Four Months Old!

Photo credit - Nadia

Milo turned four months old today! At his vet appointment last week he weighed a little over 6 pounds. Milo is no longer scared of his reflection in a mirror, but he still barks like crazy at random things like the broom, vacuum cleaner, a jar of parmesan cheese, etc. The funniest thing he does (in our opinion) is when he spins around in a circle chasing his tail.

He still occasionally chews on the cord for the Echo dot or my laptop or the kitchen chair legs, but the things we've said "no" to him chewing lately have primarily been the pillows that I put in front of the fireplace to block the draft of cold air, the Wii remotes in the entertainment center (if Paul fixes that door it will be a big help as the glass is missing in the door which gives him very easy access), and the dish towel in the kitchen. I relocated the dish towel from the oven door to the microwave door to keep it out of his reach, but I haven't moved the pillows that are in front of the fireplace. Soon after we brought him home we flipped the toy bins in the family room so they were facing the wall, but he had still been managing to  get things from the bins so Oliver and I moved all those bins to the basement. I have three kids, and I think at this point there aren't any toys for kids on the main floor of our house aside from those that are in the toy box. Many toys have been relocated to either one of the kids' bedrooms or the basement.. We do have plenty of dog toys on the main floor of the house!

At this point he averages one accident a day. The time he is most prone to accidents is at night when Ian or Oliver are chasing him around the house. Milo LOVES to run, and wow is he FAST!!!! The longest he's gone without an accident is two days. I'm hoping that by the time he turns five months old he's not having any accidents. We shall see. If he doesn't have any accidents one day, he usually has two the next day. He didn't have any accidents this week on Wednesday or Thursday, and then he had three accidents on Friday and also had one this morning. Thankfully we don't have to take him out as many times a day as we did at first. I formulated a list of nine times a day to take him out, and the kids divided those up so that each child has at least three turns a day. I was very weary of hearing them debate who was taking him out each time. This plan has eliminated those discussions which is a big relief to me. I'm guessing that over time we'll continue the trend of taking him out fewer times per day. Every once in a long while he goes to the door and lets us know he needs to go out, but the vast majority of the time it's at our initiative. I'll be thrilled when he communicates his need to go to the bathroom more frequently with us! The longest he's gone without any accidents is 2 days. I look forward to the day when he can go three or more days without any accidents.

He's learned the commands "sit" and "down." He is very confused by "leave it." He gets into the down position for leave it. We have to keep working on "leave it." He's making a lot of progress with "come." He definitely comprehends that command but obeying it is another issue. I've ordered a clicker and will begin using that for positive reinforcement along with the treats starting next week. He loves the puppy ping pong game that is helping him learn to obey the command "come." He definitely comprehends "come" but it's hit or miss if he'll choose to obey that command. We're also going to start working on the command "wait."

Nadia successfully trimmed his nails. We're going to start brushing his teeth 2-3 times a week starting next week. He's getting groomed for the first time on Monday. Since that costs $50+, I ordered a pair of dog clippers today so I can take over the grooming duties. We already own dog shampoo, and I recently ordered forceps and the powder needed to pluck the hairs from his ears. The puppy kindergarten instructor showed us how to do that this week. Evidently if we don't, he'll get ear infections. Have I mentioned that dogs are MUCH more high maintenance than cats? He isn't AS interested in the guinea pigs as he was at first. If he manages to get into Nadia's room, he always goes for the Legos first rather than the guinea pigs. We've had to extricate many Legos from his mouth over the last seven weeks. Buttercup is the bravest of our three guinea pigs in that she will come right to the edge of their cage to greet Milo. We only allow Milo to observe them under our very careful supervision.

He sleeps in Ian's room at night. The last time he is taken out to go to the bathroom is 9:30pm, and he usually sleeps until at least 7:00am. Ian wasn't very happy that Milo got up at 6:45 this morning. If he cries in the night, Ian will sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag beside his crate for part of the night. The guinea pigs now sleep in Nadia's room. The smell of their cage is definitely more potent now that their cage is in a room where the door is closed almost all the time.

Milo loves us VERY much. He is a very affectionate puppy. Karyss and the members of our family are his favorite people. Oliver doesn't let Milo "kiss" him, but he gives the rest of us many kisses. First thing in the morning and when we come home from church or some other outing are the times he is the most exuberant in showing his affection through his little tail wagging like crazy and giving lots of kisses. Prior to yesterday, the longest he had been left at home alone was 2 hours. I met a friend for lunch yesterday after dropping the kids off at another friend's house for a playdate. He was in his crate from 10:30-2:45 yesterday. Thankfully he never has any accidents in his crate whenever we leave him. We don't have any field trips scheduled until April 22, so he won't be spending much time at home alone over the next three months aside from Sunday morning when we go to church. My moments of wondering why on earth we got a puppy are happening less often than they were during the first few weeks. I will freely acknowledge that he is very cute, and I do enjoy holding when he's sleeping or in a calm mood. We plan to take him with us to Long Island when we visit Aunt Janet in July (Lord willing), and if we are actually able to take our longer than usual family vacation out west in September/October, we're going to ask our friends if they'll keep Milo at their house while we're away.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Nadia began an ASL class via Zoom through the library on January 14. I had previously taught the kids some ASL so much of what the librarian covered was a review for Nadia.

