Fifty Nifty

 

In July 2017, I started keeping track of license plates I saw to see if I could spot one from every state. Some years I have achieved the goal. Some years I found 47-49 of them. I usually start over at the beginning of each new year. Last year I didn't find my last one (Wyoming) until the end of December, when we were driving in Illinois to celebrate Christmas with my extended family. Because our vacation in May was in Europe, I had decided in January to take the year off. Then in the spring I saw a Hawaii license plate when I was parking for the boys' orthodontist appointment. Hawaii is typically one of the hardest ones for me to find (not counting last year when we traveled there). I thought maybe I should play the game this year after all, but then again didn't actually start making a list. Over the next couple of months I continued to spot some of the hardest ones (North Dakota and Wyoming), so at that point I felt I must play the game again this year. Even though I didn't start until late in the spring, I was down to only needing eight more states by early June. The last seven were Kentucky, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Montana, and South Dakota. I figured the hardest one would be South Dakota, and that was my 48th one to spot. Ironically, I saw that one in our church parking lot when I was picking up Nadia after she attended a camp at Messiah University with our youth group in July. I knew at that point it would not be hard to see all fifty this year because I've never had trouble finding Arkansas or Alabama before. I spotted the last one (Alabama) on our drive down to Maryland on July 31, so this was by far the quickest I finished the game, considering I didn't even start in January as I usually have. On the way home from Maryland on August 2, Oliver decided to start playing the game again. Time will tell if we really do try to see them all again over the next five months. It's funny how something so simple can bring me such joy, but spotting those last few really puts a big smile on my face. 

It's been almost four weeks since I wrote a gratitude list, and I won't have a laptop while we're on vacation in Canada, so I will write one today. 

1. The boys enjoyed their free slurpees at 7-Eleven on July 11. I also enjoyed a lunch date at Panera with Ian that day before he played D&D at the library with some friends from church. 

2. My favorite ice cream is chocolate/peanut butter twist (soft serve). I never had any in 2025. I was thrilled to discover in July that a place in Lewisburg was selling it. I had it twice last month after not having any for two years. Yum! One of the visits was with Ian, and the other visit was with both boys. Oliver's top choice is a peanut butter milkshake. Ian's favorite is a peanut butter cup "blizzard" (every place has a different name for that type of treat). 

3. I enjoyed teaching from Zechariah 5-10 in our Sunday School class on July 12 and 19. 

4. Everything went pretty smoothly when we watched Cooper for about a week in July. 

5. Paul only had to spend one day at the courthouse for jury duty since he wasn't one of the 14 chosen for the jury. Cheri helped out with bringing Paul home when we only had one car due to Nadia having the Subaru at camp. 

6. The boys enjoyed doing Stronghold camp for the fourth year in a row. They'd like to join a club. We shall see if Ian actually has time for that or not.

7. The boys and I were able to go Christmas caroling in July at a nursing home. I was the pianist. 

8. Ian has been enjoying his voice lessons. I enjoy hearing him practice at home. He's had five lessons so far. He wants to continue taking lessons during the school year. We haven't worked out what day/time those will take place yet. 

9. Nadia enjoyed spending time with Faith and Abby at Generate Camp. We paid for 50% of the cost. Nadia was supposed to cover the other 50%, but someone else paid for her portion of the cost.

10. Paul took the boys bowling on July 22. 

11. Dad and Karen got married on July 18, and they had a lovely honeymoon in North Carolina. Paul, Oliver, Milo, and I met Karen at Yvonne's house on August 1.

12. Yvonne gave birth to Trevor James (her 8th son) on July 16. We met Trevor on July 31.

13. Ian had fun at Toby's grandparents' river house from July 31 - August 2. Joel and Nathan were also there in addition to some of Toby's siblings and friends. 

14. Nadia worked at Camp Susque for six weeks this summer. She came home on August 1 while the rest of us were in Maryland. She served as substitute head cook for a day a few times and did well at the job, so they asked her if she'd be willing to serve as head cook in the future. The head cook is paid more than the other support staff. She said she would be willing to be head cook for the winter camp Ian plans to attend in December, and if she ends up working at Camp Susque next summer, she is willing to be the head cook then. She's not sure at this point if she'll have an internship next summer or work at Camp Susque one last summer. She received a free hat as that is the gift they give staff who have worked there three years. A different gift is given to those who work there for five years, but I doubt she'll work there five years in a row. 

15. Our van barely passed the annual inspection this summer because the tires were very close to the minimum tread depth. I had seen that Bastian would periodically have a special where if you buy three tires, you get one free. I was hoping to take advantage of that deal, but I also knew we needed to get new tires before our trip to Canada, as we'll be driving thousands of miles. Thankfully, they issued the deal last Tuesday, and I was one of the first 25 customers to claim it. We got our four new tires yesterday and only paid for three of them (which meant we saved a little over $200). Paul took the van to the appointment because I had a committee meeting at MCS yesterday morning. 

Thankful Thursday

 1. The last two days we were in Alaska went well. We enjoyed seeing a variety of animals at the Large Animal Research Station in Fairbanks (including sandhill cranes), sled dogs at Husky Homestead, milking calves at our final Airbnb, muskox at the Muskox Farm, and a variety of animals at the Reindeer farm (my favorite being the bison). 

2. Returning the van went smoothly, and we again appreciated having TSA Precheck when we flew out of Anchorage. Our flight was delayed, but we arrived safely in Baltimore early in the morning on August 30, and Joe kindly picked us up and brought us back to their home. It was lovely to not need to pay for parking at BWI!

3. We enjoyed spending some time with 9 out of 11 members of Yvonne's family on August 30-31. Joel and Nathan joined us for an excellent production of Pilgrim's Progress at the Museum of the Bible.

4. The Seiberts did a great job taking care of Milo while we were gone. We were grateful to be reunited with him on August 31. Addi and Westyn took care of our guinea pig and mowed our lawn once while we were away. 

5. Nadia began taking voice lessons with her choir teacher on September 3. It means we now have a weekly commitment Monday through Thursday between piano lessons, voice lessons, art, and chorus. Nadia is also staying 30 minutes later on Thursdays for an extra session to prepare for district choir auditions. That extra session doesn't cost us more money. 

6. All three kids are taking art and chorus this year at MCS. It's the first time Oliver has taken any classes at MCS. Ian and Nadia took classes there in 2018-2020 and then returned in the fall of 2023. We're also thankful that the three possibilities for the spring musical are all ones the kids could enjoy. Some of the musicals they've done in the past would NOT have been appealing to my boys. We're waiting to hear if they're doing Barnum, Willy Wonka, or the Wizard of Oz.

