Solved the crime and bought a car

This week the kids only went to the babysitter twice. Monday and Wednesday we were able to stay at home aside from Nadia going to her last gymnastics class on Monday night with Paul and the kids going to AWANA while I was at choir on Wednesday night. I was glad we had those two days to stay at home in light of having a busy weekend.

This morning the kids and I were out the door around 8:15 to head to Saturday Science. They hold seven of those each semester (fall/spring), and today was the last one. It was my first time attending as Paul had taken them the last two times. Today's program was very creative. They had written a story about a "crime" (a student stealing tests out of the professor's mailbox), and we had to go through different stations to analyze handwriting, measure the footprints, analyze fingerprints, do a fiber analysis with an electron microscope, etc. There were eight suspects, and Nadia and I correctly figured out who was guilty! The program took three hours. I took photos today, and then I went on their Facebook page

(through Paul's FB account) and downloaded some photos they had posted of our kids the last two weeks.

On Thursday when  I was meeting with a student teacher in the same town as Susquehanna University, I noticed that at the mall they were having "Superhero Saturday." I looked up information online and decided to have the children bring costumes so we could stop in the mall after the science program. If they were in costume, they would each get a free kid's meal at Garfield's (a sit down restaurant). My lunch cost about $7.50 and all three of their meals were free! We stopped at the library and then finally arrived back at home sweet home. I was going to mow the lawn, but Paul had accidently taken the shed keys with him to work. He got home a few hours after we did because in addition to going to work, he drove down to a Honda dealer in Reading to buy a car. Throughout our marriage we've always owned either Hondas or Toyotas. In fact every car I've owned for the past 30 years has been a Toyota. We did buy a Honda Civic once during our marriage; it was Paul's car until we bought the van in 2012. The Prius then became his car after Oliver was born because three car seats didn't fit in the back of a

Prius. We were planning to trade Paul's car in for something newer in about six months. His car had 166K miles on it. But it failed the inspection on Tuesday, and to pass the inspection (his sticker expired the end of May), we would have had to spend $500 to repair the muffler. We didn't think it was wise to invest $500 more into a car if we were planning to trade it in within a few months, especially as we knew we weren't likely to get much for it because Paul had hit two dead deer with it over the past couple of years. The first time the damage was more significant and we had it repaired, but the second time he just removed the broken front grill. So the car always has a check engine light on (and burns through oil faster than it used to/should), has a hole in the muffler, and is missing the front grill. So I said we should probably try to replace it next month. Paul started doing research on cars and decided to get a Mazda, and he went and bought one today! He would have bought one yesterday except he forgot to bring the title with him to work, and I had a Family Math Night to attend last night that my students were putting on in an elementary school. It's a 2016 and has only 17,000 miles on it. Hopefully we will get many years out of it! It's a bit bigger than the Prius so hopefully the three kids can ride it in more comfortably when needed. Nadia is very disappointed that it is grey - just like our minivan. She doesn't understand that color is not the most important factor to us. So we have two grey vehicles even though Nadia and I are not keen on the color. Oh well. As long as the car is safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and gets decent gas mileage, I am okay with it. Hopefully whenever we replace the van (hopefully not for a few more years), we can get a vehicle that is a color Nadia and I like.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Last week I received an email stating I had won two free tickets to the amusement park of our choosing. There were a variety of parks listed. There were several on the list that I'd like to take the kids to *someday,* but we picked the one closest to us on the list - Dorney Park. Looking online it seems if we buy a ticket that is valid in May or June, that is the cheapest way to go as far as buying three more tickets so that all five of us can go. I found a coupon that would make it $30 per ticket during those two months. I figure it's better to go then anyhow as the crowds are typically worse in July and August. The last time Paul and I were at Dorney Park was about 20 or 21 years ago (when we were dating). I'm glad we had decided to skip Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland this summer. If I had known about these I probably would have also skipped Sesame Place, but we already bought those tickets. I think we'll end up going to 5 amusement parks in PA/NJ this summer (4 for Nadia as she won't be joining us at DelGrosso's due to Camp Susque) plus 4 in CA (if you

count Sea World as an amusement park). We won these free tickets by entering some Coke caps into a sweepstakes. I usually steer away from the sweepstakes, but they had a special last month that if you entered a certain number of Coke caps in the month you'd get a $5 Amazon gift card. I entered some for a free drink at a movie theater, and then I entered 10 more for the amusement park sweepstakes just so I would have entered enough to get the Amazon gift certificate. Maybe I should enter sweepstakes on Coke's site more often?

2. The pastor has started a sermon series on the book of Acts. I'm thrilled because I prefer an exegetical approach to a topical one, and the book is not super short so it should last awhile. The Sunday after Easter he did the ascension, and then the week after that moved into Acts 2. This past Sunday we finished Acts 2 and did part of Acts 3. I'm looking forward to the series! The kids and I have almost finished reading the New Testament. We are on 1 Thessalonians, and all we have

left after that are four more epistles.

3. All five of us had a great time at Fort Ligonier's homeschool day on Wednesday. None of us had ever been there before. I imagine it won't be our last time visiting there!

