Thankful Tuesday

1. The highlight of the baseball/softball clinic the kids attended three nights last week was the game they played on Thursday! There were two retired major league baseball players helping with the camp - Bill Wegman, who was a pitcher for the Brewers for 11 years and Don Gordon who was a pitcher for the Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians for 3 years. Paul took them on Thursday night, which I greatly appreciated because taking them both to history camp on Wednesday morning and then baseball that night really wore me out considering I've been under the weather. He enjoyed watching their games (took videos when they were up to bat), and he had only seen the kids about 5 minutes per day the previous two days since we didn't get home until after 9pm so it was good he had more time with them that night.

2. The kids enjoyed spending 9 hours total at the Joseph Priestly House last week for a history camp about the colonial time period. Their punched tin crafts are on display in our kitchen!

3. We had lunch at the Kid's Café four times last week, and the highlight was on Thursday when they served a turkey dinner and the kids were each allowed to pick two toys to take home. Nadia picked a game and a puzzle, Ian picked some farm animal figurines and a kite, and Oliver picked a container of 40 glow sticks plus an Alvin and the Chipmunks toy.

4. While the kids were in history camp yesterday I did some work on my laptop at the public library and also did a little shopping at the clearance racks at Kohl's. In general I find their prices high (even on clearance), but I did find a few bargains - polo shirts and pajamas for Ian (that will eventually be Oliver's) and some Star Wars toys and stuffed animals (birthday and Christmas presents for the kids). I've been wrapping presents over the past week, which is a good feeling because I prefer to do it in small doses so to speak.

5. Saturday the kids and I stayed home all day, which was nice. On Sunday I taught a lesson on David and Goliath at church. I had Oliver stand on my shoulders during the lesson for K-2nd grade, and Ian stood on my shoulders during the lesson for 3rd-5th grade. They were supposed to be playing the part of Goliath. Ian did a good job of shouting, "Who will fight me!". Since Goliath was over 9 feet tall, I figured that a boy standing on my shoulders would be about the right height. I enjoy teaching the Bible lesson during the second service in the summer.

6. Sunday afternoon I took Nadia and Ian to see Newsies at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport. Of course they prefer shows like Aladdin and Lion King, but this one tied in better with the time period we'll be studying soon in social studies. Governor Teddy Roosevelt has a small part in the musical that is based on real events from the late 1800's.

7. It's such a delight to see Oliver picking up picture books and reading them. I have three readers!!!

8. This week the kids are enjoying a history camp at the Taber Museum in Williamsport from 9- noon. They are studying WWI, Amelia Earhart, and WWII, which is perfect because those are topics we'll be studying this coming school year. This is the final camp for the summer for the boys. In two weeks Nadia has theatre camp and then we are done with camps for 2019.

9. I sold an easel yesterday. Last Monday we had some water in the basement, and I was very grateful as the kids and I were cleaning up the mess that we have a lot less stuff in the basement these days than we used to. The kids have appreciated having some spending money as I've given them the money if I have sold something that was theirs. Nadia told me after the baseball/softball clinic that she doesn't want to play on another softball team. She has asked me to sell her bag, helmet, bat, and mitt. I will try to do that, and then I'm taking a break from selling things. I still prefer to go the donation route.

10. We've been enjoying listening to two book series. Thanks to Overdrive (via the public library in Philadelphia) we've been enjoying the Penderwick family (currently on book #4 of 5) and the Melendy family (currently on book # 3 of 4). We were able to access eight of the nine books for free, and I purchased the one the library didn't have through Audible. 

