January

We don't have any field trips scheduled for the month of January although we had planned to go skiing on January 4th, but that trip was postponed due to the weather being too warm that day for skiing. This doesn't mean we're staying home all the time. The kids' 10-week session of ice-skating lessons began on January 5th, Nadia and Ian participated in a Bible quizzing competition last weekend, and the homeschool co-op classes began last Monday. We didn't participate in the co-op last semester, but I signed Nadia and Ian up for a 60-minute art class that will continue through May 8, and Nadia has a 75-minute drama class following the art class. On May 18-19, they will be performing Mary Poppins. The auditions are tomorrow. I learned about another youth choir that Nadia and Ian could join this semester that meets on Tuesday evenings, but I decided that we have enough weekly commitments, and I didn't want to add another one to our calendar. My Bible study group resumed our study of John last Wednesday night after being on hiatus since November 9. For the past six weeks our family has enjoyed watching The Chosen on Sunday nights. Episodes #4-5 were my favorite ones so far of the third season. We have to wait until February 5th and 7th to watch the last two episodes of this season. 

Last year I set a goal to invite twelve families (not counting our relatives) over to our home for a meal. So far, we have had one family over for dinner this month, and another family is scheduled to come over this Saturday. I can only think of three families that live in Pennsylvania and are not relatives who have invited us over to their home for a meal over the last 14+ years, Dave & Marla (Dave is an employee of Paul), Kay & Allen (they have been friends of mine for 27 years), and Carol & Denis (Carol has been my friend for 29 years). Those three families all live at least 90 minutes away from our home. Earlier this month we had dinner at a local family's home, which was a first for us since we moved here in September 2008.  They had come over to our home for a meal once last summer. 

I didn't try that many new recipes last year. Of the ones that I did try, the favorite was Creamy Garlic Chicken Penne. I'm hoping to try at least twelve new recipes this year. I've tried three new recipes so far this month. The first one, Amish Breakfast Casserole, was a hit and will be added to our meal rotation, which is also what happened with the creamy garlic chicken penne. Nadia is determined to make a wider variety of desserts this year. It had been years since I had made snickerdoodle cookies. Nadia made them this month, and it turns out that they are a hit with everyone in our family except for Paul, who won't eat anything that has cinnamon in it. At the moment, Nadia's favorite dessert is apple crisp. In the last five weeks we also made peanut butter blossoms and peanut butter cup cookies, which were both well received and ones we hadn't made for several years. 

I haven't been doing a good job of taking pictures lately. Hopefully I will get back in gear with that in the near future. The first picture in this post is from when we visited the National September 11 Museum last month. I have been doing a good job of walking 4-6 miles a day almost every day. The exception would be on really rainy days. I usually listen to audiobooks while I'm walking, and I've also been reading books (paperback or via the Kindle). I've finished eight books so far this year, and I'm currently in the middle of three others. The books have been from different genres - historical fiction (Refugee by Alan Gratz), autobiography (I am Malala and Hiding in the Light), dystopian (Shadow Children series), nonfiction (Essentialism by Greg McKeown), contemporary fiction (A Life Intercepted by Charles Martin), and suspense (Edge of Dusk by Colleen Coble). Next up will be two more nonfiction books - Effortless by Greg McKeown and Find Your People by Jennie Allen. Nadia is currently reading Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Rose, and that is one I also want to read sometime this year. In addition to The Chosen, I've also been watching episodes of the third season of All Creatures Great and Small via the PBS app. I often go months without watching any tv shows or movies, so it's been a treat to watch the third seasons of The Chosen and All Creatures Great and Small. 

Because of the gigantic medical bill that we had to pay last year, I opted not to spend money on house projects last year. I am NOT implying that we were planning to spend $20K on the house. The most we ever spent on the house was $10K when we replaced our roof, and most years we spend less than $2K. Earlier this month a salesman gave us an estimate on replacing some of our windows plus our sliding glass door. We were very impressed with the product he was selling, but the price was way out of our league. I also had a contractor come in to give us an estimate on modifying our countertop/cabinet so that we can have a new oven installed because no one makes ovens that are as small as our existing one. My oven is 24 years old, and one of the two larger burners can no longer be used. I have a long list of potential house projects, but the vast majority will likely never happen (ex. having crown molding installed, waterproofing the basement, finishing the basement, replacing the windows, and finishing putting drywall in the garage). A priority to Paul is replacing the shed, which is literally falling to pieces. I'm not exactly sure which projects will be tackled this year aside from replacing the oven, but likely candidates would including replacing one broken window (above the kitchen sink), replacing the sliding glass door, replacing the shed, and replacing the 24-year-old carpet that is on the stairway, upstairs hallway, and Oliver's bedroom. We'll start with the oven and depending on how much that costs possibly move on to something else on the list. I wish I had a choice in which oven we purchased, but it wasn't worth it to me to get new countertops and/or cabinets just so I could have a choice in which oven we got. 

