Over the hill

I'm not sure when one is officially considered to be "over the hill," but I feel like Paul and I have reached that point. He qualified for a senior discount for the first time during our vacation in May. We are now eligible to be in the "classics" group at our church (which for the first several years we attended our church was called "best years fellowship"). Last year we never attended any of their events, but we're actually registered for one on November 15. The kids will be at Camp Susque at a youth group retreat, so it seemed the perfect time to attend one of their events. I'm guessing we'll continue to skip most of their events until we are empty nesters. When you get to this age, you're supposed to start having colonoscopies and get immunized for pneumonia and shingles. Paul had a colonoscopy. I opted to go the simpler (and far less expensive) route with that. Paul got the pneumonia vaccine last year. That was expensive!

I had a physical on Monday morning. In addition to the usual questions, "do you smoke, do you drink, do you wear a seat belt, do you feel safe at home, etc." I was asked a question a medical professional had never asked me before - if I still felt like I was a capable driver (or something to that effect). I was floored. I answered I hope so because I recently taught my 17-year-old daughter how to drive and have two more teens to teach to drive in the next few years. I really, really didn't anticipate being asked that question at the age of 53. I declined the flu, pneumonia, and shingles vaccines. The only one I am contemplating is the shingles vaccine because my aunt has had awful experiences with having shingles many times. If both Paul and I get the shingles vaccine, that will cost us $1K so we are going to wait a bit as this hasn't been a good year for us financially. My doctor said waiting until I am 55 is fine. I'm very thankful that aside from mammograms and physicals, I haven't had any doctor appointments over the last almost four years. 

The number of instances in which I feel "over the hill" have been increasing at a more rapid pace lately. Listening to teenagers talk I feel like there are so many words and expressions that they use which I don't comprehend. What is the deal with "six seven," for example? I find myself missing the music that we used to sing years ago in church. I have loved contemporary Christian music for more than 40 years, but I've found myself not enjoying a greater percentage of the music played on a Christian radio station over the last few years. It makes me feel old. 

55 years old!

The church that we've been going to for 10.5 years has a group that for most of the years we've been attending there was called Best Year's Fellowship. They changed their name a couple of years ago to Classics. The minimum age requirement for joining the group is 55. Our kids have been frequently reminding Paul how many years he had until he qualified to join the group. We became eligible this fall because they let you join a few months before your 55th birthday. Most of the people our age don't have kids as young as we do so we're going to hold off on joining the group albeit almost all of the people in our Sunday School class are in the Classics. The age when you are eligible for a senior discount varies from place to place, but the lowest minimum age I've seen for a senior discount is 55 so Paul will begin to be eligible for a senior discount from time to time. One disadvantage to turning 55 is the amount we pay each month for our medical sharing program is dependent on the size of our family AND the age of the oldest member. Our premium has gone up this month because the price for 55+ is higher than what we've been paying. Paul and I started dating shortly after he turned 27, so we've been together for more than half of his life. Paul says he didn't feel old when he turned 50, but he thinks 55 is another story. Maybe it's because now he's closer to 60 years old than 50 years old? Praying that God will give him good health for many years to come! 

To celebrate his birthday, I tried to serve some of his favorite foods this week. I got a pizza from Aldi yesterday. I had a taco salad instead. All four of us had Georgian egg and cheese bread on Wednesday night, which Paul likes just as much as pizza (which is a high compliment as he would happily eat pizza every single day for weeks on end). Oliver and Ian each made him a birthday card. Oliver bought him some Twizzlers and peanut butter cups at Surplus Outlet. I gave him the option of choosing the menu or picking a restaurant for his birthday dinner. He chose to eat at Texas Roadhouse. We picked Nadia up from Camp Susque a little after 3:00 before heading to the restaurant. Nadia tried something different (salad), but the rest of us got what we usually do at that restaurant - chicken tenders kid's meal (Ian), macaroni and cheese kid's meal (Oliver), steak (Paul), and sweet potato (me). We all love their rolls! Paul also loves that they give out bags of peanuts that you can take home. It was his turn to pick what we did for a family fun night tonight, and he chose watching one of the Mission Impossible movies. Finally, we picked up donuts to have for breakfast tomorrow morning. 

Paul has had a cough for four months. He went to the doctor for it in November. The medications he took at that time did bring about significant improvement for a time, but it never completely went away and flared back up again in December. He went back to the doctor on Monday night. The doctor gave him a different medication to try, and he had another chest x-ray. We're assuming it was normal because they didn't call him with the results. His lab results weren't good in terms of his triglycerides, good cholesterol, or bad cholesterol. I'm hoping those numbers improve before his next physical, and we're praying that his cough will totally go away as soon as possible! 

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! 

Early Start

When I booked our airfare to Florida, I assumed we'd be leaving our home in the morning on February 13 because we are flying out of BWI, which is less than three hours from our home, and our flight is at 12:25pm. Our plans changed on Sunday morning when we found out we'd be getting 4-6 inches of snow in the morning on February 13. At church on Sunday morning, we talked to the couple that would be dog sitting both dogs for four days, until Cooper's family got back from Florida, and they said we could drop the dogs off on Monday night instead of Tuesday morning. I booked one room at a hotel about 30 minutes from the airport, and we arrived here last night at 9:15pm. Ironically, a few days ago it was really warm in Pennsylvania as temperatures reached the high 50's. At our game day on Friday, the kids played games outdoors in addition to playing some inside. I don't think we've ever stayed at an Embassy Suites. I am really grateful at the moment that we are planning to stay at one for one night in Virginia in May as this hotel has the most amazing free breakfast that we've ever had a hotel that wasn't an all-inclusive resort. They even have someone making omelets to order! They also offer free snacks/drinks at an evening reception, but we arrived too late to check that out. Over the last year or so I've gotten a little bit pickier about where I make our reservations. I certainly still try to pay as little as possible, but there are some chains I now try to avoid when possible, and there are others we know we usually like. Embassy Suites has now been added to that list although my back did not like the mattress last night. 

