38 hours at Grandma's house!

I hadn't signed the kids up for the workshop at Lowe's this month because their first soccer game was supposed to be the same day. When I found out tomorrow's games were going to be rescheduled, I tried to book them for the workshop at the Lowe's where Paul usually takes them, but there weren't any seats available. There were seats available at the Lowe's near Paul's parents. Paul's dad agreed to take them. We met them at the children's museum in Bloomsburg this evening because they were having a free family night at the museum from 5-7.

As expected, it was FAR more crowded than when we go in the morning or afternoon on a Tuesday, but the seven of us went for free. It was Paul's first time there. Oliver made it quite clear he wanted to leave in their car and go to Pop Pop and Grandma's house, but he came home in the van with Paul and I. Nadia and Ian are spending 38 hours with their grandparents. We'll meet them at church on Sunday before Sunday School. I'm sure the kids will have a very special day with them tomorrow! It will be strange to only have one child here at home.

Thankful Thursday

1. Christ died for our sins and then rose from the grave! He lives! Between the Saturday night service and Sunday services, over 2,400 attended our church's Easter service this year! In an urban area this would not be unusual, but we live in a rural area. The church is in a town that has a population less than 7,000. Even more exciting than the number who attended is the fact that more than 20 people came forward at the end of the services saying they had accepted Christ as their Savior.

2. Paul ran to CVS for me over the weekend, and using the coupons and list I gave him, he bought 4 boxes of granola bars plus 2 boxes of Nutrigrain bars for a grand total of $4. I also was very happy with the price of skim milk and eggs at Aldi's yesterday. I love CVS and Aldi's!

3. The kids enjoyed the egg hunts, hotdog lunch, dinner at McDonald's, workshop at Home Depot, and the Peking Acrobats show on Saturday. It was a very busy and a very fun, special day. The only thing that cost us money that day was the show at Bucknell, and we took advantage of the faculty/staff discount for those tickets.

4. It was fabulous to have Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law join us for church and then come to our house to visit for a few hours on Sunday. They brought yummy food for our meal and tasty treats for the kids, which we are still enjoying a few days later!

5. The soccer field has been declared OPEN as of this Monday! I would much rather see the kids putting on soccer cleats than snow boots. I am very thankful that both of their practices are at 5:30 on Thursdays. I'll stay home with Oliver. Paul will take them as he's Ian's coach.

6. The boys and I enjoyed 90 minutes at the playground in Lewisburg on Monday!

7. We were able to go for a walk on Tuesday in between rain showers. The kids greatly enjoyed their rain  boots and umbrellas, and Ian looked so cute in his raincoat!

8. We had a fabulous time with my parents at the Whitaker Center yesterday. It was our first time at that science museum, and we also enjoyed a yummy lunch in Strawberry Square and watching the IMAX movie on pandas.

Experiencing wind as strong as felt in a hurricane!

9. Of my three kids, Ian is the one who sings the most around the house. I love to hear him sing! Lately he has been singing the Armed Forces medley. Now I need to work with Nadia on the song she's going to sing for her Annie audition next week. She has been working on memorizing the lines from the script that are being used in the audition.

10. Oliver can count to eleven! Sometimes he still skips a number, but I have heard him count from 1-11 accurately more than once. I know he's a little late for learning that, but we're still celebrating the accomplishment! He's also doing better identifying more colors correctly.

11. We enjoyed our dinner at Red Robin last night. In the past I only bought one kids' meal so it cost a little more this time, and they didn't give a free birthday dessert like they've always given me in the past, but it was still a treat! We usually only go to Red Robin once a year (always in April). I plan to take advantage of two other free birthday meals this month at Perkins and the Watson Inn. There are perks to turning one year older!

12. The public library we usually go to only had an abridged version of Pollyanna. I was utterly amazed at how quickly they got us an unabridged version through an interlibrary loan. I am thoroughly enjoying reading the books that were my favorites when I was a child!

13. We also got a DVD from the library this week that Paul and I really enjoyed. If you like football movies, I recommend "When the game stands tall."

