C25K

One thing I've wanted to try for a couple of years was the "couch to 5K" program (C25K), but I didn't have a way to access the app while I was walking or running unless I lugged our iPad around with me on the workout, which is ridiculous since the iPad is rather large and also heavy due to the OtterBox case. I figure this summer is the best time for me to do the eight week program while Paul's schedule is more flexible. My plan is to do this every other day starting this Thursday from 6:30-7:00 am. I've been eating a salad for dinner almost every day lately, and I'm hoping that with this exercise program I can lose at least 15 pounds over the next eight weeks. I have never been a "runner," but this program is geared for people like me so hopefully I can complete it. This means I'll also need to figure out how to get some music on my phone that I can listen to while doing this workout that doesn't involve using data. At home or in the van I either listen to the radio or a CD. I have a lot to learn! I also plan to give up my paper calendar that I've been carrying in my purse for decades and switch to a digital calendar on my phone. I know I'll save some money also in terms of printing coupons as some places (like Dunkin Donuts, JCPenney, and TGIF) allow you to show a camera on your smart phone instead of a paper one you printed out at home. If any of you have recommendations of apps you really like having on your phone, I am all ears!

Nadia had an Annie rehearsal this morning. I thought she'd be missing a tennis lesson, but the tennis lesson was cancelled this morning due to rain. I had hoped to take the boys to the playground today, but the wet weather kept us inside. Ian made tremendous progress on finishing his Kindergarten handwriting textbook. He is trying to earn a $12 Lego set. Paul took her to her rehearsal, and then Isabella's dad picked Nadia and Isabella up at the end of the rehearsal for lunch and a play date. Isabella is playing the part of Annie. She and Nadia refer to each other as Annie and Pepper rather than Nadia and Isabella. They also went to the thrift store and found sweaters for their orphan costumes. They had a five hour play date, and Nadia was invited to come back again for another one next week. Their show is next Friday (July 10th). I can't wait to see it! I will be buying 8 tickets tomorrow morning, as all four grandparents plus Uncle Maurice plan to come (Oliver doesn't need a ticket).

First Smartphone!

When Paul and I were first married, high speed internet was becoming more and more popular. I remember saying, why would I spend $30 (I think that's what the monthly fee was back then) a month to have access to the internet when I can have dial-up access for less than $10 a month. However when we moved in July 2004, we took the plunge and bought a modem. Of course once we experienced it, there was no way we were going back to dial-up access. As a side note, wow has the price of high speed internet really jumped up over the past fie years! In 2010 we were paying $34 a month. Our fee just went up again last month, and now we are paying $62 a month for high speed internet, and we have used the same provider since 2008. Ouch! I made a similar statement about smartphones a few years ago. Why would I pay an extra $30 a month to access the internet on my phone when I am already paying to have internet at home? More than a year ago we decided that the next time our cell phone plan was ready to be renewed, we were going to get phones that would make texting easier, and get a plan that included unlimited texting (it used to cost $5 a month to add that). We definitely have felt out of place with our flip phones, and we definitely have annoyed people by not sending and receiving texts.

Over the last couple of months I started to want a smartphone, and it turns out it's possible to have a smartphone plus one standard phone for only about $5 a month more than what we are paying now for two flip phones. The new plan includes some data, unlimited texting (we used to pay 20 cents per text), and unlimited talking (albeit we rarely even used half of the minutes included in our old plan). So we are getting a LOT more bang for our buck when it comes to our monthly cell phone bill. If we both had smart phones, our bill would go up another $20 a month. Paul doesn't use any apps on the iPad (rarely even touches the iPad), and he's not much for taking pictures either. So we decided for now to get him a standard phone that has a QWERTY keyboard so he can easily send texts, and I ordered my very first smart phone. Because we already have so many apps for the iPad, we decided to get an iPhone. I could have gotten an iPhone 5c for free. There was a cost involved for the 5s, 6, or 6+. In the past I've always selected a free phone, but I decided this time to spend $50 of my birthday/Christmas money for an iPhone 5s. It's supposed to arrive on Wednesday!

