Thankful Tuesday

1. I found recently that one of the libraries in our system had several Adventures in Odyssey cd's. Considering listening to Adventures in Odyssey is one of Nadia's most favorite things to do, that has been a blessing.

2. For months the kids had been on a kick of watching Odd Squad via Amazon Prime. Now their latest craze has been 321 Penguins. I am so thankful for Christian videos for kids. I don't remember anything like that existing when I was a child.

3. Nadia got her haircut on Wednesday. I love it when her hair is shorter given she is a not a fan of having her hair brushed. I wanted to go before her birthday since the charge is the same as the child's age.

4. Oliver's coach provided pizza and such for his soccer team on Wednesday night. Ian's soccer coach took the team out to OIP for pizza after their practice on Thursday night. Paul went with Ian. The parents play against the kids during the second half of the last practice. He took part in Ian's last practice, and I played during Oliver's soccer practice.

Even though older siblings were helping on the kids' side (such as Nadia and Ian), the parents were scoring far more goals than the kids so they decided to form a wall in front of the goal. Would you believe I scored a goal when there were 4-5 kids lined up across the front of the goal? I couldn't believe it! I am not very athletic.

5. Oliver went to summer musical on Wednesday night without any hesitation at all. What a HUGE improvement. Thank you, Lord! Nadia was also very happy to find out that night she was given a part. They are doing the same musical they did at our church in the spring. She's not the GPS this time, but she got the part of Emma. Ian didn't get a part this time, but he's hoping he'll get a solo. Ian was Noah when they did it at our church. One of our neighbors has two kids in the musical and ironically their daughter is the GPS and their son is Noah. It cracks me up that both times those parts are being played by siblings.

6. On Thursday Nadia, Ian, and I enjoyed a wonderful 3.2 mile

hike at Ricketts Glen State Park. The weather was gorgeous and the waterfalls were beautiful.

7. On Thursday night Nadia helped out with a Little League fundraiser at the Turbotville Carnival. Oliver, Nadia, and I enjoyed eating some funnel cake and walking around the carnival. Nadia used some of her money to play two games.

8. On Friday we enjoyed swimming for free at Liberty Splashland and the horseback riding lessons for all three kids. We also got our family photo taken that night at church.

9. On Saturday morning some beautiful navy blue carpet was installed in our master bedroom. I love it! I smile every time I look at it.

10. On Saturday we had the last soccer game of the year. I am very grateful to have a break for two months from practices until flag football season starts.

11. On Saturday we enjoyed the trolley museum and Bees Backyard for Scranton. Both were free thanks to our WVIA

membership. We also enjoyed dinner at Subway thanks to a gift card.

12. Paul got a good report at the dermatologist on Friday.

13. We enjoyed attending Summerfest at the state park on Sunday afternoon. Activities included learning about snakes, kayaking, crafts, looking at the sun through a special telescope, etc. It was Maryann's last event. We will miss her very much! Hopefully not too many years will pass before they hire someone to replace her.

14. The kids and I attended a picnic at one of the pastor's houses on Sunday evening while Paul was at work. We ate some yummy food and played outside (Frisbee, corn hole, etc.).

15. We are getting an elliptical! I asked Paul's input regarding whether we should make another payment on the principal of the mortgage (I just made one last week), and he said he thought we should buy a piece of exercise equipment since I had to give up running when he went back to work at

Kennedy Concrete. I'm excited. Hopefully it will help me lose weight and get in better shape without causing any pain to my knees or back. I applied for a Sapphire credit card again. We've done it twice before. You get a $500 bonus after you use it for 3 months. I'm going to order the elliptical after we get the new credit card in the mail. I've decided at some point I want to get a 70-200mm lens. I am going to keep saving money (that I get from birthday and Christmas gifts, that I get from selling things, and this credit card bonus) until I have enough for it. I agree that it's smarter to get the elliptical now.

16. I started a Bible study on the names of God this evening. Afterward, the leader came up and said some really sweet things to me. Those words of affirmation really touched my heart and encouraged me.

17. This morning we saw an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie for $1 each at the theater. We hadn't seen the movie before. While we watched the movie Sears was changing the oil and rotating the tires on our minivan.

18. Our swimming pool opened on Saturday. Today was our first time going this season. The music pastor's wife and kids were there (who are Nadia and Ian's ages) when we arrived. Although I'm not a huge fan of 90+ degree weather in June, the upside is that it has helped warm the water up in the pool. They said the water temperature has gone up 9 degrees over the past two days! I swam some laps today. A few days ago I started on a diet of sorts, and I am planning on swimming laps every time we are at the pool as I need to lose some weight. I wish I had started months ago, but better late than never.