11. Yesterday I paid $125 for a guy to come and tell us that in light of how much it would cost us to repair our 20 year old air conditioning system, we should just replace it. That's not great news. However, we are learning ways to keep our house a bit cooler - curtains and blinds are closed in all windows (and sliding glass door) 24 hours a day. We are opening the windows at night once the temperature drops outside at night and closing the windows once the temperature gets about 74 outside in the morning (8:15am yesterday). In hind sight, I wish we had brought Maurice's window AC unit back from Philadelphia in March. We just left it for the next tenant. Since we have had central air conditioning for almost eleven years, I didn't think we'd need it. Considering it's the end of July, we shouldn't have too many more weeks of temps in the 90's. I had toyed with whether to put some money I saved this spring into either a CD or a savings account. I'm glad I chose the savings account. The CD had a slightly better interest rate, but a savings account is more liquid. I wasn't planning on dipping into it so soon, but I'm thankful we should be able to afford to replace the system. This is definitely a first world problem. Who am I to complain that my house feels like a sauna when there are people in the world who don't have a home, don't have access to clean water, etc. It helps that I am feeling better. The heat zaps my energy, and the respiratory bug zapped my energy so the combination was hard. I am grateful to have my energy back!!!

Cooking Lessons

When my children turn a year older, they are given a new responsibility and a new privilege. When Nadia turned eleven last month, I moved her bedtime to 9:30 and said that her new chore would be to cook one dinner per week. Due to Camp Good News, Creation music festival, our visit to Long Island, and her week at Camp Susque, this was the first week she could take on her new responsibility. She likes her new chore, primarily because she can choose to make something she likes eating. I taught her how to make what my mom called goulash (pasta, meat, sauce, and cheese); she said she wants to make meatloaf next week. Oliver wanted to help. I told him that I am planning to make potatoes au gratin with ham on Thursday, and he can help me make that. Eventually Nadia will be able to cook dinner independently, but for now she needs some instruction.

On Monday the only time we left the house was to take Nadia to the pediatrician. Because it was raining, we ate lunch at home on Monday instead of going to Kid's Café. It rained so

much that water came in through one of our windows in the basement. I used eleven towels (beach/bath) repeatedly until I got most of the water off the basement floor. The baseball/softball clinic is held rain or shine, but due to the water in the basement, I opted to have the kids skip the first night of the clinic. Yesterday we left the house twice - we attempted to have lunch at the Kid's Café, and the kids participated in the 2.5 hours clinic last night. I said "attempted" to have lunch because the main ingredient in the main dish was rice, and none of my kids like rice. I am going to start serving rice more often until they get to the point where they will eat it. Oliver usually eats everything except for a few fruits so I was surprised when even Oliver wouldn't eat it. The clinic was held indoors on Monday, but last night it was beautiful outside. The kids rotated between five different stations - catching pop flyballs, catching infield grounders, throwing the ball, running bases, and hitting. They have the kids divided into five different groups. There is one softball group and four baseball groups

separated by age (5/6, 7/8, 9/10, and 11/12). Ian was thrilled that a friend of his (Micah) was in his group. He and Micah were in the same cabin at Camp Susque in 2018. Nadia knew a girl in the softball group from the homeschool gym class.

This morning the kids attended the first morning of a history camp at the Joseph Priestley House in Northumberland. When I arrived they were playing games with marbles. We made it back five minutes before the end of the Kids Café lunch program ended. While the kids were in the history camp I worked on the social studies lesson plans for the next school year on my laptop in the public library in that town. Thus far I have 312 picture books plus nonfiction books selected and put into lists in my library account. I also have a list of 52 chapter books and biographies - some we own, some we could get on CD from the library, and some we can listen to on Overdrive or Hoopla. Then I have a list of another 86 chapter books that Nadia and Ian will be asked to pick from. My plan this year is to ask that every other

book they read be from this list (during the school year) and the other half of the chapter books they read can be completely their own choice. For example, Nadia has been reading the Mother Daughter Book Club book series and Ian has been reading books from the Littles series. If we finish the list of 52 books, I might read them some of the books on "their" list. I purposefully picked some that were more geared toward Nadia and others that are more geared toward Ian. So altogether there are 450 books on the list, and believe it or not, the list shrank this week as I deleted all the ones I had planned to get through Bloomsburg University. I haven't mapped out exactly when we will read all the chapter books, but I have organized which day we will read the 312 picture/non-fiction books from August through March. That has taken time!