7. On September 4 Bible quizzing and the youth group resumed meeting on Wednesday nights. This is also a first for Oliver. Quite a few new kids showed up last week for Bible quizzing! Because the adult small groups didn't resume until yesterday, Paul and I went on a date last Wednesday night using the money my dad gave us for our 23rd anniversary. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and I got a treat at Rita's. We also got some clothes and shoes for the kids at the thrift store and some groceries at Aldi's. Dates when you've been married 23 years are a lot different than dates prior to marriage, ha ha! 

8. On September 6 we enjoyed having dinner with other homeschoolers at the VanHorn's. 

9. Nadia is improving in her driving skills. I'm very thankful for God's protection! On Monday morning when she was driving Ian to his orthodontist appointment, it hit me that she's been driving a lot and never gotten gas. She's been the only one to drive Paul's car for the last couple of months. I feel like the Holy Spirit graciously prompted me to think of this because when I asked her, she said she didn't know how much gas was left. I leaned over and was shocked to see it said we had two miles until we'd be out of gas. Thankfully we were less than 2 miles from a gas station. Whew. There are so many lessons to learn with driving including paying attention to the gas gauge. I've never run out of gas before, and I hope she never does either! 

10. I paid for one month of access to the Angel guild. As a family we watched Sound of Hope which is about a small town in Texas that adopted a LOT of kids through the foster care system. Oliver has watched a few episodes of the Wingfeather Saga, and all the kids watched some episodes of Tuttle Twins. I don't plan to keep it more than a month right now, but it's nice to be able to access their movies and shows from time to time. There are a few more movies I'd like at least some of us to watch before our month ends. 

11. We haven't had a working doorbell for two years. Yvonne wisely suggested purchasing a wireless doorbell. It was very inexpensive, and it was also very easy for Paul to install. Problem solved! Ironically the very first people to use our doorbell were two women campaigning for Harris/Walz. I politely said we wouldn't be voting for them and said have a nice day. Usually if people are coming two by two to our door, they are Jehovah's Witnesses. I don't ever recall anyone ever stopping by for a political reason. They asked for Paul in particular, probably because he's registered independent.

12. Last Wednesday I waited at church while the kids were in art and chorus, brought them home, and then turned around and took them back an hour later for Bible quizzing and youth group. Paul suggested that our normal routine should be that the kids just hang out at church for about 90 minutes after choir until Bible quizzing begins at 4:30 on the weeks he and I are coming back at 6:30 for our small group. This means that we will have a window of up to five hours together without kids. If he's busy with the stock market, it might cut that time in half, but still, it seems like a great plan to me! I don't think we'll typically go out to eat, but we can go for a walk, play a board game, etc. There are definitely perks to Paul working from home! 

13. Finding good coupon codes for Shutterfly is NOT as easy as it used to be years ago, but I did manage to get two copies of a photo books that contains over 100 pages for small amount of money. I used to make photo books more frequently when they were only 20 pages long. Now that I can make them a little over 100 pages long, I have only been making two photo books per year. This photo book was for March through early September. 

Last Day of School!

Today is officially our last day of school. Tomorrow afternoon we will have our annual evaluation and the boys will take the Woodcock Johnson test. Our previous evaluations were done by homeschool moms that we already knew. This will be our first one done by someone who doesn't already know us. It's possible our paths crossed in the past at some point as she was an adjunct professor in the special education department at Bloomsburg University, which is the same university where I taught for 10 years. Here are some of the highlights of our school year:

1. Oliver learned how to write his uppercase and lowercase letters in cursive.

2. Nadia completed a science textbook independently for the first time. She and Ian had done science with me the last several years. She also took tests in science for the first time. Her study skills improved over the course of the year, and she ended on a high note by achieving a 100% on her last test!

3. The kids completed 47 different art projects through Creating a Masterpiece that included a wide variety of media - ink, charcoal, pencil, colored pencil, pastels, watercolor, etc. 

4. Nadia completed a Personal Finance course by Dave Ramsey as well as a photography course by Kyle Schultz.

5. We memorized Matthew chapters 5-7, read half of the Old Testament, learned about various religions and cults, and completed seven inductive Bible study workbooks together. 

6. Ian and Nadia learned to identify all of the countries of the world on a map with 100% accuracy, all of the provinces of Canada, and almost all of the capitals of the world (all except for some islands in the Caribbean and in Oceania) using Seterra.com. 

7. Ian finished level 5 and and made progress in the level 6 recital and lesson books of Alfred's Basic Piano Course. Nadia had weekly private voice lessons via Zoom through Susquehanna University, and she participated in two theatre productions via Zoom - Nancy Blue and Bad Auditions by Bad Actors.

8. All three kids learned more Spanish vocabulary through curriculum from Talkbox.mom, and Nadia participated in a bi-weekly ASL class through the Public Library for Union County on Zoom during the second semester.

9. We watched one episode of World Watch News each day (M-F), celebrated 16 holidays from around the world, read at least 542 picture or nonfiction books from the library (most related to social studies and a few related to science), and tried 149 new foods from around the world.

10. We listened to 129 chapter books together (I read a few of those aloud but mostly they were audiobooks). Nadia read more than 65 chapter books (six of which were each over 500 pages long). Ian read at least 51 chapter books. Oliver transitioned from reading easy readers out loud to reading chapter books silently this year. He read 16 chapter books.

11. The kids earned 27 junior ranger badges through National Parks during the school year.

12. Oliver is making good progress with learning his multiplication facts. My goal is that he knows them all by the end of May.

13. We went on far fewer field trips this year. Most of them took place during our vacation in October and some were virtual field trips. Many were outdoors. Still we have been on 22 field trips this school year and have plans for nine more in May and June. In Pennsylvania the school year for homeschoolers can start as early as July 1 and must end no later than the end of June. 

14. Nadia and Ian wrote several different types of poems for the first time (haiku, diamante, cinquain, acrostic, limerick, and shape). They also wrote several fairy tales in which they changed the setting to a different continent. For example, Nadia wrote a Chinese version of Cinderella. Finally, Nadia and Ian each researched twelve countries and wrote 5-7 paragraphs about each country.

15. Usually I have a lot to document for physical education - homeschool gym class, ice skating lessons, Upward basketball, etc. This year the kids only had about three homeschool gym classes (outdoors), went skiing once, and went swimming quite a bit in July and August. They (especially Oliver) ride bikes, scooters, and rollerblades on a regular basis and sometimes take a walk with me. All three kids are registered for 8 hours of tennis lessons next week. I am open to registering them for another week or two of lessons in May if they are interested in doing that. 

