Thankful Thursday

1. Saturday I took the kids to a free Lego build at Toys R Us for the first time. Some stores have this event every month, but the store closest to us usually doesn't have it, but they do in October, and I finally remembered to take them. Each of my three kids came away with a kayak made of Legos. Ian is hoping our store will be participating next month also because it will be a Star Wars themed Lego event.

2. Last week Nadia and Ian got their progress reports in gymnastics. It was Ian's first time receiving one. Nadia was disappointed because hers said she needs to stay in Level 2, but I was very pleased because her scores were much higher than at the end of the previous session. Her highest scores were for the beam (had a few 9's with 10 being the highest score). Her weakest area is the bars, which ironically was my favorite apparatus when I was her age.

3. Ian had a make-up soccer game last night, and he scored another goal! We shivered during Nadia's game on Saturday morning, but it was very pleasant out last night (in the low 70's at the start of the game and high 60's at the end of the game). The kids each have two more games and the season will be over.

4. Nadia's soccer coach cancelled their practice on Tuesday night (and also has already cancelled next Tuesday's practice as well). I was thrilled when I got that text because it meant I could run for the first time in six days! I ran for five glorious miles. I should have only run for four because I got back after it was dark, but it was heavenly enjoying the beautiful day and pretty scenery along the way.

5. Nadia and Ian both did a great job saying more than five sections at AWANA last night. Ian has started working on learning the books of the New Testament. He told his leader the first nine books last night (that was one section). I think by next Wednesday he will be able to say all 27 books without any errors or help. I took a little video last night during one of his practice sessions.

6. I took the kids to the children's museum yesterday. The homeschool hangout activities focused on insects. I almost always let them stay for two hours, and they always wish we could stay longer. After that I took them to the playground near the museum, which Nadia dubbed a few weeks ago as her most favorite playground. At the playground I took a brief video of Oliver singing, I have heard him do a better job other times, but some recording is better than nothing, right?

7. The weather has been GLORIOUS the past couple of days. Ironically it was cold enough to snow on Sunday, and now a few days later in the 70's.

8. Nadia and Ian are going on a field trip with Daddy this afternoon. That is a very special treat! He is taking them up to Camp Susque for a two hour class on animal tracking. I am staying home with Oliver. When they get back, I believe I will be able to get a run in before he takes Nadia to soccer practice. Yay! The weather should be great today for their hike outdoors and my run!

9, I have continued to sell some things, but I have switched lately to selling on eBay, which I hadn't used in years in part because of the fees and postage involved. Because I hadn't used it in years, eBay offered me a special where they wouldn't charge me any fees (it's typically 10% of whatever you collect) for five listings. Awesome! I've sold things like Oliver's preemie baby carrier, the kit lens that came with my DSLR, etc. Between Facebook and eBay, I have brought in almost $800 so far over the past few weeks. I'll have that loan paid off in the near future I think. I also used $49 of what I got toward a five week art class for Nadia that starts on November 10 and am going to use part of it to have the piano tuned. I haven't had it tuned in a few years.

10. After our field trip to the fire station on Tuesday, the kids and I stopped at the garage door store and bought an $80 spring so Paul can fix my garage door. I definitely miss being able to park in the garage so I was happy to get the part as another step toward it getting fixed!

Thankful Tuesday

1. The boys enjoyed a program on flying (building airplanes) at the library on Thursday night after gymnastics while Nadia was at soccer practice.

2. My mom had the excellent idea to post about FREE apples on the FB yardsale pages I have been selling things on lately, and some people did come and take some apples. Progress.

3. Ian had it in his mind that he could only read his textbook, but last week he discovered he really enjoys reading Frog and Toad books. I am very pleased with his progress! We got more Frog and Toad books from the library last night for him to read along with Boxcar Children and American Girl books for Nadia. I need to take a video of Ian reading this week. He's also cruising through the first grade math book and first grade spelling book. I'm proud of my five-year-old! School work takes on average 90 minutes for him each day and includes math, science, reading, handwriting, spelling, and drawing (now that he's finished the cutting book we have switched to drawing).