I also ordered a case for the phone on Amazon today, and that is also supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. The bike seat I ordered for Oliver last week is supposed to arrive tomorrow, and I am planning to buy myself a bike on Wednesday at either Target or Walmart. Nadia can't wait to go biking together. My next big purchase will be a new laptop, but I'll need to save up some more money before I can make that purchase. For now my new "toys" will be a bike and a smart phone. If we discover we really need two smart phones, we can upgrade Paul's phone in two years, but for now I think one will be more than enough for us considering we've gone this long without any. Thus far I have sent about five texts in my life, I think that will be drastically changing in the very near future.

This morning Nadia started her second week of tennis lessons. There are seven kids in the class this week (compared to only three the last time). She is doing three days this week and making up the two days she'll miss (due to Annie rehearsals) during the third session in August. I finally remembered to bring bread to the park, and the boys enjoyed feeding the ducks this morning before they played on the playground during her one hour tennis class. After that we spent about 30 minutes inside the library before spending 30 minutes outside the library at their kids in the garden program. The kids did some weeding, cut down some sunflowers, and ate some fresh lettuce straight from the garden. Oliver picked a couple of tomatoes that weren't ripe yet. Oops! One year I want to have a small vegetable garden of our own.

Six Flags

Around 3:00 on Thursday we started our drive to my parents' house, and we arrived at 7:00. If you don't have traffic or make any stops, you can make the trip in 3 1/2 hours, but traffic and stops usually add at least 30 minutes (especially considering we hit rush hour traffic in Harrisburg). Nadia blew out seven candles on an ice cream roll, we ate our ice cream, and then she opened her gifts. She got a Spirograph and a board game (one that helps you learn to count money) from my parents and stickers from Uncle Maurice. We had a terrible time getting Oliver to bed that night (it took over 2 hours to get that boy to stay in his bed!), but eventually we all got to sleep. The next morning the kids played for a couple of hours, and then Grandpa joined us at Six Flags, which is a very short drive from their house. It was Nadia's third time at the park, Ian's second, and Oliver's first time. Paul hadn't been there in more than ten years (we took my niece, Jenna, there when she was very young).

We had a wonderful time! I had been worried about the weather, but not one single drop of rain fell on us. Today was a very different story. We were glad we weren't there today because it rained cats and dogs for many hours! The weather was ideal for the dry rides. We would have appreciated it being a bit warmer out for the wet rides and wave pool and such. There were basically no lines for the rides. Grandpa watched the kids at two different points so Paul and I could ride a roller coaster, and both times we just walked on to the ride. There were times when Oliver was the ONLY child on a ride. The biggest downside of this park is that you need to be 48 inches tall to ride almost every water slide and you need to be 48 inches tall (and in some cases 54 inches) to ride any roller coasters aside from the kiddie one. The kids couldn't even ride the swings or the bumper cars, and Nadia has been riding those at other amusement parks for a few years. But everyone still had a lot of fun! We didn't bring Oliver last year, and I am glad we didn't because a child under 36 inches can do almost nothing in that park. He was *just* tall enough to ride most of the kiddie rides and also able to ride a couple of the bigger rides with an adult.

Last year we didn't watch any of the shows, but this year we went to three of the six shows. The kids especially enjoyed one that included a lot of special effects (tons of bubbles, lasers, large beach balls, etc.). I didn't bring my camera with me last year because Grandpa and I were there with four kids (Susie, Rachel, Ian, and Nadia). Since we had a one-on-one ratio this year of adults to kids and had the stroller with us, I did bring my camera, and so the kids enjoyed taking pictures with characters. Oliver has finally gotten over his fear of people wearing large costumes. I guess we could have gone to Sesame Place this summer after all. We'll definitely have to go next year! In light of the height issues at Six Flags, I wouldn't want to pay to go there until the kids were at least 48 inches, but since we received 3 free tickets and Oliver was still free, it was definitely worth spending a day there! Hopefully Nadia will be at least 48 inches tall next summer. I think she will. I think our seven year old had a wonderful birthday week!