Paul went to work last Wednesday thinking it would be his last day to go to the plant before our trip, but he didn't finish the bookkeeping that he needed to send to the accountant, so he went back on Friday. He ended up also going in on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday! On Sunday we drove in two cars to church. After the two services, I took the kids to their last ice-skating lesson for the year, and Paul drove to work. He didn't come back home until after 8:00 pm! I took Nadia and Ian back to church in the evening for the youth group Super Bowl party, and Paul picked them up near the end of the game. I didn't watch the game, but since I didn't want SF to win their 6th Super Bowl ring, I was happy when I found out the next morning that the Chiefs had won. One of my nephews is a Chiefs fan, so I was also happy his favorite team won.

Although we had the added expense of one more night at a hotel, not driving from our home to Baltimore this morning makes it seem like this day won't be quite as tiring. Also making sure everyone has packed everything can be an ordeal, and it was easier to do that on Monday afternoon/early evening rather than early in the morning today. Yesterday was a hectic day as both boys had an orthodontist appointment (Ian now has braces on the top jaw), Ian had a piano lesson (working on the 2nd and 3rd movements of Moonlight Sonata), a day of homeschooling, walking the dogs, and also making travel arrangements and finishing up our packing. Praying that all will go as smoothly as possible for the next sixteen days while we're in Florida and Ecuador! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to make memories and see places we've never seen before! I did bring my camera, but I didn't bring my camera bag on this trip. Hopefully I won't miss my lenses too much, ha ha! Packing when you're flying is definitely different than packing when you're on a road trip in your own vehicle.

54 Years Old!

 

Yesterday Paul turned 54 years old. We met and started dating shortly after he turned 27, so that means we've been together for half of his life. Since I was 24 (almost 25) when we met and started dating, I had already hit that milestone of having been with Paul for half of my life a couple of years ago. WVIA usually has the free ski day at Elk Mountain in the Poconos the week of his birthday, and sometimes (like this year) it lands on his actual birthday. Because he had a trade show in early January in Baltimore each year, he often wasn't able to go to Elk Mountain. The last time that I skied was in January 2021 at Elk Mountain. I haven't skied since I had a plate and screws inserted in my ankle. In January 2022 I took four kids skiing. Nadia's friend, Jill, joined us that day. Last year, the WVIA day at Elk Mountain had to be rescheduled due to the weather. This meant that Paul was able to go skiing because it didn't interfere with the trade show. Since he sold the company, he is DONE attending trade shows. Woohoo! He feels like that's a Christmas gift to not be going to Baltimore next week. I asked Paul if he would rather ski or rather hang out with me in the ski lodge. He opted to hang out with me, so we invited Julianna to use our fourth pass from WVIA. Julianna had never gone skiing before. Paul and I played a game of Scrabble and a game of Rummikub while we were at the ski lodge. The six of us packed lunches, and we stopped at Red Robin for dinner on the way home. Because it was the first Wednesday of the month, we got two free kids' meals and two free ice cream sundaes. 

I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner on Tuesday night because it's one of Paul's favorite things to eat. I had bought him a cheesecake, and we ate some of that tonight. I got him a big box of Middleswarth chips and a few candy bars for his birthday. The kids chipped in together to buy him a jigsaw puzzle featuring WW2 tanks. My dad gave him some money and a book. Paul recently ordered a new desk and a REALLY big computer monitor that he plans to use as his new home office in our bedroom. I got pizza for dinner tonight which is another of his favorite foods. I had won a prize pack from our local Christian radio station last week, and one of the prizes I received was a gift certificate for a free large pizza. I used that today. I'm planning to make him Heath bar cookies on Saturday, which are one of his favorite types of cookies. Hopefully he's had a good birthday week! 

WVIA used to have two days we could ski for free each year. The last time that happened was in 2020. It seems that WVIA days at Ski Sawmill are now a thing of the past. Ski Sawmill is much closer to our house. They have three homeschool days where they give a 50% discount for the lift ticket and rental. We're accustomed to skiing for free, but we'd like the kids to be able to go skiing twice this year so we're planning to pay for them to go skiing on a homeschool day on January 19 at Ski Sawmill. Knowing that our niece, Susie, tore her ACL when she went skiing a little over a year ago, we're very thankful that we all came home without any injuries yesterday. 

Thankful Thursday

Life is full of twists and turns. Some represent little bumps in the road, and other times major changes. Rolling with the punches is an important skill to have, and we had more opportunities to refine that skill than usual in 2020. Awhile back I had signed my kids up for a (free) 4-hour fishing/kayaking trip. They were originally scheduled to do this from 1-5pm next Monday. The director of the program emailed me last week and asked if they could come on June 6 from 8:00-12:00 instead. We had very little snow this past winter, and then the last few weeks we've been in a significant drought. The lawns around here usually look lush in June, but now they mostly are brown. The historic low water level wasn't helpful for kayaking, but the kids still had a good time. On Monday and Wednesday, I took five kids to the Kid's Cafe (free lunch) in our town's park. One of our neighbors is teaching summer school so I also took her two kids with us. Her kids also hung out at our house for a few hours this week on those two days.

Today I thought that I'd be driving those 5 kids plus Cheri and myself to a field trip located one hour west of us. This morning as I was walking Milo around 7am, I received a text from one mom who was backing out because of the poor air quality due to the fires in Canada. I called another mom who I knew was on the fence because of the same issue. When she also decided to back out, I decided to reschedule the trip because those 11 people represented half of the group. Cheri was on her way out of her driveway when I texted her to tell her that we were going to reschedule. She had lined up an aide to watch her uncle and really wanted to go somewhere with us today. As I ate my breakfast, I tried to come up with another idea. I remembered that the Rodale Institute offered tours on Thursdays in the summer. I went on their website and paid for a tour at 11:00 for the five of us. Cheri had also mentioned a couple of weeks ago that she hadn't toured a cave since she was a child (and she's 66 years old). She asked that we schedule a tour of a cavern. I had previously taken the kids to two other caverns in Pennsylvania, but we hadn't been to Crystal Cave which is about 15 minutes from Rodale Institute. These places are 2 hours from our home. To be honest I wasn't thrilled with the idea of driving for more than 4 hours today, but my friend has been dealing with some really challenging situations as the primary caregiver of her uncle who has Alzheimer's. The kids and I left our home at 8:45 and picked her up at a meeting spot at 9:10. A little after 10:00 we found out from the Rodale Institute that they had cancelled the tours for today because of the air quality. At that point we were only about 20 minutes away from the site, so we opted go in the Visitor Center to get a map and take the self-guided tour. Several other individuals showed up for the 11:00 tour, but it didn't happen today. Air quality was not an issue in an underground cave. I wasn't impressed with Crystal Cave. It definitely wasn't a great field trip, but Cheri was very grateful, and I enjoyed having hours to talk with her in the van. I also am very grateful that we plan to stay at home sweet home tomorrow and Saturday. Actually, over the next seven days I don't plan to drive farther than 15 minutes away from our home which is fine with me! Since Paul enjoys history, I've decided to reschedule the tour of Curtin Village for some time when he will be able to join the group. 

