Year 2, Day 54: Hearts are Changing

My in laws are going to like this post a lot.  I spent the evening with my MOPSnext ladies playing some bored games, eating some snacks, and simply talking.  There was only 7 of us, but that is a perfect size for me to be able to contribute to the conversation.  It was so nice to be out and about again, too.  I was bemoaning the fact last week that I and the younger kids haven't had any social time lately.  Well, God heard my whining, and boom, I had two mom night's out and zumba this week!  I think it's just what my heart needed!  I'm slowly but surely resettling here.

I am grateful for:
- already having a network of friends
- knowing the roads and where businesses are located
- having a church home
- having Grandma nearby so she can babysit
- having so many options for doctors and medical care
- cheaper food and diapers
- not having to change banks
- having places like the Indianapolis Children's Museum, the Indianapolis Art Museum, the State Museum, the Zoo, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indiana State Fairgrounds, etc.  close by to explore and enjoy
- being closer to concerts and events like homeschool conventions
- that my boys can be in Bible Bowl (and can earn money for college!)
- that Keturah can participate in children's choir and has a speaking part!
- Jared having a job close by, that his pay is a salary and not hourly, and he can take time off to watch kids if necessary or go to homeschool events with us
- lots of options for homeschooling and the freedom to do it!
- the Indianapolis Public Library! and being able to order Christian books from there that actually come from some of the Christian schools around town
- yes, the warmer weather, so we can get outside, especially Abishai, who thrives outdoors
- cheaper houses to buy
- cheaper gas!!
- I can order anything I want on Amazon and don't have to wait for the in laws to bring it to me!
- Southside Christian School for Benaiah!
- Homeschool Gathering co op for the middles!

So, yes, I'm feeling grateful, even when my allergy test results require me to make some changes.  I went to my doctor today and we went over the food panel we did a month ago.  And to my surprise, I am very, very sensitive to dairy and eggs!  So I have to totally cut them out of my diet for at least 3 months.  I am NOT sensitive to gluten (except buckwheat and malt) or nuts or any meats.  I do have some sensitivity to a few fruits and vegetables like apples, asparagus, garlic, onion, lettuce, mushrooms, okra, squash, rhubarb, pineapple, papaya, mango, cranberry, and spiceslike dill fennel seed, horseradish, and vanilla bean.  I am also sensitive to coffee (no surprise) and baker's yeast and brewer's yeast.  Fun stuff!  So, after my appointment, I headed over to Aldi's to stock up on breakfast sausage because I won't be eating eggs anymore.  And I got some unsweetened almond milk.  Thankfully, I'm only sensitive to these things and NOT allergic (which is when it's so bad that your body goes into shock and you need an epi pen).  Now, I'm not going to add gluten back into my diet yet.  The test isn't perfect, I'm sure, so I'm going to take things slowly.  And there are things in baked goods that I am sensitive, too, that isn't just gluten.  But just the thought of being able to have a doughnut without pain for several days thrills me!  This allergy test cost $250, but it was SO worth it to see all of this laid out on a piece of paper.  I love my doctor and she was very sympathetic because she is sensitive to a ton of foods, too.  And she's very understanding that it can be very hard to eliminate things in your diet.  I prayed and prayed that this doctor would be the one to help me to figure this out once and for all, and wow, am I blessed!

Ok, just a couple more quick stories and pictures.  First, Justin was super excited to tell me about a "pencil fight" they had at Bible Bowl last night.  Apparently, someone needed a pencil and he had one, so he threw it across the room to her.  And then, somehow, that started a throwing the pencil contest or something, kind of like a food fight.  He thought it was hilarious that it all started with him throwing his pencil to someone else for them to use.  I love how my kids can be so innocent and naive sometimes because they have been so sheltered.  The longer they can keep those little cute things, the better, in my opinion.  Also, the Bible Bowlers are all into playing and trading Pokemon cards.  We didn't play that Pokemon Go phone game, but we have had Pokemon cards off and on.  Justin ordered and received a bunch of Pokemon books from the library recently so he can learn more.  I wish he would do that with real world subjects, but hey, he could be into something way worse than that.  I am grateful it's just a bunch of cards.