Thankful Tuesday

1. For the first three weeks of August I had very little energy. I think it was a combination of being ill (stomach bug and then a respiratory bug plus pink eye), having 15 people live in our house for part of that time, doing a lot more driving than usual (to Virginia and back and then for Nadia's theater camp), etc. I actually was leaning toward not going to Dutch Wonderland on August 21, and part of the reason I was at one point not planning to go was because I was so utterly tired I had no interest in going. And usually taking the kids to an amusement park is one of the highlights of the year for me. It's something I love to do, but it wasn't an appealing idea a few days before hand. Thankfully last week my energy level returned, which was very encouraging. I was starting to wonder if I had mono or something like that. I've gotten back into exercising. I'm not doing very much compared to the days when I used to run for four hours a week, but something is better than nothing. Once I start teaching, my plan is to exercise at least 20 minutes a day, five days a week (skipping

Tuesdays and Thursdays).

2. I will be teaching FT at Bloomsburg this fall, and my classes are all on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we have a wonderful babysitter lined up who will homeschool my kiddos those days along with her son. I haven't gotten the official job offer as far as switching from PT to FT, and I don't know my salary yet. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll have things like an email account, key to my office and the computers in the classrooms, parking permit, access to the website where the students post their assignments for my classes, etc.

3. I taught the Bible story for grades K-5 on Sunday morning for the last time this year. I was asked to continue doing so, which was appreciated (always nice to feel wanted!), but I'll wait until next summer to teach the children again.

4. All my clearances have come back. The child abuse one came through on Sunday, and the results of the second time I was fingerprinted for the FBI came in the mail on Monday.

Unfortunately the red tape process on campus moves very slowly. I had been told on Friday I would be able to teach starting on Tuesday, but then yesterday I was told I can't start teaching until Thursday because HR hasn't issued me a contract yet, even though on August 9 I said YES I wanted to teach the classes. The red tape is unbelievably slow, even knowing the semester was going to start on August 28. The upside to them cancelling my Tuesday classes this week was that I had some more time to get ready for the first day, and I get to teach my own kids four days this week. Hopefully my pay for the semester (whatever it ends up being) isn't docked due to them cancelling the first day of my classes.

5. The kids and I were able to see our very first Little League World Series game on August 23.

6. The kids were in GPS again (they performed it in May at our church) on August 26 and 27. Paul's parents came up to see it on Saturday, and my dad drove up from Maryland to see it on

Sunday. He had been planning to spend Sunday night at our house, but due to the hurricane in Texas, Maurice moved his flight back to Austin from Saturday to yesterday, and my dad needed to drive back on Sunday night so he could make two round trips to the airport yesterday. First to take Maurice so he could fly back to Texas, and second to take the Towfighis to the airport so they could return to Turkey. He spent 2.5 hours with us before the musical, and then left from the church after it was over. In other words he spent far more time driving here and back than he did with us. We greatly appreciated him coming. He hadn't been able to make it to see their GPS performance in May. Oliver actually participated in this one. Ian had a small solo. Nadia had a speaking part (played the part of Emma) and a small solo. The funniest part for me (again) was watching Ian trying to figure out which fingers to use when showing the numbers 1-10 in the song about the ten commandments. I took some pictures and videos that hopefully I can upload at some

point. The child who really knocked my socks off was Ian - particularly on Saturday night. He sang with enthusiasm and really SMILED. Reminded me a little bit of Nadia when she sang in her first musical in August 2012. Can you believe this was her sixth summer singing in a musical at this church? She has two years left before she'll be too old to participate. There were far fewer kids in the program this year. Last year I remember breaking down and sobbing outside the church because I was missing my mom so much. She had missed the first one (in 2012) because the Towfighis were in Maryland, but she had attended all of the ones from 2013-2016. Last year neither of my parents could make it because my mom was in Heaven and my dad was in Indiana. I certainly thought of my mom again during the musical, but this time it didn't cause me to have a melt down like it did last year.

