significant snowfall this week in 2022 and in 2015. The photos from the snowstorm in 2015 popped up in my Facebook feed! And the wind was howling so bad that I couldn't see out the back door back then!

Justin didn't eat the last egg from our first round of Jell-O eggs and look how small it got from the water evaporating! I never covered it. Instant science lesson! The new one is orange flavored. Keturah already ate both of hers from the new bath. Abishai ate Justin's old red one and one of his new orange ones.

Yeah, this makes me sick. Wrong move, Fox News. This email/news outlet calls him by his original name, Bruce Jenner, but he goes by the name of Caitlyn Jenner and is transgender becoming a woman in 2015 and now completely dresses, talks, and acts that part. The wikipedia article on him refers to him as Republican and Christian, and maybe he is, because there are definitely some that are out there like that. I heard the interview of what he/she believes about the transgender man Lia Thomas has down to the NCAA swimming nationals this year and he isn't combative and actually doesn't believe that Lia Thomas should be allowed in women's sports, and that he wouldn't have competed in women's sports because of his original DNA despite the actual hormones and sex change whatevers. And that's why Fox hired him, because he straddles both fences. I haven't watched many Fox videos since they hired him because I am kind of mad that they did this. And I haven't had time all week. Plus Ukraine's situation hasn't changed much, Covid hasn't changed much, no one is covering any trucker thing, and I've got bigger fish to fry. It's just sad.

Abishai was very anxious to start packing today. So I gave him little tasks to do while I did my usual morning routine and in between some school work. He's bring both Dinosaury and his new Skylar doggie.

Abishai finished another Abeka reader today!

And the next Abeka reader looks really old! Actually, I'm not sure of when this was really printed because it's in almost new condition.

It looks brand new!

It's actually a collection of a ton of stories and illustraters that had been put into one volume in 1960's. Abeka didn't exist until 1972, so the copyright and print date of 1962 must have to do with whatever original book it was that Abeka adapted it from. I have no idea but it does work with the sequence of special sounds we had been working on. I need to do some chart work with Abishat, but I'm sure he'll do fine.

Man, we have to upgrade little man to a bigger bag because he wants his music box and I want him to take along the Resurrection Eggs. Keturah wanted to put her inline skates in her suitcase, so there wasn't room for Abishai's stuff either. If I had gone, Abishai could have just used his bag for clothes and I would have taken up the slack. Oh well. Big little guy.

You know it's primary season when.....you get lots of campaign mail. Actually, the questionairre is from the Republican Party and has very leading questions about the Biden agenda or whatever so I guess it's not opposite of Mike Speedy's stuff today. But it's addressed to Jared so I can't fill it out. Who knows if Jared will actually do it.

We actually decluttered the living room again and Socks has room to play! Time for a little sheep action! Socks still has pretty good reflexes for a few minutes at a time. He gets tired of the game pretty quickly though.

Justin, it's not spring. You need more than shorts and a t-shirt.

I made Justin change out of his grubby white t-shirt at least. But I didn't see that he had on his mowing shoes. Oh my-lanta! Kid! You have zero fashion sense! It's a good thing your friends don't have fashion sense either. Or we choose friend groups where it doesn't matter. But, Justin was going to the New Palestine Bible Church's youth group pizza and game night wearing a Flashes (Franklin Township) logo t-shirt. Does he not have a clue about sport rivalry? Again, thank goodness half of the youth group is made up of our homeschooling friends now, lol. What a clueless child he is! But that's what makes him lovable! And that's why he has so many friends. I'm so super proud of him so far. I'm having fun watching how he's balancing two sets of friends right now. Going to youth group at one church and going to small group at a different group. Not everyone could pull that off. But because he doesn't see how potentially socially fatal that could be, he just goes along and has fun wherever he's at. And that, my friends, is the most wonderful gift someone could ever have. I wish I had that. I so totally wish I had that! I'm letting him totally lead on it, too. He knows my struggles and he knows I'm not going to cut him off from anything. It's his choice and I will take him wherever whenever. It's all happy and actually really healthy. Why can't you split your time between different social circles? He's comfortable wherever he goes because he stays in the moment and is a goofball. I love this goober to death. We have a lot in common but he's an enneagram 9 and I'm an ennegram 6. He's a peacemaker and I'm a worrier. Just have fun and wear whatever you can find.

