Thankful Thursday

1. Paul's mom came home from the hospital yesterday!!! If she is feeling up to it, we might stop in for a brief visit on Saturday at their house. She was in the hospital for a little over three weeks. I am sure she is grateful to be home sweet home and say goodbye to hospital food!!!

2. We enjoyed having three nephews and one niece with us last week! Last Wednesday was the first time EVER that my kids brought a guest to AWANA, and this is Nadia's ninth year in AWANA.

3. My piano is back in tune! With the cousins here breakfast was taking longer than usual, and I was just finishing the dishes and wiping down the table when the doorbell rang. I froze thinking who is at the door at 8:00am?!?! And then I remembered the piano tuner was scheduled to come at 8:00. I was so embarrassed to answer the door in my very modest pajamas. I know people go shopping at Walmart in their pjs, but I believe this was a first for me. I let him in and cleared things off the piano and promptly ran upstairs to get dressed for the day. I hope this was a once in my lifetime occurrence. He was very gracious and somehow I managed to keep the room quiet for him despite the number of kids in the house for the 90 minutes he was here tuning the piano.

4. We had a safe trip to and from Baltimore last Friday. My kids enjoyed spending two hours at the Maryland Science Center in the Inner Harbor.

Ian asked me to take this picture. Can you find the real animal hidden among the stuffed animals?

5. I found another food Ian really enjoys - nachos! He's not crazy about refried beans, but he loves nachos that have beef and cheese without beans.

6. I really love the music that Nadia and Ian are learning for their chorale concert next month - "You're a Grand Old Flag," "America the Beautiful," "Armed Forces Medley," etc. The kids' choir that the boys are in sang in church this past Sunday.

7. I finally took care of a safety recall for the airbag on the van on Tuesday. I was also hoping to complete the state inspection at that time as well, but they failed the van and the work they wanted done totaled over $1,800!!! Yikes! Inspections there are free, and they've always passed the van in the past. I'm taking it somewhere else for an inspection on Monday and hoping the bill will be MUCH smaller even though I'll have to pay for the inspection. It was disappointing to spend two hours there and not leave with the inspection sticker, but the kids were well behaved. We brought books, they give free popcorn, and the kids also each used a 20 minute electronics turn while we were waiting.

8. Water leaked from the master bathroom down to our dining room table on Saturday, but thankfully since then we haven't had any leakages when we've used the jacuzzi. Praying for the day I can take a shower again. The things we take for granted. This is definitely a first world problem. I'm reminded of some of the kids we sponsor through Compassion who live in a house with a dirt floor, no electricity, etc. We have so much to be thankful for!!!

9. We received a new Echo dot today. Ours was broken when the cousins were here. I had expected to wait until around Black Friday to buy another one, but they had an amazing sale earlier this week where you could get one for 99 cents if you also paid for one month of music unlimited. So basically for a little over $9 I got a new Echo dot and one month of Music Unlimited. Sold! We have gotten so accustomed to using the dot to make announcements up to Nadia while she's in her room, as a timer, to play music, etc. We missed it while we went without one for a little over a week.

10. I'm thankful I am getting better at saying "no" when it comes to simplifying our schedule. Last Saturday I was exhausted from the eight hour drive to Baltimore the day before, and so I cancelled the next two field trips on our calendar to compensate some for the unplanned trip to MD. Today we had planned to do an industrial tour. Nadia wasn't too happy that I cancelled these two field trips, but her desire to spend the week with Josh was the reason I was wanting a break from driving. I didn't feel guilty about cancelling either trip. Similarly, I know she would love it if I took them to the Trunk or Treat at our church tomorrow night, but I have a limit on how many trunk or treat events I will take them to each year, and our church's is my least favorite because it has by far the longest line. Our first one is this evening. I'm planning to take them to three total trunk or treat events (tonight, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon) as well as Trick or Treating in our town on the 31st. Those four events will result in more candy that they want or need being brought into our house. We'll exchange some at the dentist for $1 coins. It's so easy to feel Mom guilt, but I am determined not to run myself ragged! It's good to use the word "no" sometimes!

11. Yesterday while we were reading a book about Rutherford B. Hayes, Oliver pointed to a picture of his house in Ohio and asked if we could go there. I am thinking the number of seven year old's who ask to visit the house of former President Hayes is pretty slim, but I looked on a map and it wouldn't be far off the route we were going to take to Chicago in April. I will add that to our itinerary! I was thrilled that he has such a good attitude about a historical house tour.

12. The leaves have started turning! I love this time of year! Now to get some pictures of the kids over the coming weeks with the gorgeous leaves in the background.

13. On Monday night the kids and I enjoyed buying things to put in three Operation Christmas Child boxes. We are praying these boxes will be a blessing to the children who receive them!