14. Duke won the NCAA Championship on Monday night! I found a free app for the iPad that enabled Paul to watch the game live for free even though we don't have cable tv right now. Most people around here cheer for PSU for college football and teams from either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh for hockey, baseball, and football. When I first met Paul he had five favorite teams - Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz, Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), and the Giants (NFL). Gradually over the past 18 years he has cut back on watching sports. For most of our marriage he just watched the Steelers, Giants, and Duke, but over the last five years he has really only been watching the Giants and Steelers. I was stunned when he came to bed at half-time on Monday. I thought for sure he'd stay up to watch Duke, but he only saw half of their 5th Championship victory. There is of course nothing wrong with watching sports, but I am glad that spending time with his family and also working to support us are higher priorities to him in this stage of life.

15. We're all healthy, and Paul's mom has been healthy for the past six months. PTL!

16. Oliver was fussy at Aldi's yesterday (since he had a very short nap which ended when I pulled into the parking lot). I just listened to him cry while I pushed the shopping cart around the store, but once we got to the checkout line I held him (which is what he wanted). It was a challenge to get the groceries out of the cart while holding a toddler, and the woman in line behind me ever so graciously came over and helped me unload my groceries onto the conveyor belt. The kindness of stranger is always greatly appreciated!

Whitaker Center

Usually on Wednesdays we are home all day until we leave for church after dinner. Today we were gone for twelve hours as we left the house at 8:30 this morning to drive to Harrisburg and didn't return until 8:30 this evening after we came home from church. We met my parents at the Whitaker Center (science museum) at 10:00, and we spent two hours in the museum and then walked a very short walk (indoors) to the food court at Strawberry Square to have lunch. After lunch we saw an IMAX movie about panda bears in the museum. After that we spent about one more hour in the museum. Nadia and Ian would have loved to stay longer, but the adults were tired, and I wanted Oliver to be able to take a nap. He did sleep on the way home. His nap would have been longer, if I hadn't stopped at an Aldi's that is about 30 minutes from our house. We were needing a few items, and I rarely drive past an Aldi's so I wanted to seize the opportunity. They had eggs on sale for $1 cheaper per dozen than I've been paying lately so I bought 3 dozen, and the milk was on sale for 50% of what I usually pay so I got 4 gallons of it plus a bunch of other items we had run out of or were running low on that I usually like to buy at Aldi's. 

By the time we left the grocery store it was after 4:00 so I decided to cash in my free birthday dinner (good anytime this month) at Red Robin. I bought two kids' meals and we shared some food with Oliver so our bill including tip was $13. I tried a new burger. It had teriyaki sauce on it plus two slices of pineapple and was very yummy. I don't think I've ever had a pineapple on a burger before. After dinner we headed to church. The kids played in the playland for a few minutes before I took them to AWANA, and I headed to choir rehearsal. It was a very fun and exhausting day. I am glad the only thing on our schedule tomorrow is soccer practice at 5:30. Hopefully the practices won't get rained out.

When I asked Nadia what her favorite parts of the museum were she said the best part was being with Grandma and Grandpa, and her second favorite part was the Panda Bear movie. Ian said his favorites were racing cars and buying a toy in the gift shop. I have to concur with Nadia that although the museum was very nice, the best part was being able to see my parents whom we hadn't seen since February. They're hoping to come up and visit us in a couple of weeks. Harrisburg is pretty close to half-way between our two homes although it's a bit longer of a drive for them than us due to traffic in Baltimore. It was great to see them today!

Singin' in the Rain

Nadia and Ian received umbrellas at Christmas, and they have been *dying* to use them. I kept telling them (throughout the winter) that they needed to wait until the spring to use them. This is a rainy week (April showers bring May flowers, right?). Yesterday the boys and I spent about 90 minutes at a playground, but I didn't get to take a walk. Today I decided we'd take a walk after lunch, but I knew the playground equipment would be too wet. The kids are not fans of taking a walk just for the sake of walking. They see the walk as the means to a desirable end - the playground. I sold them on a walk today by suggesting they wear their rain boots so they could jump in some puddles. Even though it wasn't raining when we took our walk (although it started raining just as we were coming in an hour later), they were enjoying using their umbrellas. Oliver doesn't have an umbrella (finally I have an idea of something to get him for his birthday!), but I gave him a small black one to use so he wouldn't feel left out. Ian even wore a cute rain coat.