4. Last Wednesday Ian finished his extra credit book in AWANA, and Nadia finished her second T&T book. She only did the "Bronze" level both years. I told her next year I expect her to at least finish the silver level as that only requires her to do additional Bible study (answering more questions). The gold level would require a lot more memorization. I doubt she'll attempt that. Both Ian and Nadia will be in T&T next year.

5. Paul took the kids to Saturday Science at Susquehanna University on Saturday. It was about germs, viruses, etc. Then he took the kids to the annual Maker Day event at the Children's Museum. The kids really enjoyed both programs!

6. Because Paul took the kids those places on Saturday, I was

able to #1 attend a ladies breakfast and Bible study and #2 I was able to do some grading in any empty (quiet) house. A lady in the choir started hosting a monthly breakfast plus Bible study at her house for altos. I wasn't able to go last month, but I went on April 21, which happened to be my birthday plus the hostesses birthday. It was a lovely way to start my birthday. She made two delicious quiches plus waffles and fruit salad. There were only five of  us who made it this time (there are more than 10 altos in the choir), but considering I almost never get the opportunity to interact with other women (aside from quick greetings at church), it felt heavenly to me. I am going to try to go to this as many months as possible, but I'm guessing I'll be doing well if I make it there every other month. I contemplated stopping at Panera on the way home to pick up a strawberry salad (one of my most favorite meals) as a birthday treat, but I was too full from the breakfast so I ended up skipping lunch that day. I made tuna noodle for our dinner that night.

7. On Sunday night I took Nadia and Ian to a concert at our church - featuring Micah Tyler and Jeremy Camp. I'm not sure how long it went, but we left at 9pm as the kids were both very tired. Uncle Al and Aunt Millie got there before we did, so we joined them in line. Ian sat on their laps for most of the concert. I was very glad that I was feeling well enough to go as I had missed the three other concerts the kids attended thus far this year (Steven Curtis Chapman, Respasz Band, and Plum).

8. Paul's parents came up and went to our church on Sunday. Then they took us all out to eat at Bonanza (one of the kids' favorite places to go) before coming over to spend some time at our house. The kids always LOVE to spend time with their Grandparents! We appreciated seeing them and also the meal at Bonanza.

9. It seems this time I will be offered a full-time one year contract instead of two separate one semester contracts. At the moment my schedule is to be to teach two sections of the math

methods course I am currently teaching plus ten student teachers (I have fifteen right now as I'm on overload). I might be able to trade 5 or all 10 student teachers for 1 or 2 other courses on campus if the three professors who are supposedly retiring actually do so (and no one else claims all of their courses as overload). I'm very thankful that things will happen in a far more timely manner this time around (as I signed my contract the first week of the semester the past two semesters), which means I won't be scrambling at the last minute for a parking permit, access to the learning management system, etc. It also will be very nice to teach the same course three semesters in a row as I taught different courses this past fall vs. spring. This math methods course is one of my favorites to teach.

10. When something is broken (such as Nadia's doll cradle which has been broken for years), I put it on Paul's "honey do list" and then try to put it out of sight as it's frustrating for me to keep looking at something and waiting months or years for

it to be fixed. However in some instances it's impossible to put the thing out of sight - such as our bathroom floor which I've been waiting 23 months for Paul to fix or the deck which he partially removed last August. Yesterday I found a way to "hide" the kids' red battery operated car that has been broken for a year. It's been in our garage, and it's tricky to fit all the bikes plus our two vehicles in there plus the kids' car. I wish I had thought of this a year ago, but yesterday I moved the kids' red car to the shed. It makes it harder to get the lawn

mower in and out of the shed, but now the car is out of sight for which I am thankful! I prefer to have fewer reminders of the things on Paul's to do list given how long they generally stay on that list.

11. Today Paul is taking the kids to see Huck and Tom in Wilkes Barre. I had planned to take them, but then I needed to visit student teachers this morning. I thought they'd just skip the field trip and spend the day at the babysitter's, but Paul said he'd take them. After many reminders from me, he finally made an appointment (also taking place today) for his car. The inspection had to be completed by the end of May, and it had been 17,000 miles since he had taken his car in for an oil change or tire rotation. I used to take it every 5,000 miles, but a few years ago I stopped taking responsibility for his car. I take the van in every 5,000 miles, but I have left the Prius as his responsibility. The Prius has over 166K miles on it so we are assuming we'll be trading it in for another vehicle before the end of 2018. We've had it for nine years. The van is

getting close to 100K miles, but we're hoping to get a few more years out of the van. The first step will be to decide what make and model we're going to get when we trade in the Prius.

