Sixteen years old!

I now have two kids who are old enough to drive! Oliver and Nadia love sitting up in the front passenger seat, but Ian refuses to ever sit there. He'll have to be willing to sit in the front row to be able to drive! Usually, we don't do schoolwork on Ian's birthday, but since we are taking off on December 15-17 to go to Great Wolf Lodge for one night and spend time with the Towfighis, today was a normal school day. He received his main birthday gift from us very early (in August) when I got him a nice desk chair for his bedroom. I had the idea because he had borrowed Nadia's while she was working at Camp Susque in July. He received a book from Nadia today, a TSO piano book from me, and money from Grandpa, Oliver, and Paul and me. He asked for stromboli for dinner, and he asked Nadia to make him peanut butter bars for dessert. Yum! 

Sixteen ways Ian has changed over the last year:

1. When he was very young, he and Nadia used to each eat half of a banana at lunch. Neither of them has been eating any bananas for quite a few years. This fall, Ian decided that he should eat a banana every day. 

2. He also has gotten in the habit of drinking a glass of milk every day, which has meant we're going through more gallons of milk per month than we used to. He doesn't drink coffee regularly by any means, but he does have some coffee now and then (such as when we're on vacation). 

3. He's completed his first two college classes through Cedarville University. He earned an A- in Bible and the Gospel. His professor still is grading assignments in his speech class, but he also has an A- in that class at the moment. He also visited two colleges - Cairn and Cedarville, and he has chosen Cedarville as his top choice, partially because that is where his cousin, Nathan, plans to attend.

4. From December 2020 to June 2025 Milo used to sleep with Ian half of the time. Milo slept with Paul and I for a few months starting in July, but now he is sleeping in a crate in Oliver's bedroom. Ian and Nadia used to each get Milo for half of the time while we did homeschool subjects together, but this school year Ian has Milo with him on the beanbag while he does schoolwork. Nadia doesn't have much contact with Milo. Nadia taught Ian how to trim Milo's nails. Ian is trying to do a better job of brushing Milo's teeth.

5. For many years Ian had a peanut butter and marmalade sandwich at lunch. He still has this every once in a while, but now his typical sandwich is a grilled ham and cheese with onions on whole grain whole wheat bread. Paul won't eat anything that has any onions or peppers in it, and Ian loves onions and peppers. 

6. Several months ago, he started letting his hair grow out. I don't mean it's long in the back. This has led to FAR more "bad hair days" than when his hair was much shorter, but it's his choice. I will say he doesn't have as many crazy hair moments as Oliver does. Oliver has followed in his brother's footsteps in terms of letting his hair grow longer. 

7. Ian continues to make good progress on the piano. I have been enjoying listening to him practicing his recital piece. I have included that in his birthday video. His teacher is working with teaching him to play Joy to the World by ear. He played two arrangements of Christmas carols at church in the foyer on November 30 in between the first and second services and after the second service. He continues to occasionally play with the youth praise team on Wednesday nights. 

8. Ian gets exercise in a variety of ways. He likes to take Milo on a lengthy walk/run. He has weights that he uses either in his bedroom or the basement. He has a pull-up bar in the basement. 

9. Ian eats at least one apple almost every day. When he was younger, his favorite types of apples were golden delicious and gala. Currently, his favorites are pink lady, snapdragon, honey crisp, Jonagold, Granny Smith, and cameo apples. 

10. Last spring Ian was Nikko (flying monkey) in MCS's production of The Wizard of Oz and Will Scarlet in our homeschool production of Robin Hood. This fall he played the part of Captain Hook in our homeschool coop's performance of Peter Pan. I have included clips from the play in his birthday video. This fall he tried out for the part of Sebastian in MCS's upcoming production of Little Mermaid and was given the role of Chef Louis. He was very excited to learn this week that next year MCS will be doing a play in the fall and a musical in the spring.

11. He has decided that he doesn't want to attend camp next summer as a camper. Nadia's boss has agreed to interview Ian so that he could work at the kennel. Nadia plans to end her employment there in early May due to working at Camp Susque and then going away to college. 

12. Ian had his first experiences with surfing and parasailing and skied at Montage Mountain for the first time (third ski resort he's skied at so far). 

13. Ian visited his 49th (Louisiana) and 50th (Hawaii) states this year! He swam with sea turtles, manta rays, and dolphins for the first time in Hawaii.

14. He attended Camp Susque three times over the last year as he had his first experience attending Winter Camp (he's doing that again later this month), spent a week there last summer (not doing that again), and attended his second youth group retreat there (will likely do that again). 

15. He took the PSAT for the first time. 

16. He had a septoplasty surgery in January. He uses mouth tape when he's sleeping to try to train his body to learn to breathe through his nose. 

Thankful Tuesday

I can't believe it will be February 1 in just 4 days. It would have been Maurice's 41st birthday. It's been very cold, so I don't mind if winter flies by as I prefer the warmer weather. Here are some things I am thankful for today.

1. The kids were able to participate in a Bible quizzing competition at our church on January 10-11. I served as a scorekeeper on the 11th. Ian and Nadia have recently stepped up the amount of time they've been studying the book of Luke so we shall see how they do at the next competition.

2. The eldest member of the Bible quizzing team (Isaiah) recently turned eighteen. All three kids were invited to his birthday party.

3. Isaiah and three of his siblings are joining our co-op starting next week. We will have 8 boys and 7 girls, and if you go by grade level, we'll have three 6th graders, one 7th grader, one 8th grader, five 9th graders, two 10th graders, two 11th graders, and one 12th grader in our co-op this spring. 

4. Ian's surgery went well on January 15. The first few days were rough partially because there was a mix-up over his pain medication. He slept in my lazy boy recliner the first eight nights, and it took longer than that for him to be able to resume wearing his eyeglasses, but life is back to normal at this point. The surgeon removed the splints and some of the stitches last Tuesday. She wasn't able to tell yet if the surgery was a success or not because there is still too much blood in there. He can't breathe through his nose yet, but hopefully that day is just around the corner. Paul will be taking him back for the next follow-up appointment in early March. I'm also thankful the surgery only cost $2,948. We should be reimbursed for all of that eventually through the medical sharing program, but even if we weren't that's so much better than the $20K I was charged for the ankle surgery in 2021. 

5. Nadia didn't work much at all for four weeks, but thankfully that changed starting on January 17. We're also thankful for the flexibility of her boss. Nadia missed a Wizard of Oz rehearsal on January 18, but her boss didn't schedule her for any Saturdays in February due to the musical. 

