Happy Mother's Day!

Today we were able to celebrate Mother's Day with my wonderful mother-in-law as the seven of us had dinner this evening at TGIF. We used gift cards plus a coupon for a free steak dinner. She is an amazing mom and grandma. I am ever so blessed to be able to call her my mother-in-law. It was also very nice to spend some time with my mom two days ago in Maryland. Usually Paul doesn't do anything for me for Mother's Day. I think part of the reason is that it's so soon after my birthday. I buy him gifts and have the kids make cards for him for Father's Day. I was very surprised though that he had purchased a card for me this year. I absolutely LOVE being a mom. I had dreamed of being a mom since I was a child. Parts of motherhood have definitely been harder than I had anticipated, but being a mom the past almost seven years has been utterly amazing. I love my three children more than words can express. I remember all the Mother's Days in the past when my heart was aching, and I always pray for women still in that state.

The first moment Oliver got into the pool yesterday it was obvious he still had no fear. He will just jump right into the part that is 5 feet deep. Thank goodness he has a flotation device attached to him! At first though he didn't grasp the concept of what to do with his arms and legs to move around the pool, but he quickly figured that out and can travel around the pool now. The water in the two pools is about 87 degrees, and he likes that a lot. Ian is a big fan of joining me in the three Jacuzzis where the water temperature is about 107 degrees. We haven't taken Oliver in them, and Nadia thinks it's too hot. Ian frequently asks me to take him in a Jacuzzi. Oliver doesn't like the water temperature in the splash pad, but he's done better with the water sprayed on him in the pirate ship (much cooler water). Nadia adores the big water slide. Ian liked it yesterday but didn't enjoy it today. Oliver wants to go on it, but he's 6 inches too short. Oliver wasn't too sure at first about the small water slides coming from the pirate ship, but now he loves them as Ian does.

Finally taking off from DC!

This afternoon Nadia enjoyed playing hot cannonball (like hot potato), using a hula hoop, doing a water balloon toss (with me as her partner), and doing some dances (hokey pokey, YMCA, chicken dance, and the limbo). These were new to her. I participated in some to help her earn more tokens, especially as they were giving moms double tokens today since it was Mother's Day. The husband and wife duo that lead these activities every Sunday afternoon (we've seen them every year) dress like pirates. The wife is VERY pregnant with their second baby. It's not every day that you see a pregnant pirate who looks like she's about to pop, ha ha! Generally Nadia and Oliver are the ones talking to strangers in the pool, but this afternoon Ian played with another five year old boy for more than an hour. He also met another 5 year old boy in the pool who shares the same exact birthday with him! After dinner the kids did a little bit of miniature golf, played on the playground and also did a little bit of ping pong and foosball. It was very hot today (97 degrees!) but the humidity has been very low, and we've been in the water for many hours each day.

Sunshine State

Nadia, Ian, and Paul's parents arrived in Florida on Wednesday and spent two days with Aunt Diane, Uncle Jim, and their one-year-old grandson. Their home is right on the beach. Paul, Oliver, and I left our home at 3:45 on Thursday. It had rained almost the whole day on Wednesday, but it was sunny on Thursday, and I was able to take some pics of Oliver in the apple tree and then mow the lawn during Oliver's nap. We hit a lot of traffic so we didn't arrive at my parents' house until about 8:15. Paul stayed up until 4:00 am grading the final exam, and then he got up about three hours later to finish the grading. He finished around 10:30, and then I helped tabulate each student's score. He hasn't calculated their course grades yet, but he needs to do that tomorrow as he has to submit the grades by Monday. We ate lunch and then my parents drove us to the airport in DC. There was an air show going on in DC as we drove to the airport. Paul recognized several of the WWII airplanes flying overhead. This airshow caused them to stop all use of the runways for 90 minutes at the airport, which delayed our flight. Then once we boarded the airplane, there was a minor mechanical issue they had to look into, so we sat in the plane for an hour before the plane actually took off. This is not a good thing when you have a two year old, especially considering he lost 2+ hours of sleep the previous night and also had a very short nap (taken in the vehicle as we drove to the airport). Paul and I were in different rows, and we took turns taking care of Oliver. The flight itself was only two hours long, but we were exhausted once the plane touched down in Orlando.

