2023 by the numbers

1 - We went skiing once at Elk Mountain. We got a new range for our kitchen. We attended our first hockey game. Nadia and Ian sang in one concert with Meadowbrook Christian School. The kids each had their first flight lesson in June. Nadia took the PSAT for the first time. We participated in an escape room for the first time. We attended a Blue Angels air show for the first time. For the first time since I was in 8th grade, I'm in a church that is in the middle of a church split. Our church has many pastors because our weekly attendance usually exceeds 2,000 people. The senior pastor fired one of the other pastors in November, and immediately a group of people from our church left to start a new church, and the pastor who was fired is the pastor at the new church. Often there is a fallout when a senior pastor retires, and when ours retired in 2021 he had been there for 40 years. We didn't experience much attrition in the first 2.5 years after he retired, but it's happening now. For now, we are not leaving our church. When our previous senior pastor retired, there were really three pastors in our church who "could" have been chosen to become the next senior pastor. I'm not surprised Pastor Ryan has become a senior pastor. He's a gifted preacher, but I didn't expect him to become a senior pastor at another church right in this same small area. Some other staff have left over his departure. It will be some time before we really know what the total fallout is from this. 

2 - Paul and his brother sold two companies at the end of July! Nadia was in two performances of Mary Poppins in May. Nadia completed her first two college courses this fall (General Psychology and US History); she's currently in the middle of her third course through Grand Canyon University. We visited two indoor water parks this year. The kids went roller skating twice at Trout Pond Park. Nadia and Ian had two art teachers this year. They took an art class once a week at the homeschool co-op from January through May and from August to the present have been in an art class twice a week at Meadowbrook Christian School. We made two trips to Chicago to visit my sister's family and two trips to Lynchburg, Virginia - one to say goodbye to Margie and the second for her funeral. Milo and Grandpa joined us for our second trip to Chicago. 

3 - Milo turned three on September 30. Over the course of the year, we had a total of three guinea pigs living in our home. Buttercup passed away and then Lily joined our family, which means we currently have two guinea pigs. Nadia and Ian sang in three concerts with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale. The kids and I attended a three-day Christian music festival at Six Flags Darien Lake. I organized three field trips for homeschoolers (Eckley Miners Village, Warrior Run Church, and Curtin Village/Bald Eagle State Park). As a family we saw three movies in the theater this year - His Only Son, The Shift, and Because of Bethlehem. Paul and Oliver also saw the Mario movie, and I also saw Sound of Freedom in the theater. 

4- We visited four amusement parks this summer - three in Pennsylvania and one in New York. It was our first-time visiting Kennywood which was our 27th amusement park we've been to as a family. We spent four days at Great Wolf Lodge with the Towfighis at the end of May. Nadia, Ian, and I served for four hours at the Operation Christmas Child distribution center in Baltimore for the first time. Four of us own cell phones as of this fall. Nadia got her first phone last year, but she could only use it on Wi-Fi until this fall when she got her first phone number and was added to our plan. 

5 - I was in the Sound of Music this fall. We put on five performances over the course of four days. Ian, Oliver, Xandir, Micah, and Isaiah spent five half-days at a Stronghold (foam sword fighting camp). The kids attended five game days with other homeschoolers - twice at our home, once at the Schrecks, and twice at the Schaffers. We received five passports in the mail. Paul and I renewed ours. Nadia and Ian received their second ones, and Oliver received his first passport. Nadia and Ian attended five Christmas parties (Oliver went to three of them) - two at church, one at a friend’s home, one at the roller-skating rink, and one at the ice-skating rink. 

6 - Ian, Oliver, and Xandir spent six days at camp at PMBC. We hosted a six-week session of a homeschool co-op at our home this fall. 

7 - Not counting relatives, we had families over for dinner at our home seven times this year, which was fewer times than last year, but this year we also hosted two games days (for kids) plus six sessions of a homeschool co-op. At least part of our family (and sometimes all five of us) volunteered to pack aid (hygiene kits, food, etc.) with Experience Missions seven times over the course of the year. We didn't fly anywhere from 2019-2022, but in 2023 I purchased tickets for us to fly seven times in 2023/24 (flight to Seattle in August 2023, flight from San Francisco in September 2023, flight to Miami for February 2024, flight to Quito for February 2024, flight from Quito for February 2024, and roundtrip flights to Anchorage for August 2024).