4. Oliver really has turned a corner with potty training. I rarely have to remind him to go these days. Usually he is the one saying he has to go, and many times he wipes himself after he goes #2. I can even let him have a TINY drink before bed because he's been staying dry for 11-11.5 hours even when he takes a little drink. Whew. What a relief! Now to work on not using an absurd amount of toilet paper....

5. Nadia was able to Skype with Uncle Maurice last week when she was studying Brazil since he had recently lived there for three years. She asked him a lot of questions. We told him we were making brigadeiros and he suggested we also make pao de queijo (cheese puffs) but first I need to buy some tapioca flour. Nadia absolutely LOVED the brigadeiros (chocolate fudge truffles). She has asked that I make those again in the future.

6. I picked up pizza on the way home from church on Sunday. We hadn't bought pizza in more than six weeks, as we are trying to only eat out or get take-out once a month. It was very tasty!

7. Nadia sang a duet in both services on Sunday morning with the kids' choir. She needs to work on smiling more when singing (like she used to when she was four years old), but I was proud of her because there are many seven year olds who would be too nervous to sing in front of 1,500 people.

8. Oliver didn't take a nap on Saturday, but this was the first time in a few weeks that I put him in his room and he didn't fall asleep. I am grateful that almost every day he sleeps from 1-3pm.

9. On Sunday I asked Paul to bring up the Wii from the basement. We had never let the kids use it, and I thought it was time to introduce it to them and let them choose each day either to have an iPad turn or to use the Wii. We only have three Wii games right now, but I thought it might be a good idea to put Wii games and two more remotes on their Christmas wish lists. Can you believe it's only two months until Christmas? If you have any suggestions for Wii games that are good for 6-8 year olds, I am all ears!

10. The Steelers won on Sunday even though we were down to our third string quarterback who had never played one minute in the NFL before. He did a great job! We also are on our fourth kicker for the season, and our new kicker is MUCH better than the one we had the first few weeks. Our starting QB will hopefully be back soon. Yay!

11. On Thursday one of the springs on my garage door broke. The van was trapped in the garage. Paul was able to come home earlier than usual from work so I could get the boys to their make-up

gymnastics class (Nadia and Ian had make-up soccer games last Monday and Tuesday which meant we had to make-up their gymnastics classes). I am thankful that Paul was able to get the door open once to get the van out (took him about an hour to accomplish that). I am thankful for his mechanical skills. He is hoping to order the part this week from a dealer. Since the weather was really cold the last few days there has even been ice on the windshield in the morning. This has made me really appreciate that normally the van is in the garage and never gets that cold. I am also thankful that it's supposed to get up to the 70's this week. Hopefully the garage door will be fixed before the next cold snap.

12. I'm thankful that for 3 months (plus 2 weeks) I was able to run 3-4 times a week. I haven't run since Wednesday, and that day I only had 30 minutes to run so I couldn't do my usual 4-6 miles. I miss it, but this week and next week the only days I can run are on Saturday or Sunday. I know I will be taking off a few months during the winter, but I'm

hoping to still run some through November. I'd like to run seven miles once before I take a break until the weather starts to warm back up again.

13. Nadia has been doing really well with her math lately - rounding to the nearest ten and regrouping with two digit addition. She also has made a lot of progress with learning to identify 17 of the North American countries on a map and all of the countries of South America (fewer number to learn for that continent). I took a little video today of her working on North America.

14. This morning we are going on a field trip put on cooperatively by three fire departments that will include showing water rescue equipment (we live near the Susquehanna River). We have three field trips planned for this week, which pleases Nadia immensely.

15. The leaves are starting to turn and are looking so beautiful! I always love to get my camera out and take pics of the kids when the leaves are turning.

16. Paul's dad started driving to Georgia last Tuesday, and he made it back safely on Sunday.

17. Nadia finished her third Sparks AWANA book last week. She has started the extra credit book. I am not sure what they are going to have her do after she finishes that as AWANA goes through May and this is only October! Ian said five verses last Wednesday night which was a record for him. He now is trying to do five sections a week (Nadia's speed is motivating him to step it up a notch). I'm grateful that three-year-olds only need to learn one verse a week to finish their book because that is enough of a challenge for Oliver.

