Thankful Thursday

1. We had a fabulous week in Virginia with my parents. Although the weather wasn't suitable for going to Virginia Beach or the Virginia Zoo, we had a great time at the indoor Children's Museum of Virginia last Thursday (including a planetarium show), and it didn't rain on Friday while we were at Colonial Williamsburg. The cooler temps were nice for touring Williamsburg. I was so pleased that Nadia and Ian kept wanting to do more at Williamsburg last Friday!

2. We had a safe trip back on Friday night, and Oliver was better behaved than he was on our way down to Virginia. It was great to be reunited with Paul!

3. Paul's parents were able to come up and see Ian's last soccer game on Saturday.

4. Ian was SO well behaved as he sat alone in church for the first 45 minutes of the worship service on Sunday morning.

5. Nadia only threw up one time on Sunday, and she made it to the bathroom in time. No one else caught her bug.

6. The kids enjoyed the "touch a truck" event at the library on Saturday afternoon even though there were far fewer tractors and such this time than there were when they held the event two years ago.

7. Nadia is really enjoying her tennis lessons. She asked me to put a tennis racket on her birthday wish list. She said she wants to keep playing tennis after her lessons are done. The lessons were very affordable, especially considering she's one of three kids in the class. I'm grateful it's just a one week session, as I'm not very keen on getting all three kids out the door by 8:05 every morning.

8. We also enjoyed going to the library on Monday to get books, and the kids enjoying spreading dirt during the kids in the garden program.

9. We had a fabulous time at Knoebels on Tuesday. The Lord answered our prayers for the rain to stay away. I loved seeing how Nadia enjoyed riding the tea cups with Oliver. Although they love the rides, they also enjoy some of the free parts of

Knoebels such as the playground and the part where you put on costumes and become part of a show. I'm also very grateful for the watchful eye of an employee at Knoebels. The boys were in the playground while I took Nadia to the bathroom. Paul's parents and Paul were in charge of the boys. Oliver managed to escape without them noticing. and he wandered off and was trying to get on a ride. As I came back from the bathroom with Nadia, an employee pointed to Oliver and said, "isn't this your son?". She had noticed him wandering through the park by himself and had taken him under her protection until I came by. Thank you, Lord!

10. Nadia loved her first Annie rehearsal yesterday afternoon. She was pleased that the costume they selected for her is purple. I'm grateful that all the remaining rehearsals are from 9-11am because today's (12:30-2:30) wreaked havoc on Oliver's nap, which was bad timing because he didn't nap at Knoebels on Tuesday. He has also been waking up earlier than usual so he REALLY needs a nice 2 hour nap today. Hopefully that will happen, especially because he's sick again.

11. We are really enjoying the book Five Children and It. We keep wondering what the kids' wish will be in each chapter. It's led to many interesting discussions such as what wish we would each pick if we were in the book, etc.