Thankful Thursday

1. We all enjoyed lunch at Dunkin Donuts and the Eric Carle performance at Bucknell on Saturday afternoon.

2. We also enjoyed the Music Man performance on Sunday afternoon. I had been hoping to go to the Matthew West concert that night, but since #1 I didn't have anyone to go with and #2 we are trying to be as frugal as possible, I decided it was better to take the kids to see the Music Man. We keep trying to spend as little money as possible even though we keep coming across unexpected expenses (such as over $600 in medical bills last month and last week we paid $300 for two tires for the van). For example, because of the tire expenditure, we didn't buy tickets to the Frozen ice skating party. The kids enjoyed the musical although it was long (2.5 hours plus a 15 minute intermission). It's a hoot hearing Ian singing various songs around the house such as "Lida Rose."

3. It was a treat to have dinner at McDonald's on Monday night using a gift card Oliver received at Valentine's. Lately I've been cooking seven days a week, which has rarely been true over the past 13.5 years of marriage, so I appreciate a night off from cooking even more these days! We even splurged and let the kids get ice cream. Ian had his very first hot fudge sundae, and he LOVED it. I have even gotten him to eat hard ice cream at home lately. Maybe the next time we're at Friendly's he will eat a sundae? We had planned to go to Friendly's yesterday night because Wednesday is the best day to go (kid's meals are cheaper) and spring break seemed the ideal week to go, but the fact that Ian and I had a fever nixed that plan. It's a good thing we didn't go because Ian didn't eat his dinner last night.

4. Yesterday I "bought" four tickets to SeaWorld and four tickets to Kennedy Space Center using Paul's credit card points so we didn't spend a penny for those eight tickets! Woohoo! Oliver is still free at both places (and at Disney) since he won't be three years old yet.

5. Due to our fevers, Ian and I didn't go to church last night. Paul took Nadia and Ian to AWANA and just hung out at the church with his chemistry textbook. I can't remember the last time I had one-on-one time with Ian. Usually if I am home alone with one child I'm with Oliver. We built a cabin with Lincoln logs, read books, etc.

6. I am very grateful that thus far Paul and Oliver have escaped this bug. Nadia still has a cough (day 8 for her), and Ian and I still have fevers, runny nose, cough, etc. Every time I check my temperature or his, the lowest it has been is 100 degrees and many times we're at 101. Paul had a hard time sleeping last night due to my coughing (sounds like a bark). I do have a little bit of energy today. Yesterday I couldn't even bear the thought of going to the grocery store to get some bread (so I sent my sweet hubby for it).

7. Yesterday it got up to 54 degrees! If I had been feeling even a tiny bit better than I did, I would have taken the kids for a walk, but I didn't have the energy even to drive 5 minutes to the grocery store. I never left the house yesterday, but it's supposed to be back in the 50's on Monday. The snow has been melting so maybe we can go to the playground on Monday? That would be awesome! I know that it will technically be spring next week, but it's very encouraging for the weather to start to feel like spring is around the corner.

8. Oliver has slept until at least 7:00 the past five mornings in a row. WOOHOO! I am now a big fan of DST! Ian sometimes gets up to go to the bathroom earlier, but he has been good about not coming in to our bedroom until at least 7:00. He proudly walks in with his Batman clock to show us that it's 7:00. Way to go, Ian!

9. Oliver stayed dry in bed every day over the past week even though he's been sleeping in later than usual! If it wasn't for the fact he had one accident during the day, I would be able to say he went a full week without any accidents. Once this week he waited too long and made it to the bathroom but peed on the floor (and in his clothes) before he got up on the toilet.

10. Nadia and Ian enjoyed their field trip to the Maple Sugaring program on Tuesday.; It was nice that Paul was able to watch Oliver at home during that trip as he wouldn't have enjoyed the 2+ hour long program.

11. It has been SO nice having Paul working at home this week since it's been spring break. We usually don't eat any meals with him Monday-Thursday, and sometimes the only meals we eat together are on Saturdays/Sundays. He's been spending a lot of time this week working on the computer (up in our bedroom), but he has been coming down for meals and such which has been WONDERFUL.

12. I finished our taxes for 2014 this week. It's always a good feeling to know that is no longer on one's "to do" list. Our federal refund is much smaller than what we got back the past three years, but I am still thankful for what we are getting back. Every little bit helps! Ideally Paul would be able to do research this summer so that he could apply for industrial computational chemistry jobs in 2016. We had assumed if I didn't get a part-time job that he would need to work this summer to earn some extra money, but we are trying to see if we can possibly make ends meet without him doing that so he can put his time this summer into a bio-physical computational research project with two other profs at Bucknell.

13. We had free pizza tonight that I didn't make from scratch. Yay! We all enjoyed pizza and other goodies at the kids' ice skating party this evening. I am so glad they were able to take these lessons and learn how to skate forwards and backwards. Then Paul took Nadia to her last basketball practice for the year. The parents played the kids this evening. We're looking forward to her last game on Saturday!

14. We're almost done reading Anne of Green Gables. What a delight! Next up is Mary Poppins!