Nadia is starting her job at Reptiland on Monday at 10:00am. We only found that out a little before 5pm today. The school district is closed on Fridays in the summer, and I need to get her a work permit. Hopefully I can get that taken care of prior to 10:00 on Monday morning. I'm hoping that this will be a good experience for her! It's much easier to get a job when you are sixteen years old. I am grateful the manager was willing to hire her albeit she will only be turning fifteen on June 24. 

Margie had an appointment with her oncologist today. She had planned to request to be switched to hospice, but she changed her mind and is going to have one more radiation treatment and try some other medications. We are praying that these will not result in difficult side effects and will be helpful in improving both her quality of life and possibly extending the length of her life here on earth.

Last August I purchased four tickets for a Christian music festival to be held at a Six Flags in NY in July. I purchased four at first because Nadia was at camp, and I didn't know if she wanted to go. At first, she said she didn't want to go because she thought she had a schedule conflict, but then she changed her mind, and I bought a fifth ticket (and there actually wasn't a schedule conflict). Then a few months later Paul found out that he won't be able to attend with us as his brother will be on vacation that week. Cheri was telling me today how she really wanted to be able to get away with someone for 3 days. She had tried to work something out with one of her sisters. Long story short, she found someone who will care for her uncle and her dogs for the three days of the music festival, and she is going to use Paul's ticket! She hasn't been able to travel away from home for quite a while because she is her uncle's caregiver. I am thankful that she will be able to enjoy the Christian music and also the rides with us for three days in July!

Although Paul can't go with us to Darien Lake, it seems he will be able to travel with us a lot more in the future. He is scheduled to sell the company to someone at the end of this month. This is a HUGE answer to prayer. It feels like a miracle to us. Provided this actually comes to fruition in three weeks, he will continue to work FT until the end of July and then will work PT for the new owner for an undetermined length of time, but the end goal will be for him to transition to a job that he can do from home which will be fabulous because he currently drives 100 miles a day (round trip) to work six days a week. He also will have more flexibility in terms of taking a day off for a field trip or taking a week or two off for a vacation. The kids and I are very excited about the idea of spending more time with Paul starting in August!!! Thank you, Lord!

Fifty-three

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

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

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

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

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

Fifty-two

 

Paul had recently turned 27 years old when I met him at a ballroom dancing class, and today he turned 52 years old. As Nadia often reminds him, only three more years until we are eligible to join the "Best Years Fellowship" at our church, which is for those who are 55+. Last week we had pizza and I ordered more than usual in honor of his birthday, and yesterday I made rigatoni and meatballs for dinner so that we could have that yesterday and again tonight as that's another of his favorite meals. I didn't bake him any of his favorite desserts because we still have quite a few Christmas cookies that haven't been eaten yet. I got him a very big container of peanut M&Ms, a t-shirt, and a few more of his favorite candy bars. The kids each made him a card. Nadia actually made him two cards as one of the cards was from Milo. Neither of us are much into throwing parties. He's never thrown one for me (which is totally fine that is NOT a complaint), and I threw him three parties over the past 25 years. Two of those times I was rather sleep deprived as his master's degree graduation party was held when Nadia was 5 weeks old, and his 40th birthday party was held when Ian was 3 weeks old. For the majority of the past 25 years, we celebrated each other's birthdays with a date (typically we went out to eat), but that went by the wayside at some point over the past 12 years. The first time I ever attempted to schedule something special for the five of us to do on my birthday was unfortunately in 2020. Naturally all those plans went out the window due to COVID. I've rescheduled it for my 50th birthday in April of this year. Our Sunday School class sang Happy Birthday to Paul yesterday morning, and the kids and I serenaded him today. We hope that this next year of life is a good one for Paul.

Paul would have driven to Baltimore today if his back was back to normal. Thankfully his back is much better than it was a month ago. He's planning to go to Baltimore tomorrow and come back home on Friday evening. The fact that the trade show was cancelled last year was one fallout from COVID that Paul actually appreciated. 

Speaking of COVID, my dad also probably has COVID, which isn't surprising considering Margie came down with it last week. He's being tested tomorrow morning. Margie received a monoclonal antibody infusion this morning, which hopefully will help her. They had both been vaccinated but hadn't received their booster shots, and Margie's immune system has been weakened due to the chemo treatments. She was supposed to have another chemo treatment last week, but that has been postponed due to testing positive for COVID. We're praying for both of them to recover as soon as possible. Wendy's family tested negative. We haven't been tested, but none of us have any symptoms, and it's now been a week since we were with my dad and Margie. Here's to hoping and praying that the pandemic comes to an end sometime this year. 

Fifty-one!

Today is not our 51st day of school. It's our 107th day. Yesterday was Paul's 51st birthday. Nadia was quick to remind him that now it's only four more years until we can attend the "Best Years Fellowship" events at our church. He opened his gifts before breakfast. I had bought him a game (Ticket to Ride), a book on the Revolutionary War, one jar of peanuts, and two bags of peanut M&Ms. On January 1st we played the game I got him for Christmas for the first time (Catan). I gave him a haircut before we went to church. After church, we went through the drive-thru at KFC. We go there usually at most once a year. We usually have donuts for breakfast on the morning of each family member's birthday, but we bought the donuts yesterday in conjunction with picking up the KFC so we had the birthday donuts this morning instead of on his actual birthday. We didn't have any birthday cake, but I had made him white chocolate macadamia nut cookies a few days ago as his birthday treat. We got a few inches of snow yesterday afternoon. I shoveled the driveway before dinner yesterday, and the kids all played outside in the snow. It was the first time in almost two weeks that the kids played with any of the kids in the neighborhood, partially because our next door neighbors have had COVID recently. It was nice to see kids playing outside again. When we got 19 inches of snow last month it was colder out so the snow wasn't good packing snow. This time it was around 35 degrees out so the snow packed together nicely. Today Nadia made a snowman, and Oliver made a snow chair. 