This morning we went to Lowe's. Originally I thought they'd be doing the project with Grandpa (they've done two with Pop Pop in the past), but my parents had other commitments today. Usually Paul just takes Nadia and Ian, but since weren't at home, all five of us went. They had an extra kit so we let Oliver join in the fun. He's definitely not ready  Ironically, the project today was the most difficult of any they've done before. I'll save the apron they gave Oliver today for the future when he is old enough. For now I'll just keep registering Nadia and Ian for these projects. After building Captain America's motorcycle, we started our drive back home. On the way back we stopped and spent two hours with one of my former roommates. She cooked a delicious lunch for us, and we enjoyed chatting with she and her husband. I wish we lived closer, but at least we can see each other about once a year.

Here are just a few pictures from the last two days. I have many more!

Thankful Thursday

1. I am SO thankful that on June 24, 2008, I became a mom! Technically I've been a mom since 2005, but since I never met our first baby, I didn't really feel like a mom until 2008. Although motherhood has been far more physically exhausting at times than I had imagined, it has been absolutely as amazing as I had dreamed it would be since I was a child myself. I am eternally grateful that the Lord gave us our most precious Nadia Renee, whose name means "hope reborn." She has been SUCH a delight to us these past seven years and added so much joy to our lives. I look forward to watching her continue to grow and learn new things in the coming years!

2. Paul has been an outstanding father these past seven years. I am VERY thankful for him as well. I am also thankful for my dad and Paul's dad and their influence in our lives and the lives of their grandchildren.

3. Nadia had a fabulous time at Camp Susque last week! We received a letter that she mailed from camp on Monday. She enjoyed receiving two letters from me and three emails from Grandma while she was at camp.

4. Ian finished the Level One reading curriculum! He showed an incredible amount of diligence and perseverance to accomplish that goal. We need to spend some time reinforcing what he learned, but wow he came a long way in about ten days!

5. My eyes are back to normal, and no one else in the family caught my pink eye. My hearing is also gradually coming back in my right ear. Yay!

6. I absolutely loved the anthem the choir sang on Sunday morning. It was about God's love for us, and I had tears in my eyes by the end of the song in both services. Gorgeous song and what a beautiful reminder of His amazing love.

7. We greatly appreciated Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law coming up to celebrate Fathers' Day and Nadia's 7th birthday with us on Sunday afternoon! The cake Millie brought was delicious as were the baked beans and deviled eggs that Grandma brought. Nadia loved all her presents!

8. We enjoyed chatting with the Towfighis on the phone yesterday (thanks to their Magic Jack). Yvonne has come up with some excellent ideas as to how our kids can share some experiences together regarding the countries our kids will be studying over the course of the year. I've had fun selecting resources from the library that I plan to use (chapter books, picture books, music cd's, dvd's, etc.). My list already contains 250 items the library owns, and I have another list of books I plan to request through interlibrary loan. Yvonne and I both plan to cook at least one food a week from the country we are studying that week. It will be fun to try new recipes. Hopefully we'll find some new foods that we like that we'll make again in the future. Nadia also enjoyed talking with some of her cousins and being serenaded by them even though the live on another continent.

9.  Even though they aren't selling brownie batter donuts right now (which is the favorite kind of everyone except for Paul), we did enjoy having donuts for Nadia's birthday breakfast yesterday morning!

10. Paul took Nadia to her Annie rehearsal yesterday. This enabled the boys and I to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather, and I got some exercise as we walked to the playground.

11. I'm thankful for yard sales, clearance racks, and a great online sale at the Disney store that together  enabled me to buy Nadia a nice assortment of gifts without spending too much money. She received from us a 300 piece puzzle about Egypt, 5 princess Barbie dolls, a Frozen t-shirt, a loom kit, some things to paint, a Sound of Music cd, Anastasia figurines, a headband, some princess themed jewelry, and a Frozen digital watch.