Although I thoroughly enjoy homeschooling my children, I also enjoy the summer break. With my "extra" time I'm planning on going for more walks, listening to more audiobooks, making progress in the videography course, making progress with learning to speak Spanish, finishing planning our fall vacation, and finishing planning out the next school year. I also want to give using the Instant Pot another whirl as it's just been sitting in the basement. Although I've had weeks where I only had the boys at home and Nadia was at camp, it's been much rarer for me to only have Nadia at home, but that will be the case the end of June when the boys are at overnight camp together. Nadia and I are already making plans to make that "Mom, Nadia, and Milo week" special. Nadia will be spending a few days in Maryland with her cousins in May, going to Indiana and Oklahoma for Bible quizzing events in May and June, and will spend a week at overnight girl's camp the first week of August, so I'm thankful that I'll have a week with extra mom and daughter time since she'll be away from home for three weeks total this summer.

A typical homeschooling day

Some homeschoolers have a tradition of recording what a typical day is like each year. One of my friends shared hers recently, so I thought it was time for me to do the same again. Here is a description of our day together on March 9, 2021. I'm not sure how many times I've written a post like this, but here's one I wrote in April 2018. 

I usually get up sometime between 6:15 and 7:00. This morning I got up at 6:20 and had showered and gotten dressed before Ian and Milo got up at 6:50. Milo typically gets up between 6:45-7:00, and Ian immediately hands him to me. I hold Milo and get his leash on him while Ian goes to the bathroom and puts on his shoes and coat. While Ian was taking Milo out this morning, I blow dried my hair. 

Sometimes Nadia sleeps in until 7:30, but if she hasn't gotten ahead with her math, then she likes to start her math promptly at 7:00, which means some mornings she gets up at 6:45 to get a shower prior to doing her math. Since we haven't been able to take a shower in our master bathroom for several years,  Nadia  and I have worked out a system that we take our showers on alternating mornings because we otherwise we're both wanting to use the shower at about the same time. I entered the password on the laptop so Nadia could start doing math on Khan academy and prepared my oatmeal and Ian's cold cereal. Paul usually leaves the house before we're up, but sometimes in the winter he doesn't leave for work as early and joins some of us for breakfast. This morning he hadn't left yet so we listened to some of Peace Child while Paul, Ian, and I were eating breakfast and Nadia was doing math. We also finished listening to Julie of the Wolves, discussed the meaning of ten vocabulary words from their grammar text, and started listening to Frog Princess by ED Baker. Oliver came down and ate some oatmeal while Nadia was finishing her math, and then he played with the Snap Circuits set. We interrupted the stories many times while I helped Nadia with her math. The boys also got dressed and brushed their teeth while Nadia continued to do her math. Ian also practiced the piano, and Oliver did part of his math lesson.

After Nadia had finished her math, gotten dressed, and taken Milo out, she started eating her breakfast around 8:30 while we all listened and discussed Judges 1-2 and Psalm 115. During this school year we've been working through the Old Testament. After the Scripture reading was over, I read Elementary Physics lesson 11 (Life of Fred) to Nadia and Ian and they answered the questions at the end. Then all four of us watched today's episode of World Watch News together. These are about ten minutes long. We also read about a country or another religion each day. Today we read about Eritrea using VOM's prayer guide. 

Nadia does science independently this year for the first time, and I've been giving her tests for the first time because starting in the fall of 2022 I have to begin giving her grades in every subject. The boys were learning about valuable minerals today (gold, silver, copper, diamonds, etc.), and they enjoyed the "mining" activity where I asked them to try to remove the chocolate chips from a cookie using only toothpicks. I don't usually let them have a cookie before lunch! While the boys were finishing science, Nadia began reading up in her room with Milo. She has to read at least 30 minutes a day from one of the books I have selected; she had been reading from Audrey of the Outback (an Australian version of Pippi Longstocking), but today she chose to read from Gold Rush Girl by Avi. The rest of the day when she is reading she can read whatever she chooses. She owns quite a few books, and I also get her more from the library. The library books she requested recently are by Beverly Lewis. While Nadia was reading, the boys each did their spelling. Oliver is in All About Spelling Level 3, and Ian is in All About Spelling Level 6. After he finished his spelling, Ian went upstairs and read until lunchtime. Today he read some of Three Go Searching by Patricia M. St. John for his required reading and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel for his leisure reading. While Nadia and Ian were reading, I worked with Oliver on his math lesson which focused on multiplication and division. My goal is for him to learn his times tables by the end of August.

After Oliver finished his math around 11:00, he took Milo out. After he came back in, Nadia and Ian came downstairs and the four of us had lunch while listening to more of The Frog Princess on a CD I got at the library on Monday. Over the course of the day we listened to that book for about one hour. After lunch we reviewed Spanish vocabulary for about 20 minutes. We were focusing on phrases related to going on a walk. 

From 12:00-1:00 Nadia played with Legos in Ian's room. I read the boys three picture books from 12:00-12:20 picture books from the library while they ate some pretzels. From 12:20-12:40 Oliver sat on my lap and read the last two chapters of a book about the Wreck of the Endurance out loud to me while Ian walked Milo and read a little bit more. From 12:40-1:00 Ian and I did some math together (Beast Academy 5C) and Oliver had a 20 minute turn using the Nintendo Switch.

From 1:00-1:45 the kids participated in a webinar about Holi put on by the Penn Museum. Part of the lesson involved them drawing a hibiscus, rose, marigold, and Palash tree. After the lesson was over, all four of us plus Milo went to the playground. The weather was perfect today! It was our first trip to a playground in many months, and it was Milo's very first time at a playground. A good time was had by all! The boys rode their bikes, and  Nadia, Milo, and I walked to playground. We talked to Grandma on the phone part of the time we were at the playground. I got the mail when we got home. Many times we only have junk mail that goes straight to the recycling bin, but today we received three things we appreciated in the mail. Nadia got a letter from her pen pal in Wisconsin. They each write each other two letters a month on average. We also received three Junior Ranger Badges from the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and six books to use when we celebrate Passover next month. We usually get two free books from PJ Our Way each month, but this was an added bonus for this month. 