Milo made progress two weeks ago and then regressed last week, but he's making positive progress again. He only had one accident on Friday, one on Saturday, none on Sunday, and so far today he hasn't had any. His previous record had been 46 hours without an accident, but he's now beaten that record as it's been more than 48 hours since his last accident. We (mostly Nadia) take him out VERY regularly. It will be lovely when he gets to the point where he goes to the door to let us know when to take him out in contrast to us watching the clock and taking him out 1-2 times per hour, but not having messes to clean up is a huge relief. I wasn't sure our carpet would ever be the same! Homeschooling went much  better today than it did the week before Christmas. I purposefully didn't include Spanish or art in the lesson plans for today to shorten our school day a little bit. I also bought him some bones that really help keep him occupied better than any of his other toys. They cost a little more than $4 each which makes me wish they lasted longer than they do, but they are definitely a big help. I'm going to see if there is a way I can add more smell/taste back to the bones to get more mileage out of them.

We are praying for relatives who have medical concerns. Millie (Paul's sister-in-law) had knee replacement surgery today. It went well, and we're praying for her recovery process. Paul's mom was taken by ambulance to the hospital yesterday. Because of the snow, they couldn't take her to the hospital where she usually goes. We're praying for the doctors to have wisdom in caring for her. Margie is starting chemo tomorrow. We're praying that it will eradicate all the cancer in her body and that she'll have as few side effects as possible.

Last Blast

I realize that technically it is summer until September 21, but usually once kids head back to school, it feels like the summer is over. Some aren't going back to school until September 8 due to how late Labor Day is this year. We were at Six Flags America in Maryland on Tuesday with Yvonne's family, and I think for our family that was the last blast of summer. The kids and I went to a Six Flags park a total of five times this summer - three times in New Jersey and twice in Maryland. We met at least some of the Towfighis on three of the five trips. The one in Maryland is close to their home. Yesterday was Paul's first trip to an amusement park in more than a year. He got up at 2:00am to go to work and was back four hours later, which meant he spent 2+ hours on the road to spend almost two hours at work. He tried to nap some in the van while I drove down to the amusement park. We left at 7:10, stopped once for gas, and arrived at about 10:50, which meant it took us less time to get there than it did when I drove down in July. When we visited the park in early July, we didn't enter the water park section. This week we spent time both on dry rides and the water park. I liked spending time in the water park because face masks aren't required on those attractions, which means I get to take pictures and even though I didn't go down any water slides, I could cool off a bit now and then as it was a hot day. We left later than planned, and our stop at a Wendy's drive-thru took us about 30 minutes. As for actual driving time, it was definitely the shortest trip to that park from our house this summer, but we still didn't get home until about 10:45pm. I had taken the kids to a Six Flags park four times by myself this summer, and I told Paul the only way we would make the fifth trip would be if he came with us to help with the driving. He did most of the driving, but he woke me up at one point and asked me to finish the drive home. Knowing he had been awake since 2:00am, I agreed, but obviously both of us were very tired. The kids had a fun day. Since I had my camera, I actually didn't ride any rides. Jenna was working at Chick-fil-A that day so we didn't see her, but we were able to spend time with the rest of their family. They are planning to move to Quito, Ecuador once the pandemic has ended although depending of the timing of their move that might not include Jenna, as she plans to begin studying at Messiah College next fall.

Paul planned to go into work early in the morning again yesterday partially because he had a lower EMG scheduled for 2pm at the hospital, but after the long day we had on Tuesday, he was too tired to go into work at all. Ian got up about 15 minutes later than usual yesterday (7:15), and I got up when I heard him get up. Nadia really, really likes to start her school work at 7:00. She hates to sleep in on a school day, and I hate to wake the kids up. Ian woke Nadia up around 7:45. Oliver slept until a little after 9:00, and Paul slept until about 10:15. So it took longer than usual to finish our schoolwork yesterday, but to me that is one of the advantages of homeschooling - flexibility! I had asked Paul to run three errands that were near the hospital after his appointment. He returned and picked up books and DVDs at the library, picked up donuts for breakfast today as it's Oliver's spiritual birthday, and I had made a short list of things to get at Walmart. While he was there, he checked the bicycle aisle. It was almost completely empty, but there were two 24 inch mountain bikes, which is what Oliver wanted for his birthday. Paul wasn't sure it would fit in his car, but he managed to squeeze it in. Oliver hasn't ridden it yet because he really tore up his knees last week, and I've banned him from riding anything until his knees heal. Paul told me the two choices, I showed them to Oliver on the computer, and he picked the red one. The bike was his birthday present from Grandma and Pop Pop. 

We've been gradually easing ourselves into the new school year. Nadia enjoyed taking a lot of pictures today with my camera after completing another lesson in an online photography course. Beast Academy 3A and learning to write in cursive are definitely very challenging for Oliver so I've decided to hold off a bit longer on starting to teach him the piano. I am still hoping to start him sometime this year. We shall see. I think reading, math, and handwriting are far more important, and none of those come easily for Oliver. I am actually thinking of buying the Beast Academy 2A-2D books and using those this year instead of 3A-3D. If I could go back in time I wish I had waited until Oliver turned 6 to start him in Kindergarten. Because homeschooling instruction is individualized, it really doesn't matter what "grade" he is in. I think he would find it upsetting if I told him he was in second grade again this year.. I'm just hoping that by the time he turns fourteen he'll be ready for high school. Promotion Sunday will be on September 6 at church, and he's expecting to move from the 1st/2nd grade boys class to the 3rd-5th grade boys class. Parenting is full of so, so many decisions to make. We try our best, but we are very human. 

They are having a big outdoor baptism service this Sunday, and Oliver expressed a desire multiple times to participate, but I don't think he's ready to be handed a microphone and give a spontaneous testimony in front of hundreds of people. We'll just wait until he's older and is ready to make a video, which is what they usually do when baptisms are held inside the church. 