Towards the end of 2022 we finally got in the habit of having a weekly "family fun night." I was thinking that we would usually do it on a Saturday night, but Sunday has been working on better many times for various reasons such as Paul got home from work too late last night and the previous Saturday, we had company. Today it was Nadia's turn to choose what we did, and she picked that we played Miles Borne. 

O Canada

 

When I was growing up, we spent several of our family vacations in Canada. We went to at least seven of the ten provinces. Our trip to British Columbia and Alberta was my least favorite vacation just because of how many hours we spent in the vehicle even though we had flown out to Seattle from Maryland. My favorite place that we visited in Canada was Halifax, Nova Scotia. Several years ago, I thought it would be a good goal for us to see if we could visit all ten provinces with our children. We spent a little time in Ontario in 2018, and I had made hotel reservations for a more extensive trip through Ontario and Quebec in 2020, but naturally, those plans were all cancelled due to COVID. We ended up accomplishing the New England portion of that trip in September 2022, but I eliminated the Canadian portion due to COVID mandates that were in place at the time. Ironically, while we were on that trip Canada announced that the mandates would be ending as of October 1. Because our whale cruise in Maine was cancelled this past September due to Hurricane Fiona, I thought we'd take a whale cruise this coming September off the coast of Washington, but it turns out that the whale cruises on the northwest coast are FAR more expensive than the whale cruises on the northeast coast. Now that we are planning to visit the maritime provinces, I think we'll aim to go on a whale watching cruise in the Bay of Fundy instead. 

Canada has an Xplorers program similar to the Junior Ranger program in the US. The kids completed the Xplorers booklet at Fort George in Ontario in 2018. I don't expect them to earn anywhere near as many in Canada as they have in the US, but hopefully they'll earn at least ten over the next four years at places such as Banff, Lake Louise, Fundy, Green Gables Heritage, Cape Breton, Halifax Citadel, Alexander Graham Bell, Jasper, and Gros Morne. This week I decided to give more thought to making plans, which if they come to fruition would enable us to visit all of the Canadian provinces within the next 4.5 years. Here are some of those plans:

1. Spend one day in Toronto this July in conjunction with a music festival we plan to attend at Darien Lake (NY).
2. Spend two days in British Columbia this September. I deleted San Juan Island (Washington) from the current potential itinerary and lengthened the vacation by one day to add in this province.
3. Spend about one week on a trip to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City in June or July 2024 immediately following a Bible quizzing competition in NY. On the way home we could visit the three National Park sites in Hyde Park, New York that we weren't able to visit this past fall. 
4. Take a vacation to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland in 2026. Although Gros Morne National Park looks like it is very beautiful, I think the province that is the most likely to be eliminated from our travel plans would be Newfoundland given the time and expense it would take to get there from Nova Scotia. 
5. Visit Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan along with Glacier National Park and some sites in South Dakota in 2027. Those would be the final three provinces, and this trip would involve the most driving even though I'm thinking we would fly out to Minneapolis. Hopefully we will all have a good opinion of this trip even though we'll have to spend more time in a vehicle than we'd like. Canada is a VERY big country! 

Some of the gingerbread houses that the kids made.

I fully realize that this tentative plan is subject to change, but I also think there's more of a chance that we will achieve the goals to visit all 50 states, all (or at least 9 of the) 10 Canadian provinces, Ecuador, and the British Isles if we have some potential plans. I also want the kids to visit a third world country on a short-term mission trip (probably Guatemala) over the next couple of years. 

1. April 2023 - Nebraska, Kansas, Chicago, and Iowa
2. September 2023 - Lake Tahoe (Nevada), northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia
3. January 2024 - Ecuador and southern Florida
4. May 2024 - Virginia
5. June or July 2024 - Ontario, New York, and Quebec
6. September 2024 - Alaska
7. March 2025 - Texas and Louisiana
8. May 2025 - D.C.
9. September 2025 - Hawaii
10. Spring 2026 - D.C.
11. May 2026 - England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland
12. August 2026 - New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland 
13. August 2027 - British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan as well as some sites in the US (Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota)

Ian's bedroom after I took down the border and painted his walls at the end of December. 