6. Since the stock market was closed on January 20, Paul took the opportunity to go spend the day with a friend in Carlisle.

7. Oliver and I saw the eye doctor on January 21. Oliver hadn't been wearing his glasses that he got a little over two years ago. The doctor changed the guidance from wearing them only when he is reading to wearing them all the time. This did NOT go over well with Oliver, but thankfully over the past week he's adjusted to wearing his glasses. We had to reschedule Ian's appointment as it would have been too painful for him to have an eye appointment last week due to his nose. 

8. Paul got the flu shot and pneumonia vaccine on January 22. They didn't tell him until after they stabbed him that the vaccine costs almost $300. The last time he got a flu shot he was really sick afterwards. He didn't feel well the first couple of days after the shot this time around, but his side effects weren't as severe, thankfully. 

9. I took my friend out for dinner to celebrate her 68th birthday. 

10. We enjoyed watching the movie White Bird as a family last weekend. I had checked it out of the library.  Paul and I enjoyed watching the 5th season of All Creatures Great and Small on the PBS app.

11. I used to shop at CVS 1-2 times a month until the CVS in our town closed. I have hardly shopped at a CVS since then, but I've recently been resuming that habit due to the fact that they haven't had much of a cereal selection at Surplus Outlet. A few weeks ago, I paid less than $1 per box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes at CVS! I do love finding a good bargain. 

12. Ian is finally caught up. We switched back to Teaching Textbooks for geometry, and he got everything turned in by the end of the second marking period for all the other subjects. I hope he never gets that far behind again. 

13. Ian finally picked his song for the piano recital (February 2) on January 20. I told his piano teacher let's pick his song MUCH earlier next time around. She agrees. Thankfully he is managing to pull it off despite choosing much later than normal. The piece was too long (12 minutes), but she picked out parts for him to play as she likes the pieces not to be longer than 4-5 minutes so that the recital isn't too lengthy. 

14. One of the books I recently listened to was Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Quereshi. It was outstanding! I highly recommend it! Some books we've enjoyed together as a family recently would include: Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai, Wink by Rob Harrell, The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman, The Red Umbrella by Christina Gonzalez, and The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. 

15. My parents each grew up with one sister, and so I only had two uncles. My dad also has a half-sister, but she never married. Uncle Bill passed away in 1992 at the age of 49. Uncle Dick passed away last week at the age of 83. Wendy lives the closest to Indiana, so she is attending the burial today as the representative of our family. I'm thankful Wendy can attend on our behalf. 

16. I go in spurts when it comes to working on planning future vacations. Recently I used Turo gift cards I got through credit card points to almost completely pay for renting a minivan on Oahu for four days and on Maui for 2.5 days. I still need to rent one on the Big Island for a week. 

Septoplasty

Today Ian went under general anesthesia for the fifth time in his life. The first four times took place within less than two years, so it had been almost 12.5 years since the last time. We were told to arrive by 11:15. For his sake, it would have been nice if it was a little earlier since he wasn't allowed to eat after midnight. He always has breakfast, and most days we eat lunch around 11:00. The surgery center is about 90 minutes from our home. There are other hospitals closer to our home, but this pediatric ENT has above average ratings, and this surgery center is far more affordable than the closer hospitals. We've already paid the fee to the surgeon and the surgery center, and the grand total so far is $2,248. The only bill we haven't paid yet is for the anesthesiologist. In contrast, we were billed over $20K for my ankle surgery despite the fact that Ian's surgery took more than twice as long as my ankle surgery did. The pulmonologist told us that he had turbinate hypertrophy, but the ENT today said that was not the case. However, he had a very deviated septum; she said it was the worst case she had ever seen. The surgery lasted about 100 minutes. The surgeon didn't think he'd be able to breathe air through his nose until next week, but on the drive home he said he could already feel air coming through his nose for the first time! His follow-up post op appointment is next Tuesday in Hershey. The splints will come out then. She said it would take a few months for the stitches to dissolve. He struggled coming out of the anesthesia and with the pain. I offered to buy him a treat around 4:30 pm. I gave him a few choices. He picked a PB cup Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I figured it would help ease some of the discomfort in his throat, give him something pleasurable while he was in pain, and also give him some calories as he had skipped breakfast and lunch. It definitely perked him up. He's coughing a bit as a result of the anesthesia, and his nose hasn't stopped bleeding yet, but he's been watching a movie with Paul while sitting in my recliner. The recliner will be his bed for the next couple of nights as he's supposed to keep his head elevated. We left a little after 9:30 this morning and got back home a little after 5:00 this evening. I'm thankful it's over. It's hard to watch your child when they're suffering. Due to surgical complications I've experienced in the past (ex. lung collapsed due to aspirating), I have to work not to let myself be overtaken by anxiety. 

I'm thankful for everyone who prayed for Ian's surgery! His piano teacher prayed over him at his lesson on Monday, our senior pastor prayed over the phone with him yesterday, another pastor from our church prayed over the phone for him this evening, and my dad and a mom from our co-op texted me to say they were praying this morning. My dad called me as we were driving down and prayed for Ian's surgery, and he called me again after Ian's surgery to see how he was doing. We appreciate all the prayers! 

All three kids were able to sleep in this morning. I asked Nadia and Ian to make sugar cookies this morning because we hadn't had those for probably more than a year. Paul dropped them off at church at 1:15 for art, chorus, Bible quizzing, and youth group. He picked them up at 8:00. Tomorrow, we plan to have a regular day of school although Ian will not be going to art or chorus. He also won't be attending the Wizard of Oz rehearsal tomorrow night. The first time Ian *might* leave the house again will be Saturday morning if he's feeling up to a musical rehearsal at that time. Time will tell. Nadia is scheduled to work Friday morning. I got the movie The Wild Robot on DVD from the library on Monday, and we plan to watch that together either Friday or Saturday. Friday is the last day of the first semester for this school year. It will be our 89th day of school - 9 co-op days, 69 "regular" school days, and 11 field trip days. 

Fifteen years old!

Ian Alexander joined our family fifteen years ago! We began his birthday celebration on December 8. Uncle Al, Aunt Millie, and PopPop came up after church. I served shrimp, pot roast, breadsticks, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. Al and Millie brought cookies and a birthday cake for Ian/ PopPop which had a photo of JoJo and some gummies that looked like Legos. Ian received his birthday and Christmas gift from Al and Millie that day, and I also let him open the birthday card from Grandpa. We all played Wits and Wagers and then the kids plus Uncle Al and Paul played some Jackbox games while I did the dishes.

