Gingerbread Houses

I am not an artsy, craftsy person, and that coupled with my aversion to messes means that things like making gingerbread houses are not exactly my cup of tea. Some years the kids have made them at a public library which is a wonderful solution for me because they are not made in my house. The library usually has them use graham crackers attached to small milk cartons, which is also the easier way to go because you know your structure isn't going to collapse. Some years I have purchased gingerbread kits after Christmas. Usually I've waited until they are marked down somewhere between 75-90% at CVS. I had a doctor appointment in Lewisburg on Friday morning, and we stopped at Walmart on our way there so that Ian could exchange a duplicate Lego set he received. I hadn't shopped the Christmas clearance the last couple of years, but this year I was hoping to get some wrapping paper (check), gingerbread house kits (check), and some new Christmas socks for myself (nope). The kits were only marked down 50%, but I decided to just go ahead and let

the kids each pick out a kit. Because they won't be spending as much time with cousins as they typically do this Christmas, I was wanting to do other things to make this Christmas break special for them. Oliver picked out a train, Ian picked out a Mario castle, and they selected a Peanuts themed house for Nadia who was reading in the van while we were in Walmart. The only thing we had on our schedule on Saturday was basketball practices for Ian and Nadia from 9-11am; at one point they said they wanted to build their gingerbread houses on Saturday, but they ended up deciding to wait. We had been invited to a Christmas party at Paul's aunt's house that was being held on Saturday afternoon, but Paul had declined the invitation due to his schedule at work. Considering Oliver had a fever on Saturday, it was for the best that Oliver stayed home that day.

On Sunday Paul stayed home with Oliver when Ian, Nadia, and I went to church. We almost always are there for both services, but we only went to the 10:45 service this past Sunday.

We were home the rest of the day. Oliver had a fever on Friday and Saturday, but thankfully the past two days he has been fever free. Dad and Margie had given us a gift card to Bonanza. On Mondays the buffet costs $1.99 for kids so I was thinking of going there for dinner today, but then I realized at 3pm Oliver hadn't yet eaten his breakfast OR his lunch. His appetite hasn't returned. It seemed like the wrong day to take him to a buffet. Nadia was very disappointed. I made fish sticks and macaroni and cheese for Oliver and Nadia and chicken Caesar wraps for Ian (favorite foods for each of them) to try and ease the disappointment over postponing our trip to Bonanza.

The gingerbread houses were a bit stressful at times. One of the panels of Nadia's roof broke into quite a few pieces, and we were having trouble getting Ian's castle walls to stay standing, but we succeeded in the end. Whew. I hope next year it works out to attend the event at the library! Thankfully thus far none of us have come down with Oliver's bug, and hopefully none of the Towfighis have caught Joshua's bug.

Ian was very surprised to learn that we weren't doing schoolwork today. The local Christian school has off this entire week. Our local school district will be returning to school on Thursday, which is what we're planning to do in part because we are taking a day off next week to go skiing. Truth be told I still squeeze a little bit of learning in here and there. This is why counting days for homeschooling is so random to me. I'm not counting any of these days but I've been working with Ian and Nadia on some spelling words that have been problematic for them the past few months, Ian and Nadia have still been reading in their chapter books almost every day, we watched two 13 minute dvds on magnets and levers (the third one that we'll watch tomorrow will be on pulleys), they've written some thank you notes, and I've read them picture books about Babe Ruth, Andrew Carnegie, and the Depression. Oliver (with help) completed a 300 piece jigsaw puzzle that he received as a Christmas gift. Today we finished the book A Long Way from Chicago, and tomorrow we'll start the sequel, A Year Down Yonder. Even though they technically a 12 day Christmas break, it doesn't mean I gave their brains a twelve day break!

2019 in review

As I look back at the goals I had listed for this year, some were accomplished and many were not. Some things happened as planned such as our trip to Myrtle Beach, and other things were very unexpected. Here are a few of the things that stand out to me the most as I reflect on 2019.

1. The most earth shattering event in my life in 2019 was definitely the sudden passing of my brother on March 3 just one month after he turned 35 years old. I can only think of a handful of times in my life when I've pulled an "all-nighter." The two most recent were in August 2015 when Paul told me he was going to leave higher education and return to Kennedy Concrete and March 6, 2019 - the night I received a phone call from the police in Philadelphia telling me that my brother had passed away. Paul and I have been married for 18 years, and that was the only night of our marriage that he held me the entire night. Usually neither of us can sleep if our bodies are touching, but he managed to get some sleep that night while holding me. His love and support meant so much to me during those first few days of intense grief. It's now been over a year since I was with my brother in person. On March 1 I'll hit the one year anniversary of the last time I talked to him. Although the shock has worn off, I still miss my brother very much. The kids inherited a Nintendo Switch and an iPad from my brother.