After Paul's dad picked us up at the airport, we drove directly to the resort, I checked in, and we unloaded all our luggage. The kids went to bed an hour later than usual, and then Paul's parents and I headed to Walmart to buy groceries for the vacation. We ate all three meals in our unit today. I was VERY glad to be reunited with Nadia and Ian. I handled their absence well on Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday it was much harder.

I always like to get in the pool once on the day we arrive at the resort. It makes me feel like their was some relaxation in the travel day, and if our plan had landed on time, that would have been very possible, but it didn't happen this time. Of course Paul's parents, Nadia, and Ian had already been in two different swimming pools and the ocean before they picked us up at the airport. We all arrived here safely, and that is a big answer to prayer. It's not a big deal to wait one more day to take a dip in the pool. Today we had plenty of time at the swimming pools! Oliver got up too early (6:15) so even with giving the kids baths this morning (mainly because I wanted to shampoo Nadia's hair), we were at the pool by 8:45am. Ian is finally tall enough to go down the biggest water slide here! You have to be 42 inches tall. Nadia had gone down it in May 2013 and July 2014, but today was Ian's first. He needed Paul to be there to catch him because he doesn't swim yet.

Nadia went down the slide MANY times today, and she doesn't need anyone to catch her. Oliver enjoyed some smaller water slides, he wasn't too sure at first mainly because he didn't like the cold water that sprays on you at various places on the pirate ship, but he fell in love with one of the slides and wanted to do it again and again. It was very hard to get him to leave the pool to come back for a nap, but he did sleep for almost two hours while Pop Pop was reading. We spent at least 6.5 hours at the pools today. Nadia also enjoyed playing tug of war and a relay race with a sponge. After dinner we did a little miniature golfing before the magic show. Nadia was hoping to be picked as a volunteer at some point in the show, but that didn't happen. Paul had no desire to be picked, but the magician used one of his shoes in a trick (it looked like he was pouring cranberry juice into Paul's shoe but it was going in a cup in the shoe). Hopefully all that time in the sun will help the kids not get up quite so early tomorrow.

2.75 years old!

Pretty soon there won't be any toddlers in our house. My baby will soon be a "preschooler." Here are some ways he has changed over the past three months:

1. He's switched from sleeping on his belly to sleeping on his back. He has started occasionally skipping a nap, but thankfully most of the time he naps from 1-3. He used to sleep three hours sometimes, but now I wake him up so that his nap is not longer than two hours. At night he goes to bed at 8pm and usually gets up at 7:00 am. Sometimes he gets up as early as 6:00 or 6:15. I wake him up if he sleeps past 7:00 because when I let him sleep until 7:15 or 7:30, he almost always wets the bed. Thirteen total hours of sleep is his norm (10 hours at night + 3 hour nap or 11 hours at night + 2 hour nap).

2. He's learned how to give up the iPad at the end of his turn without crying. Whew.

3. He learned how to walk across the rope at the playground independently (something Ian hasn't yet attempted at the age of five).

4. He's continued to make progress with potty training. He wants to learn how to wipe himself. If he could learn how to put his underwear and shorts or pants back on, he could be independent at least when he pees. There have been times when I have thought potty training was finally over because he went two weeks without any accidents during the day or night, but then other times I think potty training will *never* end with him, but I know it will end some day!

5. His favorite foods at the moment include baked beans, ham, pulled pork, and just about any kind of soup or stew. He will eat two bowls of split pea and ham soup, for example. He has started eating pancakes (previously he wasn't a fan of any hot breakfast food). He is starting to make a *little* bit of progress with using utensils instead of his fingers to eat. Although there are some foods he spits back out, there has never been ANY food that he has refused to try. Unlike his siblings, his default assumption is that he WILL like every food. I am SO thankful that he's such a great eater.

