2015 in Review

Every year has its ups and downs, but some years are more challenging emotionally than others. The miscarriages in 2005, 2007, and 2013 were certainly tough for instance. As I reflect over our fourteen years of marriage, I would say the three hardest years for me were 2007, 2012, and 2015. 2007 was challenging for the first eleven months due to our struggles to adopt a baby in the US, struggles to adopt 2-3 kids from Ukraine, and our first IVF transfer ended in a very early miscarriage of triplets. That year ended on a very happy note however, as we found out we were expecting again (Nadia!). 2012 started on a happy note when we found out we were expecting Oliver. April and June through August were very hard because I spent most of those four months in either a Ronald McDonald House or a hospital bed between Ian's feeding program in Hershey in April, my 10 weeks of bedrest (end of May through August 7), and Oliver's 4 week NICU stay, but the year ended on a very happy note as Oliver was off the oxygen and monitors, and we were all at home together.

This year started on a really rough note as I was in the PICU throwing up every time I stood up with the stomach flu while Oliver was screaming for me to hold him because the chest tube bothered him, and I wasn't allowed to hold him because of the machine that was helping him breathe, and this pained my heart in the worst way. Thankfully, we all stayed out of the hospital the rest of the year. Ironically, the year is ending with another lung issue in the family. My mom was admitted to the hospital last night, and after they ran various tests they determined only one of her lungs was functioning due to 4-5 liters of fluid (pleural effusion). Please pray that they will determine the cause of the fluid build up, that her lung will "wake up" and start functioning again, and that she will not be in much pain. After Oliver was discharged from the hospital in January, the next almost eight months went pretty smoothly, and then Paul told me on August 20 that he was done with the field of chemistry. Paul and I started dating almost nineteen years ago. He was a full-time student for eleven of those nineteen years (and a part-time student other years). Seven of the fourteen years of our marriage he was a FT graduate student, and now all that was invested or sacrificed to make that possible is now being cast by the wayside. Honestly, I still can't even really handle this reality yet emotionally. Mostly I try to block it out of my mind, but I need to eventually find a better way to handle this total change of plans because it will become reality in a little more than four months. I never would have dreamed I would be applying for a FT job when my youngest was only three years old, but that is in fact what I have done. I am very curious to see what what happens with my applications. As I reflect on 2015, here are 15 memorable parts of our year:

1. Ian has become much braver. He was tall enough to ride the big roller coasters at Knoebels for the first time. He loves the Phoenix! He also became brave enough to walk across the rope at the playground for the first time. He also made a lot of progress with singing in a choir.

2. Nadia and Ian both learned to ride their bikes without training wheels.

3. We spent two weeks in Florida with Paul's parents and one week in Williamsburg with my parents. Ian traveled down to Florida with Paul's parents for the first time. Highlights included a day at Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Sea World, and Kennedy Space Center.

4. Paul's mom has been much healthier this year. Oliver started the year in the hospital for RSV and a collapsed lung, but since that discharge, we all stayed out of the hospital the rest of the year although he came very close to being admitted in May when he had pneumonia. He also hasn't needed the nebulizer as frequently lately.

5. Oliver was night time potty trained, started memorizing Bible verses for Cubbies, and started taking gymnastics for the first time.

6. Nadia had her first experience being in a musical. She played the part of Pepper in Annie. Nadia and Ian were in the summer musical again and also sang in a children's choir at church.

7. We enjoyed going to many different field trips and amusement parks such as the children's museum, Maryland Science Center, Knoebels, Dutch Wonderland, Six Flags, Del Grosso's, Sight and Sound, Port Discovery, Steamtown National Historic Site, R.B. Winter State Park, Little League Museum, to see many theatrical productions, etc.

8. Nadia and Ian were in a 90 minute homeschool gym class at our church on Friday mornings. They both also took their first ice skating lessons, took swimming lessons, and played on a soccer team. Nadia scored her first goal on a U8 team, and Ian scored his first goal in the spring and about eight more

goals this fall. Nadia just recently started her third season of basektball, and Ian just started his first season of Upward basketball.

9. For four months I ran 3-4 times a week and for more than half of that time I was running 4-6 miles each time. I am looking forward to starting up again when the weather gets warmer!