2. The biggest changes in our home this year were having a new deck installed, Dad and Margie gave us a grill, buying a new kitchen table and six chairs, buying a new microwave, and having a new furnace and air conditioning system installed after going without air conditioning for about 2 months during the summer. The majority of the projects I hoped would be completed around the house in 2019 weren't accomplished (finishing the repair of our master bathroom, painting drylok on the basement walls, replacing a broken widow pane, etc.). Paul began working on the kids' bathroom the end of September, which meant for all but 12 days of the past three months we didn't have access to any showers. Our jacuzzi tub got used far more in 2019 than it was the previous 11 years. I also washed my hair in a sink far more often than I had in decades.

3. I paid off the retirement loan in the spring, which meant for the first time since 2000 I am debt free! We've been building a savings account this year so that over the next few years we will be able to pay for things like braces for Ian, a new roof for our house, and a replacement for our minivan whenever that becomes necessary. Thus far we have set aside 40% of what I think we will need over the next few years for all of those expenses that are not typically in our budget.

4. Oliver learned how to ride his bike without training wheels, how to ice skate, how to swim, be much neater when using the bathroom (most of the time anyhow), tie his shoes, and recite the books of the Old Testament (he had learned the NT in 2018). He made a lot of progress in reading and gymnastics over the year, and he spent 3 nights at Camp Susque, which was his first experience with overnight camp. He lost his first three baby teeth this year. The first two were extracted by the dentist in January, and I pulled one of his out this month. He went skiing for the very first time in February!

5. Ian showed a lot of improvement in demonstrating courage. He climbed the steps to the top of the Statue of Liberty's crown, went zip lining for the first time, and was baptized in November. Ian and Nadia sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale this fall. When Ian was very young he was allergic to many foods, and then for several years we weren't aware of any allergies that he had. At this point we are confident that he is allergic to pecans and walnuts. Ian also made quite a bit of progress with playing the piano. He has passed Nadia out in the piano books; he's also beginning to play some songs, such as Christmas carols, by ear.

6. Nadia participated in a science fair for the first time and joined the middle school chorus at Meadowbrook Christian School in the fall. All three kids participated in a wax museum in February for the first time. Nadia and Ian both made tremendous progress over the past 12 months with learning many parts of speech and with their writing skills. This was our first year of having a child in middle school. She went with the youth group to the Creation music festival in the summer, which meant she spent more nights in a tent than she ever had before. She completed her ninth AWANA book this month and recently started memorizing the book of Hebrews so she can participate in the Bible Bowl with other students in grades 6-12. Nadia learned how to use the sound equipment at church for the 10:45 youth service on Sunday mornings.

7. I lost 30 pounds through dieting. Recently I've begun using the elliptical about four times a week. I taught at BU from January through May, but I was not offered another contract for the 2019-20 school year. Although that was another bombshell to process emotionally, it has been heavenly to be at home with my kids seven days a week and to have my workload be reduced to a more manageable load - homeschooling three kids, laundry, cooking, cleaning, yardwork, etc. is more than enough to fill my "plate." I have been using two apps the past few months - one related to cleaning the house and the other for meal planning, and I find both of them helpful, especially the meal planning one. I have done a much better job of cooking a far wider variety of foods the past four months.

8. The kids earned almost 20 Junior Ranger badges from National Parks in 2019! We started collecting them in 2018, but this was the year when we really got serious with that!

9. We went on about 61 field trips! Some of the places we visited this year included Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, two trips to Refreshing Mountain (zip lining, ropes course, rock climbing, etc.), Pennsbury Manor, Old Barracks Museum (NJ), Valley Forge battlefield, Yorktown battlefield, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Battleship Wisconsin, Nauticus, Fort Sumter, Fort Raleigh, USS Yorktown, Wright Brother's Memorial, Highland, Monticello, Montpelier, Luray Caverns, Gettysburg, Crayola Experience, Intrepid, Central Park, Fort Ticonderoga, Saratoga, Antietam, Manassas, White House of the Confederacy, Petersburg, Appomattox Courthouse, Natural Bridge state park, Lake Tobias, Reptiland, and the Museum of Glass. We also attended a variety of shows and concerts. Nadia saw Little Women with Tab and Cinderella with me. We all saw the touring Broadway Lion King in Norfolk, Beauty and the Beast at CWC, Mulan at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theater, and Christmas Wonderland in Camp Hill.