9 - The kids had nine ice skating lessons and attended three parties at the ice-skating rink.

11 - Oliver turned eleven on August 7. We visited eleven zoos/aquariums this year. Ten were ones we had never been to before bringing our cumulative total of zoos/aquariums that we've been to 31. Ian read eleven books this year. Last year he read 27 books, but some of the books he read this year were more than 700 pages long. 

12 - Nadia worked twelve shifts at Reptiland between June 12 and August 11.

14 - Ian turned fourteen on December 12.  

15 - Nadia turned fifteen on June 24. Ian had fifteen piano lessons with Lyn DeVito and participated in a duet piano recital for the first time. 

17 - Nadia spent seventeen days at Camp Susque. Oliver read seventeen books this year (compared to twenty-one last year).

22 - As of August 11, Paul and I have been married for twenty-two years. Nadia read twenty-two books this year (down from 67 last year).

35 - We visited 35 National Park sites this year bringing our cumulative total to 130.

42 - The kids each earned around forty-two Junior Ranger badges this year (compared to 36 last year). Nadia and Ian have each earned at least two hundred badges altogether. 

47 - This year we visited six states that we hadn't been in before as a family - Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. This brought our grand total to forty-seven states that we've spent time in over the last few years.  

49 - We saw the license plates for 49 of 50 states (plus DC and several Canadian provinces). The state we never spotted was Wyoming. Numbers 48 and 49 were Vermont and Hawaii. Last year we spotted 48, and the two we couldn't find last year were North Dakota and Hawaii. 

51 - I turned 51 on April 21.

53 - Paul turned 53 on January 3. 

54 - The kids went on 54 field trips this year. 

56 - I wrote 56 blog posts this year which was a new record low (compared to 78 last year which had been the record low). I made the blog more private about half-way through the year because the number of people reading the blog skyrocketed this summer for some unknown reason. 

80- I've either read or listened to a total of 80 books (not including the ones I did with the kids) of which 29 were nonfiction, which was a higher percentage than usual for me. That is eleven more than I read/listened to last year.

94 - This year we listened to (or I read aloud) a total of 94 audiobooks (down from 113 last year). Altogether over the last eleven years we've listened to 1,024 books. Fifty-four of those were rereads, which means the total number of unique titles would be 970.

955 - My current Duolingo streak is 955 days. I typically spend about 30 minutes a day learning Spanish via this app. Over the last 2.5 years I've completed six of the eight sections, which means I'm supposedly recently entered the early B2 level of CEFR (having completed the A1, A2, and B1 sections). Duolingo constantly revises their program. A moving target can be frustrating, but at least I know I'm moving forward. 

13,654 = the number of steps I averaged per day in 2023 according to my phone. *Most* days I walk Milo for at least four miles over the course of a day. The exception would be on rainy days as my walking buddy hates to get wet. 

14 years old!

 

For the past four months my kids ages have been two years apart, but that changed on Tuesday when Ian turned 14. He and Pop Pop blew out candles on a birthday cake on December 3. I made him peanut butter cup cookies for his birthday as peanut butter cups are his favorite type of candy. On December 11 we left our home around 9:00am to drive to the Kalahari resort in the Poconos; we ate the lunches we packed in the van. Check-in was a very quick process at a kiosk, and although usually you can't get into your room until 4pm, our room was already ready. We headed straight to the water park and spent about five hours there before we changed back into dry clothes and drove to Perkins to have dinner. The kids could have spent two more hours in the water park after we got back from having dinner, but they opted to hang out in our room instead. Oliver watched tv, Ian played on the Switch and iPad, and Nadia used her Chromebook. I worked on Ian's birthday video (see above). Nadia gave Ian a plush banana slug, Pop Pop gave him a $50 Apple gift card, Uncle Al and Aunt Millie gave him $20, and we gave him a Mario game for the Switch and a tripod for his phone that he wants to use when making stop motion movies. He had received two of his birthday gifts from us early - his very first cell phone and a watch. On Tuesday morning I ran to Dunkin to buy donuts and five breakfast sandwiches. That food constituted our breakfast and lunch for the day. When I made tuna noodle the previous Saturday, I purposefully doubled the recipe so that we'd have enough to have it again on Tuesday night. Paul and Ian also had some of the pork tenderloin that was left over from my dad's birthday dinner on Sunday. After dinner we went to Meadowbrook Christian School as Nadia and Ian sang in five of the songs at their Christmas program. 

