February

The kids enjoyed skiing with two of their friends - Isaiah and Micah

We didn't have any field trips or special outings in January, but the kids did begin their weekly ice-skating lessons, art class (Nadia and Ian), and drama class (Nadia) last month. Field trips and such have resumed this month. Our first was the Living History fair that the kids participated in on February 3. On February 10th we drove down to Maryland to spend the night at my friend's home prior to spending a day in Washington, D.C. The last time the kids and I were in DC was November 2018. We had planned to return in the spring of 2020, and we hadn't attempted any trips back down there since then. On this trip we visited the World War II, Lincoln, Vietnam, and Korean War Memorials before seeing a production of A Horse and His Boy (C.S. Lewis) at the Museum of the Bible. Nadia and Ian attended a Super Bowl party at church last Sunday, and all three kids attended a homeschool Valentine's Day party at a roller-skating rink this past Tuesday. Despite the fact that the temperatures got into the 60's, the kids and Paul skied at Elk Mountain on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the other annual WVIA ski day won't be happening this year at the ski resort closer to our home. The kids had never taken off their coats while skiing before! It was a first for them to ski when it was that warm outside. Today we participated in a service project for three hours packing hygiene kits for people in Ukraine for the first time since October. Special activities over the last ten days of the month will most likely include seeing a production of Freedom Bound (about the underground railroad), a board game gathering at another homeschool family's home, Nadia and Ian attending the Winter Jam concert with the youth group, and Nadia attending a birthday party at a bowling alley. I was planning to take the kids to a maple sugaring program next Saturday, but in light of the birthday party Nadia is attending and the fact that my new oven is supposed to be delivered that day, I don't think we will be attending that after all. 

Oliver had two teeth extracted at the dentist on January 25th at the request of the orthodontist. Ian had an x-ray at the dentist this past Tuesday in preparation for having teeth extracted at the dentist next month, also at the request of the orthodontist. Ian has been wearing a retainer since June 2021, but the orthodontist told him on Monday that his time wearing it will be coming to a close very soon. 

I read two books that the library had gotten me through interlibrary loan while the kids were skiing on Wednesday. I also worked on a database for Experience Missions this week. I've either read or listened to a total of 19 books so far this year. The last one that I completed was The Book Thief which I selected because Nadia is currently reading it; if I had started listening to it before she read it, I wouldn't have assigned it to her given the language in the book. Lesson learned (hopefully). I'm currently listening to Find Your People by Jennie Allen and A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin. The kids and I have listened to 21 books so far this year (some of them I read aloud). The last two that we completed were Red Falcons of Tremoine by Hendry Peart and Astrid the Unstoppable by Maria Parr. We're currently in the middle of A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park and Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate. We also finished watching the third season of The Chosen earlier this month. The season finale was excellent! 

This month I ordered a new range, which was something we've talked about doing since last summer because one of the burners can no longer be used. I had two contractors give me estimates for installation, and one of them is scheduled to do the work on March 3. The total cost is going to be much higher than I was expecting, but hopefully I will really like the new oven. It does have some features that my 14-year-old oven doesn't have. It's the first time in our lives that either of us have purchased an oven. 

I also purchased airfare for the first time since 2018. Thankfully, I was able to spend less than I was expecting for those tickets as I got them for about $130 each (per person per one-way ticket). We are planning to fly from Pittsburgh to Seattle near the end of August and then fly back from San Francisco a little over two weeks later. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but we plan to spend the first few days in Washington state, followed by two days in Oregon, two days in northern California, three days in Nevada with my Aunt Janet, and our last three days in San Francisco before flying back to Pittsburgh. At one point I considered including two days in British Columbia in this trip, but I've scratched those plans. If we do attempt to visit all or most of the Canadian provinces, we can visit Yoho national park which is located in the eastern part of British Columbia and is only about 20 minutes away from Lake Louise that I thought we'd visit in Alberta. Other things that have been eliminated either due to the cost or because we shortened the length of the trip include North Cascades National Park, Yosemite, a whale watching cruise, and Safari West. I also have scratched our plans to spend a day in Toronto in July because Paul's brother is going on vacation that same week, so Paul needs to be at work. 

I've also begun working on lesson plans for the next school year. Additionally, I've been researching what college classes Ian and Nadia might take while they're in high school. I'm not sure if Oliver will go to college, but I've told Ian and Nadia that the plan is that they each earn at least 30 college credits while they're in high school so that it will only take them three years to finish their college degree. This will save us a lot of money because colleges charge MUCH less for tuition if the student is still in high school, plus the kids will naturally still be living at home while they are in high school. 