12. Since I'm not on Facebook any more, I don't get deluged with birthday greetings, but it was nice to receive seven calls (two aunts, two sisters, my dad, a lady from church, and my mother-in-law). Four of those people called while I was at the Bible study so they left messages and I didn't talk to them directly, but I did talk to my Dad, the Benners, and Paul's mom. The Benners and my dad/ Margie sang the birthday song to me which I appreciated as Paul and the kids forgot to do that. The kids had made me cards at the babysitter's house. Ian put on a show (with the guinea pigs) that was a reenactment of the Three Little Pigs on Friday that he said was my birthday present, and Nadia wrote me a story that was my birthday present from her. I also received birthday texts from three friends and Paul's brother. I'm thankful for each person who reached out to recognize

my birthday in one way or another! Birthdays are still a bit bittersweet for me in light of my mom's passing, but it definitely was easier this year than last year. My mom really made our birthdays special. I hope to make my children's birthdays special every year as long as I'm alive, just as she did.

13. Last week it snowed on Tuesday and Thursday. It felt like winter was never going to end, but we have had spring weather the past few days! Yesterday I splurged (time wise) by taking the kids to the playground. I certainly could have stayed home and gotten more schoolwork done, but I felt the need to get some fresh air and exercise. I am very out of shape right now. Hopefully in the very near future I'll start getting exercise on a far more regular basis. That's one of my goals for this summer - exercise a lot more and lose some weight! Nadia has helped me a little with getting leaves out of the flowerbeds. Before I know it I'm going to need to start mowing. I don't mind mowing if I have the time as that's another way to get exercise!

14. The dentist and orthodontist both told me Nadia didn't have a permanent tooth to replace the baby tooth that she recently pulled out. I think they were wrong as it looks to me like a tooth is coming down through the gum in that spot!

15. Two weeks from today (May 8) will be my last day to observe student teachers, and May 3 will be my last day teaching on campus. Summer vacation will be here before we know it!!! I have a lot of work to get done between now and then, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Fort Ligonier

I love the "If you give a mouse a cookie" book series, and although those books are humorous, there is definitely some truth to the fact that one thing often leads to another. I was thinking of this on Wednesday when the five of us were at Fort Ligonier. We drove by the fort last summer when we were visiting Idlewild (amusement park). I thought it looked like a place we should visit sometime, and so I got on their mailing list to be informed of special events. I contemplated two different homeschool days that both took place on April 18 - one at Valley Forge battlefield and the other at Fort Ligonier. I let Paul pick, and he chose the fort in part because it was mentioned when we were at the Conrad Weiser homestead in March. While we were at the fort on Wednesday, I learned about Fort Frederick in Maryland, which was a fort used in three different wars (French and Indian, Revolutionary, and Civil). I went on their website and have printed out a registration form to sign Nadia and Ian up for a 5 hour program on June 16. We had already planned to be in Maryland June 13-15, so I've just decided to delay our departure home by one day and come home on June 16 after this program. It says "they will experience the life of a soldier stationed at Fort Frederick during the French and Indian War. Activities will include enlisting, a military drill, a soldier’s meal and more." It's for children ages 8-12 so Oliver isn't old enough to participate. Now we shall see if our trip there leads me to learn of other places to visit!

We had a three hour drive to Fort Ligonier. That's about my limit as far as how far I will travel if we are coming back on the same day. In fact, I greatly prefer to spend at least one night if we're traveling that far. The drive felt familiar to me as much of the route was the same as what I took every weekend when I was working on my doctorate at IUP. The kids each ate a bagel in the van for their breakfast, and we ate our packed lunches at the fort. We stopped at a drive-thru at Wendy's for dinner on our way home. Evidently they have two Home School Day events each year (fall/spring) and each one has a theme. One they had recently was all about George Washington. The one this week was focused on Native Americans. They had seven different activity stations that lasted 30 minutes each, and if you ate your lunch quickly, you could do six of the seven stations.

We started at "Meet the Cherokee Peace Chief." A man was dressed up as Attakullakulla who met King George II in London and led the largest tribe in North America for decades. He was at Fort Ligonier in 1758. Next we visited "Native Americans at Play" which was one of the favorites for our kids as they got to play some games outside. Our third session was about food and tools. The kids helped grind corn into corn meal, and we also had a little tour of the hospital ward. Next we had a guided tour of the museum, which was Paul's favorite part. Later in the day we went back and explored the museum some more. Paul was impressed that the collection included two of George Washington's pistols. The kids favorite part of the museum were the costumes they could try on. Our fifth session was a craft - the kids each made a necklace. Our last session was a reader's theater. That was one of Ian's favorite parts of the day. He did a great job of using different voices as he took on multiple roles. The reading focused on what happened to those taken as captives by the Native Americans. I'm thinking that at some point Ian might be involved in some theater camps or productions like Nadia! Paul was impressed by the fort and museum. He said when he was a child he would have really loved learning about the history of a place like that. None of our kids are (thus far) as interested in history as he was a child. We shall see if any of them develop that passion at some point. Thus far none of them share his desire to read all the displays in a museum.