2. Paul and the kids went skiing at Elk Mountain on January 19. We planned to go skiing at Elk Mountain in January in 2017, 2018, and 2019, but the first time any of us went there was in January 2020. I took the kids. The reason Paul didn't go last year and none of us went the other three years was because it was held the week before Paul usually attends a trade show in Baltimore. We've had a WVIA membership (PBS station) the last several years because it enables us to go skiing twice a year for free, attend Knoebels once a year for free, Montage water park once a year for free, etc. Last year due to COVID-19 most of the events were cancelled, but since the skiing dates are held in January and February each year, they took place before the lockdown started in March. I didn't go skiing this year because of Milo. Paul and the kids left the house around 6:00am and didn't get home until after 7:30pm. Nadia and Ian have gone skiing a total of six times - four times at Ski Sawmill (one hour from our house) and twice at Elk Mountain (two hours from our house). Oliver has skied four times (twice at each place). All five of  us have skied together two times - at Ski Sawmill in 2019 and 2020. Paul had taken Nadia and Ian skiing in 2018 while Oliver was recovering from a fractured skull, but the ski trip last week was the first time he took all three kids skiing by himself. I thought all five of us would go skiing together next month at Ski Sawmill, but due to COVID-19, WVIA won't be having their annual ski day at that resort. Since it's an outdoor sport and when you are skiing you naturally want to stay six feet apart from each other to avoid your skis from getting tangled up, I'm not sure why COVID-19 would put an end to a day of skiing outdoors. The good news is that the kids had a great time skiing, and because we had renewed our WVIA membership last January, we actually got three free days of skiing from one year of membership. I thought we'd have to renew before Elk Mountain, but they gave us free lift tickets and rentals again based on what we paid a year ago. 

3. January 20 was Ian's spiritual birthday. Nadia and I made chocolate chip pancakes and bacon for his birthday dinner. On Sunday I bought him the latest Imagination Station book for his birthday gift. I got glazed donuts from the grocery store. I'm very thankful he's made a profession of faith, and I pray that he will draw closer to the Lord in the years to come.

4. The day Paul and the kids were skiing, Ken finished the master bathroom project. I painted the bathroom on Saturday. I haven't used the shower yet because Paul wants to spackle a tiny bit more in a few places first, but there aren't any power tools in our bathroom for the first time in years. Paul started the project 4 years and 9 months ago so I'm very, very glad it's done (or almost done in Paul's eyes). 

5. On Sunday afternoon we played Ticket to Ride for the first time. I had given the game to Paul for his birthday on January 3. I wish we had a routine for playing games more regularly, but I'm thankful when we do get around to playing a board game together.

6. Paul's mom was in the hospital from January 3 through January 21. We're very thankful she's back at home and hoping the procedures that were completed on her heart will prove to be helpful. 

7. Margie is recovering from her first chemo treatment, and she's very relieved that the oncologist decided she wouldn't have any more treatments given all she had to endure following her first treatment. We're praying one treatment was enough to eradicate the cancer. 

8. I enjoyed  lengthy phone conversation with Yvonne on her birthday (January 21) and with two of my friends on January 19 while I was  home alone with Milo. 

9. Milo had his second vet appointment last week as he needed a booster shot for one of the vaccines he got last month. He gained 1.5 pounds in a month as he now weighs over 6 pounds. He's learned the commands "sit" and "down." We're working on "take it" and "leave it." He has NO problem taking it, but hasn't a clue about "leave it." He has his second session of puppy kindergarten this afternoon. He's averaging one accident a day. He's more accepting of spending time in his crate. He still tries to eat a myriad of things he shouldn't eat such as the rubber floor mat. 

10. We've tried 100 new foods over the past five months! The most recent one that we really liked was Anzac biscuits, which is an Australian type of cookie that I definitely plan to make again. Since today is Australia Day, I'm planning to make three new Australian recipes later today (#101-103) - meat pies, damper (bread), and lamingtons (dessert). Not every new food has been well received, but usually at least one or two of us have liked the food so that not too much food has been wasted along the way. Oliver really liked the honey joys (Australian) and Pani popo (Samoan sweet bread recipe). 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. Last week we received some gift cards in the mail from one of Paul's aunts. Ian and Nadia used theirs to buy Lego sets. Nadia had been saving up some money to buy a set that cost $90. She was still $10 shy with the gift card, but Ian gave her $10 of the money he got from his birthday last month. I was pleased with his generosity! Oliver hasn't spent his yet, but he's planning to buy a Paw Patrol toy (surprise, surprise!). We also received a gift card to Dunkin which all five of us will enjoy!