100th Day

Today was our 100th day of school. When I was a student, that wasn't something that was celebrated, but through my Facebook feed as well as my time in various schools observing student teachers, I have learned that in many younger classrooms, the 100th day of school is a big deal. As of Monday, we will be half-way through our school year in terms of number of days that we do schoolwork at home. Including field trips, I think we'll end up with 187 days of school this year (7 more than required) by May 10, which I anticipate being our last day of school this year. I have chosen next Thursday to be the final day of the second marking period for Nadia because she will finish the first semester of Biology on that day. During the second half of the school year Nadia and Ian will be taking a weekly art class at the homeschool co-op, Nadia will also be taking a drama class at the co-op, and all three kids will be participating in a ten-week ice skating class which began yesterday evening. Here are some highlights of what we've been up to during the first 100 days of school:

1. Read and discussed Matthew, Mark, Acts, Romans and 1 Corinthians together. 
2. Memorized Ephesians 1:1-4:10; Nadia and Ian have also memorized select verses from Acts 1-9.
3. Oliver has been studying earth science, and Nadia is half-way through biology. Ian started the year doing biology with Nadia, but part-way through I switched him to General Science. I recently ordered Ian another Python book as he wants to learn more about coding. 
4. Ian currently has earned an A in Algebra I, and Nadia currently has a B in Geometry. Oliver completed Beast Academy levels 3C and 3D. This week he began 4A. In Life of Fred Ian and Nadia are half-way through Beginning Algebra. Oliver completed Honey, Ice Cream, and Jelly Beans. 
5. In Social Studies we have covered about 1,000 years of history so far this school year as we read about Leif Erickson today. The kids will be participating in a living history homeschool event in early February. Nadia is researching Joan of Arc, Oliver will be doing the Apostle Paul, and Ian is reading about Marco Polo. Marco Polo wasn't Ian's first choice, but I couldn't find books at the library for his first few choices. I wish I had been able find more books about Leif Erickson (one of his choices) as getting him a Viking costume would have been much easier than finding something for him to wear when he portrays Marco Polo. We haven't read any Shakespeare yet this year, but we will be studying Macbeth starting on Monday. 
6. Nadia completed unit studies four biographies about Joni Eareckson, Corrie ten Boom, C.S. Lewis, and Rifka Bary in addition to ones on the Screwtape Letters and The Green Glass Sea. For leisure she has been reading books by Karen Kingsbury. Ian read Beorn the Proud, Twice Freed, Augustine Came to Kent, and Son of Charlamagne. For leisure he has been reading books by Brandon Sanderson, Andrew Peterson, and J.K. Rowling. Oliver and I have been reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books together. 
7. Nadia has completed two personal finance courses through Dave Ramsey, and Ian is part-way through one finance course. 
8. Nadia and Ian sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale.

Yesterday Ian had his annual physical. He currently is 59.5 inches tall, which puts him at the 26th percentile for height. He grew 2.25 inches over the past year, and his height percentile didn't change that much as last year he was at the 30th percentile. When Nadia was twelve years old, she grew 3.25 inches and was 5ft 1.25 inches tall, which moved her from the 29th percentile for height to the 41st percentile. Ian lost a little weight over the last year. Yesterday he weighed 76 pounds, which put him at the 6th percentile. Last year he was at the 20th percentile for weight. Because of this his BMI is currently only at the 3rd percentile, which classifies him as underweight for the first time since he was an infant. I'm going to have him weigh himself periodically just to make sure he doesn't lose any more weight. For the last few years Oliver has been the slenderest member of our family, but Ian now holds that position. I was very pleasantly surprised that the clinic had ended the mask mandate since the last time we were there! It was the first time in almost 3 years that we could enter a medical facility without wearing face masks! I had started to think that might be a permanent change. I'm glad I was wrong!

Fifty-three

As of today, my husband is 53 years old, which means in two years the two of us can join the "Classics" group at our church which is led by our former senior pastor and his wife (previously named "Best Years Fellowship".) We became friends and started dating shortly after he turned 27, so as of early next year he'll have been in a relationship with me for half of his life. Over the past 26 years, Paul has been a full-time student for 11 years, a college professor for 3 years, and worked full-time at Kennedy Concrete for 12 years - half of the time as an employee and the other half as the owner. In 1997 he had recently moved back to Pennsylvania from Albuquerque. He was single, working for his dad, had a car loan, hadn't attended college, and lived with his parents and their dog, Fergie. We've been married for almost 21.5 years, he has a B.S. in math, M.S. in chemistry, and Ph.D. in physical chemistry, we own our home and have been debt free for almost 4 years, and we have three children and have had a total of five pets (three at the moment). 