We got home about 30 minutes before it was time to leave for AWANA. Paul used the time to finish putting the wheels on their cars. I checked my email and responded to some from student teachers. The kids' choir at church had added four Wednesday night rehearsals just for those with speaking parts. I told the director it conflicted with AWANA and they'd only be able to come to one of the four rehearsals, but then on Wednesday night I took the kids to AWANA and asked if someone could listen to Ian and Nadia say their verses so I could take them to church for the rehearsal. That is what happened. Ian and Oliver's cars were the correct weight. Nadia's was a tiny bit too heavy. Ian finished his extra credit book (woohoo!) and Nadia finished her book (yay!). Oliver stayed at AWANA for the duration, but I took Nadia and Ian with me to church. I was very late for my choir rehearsal, but it seemed like a good compromise.

Almost everything in the summer schedule is focused on the kids. I decided today to add in a few ballroom dancing dates with Paul. When I went back to work I thought this was one of the advantages was that we could afford to pay a babysitter and go on a date, but then due to lack of time and/or energy, it hasn't happened except for our trip to Lancaster to see Amazing Grace on March 4. I am not working this summer so I shouldn't lack the time or energy. My goal is that we will start going out on a date once a month. I figure it's better to aim high so that maybe we'll at least end up going out six times a year. I know of at least five places that are each 20-25 minutes from our house that hold a ballroom dancing event once a month. I put five dances in our calendar between May 10 through September 1, which if we do all of those would mean we would have tried four of the five places. I figure we can try them to figure out which ones we like the best. Some of them are at restaurants so we could also have dinner together those nights. Considering we met at a ballroom dancing lesson 21 years ago, it seems that we should still do that every now and then. I certainly could use the exercise!

Thankful Tuesday

1. It was snowing today (on April 17!), but we did enjoy gorgeous weather (up to the low 80's) on Friday and Saturday. The grass has turned green, some flowers have bloomed, and some trees have budded. Spring is coming even if it still feels like winter! Chen (a Chinese student in one of my classes) told me that in China she was used to experiencing four seasons, and in Bloomsburg she feels like we only have two seasons (summer and winter).

2. We really enjoyed reading the Bark of the Bog Owl. We give it two thumbs up! The story is similar to that of David (in the Bible). It's the first book in the Wilderking trilogy. I picked up the third book today (by interlibrary loan) at the university today; I had requested books two and three last week. We can't wait until the second books arrives! Since we enjoyed the movie Wonder we've started listening to the book on CD. Nadia isn't usually a fan of long drives, and our trip to Fort Ligonier will take three hours (each way) tomorrow, but she's actually looking forward to the drive as she wants to keep listening to the book.

3. The kids enjoyed the Saturday Science program on simple machines at Susquehanna University, and we all enjoyed the Wizard of Oz performance on Sunday afternoon.

4. After a several week break, the homeschool gym class resumed on Friday, and it was nice enough for them to go outside.

5. The kids and I took the van to Walmart for an oil change and two new tires yesterday. We shopped a little and then walked to the Perkins across from Walmart for dinner. I had a coupon for a free dinner. If I had my total choice, I would have picked one of the seasonal (fresh strawberry) menu items, but the reason we went was I had a coupon for a free meal (one particular entrée). We hadn't been to Perkins in one year so the kids were very happy that we went.

6. Ian is enjoying reading A Bear Called Paddington right now after finishing all 21 books in the Imaginations Station series.

7. I enjoy teaching the 1st/2nd grade girl's Sunday School class once a month. I'll be teaching more regularly in the summer. We all enjoyed the monthly lunch for the children's workers on Sunday.

8. Paul isn't home yet (and it's 8pm), but it's because he's finishing the cars for AWANA as far as getting the wheels on and making sure they are the proper weights. I think this will be the first year we had our cars done on time (they are due tomorrow night). I'm not a fan of waiting until the last minute, but I'm thankful we made the deadline this year! We have a piano, pencil, and Batmobile this year.

9. There are exactly 3 weeks left of school in terms of the days I'll be driving to a school district or the university. The kids just have 9 more trips to the babysitter's house. The end is in sight! I am less overwhelmed at the moment as I have been getting a bit farther ahead with the student teaching evaluations than I did in the first half of the semester.

Follow the yellow brick road!

Last week on Wednesday I opted to skip the Homeschool Hangout at the Children's Museum. We definitely attended those more faithfully last year when I wasn't working outside the home, but the kids participated in some "field trips" this past weekend. Last year our homeschool group held their first one day homeschool conference at Susquehanna University. I didn't attend last year because it conflicted with soccer and softball games. Although I'm driving to a soccer field two times a week right now as that's where I pick up my kids around 5:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays as our babysitter and her husband are coaching their boys' soccer teams from 5-6 those days, my kids aren't playing on any team right now. The last spring we were not participating in team sport was 2012. I am enjoying the break, and the kids haven't said one word about missing playing on a soccer or softball team. Not having games on Saturday meant I could attend the homeschool conference and Paul could take the kids to a Science Saturday program. I've been intending to take them to