6. He learned how to drink from a straw!

7. He still makes mistakes at times, but he *can* count from 1-11 accurately.

8. Oliver still talks about the big bad wolf multiple times a day every day, and his favorite song to sing is still most definitely "Jingle Bells." He doesn't understand it's not a song most folks sing in 85 degree weather, ha ha!

9. He hasn't made any progress with controlling his temper. He is very prone to throwing things, purposefully spilling glasses of water or milk, and hitting. Hopefully over the next three months we will see some improvement in theses areas! His siblings never exhibited this behavior.

10. He has become far more outgoing in playing with other children at indoor play lands and outdoor playgrounds. He is starting to seem extroverted like Nadia (unlike Ian). Also, like his sister he has no problems separating from me at church. Last night was his last night in Puggles. In the fall he'll be in Cubbies!

Thankful Tuesday

1. The trees are green and the tulips are blooming! Looking out my windows I see a MUCH prettier sight than I saw a few weeks ago. The bird eggs the kids and I observed in a nest in a bush last week hatched! Oliver and two kids from across the street enjoyed watching the baby birds today (see picture below).

2. The weather has really warmed up. It went from cooler than normal for this time of year to warmer than normal for this time of year. I think it will be just as warm on Friday in PA as it will be in FL. Go figure! Anyhow I am grateful to be able to wear sandals and short sleeve shirts without a jacket. Oliver and I weeded and mulched the flower beds today. I'll mow on Thursday morning.

3. Ian scored his first goal on Saturday morning! Grandma, Nadia, and Daddy witnessed it!

4. Paul is giving an exam tomorrow, and then he will have a break from teaching for 3.5 months. The grades are due on Monday, but he's hoping to be done by Thursday night.

5. I am really enjoying the Bible study on 1, 2, and 3 John. I hadn't studied those books lately.

6. I was able to get many bargains at the yard sales on Friday and Saturday such as a pair of beautiful snow pants (flowers on them) for Nadia for next winter for $1 and a pair of water shoes for Oliver to wear this summer for 25 cents.

7. The kids really enjoyed the gym class (ended on Friday). We're looking forward to joining the class again in the fall!

8. I'm grateful Paul's mom is healthy enough to go with us on vacation again. I'm so glad the kids get this time with their grandparents, and I'm grateful the trip has gone smoothly for them thus far. They are spending the night tonight in South Carolina. When I talked to them they were about to go to Denny's for dinner and then were going to swim in an outdoor pool. Last night they swam in an indoor pool.

9. Nadia and Ian really enjoyed the "Instrument Petting Zoo" on Saturday afternoon. It was very hard to get them to leave!

10. All three kids did pretty well with eating grilled chicken breast last week. This isn't a shock for Oliver, but it was a pleasant surprise for the other two. :)

So long for 4 days

This morning all three kids were up bright and early. Oliver had a hard time falling asleep last night, and he got up one hour earlier than usual. We finished our packing, loaded up the van, and drove 25 minutes to a McDonald's near the hospital where Paul's mom had her monthly IVIG treatment this morning. The kids played in the playland for about 40 minutes until they arrived, and then Pop Pop and I moved their luggage into our van, rearranged car seats, and set up dvd players. After eating lunch, Oliver and I said goodbye and they left in our van. I came to the realization that Oliver associates hugging a sibling with an apology (something he has to do FAR too often) because when I told him to hug Nadia, he hugged her and said "Sorry" even though he hadn't done anything wrong. "Goodbye" or "I love you" or "I'll miss you" would have been more appropriate, ha ha! Oliver and I made a stop at the consignment shop. I brought in some things to sell and also used my store credit to buy some clothes for Nadia. Unfortunately Oliver fell asleep on the way home, and he woke up right when I pulled into the garage. I tried to get him to go back to sleep, but I was unsuccessful. So Oliver lost a grand total of 4 hours of sleep in the past 24 hours because his nap was only 15 minutes long instead of the usual 2 hours. He fell asleep very easily tonight, and hopefully he won't get up too early tomorrow.

