Thankful Tuesday

 1. Last Thursday we had fun learning about Christmas in Germany at Camp Susque. The kids put a shoe on the front porch to simulate what the kids do in Germany on St. Nicholas Day and enjoyed eating the candy that was placed in their shoe. We strung popcorn after learning about the history of the tradition of Christmas trees. We made gingerbread cookies (Lebkuchen) and later ate them while drinking Kinder Gluhwein. When my dad had arrived at our house, we surprised him by having Nadia count from 1-10 in German, and then Nadia, Ian, and I sang Silent Night (one verse) in German. At Camp Susque we sang with my dad for the group there, and then everyone sang three more verses of the song in German (with the help of handouts and a recording). We also took a tiny tour around the camp to show Grandma and Grandpa where Nadia went to camp last summer and where Nadia and Ian both plan to go to camp next summer, Lord willing.

2. After Camp Susque we headed to a bowling alley. It was Ian's idea, but it was a great one because my dad loves to bowl (he has his own bowling ball and shoes), and Paul also loves to

bowl. I seem to have forgotten how to bowl. I think I should have used the bumpers like the kids did. Ian, Nadia, Paul, and my dad bowled two games. Oliver and I bowled one game because he was sleeping in the van during the first game. Ian and Nadia used a 6 pound ball and bowled without assistance. Oliver needed help from Paul or I. We all had fun! When Ian had asked to bowl, he said he wanted to do "real bowling," and when I asked for clarification, I found out he was meaning not Wii bowling, lol!

3. After bowling we headed to Friendly's and had a yummy dinner. Obviously my dad was gracious and picked a restaurant the kids love because they would usually choose something else like maybe Ruby Tuesday or a steak restaurant. I do think my dad enjoyed his Jim Dandy sundae at the end (sort of like a banana split). One of the reasons the kids love Friendly's is because they can have Goldfish crackers as their side dish. It's not hard to please them! I bought Oliver a large container of Goldfish for one of his Christmas presents; it is a treat because I rarely buy them. Sh,.. don't tell him!


4. Paul had joined us for bowling and dinner, but he headed back home after the meal was over. My parents graciously entertained the kids at the mall (thanks in part to the balloons they were given at Friendly's) while I did a little shopping to use a few coupons. My best deal of the day was I got 4 shirts for Ian (three short sleeve polo shirts and a long sleeve Spiderman t-shirt) at JCPenney for a grand total of 90 CENTS, which represented a savings of $75.10 off the original prices. My second best deal of the day was that I got a shirt for myself at Sears for $1.92 which was $30 originally. After I shopped in three stores, we made a quick dash into Toys R Us for Ian. He received his birthday crown and birthday balloon and enjoyed hearing them announce on the loudspeaker that Ian was here celebrating his sixth birthday. Ian also spent part of his money to buy a small (100 piece) Star Wars Lego set. We were all wearing Steeler clothing in honor of my dad, and one of the employees was really gushing over that as she grew up in Pittsburgh (and had fond memories of the amusement park my dad's family owned). Shopping by myself is a rare treat, and I appreciated my parents making that possible!

5. Friday morning we enjoyed some donuts we bought on our way home on Thursday night, and Ian was able to unwrap his presents from my parents and assemble the lego set he bought on Thursday night. My dad had opened some of his gifts on Thursday at lunch, and he finished opening his presents on Friday with Ian. We gave my dad cashews, a photo magnet of the kids wearing their Steelers clothing, and Steelers swimming trunks. Ian got Star Wars cereal , a remote controlled truck, and a race track from my parents.

6. My parents helped with doing schoolwork with the kids on Friday. It was so nice to have three adults with three kids since usually I am working with three by myself. Friday afternoon they played with Nadia and Ian while Oliver napped, and I was able to go for a four mile run, which is a very rare treat these days. Friday night we enjoyed dinner at Bonanza before my parents drove back home.

7. That same night I took the kids to see the Santa Claus at the grocery store. We can check that off the list.

8. Saturday morning I took the kids to the Milton public library to make gingerbread houses (the kind with graham crackers, frosting, candy, and milk cartons). I also bought lunch at McDonald's for Ian's special birthday lunch. We definitely ate more restaurant food last week than we usually do considering we usually only do so once a month, and we can go months without visiting a McD's, and I took the kids twice in five days! Ian ate 9 nuggets on Saturday. He loves them!