After we came back inside, I sat with Ian to help him finish his math while Nadia played Minecraft in her bedroom from 3:20-4:20 while chatting on Zoom with her cousin, Rachel. They typically play Minecraft together twice a day - once when Rachel finishes her online schooling, and the last 45 minutes before Nadia goes to bed at night. During that time Ian played the Switch for 45 minutes and Oliver played outside with kids in the neighborhood. At 4:30 Nadia had her weekly 30 minute voice lesson over Zoom. The kids haven't been able to use the trampoline for a little over 3 months because of a small tear in the mat. By the time the repair kit arrived in the mail, the weather was too cold. The trampoline was covered with snow for the vast majority of the past three months. They had been waiting for Paul to do the repair. Since it was in the low 60's today, I decided it was warm enough to attempt the repair. Paul doesn't usually get home from work until 8pm (M-F), and it's supposed to be cold again starting on Saturday. So I attempted the repair today. Hopefully I did a good job. It has to dry for 24 hours so around 4pm tomorrow we can see if I succeeded. It certainly was a messy job as I had to use a lot of glue, plus I had to kneel under the trampoline part of the time. After I finished cleaning up my hands (which was no small undertaking), I began cooking dinner. Some things I cook take hours to prepare. Thankfully we were having a simple dinner of croque monsieur (ham, swiss cheese, with a béchamel sauce) and applesauce tonight. 

Once Nadia's lesson was over, it was almost time for dinner. In a typical week I cook three dinners by myself, Nadia helps me cook one dinner, Ian helps me cook one dinner, we get takeout pizza once, and we have leftovers once. I use an app for meal planning and have a long list of meals that we cycle through to avoid getting into a rut, plus we regularly try new recipes. I usually schedule one night when we have breakfast for dinner (this week it will be blini because they are celebrating Maslenitsa in Russia this week), one night when we have pasta (Nadia will make baked ziti this week), one night when we have a soup, stew, or salad, one night that we eat a "sandwich" of some sort (sloppy Joe, meatball sub, pulled pork, etc.), and the fifth night is something that doesn't fit into any of those categories. We listened to The Frog Princess some more during dinner. We listened to it for about one hour altogether today. 

After we all had finished eating and I started the dishwasher, Nadia and I took Milo for a 40 minute walk while Ian played Legos and Oliver played outside. Nadia, Milo, and I walked a little over 4 miles total today! After we got home, Nadia also played outside with some of the neighbors. Ian played with Legos, read, and had a 20 minute Switch turn. Oliver really enjoyed playing whiffle ball with the neighbors this evening. After Nadia came inside, she and Ian played Legos together. Once Oliver came inside, he and I chatted. He told me he was hungry. I don't usually let the kids eat after dinner, but I let him have a bowl of cereal after he got on his pajamas.

At 8:15 I called Nadia and Ian down for our family devotions. We just recently finished a two month study of the book of Daniel, and to continue the theme of future prophecy, we've started a study of Revelation. Tonight we read and discussed part of chapter one. After we prayed together, we tucked Oliver in to his bed around 8:30, and then I threw in a load of laundry. Nadia fed the guinea pigs and gave them water prior to her second session of the day of playing Minecraft with her cousin via Zoom. She's been choosing to play Minecraft with Rachel twice a day rather than watch TV lately. Oliver was the only one who watched a little TV today. He finished an Inspector Gadget movie on Disney+ today that he had started earlier this week. 

Some days our schoolwork takes longer than it did today. We do art through Creating a Masterpiece three times a week; that takes a good chunk of time. Whenever Nadia and Ian have a bridge to do in Life of Fred, then math takes a lot longer than usual. This week they will have a bridge on Thursday. We often read part of a chapter book for Social Studies - most recently one it was about Logical Fallacies, but we aren't reading one this week. However we don't typically do a webinar, and I counted that as our Social Studies today as the lesson was on archaeology and anthropology. Finally, I don't have Nadia and Ian do creative writing every single day. They weren't working on a writing project today. Usually Nadia is the first one day, Oliver is the second one done, and Ian is almost always the last one done with his school work. The boys don't use Zoom at all. Nadia uses it to talk to Rachel, for a weekly voice lesson, for a bi-weekly ASL lesson through the public library, and for two 2 hour long theatre rehearsals per week.

Paul carries Milo's crate up to Ian's bedroom each night. Nadia and Ian go to bed around 9:30 after Nadia takes Milo outside one last time. The kids each take him out 2-3 times per day. He used to spend a lot more time in his crate, but his behavior has been improving. Today the only time he was in his crate was when I was out repairing the trampoline. Nadia holds the guinea pigs when she's in her bedroom. Although technically one of the guinea pigs is Ian's, in reality Nadia is the only one who holds the guinea pigs. Because of Milo they have to stay in her bedroom. I usually go to bed shortly after Ian and Nadia go to bed, and that is when Paul usually eats his dinner.

So this is what life is currently like during a pandemic while homeschooling three kids in grades three, five, and seven. Our school year will be ending the end of April so our "summer" will be here before we know it! The main difference between this school year and the last seven school years has been that we've been at home far more - FAR fewer field trips, no Upward basketball, no ice skating lessons, no homeschool gym class, no choirs, no AWANA, no art class, etc. I can't believe that in the fall I will have TWO middle schoolers! I am still trying to decide whether I should hold Oliver back a grade or not. If I could go back in time, I would wait until he was six to start Kindergarten with him, but I can't go back in time. One decision I have never regretted, is our decision to homeschool the kids. I'm so, so glad that Paul had the idea to homeschool our kids and that I am able to be a full-time homeschooling mom. These precious years are just flying by far too fast! 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. The belly bands are a huge blessing. Most of Milo's attempts to mark the territory inside our home are thwarted. The only time we've had to clean up a puddle over the last nine days has been when he hasn't been wearing a diaper. The kids are learning the hard way that they need to carry Milo inside the house otherwise he'll lift his leg the very moment his feet hit the kitchen floor. It's been more than a week since he pooped in the house, and that has nothing to do with his belly band.

2. Nadia's weekly voice lessons resumed via Zoom on February 9. None of us can sing in a choir due to COVID, but Ian is making great progress on the piano (he's almost ready to move to Alfred Level 6), and Nadia is taking voice lessons and practicing at least four times a week.

3. Nadia also is participating in a play with other middle schoolers via Zoom called Nancy Blue (a spin off of Nancy Drew). One perk of voice lessons and play practices being conducted on Zoom is I do a lot less driving. In a typical week I drive to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night and also make one trip to the library + grocery store. Aside from church, in all of February we only had three other things on the calendar that took place outside of our house - Milo at the groomer once, Ian at the orthodontist once, and I had one doctor appointment. Two of those appointments took place about 1 mile from our house, and Paul took Ian to the orthodontist because it had snowed some that day. The price of gas has gone up 50% over the last year, but I'm not buying as much gas as I used to before COVID. 

