Thankful Tuesday

1. The highlight of the baseball/softball clinic the kids attended three nights last week was the game they played on Thursday! There were two retired major league baseball players helping with the camp - Bill Wegman, who was a pitcher for the Brewers for 11 years and Don Gordon who was a pitcher for the Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians for 3 years. Paul took them on Thursday night, which I greatly appreciated because taking them both to history camp on Wednesday morning and then baseball that night really wore me out considering I've been under the weather. He enjoyed watching their games (took videos when they were up to bat), and he had only seen the kids about 5 minutes per day the previous two days since we didn't get home until after 9pm so it was good he had more time with them that night.

2. The kids enjoyed spending 9 hours total at the Joseph Priestly House last week for a history camp about the colonial time period. Their punched tin crafts are on display in our kitchen!

3. We had lunch at the Kid's Café four times last week, and the highlight was on Thursday when they served a turkey dinner and the kids were each allowed to pick two toys to take home. Nadia picked a game and a puzzle, Ian picked some farm animal figurines and a kite, and Oliver picked a container of 40 glow sticks plus an Alvin and the Chipmunks toy.

4. While the kids were in history camp yesterday I did some work on my laptop at the public library and also did a little shopping at the clearance racks at Kohl's. In general I find their prices high (even on clearance), but I did find a few bargains - polo shirts and pajamas for Ian (that will eventually be Oliver's) and some Star Wars toys and stuffed animals (birthday and Christmas presents for the kids). I've been wrapping presents over the past week, which is a good feeling because I prefer to do it in small doses so to speak.

5. Saturday the kids and I stayed home all day, which was nice. On Sunday I taught a lesson on David and Goliath at church. I had Oliver stand on my shoulders during the lesson for K-2nd grade, and Ian stood on my shoulders during the lesson for 3rd-5th grade. They were supposed to be playing the part of Goliath. Ian did a good job of shouting, "Who will fight me!". Since Goliath was over 9 feet tall, I figured that a boy standing on my shoulders would be about the right height. I enjoy teaching the Bible lesson during the second service in the summer.

6. Sunday afternoon I took Nadia and Ian to see Newsies at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport. Of course they prefer shows like Aladdin and Lion King, but this one tied in better with the time period we'll be studying soon in social studies. Governor Teddy Roosevelt has a small part in the musical that is based on real events from the late 1800's.

7. It's such a delight to see Oliver picking up picture books and reading them. I have three readers!!!

8. This week the kids are enjoying a history camp at the Taber Museum in Williamsport from 9- noon. They are studying WWI, Amelia Earhart, and WWII, which is perfect because those are topics we'll be studying this coming school year. This is the final camp for the summer for the boys. In two weeks Nadia has theatre camp and then we are done with camps for 2019.

9. I sold an easel yesterday. Last Monday we had some water in the basement, and I was very grateful as the kids and I were cleaning up the mess that we have a lot less stuff in the basement these days than we used to. The kids have appreciated having some spending money as I've given them the money if I have sold something that was theirs. Nadia told me after the baseball/softball clinic that she doesn't want to play on another softball team. She has asked me to sell her bag, helmet, bat, and mitt. I will try to do that, and then I'm taking a break from selling things. I still prefer to go the donation route.

10. We've been enjoying listening to two book series. Thanks to Overdrive (via the public library in Philadelphia) we've been enjoying the Penderwick family (currently on book #4 of 5) and the Melendy family (currently on book # 3 of 4). We were able to access eight of the nine books for free, and I purchased the one the library didn't have through Audible. 

11. Yesterday I paid $125 for a guy to come and tell us that in light of how much it would cost us to repair our 20 year old air conditioning system, we should just replace it. That's not great news. However, we are learning ways to keep our house a bit cooler - curtains and blinds are closed in all windows (and sliding glass door) 24 hours a day. We are opening the windows at night once the temperature drops outside at night and closing the windows once the temperature gets about 74 outside in the morning (8:15am yesterday). In hind sight, I wish we had brought Maurice's window AC unit back from Philadelphia in March. We just left it for the next tenant. Since we have had central air conditioning for almost eleven years, I didn't think we'd need it. Considering it's the end of July, we shouldn't have too many more weeks of temps in the 90's. I had toyed with whether to put some money I saved this spring into either a CD or a savings account. I'm glad I chose the savings account. The CD had a slightly better interest rate, but a savings account is more liquid. I wasn't planning on dipping into it so soon, but I'm thankful we should be able to afford to replace the system. This is definitely a first world problem. Who am I to complain that my house feels like a sauna when there are people in the world who don't have a home, don't have access to clean water, etc. It helps that I am feeling better. The heat zaps my energy, and the respiratory bug zapped my energy so the combination was hard. I am grateful to have my energy back!!!