10. I got my first smartphone.

11. Nadia and Ian both made a lot of progress in their schoolwork. Nadia really loves reading chapter books such as American Girl, Amelia Bedelia, Nancy Clancy, and Boxcar Children. Ian loves reading easy books like Amelia Bedelia, Frog and Toad, Little Bear, etc. Nadia learned how to regroup with double digit addition and subtraction. Nadia learned to identify the countries in North America, South America, and Europe. She took a Spanish class during the summer.

12. Paul was offered a one year extension on his contract at Bucknell. This summer he received a stipend for working on a NSF grant with two other professors at Bucknell.

13. I read the kids 82 chapter books this year, and over the last four months Nadia read 60 chapter books independently. 

14. Nadia had her first experience with going to a camp that involved sleeping in a tent for three nights. She loved it!

15. Paul decided in August that he no longer wants to use his PhD in Chemistry. He decided to return to Kennedy Concrete. We put our house on the market in November, and thus far I have submitted four applications for tenure track positions for myself.

I also thought it was high time to look back at the goals I posted for this year to see how we did. Here are some goals that we did accomplish:

Taken right after she lost tooth #7. See the space? 

1. Most of the time Nadia practiced the piano 5-6 times a week.

2. Ian has started to do schoolwork in the morning at the same time Nadia does hers.

3. I do believe I did a better job with being more relaxed at times (more grace with regard to rules and routines).

4. Nadia did stop sucking her thumb, learned to ride a bike without training wheels, learned to like corn, and definitely has a greater thirst for reading chapter books.

5. Oliver can do 24 piece puzzles independently, identify many colors and some shapes, is night time potty trained, usually eats with utensils, and has begun memorizing Bible verses.

6. I lost more than ten pounds, have continued to try new recipes, and am doing better with a routine with most household chores.

7. Ian did learn to write lowercase letters and numbers, ride a bike without training wheels, swing on his own, walk across the rope at the playground, much better at using scissors, far more comfortable being alone in a room, and he made huge strides with his reading skills.

Some we did not accomplish include:
1. Having a regular family fun night. This will again be a goal for 2016.

2. Having a regular game night. This too will again be a goal for 2016.

3. Nadia still has issues with reversing some letters and numbers (ex. b/d and p/9) and still needs to work on learning to eat lima beans, peas, and soup.

4. I didn't succeed at making new friends for myself, and I still need to work on dusting more often.

5. Ian still needs to break the belly button habit, learn to tie his shoes, and decrease the fussing.

6. Oliver still needs to learn to identify the letters of the alphabet.

Thankful Tuesday

1. I enjoyed being able to run 9.5 miles between two runs last Wednesday and Thursday when the weather was very pleasant outside.

2. We had a special day on Christmas Eve between our donuts for breakfast, opening presents with the kids, and the kids and I enjoyed the candlelight service at church.

3. On Friday we enjoyed spending several hours at Paul's parents house (also spent time with Al, Millie, and Shawn). We enjoyed a yummy meal and exchanged gifts.

4. I'm thankful that we had a safe trip to and from Maryland and that Oliver slept for most of the ride home today. At one point I was the only one awake in the vehicle. It's a good thing I was awake as I was the driver! I am also grateful that Wendy and her family arrived safely at 4:00 am on Saturday in the rental vehicle since theirs broke down in Indiana around noon on Friday. It would have been awesome to be with Yvonne and her family also, but we were able to watch a 45 minute movie they created with my dad last summer which was special.

5. During our four days in Maryland, the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. Nadia was determined to go with the Benners to Williamsburg this morning; she did not want to be separated from her cousin, Rachel. I enjoyed a couple of rounds of Apples to Apples Junior yesterday, but we didn't get our annual game of Boggle in this time. We exchanged presents on Saturday morning, went caroling in my parents' neighborhood on Saturday night, went to church and Sunday School with my parents on Sunday morning, ice skating on Sunday evening, watched the Steelers lose on Sunday afternoon (SO sad because of the playoff implications), went bowling Monday morning, and six (out of the fourteen of us) went to see the new Star Wars movie at the theatre in 3D on Monday afternoon. Paul was the only member of our family who joined in that adventure. As an added bonus, I came in second place in the first game of bowling (Drayton won). I bowled a little  better than usual and my Dad and Paul bowled worse than usual. It is VERY rare that I beat either of them in bowling. It was fun to get some spares and strikes, especially as I bowled very badly on December 10.

