Thankful Thursday

1. We were so thankful that my mom drove up to spend a day with us last Friday! Driving up here and spending a night means spending at least 7 hours in the car (round trip) plus not getting the best night's sleep due to things like Oliver waking up at 5:45 and a toy in the toy box saying "I am that hero" off and on throughout the night. OOPS! The kids LOVE to spend time with their grandparents!

2. It was such a delight to have THREE grandparents attending both soccer games on Saturday afternoon.

3. The seven of us (including three grandparents) had a great time at Ard's Farm on Saturday afternoon.

4. I am grateful for the lens I got in June and also the external flash my parents gave me in April. Although it made my camera much larger than it usually is when I am using the 50mm lens I use most of the time, the pictures turned out much better. I learned in August that the lighting in the museum is not good for taking pictures.

5. I forgot to mention in my post last Thursday that last Wednesday night the kids and I saw a beautiful large rainbow outside church .

6. I've been enjoying having pumpkin foods lately. Last week I tried a recipe for pumpkin pancakes, and this week I bought a box of pumpkin cake donuts. The next time I make cookies I'm going to make pumpkin cookies. YUM!

7. We were pleased with the progress Ian has made with singing on a stage (as evidenced by how he did on Sunday morning).

8. We had a great time at Hallo Fun at Knoebels on Sunday afternoon with Paul's dad.

9. The Steelers won on Monday night!

10. We had a great time at the Children's Museum on Tuesday afternoon. Since I am not very craft oriented, I was thankful the kids were able to do a couple of crafts there. Ian has been carrying his owl all over the place!

11. Although Oliver is still having accidents and still using the froggy potty when he pees, I am very thankful that he has never had a #1 accident when indoors anywhere other than our house. It's always a big relief to find out he hasn't had an accident when we're at church, the shopping mall, Children's museum, Bible study, etc. Yesterday he peed in the potty before dinner, but then he didn't go after dinner. I was very nervous when I dropped him off at Puggles, but he stayed dry and then peed in the froggy potty in the van before we drove home. This means he had held it for four hours. Whew. I keep bringing a change of pants and underwear, but I am very glad that no one else has had to change him out of wet clothes.

12. Paul is taking Nadia on a field trip this afternoon at Camp Susque. In the two hour class students will explore ponds, streams, and wet lands looking for critters and learning about water quality. Topics include aquatic eco-systems, water testing through a hands-on lab, and wading in the Lycoming Creek looking for various aquatic life. It's for students in K-5 so I'm staying home with the boys.

13. Tamera (online friend who reads my blog) told me about the website Be Inspired Boutique, and through that I was able to order a pair of matching dresses for Nadia and I to wear next summer that were very reasonably priced (since they were on sale plus I used a $10 off coupon code). I am going to give it to Nadia as one of her Christmas presents. I have a feeling it won't be the last time I order us matching clothes. I'm sure at some point she won't think it's cool to match Mommy so I'm going to take advantage of it as long as I can. I was also relieved that the dress fit me because the pjs I ordered for myself from Children's Place were WAY too big, and although I didn't pay shipping to receive them, I did have to pay the Post Office to mail them back to get a smaller size.

14. Oliver has finally started eating bananas! I figured that if he would eat vegetables we'd eventually get him eating fresh fruit, and that is starting to happen!