Usually, we don't do schoolwork on Ian's birthday, but this year we didn't do schoolwork on December 9-11 and did do it on his actual birthday. On December 9 Xandir, Julianna, and Nathaniel joined us at Camelback resort in the Poconos. We left our home around 11:00 and arrived at the resort around 12:30. After we checked in, the kids enjoyed the water park for about 3.5 hours. We've been to Great Wolf Lodge many times. Last year we tried Kalahari, and next year we're letting Nadia pick which indoor water park she wants us to visit. The Bobinis family had spoken highly of Camelback last year. On Monday we had dinner at Red Robin. I was impressed that (before tip) the total for six kids' meals and two adult meals plus one soda for $75. The kids enjoyed the fact that many of the things that were served were bottomless. The room we stayed in had two bunk beds (four boys), a king size bed (Paul and I), and a queen size sofa bed (Nadia and Julianna). Five of the kids played Phase 10. We had breakfast sandwiches and donuts at Dunkin Donuts the next morning. The kids were in the water park for almost 7 hours on Tuesday. Paul and I participated a little. We went to a pizza place for dinner before driving home. The next day the kids went to a homeschool roller skating party from 10-12, had lunch at home, and then were at church from 1:15-8:00 for art, chorus, Bible bowl, and a youth group Christmas party. 

Paul's dad came up to our home on Ian's birthday. He played chess with Ian before dinner. I served PopPop beef stew, and the rest of us had Georgian egg and cheese bread, which was Ian's request. The kids sang in the Christmas program at Meadowbrook Christian School that night. The middle school/ high school chorus sang five songs. Their least favorite was O Come All Ye Faithful because they sang it in Latin. The birthday gifts Ian received over the course of the week included money, Sonic game for the Nintendo Switch, Legos, Phase 10, Super Mario book, Sonic comic books for the Kindle, and a laptop. I think he had a good birthday! We love him SO much and are so glad he's part of our family! Below here are some ways he changed over the last six months. 

1. Ian's voice finished changing.
2. He was on the A team at Nationals in June. Their team won first place. Ian came in 8th place both in the written and individual competitions. Unfortunately, he hasn't gotten off to a good start this year. Hopefully he will put a lot more time into studying Luke over the next six months.
3. Ian has been assigned the roles of a crow and Nikko (head of the flying monkeys) in The Wizard of Oz. 
4. In school he's studying English, Geometry, Chemistry and modern history (1707 to the present).
5. This fall he's read Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Two Towers, and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for English. He's currently reading To Kill a Mockingbird. 
6. He was diagnosed with a mild case of sleep apnea after having a sleep study done in Hershey.
7. He's scheduled to have a septoplasty in Mechanicsburg next month.
8. He visited Alaska, which was his 48th state. 
9. He now has braces on his bottom jaw and has rubber bands that are used to connect his two jaws when he's not eating. 
10. The transition to high school has NOT gone smoothly for him. He's temporarily lost the privilege of having a cell phone until he gets caught up with his schoolwork. 
11. His closest friends at the moment are Xandir, Ben, Nathaniel, and his cousin, Joel. 
12. I never have to remind him to practice the piano. In fact, sometimes I actually ask him to stop practicing so that he can get other work done. 
13. He has been waiting SO long to see the new Sonic movie that he plans to see at the theater with Paul next week. 

Surgery #3

Ian has been under anesthesia four times so far - two urological surgeries and two endoscopies. Since an endoscopy is technically a nonsurgical procedure, his next surgery (septoplasty) will technically be his third. Since those surgeries and endoscopies took place in 2010 and 2011, Ian has no memory of them. As he'll be fifteen years old when he undergoes the septoplasty, he will remember this one. Not counting the surgeries that I had which were related to pregnancy, my last surgery was a septoplasty. Dr. Wilson said the procedure hasn't changed over the past 30 years (mine was in 1994). Ian's sleep study showed he has mild sleep apnea. We had been told he had hypertrophy turbinate as well as a deviated septum and that the septum could only be repaired after he was eighteen. We were trying to decide whether he should have one or two surgeries, but this pediatric ENT said that she can do both procedures at one time on a fifteen-year-old. Ian didn't want to wait three years to be able to breathe through his nose when he's awake, and hopefully this will also lead to an improved quality of sleep for him. We could have scheduled the surgery to take place as soon as January 15, but we're waiting to get a price estimate from the second surgical center before we choose between the two locations where Dr. Wilson performs surgeries. The two locations are the same distance from our home (85 minutes away one way). I paid $250 yesterday for Ian to see her in Hershey, which was closer to 100 minutes away one way. Considering it took eleven months for him to have his sleep study, I'm grateful the wait for the nose surgery won't be as lengthy and that we don't have to make any more trips down there prior to the day of his surgery.

Here's a few highlights of what we've been up to since I wrote last:

1. Another mom and I took 13 kids to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at AMC. On another day my dad and Cheri joined us at AMC to See Bonhoeffer. They were both good movies! Ian has decided to do his report this year for the history fair on Bonhoeffer. Oliver is doing Abraham Lincoln, and Nadia is doing Jane Goodall. 

2. Ian played the piano with the youth praise team for the second time ever and performed a duet (see video above) at a recital. Pop Pop joined us. Nadia wasn't able to attend as she was at work. 

3. Cooper was at our house for 8 days while his family was on vacation.

4. We helped pack over 300 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child at our church.

5. Oliver, Cheri, and I attended a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and had dinner at Olive Garden.

6. Nadia has been working more hours recently. She worked about five hours on November 30, four hours on December 2, two hours on December 3, and she's scheduled to work about four hours on December 6. She loves having a job that involves working with cats and dogs! 

7. My dad spent 6 days with us, and during that time Yvonne's family (11 people) also spent about 39 hours at our house. 

8. I've been making progress with vacation plans. I booked our rental vehicle for our trip in May (the cost was painful). On the other hand, I paid a tiny amount to book an Airbnb for four nights in Honolulu and two nights on Maui because I used $1,250 worth of gift cards to Airbnb that I got through credit card points. I've booked 11 out of our 13 nights in Hawaii so far for a grand total of $219. I'm hoping to use credit card points to get Turo gift cards to pay for the rental cars on Oahu and Maui. We'll have to pay for the rental vehicle on the Big Island because we plan to pick it up at Hilo and return it at Kona, which means we can't use Turo. I'm really looking forward to visiting Hawaii for the first time! 