9. Saturday was Ian's actual birthday so after he had another donut, he opened his presents from us that day. I thought the three he would like the best from us would be a Scooby Doo dvd (I got it at a yard sale), Toy Story Wii game (bought used on Amazon), and a large (900+ piece) Lego set of a spaceship from the Lego movie, and he did like those, but actually his favorite gift from us was a knock off "lego" set of superhero minifigures that I paid less than $10 for. I bought him a similar Star Wars set for Christmas so I know he will love at least one of his Christmas gifts. This Lego set was the biggest one he had ever received thus far.

10. We got our first Christmas gift in the mail on Friday - gift cards to Friendly's from Paul's aunt and uncle. We will definitely put those to good use!

11. Saturday afternoon we met Paul's parents at our church to see A Charlie Brown Christmas (see photo above of Nadia and a friend of hers with Snoopy).

12. Paul's parents joined the kids and I at church on Sunday morning, and then they and Uncle Al spent several hours at our house for Ian's "party." We had pizza, he opened his presents (he got another 900+ piece Lego set from them), and after we watched some football he saw the first Star Wars movie (episode IV) for the very first time. He loved it although they were disappointed that Yoda wasn't in that one. We are very grateful for the gifts he was given - a Star Wars puzzle, Star Wars t-shirt, large Star Wars lego set, etc. I think he had a very special four day birthday celebration! I helped him with assembling part of that Lego set on Monday. We are also thankful for the Star Wars birthday cake Aunt Millie made and Uncle Al decorated.

13. The temps were in the 60's the last two days! They were in the 50's on Saturday, but I didn't run that day; however, I did run 5 miles on Sunday afternoon. I also got exercise getting more apples down from one of our apple trees. I declare it feels like a never ending project. Paul's brother brought his truck, and we loaded the truck up with the apples I had put in containers and boxes previously as well as the ones I got down from the tree that day. I worked on that while they were watching Star Wars. Oliver helped me some. Unfortunately there are still hundreds of apples on that tree, but I have now gotten down more than half of the apples. If we don't sell the house by next July, I want to CUT that thing down. I would be very happy to never own another fruit tree for as long as I live, although I still would like to have blueberry bushes and strawberry plants at some point.

14. Yesterday Paul gave his final exam. He has to grade those exams, but he doesn't teach again until January 19. Not too many jobs give you a month off for Christmas break plus 3 1/2 months off in the summer. He won't actually have all that time off this year because he wants to work at Kennedy Concrete as much as possible.

Two six-year-olds

1. Nadia's favorite colors were pink and purple, and Ian's are green and orange.

2. Both started riding adult roller coasters before they turned six.

3. Ian is a little more than half-way through Level 3 reading. Nadia had finished that level and was reading easy chapter books. He is reading books like Amelia Bedelia and Little Bear.

4. Nadia was 75% of the way through the Level 2 spelling, and Ian is 90% of the way through the Level 1 spelling book. It should be noted that Ian started Kindergarten six months later than Nadia did due to her summer birthday. Similarly she was farther along in the first grade math book.

5. Both were in Level One gymnastics. Nadia's skills were farther advanced, but she had taken gymnastics for years compared to only months for Ian.

6. Both of them had completed 3 seasons of U6 soccer. Nadia had scored one goal, and Ian had scored nine goals for his team (plus a few for the other teams).

7. Ian had taken ice skating lessons, which Nadia had not done at this age, but she had already played a season of basketball. Ian has only had one practice with his first basketball team thus far.

8. Both of them were in Sparks, sang in a kid's choir at church, and taken Level one swimming lessons. Nadia also had participated in a theatre camp. She also had sung solos at church, but Ian has not had an interest thus far in a speaking part or a solo.

9. They both learned how to swing themselves and switched to primarily using lowercase letters when writing. Ian enjoys writing in his journal more at this age than Nadia did, albeit Nadia had a better pencil grasp.