When we got home Oliver went down for his nap and fell asleep right away. What a relief! Tomorrow he'll probably be taking his nap in the van on the way home from Harrisburg.

Nadia has been making a lot of progress with her handstands, headstands, and cartwheels. I'll have to take some pictures or a video. I'm looking forward to seeing her first ever progress report in two weeks. They just started a new policy of writing up individual progress reports every eight weeks. Nadia and Ian have been having a lot of fun with the gymnastics mat during Oliver's nap (which has already exceeded two hours!).

Ladybugs

On Saturday I picked up some books on Mount Rushmore and ladybugs from the library. Nadia had just studied South Dakota last week, and I wanted her to see more pictures and learn more about Mt. Rushmore, and on Friday afternoon we had a delivery at our house of ladybug larvae and food for our ladybug habitat! We are to add two drops of water every other day until they are pupae. The kids really enjoyed watching the butterflies go through metamorphosis last year, and they are excited about watching the lady bugs this year. I was waiting until the weather was warm enough for them, and I was hoping that would happen when there was still enough time for them to become adults before our trip to Florida.

Oliver was one VERY fussy child this morning. I was tempted to put him down for a morning nap he was SO stinking tired. Everything was an absolute tragedy. The tears kept streaming down his sweet face, and he was yawning All The Time. Skipping three naps (Tu, Wed, Fri) and then me waking him up during his nap the last two days (on Saturday because of the Peking Acrobats and yesterday because he decided to wait until almost 6:00pm to take his nap).

Even though he was quite obviously very tired, he really, really fought me on taking a nap. I made a lot of trips up and down the stairs putting him back in his bed while doing schoolwork with Ian and folding a load of laundry. I decided I would give up after one hour, and thankfully after 55 minutes of fighting the nap, he fell asleep. To be honest, today would have been a nice day for him not to take a nap because we could have enjoyed more time outside as it's warm and sunny today. It's supposed to rain most of the rest of the week, but as badly as I wanted to have a 2-3 mile walk, I knew the nap was more important. I took the boys to a playground while Nadia was at gymnastics so we still got some fresh air albeit I didn't get the exercise I was hoping to get. We stayed at the playground for almost 90 minutes. I wish I had just offered to pick Nadia up because we were very close to the gym, but I figured I could have dinner on the table ready for them when they came home. Nope. I came home and Paul was already here without Nadia. Her forgot to pick her up again. The poor dear was VERY hungry when she finally got home at 6:20 (her class ends at 5:30). Thankfully there are people in the gym until 9pm so she was safe and didn't cause an inconvenience to anyone.

Oliver wet the bed this morning, which he hadn't done in more than a month. I know what the problem was. He went to the bathroom around 7:00, and he didn't go again before bed although I tried to get him to go closer to his bed time. Also, he ate and drank much later than usual because he said he was hungry after I woke him up from his really, really late nap. Up until a week ago I would have said his two problems related to the potty were #1 using WAY WAY too much toilet paper and #2 sometimes his aim is off and he gets pee on his shirt or the floor. However in the last several days he pooped in pants twice (which hadn't happened in months), peed on the carpet once in his bedroom, and wet the bed (this morning). Potty training this child sometimes feels like it's never going to end, but I know it will. Hopefully this week he'll get back on track with using the toilet and taking an afternoon nap.

Happy Easter!