12. Yesterday we picked a little less than 4 pounds of blueberries. This was a first for all of us. All three kids did some taste testing as we picked. The temperature was cooler than it was when we picked strawberries, which was appreciated. Nadia LOVES blueberries, so this was part of our birthday celebration for her. I usually only buy a pint at a time.

13. We also had a nice dinner at Friendly's. It only cost $11 for the five of us because we were able to pay for part of our meal with the remainder of the the gift card Ian got at Valentine's Day. I think our princess had a great birthday!

14. The kids really enjoyed the K9 program at the library on Tuesday evening.

15. Oliver is healthy at the moment (not even receiving nebulizer treatments). PTL!

SEVEN years old!

Today my girl is SEVEN years old. Here are seven pictures, a description of seven of her attributes, and a list of some of the things she's learned how to do over the past year.

May 2009

1. FRIENDLY - Since she was a toddler she has been labeled a "social butterfly." She loves it when we get to the playground and discover there are other children there for her to play with. It doesn't matter how old they are. She plays with kids who are younger than her or older than her. No one is a stranger. She talks to adults just as easily as she talks to children. In one of her basketball games she started chatting with the referee, ha ha!

2. OBEDIENT - She has always been a pretty compliant child. When she was a toddler we had some battles with her over eating vegetables and such, but these days she has learned to like a wider variety of foods and she's learned to just get it over with when I ask her to eat something she doesn't like (ex. she can't stand peas). I'm by no means saying she's perfect, but I will say she is a good kid and definitely the easiest of our three to parent thus far.

3. HELPFUL - It's rare that Nadia complains when I ask her to help me in some way and many times she volunteers to help. She is very good about doing her chores (although sometimes she forgets to make her bed and put away her pajamas in the morning). She helps by reading to her brothers, emptying the upstairs trash cans once a week, putting away her clean laundry after I've folded it, vacuuming, and putting away toys. This spring she did many extra chores because she was working to earn an Elsa Lego set. Every week she cleaned the bathroom sinks, counters, and toilets, and some weeks she did other things like cleaning windows, dusting the piano, dusting blinds, or dusting the banister. She also enjoys helping me make cookies and gets a kick out of making my bed.

4. BRAVE - She will ride any ride that an amusement park says she is tall enough to ride, and if they will allow her to ride it by herself she will do so (even roller coasters!). She doesn't show any fear when singing a solo in church, even when there are hundreds of people in the congregation. She can jump off the diving board without wearing any flotation device and without any adult in the deep end waiting there to help her out. When she took horse back riding lessons she didn't want to ride a pony but wanted to ride a BIG horse. She had no fear with staying overnight at camp for three days. She loves to be given a speaking part in a play (she's Pepper in the Annie production).

August 2011

5. LOVING - She loves hugs, kisses, and snuggles. She writes me many love notes, which melt my heart. On Sundays she takes notes by filling in the blanks on the sermon outline in the bulletin, but she also writes me little love notes on that outline. She loves her immediate and extended family and her Savior very much.

6. ENJOYS A WIDE VARIETY OF ACTIVITIES: She wants to do just about every extracurricular activity out there! She enjoys being on a soccer and a basketball team, wishes she could take ballet and tap again, and she enjoys taking gymnastics, swimming lessons, ice skating lessons, tennis lessons, and horseback riding lessons. She loves singing in the kids' choir at church, going to theatre camp, being in a Spanish class, going to VBS, being in a Sunday School class, etc. Every time I ask her if she wants to try some new activity or class, the answer is always "YES!".

