Thankful Thursday

1. Wendy's husband successfully defended his dissertation at the University of Chicago on Friday! We have another Dr. in the family! My dad was first, then Wendy, then me, then Paul, and then Drayton. Drayton's father also has a Ph.D, and Joe's father has an MD.

2. Oliver has been MUCH better behaved the past six weeks. It is such a relief! He still has moments of hitting and throwing things, but the frequency has gone down considerably. Ian is the one most prone to set him off.

3. The kids really enjoyed watching Dolphin Tale. I am looking forward to taking them to see Dolphin Tale 2 at the movie theater later this summer. Paul and I already saw it on DVD, but we're having the kids wait until they see it at the theater. Similarly, Paul and I really enjoyed the movie McFarland, USA. It's a good movie about a true story of a high school cross country team. Sports movies tend to be a genre that both Paul and I can enjoy. He liked seeing the movie American Sniper recently, but military movies are usually a little more "intense" than I prefer for a movie. It's wonderful to be able to check all these dvd's out from the library for free!

4. Nadia has learned how to ride her bike without training wheels before she turned seven. This was a goal of mine! Yay!

5. The kids and I had a lot of fun picking strawberries at a berry farm for the first time ever on Thursday afternoon. The strawberries were SO sweet and juicy! Oliver and Nadia kept wanting to just pop them into their mouths instead of the quart container. I've been eating them on a salad. Yum! We plan to go back there next month for blueberries. They also have blackberries and raspberries.

6. The kids have been enjoying VBS. As an added bonus, the church let us register Oliver even though he's not quite three years old yet (but he will be on August 7). This has meant that Paul and I have had a couple of hours without the kids every night. Usually we have to pay a babysitter for that luxury! On Tuesday night we actually went out to dinner at TGIF during VBS. They had a slip and slide at VBS last night. Ian only did it once, but Oliver did it seven times! He loved it!

7. I took the kids to Toys R Us on Thursday while Sears was rotating the van's tires. We used
coupons and got Christmas gifts for nephews and a birthday gift for Oliver. When we entered the store they gave Nadia a mylar balloon and a crown to wear on her head due to her birthday coming up in the near future. Then they announced over the loudspeaker that Nadia was here celebrating her seventh birthday. She loved it! Every time we passed an employee in the store, he/she said "happy birthday" to Nadia.

8. Nadia has become completely independent with taking a shower and shampooing her hair. Yay!

9. Nadia and Ian had fun building Iron Man's Avenjet at Lowe's on Saturday morning with Paul. There are six Avengers projects this summer.

10. Oliver and I did a little shopping and enjoyed a pretzel at Auntie Anne's while Paul's car was being serviced at Sears on Saturday morning. Oliver loved the pretzel!

11. The kids enjoyed Watsontown's fireman parade on Saturday afternoon. We also made a brief appearance at their carnival that evening, We let each child pick one game to play.

12. My brother made it safely home from Brazil on Monday morning. He lived in Brazil for three years but has come back home as he would like to start a PhD program in 2016.

13. Although peas are still not Ian or Nadia's favorite vegetable by any means, I have to say they are getting much better at eating that vegetable. Oliver loves peas.

14. We had a great time at Summerfest on Sunday afternoon. The kids enjoyed the crafts, building a bird house, seeing various birds of prey, and going kayaking for the first time.

15. Nadia is at camp right now. Hopefully she's having a fabulous time! It's her first time going to an overnight camp. She loves her first (Frozen) sleeping bag that Grandma gave her as an early birthday present.

16.  I gave Ian an incentive that I would buy him a $20 Lego set he's been wanting if he completes the first grade reading curriculum this summer. Oh my  stars. He could not be more motivated. He keeps begging me to spend more and more and more time working with him on reading. He has made HUGE progress in the last week. He hasn't earned the legos yet, but it isn't going to take him long at this pace! Way to go, Ian!

17. Paul's mom got a good report from the doctor on Tuesday. She doesn't have to come back (except for the monthly IVIG infusion) for 4 months, and if her protein levels  should rise again in the future, she probably will be able to take pills instead of doing chemo and radiation again. Yay!

18. Paul took Nadia to her Annie rehearsal yesterday. It's only 15 minutes farther than Bucknell so he can get some work done in his office during her practice. She has two rehearsals a week. The plan is that the boys and I will take her once a week, and Daddy will take her the other time. I greatly appreciated being able to finish getting her packed up and being able to stay home yesterday morning with Ian and Oliver. We took her to her first two rehearsals and did grocery and other shopping during both
practices, but I wouldn't want to shop for four hours a week!