Fort Hunter

Today was a field trip day for the kids and I. Three years ago Grandma and Pop Pop watched the boys while I took Nadia to Fort Hunter. Today I took all three of them there for a 90 minute program on Native Americans and a 90 minute tour of the Mansion with a break for lunch and time on the playground in between. There was a fort there in the French and Indian War, but the archaeologists haven't uncovered it yet. The house was built in the 1780's and then expanded to its "mansion" state in 1814. It has been a museum for over 100 years. When Nadia was there the last time, they had the kids make pinch pots and the wigwam was outside. This time the wigwam was inside, and the kids played 3 different Native American games outside instead of making pots. They had the program yesterday and today for homeschoolers. Yesterday it rained almost all day. It was much nicer out today! We tried to visit an alpaca farm on the way home, but the GPS led us to the wrong location. Oliver was very disappointed. I am going to attempt to visit the alpaca farm later this month. We're studying

even toed ungulates this week (which is the group alpacas are in) so that was part of the reason I tried to go there today, but we had already driven a lot today. At that point all of us (except for Oliver) really wanted to just get home.

Today I'm giving thanks:
1. That I was able to submit Nadia's science fair registration form to the children's museum on Monday. This was possible because she picked her topic! I had this on our "to do list" last year when she was in fourth grade, and it never happened. I am thankful that we are moving in the right direction for her to complete her first science fair project.

2. For safety on the roads, for beautiful weather, and that Fort Hunter offers programs for homeschoolers

3. I am late to choir every week because AWANA starts at the same time as my choir rehearsal and they are located in two different towns, but I am very thankful I can be in a choir. Tonight we started rehearsing some of our Christmas music. I particularly love Christmas music!

4. I was able to sleep 10 hours last night. If that hadn't happened, I don't think I would have been up for the field trip today because I already drive a lot on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my job. It doesn't bother me one iota to go to bed before Nadia and Ian (which is what happened last night).

Vote for the library

Paul and the boys went to our polling place in the middle of the day while Nadia was getting a haircut. I arrived at our polling place at 5:20, and there was a line at that point which Paul didn't experience earlier in the day. I waited in line for 25 minutes before it was my turn to vote. I was the 590th person to vote at our particular precinct. While I was driving home from work, Paul and Oliver went into the library while Nadia and Ian were in gymnastics. That library is also a polling place. Paul said he was asked more than once if he was there for the library or to vote (the big bag of books he was carrying was probably a good clue). One of the times he was asked that question, Oliver responded, "We're here to vote for the library!". LOL! Well public libraries are something that candidates on both sides of the aisle are in favor of (I assume). 

Today I'm giving thanks....

1. For the blessing of living in the United States - including the freedom to vote. 

2. That Paul's mom has been a lot healthier the last few years

than she was in 2013-14. I vividly remember talking with my mom in the fall of 2014 about how I feared my mother-in-law wouldn't survive the chemo treatments she was undergoing at the time. Tomorrow she'll be turning 74!

3. The kids and I had dinner at Taco Bell on Monday night in between their music class and our Bible study. Taco Bell isn't their favorite, but I had a gift card so the meal was free. They did like the Cinnabon dessert I got all of us to share at Taco Bell. I selected some more gift cards (using credit card points), and the kids are thankful that this time I got Subway, Burger King, Domino's and Dunkin Donuts. I could have selected some sit down restaurants, but it costs so much more to eat at those places I opted for fast food/take out options. The kids have one more week of music class/choir. I am looking forward to their concert that is scheduled to take place on the 19th.

4. The boys got their new glasses today! I will take pictures of them tomorrow.

5. We are all healthy right now! Nadia had a cold in October, but none of the rest of us caught it from her, which was wonderful.

6. Nadia and Oliver had no trouble adjusting to the time change. Ian is moving in the right direction.

7. Nadia has made great progress with her handstand recently!

8.We didn't carve pumpkins this year, and the kids have not said a word about it. It's something we have typically done every year, but I guess it's not a big deal to them whether we do it or not.