19. After the swimming pool we stopped at the library. One of the things we picked up was a set of 4 CD's for Jonathan Park, which is another radio drama like Adventures in Odyssey. I'm thankful for interlibrary loan!

20. We had a great time at Idlewild yesterday! Nadia's friend, Grace, joined us for this adventure. The amusement park is rated the number one amusement park for children. I had read about it in magazines and such a few years ago. I am glad we went, but I doubt we'll return as we personally wouldn't rate it as "the best." Since it was hot, we spent more time in the water area than on the dry rides. The lazy river and wave pool were their favorites yesterday. Nadia was the only one who went on a big water slide. We rode on Daniel Tiger's trolley through his "neighborhood." I haven't gone through all the pictures yet, but here are a few of them. The kids have now been to twelve different amusement parks thus far. This is the only "new" one planned for this year.

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.

Foto Friday

We could have returned to day two of Art Day today, but instead we had a low key day that included a trip to the recycling center, gym class, a trip to the grocery store, mowing the lawn, etc. I used the weed whacker again, which means I used it two weeks in a row. Ian's soccer game that was supposed to take place tomorrow morning was moved to next Wednesday night, and we don't do soccer games on Wednesday night due to church so he'll be missing that game. This means we only have one soccer game tomorrow - another low key day. I took SO many pictures at Knoebels on Wednesday (more than 200!). I've deleted about 50 of them and edited about 50 of them. I still have 100 to look through and either edit or delete. One lesson I learned while looking through them is that I should have boosted my shutter speed a lot more in many instances.

There was a fence in between my lens and the bumper cars, but I was able to make the fence disappear from the view! Yay!

Going up the first hill on the Impulse. Nadia is in the second from the left on the back row.

Thankful Tuesday

1. It's watermelon time of year again. My boys really like to have watermelon. Ian just wants one piece a day, but Oliver can easily eat 1/4 of an entire watermelon each day, if I would let him. When we were talking about going to the birthday party on Saturday, he kept saying that he hoped they'd have watermelon. He even asked if there was watermelon cake!

2. Oliver did a much better job participating in gym class on Friday and in soccer practice on Monday evening.

3. Nadia's softball game and Oliver's soccer game were cancelled and Ian's soccer game was pushed back three hours on Saturday which meant they were all able to attend the entire dress rehearsal on Saturday morning, and it also meant that Nadia and Oliver were able to go to the birthday pool party on Saturday afternoon.

4. Paul's parents came up on Sunday. They attended the second worship service and then hung out at our house in the afternoon until it was time to return for the kids' musical. The

kids always love to have time with Grandma and Pop Pop! They also got us pizza from Ciro's, which was greatly appreciated. Also, because they were here I was able to go for an almost four mile walk while Paul was napping. I haven't done much walking (or any running) so any chance I get is greatly appreciated. I am planning on swimming laps when we go to the pool this summer, and when the kids go to VBS I also hope to get some exercise. I am really out of shape.

5. Ian's soccer practice was cancelled today. I always enjoy having a night off of going to the soccer field. I used to be able to walk or run during soccer practices, but Oliver is too clingy now for me to do that during his rehearsals. Last night Oliver had a soccer practice and Nadia had a softball game.

6. Nadia didn't get to run to first base last night, but she did have one foul ball which was progress as at least her bat did connect with the ball once. She also scooped up the ball in the outfield four times last night, which was a lot more than usual.

There have been many games when she hasn't had any contact with a ball during the whole game. Her team *almost* won their first game last night. They were behind 9-3 at one point, but the game ended with a score of 10-9.

7. Paul glued the broken leg of one of our kitchen chairs on Sunday morning. Now we have six chairs around the table, which will come in handy the next time Paul's parents are here. That meant one more thing was crossed off the honey do list! Unfortunately the length of the list hasn't gotten smaller because naturally new things come on the list from time to time. The most recent addition was the red battery operated vehicle the kids drive from time to time. It doesn't work even if you have the battery plugged in for a long time.

8. In July Paul is going to have his cell phone taken off our plan and put on the company's plan. He doesn't have a smart phone, but with the way Verizon has changed their plans over the last two years, I think our bill will drop at least $55 a month if my phone is the only one on our plan. I'm hoping this means we'll be able to afford an eye doctor appointment for me plus a new pair of glasses. I cannot wear my glasses at all any more because they give me a horrible headache. My choices the last few months have been to either wear my contacts all the time

OR walk around somewhat blind. We don't have any vision insurance right now - first time that has been true for me in more than 20 years. I'm thinking by December we should have saved enough money from the lower cell phone bill that I can make an appointment with an eye doctor. I'm definitely at the age where my ability to read things is going away, and prior to this I only had trouble with seeing things far away.

