Thankful Thursday

1. All three kids had normal results from the lipid panel, and Paul also had a normal result from his stress test on July 13.

2. The kids have been enjoying the lunches provided by the Methodist church on Mondays and Wednesdays. We are given 6 quarts of white milk and 3 pints of chocolate milk each week, many different snacks for the kids, and five meals. This week the meals were a ham/turkey/bacon sub, grilled cheese sandwich, beef stroganoff, taco boat, and a "Christmas in July" meal that included turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn.

3. Nadia's annual physical went smoothly on July 7, and the Pediatrician kindly gave Ian a prescription for EpiPens during her appointment.

4. We were able to go to Six Flags twice this month. At least some of the Towfighis joined us for both trips. We visited the parks in Maryland and New Jersey.

5. Evanna and Nadia had a 48 hour sleepover from July 10-12.

6. Our church didn't cancel the in person services after the Governor changed the indoor maximum back to 25 people. Also, the change in the face mask regulation hasn't really impacted our lives except for the fact we wear masks for about 1 minute every time we go to the swimming pool.

7. The kids and I enjoyed a picnic at Pastor Ken's house on July 12.

8. The boys enjoyed the "Greek to Me" program at the library on July 15.

9. The kids and I enjoyed hiking with Cheri and her foster son at Ricketts Glen on July 17.

10. Nadia is enjoying her acting class which began on July 20. It's very different considering they were masks for almost four hours straight and have to stay farther apart than usual. She appreciates the mask break when they eat a snack outside. 

11. We have visited the pool almost every day this month. We usually stay for about 2 hours. Twice this week we stayed for 2.5-3 hours. 

12. Nadia was able to attend the youth group at FBC in person on July 12 and 19. She's looking forward to going on a hike with that youth group in two days.

13. Nadia and I completed a 750 piece puzzle earlier this week! This was the biggest puzzle Nadia had ever done. The previous week Ian, Nadia, and I took almost all week to complete a 500 piece puzzle which was much harder than the 750 piece puzzle because almost all the pieces were light blue.

14. I ordered two garage doors, Oliver's birthday presents, and a chest freezer this week. The chest freezer is a birthday gift. Thanks, Dad and Margie! I got three estimates for the garage doors. I ended up going with the salesman whom I least expected to choose. For one thing, he referred to my kids as my grandkids. Oops! I'm thankful we had saved up the money to pay for this project because my garage door has been really struggling to open and close lately.

15. Yesterday Ian found a wrapped birthday gift for Adam that had fallen behind a bookshelf in the dining room. I'm not sure how long it had been back there. I opened it and asked Wendy if they already had that DVD. They don't own it. We will give it to them the next time we see them. Better late than never! Oops!

16. The Lewisburg Children's Museum is reopening today after being closed for 4 months. The boys will spend two hours in there today while Nadia is in her acting class, which is located in the auditorium of the same building. We have reservations to spend 2 hours there on four different days over the next eight days. 

17. We've enjoyed watching a few movies together recently such as Cool Runnings, Bridge to Terabithia, Four Kids and It, and The Adventures of Tintin. Cool Runnings was the second movie I saw in a movie theatre. My first time in a movie theatre was when I saw Beethoven in Lynchburg in 1992 while I was working on my master's degree. We recently listened to Bridge to Terabithia, and I was rather impressed with how closely the movie followed the book. 

18. We're continuing to enjoy audiobooks together. Of the eight we've finished thus far this month, I think our three favorites were Hold Fast by Blue Balliet (about a family who temporarily lives in a shelter in Chicago), The Wild Robot, and The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown. Today we finished Walk Two Moons (which was NOT one of our favorites) and began Sophie Quire and the Last Bodyguard.