6. I am thankful that we are healthy. Usually we come back from Christmas in Maryland with a virus of some sort (respiratory or stomach). Last year we came back with both and Oliver ended up in the PICU with a collapsed lung. It is a huge relief to come back not having caught any bugs this time!

7. We came back to a very clean house. I had the house in "ready to be shown" condition when we left on Friday morning in case the realtor contacted me while we were away. It would have been great to have the house shown yesterday or today because the five times it's been shown thus far we have always had to leave the house just because of the showing. I thought it would be very convenient for it to happen while we were out of town, but even though that didn't happen it was nice to come home to a clean house. It is probably the first time I was ever doing things like mopping the kitchen floor and cleaning bathrooms in the morning on Christmas Day. Of course once we arrived back home the house became very cluttered with suitcases, Christmas gifts, etc, but I worked hard to do laundry, put away suitcases, put away Christmas gifts, etc. tonight and tomorrow I plan to put away the Christmas tree and other decorations.

8. I had a nice long (about 3 hour) chat with my sister last night. That was an extremely rare treat. We usually only see each other once a year so those opportunities are very few and far between. I love her very much!

9. I know that at least some of the gifts I gave were "winners" in that the person seemed to really appreciate what we gave them. Paul's niece really liked the placemats I made her two children through Shutterfly, for example.

10. My mom and I enjoyed watching the movie "War Room" on dvd together on Friday night. I always watch "chick flicks" by myself so it was very nice to be able to watch it with someone.

11. We received many nice gifts over our "three days of Christmas." I am not attempting to list everything we received but just a few highlights that pop into my head right now. Hopefully when I start having the kids write their thank you notes I will be able to accurately recall who gave them what as I forgot to make a list again. Oops. One of these years I'll remember to do that hopefully. Nadia and Ian can't wait to try out their two new Wii games tomorrow. They each started assembling one of their Lego sets this evening. Nadia enjoyed doing Ariel's hair in the bathtub at Grandma's house yesterday afternoon. I am very grateful Paul received a few new pairs of jeans because it means I don't have to keep repairing his old ones any more. We will all enjoy our gift cards to Friendly's. I am really looking forward to a new laptop computer from my parents because mine is six years old and on its last legs. Now to figure out if I need a cd-rom drive or not.

12. Nadia lost a tooth in Maryland. She really wanted this to happen again since it did the last two years, and her wish came true. She has one more wiggly tooth, and she told me she wanted to wait until next December to pull it out. Nope a tooth won't wait that long, ha ha!

13. I've been doing this free instant win game on the Coke rewards website the past 20 days (it ends on Thursday), and I've won a few things along the way ($20 off of Shutterfly, 270 Coke points, and a free personalized bottle of Coke), but yesterday I won a $25 gift certificate to one of three restaurants (Bonefish Grill, Outback Steakhouse, etc.). That was nice!

The kids we wished were with us this Christmas, but we look forward to seeing them again sometime in 2016 or 2017.

Three Days of Christmas

On Christmas Eve we began our three days of Christmas. On Wednesday after going to the library I had picked up some donuts for our Christmas Eve breakfast. I figured since we have started having donuts for breakfast on our birthdays, we could do the same for Jesus' birthday.  I had not trusted Oliver to leave the presents wrapped under the tree, so we waited until Wednesday evening to put them under the tree; the kids enjoyed helping me arrange them under the tree.  After eating our donuts on Thursday morning, we opened our presents. Nadia had the job of passing out the gifts to everyone. I loved the fact that the kids each had gifts for each other and for Paul and I that were a surprise because they had purchased them at AWANA with the shares they had earned (the "money" give in AWANA). For example, Ian's gifts for Nadia from AWANA were a small Lego set (about 100 pieces) and a My Little Pony Play-doh set. Oliver gave me a really nice oven mitt. Nadia gave me two necklaces, two pairs of earrings, and one bracelet.