Since Nadia and Ian weren't with us, I decided to walk farther than usual this afternoon. One of the playgrounds is 2.1 miles from our house, and the farthest I've gotten Nadia and Ian to walk thus far is 3 miles round trip. Oliver and I were gone for 3 hours and during that time we visited three different playgrounds. We definitely walked more than 4 miles total. My feet were very sore at the end mostly due to the fact I was wearing sandals, and my feet aren't used to them yet. If I had worn sneakers I would have fared better, but this helped break my feet in for our time in Florida! It was 85 degrees out when I was pushing the stroller. It has been MONTHS since I was warm enough to sweat. When we got home I had a call from Paul's mom and got to talk to Nadia and Ian. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, but they had already had pizza and were getting ready to go swimming at the hotel in Virginia. Pop Pop has everything planned out for their road trip there and back. He has all the hotel reservations plus has figured out where they are going to eat lunch and dinner every day!

He took into consideration things like which McDonald's or Chic Fil A had a play land and the fact that kids eat for free at Denny's on Tuesday nights. I have been praying for their safety. Most of the day I will be missing them. The one time of day when I feel a sense of relief is at meal times (since Ian isn't here). I haven't been separated for four days from Ian since I was in the hospital during my pregnancy with Oliver three years ago. Nadia took this road trip with Paul's parents 10 months ago. It's Ian's first road trip. They are hoping to arrive at Pop Pop's sister's house in northern Florida on Wednesday and spend two days with her before they pick us up at the airport on Friday. Altogether they will have the next 22 days with their grandparents, and then after spending four days at home they'll have 6 with my parents in Virginia. I hope and pray many precious memories are made over the next 4+ weeks!

Sentenceless Sunday

His first goal!

Today was Ian's 12th soccer game. He played in eight games last fall, and in his very first game last fall he was very close to scoring a goal, but he didn't score one last season. This morning he had his 4th game of the spring season and scored his very first goal. I attended the last three games (the most recent one was two days ago), but I missed today's soccer games because I opted to go to more yard sales with Oliver. My three favorite yard sales are Milton's community yard sale (always held the first Friday and Saturday in May), one of our neighbor's yard sales (held in June and sometimes she holds a second one in September), and Watsontown's community yard sale in September.

Oliver and I left the house at 8:00 to visit more yard sales. We had gone out yesterday, as some hold their yard sales on Friday and Saturday, but we went out again today because many only hold theirs on Saturday. Also, one yard sale I go to every year in Milton always has everything 50% off on Saturday. I bought a little at their yard sale yesterday, but this morning I bought 24 articles of clothing for Ian and Nadia for a grand total of $42 at that yard sale (pants, dress shirts, jacket, sweaters, etc.).

Many of the items were from Gymboree or Old Navy, and some of them were new with tags. The purchase Ian was most excited about on Friday was a Star Wars lego set I got for $5. It was my most expensive purchase of the weekend. He is working to earn it. The purchase Nadia was most excited about on Friday was another Melissa & Doug magnetic dress-up doll set (this one was of Princess Elise) for $2. She already earned it by cleaning the bathrooms and doing some other chores with me yesterday. Oliver's attention span for shopping at yard sales is less than his siblings, but I give the boy credit considering that including driving time we shopped for 3.5 hours today. It helped that I pushed him in the stroller for over an hour and he enjoyed saying hi to birds, dogs, etc. along the way. He didn't ask me to buy him any toys or clothes (which could never be said when I take the other two), but he did ask me to buy him a hotdog yesterday (which I did because he asked at the very start of our shopping adventure), and he asked for some milk today so I stopped at a gas station and got him some chocolate milk. The purchases that made me the happiest were the ones that were on my wish list. I didn't find everything on my list, but we went to the mall this evening and I got the remaining items we needed for the summer because we need to finish packing for Florida tomorrow.