10. Nadia was still using training wheels, but Ian had learned to ride his bike without them.

11. Nadia loved princesses, and Ian loves Star Wars and superheroes. Nadia had a Frozen birthday cake, dinner at IHOP, saw Moses at Sight and Sound, and went to Six Flags for her sixth birthday. Ian saw Charlie Brown Christmas at our church, will be having a Star Wars birthday cake today, had dinner at Friendly's and Bonanza with my parents and will be having pizza at his party, went bowling with my parents, and will be watching Star Wars (episode IV which was the first one that came out) tonight for the very first time. It will be interesting to see what Oliver will want to do for his birthday when he turns six in 2018!

Six years old!

12/12/09 right before he was whisked to the NICU

Ian Alexander, our boy who loves Superheroes, Legos, playing Mario on the Wii, and everything related to Star Wars, is turning six years old today! Here are six descriptions of this much loved boy of ours with one picture of him from each year of his life.

1. Loving - Of my three children Ian is definitely the most affectionate in terms of spontaneously giving hugs at random times throughout the day. Oliver and I receive the majority of Ian's  hugs. He also is the most prone to speaking words of encouragement - saying how much he loves me, telling me what a good cook I am, telling me I look pretty, etc., and he is the also the best at remembering to say thank you. What a sweetheart!

2. Can have a very long attention span. He would play Mario on the Wii for a very long time, if I would let him. He is allowed to play it for 30 minutes a day (in place of having a turn on the iPad). For more than a year he has been playing with Legos for multiple hours a day almost every day. Nadia plays with him some. They are using the Legos for dramatic play and the characters and plot of their stories is constantly changing and often includes characters from whatever chapter book I have been reading them lately. Now I should add their are times when he needs to be more FOCUSED such as when eating and doing his schoolwork. At times it's hard to do schoolwork with Legos close at hand!

3. Is a quick learner. It is easy for him to memorize Bible verses (and the books of the New Testament) for AWANA. He already finished his first Sparks book (which he started in September). He is doing really well with reading. He is enjoying reading books such as Amelia Bedelia, Frog and Toad, Little Bear, etc. Spelling has also come very easily for him. It won't be long until he finishes the first grade book. Science is his favorite subject. He has come a long way with his cutting skills and handwriting although his pencil grasp is still not quite perfect yet. He loves to sing or hum throughout the day. He often sings songs he has heard me playing on the radio or heard in church. I think he has the most accurate pitch of my three kids.

4. Has become much braver. He has been the most fearful and shyest of my three kids, but he is coming out of his shell in both regards. Every once in a while he still reverts back to his shyness (ex. last Tuesday night at the start of his first basketball practice but then he had a blast) or expresses fear over something like coming down a flight of stairs at church, but he loves big roller coasters like the Phoenix at Knoebels. Walking on the rope at the playground and riding his bike without training wheels are no big deal now whereas six months ago he wasn't even willing to try either of those. He also is doing great with singing on the platform with the children's choir even though this church is much larger. He also finally doesn't mind being alone in a room. When he first played soccer he wanted to run away from the ball because he was afraid someone might kick him, but this fall he played much more aggressively, and he scored about eight goals which was fantastic! Way to go, Ian!

Four years old (December 2013)

5. Has come a long way with eating. The list of foods he loves to eat keeps growing and growing. Some of his favorites include Apple Jacks cereal, Peanut Butter crunch cereal, Cocoa Puffs cereal, donuts, peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches, yogurt, popcorn, cheese crackers, hot dog with ketchup and mustard, cheese pizza, grilled cheese sandwich, goldfish crackers, chips, pretzels, tuna noodle casserole, rigatoni and meatballs, fish sticks, pulled pork, chicken bowtie bake, green beans, bananas, brownies, fried chicken, most kinds of candy and cookies, etc. He still has room for improvement with staying focused while eating (not getting out of his seat and eating rather than talking). he eats his breakfast very speedily most days (yay!), but lunch and dinner often take much longer than necessary (unless he's just given something like a hot dog without any fruit or vegetables). I am very grateful that his eosinophilic esophagitis is in remission right now and he doesn't have any restrictions regarding his diet. What an answer to prayer!