Christmas Eve is Nadia's half-birthday. Not too many kids get gifts every year on their half-birthday. Speaking of which, the first few years of her life I wrote a post about her on the 24th of every month and then eventually cut back to every 3 months and then every 6 months. Since I didn't write one this year, I guess as of age seven I have officially cut back to only one such post a year. I am still planning to write a post every 3 months for Oliver and every 6 months for Ian for the time being. The kids enjoyed opening their presents and then making good use of many of them over the course of the day. Oliver shared some of his goldfish crackers with his siblings at lunch. Nadia and I played our first game of Mancala after the boys went to bed. Nadia and Ian tried out the Tangled Wii game we gave Nadia. Ian's favorite gifts from us were the Star Wars "lego" minifigures, a Monsters Inc scare floor, and a large Sully stuffed animal. He has slept with Yoda for the past 12 months, but Yoda was ousted from his bed that night in favor of Sully.

The weather has been REALLY nice the past few days. I ran for 3.5 miles early on Wednesday morning before Paul went to work. Paul wasn't feeling well on Thursday, so I was able to run 5.5 miles that afternoon while Oliver and Paul napped. I didn't have time to run on Christmas Day or today, but the weather was really nice both of those days so had there been time I would have done so! Today it was in the 70's, and we went ice skating which seemed like an odd combination. I didn't get as much exercise when I run, but I did get some exercise. Some people may dream of a white Christmas, but I honestly would love a 60 or 70 degree Christmas every year. It felt strange to wear a short sleeve (sparkly black and red) top to the Christmas Eve service without a jacket I was a little leery about having the three kids in the service by myself, but they did pretty well. None of our four candles caused anything to catch on fire, so I viewed that as a success! A man sitting behind us commented afterward to Nadia how much he enjoyed hearing her sing the Christmas carols. That was music to this Momma's ears, and I have to say that was my favorite part of the service as well (hearing her sing). I was assuming the candles would only be lit for one song (Silent Night) but we had them lit for more than one song. It was very beautiful seeing more than 1,000 candles shining at once around the auditorium. The place was totally PACKED. It was above full capacity. There were two candlelight services. I had assumed the 7;00 service would be the more popular one, but maybe I was wrong because the 5:00 one was totally full.

On Christmas Day (our 2nd day of Christmas) after breakfast we drove to Paul's parents' house. We opened more presents (from Paul's parents and Paul's brother) and had a delicious meal, and then we drove to Maryland. It was the first time that Paul's grandmother didn't join us to celebrate Christmas.  Oliver during part of our drive. We weren't sure when Wendy and her family would arrive because their van broke down in Indiana, but one of our cousins helped them out, and they were able to rent a vehicle and get back on the road about six hours after theirs broke down at a toll booth. Thankfully they arrived at my parents' house at 4:00 am on December 26. Yesterday we had our third and final day of exchanged presents as we opened up gifts from my parents, my three siblings, and my Aunt Janet. I only see Wendy and her family once a year so we are soaking up the time that we have together. Grace (who is 2 1/2) didn't remember me. This is a disadvantage of only being able to get together once a year. The tooth fairy was busy here last night because Susie lost a molar and Nadia lost her seventh tooth (another one on the top). This is the third year in a row that Nadia has lost at least one tooth at Grandma's house around Christmas! Bowling is on the agenda for tomorrow morning, and a few members of the family are planning to see the new Star Wars movie at the theatre tomorrow afternoon. We are greatly enjoying the time spent with family as we celebrate Christ's birth!

