Thankful Tuesday

1. The kids enjoyed VBS at our church last week, and although it was a very rainy week, they were each able to do the water inflatables outside during a time it was not raining. PTL!

2. The kids had a free lunch at Kid's Café (at the park in our town) four days last week. Their favorite day was Wednesday when they served freshly made milk shakes with their meal.

3. We went bowling twice last week! Nadia and Ian bowled two games on Wednesday, and Oliver and Nadia bowled two games on Saturday. Oliver used Ian's bowling shoes on Saturday, which meant I didn't pay a penny for either bowling outing. Nadia really improved over the four games as she went from 63 to 86 to 90 to 134 points on her fourth game! Oliver had 64 and 66 on Saturday. He doesn't have to get a strike or a spare to celebrate!

4. Oliver had a great time at camp last week! He was very proud of the fact he passed his swim test and was allowed to go off the diving board where it was 10 feet deep. He really

wanted to leave the green plastic wristband on until next summer, but I assured him they'd give him another wrist band next year.

5. I won't hear from Ian until I pick him up on Saturday morning, but I will say the weather is perfect this week for being outside, which is a vast improvement over last week's weather. Hopefully he's having a great time! He already knew one boy in his cabin from AWANA.

6. Nadia and Oliver are enjoying VBS this week. The entire VBS sang "Happy Birthday" to Nadia last night which was very special for her.

7. I enjoyed teaching a lesson on Jonah chapter four on Sunday morning. I was only expecting to teach the 3rd-5th grade girls, but since the 3rd-5th grade boys' teacher didn't show up, I ended up teaching the two classes together. The pastor also finished a four week series on Jonah on Sunday. He'll be starting a series on Malachi next Sunday. I am looking forward to that as I haven't heard many sermons over the years on

Malachi.

8. The kids and I enjoyed watching Toy Story 4 on Saturday even if the ending was a bit sad.

9. Oliver enjoyed spending the day with his grandparents yesterday so that Nadia and I could have a day together.

10. Nadia and I enjoyed getting our nails done, having lunch at Perkins, and eating frozen yogurt at Sweet Frog on her birthday yesterday!

11. Drayton was able to book Wendy and I two rooms for free for three nights in New Jersey in August so that we can spend four days in NYC with our seven kids. With our ASTC membership we can get into quite a few museums in NYC for free, and the hotel provides a free breakfast. Our main expenses will be dinner and transportation (Subway, bus, and ferry fares). The hotel provides free parking (which is by no means the norm in that area) and also a free shuttle to a ferry station and to a train station. The kids love being with their

cousins so they probably don't care much about the itinerary as long as they are with their cousins! Paul and I had booked a getaway to NYC during my spring break this past March, but those plans were cancelled when I got the call about my brother. It's nice to reschedule some of those plans. I didn't expect to take the kids to another Broadway show in 2019, but if we manage to get some tickets through their lottery, maybe some of us will see Frozen or Wicked in August.

12. I love being able to enjoy a wider array of fresh fruit in the summer when the prices are lower - peaches, grapes, pineapple, etc. Yum!!

13. Nadia loves her stilts that she got for her birthday from Grandpa and Gubba, and if last night is any indication, she also loves her new swing that we got her. Yay! Sometimes I struggle to come up with gift ideas, but both of those ideas were mine and they were as my mom would have said "winners." Now to figure out what to get Oliver for his birthday in August....

14. The previous two Mondays it was very hard to mow the lawn. I usually mow once a week, but I mowed only five days later this time around, and I am happy to say when I mowed on Saturday it was much easier than the previous two times.

15. Nadia is on her way to Creation! I hope she has a fabulous time! She was able to borrow a tent.

16. I decided which math curriculum to have Nadia and Ian use this next school year. Nadia is going to do another year of Teaching Textbooks (online), and Ian is going to use Beast Academy for the first time. He loves the comic book style. I like the fact that it emphasizes problem solving and not just a procedural but also a conceptual understanding. I  could have purchased the online version, but I went with the hard copies partially in the hopes that Oliver might use these in two years. I'm by no means whizzing through my to do list, but I am gradually making progress.