June 2012

7. LOVES BOOKS, DOLLS, and the iPAD: Although she plays with a variety of toys including costumes, stuffed animals, play food, Lincoln logs, Legos, etc. If I had to pick the three things she spends the most time with they would be books, dolls, and the iPad. She reads chapter books and picture books, and she also loves it when I read her picture books or chapter books. She plays with dolls of all sizes - tiny little figurines, 12 inch Barbie size dolls, and 18 inch dolls. At the moment her four most prized possessions are a plush Elsa, plush Anna, her dragon pillow Paul got her in Poland in 2010), and a purple cat (stuffed animal she named Sparkle).

June 2013 (tap recital)

Over the past year Nadia has learned how to:

1. Tie her shoes, shower and shampoo her hair independently, stop sucking her thumb, and clip her own fingernails

2. Play chess and connect four

3. Ice skate, ride a bike without training wheels, make her first baskets during basketball practice, play a little tennis, and swim well enough to jump off the diving board independently

June 2015

4. Vacuum, dust, and clean the bathroom sinks, counters, and toilets

5. Play the piano (up to three notes at one time) and read a little bit of music

6. Read well enough to complete a fourth grade reading curriculum, speak and comprehend a little bit of Spanish, and use some basic keyboarding skills

7. Fill in the blanks in the sermon outline during the sermon on Sunday mornings

June 2014 with her cousin, Rachel

Dog Days of Summer

The library scheduled four programs related to dogs for this week and next week. We're going to skip the one that involves making dog biscuits, but we attended two today, and I plan to take the kids to once next week about military dogs. The first program today was held indoors and included three therapy dogs. The kids really enjoyed those dogs and the various tricks they did including making baskets with a small ball and basketball hoop. Then we went outside and participated in a program with five K9 Search and Rescue dogs. The program included helpful tips regarding what to do if you are every lost. Nadia always raises her hand when anyone asks for a volunteer, and she was picked twice. First she was used to demonstrate how a garbage bag can be useful to keep in a little survival pack, and then later in the program she was one of the two kids who went and hid behind some trees so a dog could show us how they search for a person and what the dog does when they find the person. She was then able to reward the dog by throwing the dog a couple of tennis balls.

The dog ready to go find Nadia

The highlight of our day though was a surprise visit from Gabby and Alexis. They were our neighbors the first almost four years we lived in this house, and they (plus their mom) were our babysitters during that time as well. They moved to Oklahoma three years ago, and it had been two years since we had seen them. Gabby, Alexis, and Alexis' best friend (Chelsea) came over today. Alexis called me ahead of time, but she asked me not to tell the kids so Nadia and Ian were very surprised to see them. We love these girls and their mom so much. It was wonderful to spend an hour with them today. All three girls just graduated from high school. Gabby graduated a year early. She and Alexis are going to be roommates together at college. Gabby wants to be an aeronautical engineer, and Alexis wants to be an orthodontist. They are hoping that Paul gets a job in Oklahoma starting in 2016.

Longest bike ride

Up until today, Nadia has just been biking on our (very short) street and the street the other side of our house faces. This morning she rode her bike to the playground at the elementary school. It was definitely nerve wracking for me, but she did a good job of getting off her bike when she saw a car coming. She biked about 2.5 miles today (round trip). At the beginning Ian ran to keep up with her, but then he switched to walking beside me as I pushed Oliver in the stroller. I need to buy myself a bike. I have been vacillating between several possible purchases with my Christmas/ birthday money. My first instinct is to get something for my camera. Last year I got myself a new lens, for example. I think I'm going to wait at least another year on that. I've also considered a new hot water heater (not very exciting, but I do like hot showers), a new laptop computer (mine has been acting up a lot), upgrading our cell phone plan, or a bike for myself plus a bike carrier for Oliver.  As of today, the bike and carrier have risen to the top of the list. I haven't owned a bike for 14 years.