Another little cute thing is that at dinner, I was in my room at the end of the hallway and Abishai was eating his muffin.  Well, he comes down the hallway yelling, 'Mom! Mom!" and he when he gets to me, he calmly, and in a matter of fact, quiet manner said, "Nom."  So cute!  When we were outside today, he actually did circle around back to the garage on his own and didn't take off around the corner.  He also stopped when I told him to.  I hope he keeps that up, because it's so hard to keep up with him.

Keturah did her schoolwork well, and had a pretty good attitude all day.  And I think Benaiah had a good time running errands with Grandma and Grandpa.  I heard they went to Goodwill to stop (not just drop off stuff), which I believe they went to a couple of weeks ago, too.  Yes, Gary Johnson goes to Goodwill AND Aldi's! Just because your are doing well financially, doesn't mean you have to go spend big bucks on name brand stuff or shop at the expensive grocery store!  It's always good to be frugal no matter what your budget looks like!

He's so big!  And so fast!

Daddy took Keturah's bike and Abishai's big boy bike (the orange one) to a bike store to get the tires fixed up.  Keturah was so excited to ride her bike again!  Justin was not excited to be outside and huffed and puffed about it.  He would rather read his new Pokemon books from the library I picked up today.

I was trying to put into practice some of the things that I learned during a free photography webinar.  It was part of a promotion of this big bundle of online products on how to improve your photograpy.  $4,000 worth of training for $99.  I WISH I had the money and time to get it and use right now.  But I don't.  Thankfully, they do something similar to this every year.  In fact, there's this company that does all kind of ultimate bundles featuring bloggers and speakers on all kinds of topics.  I have gotten a couple of their homeschool ones.  I just don't go back and read everything once I've donwloaded them.  Whoops!

Faster, faster!

Yeah, Justin helped me!  Then Justin complained he couldn't do anymore rounds with Abishai because his legs hurt.  He's been complaining that they are itchy, too.  I think it's growing pain related.

Cute boys!  Can you tell they are related?

Very serious rider.

Abishai discovered the remaining box of toys in the garage that contains more cars and trucks!  I need Jared to clean off the top of the box and bring it up so I can resort (and possibly get rid of some) the trucks and cars stuff.  This weekend might be a good time to do that, although, I really need to start on the taxes, too.

Gamers.  Abishai seems to be pretty good with the tablet, like not throwing it around or anything.  We do have limits on electronics, and I'm about to move screen time to after dinner.  Abishai's naps are now between 2-5pm and we are using a lot of that time to do school and we seem to be able to get some really good lessons in and read alouds, so we aren't done until at least 4.  Then they have been trying to get their screen time in before Daddy gets home, but I'm busy with dinner prep and other household chores, so I'm not able to keep track of who got on when and for how long.  And then Jared's walking in the door and finding them staring at a screen, which is not a great thing to come home to.  I need to stay flexible with it, but it just might be a better way to handle it if it's after dinner.  The kids tend to want to rush through their afternoon schooling just so they can get to their gaming.  We used to say that after 3pm was screen time, so it's kind of ingrained in our heads that getting on after that time frame is "late."  So, I think adjustments need to be made.

Well, I kind of forget to tell Grandma that I needed her to babysit today, but thankfully, she didn't have much planned.  So, I was able to get to the doctor's office and other errands.  I guess Justin found this recipe somehow on the tablet and they made blueberry muffins together!  I'm glad my cupboards are organized in a way that Leah could find all the ingredients.  But how fun to be able to just zip up here to babysit and impromptu have a cooking lesson.  Ah the joys of living near the grandparents and homeschooling!  Double blessing!

We almost hit 70 degrees F today so the windows were wide open!  It's going to be 37 degrees F on Saturday, so soak it up when you can!

I think we won't see any more flowers because this set of leaves seems different than the flowering stems.  Perhaps I'll get to plant it in my new flowerbed once we find a house.

