Thankful Thursday

1. Last Friday was Nadia's second spiritual birthday! I bought a carrot cake at the grocery store, which the kids and I all enjoyed. I also pre-ordered a copy of the newest VeggieTales dvd and cd that is due to be released next week ("Beauty and the Beet") as her spiritual birthday present. In the next year I'm hoping that she will start to develop the spiritual discipline of having a personal time of prayer and reading the Bible now that she can read it!

2. On Sunday the kids started working on a Christmas musical. They've never been in one of those before. I love Christmas music, but I usually wait until November to start playing Christmas cds. Now we have an excuse to listen to Christmas music in the van so the kids can learn their songs. :)

3. On Saturday afternoon the kids and I had a great time at the Heritage Days event only 10 minutes from our home. Ian and Nadia have been asking for apple butter to be on their sandwich at lunch instead of jelly the last few days. I should have bought more than one quart of the stuff. YUM!

4.  On Sunday evening I attended a wonderful concert at our new church with my friend, Cheri. The artists were Matt Maher and Tenth Avenue North.

5. Sunday morning I enjoyed singing On This New Day with the choir. The flutist did an outstanding job!

6. One of my recent yard sale purchases was two belts for Ian. He loves using the belts because he said he looks more like Daddy, and I like that he's using the belts because then his pants don't fall down. Win Win!

7. This morning we're going to a program on chipmunks at the RB Winter State Park. I am grateful for these opportunities.

8. Paul has lost 20 pounds so far! Woo hoo! This has me motivated to shed a few myself. For the next several weeks I've decided not to have any ice cream or cold cereal. I bought more apples and baby carrots to provide healthier options.

9. Paul asked his department chair to observe him so that he could have a letter from Bucknell from someone who observed him, and she did so on Monday. We're working on his application that is due next week at Muhlenberg. I'm praying that it takes FAR fewer applications and interviews this time around than it did the past two years.

10. The Steelers and the Giants won on Sunday afternoon!

11. Although I've had to put away my capri pants, I still have been loving this fall weather we've had lately. I'll take the 60's and 70's every day of the week (unless we're going swimming and then I prefer it to be in the 80's or 90's).

12. I got a LONG overdue haircut yesterday afternoon, and I think she did a great job! As an added bonus, someone (my new friend Nikki whom I met at ladies Bible study) noticed and gave me a compliment last night, and this meant a lot to me as typically no one says anything to me.

13. We had a nice dinner at Friendly's last night. It was Nadia's turn to pick this week, and that was her choice! Ian never eats the ice cream that comes with his kid's meal, so I ate his and tried a new flavor - apple pie ice cream. It was delicious, especially with caramel on top! Nadia also tried a new flavor that had both Oreo cookie pieces and chocolate chip cookie pieces in it.