Thankful Thursday

Nadia driving a fire engine!

1. We all enjoyed seeing the "True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" on Saturday morning, and it only cost us $20 total for the five of us to see the production.

2. I know I just talked about Shutterfly last Thursday, but last week was my best week ever with that company. On Saturday I placed two more orders. One was similar to the two I mentioned last week, and then I found out they were giving EVERYONE free shipping on Saturday no matter how big or small your order was. Wow. If I hadn't recently placed a few orders I would have placed an even bigger order, but still I was able to get several things completely for free due to free codes plus free shipping. I am farther along in my Christmas shopping than I usually am at this time of year, and I also have already finished my Christmas card (and I won't be writing a letter as I included several paragraphs of text in the card). That's a first also to be done with that by August 1. On Saturday I also received in the mail my very first lay flat

photo book. Wow. I learned if you stack two codes you can get one of those for free. I am not saying I will make every book a lay flat book, but I am also certain I will be ordering more of those in the future. It's a much nicer book. I'm so thankful for Shutterfly and also the Shutterfly FB group I'm in.

3. The five of us also enjoyed seeing "Alice in Wonderland" on Sunday afternoon.

4. Although it was a MAJOR ordeal to get Nadia and especially Ian to eat a little bit of mashed potatoes, they all ate the meatloaf very easily even though at first there was much protesting over it. I'm always happy to discover a food they will all eat easily. The only bad part is that Paul is not a fan of meatloaf so I can't say it's something all five of us like to eat. Meatloaf was one of my most favorite foods growing up. I usually asked for either meatloaf or ham for my birthday dinner that my mom would prepare.

5. Oliver had a mild case of pink eye the end of last week, and thankfully it didn't spread to anyone else. I believe it's the first time he's had it.

6. Nadia, Ian, and Paul enjoyed seeing the Lego movie at the theater on Tuesday morning.

7. All five of us had a great time at the National Night Out on Tuesday evening. My highlights were seeing how excited Ian was to show me what he has been learning in his swimming class, watching the kids enjoy various different activities (such as the zip line for Nadia), and eating a very delicious raspberry shortcake (huge fresh black and red raspberries on it).

8. As of yesterday, I have lost ten pounds! Progress is exciting, especially as I was nervous given I enjoyed some treats at the National Night Out the previous night (although I did skip the chips and cotton candy). I can now jog for as long as 26 minutes in a row (probably could go farther). Now I am working on increasing my pace although I don't expect to get to

the 10 minute mile mark that the app is expecting. I had hoped to lose 20 pounds by early September. I don't think that will happen, but maybe I can reach my goal by the end of October.

9. My dad made is back safely from Turkey on Monday.

10. When we read chapter books, Nadia is the primary audience, and I also hope that Ian is benefiting at least partially. I really am not expecting Oliver to be paying attention. On Wednesday morning he started saying things like "I am a dragon," and we were in the chapter in Voyage of the Dawn Treader when Eustace becomes a dragon. Paul turned to him and asked Oliver, "What is Reepacheep" and Oliver immediately responded "a mouse," which is the correct answer. We were dumbfounded. I am not saying Oliver is grasping most of what we are reading, but I was surprised to realize he's paying attention at least part of the time. I plan to reread the Chronicles of Narnia to the kids when Oliver is older.

11. Last night I attended a free concert at First Baptist in Danville. June, a woman who sings alto in choir with me, went with me. Paul watched Oliver and the other two were at their musical rehearsal. The concert featured Jason Grey and Saline. What a treat!

12. The weather has cooled down so that the highs are now in the low 80's, which is much nicer than the 90's in my opinion.