4. Nadia is also enjoying a bi-weekly ASL class on Zoom through one of the libraries in our area.

5. Everyone in Yvonne's family came down with COVID recently (they have 8 kids), but thankfully they only had a mild case of the virus. Andrew was the first one to catch it, and his only symptom was a headache.

6. Paul finished repairing a hole in the drywall behind the refrigerator that had been there for years, and he also got the glass back in the door in our entertainment center. Next up is to finish the master bathroom project so we can resume using that shower. 

7. Paul has been at home more lately because of the snow. We've gotten more snow than usual this year. We got at least 4 inches yesterday morning. He had a VERY short work day yesterday as he sent the crew home very early because of the snow. He had a very, very hard time making it home in his Mazda. We are very thankful he made it home without getting in an accident.

8. Margie and my dad are having a good time in Cancun. She's receiving alternative treatments for her cancer.

9. Although we couldn't even make ourselves finish the acai bowls or pao de queijo that I had prepared, we have found some "winners" this month including Belgian waffles, challah, and strawberry crepes. Oliver really loved the pan de coco. Today is the Emperor's Birthday holiday in Japan. I bought the kids cotton candy (wata-ame). I can't remember the last time I did that. Look up cotton candy in Japan and you will see images of how BIG their rainbow cotton candy is. Oliver wants to go to Japan just for the cotton candy, ha ha! We're also having jaga bata (a Japanese buttered potato recipe) and kasutera (a Japanese sponge cake) tonight. We shall see if either of those are "winners." On Friday we'll be celebrating Purim by eating Serbian potato moussaka and Hamantaschen cookies. I ordered chopsticks today because Oliver said he wanted to try eating with chopsticks. Now I need to figure out where I'm going to buy color powder for when we celebrate Holi next month. 

10. When Nadia came home from youth group on Valentine's Day she came with a bag filled with many lovely gifts. Our friend, Tab, had organized the project that several ladies in the church had worked together to gather the goodies for each of the girls in the youth group. Her bag contained socks, a mug, hot chocolate bombs, candy, jewelry, etc. What a sweet surprise!

11. The kids and I enjoyed eating our brownie batter donuts. We only get them once a year, and they're our favorite kind of donut. Yum! 

12. Over the last couple of months I had my annual mammogram and also the less frequent pap smear. I'm thankful for negative results on both.

13. Sometime last month I bought a charging stand that holds and charges our 5 electronic devices (two phones, one Kindle, and two iPads). It now sits on the fireplace mantle. The cords are SUPER short. It's a small thing but let me tell you I really appreciate that the devices and all their longer cords are no longer on the kitchen counter. Woohoo! 

14. We had taken a bit of a break from doing Junior Ranger badges, but now the kids have resumed earning them. As of today, each child has earned 76 badges! We received some badges in the mail today from New Orleans, and I have some packets I need to take the Post Office to mail to some national parks.

Date with Daddy

For the past 12 years we haven't had a routine as far as taking our kids out on individual dates. Years ago Paul took a child with him to the Watson Inn for dinner on his birthday, and I did the same on my birthday, but it's been years since we've done that. Nadia has had the most dates with a parent since she is the eldest and also because sometimes she and I have done something that was for girls (like getting our nails done) or seeing the Nutcracker ballet. Oliver and I have had outings together when Nadia and Ian were attending something like history camp when he was too young to join them, but in general Oliver has had the fewest individualized outings with a parent. I read a book last fall that really emphasized taking your children out on dates. I came up with the plan that each child would get to plan a date in the month of their birthday and half-birthday so that they will each have at least one date per year with each parent. Oliver's half-birthday was yesterday. He decided that he wanted to go bowling and eat dinner at Bonanza with Paul. We never went bowling in 2020 because of COVID. Oliver had a great time on his date with his Dad. We shall see what Oliver will plan for he and I to do in August! I hope this is a tradition the kids will eventually have fond memories about when they are adults. It's possible we could expand it to each child having 3 or 4 dates per year with a parent as even if we did 4 per year we could arrange it so one parent had one date with a child per month, but six dates a year is at least a good starting point!

Since I stayed home with Milo when Paul took the kids skiing last month, we won't have any skiing pictures to include in any photo books this year. Paul did take two videos with his phone which I finally got around to uploading. 

We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow. I'm VERY ready for spring to come. Nadia has her first voice lesson for the spring semester tomorrow, but since they take place via Zoom, snow won't cause any problems. 

ABC's of 2020

Doing a puzzle in January - long before I knew we'd do MANY puzzles in 2020.

I decided to do an alphabetical "year in review" post and include some of my favorite photos from over the past year.

A - One of our two stops on the first day of our vacation was to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. This was a highlight of the trip for Paul, Ian, and Oliver! Nadia and Ian had taken art classes at the Christian school the past three years, but due to COVID we didn't pursue that for this school year. The kids are enjoying taking art classes online through our membership with Creating a Masterpiece; Nadia has done 25 art projects over the past few months and the the boys have done 21. We love to listen to audiobooks! Not counting the ones we're in the middle of right now, the kids and I listened to 143 chapter books together this year!  We've begun saving one book for just when Paul is able to listen with us (usually Saturday night and all day Sunday) - typically a biography. I paid for some through Audible, but the vast majority we got for free through Hoopla or Overdrive via the library. Nadia has been enjoying playing Among Us the past two months online with Ava.

B - In January Nadia joined a Bible Bowl team at our church. At that point she was on a team with three seventh grade girls, and they were memorizing the books of Hebrews and I and II Peter. Because of COVID, the annual competition wasn't held. In September Nadia joined a team with two fifth grade girls and one eighth grade girl, and they are studying the book of Matthew. Because she turned twelve years old in June, Nadia is now allowed to babysit. She and her friend Evanna babysat a preschooler together for several hours once, and I have paid her to babysit Oliver on multiple occasions. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, she has been able to babysit more than I anticipated. She likes being able to earn more money! All three kids got new bikes this year. Nadia sold her 24" bike and claimed my bike as her own. Ian and Oliver received new 24" mountain bikes this year, and Pop Pop built Oliver a bike ramp. Birthdays were very different in 2020. For the past 12 years we've had extended family at the kids' birthday parties. No relatives came to our house for Nadia or Ian's birthdays. We spent Oliver's birthday at Aunt Janet's house, and we saw Grandpa and Margie a few days later. 