Giving Thanks

1. Paul was supposed to have jury duty in August. They postponed it to November because of our trip to Alaska. He had to check on Friday night four weeks in a row to see if he needed to report the following Monday or not. Thankfully, all four weeks he received the message that he didn't need to report for duty! We both are happy to perform this civic duty at some point, but we'd prefer to do so either in the summer or at least 7 years from now when we're empty nesters. Although I do most of the homeschooling, Paul does chemistry experiments on Tuesdays at co-op, and he helps Nadia and Ian with chemistry and math when they ask for help. 

2. The kids enjoyed a retreat at Camp Susque with their youth group the weekend of November 8-10.

3. Cheri and I attended a women's ministry dinner at my church on November 8.

4. I struggled to come up with something special to do on Tuesday since it's our final day of co-op for the fall session. Thankfully, I finally had the idea to take the kids to see the movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Their parents will pick them up later than usual from our house on Tuesday. I've never taken eleven kids to the movies before, ha ha! Thankfully, Ben has his driver's license so between his vehicle and our van everyone will have a ride. 

5. Nadia was given a small speaking part in the Wizard of Oz! She will be the barrister of Munchkinland.

6. Two nights ago, Cheri and I attended a Philips, Craig, and Dean concert. It was amazing. It was definitely my favorite concert from 2024. I love how the three men harmonize together. I first started listening to them in the early 90s. I'm not sure if I had ever been to one of their concerts before. 

7. I purchased a new game recently - Telestrations, and we enjoyed playing it for a family fun night once and also the kids at co-op played it last Tuesday. We certainly don't have a family fun night every week, but we try to have one once a week as often as possible, and we certainly have plenty of time together as a family almost every week since we homeschool, and Paul works from home! 

8. Nadia earned an A in Evangelism and an A- in Old Testament Survey this semester. Her art history class doesn't wrap up until December 13. As of this moment, she's earned 24 college credits so far. As of December 13, that will increase to 27 credits. She could technically receive a HS diploma from the state of Pennsylvania in the spring as they will issue one once you've earned 30 college credits, but we're going to wait until the spring of 2026 because the tuition at Liberty is much cheaper if you're in high school. Also, I want her to at least take Physics and Literature when she's in twelfth grade. When I went to register her for her spring classes, I found out that they have additional prerequisites for some classes if you are enrolled as a high schooler. This means she can't take three of the classes I thought she could take through dual enrollment. Thankfully, I found three other classes that I believe she can take instead (astronomy, earth science, and developmental psychology).  

9. Paul and I have talked about going to Hawaii for over 20 years. Lord willing, it looks like we'll be going there next August. I purchased the airfare today because the price had dropped, and I had codes to get two of the tickets for $99 each. The plan is that we'll fly from the DC area to Honolulu and then fly back from Maui to the DC area. At a later time, I'll need to book flights in between the islands. Rachel might be joining us for the trip, or her family might overlap with us for part of our trip. We plan to spend 4 nights on Oahu, 7 nights on the Big Island, and 2 nights on Maui. I know some people visit Hawaii regularly (like my Aunt Janet), but Paul and I view this as a once in a lifetime trip. I'm planning to use credit card points to pay for most of our lodging and rental car expenses. If all goes as planned, we'll be on Oahu on Oliver's 13th birthday and on Big Island on our 24th anniversary. So far, I paid about $1800 for round trip tickets for the five of us and paid a whopping $36 for a five-night reservation on the Big Island. We're excited about seeing more of God's beautiful creation! 

10. This weekend Paul installed the sink faucet I recently got for the kids' bathroom. Our house is 25 years old. We haven't done any big projects on the house this year, but we've done some very small things like replacing two faucets. I'm not handy *at all* so I'm very grateful for Paul's help!

11. A couple from our Sunday School class took our family out to lunch today because they wanted to hear more about our trip to Alaska as they are planning to go there next year. We had an enjoyable time!

12. The Newsboys are one of Ian's top two favorite bands. They performed at a venue less than 30 minutes from our house last night. Cheri joined the five of us. The concert Friday night was definitely more up my alley, but I was thankful we could make a memory together! 

13. Paul had a cough for two months. He finally went to the doctor on Monday. Thankfully the antibiotic plus steroid seems to be working as he's much better now than he was a week ago. 

14. They had said it would take 3-4 weeks to get the results of Ian's sleep study. Thankfully it actually only took a couple of days. He has mild sleep apnea. The pulmonologist recommended he see another ENT to have surgery on his nose. He has an appointment with an ENT on December 3. Ian said he doesn't want to wait until he's 18 to be able to breathe through his nose. We shall see if the ENT agrees. They won't fix a deviated septum on a minor, but they can address the hypertrophy turbinates. Ian had four surgeries before he turned three years old, but he hasn't had one since then. 

Thankful Thursday

 1. Nadia has been hired as a part-time kennel assistant! She starts her training at 7:30 tomorrow morning. It seems for the most part she will only work on Saturdays. They are paying her $12/hour. She is hoping to at least earn enough to pay for her car insurance. 

2. Last weekend Nadia had a nice time with some of the girls she worked with at Camp Susque. I drove Nadia and Melanie to the home they were staying at, and Melanie's dad picked the girls up on Saturday morning.

3. The five of us were able to help pack meals at FBC on Saturday afternoon. Altogether 100,000 meals were packed that day at that church! 

4. The weather has been unseasonably warm. I love it! Not everyone in my family agrees with me. 

5. We enjoy hosting co-op at our home. The messiness of art is not my favorite part but hearing the laughter and watching the kids interact with each other warms my heart. This week's debate was on whether Pluto is a planet or a dwarf planet. Our final two debates will be on AI and whether there should be an age limit for the President, VP, and those in Congress. In art this week the kids began sculpting a turtle out of clay. Paul does two chemistry experiments with them each week. After lunch the kids play games. This week it was Balderdash and Pit for the first 90 minutes. Some kids stay later. This week the kids who were still here after 2:00 played Catan. 

6. Paul was supposed to have jury duty in August. Thankfully they were willing to postpone his until November due to our trip to Alaska. Every Friday evening (for four weeks) he has to check online to see if he's supposed to report at the district court in Williamsport or not. The first two times the answer has thankfully been "no." In light of co-op, we're hoping for the same result tomorrow and next Friday night. 