Five years old (January 2015)

6. Patient and honest. I am sure at some point in his life Ian will tell me a lie, but at this stage he is by far my most honest child. If his story contradicts Oliver's, I know to trust Ian's version and not Oliver's. I greatly appreciate his honesty. Also, he has by far the longest fuse in our house. He very rarely has lost his temper (Oliver has always been the one to provoke it).

We all love this six year old VERY much and can't wait to see how he will grow and change over the coming year. Nadia lost two teeth before she turned six. Ian hasn't lost any teeth yet, but maybe he'll lose a couple before he turns seven. He has REALLY anticipated this birthday because we told him he had to be six years old to watch the first Star Wars movie. We got the dvd and plan to watch it tomorrow evening. I hope it lives up to his expectations! He knows a LOT about Star Wars already, even though he hasn't seen any of the movies yet. He knows more than me about the movies, and I have seen them. Ha ha!

Thankful Thursday

1. Nadia enjoyed the international Christmas party on Friday night with Paul.

2. I had registered the kids for a project at Home Depot on Saturday, but Paul wasn't feeling up to going. I am thankful that they have been able to do a few projects before basketball games resume on Saturday mornings and they won't be able to do these projects for a few months.

3. The kids and I enjoyed the storyteller and decorating gingerbread cookies at Bucknell on Saturday.

4. The kids and I enjoyed seeing the Nutcracker play on Sunday afternoon.

5. I enjoyed the song the choir sang on Sunday morning, and the kids really enjoyed hearing their gym teacher sing a duet of "Mary did you know" on Sunday morning.

6. The kids were glad that our house was shown on Tuesday afternoon because it meant I took them to McDonald's for dinner on the way to taking Nadia to her art class.

7. Nadia has really enjoyed her art class. I am glad there is only one week left as it makes our Tuesday evenings a little crazy now that basketball has started.

8. Both kids enjoyed their first basketball practice of the season (Ian's first season and Nadia's third) on Tuesday night.

9. Nadia and Ian enjoyed seeing "A Christmas Story" at the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble yesterday morning with Paul. It's a rare treat to go on a field trip with Daddy!

10. The kids and I enjoyed Christmas caroling at a nursing home last night with their AWANA club. They also enjoyed the yummy cookies at the end! Ian's Sparks leader gave him a birthday present of candy that looks like Legos (can be played with).

11. My parents are on their way to our house! Today is my Dad's 72nd birthday, and Ian's birthday is on Saturday so we are celebrating both birthdays today and tomorrow with my parents. They will be with us for about 29 hours, and their arrival has been very eagerly anticipated! The kids and I are all wearing Steelers clothes in his honor (he's the reason I am a fan of the Steelers as he was born and raised in Pittsburgh). Nadia is ready to count from 1-10 and sing Silent Night in German for Grandpa, and Oliver and I made his favorite cookies (oatmeal raisin) a couple of days ago. When I told Oliver they were for Grandpa's birthday, he asked me "Will Grandpa share?". LOL! I don't think Grandpa wants to eat all five dozen himself.

12. My parents will be joining us on our field trip today. That's a very rare treat! We will be learning about how they celebrate Christmas in Germany at Camp Susque this afternoon.

13. Ian LOVES writing in his journal each day. I have always had to encourage Nadia to write more. When she was his age she was content just to write one sentence, but I would ask for more. Ian always wants to fill the page without any encouragement from me. The two entries shown in photos in this post were done totally on his own (no help from me with spelling). I guess I should add "favorite" and "character" to his spelling list because he keeps wanting to use those words, ha ha! I am just joking. Those words are not in the 1st grade spelling curriculum. Right now he's working on compound words like "shellfish" and "desktop" in spelling. I wrote at the top what he said with correct spelling in case I wouldn't remember later on what he was trying to say.  We will be putting his writing skills to use next week for writing thank you notes for his birthday presents instead of writing in his journal. The science page in the middle is from Nadia. I thought it was sweet that she loves to SEE Grandma and HEAR Daddy coming home. I have to agree with her on tasting ice cream and smelling brownies baking in the oven!

A picture of some of the 40+ children who sang at the nursing home last night

Ready to see the Nutcracker

Where's the mouse?

