Giving Thanks

1. I got my van back on Friday afternoon! Paul came home early because it was snowing, which meant I didn't have to walk to the auto body shop as I thought I would need to do. Ian and Nadia were thankful they could stay home with Daddy while I took Oliver to basketball practice on Friday night.

2. We spent some time with friends on February 29, which included visiting a sheep farm. We always enjoy spending time with them. Unfortunately we learned that Nadia is very allergic to hay. She had hives on various places on her body after crawling through some tunnels Micah and Isaiah had made the previous day with bales of hay.

3. We used a gift certificate to get pizza from Papa John's after we left the computer programming class on January 31 while we were en route to Oliver's basketball practice.

4. Oliver had his best basketball game  on February 1. Nadia had her best game of the season thus far on February 8. Paul joined us for Ian's game on February 1, and he saw all three games with us on February 8. Nadia helped in the concession stand for 5 hours on 2/1 and for 3 hours on 2/8. I'm thankful she likes to help! Nadia has three games left, and the boys have four games left as they each had one game cancelled due to snow. This Saturday is a bye week. Yahoo!

5. Nadia enjoyed the Super Bowl party at our church. She didn't actually watch the game. She played bubble ball with her friends for about three hours. I was very thankful the Chiefs won because SF already has 5 rings.

6. The youth pastor's wife gave Nadia a ride to church on Wednesday afternoon so she could attend Bible bowl.

7. Oliver did a great job in AWANA on February 5. He recited all the books of the Bible, a few verses, and located 10 books of the Bible that they asked him to find in his Bible. Way to go, Oliver!

8. My dad gave Paul some money for his birthday that he said was for a steak dinner. Paul joined us at ice skating lessons on February 6, and after the lessons we went straight to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I don't order an entrée there - just a side dish (a sweet potato). We all love their rolls. Paul and Ian enjoy the peanuts, and Paul enjoyed his steak!

9. My brother's birthday was February 1. It was a hard day for me. I had an awful nightmare related to him on Sunday night. I am thankful for the 35 years I had a brother, and I am thankful he's with our mom, his body is whole, and I will see him again one day.

10. I'm thankful Patches was such a sweet little guinea pig. We miss her very much!!! Her little white hairs are still throughout our house....

11. The kids were so excited to go pick out two rabbits at the SPCA last week. Hopefully Cocoa and Cole will be as good of pets as Patches was. Rabbits are more expensive because they need to be neutered, which costs $259 per rabbit. Ouch!! We plan to have that surgery done next month. Now if we could just figure out how to tell the two apart!

12. I don't normally drive Paul's car, but I did last week because we only had one vehicle. We saw more of Paul than usual (which was good!) because he came home from work earlier than usual on Tuesday and Friday, and he stayed home from work on Thursday (so I could have the car) and on Saturday (so he could attend all three basketball games). When driving his car I noticed he was very overdue with getting his oil changed and tires rotated. He is taking the van to Walmart to have that taken care of right now.

13. We're in the middle of three read alouds right now, and Paul really is glad we're listening to Breaking Stalin's Nose.