Chemistry

Paul's two favorite fields of science are physics and chemistry. He would have loved it if that's what the kids were studying in science this year, but we've been studying animals for the last 14 months. Last fall we did those that fly, this past spring those that live in the water, and this semester we've been studying land animals. In the spring we are planning to focus on anatomy and physiology. During the 2019-20 school year I'm planning to do botany with them one semester and chemistry/physics the other. Paul will be in his heyday that semester! The kids did some chemistry recently thanks to some activities that Bucknell's chemistry club had set up at the Lewisburg Children's Museum. Paul typically works at the concrete plant on Saturdays, so I took them on that field trip. After the second service of church, Paul took the kids to the Joseph Priestley House for their free Heritage Day event that included chemistry demonstrations since he was one of the individuals who discovered oxygen. A few years ago Nadia and Ian attended a history camp at that site. I don't

think they've been back there since then. I'm hoping all three kids can do that three day history camp this summer. I think it will be the first year Oliver will be old enough and the last year before Nadia will be too old to participate. I would have joined them on this outing if it weren't for the fact that the Steelers had a game at 1pm vs. Baltimore. The Giants have a bye week, which means I can watch the entire game. We only own one television which is not a problem 99.9% of the time, but last Sunday both of our games were on at 1pm, which meant Paul had to do a lot of flipping between channels and neither of us could see out entire games (particularly since I took the kids to a Trunk or Treat during the game).

Today I'm giving thanks...

1. For the freedom of religion in our country and also praying for those Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith.

2. Nadia has recently been reading the Rush Revere history books. She has finished two and

is in the middle of book three. I love it that her leisure reading ties in perfectly with what we are studying right now in history! Ian recently read The Cabin Faced West at my request, but his preference is to read Magic Tree House books.

3. Oliver loves to spell! What a difference a year makes. As I have said before, if we didn't homeschool our children, I would have delayed Oliver's entrance to Kindergarten by one year. One benefit of homeschooling is that education occurs at the child's pace - when he or she is developmentally ready. Oliver is READY to read and spell! He asks to go above and beyond what he is required to do in those subjects. Yahoo!!

4. The Steelers beat the Ravens today! We had a shaky start to the season, but we are now at the top of our division despite one of our top offensive players from last season hasn't reported to the team yet this season.

5. I was able to take fall pictures of Oliver today. I had some I loved of Nadia and Ian from 2016 and didn't get to doing it last year. Hopefully I will also be able to get some of Nadia and Ian this year! I love my kids, and I love colorful leaves.

Papa John Playground

This morning we began reading a new book. We hadn't read a missionary biography in awhile so I started reading them one on William Carey this morning. The kids played for a little bit, and then we headed to Home Depot for a workshop - something else we hadn't done in quite awhile. They built helicopters in honor of Veteran's Day. Nadia and Ian have done more than 15 projects at Home Depot over the years, but today was Oliver's 10th project so he received the special 10 project pin in addition to today's helicopter pin. Nadia didn't need any help. I think she'd prefer to never do any of these projects again because she thinks she's too old for them. She has definitely entered the stage of life where she frequently thinks she's too old to enjoy things that just a short while ago she enjoyed. I think she even thinks she's getting too old for Children's Museums. I remember when I taught sixth grade how the girls would be going back and forth between enjoying childhood pastimes (ex playing with dolls) and being more "grown-up." She doesn't think she's too old to play with

boxes thankfully. She also enjoys the event because she gets to meet some of my students. Oliver declared that Josh (a student in my 8:00 class) was his friend.

In November I try to write a gratitude list every day that I write a post. Here are some things I'm thankful for today:

1. The leaves are turning beautiful colors. I love this time of  year! I took some pictures of the kids yesterday when it wasn't raining and wasn't too cold for them to take a picture without a coat on. I'm hoping to get some pics of them in front of beautiful leaves with some nice fall outfits (or Sunday clothes) the next time we have a day like that!

2. The kids enjoyed gym and art classes yesterday. Nadia hadn't had art class in several weeks because the school had half-days on quite a few Fridays. The kids love Mrs. Pizzuto (the art teacher). I'm very thankful our church makes these classes available for homeschoolers.

3. This week and for the next couple of weeks I only need to visit student teachers on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which means I am with my kids the other five days of the week. I also had very little grading to do this week, which was also a big relief after having a fair amount of grading to do for several weeks in a row.

4. I have a tentative plan for observing and conferencing with my student teachers from November 6 through December 11. I will probably have to make some changes along the way, but it means I get a break from working on schedules for awhile. Creating the schedules should be easier as I'm only supposed to have 5 student teachers. I had 15 last semester and have 10 now. One of my students told Nadia today that she hopes I'm her supervisor next semester. How sweet! Actually I'd be thrilled to have her as one my student teachers as she's been a fabulous student in my classes over the past 14 months. Some of my students have had me in as many as four different classes over the past 3 semesters.

5. Ian and Oliver's new eyeglasses have already come in. They only ordered them on Tuesday! Oliver's came in on Thursday, and Ian's came in yesterday. Paul plans to pick them up on Tuesday. Expect to see some pics next week of the boys with their new glasses!