7. Ian has been using a gymnastic mat as a chair in our family room. I decided we needed to get another chair of some sort, and the kids picked a large bean bag. I used credit card points to get a Walmart gift card and used that gift card to pay for the 5-foot bean bag chair. Ian isn't the only one using that seat! Similarly, I used credit card points to buy a new faucet from Lowe's for the kids' bathroom. Hopefully it won't be too difficult for Paul to install it. 

8. In January Ian's primary care doctor started the process that finally culminated in him having a sleep study in Hershey last night. I usually transport the kids to their music lessons, doctor appointments, etc., but Paul stayed in the room with Ian for his sleep study. We are praying for accurate results so that we will know if Ian has sleep apnea, and if he does have it, how severe it is.

9. I'm thankful that we live in a free country where we have the ability to vote. I'm also grateful for the outcome of the election. Ultimately, God is in control, and my faith is in Him alone certainly not any politician, but given the ages of Alito and Thomas, I have been praying that when it's time for them to retire, they could be replaced with justices who would strictly follow the constitution. It's the first time in my life that every single candidate I voted for won! I am encouraged that Trump won even though Kamala's campaign spent FAR, FAR more money. I think how much money is spent on campaigns is insane and that which campaign has the most money shouldn't be the determining factor in who wins. Personally, my political views are not influenced one iota by all the things that showed up in our mailbox, by billboards, or by ads. Similarly, it is reassuring to know that people can make their own personal judgments despite what the media is constantly telling us (ex. "he is Hitler" - seriously?!?). Is Trump my ideal candidate? Absolutely not. I didn't even vote for him in 2016 because I wasn't sure if he was actually going to be conservative. Ironically (because Paul was the one who talked me out of the "lesser of two evils" philosophy while we were dating), Paul voted for him three times.

10. Paul has believed for four years that Trump actually won in 2020. I have thought it was *possible* that due to election fraud he lost, but I wasn't sure that could be stated as a fact. I changed my mind this week. In 2008 131 million people voted, in 2012 it was 129 million, and in 2016 it was 136 million which puts the average at 132 million over those 3 elections. The total for 2020 was 158 million, and this year the number was probably around 139 million. Hillary got 65 million votes in 2016 (Trump only had 62 million that election), and Kamala got 67 million in 2024. You'd think there would be much more of a draw to elect the first woman president (I hope that does happen at some point in my lifetime!). I can't believe that 20 million extra people actually voted in 2020 when the choice was between two old white guys. I'm more convinced now of the theory that fraudulent mail-in ballots swung that election. Since the numbers came back to "normal" this time, I feel like the election was probably fairer. I'm sure for many decades there has been some fraud involved on both sides of the aisle. I had students at Bloomsburg who would brag about the fact that they voted twice - once by absentee ballot based on their home address and again on campus using their college address, but it seems like in 2020 it was taken to a whole new level. I have to show an ID to board an airplane or check in at a hotel. I don't smoke or drink alcohol, but if I did, I'd need to show ID to make those purchases. I think our elections would be less susceptible to fraud if people had to show ID when they voted. Nadia was inundated with so many text messages encouraging her to vote, and she's only sixteen. The next time we have a presidential election both Nadia and Ian will be able to vote. They are growing up too quickly! 

Medical Appointments

Thankfully, the five of us are generally very healthy. Aside from my broken ankle in 2021, we haven't had any surgeries, hospitalizations, or doctor appointments aside from physicals for several years. Despite being healthy, we still see a doctor at least once a year for a physical, see the dentist at least twice a year, and the boys typically see the orthodontist once a month. This year I've made more appointments than usual. Paul has only seen the dentist. I had a pap smear and a mammogram plus an extra trip to the dentist for a small filling. Nadia has only seen the dentist plus had a physical.

Oliver had his twelve-year-old physical yesterday. He grew three inches in the past year and is now 5 foot two inches tall, which puts him in the 87th percentile, and he's still on track to reach his projected height of 6 feet tall. He gained ten pounds over the last year, which means his BMI is still at the 5th percentile. I was happy to see that he weighed 82 pounds because the goal had been for him to weight at least 80 pounds for our zip lining adventure in Alaska next week. He was happy to be told he wasn't getting any shots at his physical, but then when we were at the orthodontist yesterday afternoon, he found out that he needs to have two teeth pulled next month, and he dislikes those shots more than immunizations, and I have to agree with him on that assessment. 

At Ian's physical in January, we mentioned we thought he might have sleep apnea. This led to a referral to the pulmonologist at Geisinger. They had scheduled his sleep study for next week, but we cancelled once we received the estimated charge. He met with a pulmonologist in Hershey where they charge far less for a sleep study. That doctor said he needed to see a cardiologist and an ENT. The cardiologist appointment was a waste of time and almost $400 because he said Ian doesn't have a heart murmur. The ENT appointment last month was a waste of time (not sure yet if it was a waste of money as we haven't received a bill) because they told us they don't do nose surgeries on those under the age of 18, and they knew when I scheduled the appointment that it was for a 14-year-old who has hypertrophy turbinate. She suggested we take him to an ENT at Geisinger, Camp Hill (to see Dr. Wilson), or Hershey. On July 24 I called the office in Camp Hill and left a message. On July 25 I asked the ENT we saw to send a referral there. Having heard nothing in the meantime, I called and left another message at the ENT in Camp Hill on August 12. This morning, they told me that they had received the referral but hadn't contacted us because they don't work with our insurance. I said that we don't have any insurance. They for some reason thought we had UPMC insurance, which we've never had. So later they called back and scheduled an appointment with Ian for December 3 in Hershey. Because they won't repair a deviated septum prior to the age of 18, we are not sure if we should wait so that Ian wouldn't have two nose surgeries. It seems wise to find out the results of the sleep study first. If he doesn't have severe sleep apnea, we might wait until he's 18 to fix his nose and just let him continue to be a mouth breather. I called the pulmonologist in Hershey on August 5 to request that the follow-up appointment after the sleep study be done by phone or video instead of in person given the length of our drive to and from Hershey. I never heard if the doctor approved that or not, so I called yesterday to follow-up as I had said on August 5 we would need to reschedule if it had to be in person. We have to drive down there to get the results because the doctor wants to do another exam. I'm not too thrilled with his examination skills since he thought Ian has a heart murmur, and the cardiologist said he doesn't. But I rescheduled his follow-up appointment by one week so that it won't interfere with our homeschool co-op. Either Paul or I will be taking Ian to Hershey for three doctor appointments from October 29 - December 3. At the orthodontist yesterday, I asked when he would begin working on Ian's lower jaw because he's been in phase two for six months. He said he'll start next month so Ian will have two orthodontist appointments next month, and he's also going to get another x-ray (per the request of the orthodontist) when Oliver is having two teeth extracted. 

