Thankful Tuesday

1. Nadia and Ian enjoyed playing glow in the dark dodgeball in gym class last Friday morning. I enjoyed talking with one of the mom's during most of the class. It's a rare treat for me to be able to have a face-to-face conversation with someone over the age of 8. I don't take it for granted!

2. Friday night the kids and I went to a pizza party that Ian's soccer coaches hosted at a local pizza place. The kids also enjoyed a cupcake at the end. I really enjoyed having a little Stromboli, which I enjoy but hadn't had in years. His coaches were really terrific. I am hoping Ian will be on their team again in the spring.

3. The kids and I enjoyed building and painting helicopters on Saturday at Home Depot.

4. I am thrilled that Nadia and Ian got to do a rat dissection on Saturday morning. Ian in particular really enjoyed the experience, and they all enjoyed playing in the Children's Museum.

5. My choir has moved away from assigning us one color to wear each Sunday to giving us a range of colors to choose from (this past Sunday they said "fall colors"). This means I don't have to struggle to figure out what to wear as sometimes in the past they've picked a color (ex. yellow) that I don't usually wear.

6. I know I've said it before, but I just LOVE the trees. Every time I drive somewhere, even just in our small town I am just awestruck at the beauty of the red, yellow, and orange leaves. Since it was supposed to be in the 60's today, I picked out the kids' clothes today (usually they pick them out themselves) as I wanted to try to get a picture with some pretty leaves in the background. As you can see from this post I succeeded with Nadia and Ian. Unfortunately Oliver is sick today so he wasn't up for a photo. He has a fever and threw up once thus far. I'm praying he'll be better soon and that no one else catches the bug.

7. I voted today. Although I know the candidate I supported for President has 0% chance of winning, I'm hoping that some of the other candidates I voted for do win. I am thankful that we have the freedom to vote. My kids have a very favorable impression about voting because every time we go they each get a cookie and a sticker. Oliver didn't eat his cookie since he isn't feeling well. I am also very thankful the election will probably be OVER by the time I wake up in the morning. I don't think it will be close like that time when we had the "hanging chads" and had to wait for the Supreme Court to rule before we knew he won. In our area the voter turnout seemed higher than usual, which again I think is a good thing. I think as many Americans as possible should do their civic duty and vote in each election. Considering I generally try to adopt the "head stuck in the sand" approach to political news, I am grateful the election will be over soon so I will be encountering less chatter about politics. In my opinion sometimes ignorance is bliss.

8. The kids got a good report at the dentist yesterday. All three of them had exams. I was told that Ian's molars are coming in and that Nadia's two lower canines are loose.

9.Yesterday afternoon we also stopped in at our previous dentist because he gives kids a $1 coin for every pound of candy they give him (which he passes on to a charity). I knew we had way too much candy in our house. I asked the kids to go through their bags and pick what they wanted to donate. Between the three of them we donated six pounds of candy, which meant they each got two $1 coins. They are so fancy looking (gold); it makes them seem like they are worth more than one dollar.

10. The bank was pleased with our home appraisal last week. I would have liked a number a little higher, but considering we're only borrowing 40% of what they say our house is worth, the bank was happy. We locked our interest rate in yesterday. It had gone from 2.65% to 2.875% during the application process, but that is still much better than the 5.875% we've been paying the past 8 years.