In the first 31 years of his life, Paul only went on vacation a couple of times. Not counting shorter (2-3 day) getaways, he's been on at least 25 vacations over the last 21.5 years. The kids and I went on an additional nine vacations with other relatives during which Paul didn't join us from 2011-2021. In September 2021, Paul decided that he wanted to join us for all of our future vacations. The kids still occasionally ask Paul if he will be joining us. Paul has very diverse interests, so he enjoys most of the activities included in our vacations, but the forts, battlefields, battleships, and military museums are definitely included primarily for his benefit. 

At the same time that he made the vacation decision, he also made a change in how many days/hours he spent at the plant each week. Previously he typically went into work before the kids got up and got home close to (or after) Oliver's bedtime M-F and worked shorter hours on Saturdays. Over the last fifteen months, there have been far fewer weeks when he has gone to work six days in a row. He often works on the laptop at home if he takes a day off of work (M-F). We used to have a desk in our bedroom, but we gave it to Nadia a year ago. This week I ordered him a small, simple table that I'm planning to put in the living room to become his computer desk as he's been using our dining room table as his desk for the last year. He also has been going in to work much later most of the time - in that case it's not about having more time with the kids but rather just his own preference. Typically, the only times lately that he has put in as many hours as he used to on a regular basis or gone in very early has been when his brother is on vacation. Even though his brother is on vacation this week and they will be in Baltimore at a trade show next week, Paul was planning to take tomorrow off to go skiing with the kids at Elk Mountain. The only other time he went skiing with the kids at Elk Mountain was in 2021 because the trade show was cancelled that year due to COVID. The kids and I are very thankful that Paul is now joining us more often. This ski day has been postponed by WVIA because of the warm (highs in the 50's) and wet weather forecasted for tomorrow. 

When I met Paul his hobbies included ballroom dancing, reading, chess, computer games, and watching college and professional basketball and football games on tv. Although we often went ballroom dancing in the beginning of our relationship, we have gone ballroom dancing very few times over the last 21 years. I am hoping that at some point we will resume taking ballroom dancing classes together. Over the years Paul gradually reduced how many sports he followed on tv. The last one to go was the NFL. We used to watch the Steelers and Giants' games together. We have both been completely oblivious to what has been happening in the NFL the last few years. Paul still loves to read. During the first few years that he was the owner of Kennedy Concrete he didn't read much, but over the last 2+ years he has been reading more - mostly a combination of science fiction, military history, and books about investing in the stock market. Thankfully, he is fine with reading physical books or books with the Kindle or a Kindle app because our bookshelves are overflowing with books. He received three history books for Christmas and one more for his birthday. I got him two books about the Civil War, and my dad and Margie got him one about the French and Indian War and another about the War of 1812. He hasn't played any computer games in quite a while, but he does play on our oldest iPad, which he dubbed "iPadasarous". He enjoys playing Sudoku and Boggle online. He still enjoys chess although he doesn't play very often. For the first 25.5 years that I knew him, I don't believe he ever lost a game, and the only time I remember a game ending in a draw was when he played Yvonne's friend's husband. However, in the last six months, he lost a game to the kids' Bible Bowl coach (hoping for a rematch soon), and in Virginia last week a game between Paul and my fifteen-year-old nephew, Adam, ended in a draw. Adam has improved a lot since they last played as usually Paul gives his nieces, nephews, and children an advantage as he starts the game with fewer pieces. Paul has recently gone back to reading some books about chess, which he hadn't done in a long time. 

For his birthday meal, I offered to pick up a bucket of chicken from KFC using a gift card my dad and Margie gave him for Christmas, but he asked me to make spaghetti and meatballs. Nadia made him Heath bar cookies for his birthday dessert. Hopefully this next year will be an excellent one for Paul. I know he really misses his mom. The kids and I love him very much! 

2023 Bucket List

Last year instead of creating a list of goals on January 1, I created a list of first-time experiences for the year, and I decided to do the same this year. Last year's list changed throughout the year, but it ended up including 147 first-time experiences.