Family Vacation

Over the past 5+ months I've tried very hard not to think about what we "would" have been doing on a certain day if it weren't for COVID-19. That's been easier to do sometimes than others. For example around Easter it was hard to avoid all thoughts that we had planned to be in Chicago with the Benners. The past few days it's popped into my brain now and then that we thought we'd be in Canada right now. I had planned five vacations for 2020, and Paul planned to join us for two of those. Three of the five were cancelled, but the kids and I were able to spend 6 days with Aunt Janet on Long Island. The last vacation I had planned prior to the pandemic is scheduled to start a little over five weeks from now. If it happens, it will be Paul's first vacation this year. After finally receiving refunds for our hotel reservations for the August vacation, I decided to start looking into the October trip. I realize that things could change over the next five weeks. I'm hoping and praying that if there is a change between now and then it will be that more things reopen not that more sites are closed again. I had 27 sites in our itinerary for that trip. Seven of those are still closed - one science museum in Ohio, four national parks in Ohio, and two manufacturing plants in Kentucky are not offering tours right now due to COVID-19 (Toyota and the American Printing House for the Blind). I couldn't determine if the Salt Works company in Kentucky is currently giving tours or not. Many of the sites have adjusted the days/times they are open. This might make it impossible for us to visit the Kentucky Horse Park as the day we are scheduled to be there is a day they are currently closed each week. The specific dates for this trip were picked because of a special event at the National Museum of the US Air Force. The museum has reopened, but all their special events have been postponed to 2021. Many sites are not offering everything that they usually do. For most enough of the site is operational for me to think it is still worth a visit. The one I'm not sure about is the Shaker Village in Kentucky. I will see more detailed information closer to the time we plan to visit there before making a decision.  At the moment it seems if I can reschedule when we go to the Kentucky Horse Park we could visit 19 of the 27 attractions I had originally planned for this trip. I'll wait until closer to our trip to see if I want to try and cancel or modify any of our hotel reservations. Nadia was shocked when I said there was still a chance we might go on that trip. I feel like I've been saying this constantly this year but "time will tell." 

Paul loves peanut M&Ms but for years has avoided eating any brown ones because he said they were more chocolatey than the other colors. I never agreed with that theory. It came up when we were at Aunt Janet's earlier this month, and Nadia said she thought he was right. We did an experiment with her (giving her M&M's while she was blindfolded and she was to say "brown" or "not brown."). She didn't do well. A couple of days ago we repeated the experiment with Paul. He failed miserably. We laughed a lot. I wonder if he'll start eating brown peanut M&M's now that he knows they don't taste differently? I'm glad that Paul is going to join us for our trip to Six Flags America tomorrow. We haven't gone on any outings with him since March 8 when we went to the PA Military Museum. Even though we're planning to leave the house at 7:00am, he's still planning to go into work tomorrow morning. Considering he has a two hour round trip commute, I wonder how much sleep he's going to get tonight? I couldn't keep up with his schedule that is for certain. 

Thankful Thursday

 

1. Paul, Oliver, Pop Pop, and I were able to watch the musical that Nadia and Ian were in last Friday.

2. Paul passed the COVID screening on Saturday, and his colonoscopy went smoothly on Monday. He doesn't have to have another one until he turns 60. His upper EMG also went well yesterday afternoon. It showed he has carpal tunnel. He has a lower EMG scheduled for next week.

3. We've seen more of Paul than usual because he came home very early on Friday to see their performance, stayed home on Monday for the colonoscopy, came home earlier than usual on Saturday for the COVID test, and came home earlier than usual yesterday for the EMG.

4. I had paid $699 for the lodging for our family vacation that was supposed to begin tomorrow. As of yesterday we received the final refund. It's disappointing that three vacations were cancelled so far this year, but I'm very thankful that we have received refunds for everything except the tickets to go up the Washington Monument in May. 

5. We are thankful for the food the Methodist Church provided kids with this summer. We picked up meals for the last time this year on Monday. I hadn't purchased milk in almost two months!

6. It seems that Paul and I have escaped the cold the kids had recently. Oliver came down sick first, and it was very stressful due to COVID. Once we became convinced that was not what he had, we didn't get worked up when the other two came down with it. Nadia and Oliver were each sick for only about 24 hours. Nadia didn't come down with it until Monday. Ian never had a fever, but his other symptoms lasted longer. I said I wasn't taking him ANY where until he stopped coughing as having a cold in 2020 is likely akin to having leprosy due to fears over COVID. If he had been healthy, we would have gone swimming with the Schrecks on Tuesday, but we postponed it to tomorrow to make sure we weren't spreading any germs to them. This worked out well because Tab has a dentist appointment tomorrow so I can watch the five kids swim at her in law's house during her appointment. Thankfully Ian is doing much better today!

7. Oliver's doctor appointment went well yesterday although the doctor probably wishes Oliver wore knee pads in light of how many scabs he has on his knees right now. I'm very, very thankful that the only time the kids go to the doctor is for their annual physicals. I'm also thankful Oliver doesn't actually need to wear glasses.

8. I'm thankful I am able to homeschool the kids again this year! This year we have one more advantage to homeschooling - not having to wear a mask. We had a good first day of school today. I like to ease the kids back into school so we didn't do every subject. Every child was done with their schoolwork AND had already finished eating lunch before noon. Speaking of masks, I have a tradition of asking each child to draw a self portrait on the first day of school each year. Ian drew himself with a facemask. Nadia liked that idea because then she didn't have to finish drawing the nose or mouth. Hopefully when they draw their self portraits next year they won't draw themselves with masks because hopefully we won't have to wear them next fall. Time will tell how long masks will be required. I almost didn't bother having them put the date on their portrait this year because I thought the mask should be a dead give away that they were drawn in 2020, but it might be we are still wearing them in August 2021 so I had them write the date on their pictures as I usually do. Considering our school year ended in the middle of April, I was ready for us to go "back to school" (which seems like a misnomer since they don't actually GO to a school). 

9. We walked to the playground today! Oliver asked to do that yesterday, but I didn't want to because of Ian's cough. Since he was coughing far less today, we did walk to the playground today. Oliver rode his bike there, but he had to walk his bike back home because he got a flat tire at the playground. He's thankful Grandma and Pop Pop are already trying to get him a new bike. I haven't been getting much exercise lately, but now that we've stopped swimming on a regular basis and the temperatures have dropped a little, I'm hoping to get back to going on walks on a regular basis.