For those who are curious, these are my test results.  It's on a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being "never eat it" and 1 being "eat it rarely."

This is the type of test I took.

All of my actual "I'm going to die if I eat it" allergies came back negative.  Sensitivities affect inflammation and your GI tract.  True allergies send you into shock.

If this kid doesn't get a job that needs precision work, I'll be surprised.  He gathered all the cars he could find from every corner of the house to make this line up of cars.

Ta da!

Then he found this one truck and said, "Daddy!" because it looks a lot like Jared's truck.  He then proceeded to drive the truck over the other cars like monster trucks do.  Again, he's learned this from watching all those monster truck videos!  He's a very quick learner!

That's all for today.  Next up: ice skating and movie at church!  Then we just have church service Saturday night and choir/youth group on Sunday night, so our weekend will be very quiet and we can catch up on housework then.  Phew!

Year 2, Day 53: Inspired By Others

Hi, folks!  Another decent day over here! Temperature was in the 60's, which I should have shoved us out the door to enjoy this morning, but focused too much on school and my laziness instead.  The kids were a little antsy during school, but there was no big "I don't want to!" moments.  We are reading this very interesting book of Jewish stories that are like stories Rudyard Kipling would have wrote or where the fox tricks the bird, and they stop and ask you what would you do.  They are short and sweet and interesting!  The kids actually like that read aloud.  History was about the beginning of Exodus with how the Israelites came to be in slavery and also about the first two major dynasties in China, the Xia and Shang.  Then it was off to Bible Bowl and.....drumroll please.....Zumba!

Zumba!  Yes, I finally tried it!  They meet at church on Wednesday evenings at a smiliar time as Bible Bowl, in the same wing of the church, so I have no excuse.  Jared is already at church from his workday, and Benaiah is usually around before Bible Bowl hanging out or doing whatever.  So, I just bring the other 3 kids down and bam, I have a babysitter and I can work out for an hour!  It was VERY fast paced but there were several people who kind of did their own dance moves or just kind of swayed and moved in place a bit and didn't even try to keep up.  It made me smile to think that they were at least trying!  I knew I couldn't do it all, so sometimes I made up my own dance and sometimes I just marched in place.  Basically, it's an aerobic workout that contains some basic dance moves, LOTS of squats, and the idea is to just keep moving and getting your heart rate up.  There wer some quick twisting on your foot moves that I just couldn't figure out, and I could tell my ankles and knees weren't happy, so I didn't really do those.  But it was fun!  I didn't feel embarrassed at all.  And this is why.

Lately, I've been following three Christian vlogging families.  A vlog is a video blog and they all do it on YouTube.  One family is from Toronto, who are friends with the other two families, who are in Albama.  They are all younger families with kids under 3.  And they are all very different.  But they all inspire me in different ways.  The Toronto family has inspired me to dance and to really play with the kids and change some of my interactions.  One of the Alabama families that have 2 kids share all kinds of things and not always about what they did that day, so they inspire me to not become stale in what I talk about on here or how I talk about it.  The third family, is just a couple who is really struggling right now with infertility and had a miscarriage this week.  This family inspires me to be grateful for my kids, but in a vlog a few weeks ago, they were talking about visiting a new small group and finding out that it wasn't a good match for them.  Their comments about it keeps repeating themselves in my head and has inspired me to just go and try new things.  Last night I went to a mom's night out with other homeschoolers and I didn't know anyone.  It wasn't awkward because some knew a little bit about the others and they were all good at asking "get to know you" questions.  But before I went into the restaurant I thought, "I'm just meeting new people.  I'm not committing to come again next month.  Maybe I'll find someone to really connect with, or I won't and that would be ok."  They were all very friendly, so I will probably go back again.