Daddy spoiled the baby again! He stopped by Kroger to get my medication (and it took over 30 minutes again! ugh!) and since his favorite little man was going away for 6 days, he had to get him some presents. But Daddy didn't get Keturah anything! Keturah should be super jealous! The Hot Wheels are $1 each, the figurines were $2 each and the book was $10. But still, totally spoiled baby. But Abishai wasn't allowed to open anything until he got to New Orleans. And I know he's going to make good use out of it all. Jared was also thinking he could tease ASEN about comparing Harry Potter characters with Star Wars characters and teach them something. Well, these are just Mandalorian characters but we don't have a book on them yet, so it will be fun for Abisahi to read. It's very colorful with large print so Abishai can sound out the words and study the book like he does the others. It will keep him occupied when he can't have the electronics and others are busy with school and work. It's still a workweek and school week for ASEN. Spoiled brat though!

Daddy, daddy, look what I found!

 

 

Saturday - 3 events, 9 hrs

- I'm a mom boss! I tackled 3 major events this week and pulled them off in 9 hrs today! First, I had an IAHE booth at a Purple 4 Parents event today where they showed a video called "The Mind Polluters" which showed how awful the comprehensive sex education in public schools is. For example, what they talk about and show the youngest of minds and how they start training and corrupting them into a LGBTQ and gender fluidity starting as soon as they enter their schools. Not just not talking about abstinence, but saying porn is normal, and masturbation is ok, and how the new mental and health clinics are setting up shop right next door to schools and taking over. They continue to cut off the parent from their children. They also talked about SEL or social emotional learning and the damage it does. It's all about making decisions based on feelings rather than truth and logic and thinking. No wonder I can't logically reach anyone these days. The parents can't even think in black and white anymore. There is no reality to them. It's all about how their child feeds that day. Does he feel like being a fish today, then let him. No, it's wrong. He's a boy.

- The discussion was starting to get heated, so I think they turned things around so it wouldn't get messy. There were some political candidates as well, but they must be educated me. Oh there's so much to do and so little time. I wish I could get more involved in this. But another IAHE volunteer showed up and I didn't even know she was coming! So that was cool to have another person there. I'll have to remember that. 

- It was also fruitful personally because I met another person who works with college courses, so I'll look into that this week and see if it works for Justin. I have to make a decision soon. But we are all afraid to make decisions.

- Socks' birthday was a lot of fun. It felt like it was quick, but he's a dog so there wasn't exactly much to do. I think Dan and Mary simply forgot. Alicia was tired from her week so she crawled back into bed. But Jen Wagar and 5 of the kids came. Actually, none of the kids were born when Socks was except Wolf. The older kids are well, off on their own and I guess Cordelia wasn't feeling good. Bummers. I hadn't thought about the older kids just not being interested like Benaiah not being interested. Benaiah isn't even making time to be over this week for Socks' actual birthday. Which I am bummed about. Oh well, Abishai had a good time playing with Nesho' and Evangeline. Alamonzo got hurt on the four tire swing, whoops. But at least they were outside for a bit. We sang happy birthday and Socks had part of his birthday cake treat. The kids took home their treats because it was getting late. 