10. So far our two zebra danios seem to be doing well. We have the tank on the kitchen table, and although I had never had a desire to own fish, I will say it is enjoyable to watch them swim around when we're sitting at the kitchen table.

Colonoscopy

Women are supposed to start having annual mammograms once they turn 40. I was 3 months shy of 42 before I had my first one. Men and women are supposed to have their first colonoscopy once they turn 50. Paul is having his first colonoscopy tomorrow. I knew that Paul couldn't drive after the procedure, and so I planned to drop him off and pick him up, but he was told they expect someone to wait in the hospital. Nadia is thankful Paul was told this because it means I'll be paying her to babysit for the first time. Although I have paid other babysitters $10/hr, I really don't think others would pay a twelve-year-old that much to babysit. I said I'll pay her $4-5/hr. They said Paul will be there for 2.5 hours tomorrow, and we will be spending one hour on the road. I told Nadia I'd pay her $15 to babysit Oliver tomorrow. I'm thankful that she can call me on my cell phone via the Echo dot if needed. Since tomorrow is the last day of the Kids' Café program, I asked our neighbor if she was planning to take her kids to the park to pick up their meals tomorrow. She's going to take my three kids with her two kids for that errand. I appreciate her assistance! Paul hasn't been able to eat anything today. Usually turning older doesn't phase me, but knowing I will have to go through this in 2022 doesn't make me exactly excited about turning 50. At least you usually only have to have a colonoscopy every ten years rather than every year like the mammograms. Hopefully Paul's procedure will go smoothly tomorrow and he will be allowed to go 10 years before he has one again. He's having an EMG on Wednesday and another EMG next week. We're hoping they determine the cause of his numbness and tingling. Oliver hasn't been to a doctor in a full year. He is scheduled to have his annual physical on Wednesday. I'm very thankful that the frequency of Paul's medical appointments over the last two months is an aberration from the norm for our family. Paul was tested for COVID-19 yesterday in preparation for the colonoscopy, and today we received the good report that his result was negative.

Nadia objected to Paul taking our picture because our outfits weren't coordinated, ha ha!

We took a break from jigsaw puzzles while we were at Aunt Janet's house, but we've been doing them again since we got home. I looked through all the puzzles we own to figure out which ones we had never done. Nadia did two 500 piece puzzles by herself (Winnie the Pooh and Snow White). Paul, Nadia, and I did a very, very hard 500 piece Snow White puzzle (not the same as the one she did herself). Today Nadia finished a 750 piece Toy Story puzzle that I started yesterday. Paul did some of that one. There are three puzzles left to attempt for the first time - a 750 piece Incredibles puzzle, a 1,000 piece tiger puzzle, and a 550 piece Harry Potter puzzle that looks very hard as almost all the pieces are black. Prior to the pandemic Nadia was never willing to attempt a 750 piece puzzle, but she's done two of them so far this summer (with some help), and now she routinely does 500 piece puzzles completely by herself, if it's not one that is harder than usual. Oliver has done up to 150 pieces by himself, and Ian has done up to 300 piece puzzles by himself. I can say with assurance that I spent more time doing puzzles over the past 5 months than I have ever spent on puzzles in entire year in the past. Listening to audiobooks while putting the puzzles together greatly improves the experience in my opinion. Chris Grabenstein is one of Nadia's favorite authors. We listened to two of his books last week - Stuck and Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers. Today we finished an Anna Hibiscus book and began When the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Nadia is greatly anticipating the release of the newest Mr. Lemoncello book later this month, which is also by Grabenstein. 

Oliver's pet

For the last 3.5 years that we have owned guinea pigs, Oliver has shown almost no interest in them. He also didn't really pay any attention to the rabbits we had for two months earlier this year. This is why I had never gotten him a pet, but a few months ago he began asking for a pet. First he said he wanted a goldfish. Then a few weeks later he changed his mind and asked for a hermit crab. He stuck with the hermit crab for a longer period of time, but then he started asking for a hypoallergenic cat, snake, or hypoallergenic dog. Although we would have had NO trouble caring for a dog the past four months, if it weren't for COVID-19, we would have been away from home for a week in April, a week in May, and a week in August plus we often go on day trips that exceed the length of time a dog can be kept in the house without being taken out for a bathroom break. So I didn't put any time into researching a hypoallergenic dog, but I did research hermit crabs, chinchillas, ferrets, hypoallergenic cats, crested gecko, and bearded dragons. I am not willing to have a rat, snake, mouse, or gerbil in our house as a pet. I would love to get a hypoallergenic cat so I spent the most time researching that option. I didn't pick that because #1 it seems you have to spend a LOT of money to get one and #2 there's still no guarantee Paul wouldn't be allergic to the cat, which wouldn't be so awful if it didn't cost so much to get one. At one point I was thinking of not getting him a pet since he seemed to be changing his mind so much as to what he wanted. If the pet cost a lot of money, that was going to be the only thing we got him for his birthday (plus a big box of Goldfish crackers). Yesterday I decided to get him a Paw Patrol toy he wanted plus an inexpensive pet. I went back to his first request - a fish. To me it seems a misnomer to call a fish a pet because you can't actually pet it, but hopefully we will enjoy watching the fish swim around. I ordered an Aquaponic fish tank because we also don't have any house plants, and it's supposed to help with keeping the water clean a bit longer in the tank. I also ordered two different kinds of food and a cave for the fish. Next week I'm going to take the boys to Pet Smart one day while Nadia is in her acting class and have Oliver pick out which zebra danio he wants. I also plan to buy either a Java fern or an Amazon sword plant to put inside the tank and a house plant for the top of the tank. I researched betta, danios, goldfish, and white cloud minnows before picking zebra danio. We might not have had the traditional pets (cat, dog), but this year we will have had guinea pigs, rabbits, and fish. Hopefully Oliver will like his birthday gifts! I'm going to bring the gift wrapped toy to Aunt Janet's house since we will be there on his birthday, but he'll be getting the fish, fish tank, and other supplies a week early.