We do have dental insurance, and it is definitely worth the monthly premium we pay. We don't have vision insurance. Last week I called and scheduled appointments four of us to see the eye doctor in December/January because the last time we saw the eye doctor was December 2022. We don't have medical insurance, but we've been members of a Christian medical sharing program for almost two years. So far, we've only had one medical bill reimbursed (dermatologist for Paul), but I anticipate receiving reimbursement after Ian's sleep study. I am going to research the cost of health insurance again this fall to make sure we are still making the correct choice by going with Samaritan instead of insurance. The ENT office I spoke with today said the first appointment will cost $250. Since we received $18K back from the insurance this year, the line item on our budget for medical expenses currently shows a negative number despite these extra bills. 

14.5 years old!

 Today is Ian's half-birthday! Here are some developments over the past six months of his life:

1. He shaved off his mustache for the first time ever.
2. He became more comfortable with performing for an audience and discovered he really, really enjoys being in a musical. He did a great job as Vlad Vladikoff in MCS's production of Seussical and the Mad Hatter in our small homeschool production of Alice. 
3. He's grown at least two inches and will soon be passing Nadia out in height for the first time in his life.
4. His voice has been changing. Most of the time he sounds like he has laryngitis. 
5. He finished 8th grade, which means he's now a high schooler! The last course that he finished this school year was Algebra 2. Next year he'll be taking Geometry and Chemistry.
6. He was selected to be on the A team at Nationals next week for the first time. He recently memorized the book of Colossians.
7. We've begun the process of having him tested for sleep apnea and also seeing an ENT regarding the fact he can't breathe out of his right nostril. 
8. He performed a solo in a piano recital for the first time in February. Recently he's begun working on a piano duet from Beethoven's 3rd symphony that he will perform with Addi in November. He always enjoys playing a wide variety of songs that he finds online on Musescore. He also has been working on Chopin's Military Polonaise - using the same copy of music that I used decades ago.
9. He spent time in South America for the first time in his life in February. 
10. It's no longer hard for him to switch from long sleeve to short sleeve shirts when the weather gets warmer, but the transition to shorts is still not easy for him.
11. He resumed seeing an orthodontist once a month as he began the second phase in February. 
12. He attended a Tim Hawkins show and a TobyMac concert which were both firsts for him, and they are two of his three favorite artists. 
13. He's gotten into a regular habit of doing push-ups every day.
14. He spends about $10 on Brawl Stars every month. 
15. He went water skiing for the first-time last month, and he loved it!

Doctors galore

For years we have suspected that Ian might have sleep apnea. When I asked his pediatrician about this years ago, I was told that we should just wait and see if he would naturally outgrow it. When I mentioned it at his physical in January, we were given a referral for a pulmonologist at Geisinger. Ian had a video appointment on April 3, which resulted in a sleep study being scheduled for August 19. Because we don't have insurance, they sent us an estimate of the cost. With a "cash" discount, the price was still $6K. I called Healthcare Bluebook, and they told me that Ian could have a sleep study at Hershey Medical for $1,500, and because it was the "fair price," we wouldn't have to pay the usual $400 co-pay. We saw the pulmonologist at Hershey Medical on April 30. It was worth driving 3 hours round trip to save our family $400 plus save the Samaritan system $4,500. An in-person visit was much better than a video appointment. He was able to see that one side of Ian's nose is completely blocked. Ian has said for years that he hasn't been able to breathe out of his right nostril. He's been a mouth breather since he was a toddler. The doctor said that he's too young to fix the deviated septum, but that the turbinate hypertrophy can be addressed. He submitted two prescriptions to address that issue and said Ian also needs to see an ENT in light of the size of his tonsils plus the blockage in his nose. Unfortunately, he sent them to a Walmart in Lewistown rather than Lewisburg, so I wasn't able to pick them up on Tuesday. I'm planning to pick them up tomorrow. I called Healthcare Bluebook to find out which ENT within a couple of hours radius of our home would do a tonsillectomy and/or open up his nasal passageway at a fair price. They are working on that. The good news is that if we go with one of their recommendations, we won't have to pay for the surgery, and our $400 co-pay will be waived. Normally you pay a bill, and then submit it for reimbursement if it exceeds $400. That will still be the case for pre-op testing and consultations, but not for the surgery itself which is nice as that can easily be $5,000 or more. We've been with Samaritan for 2.5 years and only submitted one bill for reimbursement so far. 

We are planning to stick with Hershey Medical for the pulmonology, but we're hoping to see a local pediatric cardiologist, and we have no idea yet where we'll go for the ENT. Ian saw MANY doctors during the first three years of his life due to his urological condition and eosinophilic esophagitis (GI, allergist, psychologist, urologist, ENT, and cardiologist). However, for the last almost 11.5 years, he's pretty much only gone to the doctor once a year for a physical. I feel badly that I never mentioned his frequent nosebleeds or his complaint about not being able to breathe through his one nostril the last several years, but I'm also wondering if I need to find a different PCP for him if he has had a heart murmur and they never detected it, and they also must never have looked into his nose because the doctor said it's 100% blocked. My sister, Yvonne, has an innocent heart murmur. Hoping if Ian has a heart murmur, his is also innocent, and I'm praying that the ENT will give us wise counsel as far as whether or not surgery is needed so that he can breathe better. I used to drive him to Philadelphia, Hershey, etc. for appointments in the first three years of his life. It seems like that will be the case again now for at least the next seven months as we already have two appointments scheduled in Hershey in October and November with the pulmonologist. Ian doesn't remember any of his urological surgeries or endoscopies. If he has another surgery this year, obviously he'll remember this one. 

At the doctor's office on Tuesday, they measured his height as a little over 5 foot 4 inches. He grew two inches since January! He's a tiny fraction of an inch shorter than Nadia. Her days of being taller than him are definitely numbered. Unfortunately, with his clothes and shoes on he only weighed 90 pounds, which puts him at the 2nd percentile for BMI. He lost weight over the last few months. I've asked him to try to gain at least five pounds. Oliver has been gaining weight like a champ the last couple of months as I told him he needed to weigh at least 80 pounds when we go ziplining in Alaska in August. I think it's going to be harder for Ian to gain five pounds, but hopefully he can get his BMI to at least 5%. As one who is often wanting to lose a few pounds, I can't relate to having a problem gaining weight. 