9. I'm thankful we have two showers. A little over a year ago Paul discovered a problem in the floor near our shower. He hasn't gotten to that item on the to do list over the last year, and the problem has gotten worse during that time. I wish I had thought of this a year ago, but better late than never. A few days ago I took the shower curtain down and removed the bath rug from our bathroom to help remind us not to use that shower any more until Paul fixes the problem. Knowing it might take months or years, I ordered another towel bar today for the kids' bathroom so Paul and I can also have our towels in that room. This extra towel bar will come in handy

when we have guests even if Paul and I are able to resume using our master bathroom shower at some point in the future.

10. Nadia and Ian did well in their musical at our church on Sunday night. Their choir sang one song from the musical in the two worship services that morning. Oliver did fine in the first service, but he was definitely a distraction in the second service. I decided it wasn't fair to all the other children in the choir or to the directors to allow him to be in the program that night, even though he knew the songs and had just participated in almost 6 hours of dress rehearsals the previous two days. Well at least he has a head start on learning the songs for the musical at the Alliance Church in August. It was Ian's first time having a speaking part. He played the part of a boy named Noah, and Nadia was the voice of the GPS. They both did a great job, and Nadia also had a small solo in the song "You are a treasure" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Nadia is anxious to find out if she'll be given a solo or a speaking part

in the same musical at the Alliance Church this summer.

11. I joined a Sports Photography course for parents (online) recently. I am finding it very helpful and hope to put into practice what I am learning in the future.

12. Paul took Nadia to Grandma's house today. That meant she had to get up before 3AM. Hopefully she went back to sleep!!! The kids always look forward to having a day at Grandma's house. Paul left for work at 2AM yesterday and didn't get home until almost 8PM. We are planning to go to Knoebels tomorrow. At one point the weather forecast didn't look very good, but now the forecast looks great for tomorrow. We are using tickets my dad got us last September. This means the kids will get a lot more time than they usually do with Daddy tomorrow.

13. The boys and I enjoyed the pretty weather and went to the playground today. Oliver rode his bike there for the first time, and Ian pushed the umbrella stroller to give a small stuffed animal a ride there and back. We also used a gift card to have dinner at Cracker Barrel as I knew Grandma would be taking Nadia out for lunch.

Splish, Splash

Tuesday through Friday it was unseasonably hot around here - meaning temps were in the low 90's. Today the high was thirty degrees cooler. It was also raining this morning. Oliver's soccer game was cancelled because of the rain. The kids had a dress rehearsal at church last night from 3:30-7:15pm and again this morning from 8:30-11:15. The kids in the choir range in age from four years old to third graders. Oliver definitely has SO much room for improvement with his behavior. It was rather vexing to watch the rehearsals. The upside was I brought my Bible lessons and got six lessons done between the two dress rehearsals. Paul arrived at the church at 11:15 to pick Ian up so he could take him later to his 1:00 soccer game.  Nadia, Oliver, and I stopped at the library, and then we went to a birthday party. Most of the kids at the party still went swimming even though it was chilly out (in the 50's when we arrived at noon and 61 when we left at 4:00). The pool was heated, and the water temperature was 84. Oliver swam a little, got back into his dry clothes, ate lunch, played a little t-ball, and then got back in his bathing suit and swam some more. Nadia went off the "diving rock" and also went down the slide multiple times. Aside from when she ate her lunch around 1:00, she was in the pool the whole time we

were there. It didn't seem like a good day for a pool party, but since the pool was heated, the kids had a blast!

Originally my Dad and Margie were going to come up this weekend for the GPS musical. Margie was the first to back out because she has been sick ever since she went to Turkey to meet my sister and her family. My dad also probably isn't going to make it because he's also not feeling well. My mom used to come up for all their programs, and my dad often joined her. 2016 was a very different year because neither of my parents made it up to any of their three musicals first because my mom was sick and unable to travel and then because my Dad was in Indiana for their August musical last year. I am sure in time I will get accustomed to the fact that my mom won't be coming, but it still is emotional for me. I remember calling my Aunt Janet on the phone outside of the church in August and crying on the phone to her about how badly I missed my mom's presence at their musical. I'm very thankful that Paul's parents are able to join us tomorrow. Ian

Nadia coming down the waterslide

is playing the part of a boy named Noah, and Nadia is the voice of the GPS. Nadia also has a small solo. I'll be praying my heart out that Oliver will be on his best behavior tomorrow night. I think the choir is rather small considering the size of the church, but I'm very grateful the kids can be in a choir at church, especially since they are homeschooled.