A field trip to Gettysburg in February before I had any idea we'd go on very few field trips this year!

C - Although COVID-19, coronavirus, and cancelled are probably the first three "C" words that come to mind for 2020, I'm going to pick Cincinnati because we enjoyed our time that area in October. The playgrounds along the riverfront, the IMAX movie about dogs, the Ark Encounter, and the Creation Museum were among the top six experiences of our family vacation this year. In January and February the kids took a computer hardware class for four weeks, Oliver began learning how to write in cursive in August, and as always friends and family have been fighting cancer. One of my friends died of cancer in October, and two of my friends lost their spouses to cancer in August and November. Margie was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery on November 9. Once Nadia finished watching all the episodes of Full House, she switched to working through all the seasons of the Cosby show. I've sung in an adult church choir consistently since the fall of 1986. COVID brought an abrupt end to our choir season at the beginning of March, and it looks like the choir break will last at least one full year.

D - We paid for a subscription to Disney+ in December 2019, and due to COVID-19 some movies that were originally going to be released in the theatres went straight to Disney+ instead. Paul and the boys have also really enjoyed watching two seasons of Mandalorian this year. Baby Yoda is so cute! Last year I assumed we'd only have the subscription for one year, but we paid for another year earlier this month. One of the reasons we made this decision was because we usually pay for at least four months of cable tv each year to watch the NFL, but we didn't do that this year. The kids get a new privilege and a new responsibility each time they have a birthday. Nadia's new chore now that she is twelve years old has been to do the dishes at one meal each week. Thankfully, the five of us rarely see the doctor aside from annual physicals. This year we spent more than usual in the "medical" category of our budget ($1,500) because Paul saw the doctor a lot more than usual. Thankfully all the test results came back normal (aside from showing he has carpal tunnel). He had a colonoscopy, stress test, upper EMG, and lower EMG. 

I had no idea when I took this photo that the rabbits would only be in our house for two months.

E - We are finally making progress with learning a foreign language as the kids and I are speaking more and more Español!  Hopefully we'll make even more progress towards becoming bilingual next year through our subscription with Talkbox.mom. The three topics which I think were in the news the most in 2020 were COVID-19, riots and protests related to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Election. As usual, the candidate I voted for didn't win. I'm praying about the special election in Georgia that is taking place in a few days. 

F - Paul turned fifty years old this year! We have been wearing face masks or face shields for the first time in our lives. Paul wears a face mask far more than the rest of us because he wears it at work. We hope that sometime next year they will no longer be mandatory. Nadia completed a personal finance class online this summer, and she also finished watching every single episode of Full House. We got our first chest freezer this year, which was somewhat of a miracle given the shortage on them due to COVID.

G - Four different guinea pigs lived in our home this year. Jenna is four years old. Sadly, we experienced the death of a pet for the first time this year as Ian's first guinea pig, Patches, suddenly died in February at the age of three. In April we brought home two more guinea pigs - Peppa (Nadia's) and Buttercup (Ian's). Unfortunately the younger ones sometimes wake me up in the night with their loud chirping. Nadia has Peppa and Jenna out a lot. They are accustomed to being held and purr quite a bit.  - - This year we also got new garage doors, and Ian got new glasses because his second pair of eyeglasses were broken by another child at Bee's Backyard in February. During the quarantine, the kids and I played 74 different games at least once! 

H- is for hoverboards! Grandpa and Margie gave Oliver a hoverboard for his birthday in August, and Nadia bought one during a Prime Day sale at Walmart in October. 

Two of Nadia's friends who came over for sleepovers several times this year.

I - The kids and I spent a week on Long Island with Aunt Janet the first week of August. It was different than our previous three trips there due to COVID and also a lengthy power outage, but we still had a great time. All three kids participated in group ice skating lessons this year, which was a first for Oliver. 

J - Although MANY our trips to National Parks were cancelled this year, the kids have earned 72 Junior Ranger badges altogether, and 50 of those were earned this year. That would never have been possible if it weren't for the fact that some can be earned from home without actually visiting the site.

K - Although some science museums have been closed since March due to COVID-19 and others have only partially reopened, the kids had a blast at the Kentucky Science Center. We also enjoyed visiting the Kentucky Derby Museum. 

L - It was a shock to have all the libraries closed for four months this year. This fall I got another library card and switched to using the Lycoming county library system as our primary library. 

M - We got a Bichon Frise puppy on December 12 named Milo! On the first day of 2020 we had two pets, I would never have guessed we would have six pets in our home by December 12. Because Nadia began studying Matthew in September and we opted not to have the boys join AWANA by Zoom this fall, the kids and I have been memorizing the Sermon on Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). So far we have memorized chapter 5 (which has 48 verses). Ian and Nadia have been playing Minecraft lately.

N - We have had very brief shortages at other times in my life due to a snow storm or something like that. I can't ever recall any other time in my life where we had SO many national shortages this year. The list is lengthy and contains a wide array of items such as: toilet paper, napkins, pasta, bicycles, freezers, bread, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, etc. Thankfully the grocery stores have been close to fully stocked lately. 

O - We had to attend church online for three months. Church still isn't back to "normal" - no choir, for example, but we're very thankful we can attend in-person again. We also picked an orthodontist for Ian this fall. He will begin phase one (expander) in January.

P - Puzzles is the "p" word that first comes to mind. We spent FAR more hours doing puzzles this year than ever before. I spent FAR more money on puzzles than I had ever spent before. Oliver has moved beyond 100 piece puzzles. With assistance, Nadia has done up to 1,000 piece puzzles. We listened to audiobooks for many hours while doing puzzles together during the spring. The kids couldn't attend Camp Susque this summer as they usually do, but they were able to attend Pocono Mountain Bible Conference instead. Ian continues to excel at playing the piano, and Nadia has been enjoying taking an online photography class.

Q - It's usually challenging to come up with a "q" word, but this year it's easy. In 2020 Q is for quarantine and Queen Esther. The kids and I were quarantined for three months this year. Paul continued to go to work, and he took over the grocery shopping during that time period. We originally had tickets to see Queen Esther at Sight and Sound in April, but due to the lockdown we actually went in December.