Love Languages

Almost 26 years ago I read The Five Love Languages. At that point, Paul and I both had the same two primary love languages - quality time and physical touch. A couple of months ago I had all five of us take a love language assessment online. Paul's top two languages haven't changed. In my case, my top two languages are currently physical touch and acts of service. Considering how little time he and I have had together over the last seven years, I was surprised that quality time is his primary love language by a decent margin. I still scored the lowest for "gifts." When we were dating, I was renting an apartment and living alone, so I can see why words of affirmation and quality time were more important to me than acts of service. Now that we own our own home, it makes sense that acts of service are so much more meaningful to me as I don't have a landlord to call if something needs fixed in our home. Words of affirmation was in third place back when we were dating, and this time words of affirmation were tied with acts of service for second place. Physical touch is also the primary love language for Paul and Oliver, in second place for Ian, and (no surprise) in last place for Nadia. Gifts are the most significant to Nadia (primary) and Oliver (second place). I thought physical touch would be Ian's primary love language, but it was time, and after I thought about it, that made sense to me as he is the one who the most often asks me questions like, "Do you want to play a game with me?" Gifts and words of affirmation received low scores from Ian whereas physical touch and acts of service were tied for second place for him. Gifts and time were almost tied for first place for Nadia; acts of service and words of affirmation were tied for third place for her. Acts of service and quality time were tied for third place for Ian. I was surprised that "words of affirmation" was so low for Oliver (5%) because he writes me little messages like "I love you" at random times, which is not something I receive from anyone else in the family. I wanted everyone to take the assessment because I want to make sure I am expressing love to each family member in a way that is most meaningful to them. 

Nadia and her ice-skating teacher

In the early years of our marriage, Paul and I used to give each other gifts for Valentine's Day and go out on a date. Over the last 20+ years my taste in what I'd like to receive as a gift has definitely changed. I used to receive good jewelry from Paul. That's no longer my preference. I get more excited about something practical like a new kitchen faucet (something Paul gave me for my birthday several years ago). Paul and I haven't exchanged gifts on Valentine's Day for quite a few years.  When the kids were younger, they did receive some gifts on Valentine's Day from Paul's mom and my mom. A few years ago, I started a tradition of buying them each one gift. One year I got them each a book, and another year I got them each a jigsaw puzzle. Since we've been finally getting in the habit of having a family fun night once (and sometimes twice) a week, I decided to primarily get games this year in addition to some candy for each of them, and I decided this year to also get one for Paul not just for the kids. I got Spontuneous for Paul (a singing game because he always jokes about how he's going to be joining the praise team at church). We've played that one twice already, and we had fun. Nadia likes it the best. I got Ian the game Double Ditto and purchased Taco vs. Burrito for Oliver. Nadia has been enjoying watching old TV shows on the iPad the last few years (Cosby, Full House, Family Ties, Wonder Years, Saved by the Bell, Seventh Heaven, etc.), but we haven't found a way to stream Growing Pains so instead of buying her a game, I purchased a set of DVDs containing all the seasons on eBay for her. Hopefully she will enjoy watching that show. Oliver was hoping to get another nerf gun. If I didn't buy him a game, I would have gotten him another puzzle as that boy is doing puzzles every day!

Korean War Memorial in DC

We have a tradition that I make the kids heart shaped food on Valentine's Day. This morning I made them a heart shaped egg inside a piece of toast. We were invited to two different (free) homeschool Valentine's Day parties today - one at a bowling alley and the other at a roller-skating rink. We chose to go roller skating from 1-3pm because the rink is much closer to our home than the bowling alley. Celebrating Valentine's Day has morphed from going out to dinner with Paul to taking my kids to a roller-skating rink. 

The pictures in this post are from a variety of days - the living history fair, ice skating lessons, and our day in Washington, D.C. this past Saturday. We drove down on Friday afternoon and had dinner at my friend's house. She and I were roommates from 1994-1996 when we were both teaching at the same school in Annapolis. We spent the night at their home and then drove into DC on Saturday morning. I typically opt to take the Metro into DC, but since it was a Saturday in February, I decided we'd park in a parking garage near our final destination and get around on foot the rest of the time. Our first stop was the WWII Memorial where we had a 30-minute tour by a park ranger. We also visited the Lincoln, Korean War, and Vietnam Memorials. The kids earned a Junior Ranger badge. I was unable to procure tickets for the Washington Monument. We attempted to go in the National Archives prior to seeing A Horse and His Boy, but there was a long line. In hindsight, I wish we had just opted to visit the Jefferson Memorial on our way to the show. We plan to visit DC several more times in the next three years as there are many sites and museums the kids haven't been to yet (Ford's Theatre, White House, Capitol, Holocaust Museum, Spy Museum, etc.) so hopefully we will make it to the top of the Washington Monument in the future. We had tickets to ride that elevator and visit Ford's Theatre in 2020, but naturally those were cancelled due to you know what. We had lovely weather for walking around the mall on Saturday. 

10.5 years old

  

As of today, it has been exactly 26 years since Paul and I met at a ballroom dance class, and our youngest child will turn 11 in exactly six months! Here are 11 descriptions that are currently true of Oliver.

1. He has a new pair of eyeglasses that he's supposed to use when he's reading.

2. One of his most favorite activities is building forts in various places around our home.

3. His favorite toys are his nerf guns.

4. He is still generally a very generous boy. For example, he received a large canister of Gatorade powder (enough to make 9 gallons) for Christmas. He shares his Gatorade with his siblings and sometimes his friends.