- Jen, Jared, and I talked for a good part of the time they were there. I think it was good for Jared to hear how Keith and Jen have also struggled in their transition back from Bosnia. Relationships had changed also for them, and as Jen said, our church doesn't know how to welcome families back from the mission field. We don't have a strong mission pastor/ministry presence right now. Keith and Jen also had a very rough transition back and their kids actually didn't want to come back. Our kids were fine with it, it was just me that has had the issues. But they also haven't found a solid small group or friend group either, despite also doing Rooted. And they don't want to be the leader of anything since Keith leads stuff at work all day. It's tough. We are burnt out. And there's no support for burnt out ministry leaders at church because we have fresh new faces leading our church now. So, at least Jared heard it from someone else's lips instead of just mine. Their kids go to Sunday School and have sometimes connected with things, but Jen and Keith are barely connected. So, that was an interesting part of the conversation.

- We also talked about adult kids a ton. And of course that's pretty cool. And homeschooling. And the young kids a bit. Jen always a lot, and pretty fast. I was getting tired, and at one point, Leah texted to ask, "So......when are you bringing the kids over?" Meaning, aren't the kids supposed to be at my house by now? Um, no, we said dog birthday party and it's only 7:30pm anyway. Gary was loading the car already. Hold your shorts. I've been gone all day. One event at a time. You're the third event on my list and I'm trying to give full attention to one thing at a time. Good grief.

- As Wagar's were getting ready to leave, Abishai was so ready to go to Grandma's house that he started to bring his stuff out, which to me was embarrassing, but whatever. I just didn't want everything underfoot. And again, one event at a time. Start and stop, start and stop. Don't rush me. Plus, wait, I want to say good bye to you. And wait, you need to put your pjs on and brush your teeth and such before you go over and make it easier on Grandma. And wait, I'll give you your medication now so she doesn't have to worry about that either. And let me double check this thing. And have this thing organized. It doesn't help that they were to leave at 6am. Jared was trying to insert himself too and I had it all planned out if they all would just wait for me. It's when everybody starts to rush me that I get confused and forget what I'm doing. And then fighting begins. No, I don't want help. I have this handled if you will just back off and let me do it. I'm just slower at life than I was because my brain isn't as optimal, ok? And yes, that's always ok. I do my best to hurry up to the world's pace but when I do, I get flustered and I know I'm going to get mad and it's not going to look pretty. So, be prepared. Take it slow or see the angry side. I'm doing my best here. And my best isn't good enough for you, it's ok. It's good enough for Jesus. Nothing happened last night, but I'm just thinking ahead to the next time we are all on vacation together. There's a reason why it's only the two youngest are going and Jared and I are staying home. Well, there's many, many reasons. That's just one of them. I want to rest without the stress of family and unfamiliar surroundings. And I want to knock out a few things I need to get done and caught up on. And just be by myself. Oh yeah, and Jared's home, too. So, be with him, too, I guess, if he doesn't bug me too much that is. And Justin. Same thing. He's the one I have to catch up with. He's the "project" that I have fallen behind with and needs a lot of help. Loads to do. Can we do it all? We'll see.

- Jared was the one to take them over to grandparents' house because I guess there was wood or something in the van and there was no seat for me. He got them settled, everything was communicated by him, Keturah and/or me, and it was time for our normal quiet routines at home in our separate decompression zones. #introverts that we are, lol. Then Gary texted that Abishai had a small nose bleed but he got it under control. I told him Abishai had one this morning and it was probably just dry air. I have no idea. He's got plenty of extra clothes with him if he gets blood on them. He's not sick. These things happen. And Abishai had settled back down at that point. So that was the end of the busy day.

Yes, snow, in April, in Indiana!

Yes, I actually do believe that. Why? Because back when Noah Webster lived at the turn of the 19th century, more of our country's people were Christians and our government's leaders had built the government from their Christian worldview, whether they meant to or not. Which came first, the Constitution or the 10 Commandments? And if you look at our most basic laws, they are based on a moral code that you find in the Bible. Our nation was created to be religiously neutral, yes, but nothing is 100% neutral. Worldview will always play a part. Even ancient civilizations have their laws tied to God's laws and moral codes. And we have freedom when those laws are obeyed.

