Thankful Thursday

1. We were able to attend Aunt Debbie's 70th birthday party. Paul and Oliver enjoyed taking a ride in his cousin's Tesla. I wish I had taken a picture of Oliver that day. He looked very dapper!

2. Nadia had a good week at camp, and I am very glad to have her back at home with us!

3. Seven of Oliver's friends came to his birthday party at the bowling alley.

4. I'm very grateful that Oliver has been part of our family for a decade! He appreciated the gifts he got from his friends, his parents, and my dad/Margie. One of our gifts to him was a two-person tent. It hasn't been used outdoors yet, but Paul and Oliver did sleep together in the tent in our living room one night, ha ha! 

5. I was able to help at Experience Missions on August 11 as part of the newly formed Volunteer Leadership Team, and the kids and I were able to help pack aid for Voice of the Martyrs on August 13.

6. August 11 was our 21st anniversary. My dad and Margie sent us a card and some money to use toward a date. I am not as skilled at planning dates with Paul as I am with scheduling field trips, but I will come up with something at some point. I wore a t-shirt that I got during our honeymoon on St. Lucia, and I purchased 4 steaks at the grocery store (something I very rarely buy) that Paul grilled on Sunday. Oliver and I didn't eat any of the steak, but Ian, Nadia, and Paul enjoyed eating the steak on Sunday and Monday. 

7. We enjoyed having the Schrecks over for dinner at our house on Saturday.

8. I really enjoyed teaching a lesson Nahum chapter one in our Sunday School class on Sunday. It was the first time Paul ever saw me teach. I was very grateful for the positive feedback I received afterward. 

9. On Monday the orthodontist said we are done turning Oliver's expander! He now has some braces on his top jaw. The orthodontist also made some adjustments to Ian's retainer. We don't need to return for a month. 

10. It's been 3+ years since we've been to an eye doctor. Our vision insurance ended when my employment ended in 2019, and then we dropped our health insurance on December 1, 2021, because of the fiasco with my ankle surgery. It pays to call around because I again found a big difference in the price that eye centers charge self-paying customers. I made appointments for four of us at a place that charges $85 for an exam. Ian, Paul, and I wear eyeglasses. I am curious to see whether they will say if Oliver needs to wear them or not. 

11. I was able to run one of the games that the children played at Kid's Cafe last Friday and will be helping out with another activity there today. 

12. This summer I've been enjoying eating salads at home with Panera's poppyseed salad dressing. It has VERY few calories, and it tastes amazing! The only downside is the price, but I've purchased several bottles at Weis as it's still MUCH cheaper than buying a salad at Panera. 

13. August 16 was the final day of the season at our swimming pool. I'm not planning on getting a membership again in the future, but I'm thankful for the times we were able to swim there the last three years. Last week Oliver won a door prize through the library that resulted in the kids being given a $5 certificate to buy snacks at the pool. They enjoyed that as I never buy them snacks at the pool. 

14. I haven't been very diligent with trying new recipes this year, but we recently tried two new ones that will be added to our meal rotation - a chocolate eclair (no bake) dessert and a copycat recipe of Olive Garden's Five Cheese Ziti Al Forno. Both were recipes Nadia wanted to try. 

15. Although we've had an enjoyable break from "school," I am very ready to resume homeschooling. I'm very thankful that I can begin my tenth year as a homeschooling mom. Assuming that Oliver graduates in 2031, I am exactly at the middle of my time as a homeschooling mom - nine years under my belt and most likely nine years to go. The final three years I'll only have one student (Oliver).

16. I had plans to take my friend out to lunch when the kids were at camp in July. Those plans were cancelled because I was sick. I'm feeling fine now aside from the fact I can't hear much of anything out of my left ear. I took her out yesterday while her boys were in a class at the Children's Museum. Yesterday was her actual birthday. Going out to lunch with a friend is a very rare treat so I really enjoyed having that one-on-one time with her. 

17. The weather has been cooling off a little. Although I'm not a fan of winter weather, I also don't prefer really hot temperatures unless I'm in water. I've resumed mowing the lawn and have continued take Milo on walks every day. 

18. Although I've hit a bit of a plateau lately, I'm thankful for the thirteen pounds I have lost so far and the fact that more of my clothes fit me at the moment. 