2. We also received a box from my Dad and Margie which was "supposed" to arrive on December 21. Oops! COVID has done a number on delivery services. I'm still waiting for our next Talkbox.mom box (which was shipped on December 28 and was supposed to arrive on January 4) as well as photos from Shutterfly that were "supposed to arrive on January 6. Our framed map of the US did arrive on January 6. I can't wait to fill in the state shaped photos once the Shutterfly package arrives! It's now hanging above our TV in the family room. I'm curious to see how many more states we'll be able to fill with pictures over the course of 2021 and the years to come! The box from my Dad and Margie included three books (two for the kids and one for Paul) and Doritos for Ian. Paul has begun reading the book.

3. Our church got a final total for the December giving toward the wells in Africa, and what we raised actually exceeded 150K, which will translate to 30 wells in Africa after World Hope matches what we raised. PTL!!!

4. Last Wednesday the kids had a play date. Tab picked the kids up around 1:30 at our house, and I picked them up around 4:20 at her house before taking Nadia to church. They had fun sledding down their big hill, playing with their dog, playing games, etc.

5. I enjoyed teaching the preschool class on Sunday. The attendance at the in-person services has been rising again lately and so I had eight kids in the class which was about twice as many as had been in the class lately. 

6. The youth group at FBC hadn't met together in person since sometime in November. They met in person this past Sunday night (wearing masks), and Nadia was very happy about that.

7. We started Ian's orthodontic treatment yesterday. He will be getting his expander in two weeks. Since I knew we'd be in Williamsport for his appointment, I scheduled a small curbside grocery order at Wegman's to get some ingredients that I couldn't get at the grocery stores where I usually shop. They were out of rose water (needed for  making Turkish delight), but they had everything else. I'll try to get rose water there at some point in the future. I also scratched Melopita (a Greek honey pie)off our list of foods to try because even Wegmans didn't carry the cheese needed for that recipe. Kohl's is right next to Wegmans, and they had sent me $5 off coupon that could be used on anything so I used it toward a pair of gloves for Nadia as she needed a pair for when she goes skiing or plays in the snow as she lost one of hers last year. The orthodontist is very close to a PetSmart, and they sent me a $10 coupon that could be used toward any purchase $10 or greater. I was planning to buy a pooper scooper, but they were out of stock of those. I bought a bag of guinea pig food that was usually $26 that was on sale for $23, and then used the coupon plus a $10 reward so I only paid $3 for 10 pounds of guinea pig food. Yay! Ian and I also got some cereal at Surplus Outlet and swung by the library on the way home. Nadia was happy Ian and I did those errands because she was paid $10 for babysitting Oliver (and Milo) for 2 hours. Over the past 12 1/2 years I haven't regularly gone to Williamsport, but that will be changing now that Ian is seeing an orthodontist there. He was very relieved that there was no mention of pulling any of his teeth. Hoping the orthodontic treatment plan will be successful and as painless as possible for Ian. I'm thankful we are able to pay for it.

8. Although we've also eaten some tried and true recipes recently such as lasagna and ham and cheese sliders, we've still be trying some new ones. Over the past 4.5 months we've tried 96 new foods so far! I really enjoyed the crème brulee, but I doubt I'll make it again because no one else was that fond of it. However, everyone liked the BBQ ribs we had tonight (I'd never purchased ribs before), and almost everyone liked the coconut bread I made today. Oliver absolutely loved the Jamaican bread. He had quite a few slices of it and said it was better than monkey bread! Since I have about 175 recipes on the list we are more than half way through the list. 

9. Milo learned how to jump over the baby gate. It's a relief to have those back in storage as it was a pain to walk over them. We moved the guinea pigs to Nadia's room, and Milo slept in Ian's room for the first time last night. Yesterday he didn't have any accidents (but he did vomit which frankly is more disgusting to clean up than urine). Today he had three accidents, but still I see a lot of improvement in his behavior. He's not nipping at the boys nearly as much as he used to. He's learned the sit command, and I'm now trying to teach him "down." He doesn't come when I call his name, but he does come if I say the word "treat." I'm requiring all three kids to help with cleaning up his messes and taking him out for walks so the dog is forcing them to learn more responsibility albeit sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get one of them to take him out. He's also more accepting of being in his crate (for the most part) than he was a month ago. As of today we've had him for exactly one month. The living room went from having a guinea pig cage plus a Christmas tree to just a guinea pig cage to neither of those. It looks rather bare at the moment as we also took the food bin upstairs since the guinea pigs moved up there. Hopefully Nadia will learn to sleep through the sounds of the guinea pigs gnawing on their houses. They can be a bit noisy! 