Ian's 6th Birthday Interview

I completely forgot about doing Ian's sixth birthday interview until yesterday. I guess ten days late isn't so bad. Better late than never! I have not been in the mood to take pictures lately (except for a few with my cell phone) so I am glad I at least remembered to do this. While I am focusing on Ian, I wanted to mention that I forgot to include in yesterday's thankful post that last Tuesday (Dec 15) Ian made multiple baskets (he estimated at least five) during his basketball practice. Wow! I was amazed because Nadia didn't make any her first season. We shall see if he makes any during his games (January - March). Yesterday Ian and I finished his second large Lego project, which means it took us only ten days to complete two big sets (at least 1,900 pieces total between the two sets). Putting Legos together is definitely not my thing, but I know it means a lot to Ian so I do it because I love him. I figured we should assemble these before Christmas, as I am sure others will be giving him more Legos for Christmas (we're not giving him any at Christmas aside from some minifigures). I am not sure if he's going to get the set he wants the most (the one he keeps telling the Santas he wants), but I'm sure he'll love what ever Legos he is given. Now for me to figure out what to do with more than 2,000 additional Legos above and beyond all that we already owned. I will say though that he continues to spend hours every day playing with them. They are definitely the toy he uses the most.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Friday evening and Saturday morning Nadia and Ian had choir rehearsals at church. I am very thankful the church has an indoor play land as Oliver spent about 4 1/2 hours playing in there between those two rehearsals. Their rehearsal ended at 6:55 on Friday night, which was perfect timing for the kids and I to attend a Christmas service they were having at 7pm at church. We only stayed for the first 45 minutes of the service, but the kids did very well (even Oliver).

2. Saturday morning we enjoyed a yummy breakfast put on by our local fire department. Ian discovered he likes bacon. Go figure. He and Nadia always tell me they don't like bacon when I put bacon in anything. We returned a couple of hours later (after the choir rehearsal) for a quick photo with Santa. They don't mind meeting Santa, but what they really wanted was the large stocking filled with candy they knew he would give each of them. And by candy I mean FULL sized candy bars not little tiny pieces of candy. Nadia and Ian didn't surprise me with their answers as to "what they want for

Christmas" but Oliver did. He told Santa he wanted a Mickey Mouse toothbrush. I imagine not many kids ask for a toothbrush for Christmas, ha ha! We did buy him a Mickey Mouse umbrella. Hopefully that will please him.

3. I have enjoyed eating pasta e fagioli at Oliver Garden many times over the past 25 years, but I have never tried to make it before. I made some last week, and it won't be the last time I do so. YUM! The recipe called for V8 juice. I don't believe I've ever purchased it before, but it was yummy in the soup!

4. The kids had fun decorating Christmas cookies on Friday. Nadia put the most time and energy into this than she ever has before. She viewed each of her cookies as an individual masterpiece. It took her a LONG time to decorate a few cookies, but we weren't in a rush. Ian would have been happy to just decorate two cookies, but I insisted he do more than

that. I will say Oliver did a great job of not dumping too much on any one cookie, which is a challenge for a three year old! I like making one batch of cookies a week, but I admit I'm getting a bit weary of it right now, but we delivered three plates of cookies on Wednesday night, four plates of cookies on Friday night, and five plates of cookies on Sunday morning to AWANA leaders, Sunday School teachers, children's choir directors, etc. It was just a small way of saying thanks for all they do throughout the year. On Saturday I made Paul some white chocolate macadamia nut cookies since I knew many of the ones I had made lately are not exactly his favorites.

5. Paul's dad came up on Sunday to see the kids' Christmas program. They did it at both the 9:00 and 10:45 services of church that morning. He then came over to our house for a few hours because it was his 74th birthday! I made him a cherry swirl cake because I know he loves cherries. I was pleased that Nadia did a much better job remembering to SMILE when singing in the program.

6. Because Nadia and Ian were meeting their choir early on Sunday morning, Oliver was the only child of mine sitting in the sanctuary while I was rehearsing with the adult choir at 8:20; usually the three of them sit together. I was very impressed with Oliver's behavior as he stayed seated while I was on the platform. Way to go!

7. On Sunday evening Paul took the kids to a birthday party for Jesus at our former church. The kids really enjoyed the snacks, crafts, games, balloons, animals to pet, etc. It was Oliver's very first time riding a real horse. I wish I had seen it, but I was at home watching my football game, and thankfully Pittsburgh WON. It was a big win against a team with a better record than us and kept our winning streak going (necessary for us to secure our spot in the playoffs).

8. Yesterday Nadia rode down with Paul when he went to work at the plant because Grandma had asked to have a day just with Nadia to go shopping and have lunch. What fun for Nadia! This also meant that Oliver and Ian played together more than usual.

9. Netflix sent me an email last week saying they were giving us a free month of their dvd service. We had a free month last April and hadn't used it since so I was surprised they offered us another free month, but we are happy to take advantage of their offer again!