19. In March 2020 I wondered how long it would take for life to get back to normal. It has been a gradual path back towards normal, but I feel like our lives are almost 100% back to normal as of August 2022. People are shaking hands again. Events that had been cancelled the last couple of years are taking place again - in person! A minority of people still choose to wear masks, but the only places we are required to wear a mask is in all medical facilities except for the dentist office. On August 11 the CDC said that those exposed to the virus are no longer required to quarantine, it's no longer recommended to screen those without symptoms, students can stay in school after being exposed to the virus, and unvaccinated people now have the same guidance as vaccinated people. My unvaccinated kids can see a Broadway show without taking a COVID test. Their unvaccinated status is preventing us from visiting Canada at this time, but at least within the USA the fact that they didn't receive the COVID vaccine (which frankly is a rather ineffective vaccine in my opinion) is not an issue. When I mentioned that life was getting back to normal to the kids, Oliver asked if the prices had come back down. I wasn't specific enough. No, inflation is still out of control, the "supply chain" issues haven't gone away, and there are many other things happening that are just plain nuts to me; I meant in terms of how life changed in response to COVID. In other ways it seems our world is veering off in a direction that would have seemed unfathomable not that long ago. Here's just one of many examples. If you had asked me ten years ago if I thought that 50% of our senators would vote that biological males can become pregnant, I would have said that would never happen. But it did even though for thousands of years of human history not one biological male has ever been pregnant.  I'm not sure if life will ever get back to "normal" in some ways, but I am very thankful that life has almost completely returned back to normal in regard to COVID.

We definitely went on more field trips during the 2021-22 school year than we did in 2020-21, but I feel like we will truly be back to normal in terms of field trips during this school year. The last time we took the kids to a Broadway show was 2019, and now we're planning to see one in NYC in December and another in St. Louis in April. Some of these plans might be cancelled, and it's very likely that more field trips will be added throughout the year, but here is the current list of field trips that I have planned for the 2022-23 school year. The ones with question marks are ones that haven't been scheduled into our calendar yet. The vast majority of these field trips are to places we haven't been before. This fall I have signed Nadia and Ian up to participate in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale and for Ian and Oliver to take a Ninjastics class. Beginning in January, I have signed Nadia and Ian up for an art class and Nadia for a drama class. I am planning to sign all of them up for ice skating lessons that would also begin in January. We're also hoping to go skiing once or twice in the winter. 

1. A Midsummer Night's Dream
2. National Canal Museum, Lehigh Valley Zoo, and Roasting Ears of Corn Festival at the Museum of Indian Culture
3. Tour of Old Mill Creamery
4. Waterfalls and Hydrogeology three-hour program for grades 7-12 at Ricketts Glen State Park 
5. Dotterer Dairy
6. Monarch Butterfly class
7. Howard Nursery
8. National Constitution Center, Betsy Ross House, Firemen's Hall Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Eastern State Penitentiary, and Harry Potter Exhibition
9. Battleship New Jersey, Thaddeus Kosciusko National Memorial, Franklin Institute, and Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site
10. Martin van Buren NHS and Saint Gaudens NHS
11. Sugarbush Farm, Marsh Billings-Rockefeller NHP, Ben & Jerry's Factory tour, Cold Hollow Cider Mill, and Vermont Teddy Bear factory tour
12. Marginal Way Walk and whale watching cruise
13. Acadia National Park
14. Lowell NHP, Louisa May Alcott's Orchard house, and Minute Man NHP
15. Bunker Hill, USS Constitution, Boston Lights at Franklin Park Zoo, and Adams NHP
16. Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters, Cry Innocent show, and Freedom Trail
17. Roger Williams Zoo, Roger Williams NM, John Brown House, Newport Mansions, and Newport Cliff Walk
18. Weir Farm NHS and PEZ Visitor Center
19. Homeschool program at Sinnemahoning State Park???
20. PA Renaissance Faire 
21. Waterdale Environmental Education Center
22. Belle Grove & Cedar Creek NHP
23. Wolf Sanctuary of PA
24. Outdoor Adventure Skills classes at Camp Susque (Nadia/Ian)
25. Full STEAM Ahead at Community Arts Center 
26. Local History Tour in McIntyre
27. Homeschool retreat at Camp Susque (two days)
28. Christmas Wonderland at Christian Life Assembly
29. Corning Museum of Glass
30. African Burial Ground, Federal Hall, Castle Clinton, and National September 11 Memorial
31. Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway, ice skating at Bryant Park, seeing the Christmas lights in NYC
32. Freedom Bound at Community Arts Center
33. Julius Caesar at Community Arts Center 
34. Easter show at Christian Life Assembly 
35. Indiana Dunes NP, Art Institute of Chicago, and Navy Pier
36. Pullman NM, Herbert Hoover NHS, and Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge
37. Henry Doorly Zoo and Homestead NHP
38. Brown vs. Board of Education NHP and National WWI Museum
39. Roasterie tour, Science City, and Meramec Cave
40. Ulysses S. Grant NHS, Herbaria, St. Louis Science Center, Gateway Arch NP, and Wicked show
41. Children's Museum of Indianapolis and COSI
42. Refreshing Mountain Homeschool Day???
43. Outdoor Adventure Skills overnight trip (Nadia and Ian)
44. Blue Angels Air Show
45. Fort Washington Park, Oxon Cove Park & Oxon Hill Farm, and Thomas Stone National Historic Site
46. Hampton National Historic Site, Maryland Zoo, and Rock Creek Park
47. Eckley Miners Village???