Yesterday I called the Pediatrician's office because I hadn't gotten the results of Nadia's bloodwork eight days earlier whereas I had gotten the boys' results on the same day their blood was drawn. Paul also called his PCP yesterday to get the results of his stress test. Paul and Nadia both had normal results. I assumed that was good news for Paul that his heart is fine, but he's not convinced that's automatically good news. His symptoms haven't gone away. He's having an upper and lower EMG next month.  Today I called the Walmart Auto Center to schedule an appointment for an oil change and tire rotation. I have managed to go nine months, which is longer than usual because of being home bound for a few months this year. I was shocked when the man told me they have been closed since the middle of March and have no idea when they will be reopening. I was disappointed because we get our tire rotations there for free, but I made an appointment at Bastian Tire, which will work out well because it's right across from the Children's Museum so the boys can play in the museum while they are working on the van because I already have a reservation at the Children's Museum. It's been closed for 4 months but is reopening tomorrow.

I feel like we've made a lot of decisions this week that we had been wrestling with for varying lengths of time - when to let Nadia have a phone, which garage doors to get, what pet to get Oliver, and which freezer to get. My Dad and Margie told me in April that my birthday gift was a chest freezer. Paul tried to buy one in April, but there has been a shortage due to the pandemic. I have checked online periodically to see if we could get one through Sears, Lowe's, Home Depot, or Best Buy. The youth pastor at FBC yesterday said that he was told they wouldn't have any in the stores until next spring. I found a few available at Sears that supposedly could be delivered in 1 month and a few available through Lowe's that could be delivered in 3 months. The prices are higher at Sears plus they charge $80 for delivery. Delivery is free through Lowe's. So I used Margie's Lowe's credit card to order a chest freezer last night. It was a little bigger than what I had planned to get, but the size I had in mind wasn't available, and I was hoping not to have to wait a full year, and who knows maybe this size is exactly the right size for our family? We shall see if this chest freezer is actually delivered in October or not. I'm hoping that will happen but not holding my breath. Thankfully Millie has been storing some chicken we purchased in April in a freezer at her bakery. I think the chest freezer will definitely come in handy once we have one here in our home. I'm very thankful for this belated birthday gift!

Stress test and bloodwork

Yesterday morning Nadia used Evanna's phone to send me text messages. We usually attend the 9:00 service, but the girls wanted to attend the 10:45 service. Since our church isn't offering any Sunday School classes yet, we have only been attending one service. I agreed to their request and began mowing the lawn at 8:00 since it was a little cooler at that time. I picked the girls up at 10:30 and the four kids sat with me in the 10:45 worship service. They were paid $20 for babysitting Noah (age 3) for 9 hours. The two girls split the money. Nadia was thrilled to have earned money ($10) for babysitting for the very first time. After lunch, we went to the swimming pool. We usually stay for about 2 hours, but we were only there for 45 minutes because of thunder. I started doing a challenging 500 piece puzzle with Ian in the afternoon. The kids and I went to a picnic at Pastor Ken's house that evening. Paul came and picked Nadia up at 6:15 and took her to youth group at FBC. The boys and I stayed at the picnic until 7:45 when we left to pick Nadia up from youth group before going home. Although the kids really enjoy swimming, I have to admit there are times I'd just rather stay at home in the afternoon. Afternoon rain interfered with many of our trips to the pool last week, but today we were able to stay a full two hours because it didn't rain at all today.

Paul had a Lexiscan myocardial perfusion imaging stress test at the hospital that began at 7:30 this morning. They said it would take 4-5 hours, but it took less than that because he was home at 11:30, and he stopped at the library and bought some jeans at Walmart on the way home. He had planned to go to work after his stress test, but he changed his mind and worked on our taxes since they are due in two days. This means we got to eat dinner together. We usually eat at least one meal together on Sundays, but we didn't eat any together yesterday because he went to work and didn't join us at the picnic. We won't see him at all tomorrow because of our trip to Six Flags. I took the kids to the lab this morning to have their blood drawn to have their cholesterol checked in light of Maurice's cause of death. We stopped at a UPS store to return a pair of jeans Paul got on Amazon recently, got breakfast sandwiches for today and donuts for tomorrow morning at Dunkin', and picked up a grocery order at Walmart on the way home. The primary reason for the order at Walmart was to get food for the guinea pigs. Hopefully we will get good results from Paul's stress test and Nadia's bloodwork. It had been many years since any of them had bloodwork so they didn't remember what it was like to have that done. They all did a good job. The Pediatrician called me twice today to give me Ian and Oliver's results. All of their numbers were very good. Because I don't have hypocholesterolemia like Maurice did, it's unlikely the kids have it, but since it isn't impossible that they have it, we wanted to have them checked.

Sleepover #5

Once we entered the yellow phase in early May, Nadia began to invite friends over for sleepovers at our house. She had sleepovers three different weekends in May and once in June. Evanna is coming over again today for another sleepover. I got the ingredients so the kids can eat S'mores this evening. That will cross another thing off our summer bucket list! The girls had hoped they'd resume seeing each other on Sunday mornings on July 12, but now the date for offering more than just a worship service on Sunday mornings has been postponed to a date TBD. They are waiting to find out what the local schools are going to do regarding wearing masks and such before they reopen the kids and youth classes. 

On Tuesday we received some results. The doctor's office told Paul that his bloodwork showed a B12 deficiency. He's begun taking B12. They still are pursuing other testing next week (including a stress test) to make sure this is the cause of his symptoms. The director of Cinderstein emailed the cast list on Tuesday night. Nadia was assigned three parts, one of which is one of Cinderella's stepsisters. 

Yesterday morning I felt awful, but thankfully in the afternoon the headache finally began to go away and I began to recover from Wednesday's draining day. I had originally signed the kids up for a Knight Book Camp program at 2pm at the Lewisburg library for July 9. I'm glad I had cancelled their reservations a few days ago because home and the pool is all I wanted to do yesterday. Nadia completed a 550 piece puzzle I had gotten her for her birthday while we listened to an audiobook yesterday. I didn't have the energy to go for a walk yesterday, but I'm going to take a walk this morning. Nadia has been using my bicycle lately rather than her own. I asked her if she wanted to sell her bike, and she said yes because she likes my bike better. I reactivated my Facebook account so I could post a listing for the bike on some FB yard sale pages. She's looking forward to receiving $50 for her bike today. 

What a day!

