2. We had a fabulous day on Friday with my parents at the Maryland Science Center and Port Discovery Children's Museum. I was thankful that we didn't hit much traffic at all either direction and that we had a safe, fun trip. I'm also thankful that Port Discovery wasn't nearly as crowded as it was the one other time we went there years ago.
3. Oliver had an accident on Monday evening. Ironically, his clothes were dry, and I told him to go to the bathroom, and he emerged handing me soaked pants and underwear and wearing wet socks. Lovely. I'm not particularly thankful for that, and I'm not exactly sure what went wrong, BUT it was the first accident in a few weeks, and I am thankful for that because around the middle of August he had a big regression. I actually hadn't been thinking about "potty training" at all for a few weeks, which was a happy thing as he's been wearing underwear for a full year now. He definitely has taken a LOT longer than the other two, but in time it will be a thing of the past.
4. I placed two orders with Shutterfly on Monday night. The first order contained 2 photo books, two 8x10 prints, 4 small magnets, and a Star Wars placemat I made Ian to save as a birthday present for him, and for all that I paid not one penny. WOOHOO! I could have gotten 3 photo books for free, but I opted to order the third one separately and pay $8.47 for it so I could have lay flat pages in that one. I am really getting the hang of maximizing the use of coupon codes on Shutterfly!
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7. We went on our 5th field trip of the school year yesterday. We went to R. B. Winter State Park for a program about Fall, since yesterday was the first day of Autumn. Today we went on our 6th field trip to tour a 911 center. We had a tour around the center to learn how they do their jobs, the kids got to dial 911 on a phone and answer questions (ex. what is your address, what is your phone number, what is the emergency), and they got to put out a fire with a fire extinguisher in the parking lot. Ian's "emergency" was that a bank robber was coming in our house. LOL! My goal is to average about one field trip per week over the course of the school year, and this is our sixth field trip in five weeks so we are off to a good start at achieving that goal of mine. Some weeks we haven't taken any trips, and other weeks we have gone on two or three trips.8. I received a check in the mail for $50 yesterday for playing the flute last week. I wasn't expecting anything so it was a pleasant surprise. Since I received paychecks for more than 20 years, it is still an adjustment for me to not have an income so that $50 means more to me than it would have when I had a job.
9. We did Facetime with the Towfighis in Turkey on Monday, which was a treat. Nadia played a song on the piano, Jenna played a song on the piano, we talked about recipes we had tried lately as we study different countries, kids recited Bible verses they had been learning this week, etc. We are really enjoying having more regular communication with their cousins. I am so glad Yvonne had this idea to try to connect once a week! Last week they were studying Mexico, and Bruchko right now, and we finished it on Sunday. We really loved that book, by the way.
10. The past few weeks we have tried a few new recipes. The kids liked the Guatemalan fruit smoothies, Mexican hot chocolate, churritos, tres leche cake, tacos, and taquitos. Nadia and Ian were not fans of the flan, moros y cristianos (Cuban black beans and rice), or the chilaquiles (which I thought Nadia would love since she adores scrambled eggs). The kids will eat the coconut kisses (for Puerto Rico), but I also don't think they'll ever ask me to make them again. I am grateful that the kids have liked some of the new recipes. I think their most favorite was the churritos, and their cousins favorite new recipe so far was churros. I am not a big fan of cake. I'll usually pick a brownie, cookie, or pie over a cake, but I have to say the three milk cake was very tasty!
11. Paul came home in time to have dinner with us this evening before taking Nadia to soccer practice! It was a surprise and a very rare treat. I would say in a typical week all five of us eat four meals together - lunch and dinner on Saturdays and breakfast and dinner on Sundays (Paul eats lunch by himself on Sundays while we are at the second service at church). Paul eats breakfast with the kids the four mornings that I run, and he has dinner with Nadia on Monday nights after her gymnastics class. I used to be able to be back home from my run before they woke up, but I really can't leave much before 6:30 am these days unless I want to run in the dark. We got really spoiled for three months this summer in that he ate a minimum of 17 meals a week with us each week; that will likely never be the norm again. He received a VERY warm greeting by all three kids when he surprised us at dinner tonight. He leaves for work before the kids get up on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I knew we wouldn't see him for many meals during the year, and that was why I had us finish the Chronicles of Narnia series while he could be with us as I knew he really enjoyed those books.
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