Thankful Thursday

1. Earlier this fall I saw that homeschoolers could request a free (hardback) copy of one of the Rush Revere history books. After we got the book I received an email that if we uploaded a picture of one of us reading the book, we'd receive a free plush horse. The horse is about a foot long so it's not a tiny stuffed animal, and we paid not one cent for the horse (or for shipping). Now that Nadia has read the book she is to submit a paragraph about the book online to be entered in a contest to possibly win prizes such as an iPad! Our kids like books and stuffed animals, and you can't  beat free!

2. We have crossed the half-way mark in this fall semester! Last week was the mid-point for the classes on campus, and today marks the end of the first half for the student teachers. This means I won't be spending as many hours a day grading over the next few weeks as I have done the past 3 weeks. The intensity will pick up again as we near the end of the semester, but for now I am looking forward to a temporary reprieve.

3. The kids and I had a great four day trip to MD/VA this past weekend. This is one perk of the fact that I teach on Tuesdays/Thursdays. We couldn't take a four day weekend if I taught on MWF. The highlight for the kids was spending time with their cousins. My favorite moment was when we were driving to church on Sunday morning. I had my three kids plus three of their cousins in our minivan. We were listening to the local Christian radio station, and when one particular song came on, all the kids started singing together. It was so beautiful. I felt like crying happy tears to hear them sharing that moment together. We also enjoyed a few field trips over the long weekend including Ephrata Cloister (we're all very thankful our pillows are much softer than a wooden block), the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, a corn maze (which thankfully I was able to skip as it sounds like torture not pleasure to me), and Mt. Vernon. The traffic wasn't very pleasant, but we made it there and back safely, and it makes me appreciate the fact that we rarely encounter traffic where we live. Neither Paul or I ever desire to live near a city where there is so much traffic.

4. The Steelers won on Sunday! I actually watched the game because it was at 1pm (not past my bedtime like some of the games this season). It was an important win, and I was able to see the game thanks to the fact Joe has access to all the NFL games on his computer (so he can watch them in Turkey).

5. Paul was able to take the kids on a field trip to Ricketts Glen State Park yesterday. I had hoped to take them on that trip since it was on a Wednesday, but I needed to meet with student teachers. Between our field trips and me working the last two Wednesdays, I have only done a regular school day with the kids once in the last two weeks. I miss my kids!!! Thankfully I should be able to teach them three days next week.

6. Oliver is reading!! I know I already listed this last week, but it's SO exciting. He's even attempting to read on his own. For example at breakfast I will see him looking at the cereal box and trying to sound out words he sees on the back of the box. To me learning to read is just as exciting as a child learning how to walk, how to crawl, how to talk, etc.