Greatest of All Time. And yes, I agree. And I just saw someone write that Tiger Woods is the G.O.A.T of pro golf. Some would say Tom Brady is/was/is the G.O.A.T of pro football. I don't want to say he is because he's a jerk. I never said I liked him or rooted for him. I root for the New England Patriots. Not for Tom Brady. I rooted for them back in the Drew Bledsoe days, thank you. Peyton and Eli Manning are almost as good if not better athletes than Tom Brady and I think much better people than he is. I didn't like that Peyton left the Colts in the same manner that Brady left the Patriots, hanging out to dry, but what can you do. We still have the Children's hospital in his name and charity and all of that. And Eli is a fan favorite all over the place. I know there are Christians on just about any of the pro football teams and I knew of some on the Patriots football team. The coach was not nice though. It's just sports. We all have our favorite G.O.A.T.

Read to me about Star Wars characters, Daddy. And then let's do our Bible stories, too!

It's so tiring keeping up with these kids all day!

That's a good Daddy! Playing Veggietale songs while baby guy is in the bathtub! Abishai might think he's a big guy and doing lots of things the big kids are doing, but he's still only 7. He still takes a bath. And we don't rush to change things like that. He still sleeps with the same music box he's had since birth. He still gets bed time stories. And now he's into Veggietales. This time the song was Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps. It was a Silly Song and not a Bible song but one of the oldies that we like. I told the kids they had to have their baths and chores and supper done before I got home from my IAHE event. Some got most of those things done. I'm glad Abishai go his bath done even before I left.

For today's set up at the Purple for Parents event to show a documentary about how CSE (complete sex education) is done in public schools, I stuck with only IAHE materials. The HSLDA materials are ok, but they can confuse people. I'm glad I did. We had mostly older adults and they took materials to share with their grown children who would be potential homeschoolers. I was the first table right inside the main doors so it was the perfect spot! I was well aware of some of the CSE stuff so I wasn't totally shocked but I did get to see more of what is going on and it just made me even more made and passionate about sharing the information with others. The only thing that I can do though is to vote in good school board members and be there to catch people when they pull their kids out. And to pray that their eyes would be opened wide to what their precious children are being exposed to that is in direct opposition of what the Bible says. And if they don't know what the Bible says, for our preachers to get a grip and preach about it from the pulpit. Someone has to tell them. These new Christians and new parents with young ones do not have a clue because they have been brainwashed as well. We need boldness to speak into the my generation and the next generation. It's so frustrating. I learned a lot and it was good to be with people that have the same passionate spirit that I do.

The second event of the day was Socks' birthday party! We put the bowtie on him but then we couldn't find it again! It just slips onto the collar but his fur covers it up!

Hey, handsome!

12 candles! That's a lot to draw!

Just a quick yummy for people and puppy.

Let's a little bit better. But his fur still covers a good portion of the regular tie!

Awww, what a cutie!

Wagars helped us sang Happy Birthday to Socks. And that's Socks' birthday "cake." It has peanut butter, pumpkin, wheat, and a few other ingredients in it. Not many of the bad kinds either. He liked it and tolerated it well. Most of the Wagar kids that came weren't around when Socks was born though! Lol! Wolf was. And I think Jennifer said that the kids called Socks "Brownie" or something. The kids had made up names for all the puppies whereas Jenn didn't try to keep track of them all. We got Socks from them because they owned Socks Mom, Natalie, a pure white Great Pyrenees. She was barely 1 years old when he was born and he had 11 brothers and sisters, all born healthy, which is a miracle with that number of pups.