10. The kids and I enjoyed a week with Aunt Janet on Long Island. Seven of us (including Paul's parents) enjoyed a vacation with stops in Virginia and North Carolina and a week in Myrtle Beach. The kids enjoyed a variety of camps including chemistry (boys), Camp Susque, horseback riding, Camp Good News, history camp, baseball/softball clinic, and theater camp (Nadia).

11. We read a lot of books! Ian read at least 67 chapter books this year, Nadia read at least 82 chapter books (some of which were over 800 pages long), and we enjoyed at least 126 chapter books together. I didn't keep track of how many picture books that we read, but it would be in the hundreds if I had.

12. This was the first year in our 18 years of marriage that we went on zero dates over the course of the year. Our last date was in March of 2018. Yikes! We *might* actually take a little 19th anniversary getaway together in the summer of 2020 if the boys go to overnight camp at Camp Good News the same week that Nadia goes to Camp Susque for a week of girl's camp. If that doesn't pan out, hopefully we can at least go out on one date in 2020.

13. There were three very significant heart related problems in our families this year. First, my brother passed away from a sudden cardiac event in March. Then Paul's mom spent a couple of weeks in the ICU in October following a heart attack. Lastly, my dad failed a nuclear stress test last week, which prompted him to have a heart catheterization the next day, which revealed serious blockages that couldn't be addressed by stents. He will be having quadruple or quintuple bypass open heart surgery in the near future. I'm thankful that my mother-in-law survived her heart attack and that my dad's heart problems were discovered before he had a significant cardiac event like Maurice or Ellie experienced earlier this year. We are praying that his surgery can take place in a timely manner and that the surgery and recovery will go as smoothly as possible. Margie is a retired nurse so she will have more knowledge regarding his care after he is discharged than most spouses would.

Assembly Required

The first piece of furniture I purchased was a blue chair that I bought when I lived in a townhouse with two roommates when I was teaching in Annapolis. I called it a Lazy boy chair, but it wasn't actually from that manufacturer. That chair may be 25 years old, but it's still in great shape. The chair was a blessing to my brother because it reclined to the proper angle that he needed to be at when sleeping due to his sleep apnea. When Oliver reads to me, I sit on that chair with my feet propped up, and Oliver sits on my lap. We both love it! Right before I moved to Pennsylvania in June 1996, I purchased more furniture including a kitchen table set that included four chairs, a set of end tables and a coffee table (the particle board was stained to look like cherry wood), and a sofa/love seat set. I bought the furniture at a store called Best Buy Furniture. The love seat went to Chicago a few years later. We got one new couch in 2004 when we moved to Catawissa and our second couch in 2008 when we moved to our current home. My parents gave us a glider when I was pregnant with

Nadia. I bought one good quality bookshelf when I was living in my apartment (sometime between 1996-1999), and my parents bought Paul four more bookshelves when he completed his master's degree. I bought a bed, dressers, and nightstands for our first master bedroom in 2001, and we bought a dining room table and six chairs in 2004 as our first house didn't have a dining room but our second house did. Somewhere along the way we replaced our first (particle board) entertainment center for a better quality one.

Years ago I had conversations with my mother in which we would talk about which sibling might claim which piece of furniture within their home when my parents no longer had need of it. We'd discuss who might want the loveseat rocker, piano, grandfather clock, etc. My mom knew that the only piece of furniture I wanted was the kitchen table and chairs and the little rocking chair that had been mine when I was a child. She gave me that little rocking chair before she passed away.

I always loved her kitchen table set. In fact my first (very cheap) kitchen table was a similar color and similar style in that it had a pedestal instead of table legs. Over time the table became very dinged up in part because I didn't typically use tablecloths on the table. Also, once Oliver graduated from a high chair, we had a problem because we had five people in our family and only four chairs. We brought down a black office chair that Paul typically used. A few years ago I saw one of our neighbors post a picture of her kitchen table on Facebook that she was trying to sell because they had recently bought a new set. The one she was trying to sell had been a hand me down to her from one of her relatives. I was attracted to it because #1 it was partially dark green which is the color of our kitchen counter and #2 because it came with six chairs. I sold the one I had purchased in 1996 on Facebook for the same price I paid our neighbor for hers. The table was in better shape than the one I had just sold, and we go from four to six chairs, but we quickly discovered that the chairs I sold were much sturdier

than the ones I had just purchased. We've had this set a few years. Paul has made repairs to some of the chairs in the past, but last month two chairs broke. When my Dad moved to Virginia in 2017 he took the dining room table set with him but not the kitchen table. In 2018 he gave my sister the house in Maryland and all the furniture and other household belongings that he had left behind when he moved.