18. Oliver has really developed with his prayers lately. He used to say the same thing almost every time. Now he says different things each time and is praying longer prayers. Sometimes the other two kids take issue with what he thanks God for (ex. "my feet"), but then I am quick to defend Oliver because I am very thankful we each have two feet!

Foto Friday

Thankful Tuesday

1. We enjoyed our Mystery tour at Weis grocery on Friday afternoon. There were about 20 kids from our homeschool group on the tour. It was basically a 75 minute health lesson on food groups, portions, whole grain, sugar, calcium, etc. The kids were able to taste some foods along the way (kiwi, cheese stick, mini-wheat cereal, etc.) and were given a gift bag at the end.

2. The kids and I met my parents at 4:30 at Bonanza on Friday; they treated us to dinner, which was greatly appreciated. They also bough donuts for us to have at breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. It was great to

be able to spend some time with them Friday night. They spent the night and watched two soccer games on Saturday morning before they drove back home. Although it wasn't Ian's best game of the season, he did score two goals - one for the other team and one for his team.

3. Paul took Nadia to see a musical about Rapunzel on Sunday afternoon. She really enjoyed it. I stayed home with the boys.

4. Bucknell didn't have any classes yesterday or today (they take two days to celebrate Columbus Day, ha ha). Paul worked at his dad's plant both days. He's been working their sporadically (averaging about one day every two weeks) trying to finish building the machine he started to build in the summer of 2014. On Monday Paul took the kids down with him so they could spend the day with Paul's parents. This meant I had ten hours to myself. I used the time to do some freezer cooking, go for a 5.5 mile run, have a Mary Kay makeover, and post some more things for sale on FB yard sale pages. I love my kids dearly but it is nice to have a day to do

other things every now and then. If they spend a day with Paul's parents in November, my friend Cheri is going to ask for that day off of work so that we can do something together. Sounds great!

5. Nadia scored her first goal in May 2014 on a U6 team, and on Monday night she scored her first goal on a U8 team! Way to go, Nadia!

6. The Giants played during the Sunday night game, and the Steelers played in the Monday night game this week. I prefer earlier games, but both our teams won at the VERY last second. Thrilling (aka nerve wracking) and happy endings!

7. On Saturday when I went for my run, I broke my personal record in terms of length of run as I ran for 6 miles. Don't ask me how long it took, ha ha! I am trying to run more in the afternoon or evening when possible since it's a bit chilly and dark in the morning.

Thankful Thursday

1. Last Thursday we participated (for the first time) in our town's annual "pink out." For about 3 hours various local businesses give away a variety of treats in honor of breast cancer awareness. I didn't realize that included hot foods. We had already eaten lunch. If we are living in this town next October, we can have lunch for free downtown as they were giving away soup, pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs, etc. in addition to a myriad of baked goods, teaberry ice cream cones, peanuts, chips, etc. One dentist was giving away apples and toothbrushes. We passed on the apples for some odd reason.

2. Lately Oliver has been saying (very frequently) "Ian, you are the best brother in the whole world." What a sweetheart! I hope and pray my three kids love each other dearly their whole lives.

3. They cancelled the soccer games on Saturday. I was thankful because I didn't really want to sit in the rain in 50 degree weather to watch their games. I'm also grateful that the weather forecast is much better for this Saturday as my parents are planning to come up to see the games.

4. I wasn't able to run on Saturday like I usually do because it rained almost the entire day. As I stopped to think about it, this was the first time since I started running a few months ago that I got rained out. I am grateful! I don't usually run on Sundays, but I ran on Sunday afternoon because it was SO pretty out (60's and sunny). I set a new personal record in that I ran for 5.5 miles without stopping. My legs were very aware afterward that I had gone farther than usual, lol! As of last Friday I was down a total of 15 pounds.

5. On Saturday I listed more things on FB yardsale pages, and if everyone actually buys the things they said they would buy, we will be getting another $209. We paid off the minivan last month one year early (even though it had 0% interest), and now my goal is to pay off the loans from my retirement accounts that we used (in part) to buy this house. My goal is that in a few months the only debt we will have is the mortgage. We're trying to build the equity in the house in preparation for moving in 2016.

6. Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum to participate in one of their "homeschool hangout" events. It was our first time, but it won't be our last! Yesterday's theme for the science crafts and experiments was germs.

7. Ian has really been into doing puzzles lately. Oliver also does a couple several days a week during our schoolwork time, although sometimes he has a tea party instead (see pics in yesterday's post).

8. Nadia has really picked up the pace lately with reading several chapter books a week. Her favorites right now are the Cul De Sac Kids books, Boxcar Children books, and American Girl books (she's reading the Addy books now and says she'll read the Samantha series next).

9. The weather has been really pretty the last few days which has made me runs more enjoyable and also meant more time at playgrounds.

10. I am feeling much better. Last Wednesday choir rehearsal was very painful due to my sore throat. Unfortunately Oliver now has my cold. So far the other three have escaped the bug.

11. Although I haven't been using it as much lately, I am still VERY thankful for my camera and lenses. If I had to pick my five most favorite personal possessions (meaning things not people), the contents of my camera bag would absolutely be in that list, and of course there are three reasons why I love taking pictures and their names are Nadia, Ian, and Oliver. :)

Wordless Wednesday

3rd Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Nadia'a third spiritual birthday! I got her a new Bible as her gift. She requested donuts for breakfast, a ham and cheese hot pocket and a yogurt for lunch, and grilled hot dogs, shells and cheese, and an apple pie for dinner. I made the pie using apples from our tree on Friday when I made our beef empanadas for dinner (we studied Panama last week) because both recipes required the use of a pie crust. Nadia was so full she didn't have any pie yesterday, but she enjoyed a piece today. I tried a different recipe, and I think it's delicious! I hope she will grow in her walk with the Lord every year of her life. I am very grateful we will be able to spend eternity together. I had said we would make a pinata for her spiritual birthday in connection with our study of Latin America, but we didn't get around to it. I lost motivation in part because the kids broke a pinata at Bella's birthday party last Sunday.

I took a few videos recently and uploaded them today. One is of Ian reading. He was doing such a good job that I videoed him reading the last page of a story about wombats. It was the first

time he had read that story. I  think he is doing well considering he's in Kindergarten. Then I took a video of him singing this afternoon because he sings many hours a day around the house. He doesn't have all the lyrics correct. It cracks me up sometimes to realize what kids think we are singing (ex. the line that is supposed to be "lives in us" he says "this is love"). Then Nadia wanted me to take a video of her singing because I took one of Ian singing. I love hearing my kids sing! I also think the video quality is better when I use the video recorder rather my iPhone. Lesson learned! (these were taken with the phone) I also took pics of the kids in their Sunday outfits today. I was planning to skip Oliver because of the boo boos on his face (he injured his nose on Monday and his forehead on Thursday), but I couldn't resist as I thought he looked so cute in his vest and tie. The boys haven't been this dressed up in a few months because I just have them wear colored polo shirts to church in the summer.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Friday and Saturday our town held its annual community yard sale event in which about 200 yard sales took place within 2 miles of our house. I didn't spend as much time shopping at them as I usually do, but I did find most of the things on my list (snow boots for Nadia for $1, Nike sneakers for Nadia for $2, jeans for Ian for 50 cents, etc.). There was only one thing on my list I didn't find (brown pants for Nadia). The kids also bought a few things with their money. Ian bought a light saber for 10 cents, Nadia bought a doll for $2, and they bought some stuffed animals and a puppet for 50 cents each. Part of me cringes at the thought of *more* stuffed animals, but I will say they have spent hours playing with the new ones over the past few days (Baymax, grouchy ladybug, chipmunk, etc.). I spent less money over those two days than I have collected selling used clothing and shoes lately.

2. Paul's parents came up on Saturday for the soccer games and then spent a few hours at our house playing with the kids, which was a special treat!

3. Paul took the kids to Bella's 8th birthday party on Sunday afternoon after church while I was watching the Steelers at home. They were very excited to attend her birthday party at a playground. Oliver was the only one brave enough to try most of the Chinese food that was served. Bella's mother grew up in China, and her extended family still lives in China. They all enjoyed the cake and the candy from the pinata.