He is RISEN! Hallelujah, what a Savior! Christmas is a very special holiday, but it wouldn't have any meaning if it weren't for Easter. We had a wonderful day today celebrating the resurrection and also enjoying time with Paul's family. The kids and I were out the door at 8:10 for church, and we got home about 12:45. Nadia and Ian went to Sunday School during the first service, and they sat with Paul's parents during the second service. Paul's brother and sister-in-law also attended the second service. It was their first time visiting our new church. Paul's parents have been there quite a few times over the past eight months. The sanctuary (which is actually a gymnasium) seats a little over 1,100 people. There were less than 10 empty seats during the first service, and some people were standing in the back. The second service was very full but there were some empty seats. I would estimate between the two services there were over 2,000 people in the sanctuary this morning, and about 250 people attended the Saturday evening service (which was identical to the two this morning except a different pastor gave the sermon). Last Sunday (Palm Sunday) there were a little over 1,600 in attendance during the two Sunday morning services, and that's a little above average but today there were far more than last week. I am curious what the official count was. The choir was on and off the platform three times during the service as we sang "O Happy Day" at the very end of the service (from memory). At one point everyone in the choir was wearing white robes when a person playing the part of Jesus was acting out the resurrection. From my vantage point in the choir I couldn't see the drama involving the Jesus on the cross (who was played by the man who teaches the kids' gym class on Fridays), and the choir wasn't in the sanctuary during the quartet by four of the pastors of "Arise My Love." It was special having Paul's family with us at church this morning. They had left over goodies in my Sunday School class this morning, and the woman who brought in the treats today asked if I wanted to take some home to my children so I brought them each one chocolate peanut butter egg and one chocolate covered peep.

Since Paul went to church last night, he stayed home this morning to do some work and put the au gratin potatoes and ham in the oven. When we got home I cooked some vegetables and reheated the baked beans and pineapple stuffing that Paul's mom had brought. Oliver scarfed down the baked beans and ham. Ian liked the ham and with the promise of many yummy goodies finally ate a little bit of potatoes and some carrots. Nadia enjoyed the ham and carrots and with the aid of some strawberries that Millie had brought she finally ate a little bit of baked beans. At least they all like ham. Naturally they all loved the desserts Millie brought. She owns a bakery, and she brought an amazing assortment of tasty treats - chocolate eclairs, cream puffs, apple crumb pie, cherry crumb pie, yellow cake, chocolate covered pretzels, etc. My favorite was the apple crumb pie. Yum! Uncle Al's birthday is in three days so we had him blow out a candle on the cake and sang happy birthday to him.

Oliver didn't take a nap on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday. He had one almost every day prior to that, and he did take one on Thursday (2 hours long). There really wasn't time for a nap on Saturday because of going to see the Peking Acrobat show at 2pm, but I put him down at 12:00 (an hour earlier than usual), and wouldn't you know but he fell asleep around 12:15. It pained me to do so, but I had to wake him up at 1:20. I put him down today after he finished eating (Sunday naps always start later than usual because we don't eat until 1pm), but he couldn't fall asleep with eight family members downstairs while he was in his bedroom. Once Paul's family left several hours later, he fell asleep on my lap. I let him sleep for about 30-40 minutes and then woke him up. I was so torn between not letting him nap at that late hour (it was 6pm) or letting him sleep as long as he wanted, and I compromised by letting him take a short nap. He was NOT happy when I woke him up. I am hoping and praying that this week he gets back on track with his naps. I do not believe he's old enough to give up his nap yet, and when he doesn't take a nap he is rather fragile emotionally in the afternoon and evening. At least he does far better with having a one hour quiet time in his bedroom than Ian did.

I saw the upper elementary children director's family walk past us this morning, and wow did they look sharp. The whole family (of 5) was color coordinated (mint green). The dad had that color tie, a son had on that color dress shirt, the mom  had one that color dress, etc. Some day I'd like to do that. The only thing I bought as far as Easter clothing was a new suit for Ian. On Wednesday I was at the mall and had a $10 off coupon for JCP, and I used it to get Ian a suit (tie, vest, shirt, and pants) for $10. He didn't *need* another suit, but he didn't have any spring color dress shirts, and he spotted the suit (purple shirt) and asked me for it, and I also thought it was really sharp. So I splurged. I toyed with also buying Oliver a matching one in his size, but he won't be wearing size 2T much longer (the dress shirts are actually a bit short on his arms now), and he doesn't have a brother to pass it down to. I justified Ian's purchase knowing Oliver could wear it in three years. This morning I discovered Oliver did have a purple stripe tie (was Ian's in the past) so the two boys were color coordinated.