I had been looking online for over a year trying to find one as similar to that table as possible. My parents purchased much of their furniture at Ethan Allen, and I searched that store's website as well. The table had a protective surface (not exactly sure what is the proper term to use), and I was hoping to find a table with that same type of surface as it has caused the table to hold up beautifully over the decades. Maybe it was something that was common in the 1980's and isn't used these days or maybe I just didn't know how to properly search for that feature, but I couldn't find anything that matched what I was looking for. Last December

I had decided to try and buy a new kitchen table and chairs sometime in 2019, but then when I realized I wasn't going to be working this fall, I thought we'd better hold off on that purchase. My thinking changed recently because two of our chairs broke so we were down to four chairs again but need five about once a week when Paul eats with us, and we also need more chairs when the Towfighis share a meal with us. I had not yet spent my birthday money that I received in April, and Paul and I decided three weeks ago that now was the time to buy a new kitchen table and six chairs.

This set cost far more than the set I bought in 1996, but it cost less than half of what we paid for our dining room table and chairs in 2004. I'm hoping it will be the last kitchen table and chairs that I will ever buy. Our dining room table has held up very nicely, but I have been careful to use a pad and tablecloth. The pad certainly came to the rescue when water from the jacuzzi went through the chandelier and on to the table in October. In our move

here in 2008 somehow one of the pads (the one for the second leaf) didn't make it from our second house to our current house. I am planning on purchasing a pad for the kitchen table in the hopes it will help our table last longer and also a pad for that dining room table leaf so it will be easier to sit more people around that table when needed. At first I was going to try to sell our current kitchen table, but then I thought of moving it to the basement so the kids could put Legos on it down there if they wanted, and also then we could bring up chairs from that table when we had a lot of extra people sitting around our dining and kitchen tables. I can't think of any other furniture that we might need in the coming years so hopefully this will be our last furniture purchase for a very long time! What attracted me to the dining room table set in 2004 was how beautiful the table top was. I later realized this wasn't very smart because once you put a pad and tablecloth on it, the table top is never visible. If I could go back in time 15.5 years, I'd pick a dining room table set in which I really loved the appearance of the chairs, as that's what you actually see. I learned from that mistake, and although I still wanted an oval shaped oak colored table that had one center pedestal, I paid more attention to the appearance of the chairs than the table since the chairs not the table top will be visible. I do think the backs of the new kitchen chairs are pretty. I hope they are sturdy and hold up for the next 20-30 years.

The Legos that Nadia and Ian received on Christmas Day!

With all of our other purchases of good furniture, the furniture has been delivered and set up in our home. This time I made my purchase online instead of inside a furniture store as we've done in the past. Once I found the set that I wanted to purchase, I scoured the web to find the furniture store that had the best price. The one I finally chose offered the set for $200 less than the first website I had looked at after I used a coupon, and I was able to use PayPal, which means I'll get a 5% rebate eventually from my Visa card for that purchase. The furniture store I picked in Delaware offered free "curbside delivery." If we wanted it set up inside our home, it would have cost another $150. I thought I could carry in the furniture and save that fee. I didn't understand that they meant they would deliver the furniture in many, many pieces. Looking back on that first website that charged $200 more, I see they mentioned it included free assembly. It took me three hours to assemble six chairs, and it took Paul about two hours to assemble the table on Thursday evening. The delivery of the table and chairs also involved a boatload of cardboard. I cut it up so that it would fit in the trunk of the van and took it to a recycling center on Friday as the garbage company only takes our recycling on the third Tuesday of the month. When the delivery was made, one of our neighbors helped me carry the table top box into the kitchen. I could carry the other boxes, but that one was too heavy for me. She joked that I had my own 500 piece "Lego" set to assemble. I definitely don't enjoy assembling things as much as Ian does, but Paul said I did a good job with the chairs. I never consider myself to be very skilled with tools of any sort so I was pleased that I was successful in assembling the six chairs.

The reason I usually don't paint my fingernails is because the nail polish doesn't last very long. I usually paint my toenails in the summer, but the nail polish lasts MUCH longer on my toes. I had my first professional manicure in about ten years in June with Nadia (thanks to a gift certificate from my Dad and Margie), and I was impressed with how long my fingernail polish lasted that time. I painted my nails on Monday for the first time since June, and the polish definitely didn't hold up this week due to assembling toys on Tuesday (putting in batteries, helping with Legos, etc.) and assembling furniture on Thursday. I do like the color though so I think I'll give it another whirl tomorrow and hopefully it will last a bit longer the second time around.

