Thankful Thursday

1. We're thankful that Nadia is able to work at Warrior Run Petcare year-round, and that she also has been hired to be a counselor at Camp Susque this summer.

2. The three performances of the musical went very well. Overall, more than 1,400 people purchased tickets to see the Wizard of Oz. Seven of Yvonne's kids, Yvonne, Toby, my dad, Paul's dad, and Tab all saw one of their performances. I'm thankful they had this experience and that some of their family and friends were able to come and see them perform. I am also glad the rehearsals are DONE. Our schedule is much less hectic. This year I helped with serving meals to the cast. Next year I think I'll go back to volunteering to help with concessions.

3. On April 6 all 17 of us went to church together. My dad then drove to Pittsburgh for his cousin's funeral. The rest of us drove to Camp Hill to have lunch at Panera/Chipotle and see a passion play. I didn't think my dad would be able to see the kids' performance AND attend his cousin's funeral, but he was able to do so when they scheduled the funeral for Monday. 

4. I've taken at least one child to multiple Easter egg hunts every year from 2010 to 2025 with the exception of 2020. This is Oliver's last year so this phase of life as of April 20 will have come to an end. On April 12 I took Oliver to an egg hunt at the Alliance Church which is very close to our home. Because it was raining that morning, they moved the egg hunt into their gym. They had over 6,000 eggs on the floor!!! Oliver filled a LARGE basket once, dumped it out, and filled it a second time. There were still eggs on the floor when he decided to call it quits as far as collecting more eggs. He had found one prize egg - which meant he was given an Easter basket filled with an assortment of goodies (peeps, stuffed animals, etc.). Paul took him to another egg hunt in the afternoon at the park in our town. Usually, this egg hunt features hard boiled eggs for all the older kids, but I assume due to the cost of eggs these days, they had plastic eggs this year. Oliver found four prize eggs! I believe that's a record for him. All four prizes were solid chocolate bunnies. He shared some with his siblings. He plans to attend two more egg hunts this Saturday, and that will be the end of egg hunts for our family.

5. On Sunday I dropped Nadia off at church at 7:00 am so that she could ride to Philadelphia to participate in a ministry to homeless/ drug addicts in Kensington. She returned back around 6:00 pm. I am thankful she had a desire to serve in this ministry!

6. From 1992-2008 I owned plants that I kept either in my classroom, home, or office. When we moved to our current home in September 2008, I got rid of my plants, and I haven't had any plants in the home since then for any significant period of time. Last week I purchased two plants for the dining room - a monstera and a snake plant. Over the last month we've painted the dining room ceiling white, painted the walls grey, and painted the baseboards and window frames white (which had been stained for the last 26 years). We also removed the miniblinds, installed a curtain rod, and hung some drapes. I also hung up some additional artwork which included buying a frame for one my grandma's paintings that Aunt Janet gave me in 2020 before she moved to Reno. Next up is to change out the light fixture, and then I think the update in that room will be done. I really like the new plants, painted white trim, etc. Oliver also really likes the plants. I hope these plants are hearty enough to be able to go without being watered for two weeks while we're on vacation. I'm planning to tackle the living room next in terms of sanding, priming, and painting the trim and window frames. I will wait to paint the living room walls until after Paul does some spackling and sanding in there. 

7. Last week I had to cancel co-op at 7:30 am, which is about one hour before the first kids usually arrive, because some of us were sick. We're not all 100% healthy yet, but I'm thankful we were able to have co-op this week. We plan to meet three more times before taking a break for the summer.

8. On Sunday the boys attended a birthday party for a younger sibling of one of their friends at a playground. Ian went fishing with Ben, and they both caught trout! Ben is doing us the favor of chopping off the head and such, freezing it, and giving the fish Ian caught back to him so that he can eat it after I cook it. 

9. In October I permanently deleted my Facebook account. On March 22, I created a new account because I wanted to give away two curio cabinets. I have a whopping one friend right now, and I only sent her a friend request because she wanted to send me a video of her son's ninja competition via Messenger. I think this is the best of both worlds. I have spent zero minutes looking at a FB news feed for six months, but now if there's something I need to look up on a church or business's FB page, I can do so, and now I can resume selling things or giving things away on FB marketplace. This week Oliver sold some of his Paw Patrol toys for $50, and I gave away some plastic lawn chairs we hadn't used for more than 17 years. When I went on a FB yard sale page to list the Paw Patrol toys, I noticed a lot of 1,000-piece puzzles, which I proceeded to buy for Nadia on Monday. The seller met me at the dentist office while the kids were getting their teeth cleaned. I don't plan on posting anything on my wall or adding more friends as I don't plan to read a news feed, but there are other ways Facebook can be useful it seems (unfortunately). Anything that helps me with decluttering is appreciated. Paul made a trip to Goodwill to donate a trunk load after he took the boys to the birthday party on Sunday afternoon.

10. Nadia and Ian have recently started going on a walk together every day. A few weeks earlier Ian and Oliver started getting some exercise together outdoors. Ian often runs while Oliver is riding his bike or roller blading. Ian is the one getting the most exercise since both of his siblings ask him to join them! Milo is also getting more exercise because he's still walking with Paul and I twice a day, and now he also often joins Ian and Nadia. 

11. The battery on Paul's iPhone wouldn't charge. Thankfully he was able to get an appointment right away at Best Buy. They said it would cost over $400 to repair it so they suggested he purchase a wireless charger instead which was much cheaper than buying a new phone or repairing the phone. 

12. I'm thankful for Paul's help with the dining room update. I bought him a sledgehammer recently so that he could begin breaking up the piece of concrete in the yard that the spinning seesaw had been attached to. A few years ago, we had quite a few things in our yard - trampoline, spinning seesaw, shed, fence, and a slide/swing set. Gradually we've gotten rid of all of those things. The only things that remain are our grill and the two concrete pads. I'm not sure what we're going to do with the one that had been under the shed, but I figured if he broke apart the smaller slab, we could put a little bit in the garbage each week until we finally get rid of the entire thing. 

13. The plan *had* been to not take classes at MCS next year. Nadia and Ian have changed their tune. The school just changed the policy for homeschoolers. Up until this year homeschoolers have had to be in chorus to be able to audition for the musical. Starting in the fall, the policy is that homeschoolers can audition as long as they are taking one class at MCS. All three want to only take art at MCS next year, and Nadia and Ian want to be in The Little Mermaid musical in April 2026. The last two years they've taken art and chorus on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays are rather hectic because they also have Bible quizzing and youth group from 4:30-8:00 pm. I asked if their second section of art could be on another day. They could take art on Mondays. I asked Ian's piano teacher if Ian's piano lessons could be moved from Monday to Friday, and they can. The kids have been at church from 1:15-8:00 on Wednesdays. I'm grateful that won't be the case next year, and the kids are grateful they don't have to take chorus next year. 

14. Nadia, 100% of her own initiative, has been helping out rather regularly in the kitchen with baking, cooking, reheating, etc. I want all three kids to be adept at cooking and baking before they graduate. I'm trying to do a better job of asking the boys to help at least once a week to develop their skills as well. It means a lot when Nadia offers to help of her own initiative.