My morning started earlier than usual today for a humorous reason. At 2:15 this morning Paul used my phone to call his phone so he could find his phone before he left for work. At 4:13am while he was at work, he noticed he had missed two calls from me and so he called me. I woke up at 4:13 because I heard my cell phone ringing downstairs and thought it must be something very horrible if someone was calling me at that hour of day. I was puzzled when I saw it was at 4:15. I saw my phone had been used at 2:15 to call Paul's phone. I called Paul back a few times, but he didn't answer. I figured he hadn't intentionally called me (sometimes phones seem to have a mind of their own). I kept the phone with me in bed for the next couple of hours. He called me back again at 7:00 and asked me why I called him at 2:15. I told him I had been sound asleep at 2:15 and certainly hadn't called him or anyone else on the phone. Then he remembered he had used my phone to locate his phone. Oops! I think he needs a little bit more sleep than he's been getting lately! I also think it's partially the aging process, at least speaking for myself I can definitely tell that my memory is not as good as it used to be.

Thankful Thursday

1. All three kids got a good report at the dentist on May 11.

2. Paul's parents have been married for 50 years as of May 13!

3. The choir sang a beautiful anthem (It is well) on May 14. The choir director has decided to continue the choir for another year (whew), although he said he's not going to purchase any new music.

4. I have been blessed with three beautiful children!

5. We were able to spend several hours with Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law on Sunday.

6. The kids and I enjoyed our time at Daniel Boone's Homestead on Tuesday and also our visit with my friend, Kay on our way back.

7. Oliver has been going out on the soccer field without crying or cajoling. Hopefully that will also be true at the Alliance Church on Wednesday nights in future weeks.

I'm thankful a woman helped to make him to stay in the room when I left.

8. Ian played better at his soccer game on Saturday. He still isn't as aggressive  in going for the ball as he was last year, but he *almost* got a goal several times, which was encouraging.

9. We shopped at a discount grocery store after the game on Saturday and got some good bargains.

10. The pastor was really encouraged by my story of what Ian told me regarding the sermon. He posted what I shared (without revealing any names) and 193 people clicked like (and several posted comments).

11. We own a weed whacker that I can start on my own! I have never really wanted to use a weed whacker. I always felt intimidated by them, but my desire to have the weeds trimmed became greater than my aversion to using that device. Maybe someday I'll become brave enough to use the gas powered clippers. Thus far I still just use the simple kind.

12. Ian had lost the wire that held the water bottle onto the guinea pig cage. Last week Pop Pop used a wire coat hanger to create a better holder. Unfortunately Ian messed with it this week so it's not quite as good as how Pop Pop had it, but it's still much better than what I had come up with. I never professed to be an engineer!

13. Whenever I ask Ian to help teach Oliver something, he does a great job at giving encouragement and celebrating correct answers.

14. We enjoyed seeing a production of Little Red Riding Hood at the Millbrook Playhouse today. It's been more than a year since we saw a production at the Community Theatre League. We used to go there several times a year, but I stopped in attempt to save some money. Ironically they were also doing Little Red Riding Hood this month, but I picked the Millbrook Playhouse even though it's a longer drive because #1 the tickets were cheaper ($15 for the four of us compared to $32 at CTL) and #2 this production was put on by

adults (kids at the other one). Everyone else that was there was from a public school. The woman in charge of seating people told me to wait at the end, and she gave us a private tour of the place - the costume room, dressing room, passageways in the backstage, etc. It's been more than a year since we went to a show at BTE or PSU, again because we can't afford to see as many shows as we used to attend. I had wanted to take the kids to see BFG at PSU in the 2016 but skipped it due to our shrinking budget. They are doing BFG at BTE this summer. I hope the tickets are reasonably priced because I'd really like to take them.

15. I noticed that the Kmart near the theatre had a "store closing" sign on it; I decided to make a quick stop. I was looking for sandals for Nadia. We struck out on that, but I got myself a pair of snow boots! I don't have any. Ideally I would have preferred a taller pair, but the taller ones they had left didn't come in any sizes bigger than 8 (and I need 8.5 or 9). Typically though when we get snow we don't get a massive amount, so the ones I

got will work most of the time. They only cost me $9.50! Yay!