10. Paul's mom is still in the hospital, but she sounds like she's doing better than when she was admitted on January 3. We are praying for the doctors to have wisdom in the best way to treat the leaky valve in her heart.

11. Nadia and I watched two movies together last week on Disney+. Black Beauty was fine, but I really, really, really loved the movie Safety. 

Back to the 80's

When I read or listen to biographies or historical fiction, I often find myself thinking how I am glad I live in this time period and have my current "job." When we listened to a biography about Ernest Shackleton, I found myself amazed at what those explorers were willing to endure. I've been listening to Unbroken while exercising lately, and again I am astounded at what some American prisoners of war were able to endure at the hands of the Japanese. When we enjoy books that take place in the early part of US history, I think I would have been a vegetarian as I can't imagine killing animals, skinning them, plucking off their feathers, etc. Up until the last week or so I have never found myself feeling nostalgic about the past. I've heard other people over the years say something along the line of that life was better back in the 50's or some other time period. It might be because they really liked the music from a previous decade, because they feel the morals in our country have declined since that time, or because they have fond memories from that decade. In my opinion in many ways things were better in the 80's than they are now. 

For example in the '80's, three of our recent/current Supreme Court justices were approved by the Senate either unanimously (Scalia) or by a vast majority - 96 votes for Ginsburg and 87 votes for Breyer. That hasn't happened for awhile, and I don't see it happening again anytime in the near future. At that time the media (news on tv/ newspapers) was far less biased. I know that technology has come a LONG way since the '80's, but I'd gladly trade my cell phone for a landline, trade my Echo Dot for a radio/CD player, etc. if other things in our country could go back to how they were 40 years ago. I didn't pick the 50's because that was before the Civil Rights Movement. Yes, there were probably fewer divorces and such in the 50's, but I couldn't pick a time that included so much discrimination based on skin color. I'm probably forgetting something, but I can only think of one area in which there has been an improvement morally in our country over the past 40 years - the rate of abortion has dropped 50% in the US in that time frame. Worldwide there were over 42 million abortions worldwide in 2020 - the leading cause of death. Over 1 million babies have already been aborted in 2021, and it's only January 12. Heartbreaking! 

 2020 was a year I think very few (if any!) will ever feel nostalgic about. 2021 hasn't exactly gotten off to a good start. I am very concerned about the future of our country for a wide variety of reasons. I try not to mention politics on my blog, but it's been on my mind so much lately. Yesterday, when I woke up I was sick to my stomach over the grief I am feeling regarding the future of our country.

• Our obsession with gender related issues - boys can go in girl's bathrooms and vice versa, there is a push to eliminate words like mother, father, sister, brother, etc. from our vocabulary, and words that have NOTHING to do with gender (such as Amen, which is a Hebrew word that means "so be it" are now being modified because the letters "men" are found in the word). Can you imagine adding "wo" to all the words that contain those three letters?!?! I can't believe this is actually happening.
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• The fact that it seems our country is headed toward socialism. Hopefully our country will never resemble what it's currently like in Venezuela, North Korea, China, Cuba, etc. I'm also hoping against hope that spending trillions of dollars left and right doesn't land us in another Great Depression. If the country keeps heading towards socialism, I guess it's possible that some states will try to secede. Hopefully if that happens it won't involve another Civil War. 
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• The legislators who objected to some of the Electoral College certifications are being accused of "not respecting the rule of law" and are being punished in a variety of ways. In the past 20 years some Democrats had done the same thing regarding three other Presidential elections. This was the first time in 20 years that any Republicans had objected. They should not be punished for their objections just because OTHER people were breaking the law outside the Capitol. They had announced their decision to object long before anyone knew of the lawless actions that would take place that day. Personally, I have no idea if the election was "stolen." Paul is one who is convinced it was, and obviously there are people on the other side who are convinced everything was done completely ethically. In my opinion there was likely some fraud involved, but I have no idea whether it was enough to change the outcome of the election or not. However, the fact that 139 Legislators objected, gives me serious pause. Hopefully there will be a significant investigation so that if any of the concerns are actually valid, they can be addressed before the next election. I have no comprehension as to why any Legislator (regardless of their party) should be punished for objecting to the certification of the Electoral College. It feels like there is a double standard at play.
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• Speaking of a double standard, rioting is always wrong in my opinion. Some of the BLM/Antifa protests were peaceful in 2020 and some included murder, arson, destruction of private and public property, etc. Two wrongs never make a right. When those BLM riots took place, people and organizations raised tens of millions of dollars to bail out the violent rioters. The protests were supposedly on behalf of black people, and yet in many cases the arson and violence destroyed the homes and businesses of black people. Murder is wrong whether it's someone protesting against the police or protesting because they believe the election was stolen. I don't think that the consequences should be harsher for one than the other.
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• The one that is bothering me the most is the bias of the media. Because the media hasn't liked Trump the past 4+ years, they can say NOTHING good about him. A stranger standing in line to vote in November said to me, "Trump could have discovered the cure for cancer and the media would find a way to be mad at him about that." If Obama had helped negotiate the peace treaties in the Middle East, that would have been ALL over the news. I have a feeling few Americans know about it. Similarly, the scandal involving Obama in 2016 (Russia/Trump) was so, so much worse than Watergate (I'm not intending any sympathy for Nixon - he deserved to be impeached), and I doubt very few Americans know of what happened because the Media has kept it under wraps. In countries like China, the government controls the media. Our government doesn't control the media, but the media is very strongly biased toward the left, and social media has gone so far as to censor conservatives or even block them from using various platforms. Free speech means that some people are going to say things you don't like or agree with. I don't understand what happened to the Parler app?!? It's scary to think what could happen if Big Business, Big Tech, and the Democrats work together to crush dissenters. I'm planning on permanently deactivating my Facebook account. My friend invited me to join MeWe. We're also considering ending our Amazon Prime membership and trying to shop through Amazon as little as possible (probably use Target..com and Walmart.com more). Considering that exactly 50% of the Senators are Republicans, almost 50% of the Representatives are Republicans, and Republicans have full control of the legislative and executive branch in 24 states (compared to 15 states that the Democrats have full control), it's not as if Republicans are some radical, fringe minority group. Not that I think that minority groups should be censored either....