10. Ian is making progress with his dribbling skills, and he is so excited about basketball. Even though we declared Friday to be our last day of school this year, yesterday I did spelling and reading with Ian in the morning, and in the afternoon we did basketball and painting (so it seems like that counts as art, PE, spelling, and reading). He was telling me all that "Coach Tom" has been teaching him in basketball. Tonight he has his third practice. Sometimes Paul will spell something as way of communicating to me without the kids knowing what we are saying, but that strategy only works with Oliver these days. A couple of days ago Paul spelled out the word "larger," and Ian immediately told him that he spelled "larger" = a disadvantage of kids learning to spell! Ha ha!

11. Paul submitted his grades for the fall semester yesterday (being a procrastinator he waited until the last possible day even though his only final exam was given seven days earlier). Now he truly is on break from Bucknell and can just focus on Kennedy Concrete.

A day in the life

Not that today was a typical day, but I still thought it would be nice to make a record of the day so someday I can look back and remember what it was like when the kids were 3, 6, and 7. My day started around 7:15 when Oliver woke up. He used to get up at 6:30 most days, but thankfully for the past six days he has been sleeping until sometime between 7:00-7:30, and actually he broke a record on Monday morning for the longest he ever slept in a night (a little over 12 hours) as he didn't wake up until 8:15 on Monday! Wow! He didn't have a nap on Sunday due to Ian's party, which is maybe part of the reason he slept in so late the next morning, although many times when he misses a nap he actually gets up earlier than usual the next morning. Anyhow I was grateful for the later start because I stayed up later than usual last night watching the debate. I didn't stay up until the very end of the debate because Paul absolutely didn't want to see any of it (even though he talks about politics All The Time). After getting Oliver dressed, I came down and got breakfast ready for the boys and I. I also worked with them on their verses for AWANA. Nadia was still in her room. Some days she sleeps in later than the boys do, but many times she is reading in her bed in the morning. That is her favorite way to start the day. Yesterday she was reading an Amelia Bedelia chapter book. This morning she was reading an American Girl chapter book about Josefina.

While Nadia was finishing her breakfast, I did a little bit of schoolwork with Ian (reading and drawing). In reading he was working on prefixes. Normally we start our schoolwork at 8:30 (or 9:00 at the latest) and are done before lunch. Usually we are at home all morning Monday through Thursday, but this morning Nadia and Ian had their annual physicals at the Pediatrician's office at 9:15. Nadia did her handwriting and science before we left for the doctor's office. The four of us were there for 90 minutes. It obviously would have been easier for me if I had left Oliver at home with Paul, but I knew Paul would not make any progress on grading his exams if I left Oliver with him. I asked the Pediatrician about Nadia being pigeon toed. He examined her and said it is not for an anatomical reason, and she should outgrow it in time. She passed her vision screening (20/25), but Ian did not (20/70). I already have eye appointments scheduled for both of them for next month. It took a year to get them on our vision insurance. It sounds like Ian might be getting glasses in the near future.

At Nadia's three year check-up, she weighed 34lbs (80th percentile) and was 36 inches tall (26th percentile). On October 12, 2012, she was 40lbs (75th percentile) and 40 inches tall (39th percentile), on November 8, 2014 she was 47 lbs (80th percentile) and 42.5 inches tall (30th percentile). Those three years they said something to me each time about Nadia's BMI, but the NP last year didn't say anything because she weighed 50 lbs (55th percentile) and her height at 46 inches was at the 45th percentile. Today she weighed in at 58 lbs (70th percentile) and was 1/4 inch shy of 4 ft tall (30th percentile). The doctor said she was just shy of being labeled overweight in terms of her BMI. Sigh. Ian weighed 32 pounds in December 2012, 35 pounds in 2013, 39 pounds last year (45th percentile), and 41 pounds today (20th percentile). He was 36 inches tall in 2012, 39 inches in 2013, 41 inches in 2014 (12th percentile), and 44.5 inches today (30th percentile). They would like to see Ian gain more weight before next year as his BMI is on the low side. I think Oliver might end up being the tallest of the three kids when they are full grown; he's my only child that ever since he hit about 6 months old they have been happy with this weight. I seem to have one almost overweight, one underweight, and one "just at the right" weight child. I decided to skip flu shots this year so it meant none of the kids had a shot today. In order to accomplish a little schoolwork at the doctor's office, I brought the clock with me (pictured above) and had Nadia and Ian practice telling time (Ian does quarter hours and Nadia does five minute intervals). If anyone was going to the doctor today it probably should have been me. I have a pretty bad cough. Paul keeps suggesting I go to the doctor for it, but thus far I am hoping it's just a virus that will go away in due time. The Pediatrician we saw today is newer to the clinic, and it was our first time seeing him so naturally he had comments to me about Ian's face. He wanted genetic testing and such done. I said look at my face. I can show you pictures from my side of the family. I am not concerned. I was impressed though that by seeing an indentation on the outside of Nadia's nose he knew she has allergies. He suggested taking one Claritin a day. We'll see. Right now she is still taking one Benadryl at night for her hives. We tried weaning her off the medication last week and the hives came back on her legs so she still needs the medication.