I thought we'd be using both the kitchen and dining room table last night, but Yvonne, Joshua, and Wesley didn't come to Pennsylvania yesterday because Joshua woke up with a fever. Oliver also has had a fever yesterday and today. I'm hoping that the rest of the family members in our family and theirs don't catch the bug that Joshua and Oliver have right now. Paul didn't come home until around 8pm so he wasn't here when we ate dinner. I figured we could squeeze eleven people around the dining room table if we added the second leaf. The other times they've visited us recently we've had some people eat in the kitchen while others ate in the dining room. We did use three of the kitchen chairs in the dining room on Friday night. Two kids sat on the piano bench, and our dining room set includes six chairs. It's nice to be able to use either table whenever we need to now that the Legos have been relocated to Ian and Nadia's bedrooms. Ian received another Lego set yesterday from Aunt Yvonne. He had fun assembling it with Nathan and Joel. Most of the pictures in this post are from Christmas Day. Sadly I fell down on the job and failed to take any pictures yesterday during the seven hours seven members of my sister's family were here. Joe is definitely more of a night owl than me as they likely didn't get back to their home in Maryland until around 1:00am.

Thankful Thursday

1. Ian had his physical last Friday. I'm thankful that the only time I take the kids to the Pediatrician is for their annual physicals. Ian was thankful that he didn't get any shots. He'll be getting a few immunizations a year from now. The doctor gave me an order so we can get his cholesterol checked. After I get the same form for Nadia I'm going to take all three kids to get them checked next summer in light of the cause of my brother's death. Ian has been growing about 2 inches a year the last few years, and his height has typically been somewhere between the 24th and 30th percentile. He is currently 53 inches tall (27th percentile). Ian weighed 32 pounds in 2012, 35 pounds in 2013, 39 pounds in 2014 (45th percentile), 41 pounds in 2015 (20th percentile), 48 pounds in 2016 (25th percentile), 51 pounds last year (25th percentile), 60 pounds last year (38th percentile), and last week he weighed 63.8 pounds (27th percentile). His weight and height are currently at the exact same percentile (27th), which means there aren't any

concerns about his BMI.

2. Oliver had his first basketball practice last Friday. I'm thankful for all of the volunteers who make the Upward program possible. Ian is scheduled to have his first practice this Saturday, and Nadia is supposed to have her second practice that same morning. I hope all three have a great season of basketball! Of my three kids, I think Ian has the most talent when it comes to basketball. This is Nadia's seventh year of playing on a basketball team!

3. Yesterday we finished reading Ishtar's Odyssey. Three years ago we started a tradition of reading a devotional togerher by Arnold Ytreeide. We've read his four that relate to Christmas as well as the one he wrote for Easter. I think next December we will start over and reread Jotham's Journey. I forgot to mention this when I wrote the post about our Christmas traditions. Speaking of Christmas traditions, the kids opted not to visit the Santa at our local grocery store this year. I guess they have

The Legos the kids received on Tuesday! The set w/o a box was from a yard sale.

outgrown that tradition already. Oliver had visited a Santa at the hardware store on Black Friday this year.

4. We attended the first hour of a Christmas program at our church last Friday night. The kids' choir that the boys are in sang two songs that night. One of my former student teachers who is currently in his second year of teaching Spanish at a local high school was there. I wasn't expecting to have any greet me as "Dr. Kennedy" that night. He sang in a men's quartet. 

5. Last Saturday the kids enjoyed seeing the new Star Wars movie, and I enjoyed seeing most of a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. The popcorn, drinks, and tickets were all totally free thanks to Coke's program. 

6. The kids enjoyed ice skating last Saturday night. The ice skating party which included food, drinks, and gifts for the kids was also totally free. Micah and Isaiah were also there which

made it even more special.

7. The boys enjoyed singing at a nursing home on Sunday morning. Ian said he wants to return. I am going to try to schedule another trip there as I have been wanting to give the kids more experience with community service.

8. We all enjoyed having dinner at Dave and Marla's house on Sunday evening. She is quite the hostess! She prepares appetizers, a delicious main course, dessert, and gifts for everyone! The kids each received a stocking that contained a variety of things such as a drawing book, candy, markers, etc. 
9. The kids went home with Grandma and Pop Pop on Sunday night and spent the day with them on Monday. The boys fell asleep on the way home even though they left their grandparents' house around 6:15pm! When Oliver arrived home, he wanted to go straight to bed. I tucked him in at 7:30, which is an hour earlier than usual. His siblings woke him up the next morning around 7:00am, which meant he had slept more than 12 hours if you count the time he slept in Paul's car. Even Nadia chose to go to bed an hour earlier than usual that night (she went down at 8:30). They were tuckered out from their day at their grandparents' house!

