Thankful Tuesday

1. Last Tuesday we got red grapes at Aldi's for 99 cents a pound. I've gotten them even cheaper at that store in the past, but that was still a great price and four of us (all except Paul) enjoyed eating several pounds of grapes over the past week. Yum!

2. I'm SO thankful we're all healthy again. It is SUCH a relief to have energy again. It is rather challenging to cook, clean, take care of the kids, etc. with a fever and upset stomach.

3. Nadia and Ian finished their AWANA books on Wednesday. I am so grateful they can participate in this excellent program. The kids are looking forward to the Grand Prix (car races) tomorrow night. I'm also thankful that this week Nadia's softball games are on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday so it doesn't interfere with AWANA.

4. Although we skipped the program on Robots and programming and postponed our trip to Ephrata Cloister due to our illness, the kids were able to participate in homeschool gym class on Friday.

5. Nadia was able to play her first game of softball, and she got a hit and made it to third base! Ian had his first soccer game of the spring season. Oliver skipped his game due to not feeling well. Hopefully he'll have his first game of the spring season this Saturday. Paul's parents came up to see the two games on Saturday and also came to hear the kids sing in church on Sunday.

6. All three kids sang in the choir on Sunday, and Nadia had a small solo. Thankful for the three volunteers who make that possible!

7. Paul took the day off work on Saturday. It was great to have two days with him! This meant he was able to join us at the Mini Maker Faire in Bloomsburg and the Superhero Community Day at the Everhart Museum in Scranton and at dinner at Red Robin.

8. We finished reading The Golden Fleece. I personally am glad we are done with Greek mythology. This means we are taking a break from social studies for four months. We'll

start up with ancient Rome in the fall. I have read almost 300 chapter books to the kids thus far!

9. I missed one night of Bible study while we were in Chicago, and I missed a second night last week when I was not feeling well. I am thankful that I can go this evening.

10. My dad and Margie made it safely to Turkey yesterday.

11. The kids and I had a great time at Reptiland yesterday. It's only about 5 minutes from our house. The parakeets were a hit!

12. Today we spent two hours at the horse farm where Nadia and Ian attended horse camp last summer. They would like to do it again, but it costs $200 a person so it's not something we can afford to do every year. Previously Ian and Nadia had taken a few private lessons there. Oliver has never had lessons. Today I signed all three kids up for four lessons. That will be their horseback riding for 2017. At the Horse Education Day today the kids learned about brushing a horse,

cleaning out hooves, talked with a Veterinarian, listened to the horse's heartbeat and gut sounds, measured  a horse, and watched a farrier shoe a horse. Each of the kids were measured (height and weight) to compare with the horse they measured. With their shoes, clothes, and coats on, the kids weighed 40.5 pounds (Oliver), 50.0 pounds (Ian), and 70.0 pounds (Nadia). It cracked me up that all their weights ended in zero! They said Ian is 48 inches tall. I was hoping he was a little shy of that because it means his handstamp will cost more at Knoebels this year. All three kids are growing! We don't have any other field trips scheduled for this week, and that's fine with me too. Field trips are great, but days at home are nice also.

13. I am thankful for the 45 years of life the Lord has granted me thus far. I was sung to twice (my kids missed the boat on this one but my dad and Wendy's family serenaded me on the phone). I keep hoping my kids will be old enough to figure out it would be nice to make Mommy a birthday card for her birthday, but that hasn't

happened yet so I didn't get anything from them. My birthday was a non-event with my kids as they didn't even wish me a happy birthday, but Paul called me and wished me a happy birthday. The kids enjoyed eating donuts and drinking chocolate milk on my birthday. I love the new kitchen faucet and soap dispenser that Paul installed for my birthday. Wendy gave me an adapter for the van so I can charge the iPad on long road trips, and Paul's parents and my Aunt Tina both gave me money. I haven't decided for sure, but at the moment I am leaning toward getting new carpet for the master bedroom with my birthday money. I am thankful for these gifts and also the cards and emails I got from family and friends who remembered my birthday. I purposefully deactivate my FB account for a few days as I only wanted to receive greetings from people who actually knew it was my birthday rather than tons of people who only knew because FB reminded them. I didn't do anything special on my birthday, but this Friday is my spiritual birthday and I have plans to go out to dinner and to a Matthew West concert at our church with another homeschooling mom. YAY!