5. His favorite way to earn screen time is to do a jigsaw puzzle. His second favorite way is through Duolingo. His skills with completing puzzles have dramatically improved over the last year.

6. His favorite ways to use his screen time include playing Roblox or Among Us on an iPad, watching YouTube videos (ex. Mr. Beast or Unspoken) on an iPad, or watching a movie with Paul. 

7. Of my three kids, Oliver eats by far the widest variety of foods for breakfast and lunch. He likes almost everything I make for dinner.

8. Oliver is the only one of our kids who regularly opts to go to bed a bit earlier than what we have stated is his bedtime. He's the only member of our family who hasn't ever wanted Milo sleep in his bed with him. 

9. Sometimes he joins me for one of my walks with Milo. He also is the only child who chooses to go with me inside grocery stores. When I go for walks, I usually listen to an audiobook with an earbud. When Oliver joins me, I listen to Oliver because he talks nonstop. 

10. Oliver prefers to read chapter books out loud, but very recently he has made the transition to reading them silently. He only reads when he is required to do so. He's been reading Imagination Station books recently. 

11. I really like the Beast Academy math textbooks. I had been having Oliver work through them at a much slower pace. This is his second year in fourth grade, and the first half of this school year he was using the third-grade books. Although those are superior in developing problem solving skills, they are not a good fit for Oliver. Just last week I threw in the towel while he was in book 4A and decided to have him switch to Teaching Textbooks (4th grade). I feel like this was definitely the right choice. He can now complete a math lesson independently, and he sometimes does more than one lesson in a day of his own initiative! His grades have been excellent so far. What a relief! My current goal is that he will finish the 4th and 5th grade Teaching Textbook courses by May 2024. Now that I've switched him to Teaching Textbooks, he actually is sometimes choosing to do a math lesson on the weekend to earn screen time. This is a first for Oliver!

A new month

My brother's birthday was February 1. He would have turned 39 years old this week if the Lord hadn't called him home in 2019. I know his three sisters miss him very much. 

We didn't have any field trips in January, but we have plans for a few this month. I had one special outing in January. I treated my friend, Cheri, to lunch at a fancy restaurant for her 66th birthday. A professor had treated me to lunch there in 2004, and I hadn't been there since that time. Tonight, the kids participated in a living history fair. I asked them to choose people who lived between AD 30-1454. Next year we'll focus on 1455-1707, and two years from now we'll study from 1708 to the present. The WVIA ski day that was supposed to happen on January 4 was rescheduled to February 15. They haven't announced yet when the second ski day will be, but it's usually the last week of February. We are also planning to spend next Saturday in DC. I ended up reading or listening to 13 books in January, and I've finished one so far in February (Unoffendable by Brant Hansen). I started more than thirteen books last month, but some of them I decided not to finish. I wish I had made that call with a book the kids and I recently finished - Catherine, Called Birdy. I seriously can't believe it received a Newberry Honor Award in 1995. I asked the kids to remind me of this experience in the future if I'm tempted to persevere through a book that none of us really like. We recently re-read two books by Laura Martin, who is one of the kids' favorite authors. 

Since the time Nadia and Ian were very young, I began mentally creating a list of experiences that I wanted my kids to have. In the early years they were things like take my kids to a circus, see Disney on Ice, go to a parade, see fireworks, etc. In many cases, it was because I remembered enjoying those experiences when I was a child, and in other instances (such as attending a Trans-Siberian orchestra concert), it was something I also hadn't yet experienced. Over the last month or so, I've given more thought to what experiences the kids haven't had yet that we might try to accomplish. There were things that crossed my mind that I didn't include on the list such as riding in a hot air balloon or attending a Penn State football game. When I asked the kids if they wanted to attend a college or professional football game, they weren't interested. The only athletic event that they said they are interested in seeing is a hockey game. We moved to Maryland when I was nine years old, and we lived very close to where the Washington Capitals played so I have memories of attending hockey games. Maybe we will take them to see a Hershey Bears game? The list of specific places I hope the kids are able to visit is very long (Alamo, Alcatraz, Gateway Arch, California redwoods, etc.), but I decided to include very few specific places on the list to prevent the list from being too unwieldy. I'm definitely open to suggestions if there are things that have slipped my mind that would be good to include on the list. Nadia will be fifteen in June, so we know we don't have many more years left with her living here at home. 

Nadia was the one who requested to swim with dolphins. When I was researching other possible animal encounters, I learned about the Wilstem Wildlife Park in Indiana. I have modified our vacation plans for April to include a day there. It has greatly increased the cost of that vacation which otherwise was a fairly economical one, but the kids are SUPER excited about having animal encounters with elephants, giraffes, sloths, kangaroos, and otters. Hopefully, it will be an experience that we'll never forget! If it was up to me, I wouldn't have scheduled it. Paul admits he's the "softie" in terms of being willing to splurge on an experience that I think is too expensive, but if he says we should do it, I agree since he's currently the only breadwinner in our family.