7. The kids and I enjoyed a church potluck on Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and Nadia won a door prize (big

bag of fun size Snickers). Paul worked on Sunday. He got home around 5:30PM on Sunday, so he was able to come to their musical both nights.

8. Paul got home from work on Saturday afternoon at a time that enabled me to dash out and get a haircut and get back in time for the musical. It had been 3 months since I had a haircut, and I wanted to look nice for the start of the semester. I am also even more appreciative of my new dresses that I got at JCPenney this summer. If I had known I'd be going back to work, I would have bought more clothes when they were 80-90% off. I'm thankful for the ones I did buy. The past 5 years I've pretty much only gotten dressed up on Sundays, but now I'll be getting dressed up three days a week.

9. Paul's parents watched the kids from 8AM to 5PM on Friday, and then they were at their dress rehearsal. This meant I was able to work on my classes for 15 hours on Friday as I worked until 11pm. I won't continue at that pace, but it helped me make a lot of

progress on setting up two of the three courses. I planned to finish the third one yesterday, but then when I got the word that I wasn't teaching until Thursday I took a little reprieve to do things like write this post and upload some photos. I plan to finish the last syllabus today.

10. Last Thursday I met with a professor on campus. She shared a variety of things with me. Then on Friday she and another professor gave me their log in information which allowed me to access articles on the library's website, see their syllabi and other course documents (they had both taught at least one of the courses I'll be teaching this fall), etc. It would have been much harder to develop two new courses with such little notice without their willingness to share with me. Another friend who taught at Kutztown also sent me her syllabus for one of the courses also. I'm very appreciative!

11. We got the flag football game schedule, and it's wonderful! Many of the weeks the games are back to back (ex. one game at 9AM and the other at 10AM). This week that's not the case, but there's just one hour in between. The last week of the season both games are at the same time. That's the only time that is supposed to happen this season.

12. I declared yesterday to be our "first day" of this school year meaning it was our first FULL day of school. I am so thankful to be able to homeschool my three children, and I'm also thankful Tab is going to help me out with that over the next 15 weeks on T/Th. We did our annual first day of school pictures yesterday. This year Ian said he wants to be an inventor (had said work at the Lego company the past couple of years), Nadia wants to be a missionary (in particular she wants to get a nursing degree and then be a missionary who works with orphans in another country), and Oliver (out of the blue) said  he wants to be a police officer. Ian said the same thing a few years ago. Praying we have a great school year! In science this semester we're studying flying creatures (bats, birds, insects, and flying dinosaurs), and this year we're studying Rome to the Reformation in social studies. We're also going to read through the NT, which is a much less formidable task than reading the whole OT out loud last year. Yesterday we did Matthew chapters 1-2 using a video on YouTube that is a visualized account of the book of Matthew with the narration being every single verse from that book. It was a different way of listening to the book since it was also visual, which never happened when we read the OT.

13. My dad brought up a crockpot with him on Sunday. My mom had given it to me in January 2016 so naturally I'm rather sentimental about it, plus I will certainly put it to good use. I used it yesterday to make some beef stew.

Canada vs. Japan

Yesterday we accomplished one last thing on our summer bucket list - going to a Little League World Series game for the very first time. We live about 20 minutes from where the games are played each year. It's free to watch the game (no ticket needed), and there is a family fun zone that has free activities each day sponsored by various businesses. We went to that area first and then headed to the stadium to make sure we got a seat. I paid $5 for parking and $3.50 so the kids could share a Gatorade (they were hot and thirsty). We watched the first half of the game, and when we left we had a feeling Japan was going to beat Canada, and that's what happened. Oliver was rooting for Japan, and the rest of us were rooting for Canada.

