The last time Paul and I went on a date to see a movie at the theater was in 2004. It's not something we did very often while we were dating or in the early years of marriage. I think the two we saw in the theater together that Paul liked the best were The Perfect Storm and A Beautiful Mind. Generally, we have been content to wait until a movie comes out on DVD, and that has been even more true since we became parents in 2008. Saturday night Paul and I went to see Lifemark because I had received two free tickets through K-LOVE. It was our third date in 2022 after going a few years without any dates! Sam's Club is very close to the theater, so we picked up a few things there before the movie. In hindsight, we could have spent more time at Sam's Club because the previews lasted a full 31 minutes before the movie started. Oi vey! That didn't exactly inspire us to choose seeing movies at the theater over waiting for them to come out on DVD. The movie was excellent. I reflected on the years we tried to adopt and also the experiences of some of my friends who have adopted. The next movie I was contemplating seeing was I heard the Bells, which has been made by Sight and Sound and will be shown in December, but maybe we will return to our pattern of typically waiting to see movies on DVD. Now that Oliver is ten, we aren't paying his siblings to babysit him. There have been three "firsts" in the last month in regard to the kids being left alone. The three of them ate lunch once together at home alone when I went out to lunch with Tab last month, they ate dinner together at home alone once last month when I was at a meeting at church, and Saturday night was the first time that Oliver went to bed when we weren't home and no one else was babysitting. We certainly don't feel comfortable leaving them home alone for extended periods of time yet. We left as quickly as possible after the movie was done.
Speaking of Oliver being ten, he's now old enough to volunteer with Compassion. Ian and Nadia have volunteered with me on more than one occasion. Next month all five of us are signed up to volunteer with Compassion at a concert featuring Casting Crowns, Anne Wilson, and Cain in Hershey. It will be the first time either Paul or Oliver have volunteered with Compassion.
Speaking of dates, Nadia had her first date for 2022. She went bowling with Paul yesterday afternoon. They bowled four games. Oliver wanted to have his third (and final) date of the year yesterday, but the weather didn't cooperate. He has requested going to a corn maze for his last date. Technically Nadia's first date was split over two days. Last Sunday evening Paul took her out for pizza and then to a bowling alley, but the bowling alley wasn't open. Our new tradition is for the kids to each get three dates a year with one of their parents. Nadia has two left for 2022, and Ian should have one more.
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| Nadia took this photo of her guinea pig, Peppa. |
It's been 2.5 weeks since I wrote a gratitude list so here are some things that I am thankful for today.
2. Two sixth grade girls joined the Bible quizzing team. One of them lives across the street from us so we will be taking turns driving the kids to their practice at 4:30 on Wednesdays.
3. We enjoyed having a family from our church over for dinner on August 28. They go to our church, but I met them in 2020 when Nadia and their daughter, Natalie, were in a play together. One of my goals for the year has been to have 12 different families/couples over for dinner this year (not counting our relatives). We've had seven over so far.
4. Nadia and Ian had their first rehearsals with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale on August 29. Their second was tonight because they had last Monday off due to Labor Day.
5. I am enjoying doing my grocery shopping on Monday evenings at Aldi (and sometimes Walmart) while the kids are in Ninjastics and/or choir rehearsals.
6. We had a tour of a creamery that is housed in a building that is almost 200 years old. The ice cream is made from milk from their cows. It was SO delicious! We hope to go there again at some point in the future as the peanut butter Oreo ice cream was amazing!
7. On August 31 Oliver and I were able to help serve food to people who were coming to our church for a food bank distribution.
8. The kids and I participated in a three-hour program at a state park on September 2nd. I was very grateful that I didn't injure myself on the hike.
9. We enjoyed spending a couple of hours at Panera with the Kinleys. I had invited them to have a meal at our home, but he is highly allergic to guinea pigs, so they treated us to a meal instead.
10. The boys enjoyed seeing the new Pinocchio movie on Disney+.
11. Paul loved that they talked about Coolidge (one of his favorite Presidents) on the latest episode of the Tuttle Twins that we watch together as a family whenever new episodes come out on YouTube.
12. Milo had diarrhea in Nadia's bed once last week. Unfortunately, it happened again in Ian's bed the next night. Yuck! Considering I didn't want to start washing bedding on a daily basis, we had him sleep in his crate the next night. It happened in his crate the third night, but thankfully that was the end of it. After he had a night without any issues in his crate, we resumed having him sleep with the kids. That was the first time in the last 21 months that had ever happened, and hopefully it won't happen again!
13. Nadia and Ian also came down with a bug last week. Last week Paul was going in to work VERY early (as in leaving our home at 12:30am) so he was also coming home much earlier than usual which was very helpful as I didn't want to leave Ian alone at home if he wasn't feeling well. Ian for the first time in his life managed to throw up in the right place. I wasn't happy that he was vomiting, but I was very, very grateful I didn't have to clean it up. Whew. Nadia came down since on Thursday. I had already cancelled Thursday's field trip, and because the kids were sick, we opted not to go to our church's quarterly Friday evening worship service. Thankfully, Paul, Oliver, and I have escaped this bug.
14. Nadia, Oliver, and I attended a monarch butterfly class last Wednesday morning. We brought home a monarch egg, and it hatched this past weekend! I also took them to the thrift store to get Nadia some more jeans. Most things are 50% off at that store on Wednesdays.
15. My Bible study began on Wednesday night. I can already tell that this is a better fit for me than the group I was in on Wednesday nights last spring. 16. Paul and I enjoyed the movie Lifemark. We'll get it on DVD from the library in the future so the kids can watch it.
17. Nadia enjoyed bowling with Paul yesterday afternoon.
18. Paul and I enjoy our Sunday School class. Yesterday I was one of the two people signed up to bring snacks for our class. I made a strawberry pretzel Jell-O salad, German apple cake, and German peach kuchen. It seems like I made the correct amount of food as there was only a tiny bit left of each at the end of class.
19. The kids enjoyed skating at the homeschool party at the roller-skating rink today. Oliver won the four corners game and received a free popcorn from the snack bar as his prize. Oliver also enjoyed the cookies that they had at the orthodontist office this afternoon.
20. I've lost 18 pounds since I started dieting on June 1. I'd like to lose five more, but clothes that haven't fit for a year or more are fitting again, which is a great feeling. I've been faithfully walking with Milo for at least three miles a day rain or shine.
21. Although we weren't able to be there in person, we were able to see a video of my niece, Susie, giving her testimony and being baptized at their church in Chicago on Sunday.
22. We have no plans to go anywhere tomorrow. I am very thankful for that because today was a hectic day with the roller skating, errands, orthodontist, mowing the lawn, choir rehearsals, Ninjastics, etc.
23. Our neighbors have agreed to watch Milo this Friday/Saturday while we're in Philadelphia and also for our nine-day trip to New England later this month. So thankful!!!
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