R - Nadia didn't make it to any of the WGRC skate nights in 2020 for a variety of reasons, but the boys dramatically improved in their rollerblading skills this year. All three kids own their own pair of rollerblades, and I've been taking the boys to a roller skating rink once a month. 2020 is also the year when Ian enjoyed rock climbing for the first time. He learned to enjoy ziplining in 2019. I love seeing him conquer his fears! We also had two pet rabbits for two months this year. Unfortunately, we had to take Cocoa and Coal back to the SPCA as they were spraying pee on each other and our house as well as chewing baseboards and such. We all love to READ. I'm not sure how many books Paul and I read, but I can say that both of us read more books this year than we had read in one year in quite awhile. Ian and Nadia each read at least 60 chapter books this year. I tried a lot more new recipes than usual - 87 over the past four months. We usually go to several concerts each year. This year Paul and Oliver didn't attend any concerts. Ian, Nadia, and I were able to attend The Roadshow (put on by Compassion) in Wilkes Barre in early March. 

S - We went skiing twice in one year for the first time this year! I took the kids to Elk Mountain (first time any of us  had ever been there) in January, and all five of us skied at Ski Sawmill in February. 2020 was the year Oliver learned how to ski! Probably the words that come to most people's minds for 2020 that start with "s" are safe, social distancing, six feet, and hand sanitizer. I signed us up for a Six Flags membership in early January thinking that we would visit five different Six Flags parks this year. Because of COVID we only made it to two of them, but the kids and I did spend five days at Six Flags this summer, and Paul joined us for one day. Because the parks opened later than usual, we will be able to go to Six Flags for free through the end of July 2021. Ian and Nadia received scooters for Christmas last year, and so all three kids rode their scooters quite a bit during the lockdown. We started the year without the use of either of our showers. In November we agreed to hire someone to finish the master bathroom shower which was been a project Paul began in May 2016. I  believe that project will be completed in early January. So in early 2021 we will likely have the use of TWO showers for the first time in years!

T - I think we all would agree that we've had our temperatures taken FAR more in 2020 than any other year of our lives! In past years we've seen Paul's family the most (since they only live an hour away) and the Towfighis the least (since they lived in Turkey for 15 years). This year we haven't seen Wendy's family at all, whereas usually we see them 1-2 times a year. So in this upside down year, the kids and I saw the Towfighis more than any other extended family member (I'm not counting Paul as he sees his brother and dad at work). They came to our house in June, we met at least some of them at Six Flags (MD/NJ) on three occasions, and we saw most of them at Refreshing Mountain in September and again at our house for a couple of hours in November. Finally in November we were able to spend time with Paul's extended family after not doing so for more than 10 months.

U - 2020 was Nadia's seventh and final year of playing Upward Basketball. The first several years my parents would come to at least one game, and Paul's parents would attend several games. 2020 was the first year that we didn't have any extended family members attend any of the kids' games. Thankfully their season ended right before the lockdown began. 

V - Nadia took one semester of voice lessons this fall for the first time ever (by Zoom). She was motivated to complete her piano books so that she wouldn't have to pay for the voice lessons. Originally I thought that the kids and I would be going on five vacations this year - three without Paul and one with Paul. Three vacations were cancelled (to Chicago in April, to MD/DC in May, and to Canada in August), but the kids and I did go to Long Island in August and our eight day family vacation in October to Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, and Pennsylvania DID take place although it certainly was far different than what it would have been if we weren't in the middle of a pandemic.  I prayed for a vaccine this year more than I've ever prayed for a vaccine before.  Paul and I had never paid a bill at a veterinarian  prior to this year, but we visited three different vets this year -in February for Patches (guinea pig), then for Cocoa and Coal (rabbits), and finally this month for our puppy, Milo.

W - In previous years we haven't had a plan for regularly incorporating current events into our curriculum. This fall I subscribed to a year of World Watch News, which is an approximately 10 minute show that is aired M-F. I expect we will continue to keep this subscription, as the kids and I find it to be enjoyable and informative. 

X - Although we have belonged to swimming pools in the past, we hadn't done so recently and didn't plan to join one this summer, but in light of everything that was cancelled this summer, we joined the Exchange pool in June and swam there for quite a few days this summer. 

Y - Nadia joined two youth groups in January. She attends First Baptist's youth group on Sunday nights and CWC's youth group on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. Nadia has participated in a theatre camp every year from 2013 to the present. She participated in two this summer, and Ian participated with her in the second one called Youtheatre. It was his first time ever participating in a theatre camp. It was NOT his idea, but he loved it. 

Z - Oliver asked for a pet for the first time this summer. In early August he received two zebra danios. We enjoy watching them swim around when we're sitting at the kitchen table. He named them Henry and Zuma. Sadly, this morning we discovered they had both died. Probably the "z" word that comes to mind first for 2020 is Zoom. I had used Zoom previously to participate in faculty meetings from home, but Nadia used Zoom a lot this year - to just chat with a friend or her cousin Rachel OR for Bible Bowl and youth group meetings during the lockdown, and she even participated in a play that was performed on Zoom in October.  Nadia usually is on Zoom, Facetime, or Kids Messenger video from 8:45-9:30 each night, and she stays on it until 10:00pm one night per month. 

Thankful Thursday

 I haven't written a gratitude post since August 20. Oops!

1. We enjoyed swimming with the Schrecks on August 21 and eating their delicious homemade ice cream and strawberry shortcake. The kids swam with them again for a little bit on August 24 when I met with a friend from church.                                                              2. Nadia has been enjoying participating in Bad Auditions by Bad Actors. She tried out for the production on August 22 and 23. The rehearsals are all being done over Zoom.

3. We enjoyed our fifth day at Six Flags on August 25 and were thankful we were able to spend the day with Yvonne's family.

4. The good news is that Paul's lower EMG went smoothly on August 26. The bad news is that means the cause of his symptoms hasn't been determined yet.

5. We enjoyed learning about bees and doing a service project for VOM with other families on August 29.

6. The picnic and baptismal service at our church on August 30 was wonderful. 

7. The kids and I enjoyed our field trip in Hershey on September 2nd which included a homeschool program at the Hershey Story Museum, Chocolate World, and Indian Echo Caverns.

8. The kids have enjoyed going roller skating twice so far this month, and both times it didn't cost us a penny because the kids own their own rollerblades. 

9. We are thankful the kids have been able to attend a free gym class two times so far this month. 

10. We enjoyed the bonfire at our church on September 5 and are very thankful that the kids SS classes (age 9 months through 12th grade) resumed on September 6. I taught the elementary girls class on September 13. We're not so crazy about wearing masks and having our temperature taken at church, but it's worth jumping through those hoops if that is what is necessary for the classes to be offered again. Nadia was also grateful that the Bible Bowl and youth group resumed meeting on Wednesday nights on September 9. Oliver and I drop Nadia off at 4:30. Ian stays at home by himself and finishes eating dinner. Paul picks Nadia up 8:15.