Nadia could have worn a dress she's never worn before (she has plenty of dresses thanks to yard sales), but she opted to wear a really pretty one she's worn for two years. I think today was the last time she'll wear it though. The length is fine even thought it's a size 5 (and she's mostly wearing size 7 dresses), but the top was a bit tight on her. Usually I am told what color to wear each Sunday (the choir is color coordinated). Last week was a big challenge for me because the color was yellow, which is NOT a color I usually wear. This week we were allowed to wear whatever we wanted, so I opted to wear a dress that features colors that never seem to be picked. I was wishing the weather was a bit warmer and that the outside was a bit prettier (meaning green grass and such) for outside pics, but spring weather IS coming. I just need to be patient. I greatly prefer using my camera outdoors, but I am learning how to use it indoors.

Paul's parents also brought the kids a wide assortment of goodies today - a bag of goldfish crackers, some string cheese, two puzzles, Swedish fish, tootsie rolls, chocolate, etc. The kids ate far more sweets today than I usually allow them to have, but it's a special day!

BUSY day

I try not to plan too many things for one day, but every once in a while it turns out that way. I had scheduled two things for today - Paul taking the kids to Home Depot for the 9:00 workshop and the five of us going to see the Peking Acrobats at Bucknell at 2:00. I bought the tickets for the Peking Acrobats back in August. If I only found out about the event sometime in the past three months, I wouldn't have bought the tickets in light of our current budget, but I'm very glad we went even though it wasn't cheap. Paul and I saw them when we were in China, and I loved the show then and wanted the kids to experience it (and we don't plan to take them to China). The second community egg hunt (less than a mile from our house) was also at 11:00 today. This one includes a free lunch. Very recently I found out our church was hosting its first ever Easter festival from 3:00-5:00 today, and the first of four Easter services at church was to be held at 6:00 pm. As a choir member, I was expected to attend and participate in three of the four Easter services, and the choir was singing one song at the very end of each service so I needed to stay for the whole service this evening. I am accustomed to singing in a Good Friday or Maundy Thursday service, but our new church didn't have either of those services (this year anyhow).

Paul was able to stay home and work for three hours  as he skipped the egg hunt and free lunch, but he was with us more than usual today. Paul decided to attend the service tonight and stay home tomorrow morning. We put the three kids in Children's Church this evening because Nadia and Ian are planning to sit with Grandma, Pop Pop, Uncle Al, and Aunt Millie during the second service tomorrow morning. Since Paul went to church tonight, he's going to stay home tomorrow morning and get some work done, and he's going to put the ham and potatoes in the oven for our Easter dinner.

Although it was about 15 degrees warmer out for the egg hunt at 11:00 compared to the one last Saturday at 1:00, it still felt cold! It was very windy, and we were outside a lot longer at this one. Oliver got 6 hard boiled eggs and several plastic eggs with candy in them during the egg hunt for kids ages 1-3. Ian and Nadia were in the egg hunt for ages 4-8. Ian got six plastic eggs (no hard boiled), and Nadia got 5 hard boiled eggs and several plastic eggs with candy in them. The plastic eggs were the ones that *could* have been prize eggs. Altogether the kids had more than 20 plastic eggs, but none of theirs were prize eggs. This was the first time this happened to us when we went to this particular egg hunt. Some of the prizes at this egg hunt are really nice (three of the prizes were bicycles for example!). If all the eggs had been hard boiled, the kids would have been more disappointed that they didn't win any prizes, but since many of their eggs had candy inside, they were content (tootsie rolls, Jolly Ranchers, Hershey kisses, etc.). They also had Happy Meal prizes strewn on the ground with the eggs for the egg hunt for ages 1-3, and Oliver picked up two of those. The lunch included hot dogs, baked beans, bottled water, hot chocolate, and an assortment of desserts. The only thing that cost $$ was a bag of homemade potato chips (we skipped those). Oliver gave the bunny a high five when she came around to the kids before the egg hunt, but after the lunch when I wanted to get a picture, he wouldn't come anywhere near the bunny.

