Thankful Thursday

1. We had wonderful time at Landis Valley Museum, the Maryland Science Center, and Port Discovery on Thursday and Friday. We also were grateful to have some time with my Dad playing games and that he joined us for our adventures in Baltimore. I am also thankful for the safe travels, and that the kids were well behaved in the van (mostly that means Oliver didn't cry much, which is a big improvement).

2. We love being able to check out books on cd from the library. The kids are really into the A to Z mystery series by Ron Roy right now.

3. Paul finished repairing the screen door. Yahoo! It looks much better than it did for the past 8+ years. He also fixed a piece of wood trim that would fall off every time I swept the kitchen floor. Now there are just six more projects on the honey do list.

4. I enjoyed going for a 3.5 mile run on Sunday afternoon. I was thankful the weather was nicer than it was on Saturday since I am somewhat of a "fair weather" runner. We went from 80 degree weather to 40 degree weather within a very short amount of time. Brr! Now to figure out how to get exercise more than just once a week....

5. The leaves are so pretty this time of year! I especially enjoy them when we're driving around different places such as up to Camp Susque today.

6. Ian has started helping Oliver get dressed in the morning. Oliver can dress himself, but he can't open his dresser drawers and doesn't do as good a job of picking out outfits as Ian does. I love seeing Ian start to blossom in his role as a big brother. Way to go, Ian!

7. The soccer practices were cancelled this evening. I had been wrestling with whether or not to take the kids to a Trunk or Treat event at McCann this evening (which includes free pizza, face painting, etc.) and the Weis grocery store near there is also giving out goodies today, but the weather made my decision easy as the practices were cancelled! We are going to be inundated with candy as the kids are going to one Trunk or Treat event each day for four days and then Trick or Treating on Monday night. Five days of wearing costumes! Today Oliver is going as Bob the tomato, Nadia as a girl from Colonial times, and Ian as a character from Star Wars (bounty hunter).

8. Oliver's coach bought pizza, chips, and drinks for the team on Tuesday. What a generous person! The parents played the kids in a game of soccer. That was my time playing soccer in almost 30 years. Nadia joined in as she doesn't have soccer on Tuesday nights. I stole the ball from her a couple of times, ha ha, but I didn't score any goals. Nadia scored one!

9. We went to the Dig into Archaeology event yesterday for homeschoolers at the Children's Museum. They had some neat activities, although now what I am supposed to do with the three Egyptian burial tombs my kids created? We hadn't been to the museum in about 7 weeks so they were happy to be there and didn't want to leave after spending 2 hours, but I told them we'll be back soon (Nadia is scheduled to do a rat dissection there in a couple of weeks for one thing).

10. Today we focused on camouflage at Camp Susque. The kids did two crafts, played two games, felt many different animal pelts (including a very large python from Africa), etc. Another mom watched Oliver at her house, and I took her five year old (Micah) with us on the field trip. Nadia and Ian enjoyed playing a few games with Micah at our house before she came to bring Oliver back and pick up Micah. Thankfully they were able to do all the activities inside (with a nice warm fire) as it was raining and cold the whole time we were there. Nadia's chameleon craft turned out particularly well (it's been floating around on Facebook and Pinterest).

11. We are singing an incredibly gorgeous arrangement of "How Great Thou Art" on Sunday. I enjoyed rehearsing it last night.

12. The kids are going to have another cousin in March! Joe (who turns 50 next month) and Yvonne (who turns 42 in January) are expecting #8.