 

Sunday - The Good Silence

- Ooooo, the silence is a little deafening already! No joke! I thought it would take longer than this! I don't mind the extra chores and actually, there isn't as many because there's less to pick up and clean but wow, it's super quiet. I mean I stayed home as normal from church, but even that felt stranger because we didn't have the normal amount of noise getting everyone out the door TO church. Weird. I seriously thought it would take me awhile to notice it. Uh, this isn't good. Am I really going to miss my kids this soon? I started writing down my to do list thinking to myself not to make it too big because I know how I am and how the day gets away from me. But then I started getting bored this morning waiting for the guys to finish at church and started in on some of the little declutter here and fix this space there and uh, those type of things won't take long to do. And it actually stays clean! Like everything stays exactly where I put it! Yeah! So now what?! Am I going to blast through my whole list tomorrow? Am I going to get to listen to my whole podcast list in one day? Really? It would be totally awesome if I actually did everything on the list and got to add MORE to it. I was trying to be extra conservative and see what Jared wants to do, so we will go find that out with a date at McD's while Justin is at the New Pal youth group. Speaking of, time to go get ready! At least I started in on catching up with the blogs, at least the writing portions. That's the first big project. I'm way behind on some of vids, pics, and captions, even from last week, and then their backups, so I need to go through and catch them all up. It now shouldn't take me too long. The writing bits are always the hardest. And then having the couple of hours with no interruptions so that I lose where I left off is the best way to do the rest.

- Well, we've got our plan. I had a feeling we wouldn't get the bathroom project talked out, and that's ok. I think I ranted too much about other things and now Jared won't talk to me. I did drink a mocha. So, hopefully I can put that to good use right now and get some work done. And hopefully, the bad silent treatment is just for the next few hrs. I'm going to break the silence as much as I can because I promised us that we wouldn't do this. I nearly did with this little discussion about this week's schedule. So, we'll see how it goes. Onward, right?

- The kids made it to New Orleans safely. Although Keturah nearly spilled the beans about how close they were when Grandma wanted to keep it a secret. She needs to listen more carefully! 

- Justin enjoyed his time with youth group talking about prophecies dealing with the Resurrection and how other religions have tried to copy the Resurrection. And then he was playing sharks and minnows with others, and Kya was playing as well. Jared was getting frustrated though. I should have left Justin alone and just walked over to the other side and talked to whoever was picking Kya up. Oh well. 

- Chores are done, dog's medication has been given, Jared's outside doing something with wood, and it's eerily quiet inside. Like, wow, this is crazy. Where's my Abishai? There's no Lego clicking. There's no "hey Dad! hey Mom!" There's no constant doors open and closing. No one is in the kitchen. I can still hear the birds outside while the sun is up. There's no kids getting ready for bed. There's no "do this or do that" or kid discipline. Where is everybody? Oh my. First of all, there are times where I have wanted the quiet, yes, but I haven't overly wished for it. I have tried not to say, "I can't wait until you're all gone so it's quiet and peaceful." No, I'm not going to be that mom. Nope. I want an afternoon or a few days. I'm not going to look to the next phase of empty nesting. I'm going to be lonely and I'm not going to know what to do. Because for my whole adult life, I've had kids. I've always had to take care of a child. I've never been single and living on my own by myself. I've always had to take care of someone including my own baby. That's what happens when you get pregnant within two months of getting married. And I'm counting on having grandchildren before Abishai graduates or I'm going to have more than one dog or I'm going to start fostering dogs. Anyway, that's a long time from now. But, yes, the house should be busier. And it's not. It's weird. Already. And I didn't expect that. I'm going to be so excited by next weekend when I have knocked out many of these things. I knew it's just that kids do take up a lot of time and I choose to spend my time with my kids. You can't do it all, especially with physical issues. It's not from a lack of trying or motivation or skill. It's simply a lack of overall time. I'm a mom boss. It's going to be a good week.