1. Nadia and Ian take an art class at the co-op - done!
2. Watch season three of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS - done!
3. Watch new episodes of The Chosen - done!
4. Watch new episodes of the Wingfeather Saga - done!
5. Watch the movie The Magician's Elephant - done!
6. Watch the movie The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - done!
7. Watch the movie Matilda the Musical - done!
8. Watch the movie Dog Gone - done!
9. A Horse and His Boy at the Museum of the Bible - done!
10. Memorials in DC (Lincoln, Korean War, Vietnam, and WWII) - done!
11. Attend Freedom Bound show at the Community Arts Center - done!
12. Attend Julius Caesar at the Community Arts Center - done!
13. See the movie His Only Son at AMC - done!
14. Pullman Memorial - done!
15. Herbert Hoover National Historical Park - done!
16. Homestead National Historic Park - done!
17. Henry Doorly Zoo - done!
18. Brown v. Board of Education - done!
19. Kansas City Zoo - done!
20. Wilstem Wildlife Park - done!
21. National WW1 Museum and Memorial - done!
22. Science City - done!
23. Eat at Culver's - done!
24. Eat at On the Border - done!
25. Meramec Caverns - done!
26. Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site - done!
27. Herbaria tour - done!
28. See Broadway performance of Wicked - done!
29. Gateway Arch National Park - done!
30. Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site - done!
31. Children's Museum of Indianapolis - done!
32. Hopewell Culture National Historical Park - done!
33. COSI - done!
34. Hampton National Historic Site - done!
35. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad NHP - done!
36. Eat at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - done!
37. Assateague Island National Seashore kayak tour - done!
38. Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm - done!
39. Fort Washington Park - done!
40. Thomas Stone National Historic Site-done!
41. Nadia and Ian camp for two days at Camp Susque in May - done!
42. Eckley Miner's Village - done!
43. Historic Warrior Run Church - done!
44. Nadia participates in two performances of Mary Poppins - done!
45. Nadia starts her first job (Reptiland) - done!
46. Kids attend an Airmen of Note concert - done!
47. Spend 3 nights at Great Wolf Lodge with the Towfighis - done!
48. Great Pocono Air Show - done!
49. Attend a concert by the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra - done!
50. Four-hour kayaking/fishing trip with HERYN - done!
51. Young Eagles Rally at Bloomsburg Municipal Airport - done!
52. Rodale Institute - done!
53. Crystal Cave - done!
54. Boys participate in a 5 day foam sword fighting camp - done!
55.  Eisenhower National Historic Site - done!
56. Eat at Primanti Bros - done!
57. Kingdom Bound festival at Darien Lake - done!
58. Bushy Run Battlefield - done!
59. Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium - done!
60. Kennywood - done!
61. Lake Tahoe with Aunt Janet and meet Ziggy and Robin - done!
62. Redwood National Park - done!
63. Museum of Flight - done!
64. Oregon Zoo - done!
65. Wildlife Safari - done!
66. Oregon Museum of Science and Industry - done!
67. Oakland Zoo - done!
68. Exploratorium - done!
69. Jelly Belly Factory - done!
70. San Fransisco Maritime - done!
71. Pier 39 - done!
72. Crater Lake - done!
73. Multnomah Falls - done!
74. Mount St. Helens- done!
75. Fort Vancouver- done!
76. Olympic National Park - done!
77. I participate in Sound of Music - done!
78. Get ice cream from Ghirardelli Square - done!
79. Attend an Unspoken/ JJ Weeks/ Cade Thompson concert - done!
80. Attend a concert featuring Katy Nicole/ Consumed by Fire, Stephen Stanley, etc. - done!
81. Arlington Cemetery - done! 
82. Curtin Village - done! 
83. John Muir - done! 
84. Fort Point- done! 
85. Marin Headlands- done! 
86. Alcatraz Island - done! 
87. Muir Woods - done! 
88. Rosie the Riveter - done! 
89. California Academy of Sciences - done! 
90. PA Lumber Museum - done! 
91. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens - done! 
92. Belmont-Paul Women's Equality - done!
93. Library of Congress - done!
94. Tour the US Capitol - done!
95. See a performance of Twelfth Night - done!
96. See a Hershey Bears game - done!
97. Attend Beethoven's 9th Symphony - done!
98. See a performance of Cheaper by the Dozen - done!
99. Attend a Micah Tyler concert - done!
100. Attend a concert featuring MercyMe, Crowder, and Andrew Ripp (just Nadia) - done!
101. Ian's first duet piano recital - done!
102. See the movie Journey to Bethlehem - done!
103. Help at the Baltimore distribution center for Operation Christmas Child - done!
104. Spend a night at a Kalahari resort/ water park - done!
105. Participated in an escape room for the first time - done!
106. See a performance of the Broadway show Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Chicago - done!
107. Visit Google's office in Chicago - done!
108. Visit the Toledo Museum of Art - done!
109. Boys climb with Rachel, Adam, and Susie at Brooklyn Boulders - done!
110. See the movie The Shift - done!