When we got home from the doctor's office (we were gone for 2 hours total including driving time), we had lunch. I read some of The Wheel on the School during lunch. After lunch I did spelling and piano with Nadia. While I was doing spelling with Nadia I was also assisting Ian with one of his large Lego projects. After I put Oliver down for his nap, I did spelling and with Ian and helped him write a thank you note. Normally I have some down time during Oliver's nap (translated time to sit on the couch and use my laptop), but today I made lasagna and 8 1/2 dozen cookies during his nap. I wanted to have three plates of cookies ready for the kids to give their leaders at AWANA tonight. Sometime over the next three days we'll need to make Christmas cookies (decorated sugar cookies) to add those to the mix for the plates the kids deliver to their Sunday School teachers and kids' choir leaders on Sunday morning. The plates they are delivering tonight have some butterscotch/ white chocolate fudge, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate peanut butter chip cookies, and Reese's pieces cookies. I tried a new recipe for the Reese's pieces cookies and WOW is it delicious!

Paul loved the new recipe I tried last week for Snickers cookies. When Paul doesn't like a particular food it lasts a LOT longer in our house. The oatmeal raisin cookies usually last for 2 weeks when I make them because he doesn't eat any. When I make a cookie he loves, the same size batch only lasts 2-3 days. The record goes to the Argentine butter cookies as neither Nadia or Paul would eat those. They lasted seemingly *forever* because Oliver isn't a big cookie eater so it was really just Ian and I eating those. Paul usually isn't willing to try the recipes I make for the different countries we are studying, but it's not a problem this week because we're studying Italy. We had pizza on Sunday for Ian's birthday. On Monday I made spaghetti and meatballs for Paul. The kids and I had pancakes for dinner because we have breakfast for dinner once a week. We all had meatballs and ziti last night. Today I made lasagna and bread sticks. I also bought some gelato at the grocery store for the first time for our study of Italy. I am planning on making pasta y fagioli later this week. That probably won't be as popular with the Nadia and Ian, but who knows. I would love to be wrong.  Paul didn't come down and join us while we ate lunch, but he did join us for dinner which was a special treat. He will be going back to work at Kennedy Concrete starting tomorrow, which means he won't be eating dinner with us. Paul read some to the kids from our chapter book during dinner while I was feeding Oliver. After dinner I spent time cleaning up the kitchen while Ian was still eating his carrots. After I was done I had the kids watch a 25 minute dvd about Leonardo da Vinci (also for our study of Italy), and this was my first time to sit and chill (in this case blog) since I got up at 7:00 this morning. In a little while I'll be getting the kids ready for AWANA and will be leaving for my choir rehearsal.

The Snowman in the picture above was made by Nadia in her art class on Tuesdays. The bottom part was made with newspaper (paper mache). The head of the snowman is just a Styrofoam ball. The teacher was resourceful because originally these were supposed to be paper mache turkeys, but when the class two days before Thanksgiving was cancelled, she switched gears and had the kids turn them into snowmen instead. Nadia says this one is a gift for Grandma Kennedy. Tonight the kids will be "shopping" at AWANA and will be coming home bearing many wrapped presents (for their parents and siblings). It's really nice that this church does this every year. It also means that some of the gifts are a surprise for me when we exchange gifts on Christmas Eve amongst our family! Christmas Eve is only eight days away!

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