4. I love the song the choir sang on Sunday morning. "Never Once." I only wish a cellist had been available to play the accompaniment as written. They used a synthesizer to play that part. Our choir director has told us we are singing ALL songs from memory this year. We are not going to be using music on Sundays. The choir has grown a little, which is also nice (about 85 people in the choir). I didn't mention it last week, but the youth pastor preached two Sundays ago, and he did an excellent job. The senior pastor and his wife were on vacation in Ireland.

5. Last night we went out to dinner at Bonanza. We hadn't gone there in years, and then we went in April for my birthday and the kids discovered (again) that they love eating there. It's always nice to get a night off from cooking, and we hadn't eaten out or bought pizza to go for a few weeks. On Mondays the kids get a free drink and their buffet is $1.99 each. Oliver's favorites last night were macaroni and cheese, baked beans, garlic bread, pizza, ice cream, and chocolate chip cookies. Ian's favorites were chicken wings, a pasta casserole, ice cream, oreo cake, and chocolate chip cookies. Nadia kept going back for more jello, and she ate a wide variety of other foods as well. The kids enjoyed the fact that I didn't require them to eat a fruit or veggie (like I do at home) although Ian did eat some green beans and Nadia had some grapes, and they also were tickled that I let them have as many desserts as they wanted. Nadia ate quite a few different desserts - rice krispie treat, cookies, blueberry muffin, etc. I think Friendly's and Bonanza are their two favorite sit down restaurants.

6. It rained almost all day today, which meant that Nadia's soccer practice was cancelled. I usually take the boys to gymnastics on Tuesday nights, but Paul took them tonight. Nadia and I enjoyed having a couple of hours at home together. I painted her fingernails and toenails, we played a game of Scrabble, etc.

7. Although we still have moments when Ian takes a LONG time to eat something (such as his banana at lunch or potato soup at dinner), in general I have to say he is doing a much better job at eating food in a reasonable time frame. PTL!

8. Although Oliver still has moments of displaying a wicked temper, he also has come a LONG way with his behavior in general. This is a huge relief for me! He also has been doing better with taking his naps lately. If he has missed a nap it has been because the schedule didn't allow it rather than because I put him to bed and he didn't go to sleep. I'm thankful!

9. We didn't need to go to the ER or urgent care yesterday! Yesterday morning Oliver tripped and when he fell the bridge of his nose landed on the metal strip on the one step in between the kitchen and family room. There was blood EVERYWHERE. At first I didn't even know where the wound was because his entire face, a lot of his hair, arms, hands, etc were covered in blood. I picked him up and then also had a lot of blood on my arms, hands, shirt, etc. When I discovered the source of the blood flow I put a towel on it, and then I ran across the street (without stopping to put any shoes on) to see if the neighbor was home because he's an ER nurse who works 3pm to 3am, and this was about 11:00am. He wasn't home, but by the time I walked back home the bleeding had subsided to a trickle. I gave Oliver a bath and changed his clothes and my clothes and cleaned the blood up from the carpet. I put a bandaid on the wound and noticed an hour later that the bleeding hadn't totally stopped. I called the pediatrician's office a couple of times, and eventually they suggested I should bring Oliver in. I was able to bring him in after dropping Nadia off at gymnastics (how convenient!). The doctor said he could put in a stitch, but Oliver would "hate him." So he cleaned it up and then used a steri-strip on the wound. I was grateful we could go to the pediatrician because the two times Ian had a split chin it cost us $100 in co-pays each time, and the pediatrician's office is a $20 co-pay. Ian still has scars on his chin even though they used glue on the wounds. I am hoping Oliver won't have a scar, although the strip has already partially come off. Nadia has escaped having this type of wound thus far.

10. I probably sound like a broken record, but I placed another great order through Shutterfly today. I got the kids some birthday and Christmas gifts (ex. a 252 piece puzzle, 2 placemats, and a Frozen notebook) as well as ten folded 5x7 birthday and thank you cards for $5.49 total with free shipping.