Three weeks

Today is January 21st which is my sister Yvonne's birthday, the day we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, my last day off (school resumes tomorrow), and the end of the first three weeks of 2019. I thought it would be good to look at the goals I wrote for the year.

House - I had ten goals related to the house. In December I put a lot of effort into the house so I haven't really done much the past three weeks. Of the ten goals the only one I've made any progress toward thus far is #4 - making additional payments on the retirement loan. The end is in sight!

Oliver - He's been doing much better with how long it takes to eat breakfast (#3), and he's making great progress in his ice skating skills (#8). He's making great progress with reading and spelling an a little bit of progress with math (#4-5). We've been working on the books of the OT (#6); I think he can say from Genesis to Proverbs at this point. We haven't had any big bathroom messes thus far this year (#10). I'm going to sign him up for Camp Susque (#13)

as soon as we know when we're going on vacation. Yesterday I added more resorts to our exchange request. We are up to 39! Hoping that's more than enough to get us a match in the near future. We're hoping to go to NC or SC in early June.

Ian - We've been doing 5 "sword drills" each school day. He's getting faster at finding the verses (#3); he beat Nadia for the first time today (albeit that included a handicap). He's started helping to clean the guinea pig cage once a week (#8), and he's working on Typing.com about four times a week on average. He's typing about 10wpm right now (#9). His sneakers that had Velcro had to be tossed recently, which means he really needs to remaster the skill of tying his shoes (#4).

Nadia - She recently learned how to make meatloaf (#2), has begun to mop the kitchen floor once a week (#4), and participated in a science fair for the first time (#3). She's making progress with her typing skills (#7); she's currently typing about 15wpm. One of her goals

(not one I listed) was to be picked for a lead role in the spring musical at church. She was thrilled to receive the part of the gym teacher. Ian also received a significant role, but that's not as exciting to him as it is to her.

Myself - I've exercised a few times, but there is still room for a lot of improvement with that. I bought some ice cream sandwiches so that I could still enjoy ice cream but have an easier time with portion control. Similarly, I am trying to switch back to eating oatmeal for breakfast rather than cold cereal. I tried a new recipe a few days ago - made snickerdoodle cookies for the first time. Paul doesn't like cinnamon (at all) so he won't touch them, but the kids and I have been enjoying them so I'm sure it won't be the last time I make them! We've been playing a lot of games lately! For example, yesterday we played three rounds of Uno. I've been doing sword drills more regularly with Nadia and Ian. Nadia is quick to remind me if I forget because she loves them. We haven't focused on grammar much over the past

Oliver (#2) attempting a to make a basket on Saturday. 

three weeks, but we HAVE been spending a lot more time on writing. We're using curriculum from IEW. I spent $12 to rejoin a photography class, but I have not really invested much time in it thus far so I'll probably be cancelling the membership. I have been taking more pictures over the past few weeks, and practice is certainly a good thing! I've been taking pictures of not just our kids but also Isaiah and Micah during the basketball games, and emailing Tab some pictures each weekend. It's nice to be able to bring a smile to another mom via my camera!

This week is the first of the 16 week semester. Week 8 is spring break on campus (the student teachers follow their school district's calendars), and week 16 is when final exams are given, which means there are just 14 weeks of class. My voice hasn't totally come back to normal yet. When I read Goldilocks and the 3 Bears tonight, I couldn't produce a "baby bear" type voice. I'm a bit concerned about how my voice will hold up tomorrow as I'll be in a meeting from 10:00-11:00 with other supervisors before I meet with my student teachers, and then I'll teach from 2:00-8:00pm (my "dinner break" is from 4:45-5:00). I haven't been reading chapter books to the kids; we've been listening to books on Audible to spare my voice, and I don't have my usual singing voice back yet either. Hoping my voice returns to normal soon!

Although today was a  holiday for most students, my three kids had a usual day of schoolwork today. Due to how cold it has been today (when Paul left for work it was 2 degrees out), we stayed inside aside from Ian retrieving a package from Amazon from the front porch. As you can see from the pictures below, he received a Lego set he ordered last week using money he got back when he returned Lego sets at Walmart from Christmas. Today the boys were both wearing the shirts they got from Aunt Debbie for Christmas (I didn't prompt them to wear matching clothes).