11. Nadia has had two voice lessons by Zoom so far this month. 

12. I missed attending my Bible study on August 27 because Paul didn't get home from work in time for me to go, but I was able to attend on September 10.

13. The kids have been playing with more of the neighbors over the past week. Sometimes over the past months some families haven't let their kids play with everyone in the neighborhood over fears related to COVID-19.

14. The kids and I have really been enjoying watching World Watch News each day (M-F). Each episode is about 10 minute long, but they are very informative and educational. I'm also impressed by the book Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? that I began reading with Ian and Nadia yesterday. I like it so much I'm going to try to get my hands on copy of another book by the same author - Whatever Happened to Justice? Nadia, Ian, and I also have continued to enjoy reading Life of Fred every day. We have almost completed Mineshaft. 

15. Our two little zebra danios appear to be doing fine, and we've owned them for about 6 weeks. Our neighbors have agreed to feed our fish and guinea pigs when we're on vacation in two weeks.

16. A few months ago I wondered if we'd have to cancel our trip to OH/KY. I am thankful that so far it seems we will still be able to go albeit we'll be wearing masks far more than usual and have had to make adjustments to the plans based on what is still closed. I had made reservations for 7 nights before the pandemic began. I am hoping to change where we are staying one of those nights. We shall see if they agree to give us a refund. It won't be the end of the world if they say no. It will just add some unnecessary driving time. I have a feeling I am going to be VERY gun shy the next time I'm contemplating planning a vacation! I'm hoping not to plan another vacation until the pandemic is over. Hopefully we will have a good vacation. 

17. I'm thankful that when you homeschool, you can go at the your child's pace. I came to the conclusion this week that attempting to do Beast Academy level 3 with Oliver this year was a mistake. I'm going to save those books for him to do next year. I ordered Beast Academy Level 2 this week, and I'm doing flash cards with him every day until the Level 2 books arrive. We're reviewing subtraction and addition facts plus I've begun to introduce some multiplication cards into the mix. 

Photo credit - Nadia

18. The kids were fine with the chimichangas yesterday. Paul won't eat anything that has salsa in it so he had leftover stuffed shells instead. I definitely want to add chimichangas to the rotation, but I might try a recipe that includes refried beans next time. I baked our chimichangas to make them healthier. The ones I've eaten at restaurants have been fried. The kids (especially Nadia) LOVED the croque monsieur sandwiches this evening. Nadia already asked me when I'm going to make them again. It was their first time having gouda cheese, and Nadia said she really liked it. She likes most cheeses (except for Parmesan) ,and Swiss is her most favorite.

19. We continue to love listening to books together. Nadia is not thrilled about Around the World in 80 Days, but Ian is enjoying it. All three kids love books by Andrew Clements. We've been listening to more of his books lately. We had recently studied Mormonism, and there was a discussion of that in one chapter in Around the World in 80 Days when they passed through Utah. I love it when unexpected connections are made.

20. A federal judge recently declared some of our Governor's actions to be unconstitutional. He's appealing the decision so we shall see what happens in the end, but this decision was encouraging to me as has felt like we have allowed Governors to become dictators during the pandemic.

21. I've switched to a different public library. I placed some requests on Tuesday night, and I picked them up at a library 8 minutes from our house this morning!!! Wow! That would have never happened with the other library because they quarantine the books for 4 days when a librarian transports them between two different libraries. This library quarantines books for 3 days when a patron returns them, but they don't quarantine them when they are transferred between libraries. AND this library lets you walk in and take books off the shelves!!! We haven't been allowed to do that for 6 months. And this library system has a larger collection. They had books I had wanted which the other system didn't have. In some cases I had planned to access the books via Hoopla, but I'd MUCH rather read actual physical picture books to the kids when possible rather than by Hoopla. I prefer to listen to audiobooks via an app (because you can't rewind within a track on a CD), but when it comes to picture books, we prefer physical books. Nadia was thrilled because they already had the new Mr. Lemoncello book which just came out last month. I wish I had thought of using this library years ago, but better late than never! They also are very happy to help with getting books by ILL even if it means getting a book out of the state. I already have two that I'm planning to request later in the year. Audrey of the Outback is supposed to be an Australian version of Pippi Longstocking. I think Nadia will enjoy reading those when we are studying Australia. I am thankful for public libraries!

22. Today I started using a pom pom jar as a motivation for the kids to use Spanish more in their conversations. Back when I was a middle school teacher 28 years ago, I had a marble jar in my classroom. I'd add or take away marbles and then when the jar was filled, the class would get a reward such as an extra recess. A pom pom goes in the jar when they use Spanish sometime during the day. "Tengo mucha hambre" is the phrase they said the most today. They are motivated to fill that jar!

New Garage Doors

This morning our new garage doors were installed. I had stained the front door in July after we had ordered the new garage doors as I knew the front door was a lighter shade. I found out today that I stained the front door a bit darker than I should have, but I don't think it's a problem. I'm glad we didn't also replace the garage door openers because the garage doors are going up and down smoothly now that the cracked garage doors have been replaced. It was such a hard decision with the garage door - green, beige, or wood tone? As you can see from the photo, we ended up not paying extra for windows but did pay more for a wood tone and also a tiny bit more for the carriage house hinges and handles. The other excitement was that the kids attended a 90 minute gym class a parent (Desmond) taught outside his home today. There are 13 kids in this brand new class. Desmond is a sixth grade science teacher at the local public school, and his wife homeschools their two sons. Speaking of extra curriculars, I signed Nadia up for private voice lessons through Susquehanna University via Zoom. I wanted to motivate her to finally finish Level 3 in piano (Ian is in Level 5), and I figured that since she can't sing in a choir this semester, it was the perfect time to give voice lessons a whirl. She's very excited! In general I'm not a fan of doing things by Zoom. I don't think we'll have the boys do AWANA by Zoom this fall, but not having to drive anywhere for a 30 minute lesson? Yes, that sounds perfect! I'm sure the boys are also grateful they can avoid the driving time and also just play at home during her lesson since they are happening by Zoom. Hopefully it will be a good learning experience for Nadia. I offered to teach her to play the flute if she'd rather do that than the piano, but she said voice lessons was her first choice. This is the first time my kids were ever in a free gym class, and it's also the first time I've paid for private music lessons as up until now I've been the one giving them piano lessons.