In December 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022 we went to Great Wolf Lodge for one night for Ian's birthday. The kids and I went to the Kalahari in Sandusky, Ohio in August 2016, but we had never been to this particular resort. We still had the homeschool discount that we have had at GWL every time we've gone there, but Kalahari still costs quite a bit more than GWL. We decided to give it a whirl once. There are different pros/cons between the two parks. GWL has a better wave pool and has the lily pad feature that my kids enjoy. Kalahari has more water slides including mat slides. Altogether though I would say there is a better value to be had at GWL. If was up to Nadia, she would have spent the entire time in either the lazy river or the jacuzzi. At Kalahari you could be inside or outside while in the jacuzzi (even in the winter) which was different than GWL. Next year we're planning to try Camelback (another indoor water park resort in the Poconos), and then we're going to let Nadia pick in 2025 which one we go to as that will likely be her last hurrah as she'll be a senior in high school that year and probably won't be able to join us during Ian's last two years of high school. 

Here are 14 descriptions of our 14-year-old:

1. He enjoys playing the piano. He started taking lessons with Lyn DeVito in August and performed The Waltz of the Flowers with Josh in his first duet piano recital in November. He's currently working on a Christmas song that incorporates some classical music and also a Mario song that he plans to play at the recital in February. His piano teacher recently started working on teaching him to also play by ear.

2. Although he hasn't spent as much time as I hoped he would on learning Python the last four months, he still says he wants to study computer programming in college.

3. He's set a goal of being on the "A" team from our church at the Bible quizzing nationals in June. It's within his reach, but there is tough competition this year. I'm pleased that he's striving toward that goal. He's memorized several chapters of Ephesians and Galatians so far. He won first place in the individual competition at the practice quiz in Ohio last month!

4. He enjoys foam sword fighting with the Stronghold club in Winfield. His favorite weapon is a spear.

5. He has a beautiful voice. I usually wish that he would open his mouth wider and smile more at concerts. He sang at three concerts with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale in November and December. He opened his mouth more at the Christmas concert at Meadowbrook earlier this week because he said he couldn't see the audience.

6. He really enjoys our small homeschooling co-op. He especially enjoys spending time with Ben, Nathaniel, and Xandir. 

7. Ian loves to spend time with his cousins Nathan and Joel. 

8. He still loves to spend time playing with Legos, Nintendo Switch, and iPad (or his Android phone). 

9. So far, he's breezing through Algebra 2. He'll be resuming the General Science textbook he started last year tomorrow. Next fall when he enters 9th grade, he'll be taking Chemistry and Geometry. 

10. He had two more baby teeth extracted by the dentist recently at the request of the orthodontist. He lost his retainer in the summer, so he's been enjoying chewing gum the last several months. He will be starting phase two with the orthodontist in February. 

11. When I pick him up from the youth center at church, he's usually playing either ping pong, pool, or foosball. He's enjoying our new foosball table that was an early Christmas gift. 

12. He almost always has cold cereal for breakfast. Some of his favorites are Captain Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, and Reese's Puffs. He almost always has a peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwich and half an apple (dipped in peanut butter) for lunch. His favorite ice cream is Moose Tracks. 