On March 22 the health insurance company told the investigator that they would reimburse us. We haven't received anything yet. Hopefully they haven't changed their minds. I found a cheaper place for a mammogram in Bloomsburg. I haven't had one in 17 months. They only reimburse the cost of a mammogram if a problem is detected, so I'm hoping never to be reimbursed for a mammogram. Oliver had quite a few doctor appointments and hospitalizations for the first six years of his life, but for the last almost six years, he's also mostly only gone for his annual physical. Nadia has been very healthy for almost sixteen years. Hopefully after we address the sleep apnea and other issues recently uncovered with Ian, we can again have a stretch without many doctor appointments. 

Piano Recital

Ian's first recital was a duet recital in November. His first solo piano recital took place this afternoon. His teacher currently has 53 students, and the majority of these participated in one of her two recitals today. Ian was in the 2:00 pm recital. He played a Mario song called "Castle Background." The kids are allowed to pick what they want to play for this recital. In between the two recitals she hosts a reception. Everyone is asked to bring some finger food. After attending both services at our church, we did something we don't usually do, we ate pizza at a restaurant. Usually, we get pizza as carry-out, but we didn't think we had the time to go home as Ian was supposed to be there early to run through his piece before the recital began. Pop Pop drove from his church and met us at the restaurant. Paul and Oliver used Pop Pop's car to run home to let the dogs out. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten into the garbage like they did on Friday night while the kids and I were at the living history fair and Paul was at work. We knew a lot of the kids who performed in the recital today. I'm very thankful for the time Ian puts into practicing the piano every week! I hope that he will keep developing his skills with Mrs. DeVito for four more years. 

As for the living history fair, I think next year will be the last time Nadia will participate, and the boys will be at least taking a break. There were two kids who chose to do Elizabeth 1 this year. The other girl was much younger than Nadia. Another girl did Elizabeth 2. There was more than one Washington and more than one Thomas Edison. As the adults went around and asked the kids questions, Ian said a lot of people told him they didn't know anything about Robert Boyle. Next year I'll let the kids pick people from the 1700's to the present. Ian had a demonstration using a syringe and marshmallows to illustrate Boyle's law. 

Dog Mom

 Although I longed for the day that I would be a mom since I was in elementary school, I never aspired to be a "dog mom." I grew up with cats and frankly the best word to describe my attitude toward dogs for most of my life was that I was fear. My friend, Tab, used to have a longhaired dachshund. Ruby really helped me to see that I could enjoy a dog because she sat in my lap like our cats had when I was growing up. Paul had grown up with dogs so I figured that we would get one someday, but I figured that would be whenever he was home more. If I had stuck with that plan, we wouldn't have gotten a dog until the fall of 2023, but we got one in 2020 to try and bring a bright spot amidst all things that were cancelled and impossible to do that year. I never would have dreamt that Milo would pick ME out of the five members of our family to be his "person." We are dog sitting Cooper for three weeks. He's been at our house for one week so far. Cooper has picked Paul and I as his two favorite people in our family. Instead of having ONE shadow follow me around the house, now I have two shadows. Having two dogs has been good in some ways. I'm not a fan of having TWO dogs bark at the same time because there's a dog or a jogger on our street, and it's a challenge to keep their leashes from getting tangled up when I walk them, but Milo definitely enjoys having a buddy. He gets up VERY willingly in the morning whereas other times he'd rather stay in bed with Nadia or Ian when I come to get him at 7:00 am. Also, sometimes when it's just him we accuse him of "going on strike" because he doesn't want to walk. That doesn't happen when Cooper is with us. This does not mean that I want to get a second dog! One is enough for me, but I'm happy that we can trade dog sitting duties with another family. It's much better for the dogs and saves us hundreds of dollars. 

On Sunday afternoon Paul picked up the 1/4 of a cow that we had agreed to purchase from someone in our church. We've never bought that much meat at one time before or paid that much for food in one month before. I used some yesterday to make beef stew, and I'm planning to make a roast on Saturday as we have friends coming over for dinner that night. We'll definitely be eating more steak than usual this year as typically I might buy steak one time in the year, but now we have a lot of steak in our freezer. 

Monday morning began with the piano tuner spending about two hours at our house. Pianos are expensive to own, but I love hearing Ian practicing every day! It was a hectic day as I also took Ian to his piano lesson and to the doctor for his annual physical. The kids' babysitting job for that evening was cancelled, but they still had a two-hour Seussical rehearsal in the afternoon. At Ian's physical I mentioned that over the years several people (including Paul and Drayton) have mentioned that it sounds like Ian has sleep apnea. When I mentioned it to the pediatrician years ago, he said Ian was too young to be concerned about it. This time I was told we should have it investigated. We're starting the process to have a sleep study done on him in the spring. Since we have become self-pay patients, we've been paying $50 per visit at our PCP. On Monday they told me that the cost for a well-child check has gone up to $100 because of the vision/hearing screening are a separate $50 charge. I wasn't thrilled with the change, but I know their prices are still far less than what other doctors charge self-pay customers around here. Over the past year Ian grew three inches and gained at least fourteen pounds! His BMI last year was only 3%, which put him in the underweight category. This week they weighed him while he was wearing his winter coat and sneakers, which wasn't the case last year. With those on, they said he gained seventeen pounds, which put him at the 12th percentile for his BMI. I had him step on our scale once he came home to see what he weighed without his coat and shoes, and his weight dropped by three pounds. If our scale is accurate, then he weighs 90 pounds and is 5 ft. 2.5 inches tall. His height is at the 24th percentile (compared to 26th percentile last year). If he does weigh 90 pounds, then his BMI is at the 6th percentile, which still means he's not in the underweight category, and his weight would be at the 10th percentile (compared to 6th percentile last year). With his coat and shoes on, he weighed 93 pounds, which put him at the 14th percentile for weight. Either way he's growing taller and gaining weight! He slathers on a lot of peanut butter on his apple slices at lunch every day. I think this helped him gain weight! 

I haven't been doing well at taking pictures lately. I plan to take some on Friday evening while the kids are participating in the history fair, and I'll take a video on Sunday of Ian's performance at the piano recital. We'll be on vacation for two weeks in February, which should give me opportunities to take a lot of pictures!

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!

13.5 years old!

Ian's shirt was white when he arrived at church last night.

Ian has been a teenager for six months (and three days)! Here is a brief description of what he's been up to lately. 

1. He finished Algebra I at the end of May, took one week off, and then started Algebra II. I decided to have him take Algebra II before Geometry so that he and Nadia would both be doing Algebra II this coming school year. Since the beginning of Algebra II is just a review of Algebra I, he has already completed eight lessons and the first test. 