This afternoon I took the kids to see The Nutcracker. It was a theatre production put on by children (not a ballet). Nadia and Ian fell in love with the story last year. Ian had a nutcracker on his wish list last year. He didn't get one then, but I got one at a yard sale in September, and they love it. Some day I want to take Nadia to the Nutcracker ballet. Oliver asked during a few scene changes when the lights were low, "where's the mouse?". Thankfully when you are three you can get away with not whispering. Oops! I saw people smiling in response to his question. We had an incident with a mouse two weeks ago. Paul saw a mouse in our family room late at night. EEK!!!! I have never seen a mouse in this house or any house we've lived in, and I hope it stays that way. I bought two mouse traps the next day, and the day after that I heard Nadia screaming in the basement, and I thought she had seen a mouse scurrying somewhere, but nope she was screaming because Ian had discovered a dead mouse and had picked that smelly thing up by its tail. Oi vey! I had him wash his hands quite a few times after that! I asked him to never pick up a dead animal ever again. The mouse traps have remained empty so maybe that was the only mouse in the house? I can only hope.

We have tickets for two more Christmas productions this week. Somehow all our Christmas shows ended up in the same week. On Wednesday morning Paul is taking Nadia and Ian to see a production of A Christmas Story in Bloomsburg (the boy who wanted a bee bee gun) and on Saturday afternoon seven of us are going to see a Charlie Brown Christmas at our church. Paul's parents are joining us for that one. The kids have also been enjoying watching Christmas dvds - Frosty the Snowman, Little Drummer Boy, etc. Two weeks from today the kids' choir is putting on their Christmas musical at church. The kids really enjoyed hearing their gym teacher sing a duet ("Mary Did you Know") this morning at church. In addition to celebrating Christ's birth, we also celebrate my dad's birthday (10th), Ian's birthday (12th), and Paul's dad's birthday (20th). They are really looking forward to going bowling and eating at Bonanza on Friday with my parents. This is a very special month!

Multicultural experiences

I am really enjoying our study of different countries this year with Nadia. We started with North America, then moved to South America, and we are now in the middle of our study of Europe. Next up will be Africa. Paul works with Nadia on learning to identify the countries on the map. Preparing the different recipes has had its ups and downs. I end up having to eat the majority of many of the dishes because no one else wants to eat it, and I don't want to waste the food. There have been times though that the kids have wished I made more of the food, such as the chocolate mousse recently. We won't have any trouble during the week we study Italy because we eat plenty of Italian food on a regular basis - lasagna, manicotti, stuffed shells, spaghetti (or rigatoni) with meatballs, pizza, etc. We live in a rural area, which means it's not very culturally, racially, or ethnically diverse, but I still have been looking for multicultural opportunities.





Last night Paul took Nadia to a multicultural Christmas party hosted by the program where Nadia took Spanish in the summer. They offer Chinese, French, and Spanish classes (some for children and some for adults) throughout the year and also offer ESL classes for those learning English. Last night they had crafts and foods from various different countries. We have been listening to German cds from the library this week in preparation of our study of Germany next week, which is perfect timing as my parents are planning to come up and spend a day with us next week (for Ian and my dad's birthdays). My dad spoke German and French growing up and then majored in German at Princeton.
This morning I took the kids to Bucknell to hear a woman dubbed the Celtic Storyteller. She grew up in France and was telling the kids how she celebrated St. Nicholas Day in France as a child, which was perfect timing because we studied France this week. At the end of the 45 minute program they had gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate. Ian used lots of green sprinkles on his (green is his favorite color).

This coming Thursday afternoon I plan to take the kids to Camp Susque. They have a Christmas Around the World program each December, and this year the country they are focusing on is Germany - perfect timing! We are usually ahead of schedule with the chapter books I am reading the kids so right now we are enjoying The Wheel on the School, which takes place in Holland, a country we haven't studied yet. I had planned on reading Hans Brinker, but I think I'll save that until they're a little older.

Back in the groove

Last week we took the whole week off from schoolwork (although most days Ian did some reading and Nadia did reading and piano). After nine days off, it definitely was a challenge doing our work on Monday morning. Thankfully on Tuesday things were back to normal. We are going to have two more weeks of school, and then I am planning on taking off two weeks for Christmas (December 19- January 3 which is 16 days). I realize now that January 4 might be a bit of a struggle, but I am sure we will all enjoy our two weeks off. Paul will be in Baltimore that week (Jan 5-8) with Kennedy Concrete. I thought about heading down to my parents' house that week, but the kids would miss basketball, AWANA, ice skating lessons, and gym class so we'll just stay at home. In light of ice skating lessons on Thursdays starting January 7, I've decided we'll skip gymnastics on Monday nights in January and February as I don't want to have a commitment every single day of the week. We can resume gymnastics in March if we so desire.