one of those for a long time, but this past Saturday was our first of actually making it. In the past we've either had a schedule conflict (usually a game of some sort - basketball, soccer, flag football, etc.) OR I've just been too tired and didn't want to drive down there (it's almost 40 minutes from our house). We both drove to the same university this Saturday. I participated in the homeschool conference that ran from 9-3, and Paul took the kids to the science program on simple machines that lasted from 9-noon. Nadia asked me today if they could go to the science program the next two weeks so it seems she enjoyed it! I think they hold the program about 12-15 times a year. I'm glad I attended the homeschool conference as I connected with some fellow homeschooling moms that I hadn't seen in many months, but to be honest, I might not attend in the future. It was free (including lunch!) and well organized, but I just don't seem to have a felt need to attend homeschool conferences. I attended two big ones a few years ago. I spoke (for 10-15 minutes) on reading chapter

books aloud and also shared a handout I created on free and discounted field trips. After the science program, Paul took the kids to Home Depot (to buy one thing for a broken door), to the new children's museum to play, to a playground to play outside for an hour since it was another gorgeous day, to the library, and to Walmart to buy a headlight for his car. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got home a little after they did. After dinner, Nadia, Ian, and Paul watched The Last Jedi for the first time. Oliver and I hung out elsewhere in the house. I let Oliver watch Bible Man on the iPad, and I started the process of the clothing transition in the boys' rooms since it had been in the 80's for two days.

On Sunday we went back to winter weather, and it's still cold and rainy today. The kids and I attempted to leave the house by 8:00 for church, and Paul followed behind about 90 minutes later. The kids' choir sang in both services. I taught the 1st/2nd grade girl's class in the first service and attended the worship service with Paul in the second service. We all attended the monthly dinner for the Kidzway volunteers. We came home for a few minutes, and then drove to Williamsport. On our way there we stopped at a consignment shop. I was hoping to find boots for Nadia. I struck out with that, but I did buy her a pair of jeans. I had splurged and bought the five of us tickets to see the Wizard of Oz. We were sitting up in the balcony. Let me say it was really a case of "you pay for what you get." We could easily see and hear the show, but the rows were so close together that if you were more than 5 feet tall it was almost impossible to sit in the seats. Paul moved elsewhere to a seat that was empty. I'll have to keep that in mind if I buy tickets for that venue again. The 2.5 hour show was very well done. It was a traveling show. The kids loved that Toto was played by a real dog. On our way home we went through the drive-thru at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast sandwiches (for our dinner), and then Paul and I helped the kids paint their cars for the AWANA Grand Prix coming up in the near future. The cars are supposed to be weighed this Wednesday night.

Since I didn't get any pictures on Easter, I took some yesterday. It was a very rushed affair, but something is better than nothing, right? Oliver still loves wearing a dress shirt and tie, but this is the first year Ian hasn't been crazy about it. Ian prefers to wear a polo shirt or a sweater. I don't ask him to wear a tie too often, but I will say I do think my boys look super handsome when they are all dressed up for church! I also have to say I am *really* hoping Oliver's scar goes away completely or at least fades a lot more at some point. I find myself wanting to edit out the scar in photographs, but I haven't been doing so. We are trying to be very diligent about putting sunscreen on his scar. Below you will find three videos. The first is from the second service in church yesterday. The other two are super short videos from swimming lessons this evening. Oliver didn't do as well tonight as last week. He was more fearful. I should have brought the video camera last week, but still he made a lot of progress in four weeks as prior to this he never swam in 4-5 feet of water on his own. Tonight was their last swimming lesson at Bucknell, and next Monday is Nadia's last gymnastics class for a few months. They will still have their weekly 90 minute gym class until May 25. Ian's swim teacher worked with him on his backstroke, freestyle (including breathing to the side), and he also did some diving for the first time ever.

A day in our life

I think it's nice every once in a while to record what our days our like as it might be interesting to look back at this later on down the road. I can't really say that today is a "normal" day because our schedule is rather varied. I usually homeschool the kids on Mondays and Wednesdays as I don't often go out and observe student teachers on those days because of the babysitter's other obligations. Usually the kids are at her house for about nine hours on average each day on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They are at her house for at least 4.5 hours those days at the very minimum. Most Fridays I visit at least a few student teachers. Here's what we were up to today...

Ian came into my bedroom at 6:30am. If he comes in sometime between 6:45-7:00 then I usually go downstairs with him, but if he comes in earlier than that, I have him climb into bed on Paul's side. I enjoy snuggling with him, and he often goes back to sleep. This morning he fell back asleep. I woke him up a little after 7:00 because my arm was under his

head and I needed to use the bathroom. Nadia and Oliver usually sleep longer than Ian does. When I get them up depends on how soon we need to leave the house that particular day. I checked my email and then did a little math with Ian before calling Nadia and Oliver down to breakfast. I had oatmeal and a banana. The kids all had frosted flakes cereal. Oliver eats his dry with his fingers, and he drinks a glass of milk with it. I read  The Bark of the Bog Owl to them during breakfast. After breakfast I did some math with Nadia before I got my shower and got dressed. The kids also got dressed, fed the guinea pigs, and packed their lunches. I checked Nadia's math, packed my lunch, and packed the bag to take to the babysitter which contained three lunch boxes, piano books, and chapter books for Nadia and Ian to read. Because they have art and gym on Fridays, we do some subjects (such as spelling and science) in four days each week.