Today was the first time in at least two years that I paid a babysitter. In 2016 we went on three dates. Paul's parents watched the kids when we went out once in April and August, and we had another date when Community Baptist Church had a parent's night out event (free childcare). In 2017 we haven't been on any dates thus far. It's been a little more than five years since I paid for a babysitter due to my job. Today I met with a professor on campus, the one who was scheduled to teach the courses I will be teaching this fall. Our next door neighbor watched my kids for 2.5 hours. She was also watching another neighbor's two girls. Her three children were all at school as today was the first day back for our district, and her youngest started Kindergarten today. The other mom is a stay-at-home mom, but she had a doctor appointment today. Speaking of school starting, I've decided that Monday (August 28) will be our "official" first day, which means we'll get back into doing all the subjects, and I'll take our first day photos that day. However, this week I've been gradually easing the kids back into school. We've been doing 10 minutes of math flashcards each day (started that on Tuesday), reading a chapter from our history book each day about Rome (The Story of the World), Nadia  has resumed practicing the piano, and we finished the last 12 chapters of Ezekiel this week, which means we have finished the whole Old Testament (minus Song of Solomon). Next week we'll start in Matthew on MWF, and Tab will be doing a study of Romans with the kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I was hoping to get a key for my office and the computer in the classroom and a parking permit today, but that wasn't possible because I don't have a contract yet. Part of the reason I don't have a contract yet is that one of my three clearances hasn't been processed yet (child abuse one). I have one from last year, but they want a new one. Hoping that comes ASAP as the semester starts on Monday, and my classes start on Tuesday. I am also still in suspense as to whether I'll be teaching 2, 3, or 4 classes this semester. Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll find that out. I asked Paul if he could go in to work later that usual tomorrow (leave around 7AM instead of 3AM) and get home earlier than usual (6PM instead of 7-9PM), and he agreed. He's going to take the kids to Paul's parents' house, and I will get the whole day to myself!!! I had thought I'd have 5 days like that earlier this month, but that didn't happen. All three kids are healthy (necessary so they can be around Paul's mom), and we haven't officially started our school year yet. I am going to use the day to prepare for teaching. If by some miracle I receive a contract tomorrow and can pick up my key and parking permit and such, I will make another trip to the university tomorrow.

Thankful Tuesday

1. I was able to attend Bible study last Tuesday night.

2. Nadia and Ian had a great week at Camp Good News last week, and it was wonderful to carpool with our neighbor. Oliver enjoyed having Westyn come and swim with us twice last week.

3. Last Friday we stopped at our library's book sale. The kids are always allowed one free book each. Nadia got a Paddington Bear chapter book that she hadn't read before, and Ian let me use his free book for a resource on teaching kids about Shakespeare and his time period. I bought Nadia three cd's of contemporary Christian music.

4. The kids and I enjoyed dinner at Taco Bell (thanks to a gift card) on Friday night.

5. We had a safe trip to Maryland on Saturday morning and back home on Monday night. We were able to visit the Goddard Space Center on Sunday, go to Friendly's for dinner on Saturday night, and go on a Pirate Adventure on

Monday afternoon. Ian said the best part was when he shot a water cannon and hit two other pirates who were in a smaller boat. The kids had their faces painted and had tattoos painted on their arms - ex. an octopus for Oliver. Ian's nametag read "Eagle Eye Ian," Oliver's read "Octopus Oliver," and Nadia's read "Night Owl Nadia." Maurice tried to join us, but the fifth ticket I purchased went unused because he got lost trying to find the ship.