In light of the upcoming break, I have set a few goals for the next two weeks. I would like Ian to see if he can finish the first grade spelling book before we go on break so he can start the second grade book in January. He finished the first grade handwriting book this week so today I had him start writing in a journal. I'll post a picture of what he wrote and drew. If you can't read the last line, it says "My favorite character is yellow dot." He didn't ask for any help with spelling that sentence. I had planned to wait until January for Nadia to start the third grade handwriting book, but she was just DYING to learn cursive so we started it on December 1. She is VERY excited about learning how to write in cursive. Nadia is almost done with her second grade math book, but she won't be able to finish it in two weeks. The goals I have set for her are to finish the third grade spelling book and her two Level 1A piano books this month. It would be wonderful to start Level 1B in piano and the fourth grade spelling book in January. We shall see! Ian's science lesson yesterday was on magnets, and as you can see Oliver enjoyed the lesson as well!

Thankful Thursday

1. Paul came home early from work last Friday so I could run and take advantage of the weather being unseasonably warm that day. The kids and I also tackled one of the apple trees that day. I would say we have now gotten down about half the apples off the one tree and 95% off the other tree. Even though it was much cooler on Sunday afternoon, it was a very sunny day so I ran 5.5 miles while Oliver napped and Paul watched football. I hadn't run much lately and figured it was good timing due to eating things like pecan pie (got one for $2.50 at the grocery store the day after Thanksgiving -yum!).

2. Paul was able to come home from school earlier than usual on Tuesday, which meant he was able to take Nadia to her art class, which I greatly appreciated because it's a challenge to keep the boys occupied for 90 minutes during her class since the children's museum is closed at that time and it is dark outside.

3. Paul took Nadia and Ian to Home Depot on Saturday morning for a building project.

4. We are studying France this week including the art work of Monet and Renoir. I started making some French recipes last week and continued this week. They loved the Croque Monsouir (Ian in particular) and chocolate mousse. They were not fans of the crepes (Nadia took almost 20 hours to eat hers). Nadia loved the cheese omelette Paul made. Next up is creme brulee.

5. Some FB friends responded to my request for Kellogg's codes, and they gave me enough to help me reach my goal of 5,500 points for a Frozen personalized placemat for a Christmas gift for Paul's great niece. Coupon codes for Shutterfly plus codes from Coke and Kellogg's points and also using credit card points on Amazon have enabled me to save literally hundreds of dollars on Christmas gifts this year. I am almost done shopping, and everything that has arrived has been wrapped. Yay!

6. My dad had a significant hearing loss in one of his ears for a few weeks but thankfully his hearing is finally coming back. PTL! Paul and I went to the dentist on Tuesday and got good reports, and my pap results also came back normal.

7. The grocery store is having a four day meat sale starting today. They are selling boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.29 a pound. Wow! I am going to stock up that is for sure. Last week the extent of my Black Friday shopping was a trip to CVS for some deals there (many freebies) and one online order at Rainbow Resources. Cyber Monday I made two purchases - some freebies on Shutterfly and I bought a gift card for Sight and Sound because if you bought one they gave you a $25 gift card for free. I will use these for when we buy our Samson tickets next year.

8. Ian's soccer team will be practicing on Tuesday nights from 5-6 starting next week! His coach is a man who sings in choir with me, and his son is my choir director (music pastor). Small world! I am grateful they can play Upward basketball this year. It will be Ian's first year and Nadia's third. I don't know who Nadia's coach is, but her practices are also going to be on Tuesdays, which is very nice (although hers will be from 6-7). She will miss half of her first two practices due to art class, but after that it will be fine.

9. Paul doesn't have any labs left this semester. He only has 2 lectures (today and next Tuesday) and a final exam, and he's done until January 19th!