We left the house around 8:45. I dropped Nadia and Ian off at the entrance to the Christian school, and while they were in art class,

Oliver played in the indoor play land. I had brought my laptop, and I wrote a letter of recommendation for a student teacher while he played. At 10:00 I paid $60 for all three kids to be in the gym class for the next session. Nadia gave the bag to the babysitter, and I left to go visit two student teachers. On the way to the first student teacher, I made a super quick trip into Aldi's grocery store. I only had time to buy a few things (mostly produce). Then I observed a student teacher for 45 minutes. On my drive to the second school, I made two quick stops. I should add that the vast majority of the time I don't do any shopping when I am out observing student teachers, but I had one hour in between the two visits and it doesn't take a full hour to drive between those two schools. I ran into a large thrift store to see if I could buy some rain boots or snow boots for Nadia as the ones she had are way too small for her growing feet. No dice. So I ran over to the women's shoes and got myself a pair of black flats for $3.99. My one other stop was super quick into a store that only sells bread. I bought 3 packages

of bagels and 3 loaves of bread for $8 total. After my second observation, I got some gasoline or I would have run out of gas on the way home. Last month we spent over $500 on gas. Paul and I drive a lot!

I picked the kids up from the babysitter at 1:30 and drove home. It was really warm out today (went from highs in the 30's earlier in the week to a high in the low 80's today!), and I was wearing dressy clothes so I wanted to change into something more casual and put away the groceries I had purchased earlier. Because it was SO nice out (low humidity, sunny, and warm), I decided to take the kids to the playground for the third time in 2018 (not counting the Easter egg hunts). If I had more time, I would have liked to walk to the playground as I haven't been getting any exercise lately, but we drove to a playground near the grocery store (not the one we typically walk to). I brought my camera and took pictures for the first time this month. We were gone for about one hour when I decided it was time to come home so I could start making

dinner. The kids played outside in our yard some and watched a bit of their current favorite show (Odd Squad) via Amazon Prime while I was making dinner and sweeping the kitchen floor. I read some more of our current chapter book during dinner. I had checked the book out through ILL at Bloomsburg University's library on Tuesday afternoon, and we're already more than half-way through the 200+ page book. I'm hoping to be able to read the trilogy to them before the semester is over if I can get the other two books via ILL in the near future. After reading some of the book, we listened to Philippians chapter four. After dinner the kids played outside with some children in the neighborhood while I cleaned up the dishes. I also helped Nadia clean out the guinea pig cage (one of my least favorite activities). I scanned and emailed a letter of recommendation, changed the toner on the printer, started a load of laundry, and completed two evaluations for the PA department of Education for two of my student teachers while the kids were playing outside. Ian came in first, and so when Paul

came home at 7:00pm Oliver and Nadia were outside playing while I was giving Ian a haircut. After Ian's shower was done, he played the Wii with Paul for about 15 minutes.

After family devotions and prayer, we put Oliver to bed, Ian played a game of Battleship with Paul while Nadia took a bath, and then after Ian went to bed I played two games of Mancala with Nadia. I haven't played many games with the kids lately, but I am trying to fit things like that back into my schedule if at all humanely possible. I've really missed spending time with them (aside from homeschooling). On days when I work for 9+ hours for the university, I usually crawl into bed sometime between 8:00-8:30pm. Last night I went to bed at 8:30, but tonight I'm not going to bed that early, which meant I had time to write this post and edit some of the pictures I took at the playground today. Now it's almost 10pm. I'm going to play Boggle on the iPad for 6 minutes, move the clothes from the washer to the dryer, and head to bed. Paul is eating dinner and watching a documentary on TV right now. The kids are only scheduled to go to the babysitter ten more times this semester. The end is in sight!

Thankful Thursday

1. I'm so thankful for the death and resurrection of Jesus! On Easter this year we went to church and then to Paul's parents house where ten of us enjoyed a yummy meal together. We drove in two cars because Paul decided to spend the night at his parent's house so he would have a very short drive to work the next morning. In light of the several inches of snow that fell during the night, it was a wise choice!

2. The swimming lessons have been going well. Three down and one to go. The best news is that on April 9, for the first time in his life, Oliver was swimming (without a noodle or anything) in four feet deep water! Woohoo!

3. Nadia received compliments from her coaches at gymnastics on Monday night for her headstand. She can hold hers longer than the other kids in her class.

4. Even though the fourth graders were on a field trip, the art teacher still held art class for the three homeschoolers (Nadia, Ian, and another girl) who

showed up for class on Friday.

5. Nadia got a haircut last Friday. I thin her hair looks cute a little shorter (shoulder length). The boys and I did some grocery shopping while she got her haircut. The salon is very close to the grocery store. They had some great sales last weekend including grapes for 99 cents a pound. I bought a lot of grapes as Nadia, Oliver, and I all enjoy eating grapes.

6. The kids and I opted to stay home on Saturday. We had planned to do a workshop (for kids) at Home Depot and then an art class at the Children's Museum, but Oliver was the only one who still wanted to keep those plans. Ian was on the fence, and Nadia and I wanted to stay home.