16. I planted two blueberry bushes today and a bunch of strawberry plants earlier this week. Hopefully we will get fruit from these in future years! Since I bought these plants and mulch, I only bought two hosta plants this spring. I usually buy at least one flat of annuals, but I'm going to skip those this year to save some money in light of what I spent on strawberry plants and blueberry bushes and the fertilizer, peat moss, and top soil necessary to plant those properly.

17. Yesterday I received the first item from the Shutterfly order I placed on Sunday. It was my first time ordering a blanket for myself from Shutterfly. I had ordered two woven blankets in 2015 for my mom and mother-in-law. I had never bought a fleece blanket, but I had a coupon for a free one and got it for myself. It has 8 pictures on it. I love it, and the kids do also. They keep wanting to use it even though it's stinking hot and no blankets are really needed today. I love Shutterfly!!

18. Today we attended an Emergency Preparedness Day on the grounds of a prison about 5 minutes from our home. They had different demos throughout the day. We attended a K-9 Drug Unit demo, and a breaching demo by a PA State Police Disturbance Control Team. We watched them chainsaw through a metal door and use guns with rubber balls in them and such to show how they would handle a prison riot. We also watched a Puppet Show about safety tips for kids. Other demos we didn't see included a bear trap demo by the

game commission, self-defense demo, class about identity theft, mounted unit demo, etc. This was the 11th year this event was held, and I had never heard about it until a few days ago. I think we will return if they continue to hold this event.

19. Ian's soccer practice was cancelled for today. I can't tell you how nice it was not to feel so rushed at dinner and be able to stay home after dinner. I truly am thinking of skipping soccer and softball for all three kids next year. It's just been TOO much this spring. If I did it for

only one child, I would pick Ian because he seems to have the most talent. If it wasn't so expensive, I'd sign them all up for gymnastics because that would be a once a week commitment rather than 5 days a week, which is what it ends up being with two or more children in soccer and/or Little League. Basketball is definitely less hectic. We've already paid for the three kids to do that next year, and I'm planning to sign all three up for ice skating lessons  and homeschool gym class.  If the kids were interested in flag football, that would be less hectic in the fall as it's also an Upward program that only entails one practice a week and one game a week for eight weeks. We're on target with the "kids" section of the budget at this point, and I've already

paid for all their camps and such with the exception of swimming and diving lessons. Whew.

20. Paul has been working shorter hours on Saturdays! He napped for several hours last Saturday, but that didn't stop the kids from climbing on his lap while he was sleeping. He was so tired that didn't even wake him up! He also helped me out recently by making some changes to our router to make it more secure. We had been having trouble using our ($65/month!) internet. Hopefully what he did will cause those issues

to go away, if the problem was because someone was stealing our bandwidth.

21. I'm thankful for gift cards to restaurants. We still have a few on hand (mostly for Friendly's), and I'm going to get some more through credit card points. I scratched our trip to Knoebels in June from our calendar (we were going to go on a buy one get one free day) because we will be maxing out our entertainment budget for the year soon and it's only May. We need to go back to only buying food from a

restaurant if we have a gift card. Recently we had been getting takeout pizza once a week, but we just can't afford to keep doing that because we don't have gift cards to the places where we usually get pizza. I'll have to experiment again with homemade pizza recipes. I would like to buy tickets to see the Titanic musical at our church, BFG (depending on the ticket prices), and have enough money to go to DelGrosso's once as we didn't go there last year. I already paid for our tickets to Dutch Wonderland and Idlewild. We weren't planning on going to Sight and Sound this year, and trips to things like Disney on Ice and the circus had already been scratched out ever since I ceased to be our primary breadwinner. I'm thankful for the many events that are free, which we can do even on a more limited budget. I also want to take the kids to Ephrata Cloister in October. I'll have to increase the entertainment budget a bit, but I can't do that too much because I already had to increase the medical expenses and the car repair categories. Thankfully we have barely spent any money on clothes this year, and we're also a little under budget in the gasoline category thus far. We're right on track with the food budget. It's nice to have some categories on track or under budget. Usually the activities at the children's museum are free, which is wonderful. I had a shock when I signed them up for the eye dissection and bakers in training programs there. The eye dissection program will be free (as usual), but when I found out it was $26 per child for a one hour baking program put on by Panera at the museum, I quickly cancelled our reservations! There is no way I'm going to pay $78 for three kids to make a baguette and decorate a cookie!!! We can do that at home for less than $5.

22. Paul and his dad got back safely from Canada today. They ended up going up and back in one day!