10. From January through mid August the plan had been that both Paul and I would apply for academic jobs this fall (that would start in August 2016). I had started looking at job postings in August, and Paul had given me guidance as to what exactly he was open to in terms of type of school, location, etc. Then on August 20 he informed me of his new plan, and since it didn't involve any job applications, I also stopped looking for jobs for myself. Two weeks ago I decided to see what had been posted in my field over the past three months..
When I saw there were two tenure track jobs posted at schools within the state system I taught in for 10 years, I decided to apply for those two jobs. Later I talked with Paul as I considered applying for one in North Carolina, but he told me he was not willing to move out of Pennsylvania. Previously he wanted to trade places with me and be a stay-at-home homeschooling dad, but now he wants to work at least part-time at Kennedy Concrete. The reason I was excited about jobs being posted at PASSHE schools was that a couple of years ago when I contacted the union they said that those schools *could* honor my tenure and promotion (albeit they don't automatically have to do so). If I end up going back to work, it would be really wonderful not to have to start over back at the beginning. Last week I submitted two more applications. Two of the four schools are 90 minutes from KCI and the other two are 105 minutes from KCI. Our current house is pretty close to being in the middle for one of the four jobs. The one that interests Paul the most is East Stroudsburg.
For me the top two are that one and Millersville (near Lancaster). I have mixed feelings about it. I absolutely loved being a professor. I definitely miss it. In an ideal world, I would like to be an adjunct professor (part-time) at this stage of my kids' life. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and for as long as I can remember that was my goal, and while we were dating Paul said he was 100% in agreement with that. The plan was changed when he decided to go back to school as I had to be the primary (and at times exclusive) breadwinner while he was a FT graduate student for 7 years (half of our marriage thus far). The two universities closest to KCI aren't hiring right now (the two where I taught previously). I am thankful that my references are helping me out (one even placed a call on my behalf prior to me submitting the application), and I am just waiting to see how the Lord leads. Three of the applications are due this month (the fourth isn't due until March) so I am hoping that next month I will start to have an indication whether or not I will be selected for an interview. I still wish that Paul was keeping his promise to me (from 10 years ago) and submitting applications for a job in his field (industry or academia), but he is unwilling to pursue anything other than Kennedy Concrete (ironically his desire NOT to work there was the whole reason he went to graduate school for seven years). We shall see what God has in store as far as the timing of selling our house and whether or not I return to being the primary breadwinner of the family.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Paul came home early from work yesterday (he usually gets home around 7pm when he works at Kennedy Concrete) so that I could go for a run because it was unseasonably warm out. He got home around 4:15, which meant I was able to run three miles before it got dark outside. As I was jogging I passed many people putting up Christmas lights and doing other decorating outside their homes. When I got back we had dinner and then started our Christmas decorating. The kids were so excited to play with the Little People nativity set, read Christmas books, listen to Christmas music, etc.  because those goodies are stored in the basement for eleven months of the year. Paul worked on assembling the tree and putting the lights on the tree while I did other decorating around the house. This morning after breakfast the kids helped me put the ornaments on the tree. It is quite obvious that young children helped because in some places near the bottom there are quite a few ornaments clustered together in a very small space. This was the first year though that all three children understood how to actually hang an ornament and not just lay it on a branch. I do love Christmas music, so I am really enjoying hearing the kids playing those cds. Paul plans on putting up the outside lights tomorrow. I have finished most of my Christmas shopping (about 3 people out of 30 left to buy gifts for), and I also have most of the gifts I have bought wrapped, which is a great feeling. The package of presents that I mailed to Turkey already arrived there safe and sound, much faster than usual!