13. Ian enjoys reading Sonic comic books. Over the past six months he read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, The Second Mrs. Gioconda by E.L. Konigsburg, The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

14. The thing I most appreciate about Ian, aside from his hugs, would be his sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. I look forward to seeing how Ian will grow physically, spiritually, socially, academically, and emotionally over the coming year! 

Grandpa was with us for his 80th birthday!

Birthdays!

This year we were with three of our nieces/nephews on their birthdays, which isn't typical because they live far away from us. In May we celebrated Joel's 12th birthday at Great Wolf Lodge, and last month we celebrated Jenna's 21st and Nathan's 15th birthdays at our home. I made Joel a carrot cake for his birthday and bought donuts and cookies for everyone another night on that trip. Jenna's birthday was the day before Thanksgiving this year. There were eleven people here for Jenna's birthday dinner: our family, Grandpa, her mom, Jenna, Toby, Andrew, and Nathan. She requested chili, rice, and peanut butter cookies. Nathan's birthday was the day after Thanksgiving. He requested sausage biscuits for breakfast. I bought four mylar birthday balloons, and the kids hung birthday banners throughout the house. We watched the movie "Sound of Freedom" and played games which included using our new foosball table. Grandpa slept in Oliver's bedroom. Nathan slept on the bottom bunk in Ian's bedroom, and Oliver slept on an air mattress in Ian's bedroom. Toby, Andrew, Yvonne, and Jenna used the two sofa beds downstairs. 

Ian's birthday (Dec 12) is very close to Aunt Janet's (Dec 9), my dad's (Dec 10), and Paul's dad's (Dec 20). From 2010-2017 we celebrated my dad's birthday and Ian's birthday together with my dad (2010-2015 also with my mom, 2016 just with my dad, and in 2017 with my dad and Margie). The last five years we only saw my dad at Christmas, not in conjunction with his birthday or Ian's birthday. In 2018 we started a tradition of going to Great Wolf Lodge for one night to celebrate Ian's birthday. We weren't able to go in 2020, but we went every other year since December 2018. Because we spent 3 nights at Great Wolf Lodge with the Towfighis earlier this year, we decided to give Kalahari a whirl this year for Ian's birthday. Although we're still getting a discount because we're going with a homeschool group, it costs a lot more than Great Wolf Lodge. We decided to try this Kalahari at least once. The kids and I were at the Kalahari in Ohio once in 2016. My dad is planning to drive up to Pennsylvania on Saturday so he will spend his 80th birthday with us this year. He'll then be seeing a show in Lancaster with Andrea. It will be the first time since 2017 that we were able to celebrate his birthday with him. 

Over the past 25 years I can only think of two times when we didn't spend time with several members of both sides of our family at Christmas. In 2020 we weren't with any relatives. In December 2022 the only person from Paul's side of the family that we saw was his dad. It had been almost exactly two years since Nadia, Ian, or I saw Al or Millie. Oliver had seen Uncle Al in March of 2022 when he took him to a concert. Because we are going to Chicago for Christmas this year, and because Al and Millie are very busy at their bakery in December, we ended up celebrating Ian's 14th birthday, Pop Pop's 82nd birthday, and Christmas yesterday. Shawn lives with Al and Millie. My kids haven't seen their cousin since 2021. He didn't come yesterday. I served ham steaks, au gratin potatoes, sweet potatoes, applesauce, cranberry sauce, mixed vegetables, and homemade rolls yesterday. Al and Millie brought cookies and a birthday cake. I think it was the earliest Christmas gift exchange we've ever had, but the kids weren't complaining about that, ha ha! 

The pictures in this post are from Nadia and Ian's concert in November, the day we volunteered at the Operation Christmas Child distribution center in Baltimore, the birthday cake from yesterday, and from the night Nadia and Ian sang at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Lewisburg. Other highlights from the past two weeks would include seeing the movie The Shift in the theater, seeing the musical "Not so perfect Christmas" and having dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Jenna, and getting a new dishwasher installed in our home. The one we bought eleven years ago decided to stop working over Thanksgiving while there were eleven people under our roof. The new one is much nicer than the one that was hauled away last week! I'm very appreciative of dishwashers, especially when we have company!