10. Since the kids were not at home, I scheduled a lunch date with my friend, Cheri, which is a very, very rare treat for me. I also enjoyed watching the movie Overcomer on DVD albeit we had a tricky time returning it on Christmas Eve after the candlelight service. I also did a little shopping that day at a consignment shop I rarely visit. I got some pants for the future for Ian. Ian already wore the Minion Christmas shirt I got him, and Nadia already wore the red cardigan sweater I got her. 

11. In the morning on Christmas Eve we opened our gifts from Aunt Wendy, Grandpa and Gubba, and within our immediate family. The new toy Oliver played with the most that day (by far) was the little green scooter that Aunt Wendy got him. I remember using scooters like that in both AWANA and gym class when I was a child. Ian and Nadia started assembling Legos. On Christmas Eve the kids received a total of 2,623 Legos (526 for Oliver, 356 for Nadia, and 1,741 for Ian). This month the kids received more than 8,000 MORE Legos over the tens of thousands we already own. I think we could open a Legoland in our home! Last year I didn't buy Ian any Legos because I thought we already owned MORE than enough Legos, but I bought him two big sets this year - one for his birthday and one for Christmas plus a couple of smaller sets. I didn't only buy Ian Legos. For example, he received four books - the only Larryboy chapter book he didn't already own plus three books by Michael Bond (author of Paddington Bear) that are about a guinea pig named Olga de Polga. I hope he likes those books!

12. Since we have been married I have been in charge of buying gifts for his family, my family, and our kids. Usually the only person he shops for is me, but this year he didn't do any Christmas shopping. The last few years when he has asked me what I wanted for Christmas I have said - my shower! I have wanted him to finish repairing our master bathroom shower, which was a project he started in May 2016. This year having a working shower has become a much bigger deal as he tore apart the kids' tub/shower the end of September. The last few years he bought me a gift instead of finishing the master bathroom, but this year he told me my gift will be the completion of the kids' tub/shower. It isn't done yet, but hopefully he can complete it before he leaves for Baltimore in January. Nadia and I each had a shower on December 11 at Tab's house, and yesterday we both took showers at Grandma's house. The shower yesterday was SO heavenly. I love a REALLY hot shower, and that is definitely possible at their house. You appreciate something like a shower even more when you have very few of them for 3

months. Honestly, I would be thrilled if I never took a bath again the rest of my life. I REALLY prefer showers. I am not sure how long it's going to take for the master bathroom to be completed. Last January I had contacted someone to give us an estimate, but Paul asked me not to get an estimate because he was "almost done." His definition of "almost done" and mine are very different. But once the kids' bathroom is done we will at least be back to having one shower working, and one is definitely better than none.

13. The five of us attended the Christmas Eve candlelight service together on Tuesday night. I am so, so very thankful for the love God showed us in sending His Son to be born here on earth more than 2,000 years ago!

14. I've been doing better with exercising on the elliptical on a more regular basis. Last week I exercised on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. This week I have exercised four days in a row so far (Monday through today).

15. The kids and I enjoyed eating monkey bread for breakfast yesterday morning. Ian and Oliver polished it off this morning.

16. Yesterday we were at Paul's parents house for about 9 hours. We played games together, ate yummy food, opened presents, built Legos, etc. Grandma made her delicious baked beans and baked macaroni and cheese. Aunt Millie made twice baked potatoes, ham, chicken, rolls, an apple pie, cream puffs, chocolate eclairs, and a cheesecake. I brought sugar cookies the kids had decorated and cherry dump cake. Millie and Grandma were very kind, and we came home with some leftover ham, baked beans, cheesecake, apple pie, and twice baked potatoes. We have leftover tuna noodle casserole in the frig from Tuesday night, which means I'm not cooking today. Yahoo for leftovers!

17. The kids received many wonderful gifts from their extended family members. The kids received a total of 5,287 Legos this week as Nadia and Ian received 2,664 more Legos

yesterday on top of what they received on Tuesday. I took pictures yesterday but accidentally left my camera at their house last night. Paul will be brining my camera back home today. I feel like I'm missing a limb without it, ha ha! You can tell my family knows I am often cold as Ian gave me a heated travel blanket that plugs into the "cigarette lighter" in the van, and Wendy gave me two hand warmers. I am certain I will be getting a LOT of use out of the hand warmers. I can keep one in each pocket! Oliver's big present yesterday was a drum set from his grandparents. Paul (with a little help from me) set it up in the basement last night. I received a Steelers umbrella, which will also come in very handy. Almost all of Nadia's gifts yesterday related to Harry Potter. The exception was a Frozen 2 Lego set. She received Harry Potter socks, doll, journal, pen, charm bracelet, minifigure, and Lego set.

18. The kids are enjoying the break from school. They keep asking me if today is a school day. I did read them a biography about Andrew Carnegie while they were building Legos this morning, but yes today is still part of Christmas break! Although I love teaching them, I am also enjoying the break.