6. This morning we enjoyed seeing Happy Feet 2 for $4 total for the four tickets at the movie theater. Then we did a little shopping at JCPenney since they are closing in seven days. I got myself a pair of earrings for $3 and two dresses for Nadia. One of the dresses was a splurge for me. I rarely spend more than $5 on a dress for Nadia. Many times I pay as little as $1.50. I don't believe I've ever spent more than $10 on a dress for her. One of the dresses I got her today was $24. It was originally $120 so it was 80% off. She certainly didn't *need* another dress, but she really wanted to get it and wear it at Grandpa's

wedding. I told her I'd get it if she used some of money to pay part of the cost. She then asked Grandma later if Grandma would pay for part of the dress. It's very pretty, and since it's long I believe she'll be able to wear it next year as well. All 21 grandkids will be processing down the aisle during the ceremony (each holding one long stemmed flower) so she'll have a pretty dress to wear for this special occasion.

7. After JCP we stopped at the berry farm on the way home and picked about 2.5 pounds of blueberries. Yum! The weather was about 20 degrees cooler today than it has been lately, which made it ideal weather for picking blueberries. It also was better weather for mowing the lawn, although I still got really sweaty this afternoon even though it was only in the 70's.

8. Rosalie called me yesterday to tell me that she spoke to Jessica, the chair at Gratz College. She said Jessica is very excited about having me teach online courses for their master's and doctoral programs. I have no idea when this might actually

happen, but it will be wonderful to earn some extra money at some point through teaching online. I'm hoping it happens at least by next spring so I can earn enough money for us to go to San Diego in October 2018.

9. I got to sit in the class where my brother was the substitute teacher on Sunday morning.

10. I received one of the five employment verification forms thus far, and I was told a second one is in the mail.

11. All five of us attended a Crosscutters game this evening (minor league baseball). They were giving 500 free handstamp vouchers for Knoebels this evening, but Paul couldn't get home from work early enough for us to be one of the first 500 people there this evening. I had gotten the tickets for free, and parking is always free at this stadium. We did spend some money at the concession stands. The kids shared an order of French fries, a slushie, and one cotton candy. Paul had a burger and chips, and I had a soft pretzel. We stayed for the first 5 innings. The score was 4-1

(home team was losing) when we left, and that ended up being the final score so we didn't miss anything by leaving early. We left because it was past Ian and Oliver's bedtimes. The end of August I am planning on taking them to a Little League game during the week of the championship.

12. My aunt gave me some special markers for drinking glasses/mugs to write names on (that can come off if you rub it off with a sponge). She gave me enough to share them with my dad and siblings. I gave my dad two of them, and we used them this weekend. What an awesome invention! I also am enjoying some hand-me down sandals that she gave me while we were in New York that she can't wear any longer due to some foot issues that she has.

13. I did a little grocery shopping on Saturday night for my dad so I could make our Sunday dinner (pot roast, mashed potatoes, etc.). I bought Nadia and I four plums as well. She had asked me last week to buy plums. I hadn't bought any since last summer. Oh they were so good!!! Here's to hoping some grocery store around here will have them on sale for a decent price sometime in the near future as we'd both like to have some more plums!

Thankful Tuesday

1. My Bible study on the book of Ruth ended last Tuesday. I really enjoyed it! It was a very small group (only 4 women) so it had a very different feel from the other groups which are larger. Tonight is the last night of my Revelation study. Next week we're starting a study on the names of God. I'm very thankful that Paul comes home earlier on Tuesday nights so I can go to study and that our church offers a wide variety of Bible study groups that meet at different times and on different days. The book of Ruth is one of my favorite books in the Bible, and not just because my name is Ruth. I'm so thankful Jesus is our kinsman redeemer!

2. Tonight Nadia has her last softball game. She has to help at the carnival with a fundraiser for Little League on Thursday, and then her season is officially over. Paul is driving her to the game. He's been getting home from work between 7-7:30PM lately, but he's going to be home by 4:30 today so he can take Nadia to her game which is farther away than usual and so I can go to Bible study. I'm also going to go for a walk! Yay!

3. We enjoyed the homeschool picnic and assembly on Thursday. The weather was perfect for this outdoor event! I made lemon bars, and I brought about half of them home (which never happens when I make brownies) so I have still been enjoying the lemon bars, which I very rarely make. Yum!