In our family devotions tonight we were reading from Daniel 2, and one verse in there says that God "deposes kings and raises up others." I believe in the sovereignty of God. He is in control even if it seems that everything is out of control. We are praying for Biden to be the best President possible. Our joy and peace are from the Lord not from our circumstances. Even if a worst case scenario ends up happening and we go through what Venezuela is experiencing right now, our hope, joy, and peace can't be taken away if they are found in the LORD. Ideally I'd like my kids to be able to grow up in a free and prosperous country as Paul and I have experienced for around 50 years, but even if that doesn't happen, their future in Christ can be secure.

Three Kings' Day

Some people celebrate Epiphany or Three Kings' Day on January 6. In some cultures the kids receive most of their Christmas gifts on January 6 rather than December 25. We celebrated the holiday in three ways. I made a Rosca de Reyes (Kings' Cake). The cake is really a bread that is braided in an oval shape to symbolize a crown. In some places they put a small plastic baby inside the cake to represent Baby Jesus. In other countries they put beans or coins in the cake. I wrapped three $1 coins in wax paper and hid them in the cake. I let the kids pick where on the cake they wanted me to cut their piece. Nadia and Oliver each had a coin in their cake. This means there's still one coin in there to be discovered tomorrow. I learned from past experience and cut the recipe in half. Since it was a Christmas related holiday, I read the kids a book about Saint Nicholas that I received in the mail recently from Voice of the Martyrs. The kids put their shoes out for gifts on St. Nicholas Day in December. In some cultures they put their shoes out for Three Kings' Day. I decided to buy the kids three gifts for Three Kings' Day - two puzzles and a Spot it game. 

Milo had three accidents so far today - all on the family room carpet. I can't wait until he is housebroken!!!! Tab picked the kids up around 1:30 and took them back to her house for a play date. I picked them up around 4:15 so that I could take Nadia to her Bible Bowl meeting. This meant Milo and I had the house to ourselves in the afternoon. He was very happy when the boys and I came home! Paul is going to pick Nadia up from church at 8pm on his way home from work, which means he won't be at work as late today as he was yesterday. He got home from work at 8:45pm last night, and when I woke up at 2:30am I discovered he was already up and getting ready to leave for work. That is a very long work day! It's going to be like that this whole week because they are short staffed at the moment.

One thing that I've hardly done at all over the last ten months is make plans for field trips, vacations, etc. If I made a list of ten of my most favorite activities, planning field trips and vacations would be one of the ten. Any plans I've made over the last ten months (which have been very few and far between), I've done with the attitude of "don't hold your breath - they might be cancelled." The first thing to be cancelled in 2021 was Nadia's weekend at Camp Susque. She had never participated in a winter camp there because it conflicted with Upward Basketball, but she was scheduled to participate in a weekend for middle schoolers later this month. They are going to offer the camp virtually, but she's not interested in a virtual camp. I can't blame her for that. We are accruing quite a credit at Camp Susque because I had registered Nadia for camp there last summer, all three kids for a Christmas around the world program that was to have taken place last month, and Nadia for Frost Camp - and all three events were cancelled. I look forward to the day when I'm able to resume planning field trips and vacations. I do have some ideas for a possible vacation this fall out west, but before I actually start planning the specific details, I'm waiting to see if COVID will be far less of a factor at that point. I'm thinking if we actually do go on the trip that we'll drive instead of flying. My current outline would last 3.5 weeks,  include spending time in 12 states where the kids have never been before, and include 30 national park sites plus some science museums and other sites. Thankfully many of my favorite things to do are still possible during a pandemic such as reading to my kids, purging/decluttering, and hugging my boys.  