I did our Christmas cards much earlier than usual because of specials that Shutterfly was running this summer. Usually I do a photo card plus a letter, but this year I selected a tri-fold card, and the larger card meant there was room for paragraphs in addition to photos so I wasn't planning on writing a letter in addition to the card this time. If I was making the card right now I would have some additional information to include (for example in the card I mention that Nadia learned to ride w/o training wheels but that also could be said about Ian), and there are some other pictures I would have wanted to include, but I like the way the cards turned out, and given my emotional state of being for the past three months, I am very grateful that I created the card before I knew that Paul was giving up on chemistry. When I included a letter, I wrote a handwritten note at the bottom of almost every letter that was individualized. I can't do that this time, which is a disadvantage, but it also means it's a much quicker task to get the cards ready to mail. All I had to do was write the addresses on the envelopes. I am planning to mail them next week, which will be the earliest I've ever done that. So aside from finishing buying a few presents and then finishing up the wrapping, all I think I have left to do to get ready for Christmas is bake lots of Christmas cookies to give as gifts. I will say that decorating seemed contrary to the decluttering I just went through to get the house ready for showings, but that can't be helped this time of year. Paul snapped this photo on Wednesday morning before he left for work. He loved the fact that all three kids were reading (well of course Oliver was only looking at the book). Nadia was reading a chapter book, and Ian was reading to me. We all love books!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from the Kennedys! In November 2012 I started a tradition of writing in a journal each year. Nadia started writing a list in the journal in 2013, and Ian started writing in it last year. They enjoyed reading what they had written in the past when they wrote their lists this week. I try to write a gratitude list once a week on the blog, but of course those are just a few of the MANY blessings in my life. Some that I don't mention every week that certainly could be on the list would include:

1. My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ - I can't imagine my life without Him. I long for the day when I will see Him face to face. What a glorious day that will be! I'm very thankful that Nadia and Ian have become Christians.

2. My family - kids, husband, brother, sisters, parents, nieces, nephews, in-laws, etc.

3. Our planet - what an amazing creator God is! I love seeing a blue sky, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, leaves as they turned colors, flowers, etc.

4. Our country - we enjoy more freedom and prosperity than many others do around the world.

5. Music - I enjoy being able to sing in a choir and listen to music throughout the week.
6. Our health - Paul's mom has been doing SO much better lately than she had the previous couple of years. Oliver seems to be handling respiratory viruses better than he did last year. Maybe we can all avoid hospitalizations in the next year. I can now run 4-6 miles for the first time in my life.

7. Homeschooling - It is such a privilege to not only be their mom but also their teacher. I am so thankful for the progress that each of them have been making. To that end, I recorded two videos today (see below). Ian read the entire book (Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner) for the first time today. I recorded him reading just a few pages (because the video would have been awfully long as the book is more than 60 pages long). I also recorded Nadia identifying the countries of Europe. Next up will be Africa. Paul works with her on the maps after the boys

go to bed. I have really been enjoying our study of various countries. Next up is France. In particular I'm thankful for the progress Ian has made with eating and reading, that Nadia and Ian both learned to ride their bikes without training wheels, that Nadia stopped sucking her thumb this year, and that Oliver is done with potty training.

8. My camera - of course the reason I enjoy my camera is because of my three kids

9. Vacations, field trips, and amusement parks - I am very thankful for the two weeks we had in Florida with Paul's parents, the one week we had in Williamsburg with my parents, and many field trips and day trips to amusement parks. For example, the kids really love going to the children's museum where we now have an annual membership.

10. My friend, Cheri - we've been friends since January 2005. I might get to see her more often depending on where we move next year.

11. The library - what an awesome resource for homeschooling. We check out picture books, chapter books, books on cd, cd's of music, and dvd's. They also have been helpful with getting me books through interlibrary loan when they don't have the book in one of the three libraries in their system.

12. Our house - It keeps us warm and dry on cold days. Paul fixed the garage door today. I am very thankful that the van is in the garage for the first time in more than a month.

13. Gym class - Nadia and Ian really enjoy the 90 minute class each Friday, Oliver enjoys playing on the playland, and I enjoy talking to other homeschool moms (such as Allison). I'm also thankful for the other opportunities the kids have - AWANA, Upward basketball, AYSO soccer, gymnastics, ice skating lessons, tennis lessons, kid's choir, summer musical, summer camp, and that Nadia was able to be in Annie this past summer.

14. Oliver is such a good eater. What a relief this is to have a child who LOVES to eat vegetables! Nadia and Ian continue to make progress with eating a wider variety of foods.

This list could go on and on, but these are just a few of the many blessings in my life. The turkey is in the oven, and we are looking forward to Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law joining us later for the big meal. Hopefully Nadia and Ian will eat more of the meal than they have in the past. I hope that you have had a special day with friends and/or family as well!