19. I am getting a new kitchen table and six chairs today! Paul and I carried the old table downstairs. He had to take off two legs so we could get it down to the basement. I hope the table is useful down there for building Legos, playing games, doing crafts, etc. When the cousins are here if they have a Monopoly game going on the dining room table they have to move it if we're going to eat, but now they could have the game set up in the basement and they won't have to move the game when it's time to eat. The kitchen looks really empty today without a table in it. Oliver has enjoyed the extra room to play. The light is good in the kitchen, which makes me wish I had my camera today so I could take pictures of him playing in there while the room is empty, which reminds me that I am very thankful for my camera and lenses. I'll have to wait to upload the pictures I took yesterday, but today's post contains pictures from Christmas Eve plus a couple I took with Paul's cell phone this morning before he left for work.

20. Today is a "stay at home all day" kind of day! Ian and Oliver decided to make it a pajama day. Nadia and I got dressed, and Paul is at work. The only thing on my calendar today is the delivery of the kitchen table set.

11.5 years old!

Six months from today our daughter will turn twelve years old! She hasn't hit the big growth spurt yet that many others her age have already gone through in terms of her height, but her shoe size has certainly been changing rapidly. She's been growing her hair longer. If she would do something with her hair, I wouldn't mind, but since she doesn't, I personally would rather her have a shorter hair style because her hair looks messy very soon after she brushes it. But it's her hair not mine, so I am letting her grow it out. One of these days I assume I won't have to encourage her to brush and/or shampoo her hair. I know she misses taking showers. I don't think I'll have to encourage her to take a shower at Grandma's house tomorrow! She's very happy that she has a few years off until she gets another shot. She just asked the pediatrician about that last Friday when Ian had his annual physical.

Here are a few of her favorites at 11.5 years old...

1. Spending time with her cousins. She and Rachel talk at night via FaceTime several times a week most of the time. The cousins she most enjoys interacting with include Joshua, Andrew, Jenna, Susie, Rachel, and Adam.

2. Holding either of our guinea pigs. A woman in our church who owns a pet boarding and grooming center about five minutes from our house already knows that Nadia wants to work there once she turns sixteen years old. Nadia would love it if we got a rabbit, cat, and/or a dog.

3. Listening to radio dramas. In the past she enjoyed listening to all the episodes of Jonathan Park; we only borrowed those from a library so she can't listen to them again. My dad got her a membership that enables her to listen to ANY episode of Adventures in Odyssey. She loves those, and I also purchased all the Brinkman adventures CDs. She has listened to those missionary adventures more than once. One of her gifts today was the latest season of the Brinkman Adventures.

4. Listening to Christian contemporary music. She listens to CDs, our local Christian radio station, and also uses her Echo Dot. If you want to play "name the artist" while listening to a Christian radio station, Nadia can do an excellent job of identifying an artist and the name of the song once she hears a small part of the song.

5. Watching the Cosby Show, Full House, and Brady Bunch. Those are her top three favorite shows at the moment. Recently she enjoyed watching the three Santa Clause movies for the first time on Disney+. She's bummed that we recently cancelled our membership with Hulu because she hadn't quite finished seeing all the episodes of Full House. We had been getting it for 99 cents a month for the past twelve months. I promised her that at some point we will get Hulu again, but this year we have Disney+. As a side note, it's rather sad to think that Bill Cosby is in jail and that will also probably be true for Lori Loughlin in the not so distant future. The DVD I gave her for Christmas was The Odd Life of Timothy Green. I got it at a yard sale before I had any knowledge of Disney+.

6. Playing on the iPad. Her favorite apps at the moment include Homescapes, Matchington, and Disney Crossyroad.

7. Reading the Mother Daughter Book club series. She's read a variety of books over the past six months including A Little Princess, Little Women, all seven Harry Potter books, all fourteen of the Whatever After books, and three Betsy-Tacy books, but the books she has reread the most often the past six months have been the ones from the Mother Daughter Book Club. Some of her gifts today included a large Mad Lib book (that I got for free from Kellogg's), the newest Cilla Lee-Jenkins book, newest Young Whit book, Shouting at the Rain, a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book, and the Great Gilly Hopkins. I love the fact that she loves to read!! Her love of things related to Harry Potter was evident in the gifts she received. I gave her a Hogwarts nightgown, water botte, and Hermione doll.
 Aunt Wendy gave her a map from Harry Potter.