But I was also reminding myself of what some of my PEI friends have told me over the years, that I am very bold and that we attended a lot of events, and basically inserted ourselves into church and homeschool group stuff and explored the Island, although we are mostly introverts.  I poured myself into getting to know the people and the culture of this strange new place called Prince Edward Island in Canada.  I put myself out there, and got a huge return on my investment.  So, why am I holding back here?  So what if I already have a church home and some friends?  It doesn't mean I can't continue to meet new people and explore new places.  So, I tried Zumba!  I know the lady that runs it, and I've known about it since she started it 6 or so years ago.  Why not try?  We'll see how sore I am tomorrow, because with fibromyalgia, it can feel great in the moment, or you can overexert yourself during the event, and then suffer with loads of pain for a few days, above and beyond the normal stiffness and soreness from working out.  Plus, now I can say I tried!  One of my big issues is I have the "fear of the unknown" syndrome, so I need to push myself to just try it and be ok if it doesn't work out.

And the kids need to see that as well.  Keturah and Justin still don't have any real close friends.  Justin said just this week that he misses his PEI friends because they are just closer to him than anyone here.  So, I have to keep encouraging him to look around at youth group, sit by someone new, ask them their name and go on from there.  They may or may not become your next best friend.  But you have to try.  Both choir and Bible Bowl were new experiences for Keturah and Justin and they are excelling in both of them.  Benaiah is excelling at a brick and mortar school.  Trying doesn't mean committing to something forever.  Although, we always finish the semester or season.  So, hopefully, I am setting the example, at least some of the time.  Just keep trying.

Meanwhile, I will try to get a video of Abishai dancing tomorrow.  He's an incredible dancer and singer.  He even used his fist as a pretend microphone today!  None of the others figured that out!  You say "dance" and he goes for it!  He also says, "Wa-wee" (sounds almost like worry) for water instead of what Benaiah called it at his age, which was, "wa-Dee."  Very interesting how different they all can be.

Abishai wanted to hang out with us when I was going over the kids' math pages, so we pulled out the play dough.  I think Justin had more fun than Abishai.  He made this really long snake by pushing play dough through a Mrs. Potts (Beauty and the Beast) teapot spout.

Abishai worked on stacking the play dough containers.  Lol, always organizing he is!

Never too old for creative fun!

Ta da!

Hair in a tight flexi before Zumba!

Hair in a tight flexi after Zumba!  Ta da!  I made it through 1 hr of Zumba and my hair is still nearly perfect.  Go Flexi Clips!  No adjusting needed!  (Shameless plug as I'm wearing my Lilla Rose shirt, too! Lol!)

Year 2, Day 52: Great day!

Wow! I let the kids sleep in a bit this morning and when they woke up, they actually didn't fight and go their homework done easily an quietly this morning.  We also got a lot accomplished this afternoon, too.  Life goes more smoothly when you have enough sleep and you have no obligations outside the home for that day.  I did have a new Mom's Night Out to attend but it was around the corner at the Texas Roadhouse near our house.  For the record, I have eaten at Texas Roadhouse like 3 times in 2 months and I'm over it.  Too loud.  Too pricey for what you get.  And the food is just ok.  Take me back to cheap Steak and Shake thanks.  Anyway, the conversation was somewhat of a "get to know you" because this particular group comes from all kinds of other homeschool co ops and churches, but they all mostly live on the east side of Indianapolis.  It's part of a group that plans field trips or get togethers and they use yahoo groups to organize the events.  I guess some might not be on Facebook.  Anyway, it was great company for the evening.

I ate before I left because I didn't want to eat a huge plate of food, and I'm glad I did because we had to wait to be seated.  But what I did eat an appetizer and now I'm way too stuffed.  Anyway, I came home to two kiddos somewhat in bed, and the 2 year old, who slept 4 hrs today for naptime, still awake on the couch watching monster truck movies with Daddy with only his diaper and pj shirt on.  I had to clean the kitchen up from supper because I left as soon as Jared came home  So, it was another late evening of putting the kids to bed because Abishai also needed Mommy story time which replaced our evening nursing sessions.  I'm glad he didn't get upset when I didn't read his whole stack, though.  I can only read so many!

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed....

.....both fell down and laughed and laughed!

Now fall down on your face! 