7. The kids and I enjoyed a Bible study and social at Pastor Ken's house on Sunday night. Oliver enjoyed playing with one of Pastor Ken's granddaughters who is almost three-years-old. He also loved the fact that someone brought his favorite food of all - watermelon!

8. Last night Paul took Nadia and Ian to a free concert in Williamsport put on by the Repasz Band. They are the oldest continuous band in the US (since 1831). The group performed at various historical events over the years such as the surrender during the Civil War, Teddy Roosevelt and Taft's inaugurations, etc. I would have taken the kids, but I was too tired given I had worked for the university for 10 hours yesterday. I was asleep before they got home even though they left before the concert was over, given it didn't start until 7:30pm.

9. The kids love watching Odd Squad (a PBS show they watch via Amazon Prime). Certain seasons weren't available via Prime, so we signed up for a free 7 day trial (which will cost 4.99 month if we keep it) so they can watch more episodes. The show teaches a lot of math so I like the fact it's their favorite show at the moment! Once in math recently when I started to teach Nadia something, she said - I already know how to do this because they taught us on Odd Squad. Yahoo!

10. Maurice made a quick trip to Philly this week (from Austin) and decided to accept Penn's offer. My brother will be living in the same state as me for most likely at least the next five years!!!

11. Including today, there are only 12 days left this semester when the kids will be at the babysitter! I usually do some schoolwork every single day, but the other days I do it at home while the kids are with me. They prefer doing their schoolwork with me, so lately we've been doing two (and sometimes three) math and

spelling lessons in one day so that they can skip it the days they are with the babysitter. The end is in sight for their school year as well! We should finish the science textbook next week, and we should finish reading the New Testament, their spelling textbooks, and Nadia's 4th grade math textbook by May 10. Ian will be more than half-way through the 3rd grade math textbook by May 10. As for social studies, I could wrap that up at any time. Lately we've been studying Shakespeare and Michelangelo.  Proof as to how busy I have been, I

haven't taken a single picture yet this month. I will have to make up for lost time this summer!

12. It had been months since anything had been crossed off the "honey-do" list, but this past weekend Paul pruned our one remaining apple tree. Hopefully the number of apples will be more manageable the next few years. We had never done a big pruning on the tree, and we've lived here almost 10 years. Paul also did the majority of the work for filing our federal taxes. I did our taxes the last 16 years all

by myself, but considering how overwhelmed I've been lately with the length of my to do list, I asked Paul to do the taxes this year. He hasn't done the state or local taxes yet, but he has a few more days to get those done. I appreciate his help! I had to help him some since he hadn't filled out a tax form since 2001 and since I had a lot of the information he needed, but he did most of the work. We owed money, but that was only the case because I went back to work, which means it's actually a good thing (not that we love paying taxes).

13. Oliver has really been into giving compliments lately. Sometimes they seem really random, but it's still very sweet. Yesterday when we went into a restaurant to pick up our large pizza (take out), he told the server, "I like your shirt." She really appreciated it, and I heard her commenting to someone else as we walked out about how a little boy had told her he liked her shirt. Now if he could be more well behaved when he's at the babysitter's house....

14. This has felt like a never ending winter. It has snowed a few times this month. When I talked to my brother in late March, he said that it was Mom's fault. Her birthday was March 20, and she used to comment that she brought the first day of spring. Maurice said she wasn't here to bring us spring so we were still having winter, ha ha! I do miss her so much. I miss her emails. I doubt there will ever be another human being who will send me as many emails as my mother did (I mean personal emails not the spam ones from companies!). To be honest, it's just not the same even writing on this blog now that I know my mother won't be reading it. She used to send me emails in response to things I wrote on the blog or we'd talk about something I'd mentioned on the blog during our daily phone calls. The blog felt more like a two-way conversation with my mom. As far as the weather goes, spring weather is supposed to arrive today, and it's supposed to be really warm on Saturday and Sunday. It was less than 30 degrees when I drove to church on Sunday morning - in April!

Brrr! I hope we are done with snow for many months. I am very ready for spring and summer weather!