6. I'm thankful that Home Depot has free workshops where kids can learn the skills of using a screwdriver, using a hammer, etc.

7. The kids really enjoyed the Pop-Up Playground. Oliver misheard me, and he kept asking when we were going to the Papa John Playground, ha ha! The kids could have received free t-shirts, but we still had the ones from last year (although this year's were yellow which was prettier than the grey ones I thought). We all had free pizza, chips, and water. In fact they had SO much pizza (way too much) that the professor in charge told me to take two large pizzas home. The kids also brought home a few boxes.

8. Our Echo Dot hasn't been working for several days. Paul

called today and we're shipping it back and Amazon is sending us a new one. I'm thankful for warranties!

9. When Paul took Nadia to the urgent care center in July to get the earring back out of her ear, we had no idea how much it would cost us. The bill finally arrived in the mail this week, and we owe $50. I'm thankful it wasn't more than that. I'm also that since then Nadia hasn't had any traumatic experiences with her piercings. Pretty soon she can start wearing earrings that aren't the post kind. She's looking forward to that as she doesn't like sleeping with that kind of earring in her ear.

10. I've gotten a lot of books through interlibrary loan through my university lately for my kids. We still check out many books, cds, and videos from the public library also. I'm very thankful for libraries!

11. On Friday I got some work done and also chatted with another mom while the kids were in gym class. I can go months without having a face-to-face conversation with a friend so those moments aren't taken for granted!

Thankful Thursday

Since today is the first day of November, a month when we focus on giving thanks, it is apropos for me to write a gratitude list today!

1. The kids enjoyed going to four Trunk or Treat events (Thursday through Sunday) plus trick or treating last night. I took them on Saturday and Sunday. Paul took them the other three times. Nadia wore her new colonial costume three times, and her Descendants costume twice. Ian wore Kylo Ren (from Star Wars) once, his colonial costume once, and Lego Ninjago three times. Oliver wore Mr. Incredible twice, Ironman once, was a pirate once, and Thomas the Train once. We have LOTS of candy in the house even though they took three pounds to the dentist with Daddy. The dentist gave them each a $1 coin in exchange for the candy. I still need to get some nice individual pictures of the kids in their costumes, but other than that we are done with anything related to Halloween. Next up is Thanksgiving, various birthdays (including Grandma, Pop Pop, Ian, and Grandpa), and Christmas. I also

need to go through Oliver's costume bin because quite a few of them are size 4-6 and are too small. Time to start donating some costumes. We have quite a collection because when Ian and Nadia were younger they wore costumes almost every day of the year, and often times they wore multiple costumes per day. Oliver has never gone through such a phase as his siblings did.

2. Gym class was from 1:00-2:30 last Friday. I have to say I preferred that time (it's usually from 10:00-11:30).

3. I took the kids to a Chemistry event at the Lewisburg Children's Museum on Saturday that was put on by students at Bucknell.

4. I didn't see much of the game because #1 Paul's game was on at the same time and we only own one tv and #2 I took the kids to a Hall of Treats event at 3:30, but the Steelers won on Sunday.

5. I ordered glasses for Paul and I on Zenni, and Paul bought Ian and Oliver's glasses at the eye doctor. Oliver's glasses have

already come in. I will pick them up when Ian's also have arrived. Three eye exams plus four glasses cost almost $1,000, and that was with using Zenni for two of the glasses (which cost far less than at an optical shop). I have submitted the receipts to the vision fund for faculty and believe we'll be reimbursed for the majority of it.

6. Paul took Nadia to the WGRC skate night tonight. She loves going to this event.

7. Someone came over  yesterday to give me an estimate on a new deck. Progress!!

8. We went with Tab and her boys to a state park for a homeschool program yesterday. It was lovely to enjoy each other's company, and Tab drove which was great for me since I drive so much for work these days. Oliver was selected to pull the tickets to see who won the two door prizes. Would you believe he drew HIS number first and Ian's number second?!?!? We received a $20 gift card, and he drew a third number so that another family could receive the second prize.

The kids enjoyed making S'mores, playing a version of "sharks and minnows," playing a bird bingo game with candy corn, looking for animals in the frog pond, etc.

9. We had dinner at Applebee's last night. We went because last year they gave kids a free kids' meal if they were wearing a costume. It turns out this particular restaurant wasn't participating in the promotion this year. I should have asked before we ordered. Thankfully we were using a gift card my Dad gave us in August.

10. I only have 4 weeks left of classes (plus final exams) this semester! WOOHOO! Just two more weeks until Thanksgiving break!!