2. For a few months he had been studying German on Duolingo, but I asked him to switch back to Spanish for the time being because we're planning to visit Ecuador in less than eight months. 

3. He has been waiting for more than a year for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to come out on the Switch. He purchased it as soon as it came out. Oliver chipped in $20 toward the game. 

4. Although most of his screen time is used to play on the Switch, he also plays Brawl Stars on the iPad.

5. Not counting the books that he read for school, over the last six months he read three Harry Potter books (two of which were 752 and 896 pages long) as well as The Winter War by Priscilla Shirer and the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. Ian listens to far more audiobooks than his siblings do. 

6. He enjoyed learning more about coding (Python) over the last few months. 

7. In March Ian had four baby teeth extracted by the dentist at the request of the orthodontist. He's been wearing his retainer for two years now. 

8. He took a weekly art class at the homeschool co-op from January through May and ten weeks of ice-skating lessons from January through March. He spends a fair amount of time drawing each week.

9. He has continued to attend the youth group on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and Bible quizzing on Wednesday afternoons. The Bible quizzing team is headed to Indiana in two weeks for the national competition over the book of Acts. Ian did very well at the practice quiz in Indiana last month. 

10. I think Ian is now willing to ride any ride at an amusement park as he rode the Impulse at Knoebels for the first-time last month.

11. Currently, his favorite musical artist is Toby Mac. 

12. He's gained two pounds over the last five months. I looked online, and he's still underweight, as his BMI is at the 2nd percentile. The doctor wants his BMI to be at least at the 5th percentile. He's currently 5 feet tall and weighs 78 pounds. Hopefully we can get more weight on him before his next physical.

13. Recently he has been enjoying creating rules for new games using Lego minifigures and existing game boards such as Sorry, Clue, and Labyrinth. Oliver and Paul have played some of his new games with him. 

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!

Another teenager!

Ian turned thirteen years old today, and today also marks the second anniversary of the day Milo joined our family! He's thankful that his bedtime has been moved to 10:00pm. In many ways he is the same as he has been for years such as enjoying playing the piano, giving lots of hugs, his favorite color is green, and eating a peanut butter and marmalade sandwich on honey wheat bread for lunch almost every day. Here are some things that are more recent developments. 

1. He's been chatting with some of his cousins in Ecuador (mostly Joel and Nathan) fairly often via FaceTime. Sometimes they play Brawl Stars together. 

2. If he has money to spend, he usually spends it on either Brawl Stars (via Apple) or for something on the Nintendo Switch. 

3. He frequently asks for us to play games together. His favorite game at the moment is Exploding Kittens.

4. Before he asks me a question, he almost always says "I have a question."

5. He often talks in a voice that he says is like Villager News from Minecraft. Previously, he had a habit of snapping his fingers many, many times during the day, but that habit has come to an end at least for now.

6. Ian enjoys doing Algebra I via Teaching Textbooks and is looking forward to making more progress with learning Python in a few months. His current aspiration is to be a computer programmer.

7. He usually remembers to give a tithe at church. 

8. Ian is getting new glasses this week. I'm waiting until we pick them up to take his 13th birthday portrait. 

9. His retainer has only ended up a garbage can once, but we were able to retrieve it from the trash at Panera Bread. Thankfully it's never been broken or lost. 

10. He has drastically improved his performance in Bible quizzing the last three months compared to during the last school year. 

11. If his small group is dismissed before I come down to get him, he plays pool with some other boys in the youth center. 

12. He sings and makes other noises rather frequently throughout the day. He was a member of the Camerata choir (middle school) of the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale for the first time this fall. 

13. The last few months Ian has been responsible for brushing Milo's fur and teeth every day.

Ian's birthday celebration began on December 8 when we drove to the Poconos for an overnight at Great Wolf Lodge. The kids enjoyed spending two days in the water park. We packed one lunch and used gift cards at Dunkin' Donuts and Red Robin over the two days. We saw the play "Miracle on 34th Street" in Williamsport on Friday night. Due to various people being sick, our plans for Saturday (dinner at the Seiberts' house) and Sunday (getting together with Al, Millie, and Pop Pop) were cancelled. When I realized Ian wouldn't be having a birthday cake from Aunt Millie, I asked him what dessert he wanted to have. He chose peanut butter cup cookies, which is something I haven't made for a few years. I don't think years will pass before I make them again! I also got him a two liter of Root Beer and a bag of Barbecue chips which are two treats he enjoys that I don't purchase very often. We let him open his birthday gifts yesterday afternoon, and it was my turn to plan a family fun night. We played Quiddler, watched the first episode of the third season of The Chosen, and ate soft pretzels. He enjoyed using his new Switch controllers, playing his new Switch game, and started reading a book I got him. Four boys were supposed to come over for a play date this afternoon, but that also will have to be rescheduled due to illness. Ian, Nadia, and I are going to have dinner at Bonanza before I take them to their choir rehearsal tonight. The only negative in my mind regarding the fact that two of my kids are now teenagers is that it means there aren't many years left until they are old enough to fly from the nest. I love Ian Alexander so very much and am so grateful for the privilege of being his mom and teacher! 

12.5 Years Old

 

I can't believe that Ian will be a teenager in six months!  He has finished his first year of being in middle school, in the church youth group, and on the Bible quizzing team. Thankfully, he still enjoys practicing the piano, although I still haven't been able to get him to play duets with me over the past year. Ian also still enjoys playing with the Nintendo Switch, reading, playing with Legos, playing with Nadia, listening to music, giving hugs, talking to his cousins (Joel and Nathan), and drawing with colored pencils. Over the past year he has switched to preferring to get up later in the mornings and has become braver at amusement parks. Lately he has been riding all of the thrill rides! Over the last year he's been wearing a retainer, and thankfully he's never lost it! A year ago, Milo was sleeping in his crate in Ian's bedroom, but now Milo sleeps in bed with either Ian or Nadia. As of today, Milo has been in our family for exactly 18 months. A little less than six months ago Ian's bed was transformed into a bunk bed, and he's been sleeping on the top bunk, which makes tucking him in at night more challenging. For the last several months he's been the only child who requests for one or both parents to come and kiss him goodnight in his bedroom. Although he's going into seventh grade, I'm planning on having him take Algebra 1 and complete a HS biology curriculum with Nadia this next school year. I love you so much, Ian, and I look forward to seeing how you will grow and develop in the coming months and years!