The acrobat show was outstanding, and it was a good multicultural experience for the kids to experience Chinese culture. They had live music during the whole show. It wasn't *quite* as good as the show we saw in Beijing, but it was outstanding! Oliver was a little scared at a few points (especially when they were doing stunts while wearing large costumes). The lady beside us laughed when Oliver said "That's too loud. Do a tiny one" in response to some loud drumming two men were doing. Ha ha! She commented at the end how well behaved my children were and that she enjoyed watching Oliver almost as much as watching the show. Then we went to our church's Easter festival. We were there for only the second half of it. The line was too long for the face painting, and they had run out of hot dogs and chips, but the kids enjoyed snow cones, popcorn, and cotton candy as well as some games and holding some baby ducks. Nadia didn't hit any balloons when she threw her three darts, but Oliver actually hit a balloon with his second dart! They let him stand on the table since he's only two.

At 4:30 they had an egg hunt. Oliver was in a different area, and Nadia and Ian were in the same field (they had the kids separated in three groups). Over 400 kids were at this egg hunt! Nadia didn't want to use her Princess pail this year that she had used the last several years, and it worked out fine just to have two baskets at the other two egg hunts because they didn't do all the egg hunts simultaneously, but at the church they did all three at the same time so poor Ian didn't have a basket. OOPS! I felt badly. I could have at least given him a bag. There weren't any prize eggs at the church's hunt, but all the plastic eggs had candy inside. The kids were VERY confused about going to church on a Saturday evening. The choir wore white robes (to make us look like angels at the resurrection scene) for one song. I washed and dried mine to avoid ironing it. As I tucked Ian in tonight, he gushed about what a great day it was. That put a smile on my face!

Goal check-up #1

I wrote my list of goals for the year and haven't given them much thought since then so I went back and looked them over last night, and this is how we're doing one fourth of the way through the year.

She's ready for our trip to Williamsburg!

1. Nadia HAS been practicing the piano five days a week most of the time.

2. I decided not to do Ian's schoolwork at the same time as Nadia's, but I have been much more faithful (recently) about doing schoolwork with him. He gets very excited about our special one-on-one time, and he's making great progress with handwriting, reading, and math. My goal is to have him ready to start Level 2 reading and Level 1 spelling in the fall.

3. Although we haven't gotten in the habit of assigning a particular night of the week to be game night, we have been playing games far more often lately (Headbandz, UNO, and Chutes and Ladders the most often). I'd still like to pick a night and make it game night. Hmmmm

4. We haven't gotten back in the habit yet of having a weekly family fun night. We need to do so!

5. I have been trying to be more relaxed, although it still doesn't come naturally. 

6. I definitely haven't lost any weight. Hopefully I will start losing some this month once the weather is nicer and I can get more exercise!

7. I have been doing better with getting into routines with household chores. 

8. Nadia did completely break the thumb sucking habit, and she is reading chapter books more often of her own initiative. 

9. Once the weather gets nicer I am hoping Paul will work with Nadia and Ian to get them riding a bike without training wheels.

10. Nadia is also doing better about eating soups, stews, and vegetables she doesn't like. She has learned to just buckle down and eat foods she doesn't like as long as I give her small portions.

11. Of the following list I had for Ian, the only one he's made progress with thus far would be his reading: break the belly button rubbing habit, write numbers and lowercase letters, ride a bike without training wheels, swing on his own, walk across the rope at the playground, count to 100 by ones, fives, and tens, less fussing and crying, better at using scissors, learn to tie his shoes, become more comfortable being alone in a room, and make huge strides with his reading skills.

12. Oliver can eat with utensils instead of his fingers, but sometimes he still reverts to using his fingers. He has become night-time potty trained! He also is able to do 24 piece jigsaw puzzles independently.