As long as we allow enough time in between baths or showers, the hot water heater does its job. It just becomes a problem if two people try to take a shower or bath right after each other. Since we might be moving next summer, I'd rather not buy a new hot water heater, if possible. Our cell phone contract expires in six days, and I am very seriously thinking of getting a smart phone. I'll have to see exactly how much more we'd have to pay a month, but there have been more instances lately when I've wished I had one (or borrowed my mother-in-laws). It would be nice to have a small camera with me all the time (no selfies though!), but I really hope I don't let it become my primary camera. I want to keep learning how to take better pictures with my DSLR camera. Yesterday I transferred a couple more videos from Grandma's phone. At the bottom of this post you'll find the video of Ian fighting Darth Vader at Disney World.

Happy Father's Day!

Today we are also having Nadia's first birthday celebration of the week, but I wanted to make sure that didn't mean we overlooked celebrating Paul, Uncle Al, and Pop Pop on this Father's Day! A few days ago I had the kids each make Paul a card. I showed them a bunch of choices on Pinterest (a site I only visit a few times a year), and they each made their selection. Oliver picked one with berries (involved making thumbprints with paint), Nadia picked one with a minion, and Ian found two that he liked (both related to Star Wars) so I worked both ideas into his card. I also had Nadia fill out a questionnaire, and I had the boys answer some questions and filled theirs out for them. The one the boys did is the same one I had Nadia and Ian do last year. Some questions they all answered correctly. For example they all know his name is Paul (I honestly didn't expect Oliver to know that) and that he has blue eyes. Oliver guessed Paul is 3 years old, and Ian guessed Paul is 52 years old. Even though Ian is a lot closer to the correct answer (45), I think Paul will like Oliver's answer better. Ian said Paul's favorite food is bacon, and Oliver said it is Captain Crunch. Paul does like both foods although neither would be classified as his favorite. Oliver said his favorite thing to do with Daddy is "go to the playground," Ian said (no shock here) "build legos," and Nadia said "do chess." One of Nadia's blanks was "He loves to ___" and nadia said "hug." I think Paul liked that answer! He laughed because she wrote "back in the day" in the blank after "He always says ___."

It's nice that these holidays exist which force me to get out the paint and other craft supplies. I will never win any awards for being the most "crafty" mom. My blood pressure spikes when we do these projects. I just don't like messes! It's something I need to continue to work on as a mom. I know the kids love it. I also had purchased three gifts for Paul for Father's Day (since he has three kids): a bag of cherry Twizzlers, a new mousepad for his computer (with photos of the kids on it - the one he had was so old that Oliver wasn't on it), and a new mug for his tea (with photos of the kids on it). Shutterfly is my main source of gifts for grandmas and sometimes also for Daddy! I confess I didn't get him anything special for his Father's Day breakfast like I usually do, but we did have a special lunch and dinner to celebrate Father's Day and Nadia's 7th birthday.

Paul's parents came up and joined us at church for the second service, and we picked up pizza at Ciro's on the way home for our lunch. Uncle and Al and Aunt Millie came about three hours later (they were busy delivering cakes). Nadia opened up presents and cards from Aunt Millie, Grandma, Aunt Wendy, Aunt Yvonne, and Great Gram. She was thrilled with each and every gift. She got two dolls - Cinderella and Jasmine, a dress, a pair of sandals, a game, $10, Little House on the Prairie paper dolls, a Steelers shirt, tights, and a pony that she can't wait to paint. She'll be opening her gifts from Paul and I on Wednesday. After she opened her  presents, we enjoyed a dinner of corn on the cob, Grandma's baked beans, hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, strawberries, deviled eggs, and Nadia's birthday cake. Nadia had requested a strawberry Mulan cake. It was delicious! We had various princess decorations up around the kitchen as well as birthday banners, balloons, etc. I think the menfolk had a nice Father's Day, and I believe Nadia's birthday week got off to a great start! Paul has been an excellent father the past seven years, and I have absolutely loved being Nadia's mom for the past almost seven years. I love her more than words could express. Monday and Tuesday should be rather "ordinary" days, but Wednesday (her actual birthday) we will get back into birthday celebration mode for our girl!