Keturah searched her drawers for shorts on purpose because she thinks it's summer.

Abishai has this great dance now!  With lots of hand clapping and swaying!  It's adorable!

Baba's turn for rough housing!  Yeah for homeschooling so we can play in between lessons!

Fun stuff!

Keturah and Abishai took the rest of the decorations down from Abishai's party and Keturah stuck the tape pieces on Abishai's head.

The things we get into when we are at home all day.  I think they look the little paper butterflies from that elephant game we have where the elephant's trunk spits out the butter flies for you to catch.

Keturah called them bows!

Check out the color of that broth!  Yum!  I received this huge back of what I thought was another whole chicken or turkey and instead it was a bag of chicken thighs and legs.  So, I fit as many as I could into the put, put some thyme and cilantro and salt and pepper on it with a little water and coked it my favorite way to cook meats: in the crockpot.  I added the yellow potatoes about 1 hour before we were going to eat and they were very soft and yummy.  I think I may make chicken chili or soup tomorrow because homemade bone broth, yum!

I came home to find that my toilet seat was already occupied.  Sigh.  Just like Legos, this household will never be rid of the "dinky" or hot wheel or match box cars.  Never.  They show up everywhere!

Year 2, Day 51: School on President's Day

Well, that was an odd day.  First, we had some nice thick fog to drive through on our way to co op.  But that was fine.  We were the third family there, which is nice because we weren't late.  We had a total of 8 kids and 2 adults missing today because one boy a little older than Justin broke his wrist yesterday, so he and his mom couldn't come.  Then one family was sick.  And the other two kids that were missing went to spend a week with their grandma.  And because only 1 of our 1st graders were going to be there, she was given the option to stay home, which she did.  That meant that I had no class to teach during the 1st hr.  I'll save our activity for next week, no problem.

Abishai and I still played in our classroom because there are many more things to play with than over in the gym.  Then at lunch, the moms decided to just hurry up with a few assignments and cut the day short.  Therefore, my other class, math tutoring, was canceled.  They had a short botany lesson but no gym today.  Which was ok because we went to the park as planned, but just a couple of hours sooner than we had thought.  I drove to the park and saw all the kids and thought, "Why are all these kids here on a school day?"  Oh yeah, it's President's Day, there's no school.  I still don't understand why we have so many Monday holidays and why they need to interrupt my kids' schooling and mail delivery.  But anyway.

We spent a couple of hours at the park and then went home.  Abishai had a great time hanging out with Benaiah and his friend Ethan (we are going to nickname him  "E" I think so Abishai can say his name.)  Jared picked him up on his way home from the church, which was nice because I was able to make a couple of phone calls and get things ready for the rest of the week like meal planning.  And that's about it.  Oh, I did listen to a seminar on using natural lighting when taking portraits and such.  That was fun to learn.  I know that 9pm is a perfect time for most people when watching a webinar, but it is very hard for me because that's when the kids finally settle down, or at least they are supposed to be asleep by 9, but lately it's been 9:30.  It would be better for me if the webinars were lately.  But I at least got to listen to one tonight for a change.

The rest of the week is very quiet with one appointment for me on Thursday, and then maybe ice skating and a movie at church on Friday.

Check out this cute video from today!  Abishai Dancing!

Foo-foo!  This Fisher Price Little People train makes noise and he plays with it every week.  He had the idea of putting the cup on the train, not me!  He even moved the other people around so the cup would fit.  Smart boy!  Oh, and he found the trash can for one of his snack wrappers without being asked!

Great new toddler toy!  Lots of lights and gadgets.  Abishai was trying too hide in there, but we could still see him.

It was nearly 65 degrees today, maybe 70 in the sun, so the kids got to have recess outside today.

Keturah slip sliding down the pool.

The 4 kids from the 3-6th grade class.

One of our 6th graders.  She's great at this stuff!  We even saw a boy do a flip off of here to get down.  We went to our park because it was closest.  I was in charge of this months' "after school fun time.  I wrote down "ice skating/sledding."  Um, no.  Too costly and no one wanted to do it!  Most families went home today, so it was just 3 families that went to the park.