- Whoops. I almost forgot to call the kids! Or rather, they forgot to call me? Well, Grandma to ask them if they wanted to call us but they didn't want to. I wished that she had insisted that they call us to say good night. They are still kids after all and I am a mom who wants to still be in contact with her kids especially we aren't used to be being apart much. And even if we were, saying good night should be a normal thing, right?  I don't know. Sometimes we all forget that a 20 yr old kid is different than a 7 yr old kid and we treat them both the same. I just want to talk with and into (their lives) and about and for my kids, ok? So I'm going to give them (unsolicited) advice, text them when they don't care, call them every day, tease them whenever I feel like it until they might get red in the face, and they can just get over it because at the end of the day, they have a mom that cares. And Gen Z are easily offended and need to get over stuff. Don't ask if they want to talk to their mom or not. Tell them they are going to talk to their mom. We state things. We don't ask them. We don't ask if they want to do their chores. We tell them to do their chores. It's not an option to say good night to their mom. Good grief. That's just setting them up to never call me later on in life. No thank you. I don't HAVE to call you so I won't. You wouldn't like that, would you? Ok then. Tell, don't ask. Sigh. These are kids, not adults. And even then, there is a certain level of "you better be here or else" kind of understanding. Sigh. Anyway, we got a quick rundown of their day. Abishai sounded tired and ready for sleep already. He had gotten up earlier than normal and it was already really late here. They didn't know what they were going to do tomorrow. Aaron still has to work this week, the girls have CC on Tuesday, and normal routine I guess. Just because retirees have the week off, doesn't mean others do. So, it's not like Christmas vacation where you can just hang out. Good luck figuring all of that out. I've got my own work to figure out back here. Sigh.

 

Well, the photos are opposite of chronolgoical order again, but I did take screenshots of the kids as they traveled with Grandma and Grandpa to New Orleans today. Keturah kept us updated via texting. She said they stopped twice to eat and a third time for the bathroom. 12 1/2 hrs of driving/riding, yuck. I hate that drive. I have a hard time with the Michigan drive now. But here they are crossing the bridge into the parish I think next to Aaron and Shauna's parish.

It's been awhile since we only had the oldest two at home. I remember when it was only these two and they got to go on trips with Grandma and Grandpa by themselves. They were just wee ones. Now they are working men that have to be left behind. All grown up! Are these really my babies? Hardly seems possible that they are almost 20 and 16 1/2 years old. Since kids grow relatively slowly compared to other animals, you do actually get used to their faces and bodies changing, but when you step back for a minute and realize that you did hold these things in your arms, wow, what miracles they are. These boys are mine. They were given to us to raise and raise them we did. It's unbelievable that that chapter has basically closed for these two. I don't feel done with them. And yet I do. Brothers. Similar, but only a little bit. They are so different. I wouldn't say total opposites because they both work hard, have huge hearts, treat the ladies with utter respect, volunteer like there's no tomorrow, have a lot of integrity, etc. But they have very different personalities, physical differences, approaches to life (not worldviews but Benaiah has drive where Justin doesn't), etc. And they get along really well. Actually, they always have. Justin's the peacemaker though. He goes along to get along. He only fights with Keturah because Keturah is Keturah. My boys. My sweet boys. All grown up. Oh, and they got the same exact dish! Manhattan! Benaiah ate it all and Justin brought half of his home. Different appetites! Well, when one is twice the size of the other, lol. They do wear the same shoe size just about, same as Jared's and Gary's. Kind of interesting and funny that way. Goodness how much I love them.

Waiting on one of the men to pick up Mommy to take her to lunch. I actually rode with Benaiah because he was at home and Jared and Justin were finishing up their thing at church to welcome people from Shelby St. to the Franklin Rd campus. I tried to get Benaiah to talk in the car, but he wouldn't. He was much more animated at lunch. It makes me said that he will talk with Jared when he's around but won't talk with me like that. I don't know what to say to him or ask him. Sigh.

Amen.

Got to love the "follow my ipone" app! And the ones of family that actually let me follow them, and have their gps on their phone turned all at all times. Jared doesn't want Russia spying on him, Keturah doesn't want to have her phone on data all the time because it wears done the battery, Benaiah doesn't want to be tracked at all, Leah also does very minimal things on her phone, so it's up to Gary, Shauna and I, the planners, to keep communication going.

I'm so confused, Mom. Where are the kids? And why are you giving me my medicine and not Keturah?

Yup, very true.

The End