Thankful Tuesday

1. Milo is making progress with not having accidents in the house. He had one accident on Friday, one accident on Saturday, zero accidents on Sunday,  two accidents last night, and two accidents today. We're hoping tomorrow can be another day with zero accidents. I'm also thankful that he was able to attend an individualized Puppy Kindergarten class today. We have several things to work with him on over the next two weeks before his next class. Honestly the class is more for US than him although they did also groom his face and clip his nails while we were there. I really hope that six months from now I think we made the right decision to get a dog. 

2. I bought myself a pair of boots at a yard sale this summer, and I have really, really been enjoying wearing them on Sundays to church. Nylons really don't keep my legs very warm when I'm wearing a skirt or dress to church in the winter. Now I just need to buy myself a pair of snow boots because Nadia has claimed mine.

3. We finally found a bone that will keep Milo's attention for a longer time than another other bone or chew toy that we've purchased for him over the past 3+ weeks. This puppy is expensive!

4. Millie's knee replacement surgery went well yesterday. She came home from the hospital today! Paul's mom was transferred to her usual hospital yesterday, and today she was in less pain thankfully. Margie's chemo treatment went smoothly today. We're praying that the side effects won't be too bad.

5. Each December our church has a special "Christmas blessing" offering that is used to build wells in Africa. The wells each cost $10K. This year our pastor set a goal of hoping that $100K would be given toward the wells, and over $120K was given! The church partners with another organization that matches what we raise each December, which means what we gave will translate to 24 new wells in Africa! Each well services an entire village - typically around 750 people, which means the money people in our church gave last month will help about 18,000 people have clean water! PTL! Our pastor went to Sierra Leone once to watch one of the wells being dug; he said the women and children began singing and dancing when the water spurted out of the ground. Here in the USA we take clean water for granted, but clean water is something we should be very thankful for. It is really a blessing to have a part in helping others around the world.

6. The kids really, really loved the rolls I made for dinner one night last week. I think those Portuguese rolls plus the focaccia bread are their two favorite breads I have ever made. Previously their favorite was the garlic cheddar biscuits I make that are similar to the ones served at Red Lobster. I also really liked the French apple tarte Normande that I made last week. YUM! We tried 91 new foods in the last four months! The boys really loved the Yorkshire pudding. The word "pudding" doesn't seem to fit, but rethat's what it's called. 

7. The kids are enjoying the new snow we got on Sunday. After almost exactly two weeks of no kids playing together in the neighborhood, the kids have played outside with other kids the past two days.

8. Yesterday we finished our 700th chapter book as far as the books I've read aloud to the kids or we've listened to an audiobook together. It took as a few weeks more than 8 years to accomplish that. Enjoying books with the kids is one of my favorite parts of being a mom. Right now we're listening to Peter and the Shadow Thieves on CD from the library, and I'm reading the kids Inspiring Entrepreneurs. Yesterday we read about Elijah McCoy, which is where the phrase "the real McCoy" originated. I'm learning right along with the kids sometimes! 

9. On Saturday I finally got around to doing some spackling and touch-up painting around the house. I don't even want to admit how long that had been on my to do list. Some of the dents were recent from the dog, but the one that had been on my to do list for a long time was in the living room where Ian had banged the guinea pigs' food bin into the wall. 

10. Our pastor preached a sermon from the book of Jude this past Sunday, which is not a book I've heard too many sermons on over the years. Next week he's starting a series on the book of Ruth. I greatly prefer exegetical sermons to topical ones so I'm grateful!

11. Nadia finished Math 7 on Teaching Textbooks right before Christmas break began. I had planned to have her do Pre-Algebra on Teaching Textbooks next, but I decided it was time to do something different with her for math. We're giving Khan Academy a whirl for the next few months. So far it's working out well. Also, math is going MUCH better with Oliver now that we've gone back to the same math textbook I used with his siblings. Hopefully he will use the Beast Academy Levels 2 and 3 at some point because I bought them just for Oliver. Ian is doing well with Beast Academy Level 5 at the moment. Math is usually the trickiest subject for all three kids so I'm grateful that at the moment it seems to be going smoothly. 

