Thankful Tuesday

1. I've spoken with Paul's mom twice so far this week after not talking with her at all since March 24! She was in one nursing home for two days, back in the hospital, and then transferred to a different nursing home. She has also taken a few steps this week!! 

2. I had a nice long conversation with my friend, Joyce, on Sunday.

3. Milo's castration recovery seems to be going smoothly. He is very happy that we aren't requiring him to wear the "cone" or the pool noodle collar. Today was the first time since April 7 that he took a decent walk (2 miles round trip) with me. 

4. Spring has sprung! The trees are blossoming. I mowed the lawn and used the weed whacker for the first time this year. Many flowers are blooming! 

5. The kids and I enjoyed the Charlotte's Web performance at MCS. on April 16. 

6. Although in general we weren't impressed with the Maker Faire this year, the four of us enjoyed watching an outdoor performance of competitive Irish dancing on Saturday.

7. Ian really enjoyed Micah's birthday party on Saturday! 

8. Although I know things won't be completely normal this summer, it seems that it will be closer to normal compared to last summer. For example, this week I signed Nadia up for four days of diving lessons during the week the boys will be at overnight camp.

9. I made strawberries Romanoff yesterday for the first time (minus the brandy), and Oliver absolutely loved it. He has already asked me to make it for his birthday in August. The funny thing is, he doesn't like whipped cream and that's one of the ingredients!

10. We often go weeks without watching anything together as a family, but last week we watched three Left Behind movies together plus two new episodes of The Chosen. Paul really liked the second episode of season two, which was about Nathanael being called to be a disciple. We also played Rummikub together on Sunday. Nadia liked the movies so much that she's reading the books. She read the first book so quickly (despite it having almost 500 pages) that I checked books #2-4 of the series out for her from the library on Monday. I remember devouring those books in the 1990's.