8. Helping out at church. She operates the sound board during the youth service at 10:45 on Sunday mornings. She helps serve drinks or food in the youth group café before that service. She wants to resume helping in Kidzway periodically. She's excited about being a member of the Bible Bowl team starting in a couple of weeks, which will culminate in a competition in Oklahoma in July. She's been diligently working on memorizing the book of Hebrews! She says she's going to join the adult choir at church once she's in ninth grade. I'm looking forward to that!

9. Ice skating, roller skating, skiing, swimming, zip lining, rock climbing, and playing on a basketball team are some of her favorite physical activities. She had been borrowing Oliver's scooter this summer, but today she and Ian each got a scooter from Grandpa and Gubba. Now we have three scooters for our three kids.

10. Singing and acting. She enjoyed being in Lion King in August and singing in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale this fall. She eagerly awaits the day she can be in a musical at our church or Christian school. I signed her up for an audition to be in Annie and then cancelled it as it seemed the rehearsals would conflict with ice skating lessons and Upward basketball. She's already planning on auditioning to be in Tuck Everlasting in November 2020 and hopes to be in Meadowbrook's musical in March 2021.

11. Going to camp. She enjoyed horseback riding camp, history camp, and Camp Good News this summer, but her favorite week of camp is definitely the week of overnight camp at Camp Susque! It seems no matter where we go, Nadia usually knows at least one of the kids whether it's from Meadowbrook, church, the homeschool group, Upward basketball, Camp Susque, etc. Earlier this month when we were aGreat Wolf Lodge, which is 90 minutes from our house, she recognized one family from the homeschool group and another girl from her Upward basketball team last year. 

12. Playing games. Her favorites include Bubble Talk, Apples to Apples, Racko, Suspend, Spot it, and Guesstures. I didn't give her a game this year, but I gave Oliver "Pickles to Penguins," and I believe that will also be right up her alley!

13. Eating ham and cheese hot pockets for lunch. Some of her other favorite foods include pizza, goulash, meatloaf, rigatoni and meatballs, tuna noodle casserole, deviled eggs, scrambled eggs, fried egg on a bagel, chips, cookies, candy, ice cream, cheesecake, apple pie, grapes, strawberries, cherries, plums, peaches, raspberries,

cheese crackers, soft pretzels, pretzel sticks, blueberries, clementines, hot chocolate, apple juice, macaroni and cheese, string cheese, fish sticks, meatball sub, cranberry sauce, mozarella sticks, and popcorn. The list wouldn't be complete if I didn't include KETCHUP. She puts ketchup on a WIDE variety of foods - many that most people would not put ketchup on such as her turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Yuck! 

14. Corresponding with her pen pal from Illinois. If she receives a letter from Stella, she usually writes a reply and has it in the mailbox before the mail is picked up the next day. 

15. Stuffed animals, Legos, and almost anything related to Star Wars. She was thrilled to see the new Star Wars movie on Saturday. I got her a plush penguin and Ian got her two stuffed animals covered with sequins (the kind you can change the color if you reverse the sequins). I gave her a Rey doll (character from Star Wars) which was not something she had on her wish list, but she liked it just as much as the

Hermione doll, which was very high on her wish list. Grandpa and Gubba got her an Ariel Lego set, and Oliver gave her a Lego Friends set. 


We were told not to take any pictures or recordings during the Susquehanna Valley Chorale's Candlelight service. I wish I had a recording of some of that program! I also didn't record anything during their concert to honor Veterans, but we did record part of MCS's Christmas program (see videos below). We accidentally stopped recording Charlie Brown Christmas before the song was over, and the memory card became full before Somewhere in My Memory was done. Oops!

For many years we've had a tradition of opening gifts as a family in the morning on Christmas Eve. This means Nadia opens gifts on her half birthday and her birthday since her half-birthday is on Christmas Eve. We started this tradition because we'd usually head to Paul's parents house in the morning on Christmas Day and then drive to Maryland that same day or the next day. I didn't want the kids to open their gifts at our house in the evening on Christmas Eve or in the morning on Christmas Day and then not have any chance to play with them until we returned from Maryland. Since Paul goes to work on Christmas Eve and we aren't traveling to Maryland this year, in hind sight I wish we had waited until tomorrow morning to do our family gift exchange before going to Paul's parents' house. We had to open the gifts before the sun rose so we could do it before Paul went to work (which meant I didn't take any pictures while they opened their gifts), and then he left so I was the one doing all the unpacking of toys, putting in batteries, helping with Legos, etc. Some years I have taken the kids to the candlelight service alone, but Paul will be joining us for that this evening. It's been hard for me to adjust to the change of Paul having one month off for Christmas (which was true when he was in graduate school and when he was a professor) to having one day off for Christmas. At least he does take one day off. I know some people will have to go to work tomorrow.