12. The Steelers made it to the Playoffs!

13. I hadn't bought pumpernickel bread in a long time. I really do enjoy a peanut butter and honey sandwich on pumpernickel bread. Yum!

14. Aunt Janet gave me some money for Christmas, and I used it toward a personalized framed map which I will fill with pictures of us in each state. I've ordered prints to fill seventeen of the states with photos. If we go out west in the fall, we should be able to add quite a few more photos to our map later this year! I'm excited about having this visual way of tracking our progress over the coming years. 

15. Usually the kids open Christmas gifts on multiple days, but this year they opened almost all of their gifts on Christmas morning because we haven't seen any relatives since November, but last week Paul brought home the gifts from his brother and sister-in-law. We each received a gift card (CVS, Barnes & Noble, Red Robin, and Wendy's) as well as other gifts  - gum, coloring books, toys, etc. The kids wrote all their thank you notes last week during the Christmas break. 

16. Just like Milo creates a lot of messes around the house, doing artwork with the kids can be a messy endeavor, which is why sometimes I have avoided it. In the last couple of weeks we had fuchsia colored oil pastel ground into the off-white carpet in the dining room and  two of my vinyl kitchen tablecloths permanently stained (one with paint and the other with Bombay ink). There are times when I want to say we're only going to do colored pencil projects this year, but I'm trying to persevere. The kids did two projects last week - a charcoal sailing picture and a cardinal with a Tombow pen. Today the kids did a mixed media project of a candle that utilized both oil pastels and Bombay ink. Paying a monthly fee for the art classes definitely keeps me motivated to keep doing art projects on a regular basis even if the messes try my patience. Considering my lack of talent with art, I am very grateful it's possible to stream art classes into our home. 

Fifty-one!

Today is not our 51st day of school. It's our 107th day. Yesterday was Paul's 51st birthday. Nadia was quick to remind him that now it's only four more years until we can attend the "Best Years Fellowship" events at our church. He opened his gifts before breakfast. I had bought him a game (Ticket to Ride), a book on the Revolutionary War, one jar of peanuts, and two bags of peanut M&Ms. On January 1st we played the game I got him for Christmas for the first time (Catan). I gave him a haircut before we went to church. After church, we went through the drive-thru at KFC. We go there usually at most once a year. We usually have donuts for breakfast on the morning of each family member's birthday, but we bought the donuts yesterday in conjunction with picking up the KFC so we had the birthday donuts this morning instead of on his actual birthday. We didn't have any birthday cake, but I had made him white chocolate macadamia nut cookies a few days ago as his birthday treat. We got a few inches of snow yesterday afternoon. I shoveled the driveway before dinner yesterday, and the kids all played outside in the snow. It was the first time in almost two weeks that the kids played with any of the kids in the neighborhood, partially because our next door neighbors have had COVID recently. It was nice to see kids playing outside again. When we got 19 inches of snow last month it was colder out so the snow wasn't good packing snow. This time it was around 35 degrees out so the snow packed together nicely. Today Nadia made a snowman, and Oliver made a snow chair. 

Milo made progress two weeks ago and then regressed last week, but he's making positive progress again. He only had one accident on Friday, one on Saturday, none on Sunday, and so far today he hasn't had any. His previous record had been 46 hours without an accident, but he's now beaten that record as it's been more than 48 hours since his last accident. We (mostly Nadia) take him out VERY regularly. It will be lovely when he gets to the point where he goes to the door to let us know when to take him out in contrast to us watching the clock and taking him out 1-2 times per hour, but not having messes to clean up is a huge relief. I wasn't sure our carpet would ever be the same! Homeschooling went much  better today than it did the week before Christmas. I purposefully didn't include Spanish or art in the lesson plans for today to shorten our school day a little bit. I also bought him some bones that really help keep him occupied better than any of his other toys. They cost a little more than $4 each which makes me wish they lasted longer than they do, but they are definitely a big help. I'm going to see if there is a way I can add more smell/taste back to the bones to get more mileage out of them.

We are praying for relatives who have medical concerns. Millie (Paul's sister-in-law) had knee replacement surgery today. It went well, and we're praying for her recovery process. Paul's mom was taken by ambulance to the hospital yesterday. Because of the snow, they couldn't take her to the hospital where she usually goes. We're praying for the doctors to have wisdom in caring for her. Margie is starting chemo tomorrow. We're praying that it will eradicate all the cancer in her body and that she'll have as few side effects as possible.

Happy New Year!

