Thankful Tuesday

1. The kids and I had a great time skiing on Thursday. I really, really appreciated that they had only chair lifts - no t-bar lifts! Woohoo! Oliver still needs to learn how to properly stop. His method is to sit down on his bottom, but I was very, very thankful that he never pulled me down as that happened quite a bit the first time he went skiing.

2. Children's Place sent me a $5 coupon, and they always have free shipping. I used the coupon to buy Nadia a shirt for 97 cents. I like paying yard sale prices for brand new clothing!

3. Paul made it back safely from Baltimore on Friday night. He arrived at our church around 10:30pm, and Nadia was done with Bible quizzing around 11:15pm. I was thankful he could bring her home as the boys and I were asleep at that hour!

4. I'm thankful the kids can take part in the group ice skating classes this year. Hopefully they'll make a lot of progress over the next nine weeks!

5. I'm thankful Nadia is working on memorizing the book of Hebrews. She wasn't much help to her team last weekend, but she enjoyed participating in the competition and it helped her learn how these events work. Meadowbrook was having a basketball tournament on Friday and Saturday, and she stayed with her friends and watched one game after the quizzing was over. Because she takes art and chorus there she was allowed into the game without buying a ticket. She wanted to skip her basketball game on Saturday morning so she wouldn't miss any of the quizzing, but I didn't think it was right to back out at the last minute. My compromise was to ask her coach if it was okay if she left at half-time. He agreed. There are 10 kids on the team, and only five play at one time. Normally each child would play three of the six (6 minute) periods. He only had her play one of the first three periods so she only played six minutes on Saturday since she left at half-time. This is her seventh and final year of Upward. If Ian and Oliver play through sixth grade, we will have four more years of basketball after this year.

6. The kids and I enjoyed getting two subs at Subway on Thursday with a gift card. On Friday we used part of a gift card to get tacos for Oliver and I and a bucket of chicken from KFC for Paul and Ian. This week we only plan to eat out once - on Friday night.

7. I think the kids learned quite a bit during their first computer hardware class on Friday afternoon!

8. The weather was GORGEOUS on Saturday and Sunday! It was unseasonably warm!!! We didn't even wear coats to church! The kids played tag with two neighbors, rode their bikes and scooters, etc. while I raked and bagged four bags of leaves, vacuumed the minivan, swept out the garage, etc. I don't normally do those tasks in January, but it was great to get some fresh air without being cold.

9. My dad's bypass surgery was postponed until January 22 because another patient needed to have a surgery more quickly than my dad does. This seems to be a blessing because Margie was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, and this gives her time to hopefully be feeling better before he comes home after his surgery.

10. The kids, especially Nadia, have really been into doing puzzles lately!

11. Paul started painting the kids' bathroom on Sunday. Hopefully that means we can take SHOWERS in the near future. I never thought I'd have to go more than three months without a working shower in our house.

12. The boys and I watched the new Lady and the Tramp movie on Disney+. We enjoyed it!

13. Yesterday the kids and I stayed home ALL day, which felt heavenly after being out and about more than usual last Thursday through Saturday.