15. In late 1999 I bought a bi-annual one that technically takes place one week in the even years, but any year I can buy a getaway (extra week). I went on a vacation to Florida with my friend (Charlene) in 2000, and the used my first exchange for our honeymoon to St. Lucia in 2001. The last few years they have been giving me extra exchanges that are only good at certain locations (such as Orlando, Williamsburg, Poconos, etc.) during certain months year. Some years we've used the timeshare getaway or exchange program more than once in a year. In 2015 we actually booked two units for three weeks (6 total exchanges or getaway purchases) as we spent one week in Orlando, one at a beach in Florida, and one in Williamsburg. In 2016 we only used one week in Cape Cod. of the In 2017 we didn't use our timeshare at all, which was highly unusual. Some years other family members have used a getaway or an exchange, but that also didn't happen last year. Thus far this year I don't have anything booked through our time share, but I am expecting to use an extra exchange or a getaway in September in Williamsburg. Usually I deposit my week early and put in a request toward the end of each odd year (such as maybe November 2017). We have until February 2020 to actually use our 2018 week. Recently I spent some time trying to figure out some future vacation plans so that I can put in a request for 2019 using our 2018 week. During the first 17 years I owned this time share I didn't have to pay anything extra even if the unit I received through the exchange was bigger than the one I "own." My unit is an efficiency, but we usually get a two or three bedroom unit. This year they have implemented a policy that it costs $99 per upgrade - so to go from an efficiency to a three bedroom = 3 upgrades. This policy isn't true for the extra exchanges. The extra exchange fee is more than a regular exchange fee, but we don't pay anything extra if we have a three bedroom unit rather than an efficiency. I think the fee is fair considering I paid a lot less for my time share and my maintenance fee is smaller, but I'm still thankful for the 18 years I didn't have to pay anything extra to stay in a unit larger than the one I own. 

16. We could use our exchange for Williamsburg in September, but in light of these new fees and the fact that it's easy to get a week for Williamsburg through another route, I've decided to save the 2018 exchange for 2019. Our current plan is to spend a week on either Hilton Head or Myrtle Beach in early June 2019. Some of the vacations I'm envisioning for the future aren't really suited for a time share because they will be vacations where we are driving different places rather than just staying in one location for an entire week. We are staying in one place in San Diego, but the time share company doesn't have much available in that area, which is why we went with airbnb instead. Speaking of vacations, earlier this month I used the "Purchase eraser" (another form of credit card points) to subtract $616.61 from our credit card bill (two of our airline tickets plus part of a third), which means at this point we're only going to pay $771.39 total for 5 roundtrip tickets to California and back! Where there is a will, there is a way to make vacations affordable!

The timing of the vacations listed below is based on me continuing to teach. The dates will change if I go back to being a stay at home mom. I was basing this on me teaching on Tuesdays/Thursdays. The best times for vacations based on my university schedule are the following: mid May through near the end of August (my summer), Thanksgiving week in November (we get the whole week off), spring break which is a week off in March, and the break in between semesters (mid December to mid January). I'm not going to list plans for future day trips but just those that will likely involve at least one overnight. The ones in blue are places the children have never been before (and in some cases none of us have ever been before). I'm sure there will be additions, deletions, and revisions to the plan, but still it helps to have tentative plans. Nadia is almost ten years old so the years of her living in our house could easily be half-over. I want to make the most of the years we have with them!

1. San Diego area - Sea World, Disneyland, LEGOLAND, San Diego Zoo, USS Midway Museum, Maritime Museum, Aquatica, San Diego Safari Park, La Jolla Beaches, San Diego Natural History Museum, Fleet Science Center, and Cabrillo National Monument - May 27 - June 5, 2018
2. Baltimore/DC - Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Fort McHenry, Port Discovery, Museum of the Bible, and National Museum of the American Indian - June 14-15, 2018
   
3. Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, Fort Pitt Museum, Bushy Run Battlefield, Carnegie Science Center - August 4-5, 2018
   
4. Niagara Falls - Genesee Village, Rochester Museum and Science Center, Strong Museum of Play, Hornblower cruise, Journey behind the falls, white water walk, and Fort George, Buffalo Museum of Science, Old Fort Erie, and IMAX movie - August 18-21, 2018
   
5. Virginia- Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown - September 13-17, 2018 (time share)
6. Washington, DC - details TBD (somewhere in between November 16-26, 2018)
7. NYC - Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, Staten Island Children's Museum, Brooklyn Children's Museum, see a Broadway musical, Liberty Science Center (NJ), Tenement Museum, Central Park, 911 Memorial - March 2019
   
8. New York - Saratoga National Historic Park, SUNY Poly's Children Museum of Science and Technology, and the Museum of Innovation and Science  - May 26-27, 2019
   
9. South Carolina/Virginia - Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head, Fort Sumter, Luray Caverns, Montpelier, Monticello, Virginia Discovery Museum, USS North Carolina Battleship, Cape Fear Museum of History and Science (also stop in Lynchburg to visit my Dad and Margie) - June 2019 - time share for beach part of the trip
10. Michigan - Ann Arbor Hands-on Museum, Flint Children's Museum, Michigan Science Center, Sloan Longway, Imagination Station (Toledo, OH), Henry Ford Museum, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, Greenfield Village, Fort Mackinac, Colonial Michilimackinac, Soo Locks, National Museum of the US Air Force (Dayton, OH - free) - August 2019
    
11. Virginia - Antietam Battlefield, Manassas Battlefield, Petersburg Battlefield, Appomattox Court House, Natural Bridge State Park, Wright Brother's National Memorial, Port Discover, Science Museum of Virginia, and Nauticus and the Battleship Wisconsin (also stop in Lynchburg to visit my Dad and Margie) - November 2019
12. Philadelphia - Fireman's Hall Museum, Independence Seaport Museum, Battleship New Jersey, Franklin Institute, Independence Hall - March 2020
13. Mexico - November 2020 (use time share)