I remember in 1999 many people approached December 31 with fear because of "Y2K" and the worries of what chaos might ensue. I think that more people are eagerly anticipating turning the calendar over to a new year THIS year than any other year of my life. Sometimes individuals have reflected that a certain year was hard for them, but this is the first time in my lifetime when I think MOST people have thought this has been a rough year. I realize what we've experienced is so trivial compared to what others have endured at other times and places. As eager have people have been to enter 2021, I have to say that my attitude for months has been that I didn't think things were going to be drastically better in January 2021. Hopefully sometime this year life will begin to take more steps back toward normal. Time will tell. Last night I let Oliver stay up until 9:30. I've never let the kids stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve before, but given how many things the kids could not experience this month (such as spending time with grandparents or cousins), I decided to let Nadia and Ian stay up until midnight last night.

We haven't established traditions for celebrating New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. In our area many people eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day. We aren't interested in adopting that tradition. I typically make monkey bread for breakfast on Christmas Day, which is why I didn't make panettone on Christmas Day. This was originally an Italian bread typically enjoyed on Christmas Day, but this bread is now eaten in several different countries on either Christmas or New Year's Day.  Yesterday I baked 5 dozen white chocolate macadamia nut cookies in preparation for Paul's birthday (January 3) and also baked a panettone for us to eat for breakfast today. We got pizza for dinner last night which means the kids can have leftover pizza for lunch today. I making Milanesas de carne for dinner tonight, which is a treat as I rarely purchase steak. Usually Paul works on New Year's Day. He'll go to work tomorrow as usual, but he's staying home with us today which is a treat. 

Since I was a child, I've set goals for myself at the start of each year. I don't label them resolutions. When I looked at the goals I set for last year, some ended up being impossible to accomplish due to COVID-19.  Here are 21 goals where I'm hoping we can see improvement and/or accomplish this year:

1. Continue to earn more Junior Ranger badges. I'm not going to strive for a certain quantity of them due to uncertainty related to COVID.

2. Paul and I didn't go on any dates in 2019 or 2020. Hopefully we'll go on at least one date in 2021 as we'll be celebrating our 20th anniversary in August. Also, we're starting a new tradition this year in which each child will get at least one date per year with each parent.

3. Continue to make progress toward using more Spanish and less English throughout the day.

4. Memorize Matthew chapters 6-7 this spring. In August I'm planning to have us start memorizing the book of James together as Nadia and Ian will be studying Hebrews and James for Bible quizzing starting in September. I haven't decided yet whether I'll have Oliver resume attending AWANA next fall. Ian's tenure in AWANA was cut short due to COVID. 

5. Continue to help Ian and Nadia each learn to cook some meals independently. 

6. This summer (or fall) I'd like to enroll Ian in a coding class.

7. Hopefully visit some states the kids have never been to before. This will depend on what happens with COVID this year. I'd like to take the kids out west in October if life has returned to what it was like in February 2020.

8. Continue to try many new recipes and follow the meal rotation plan I've recently typed up, which will mean we'll generally go at least five months before I cook the same meal twice. I have 84 new recipes picked out so far to try in 2021.

9. Ian stays seated during meals.

10. Oliver transitions to reading chapter books independently and finish learning how to write all the uppercase and lowercase letters in cursive.

11. Milo learns to obey commands, only go to the bathroom outside, only chew his toys, not bite us, not beg during meals, and not terrorize the guinea pigs. 

12. Kids improve in their manners such as holding the door for other people, looking people in the eye when talking to them, and answering questions with a descriptive sentence.

13. If life is a lot closer to normal in December, I'd like to take the kids to NYC in December for the first time to see the Christmas lights and the show at Radio City Music Hall.

14. Take the kids to see a Blue Angels airshow for the first time if possible.

15. Take the kids white water rafting for the first time. 

16. I would like to exercise at least three times a week - on the elliptical when it's cold outside and taking walks with Milo when the weather is nicer. I'd also like to drink more water. I don't drink anything else, but I know I don't drink as much water as I should.

17. The kids complete at least 21 more art projects on Creating a Masterpiece over the next 4 months.

18. At some point this year I want to start Oliver on a musical instrument - probably either the piano or recorder.

19. The kids and I started reading through the Old Testament at the end of August. I'm thinking we won't fully accomplish the goal until the spring of 2022, but we'll read a good chunk of it in 2021. This fall we read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Ruth, 90% of Numbers, and about 1/3 of Psalms.  For our family devotions we're going to use the books from the Inductive Bible Studies for Kids series by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt. From January through May I'd like us to study the books of Daniel and Revelation because the kids know almost nothing about eschatology at this point. I haven't determined the entire list of studies we'll complete this year yet, but I do plan on studying James in the fall. This fall we completed three of the studies from that series; they focused on the names of God, prayer, and Jonah.

20. Have at least one photo taken this year that includes all five of us (or all six of us if we include Milo).

21. Over the next four months Nadia and Ian need to learn the location and capital of all of the countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia/Oceania. They worked on North and South America this fall.

Towfighi kids on 12/25/2020