Paul, Nadia, and Ian left our house around 8:40 to drive to Mifflinburg for Ian's game. Paul's parents met them there. I am SO proud of Ian for the progress he's making. I gave Ian a large plush Iron Man that I got at a yard sale today for $3 as a treat for scoring his first goal. I am very disappointed that I missed seeing his first goal. Hopefully he'll score another one in one of the last two games this season so I can witness him accomplishing this feat! It wasn't until Nadia's third season of U6 soccer that she scored a goal (last spring), and she hasn't scored one yet in a U8 game so she's only scored one goal thus far (and this is her fifth season of soccer).

Paul's parents drove Nadia to her game a little before Ian's game was done, and then Paul and Ian drove down to Selinsgrove afterwards to watch her play. After her game the five of them had lunch at Denny's, and then Paul's parents drove back to their house and Paul brought Ian and Nadia home. I put Oliver down for his nap shortly before they came home. After Nadia and Ian changed shoes we got back in the van so I could take them to an Instrument Petting Zoo in Lewisburg. It was a lot of fun! Nadia's favorite instruments were the banjo and violin. Ian's favorites were the trombone, accordion, and guitar (he liked both the acoustic and electric guitars). They were only able to hold the saxophone and clarinet (since it's hard to sanitize a reed), but they were able to play a variety of percussion instruments plus a french horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, violin, mandolin, ukulele, dulcimer, banjo, accordion, etc. I plan on teaching all three kids to play the piano, and I am hoping each of them might be interested in playing another instrument as well.

P.S. Since I wasn't at the games today, the soccer pictures in this post were from Thursday night's game. I took many more pictures of the kids playing instruments. I'll share more in the coming days!

Last Day of First Grade!

I declared today to be Nadia's last day of first grade. I didn't ever pinpoint the end of Kindergarten last year. The only "school" she had today was a 90 minute gym class (kickball and dodgeball). Yesterday was the last day of the homeschool co-op.  Co-op only met five times over a seven week period, but I came to the conclusion that for now I'm not interested in being in a co-op next year. We had done two different co-op groups in the fall of 2013, and I came to the same conclusion that time, but I had decided this spring to give it another whirl. Prior to this experience I had been planning to join a different co-op (north of us) next year, but I've changed my mind. If we didn't have the homeschool gym class I might feel differently, but I think that ladies Bible study on Tuesday mornings (at various points in the year) plus homeschool gym class on Friday mornings is enough for us at this stage of life. When the kids are older I will probably feel differently about joining a homeschool co-op that meets once a week during the whole school year, especially as at some point I'll have to give up Bible study because the kids will be too old to be in a nursery for two hours while I'm in the Bible study. I am also thinking of joining some homeschool classes at the Children's Museum next year for the first time. Nadia loves the fact that she is now officially a second grader. In August I'll have a three year old, kindergartner, and second grader.

It amazes me how easily Oliver has learned how to use the iPad. I let him use it once a day (up to 30 minutes). On the days Nadia does school work, I let him have his turn while I'm doing school work with her as it usually translates to 30 minutes without interruptions. On other days I let him use the iPad when I'm trying to do something like cook dinner. I have the settings set up so that the kids can't buy any apps or make any in-app purchases, but yesterday Oliver did something I wasn't expecting the kids to do. He called Uncle Maurice via FaceTime. I was so surprised to hear my brother's voice coming through the iPad. At first I thought I was hearing things, but then Oliver told me he was talking to Uncle Maurice. The wonders of modern technology. My two year old can initiate a (free) video call with his uncle in Brazil. Gone are the days of international long distance phone call fees!