4. Oliver didn't cry when I took him to summer musical on Wednesday night. YAHOO!! I told him he was in charge of carrying in the ice cream sandwiches. I had signed up to bring the kids snack that night. In the past I've always made the snack, but since we had four potluck picnics within fourteen days, I went the lazy route and purchased ice cream sandwiches.

5. We had a lovely time with Aunt Janet this past weekend! It was so great to spend time with her, and she was able to get a glimpse into our world by attending Ian's soccer game, going with us to church, seeing the children's museum, etc.

6. Aunt Janet treated us to dinner at Bonanza on Saturday

night. I always enjoy having a night off from cooking!

7. The kids enjoyed their last gym class on Friday (until September). Oliver said that glow in the dark dodgeball was his favorite. Hopefully next fall I won't have to sit in the gym and watch to get him to participate.

8. The kids, Janet, and I enjoyed Nadia's softball party on Friday night. The kids enjoyed the pool and playground. I found it a treat to eat s'mores.

9. Oliver scored his very first goal on Saturday morning! I am so glad this is the last week of soccer and softball. We get a two month break before flag football practices will begin.

10. Nadia and Ian learned more about eyes through the class lead by Bloomsburg University biology professors at the Children's Museum on Saturday. This included dissecting a cow's eye.

11. I enjoyed teaching an adult Sunday School class as a substitute, and it was especially nice that Aunt Janet was in the class that day.

12. Claire and Sophie came over for 5.5 hours yesterday. I'm so glad the kids have friends.

13. We watched an interesting movie last night about the history of McDonald's (The Founder).

14. Last month when I received the EOB from the dental insurance, my heart sank as it looked to me that we were going to be billed about $250 for Oliver's x-rays because the insurance only covers them beginning at age 5 (which he won't turn until August). Thankfully, we haven't received a bill from the dentist, which I believe means his x-rays were free. This means I think we can afford to schedule an eye doctor appointment for me. I had thought that between Oliver's x-rays and Paul's mole we had exceeded our budget for medical expenses for the year. I am so grateful we haven't, and I can start the process of getting some eyeglasses that don't give me a splitting headache.

15. Paul's mole still hasn't been healing. I have been asking and asking and asking him to call a dermatologist as I felt it was time to move beyond his PCP. Thankfully he called yesterday and got an appointment for this Friday. We want the dermatologist to #1 make sure this first mole removal was handled properly and #2 remove any other suspicious moles. Basically we want to maximize our deductible. I don't want to remove one mole a year and max his deductible each year over each mole. If we're maxing his deductible this year, let's take care of any and all suspicious moles before our "year" is up with the insurance. He was supposed to see the PCP on Thursday. He's going to cancel that in light of his appointment on Friday. I am so glad he could be seen so quickly by a specialist.

16. I had never taken a shower in the kids' bathroom so I didn't know that the monkey shower rings were not very functional. They were cute but made it very difficult to slide the shower curtain. I bought new shower rings and a new shower liner last week (some of the holes were ripped in the liner which also added to the problem), and now that shower curtain is SO much more functional. I am sure our guests will appreciate this in the future, and we are appreciating it now until we are able to resume using our master bathroom shower.

17. Maurice had a good week in Italy last week, and my dad made it safely over to Turkey yesterday. Now Maurice and my dad are exploring Ephesus for a few days before they spend a week with the Towfighis. Hoping they'll all have a fabulous time over there!

18. We are going to see a movie today at the theater. It's one we've already seen on DVD, but since only one time in their lives have I purchased a ticket for a newly released movie (took Nadia to see Beauty and the Beast), seeing a movie on the big screen is still novel for them. So for $4 the four of us will watch Kung Fu Panda 3 this morning. We were going to pick strawberries before the movie, but it was raining. If it's not raining after the movie, we'll pick them then. If not today, at some point in the next week or two we will pick strawberries!