Yesterday was quite an unusual day for our family. Thankfully, I believe Nadia had a good birthday. It was definitely a very different birthday than normal. Both sets of grandparents attended her first seven birthday parties. Sometimes we met in Lancaster to see a show at Sight and Sound, sometimes at our house, and other times at a swimming pool. Following the passing of my mom and my dad's move to Virginia, the relatives who have typically come to celebrate her birthday have been Paul's parents and sometimes Paul's brother and sister-in-law. The first few times she invited friends to attend her party, she had a pool party. The last couple of years she invited friends to our house for a sleepover. Paul's parents haven't been to our house in more than 6 months. It had been almost exactly six months since the last time we were in their house. Yesterday they met us in the driveway at my friend's house. They watched Nadia open the gifts they gave her and talked to the kids and I for a few minutes. We all were wearing masks. Grandma couldn't resist giving them each a hug  since she hadn't seen them since Christmas Day. Nadia invited four girls for a birthday sleepover. Only one girl said she could come. Abby is coming today around noon, and she'll be with us for about 25 hours. We're planning to go swimming this afternoon at the pool we joined on Tuesday night.

The kids always like to open their presents in the morning on their birthday. Since Paul leaves for work before the kids and I get up, we let her open her presents from us Tuesday night before Oliver went to bed. She opened her gifts from her grandparents yesterday. When Paul got up for work yesterday morning he was having some tingling in his hands and tightness in his chest. I was surprised when I got up and found him lying on the floor in the family room. I assumed he was at work. He said he was waiting until the doctor's office opened and calling for an appointment. When he called the doctor's office, they said he needed to go to the ER. A couple of hours later he went to the ER. I mowed the lawn yesterday morning, and while I was trimming some bushes, a bee stung me on the arm. Ouch! 

Ian ate one cashew at the end of lunch. He immediately realized this was a mistake as his tongue was itchy. He didn't eat any more. He has had reactions to walnuts and pecans in the past but has had no problems eating almonds, peanuts, and cashews. He eats a peanut butter and marmalade sandwich on a regular basis for lunch. We changed into swimsuits and got in the van to drive to my friend's house. On the way there I asked Ian how he was feeling, and he said his throat was really itchy and his chest was really hurting him. Nadia said he didn't look well. I was on I-80 where the speed limit is 70, but I definitely exceeded the speed limit once I found that out! I handed a bottle of water back to him and attempted to take him to an urgent care center where I had taken Oliver years ago, but it wasn't there. So I drove him to the ER at the hospital - not the same one where Paul was in the ER. I parked the van, rolled down the windows so Oliver and Nadia wouldn't get overheated, and started walking with Ian to the ER. He said his chest was beginning to feel better and he wasn't having trouble breathing. I walked with him back to the van. Nadia wasn't happy about my decision. I took him to CVS, bought some Benadryl, gave him a tablet, and found out where the Urgent Care's new location. In the parking lot at CVS he told me he was continuing to feel better so I opted not to take him to the Urgent Care because my friend only lives about 10 minutes away from it so I knew I could come back quickly if things got worse. It turned out to be the right call. He had a blast swimming for about 2 hours. The lessons we learned from this episode were #1 Ian isn't going to eat ANY nuts aside from peanuts. He says he's not allergic to almonds, but I say it's not worth the potential risk. He was scared today so he is in agreement with me now about not eating any nuts other than peanuts. #2 I am going to ask the pediatrician for a prescription for an Epi-pen. #3 I am going to make sure we always have some Benadryl on hand - some at home, some in the van, and some in my purse. He took one more Benadryl this evening.

You'd think a bee sting, Paul going to the ER, and Ian having an allergic reaction to a cashew would be more than enough excitement for one day, but there was one other incident. Early yesterday morning (when Paul was in our family room instead of at work) one of his workers was injured on the job. Another worker took the guy to the hospital where he was given stitches. The good news is that he wasn't badly injured, I'm not allergic to bee stings, Benadryl was enough for Ian's allergic reaction, and the EKG, x-rays, and bloodwork showed that Paul's heart is fine and he hasn't had any heart attacks. They gave him Ativan to see if that would help the tingling go away, but it didn't help. They said he needs to see his PCP to follow up on the cause of the tingling. 

Even with all this drama, I think Nadia had a good birthday. I had gotten her a Harry Potter table covering, Harry Potter plates, Harry Potter napkins, and a Harry Potter birthday banner. I bought her three balloons (one flew up to the clouds so two are in our kitchen). She had two donuts for breakfast, apple juice (rare treat), a chicken patty and nectarine for lunch (from the school lunches), and ziti with meatballs, strawberry Jell-O, and cherry dump cake for dinner. Aunt Wendy and Rachel were the first to call her yesterday morning to wish her a happy birthday. Great Aunt Janet called her while I was mowing the lawn. She got to spend a few minutes with her grandparents outside Cheri's house. Some of her friends sent her happy birthday text messages. She had a Zoom virtual birthday party with Rachel from 8pm to midnight. She swam for a couple of hours at Cheri's house and played with two of Cheri's four dogs. After dinner, Nadia participated in the youth group's online meeting. Although it was a treat for me to be able to talk at length with my friend, the highlight of my day was that Nadia gave me a big hug yesterday morning. That is a VERY rare treat from my girl who lately has not been fond of hugs. On Monday I made tuna noodle casserole and on Tuesday I made breakfast bagels for dinner. We're having leftover ziti and meatballs tonight, and tomorrow we're going to use a gift card Grandma gave her for Pizza Hut as she hasn't had stuffed crust pizza since the fall of 2018. I planned the meals this week around her favorites. She also liked the gifts she received - a skateboard, money, fabric glue, a CD, two Barbie dolls, lip gloss, body spray, Goldfish crackers, Wheat Thins, SunChips, sour gummy bears, Pizza Hut gift card, 500 piece Harry Potter puzzle, Harry Potter drapes, Harry Potter sheets, and a Harry Potter comforter. Addi, who lives across the street from us, gave Nadia some candy and card on Tuesday. Even during a pandemic, a birthday can be a special day.

Paul was napping while the kids and I ate dinner, but he woke up right as we were getting ready to light the candles on Nadia's cake. Because he was home much earlier than usual, he and the boys watched Artemis Fowl on Disney+ after dinner while Nadia was meeting with the youth group online, which was a treat for the boys.