Year 2, Day 50: Got any acreage for sale?

Well, we can't afford any acreage, but, our little man could not WAIT to go outside barefoot today.  And he and the puppy (or senior dog that he is, Socks) palled around the "back 40" aka Gary and Leah's yard today having a blast.  I did put his shoes on for that part though because, yeah, dog poo.  We just need a place where I can open the back door and let 'em out! So, fence is a must, big enough for Socks to NOT be able to climb.  5 ft? 6 ft?  It was chilly in the shade today, so when we kept their porch door open I was frozen!  But go out front in the sun and it was awesome!  This was all after church and Sunday dinner, before naps.  Then youth group and choir as normal.

Speaking of choir, Keturah has 10 lines to memorize!  And her character is an artist!  Her name is Caitlyn!  Super excited for her!  She has to be at all the rehearsals so they can use her during blocking out the scenes.  That means she's going to be super tired come Monday morning co op, which we do have tomorrow.  We had extra time off in January, but even then, we weren't planning on taking off tomorrow for President's Day anyway.  We have one Monday off for Spring break,  Other than that, we chug along as normal.

While the older 3 were doing their thing, Abishai did his thing running the halls of the church like he owned the place.  Just like his big brother Benaiah did and still does.  Abishai watched as the middle schoolers transitioned from small group time to worship time and at first he was giving them the "move along" arm swing that policemen do and then he started just waving and saying "hi" like they were part of a parade and he was on the sidelines.  He also got excited when a few of them starting wrestling each other, laughing at them.  Daddy chased him while I read and crosstitched and tried to listen to a podcast.  Poor Justin is exhausted from staying overnight at Grandma's house last night, then being at church all morning, then playing video games this afternoon, and then more church stuff tonight.  I hope he sleeps well and isn't really sick.

Benaiah has the day off tomorrow and so does his buddy Ethan so they are spending the night at Grandma's house and then heading off to church to do some stagehand work.  Benaiah also worked for a church member on a jobsite for a little cash.  My little boy is growing up!  And then, he tells me he played 6 hours yesterday of his new video game he supposedly bought for his siblings.  Not quite grown up all the way yet.

These are my friends Julie, who owns the horses, and Alisha, who introduced us to Julie.  Julie and Alisha have been friends for over 20 years!  This was from the baby shower yesterday.

The best part of waking up....is baby hiding in your bed!

Awwwwww.

Benaiah gave me the "Beaker face" when I told him to sit back down so I could take this picture of the two of them playing a video game.  Unfortunately, this video game is only 1 person a time, unless you play with people online.  A lot of the games are like that now and have only that option.  Sad, but true.

I'm going a huntin'!

Redneck baby!

Poor kid doesn't fit into 18 month pants still when he's wearing a disposable diaper!  They work fine with the cloth diapers.  These pants were bought for him and I think that a lot of the newer pants are made bigger than when Benaiah was little for the same size.  He almost walked out of them several times!

Playing the board game!

Grandpa won, but they were seeing who won next.  Meanwhile, Abishai got to play with Grandpa's pieces.  Mini me and big me!

I couldn't resist capturing this moment!  A woman and her dog, sort of.  Socks really does have Gary and Leah and they give him tons of loving.  Gary even said that Socks came up to him while sitting on the bar stool and put his head in Gary's lap to be petted.  And then, when Gary wouldn't pet him anymore, he went around to the other side of Gary to get more lovings.  He's a very loved dog.  But don't you dare call him Gary and Leah's grand dog!  Leah especially doesn't like that term.  Even I am not very fond of it.  He's just a dog.

All dogs need to have their own kid to play with, right? Abishai knew that Socks just had to have these big sticks to play with and kept saying "Go-go!" until I opened the gate for him.  Abishai offered the sticks to Socks but he wouldn't take them from the baby until I threw the sticks for him.  He's such a good dog.  I can't believe he'll be 7 years old in April!