19. Paul's mom had been on a pill that was supposed to keep her non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in check. It didn't work. Bummer. This means she is starting chemo again on Thursday. She has had and continues to have the best attitude through all this. She had chemo in 2008 and in 2014. Praying that it will be effective this time and that the side effects will be as minimal as possible. I'm thankful it's a far more treatable kind of cancer than the one my mom had.

Fall Flag Football

The kids have played flag football in their gym class on Fridays, and so I asked them what they thought about playing Upward flag football this fall. Nadia was a very enthusiastic YES. Oliver said he'd rather play that than soccer, and Ian said he'd prefer to do it if his siblings were. At least one of our children have played soccer every spring and fall for 4.5 years, but we are going to be taking a break this fall. Some of the kids might play soccer next spring, but last night I registered all three of them for Upward flag football. Their evaluations will be in June. The practices start the second week of August, and the eight games are held every Saturday in September and October. There are two churches within 30 minutes of our house that offer Upward flag football. I picked a Baptist church that I estimate is 20-25 minutes from our house. We will have to drive farther than we do for Upward basketball or AYSO soccer, but there is only one practice a week and all the games are at the same location, which means it's less hectic than soccer or softball. The teams are separated by gender and grade.

The three grade groups are K-2, 3-5, and 6-8. I'm hoping that Ian and Oliver will be on the same team. I like having the kids try a wide variety of things so I'm happy they'll get to try at least one season of flag football. It could be our first and last, or it might become something we do for several years. Time will tell. It cost $210 to register the three kids AND buy three uniforms so it's certainly not as expensive as softball has been this spring.

Last night I also added two things to our summer schedule - attending one Crosscutters game (minor league baseball) and a Little League World series game. The good news about both of those is they won't cost us any money (except for parking for the Little League game). It's embarrassing to admit we live about 15-20 minutes from where they hold the Little League World Series every year, and we've never been to a game thus far. Last year was the first time any of our kids had been to a baseball game. We went to a Crosscutters game on a night we could get free tickets, and it was an enjoyable experience. I figure

this year it will be more meaningful to Nadia now that she's played softball. Last  year we went on a Sunday because the games are at 5:00 on Sundays, but this summer the Sunday games conflicted with VBS so we're planning to go to a 7:00 game on a Tuesday night. I figure we don't have to stay for the whole game since the tickets are free.

We have been in summer mode for one month thus far, but since our local public school will finish their school year on Thursday, today I instituted a new plan for the next three months. I told Nadia and Ian that they can earn up to three iPad turns a day, and each turn will be 20 minutes long. It is their choice how many (0-3) turns they have a day. For each turn they must complete one of four tasks, and they can only choose each once a day. Their choices are reading (at least two chapters), practicing the piano, 10 minutes of math flashcards, or writing in their journal. I know Nadia will read far more than two chapters most days, but the additional reading will not earn her an iPad turn. The only subject we haven't finished is Bible. We are currently on chapter 21 of Jeremiah, and we still have all

of Lamentations and Ezekiel to read. Then we'll be done with the Old Testament. We're going to start the New Testament in the fall.

One of my FB friends posted a link to this article today. Some things on the list don't interest me (such as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland which we walked right past when we went to the Great Lakes Science Center last month), but most of the things on the list are indeed places I would love to take the kids some day. Some are places I haven't been to yet such as Hawaii or Alaska. A few places on the list I have been but Paul and the kids haven't been there yet. There are eight on this list that we've already done with the kids: Kennedy Space Center, Boston (although we need to return there to do more of the historical sites), Grand Cayman Island (I was pregnant with Oliver but the other two swam with the stingrays), Disney World, Cedar Point, Plymouth Plantation, Chicago, and Sesame Place. I toyed with taking the kids up the Statue of Liberty this summer, but I've decided to wait until Oliver is 48 inches tall. We only live 4 hours from Niagara Falls so I think that could be something we do in the next year.