13. I still need to work with Oliver on learning to identify the letters of the alphabet, count to 20, identify his shapes and colors, and memorize some Bible verses.

Thankful Thursday

1. Ian and Oliver both couldn't have oatmeal for awhile because it gave them the "runs." I haven't attempted to give Ian any oatmeal since then, but a few weeks ago I decided to give it a whirl with Oliver because he makes such a mess when eating a bowl of cold cereal or toast. It was a success! He's had oatmeal quite a few times since then, and it hasn't caused any GI problems for him. Yay! A bowl of oatmeal is far less messy for Oliver.

2. On Friday the homeschool gym class started up again. The kids enjoyed 90 minutes of basketball with the women's coach from Bucknell. Oliver enjoyed playing in the Well, and I enjoyed chatting with other moms. The class will go through May 1. I am so glad our church is offering this!

3. On Saturday the kids enjoyed one of our town's Easter egg hunts. I'm planning to take them to two more egg hunts this Saturday (another one in our town and one at our church). I made egg salad for us to eat at lunch and creamed egg on toast for dinner. My mom used to serve that when we had seen the orthodontist and needed a soft meal to eat. I hadn't had it in 20+ years and had never cooked it before. Ian actually liked it, which was a shock because usually he (and Oliver) don't like eggs in any form.

4. We enjoyed spending time with Paul's parents on Saturday night, and they treated us to pizza which was greatly appreciated! I was also able to use their smartphone to get some things for free from Shutterfly.

5. I enjoy playing Words with Friends. It's a pleasant diversion. I look forward to the day when the kids are big enough to play more challenging games.

6. Ian LOVES to wear a suit jacket. He insists on wearing one every Sunday.

7. We went to the playground today!!! It was in the 60's! We walked to the elementary school (a longer walk than our "usual" playground). I wore capri pants today (but not sandals yet).

8. Oliver took a nap today! He slept for 2 hours, which is a typical nap for him. He has been sleeping in later in the morning than usual, and when that happens he sometimes takes a shorter nap (maybe one hour), but the last two days he did not nap At All. I was VERY relieved when he fell asleep today, and also just as happy when he woke up because that meant it was time for us to head to the playground!

 9. I took the kids to Friendly's last night. We used part of a gift card Ian had been given. I didn't get Oliver a meal (we all shared with him), and it only cost $15 for the four of us to have dinner, chocolate milk (for the kids), and ice cream sundaes. I needed to get out of the house because we didn't have AWANA last night, and Paul doesn't get home until about 8:45 on Wednesday nights. We also did a tiny bit of shopping at JcPenney, and this reinforced my notion that I will avoid taking the three kids to the mall by myself as much as possible.

My climber

Although Nadia has no fear of climbing things she's supposed to climb (at the playground for instance), we didn't have too much trouble with her climbing onto things she wasn't supposed to when she was little. We never had to worry about Ian climbing because it's still a challenge to get him to climb things that we would like to see him climb. Oliver on the other hand loves to climb what he is and is not supposed to climb up on. He'll move the piano bench in the living room over to the light switch and then stand on it to turn on the light (or fan even when it's cold outside). He's been found standing on tables (even the dining room table). The biggest problem has been that he keeps climbing on to the dresser in his bedroom. The light switch was again his motivation. Tomorrow morning Paul is going to move the light switch pull from Nadia's room (she certainly has no need of it any more). I rearranged all the furniture in Oliver's room before his nap so that he wouldn't be able to climb on to the dresser (he used to get to it via his bed). He didn't take a nap (second day in a row!), and when I went in his room he was on top of his dresser. I have NO idea how he got up there. I guess I can put the furniture back the way it used to be. I like the old arrangement better. Currently there is nothing near the dresser so he didn't use anything else to get up on it. I had taken the footrest for the glider to the basement in case he was moving that and using that to climb. It's a mystery how he got up there, but he was also the first of my three kids to climb out of his crib so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I just don't want him to get hurt!