Snow Day!

We've had snow flurries a few times, but today was the first time this "winter" (I know it's not technically winter yet), that we had snow that actually accumulated. If the weather forecasters are correct, it will be the biggest snowfall that we've experienced in December in our area since sometime in the 1960's. Last winter we received very little snow. We might get more in 24 hours this week than we did during the entire previous winter season. The snow started falling around 12:00pm today and is supposed to finish by 10:00am tomorrow. Supposedly we are to receive between 10-21 inches. Paul is assuming the total will be closer to 10 than 21 inches. We shall see! He sent all the employees home early today and came home early himself because of the snow. Nadia likes snow, but she was wishing it would have come any other night of the week because she planned to be at the youth group tonight for the last time in 2020. Instead the youth group and Bible Bowl team held their meetings via Zoom. Nadia finished her schoolwork. When Camden came to the door asking if the boys could come out and play in the snow, I let them go out even though they hadn't completely finished their schoolwork. Milo is not a fan of the snow, but he doesn't have a choice. At the first snowfall we always find out if the kids each have gloves, snow pants that fit, and snow boots that fit. Today I discovered I had no snow boots for Ian. Oops! I ordered some on Amazon today so he'll have a pair after those arrive. I let him borrow mine. Nadia doesn't have any room to grow in her boots, so I'll need to get her a new pair of snow boots at some point. 

Taking care of a puppy can be exhausting, especially when also trying to homeschool three kids. The abbreviated school day was a nice break for this mom. Thankfully he is content to sleep in his crate in Nadia's bedroom. She's hoping that at some point he'll shift his wake-up time to 7:00, but the last four mornings he's woken up at 6:30. She takes him out for a walk after he wakes up. We shall see how that goes tomorrow morning if we have received more than a foot of snow! The skills he needs to learn include: only going to the bathroom outside, not begging for food when we're eating, not chewing things he's not supposed to chew (such as computer cords, clothing, the carpet, etc.), responding to commands such as "no" and "come," and not terrifying the guinea pigs. Once he learns not to pee or poop in the house and not to chew things he shouldn't chew, then it won't be such a challenge to homeschool with a puppy. Since he hasn't learned those two things he requires constant supervision, and he doesn't typically nap during the time we're doing our schoolwork. 

The kids have been regularly playing games outside with kids in the neighborhood after dark. Some of their favorites include manhunt and sardines. All three kids participated last night, which meant I was on dog sitting duty. The kids played outside today for about four hours this afternoon so they didn't join the neighbors tonight. The neighbors are very anxious for us to receive the trampoline repair kit. Grandma and Pop Pop gave Nadia and Ian the trampoline ten years ago. This summer I replaced the net and the mat that covers the springs. Ten days ago there was a small tear on the trampoline mat. I ordered a repair kit on Amazon that same day, but it hasn't arrived yet. Tomorrow will be a day for enjoying the snow. I wish we had a hill on our property. I have fond memories of sledding down the hill at our house in Maryland when I was Ian's age. 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. When Ian was very young usually he had 4 grandparents, 1 great grandma, 1 niece, 1 nephew, 1 aunt, and 1 uncle celebrate his birthday with him in addition to his immediate family. This year he had zero extended family members come to celebrate his birthday. Thankfully, two boys (Micah and Isaiah) came over to spend 8.5 hours with us two days before his birthday. 

2. The last two years part of his birthday celebration included spending one night at Great Wolf Lodge. Although we didn't feel that was a safe thing to do this year, we were able to see Queen Esther at Sight and Sound four days before his birthday. Usually our trips to Sight and Sound have been to celebrate Nadia's birthday in June, but 2020 is definitely not a "usual" year! Considering the Governor's edict caused Sight and Sound to close down again on December 12, we saw the show in the nick of time. As a side note, I really don't understand why they had to close their doors again. They were only allowing a maximum of 15% occupancy previously. I would say

the risk is much greater when shopping in Walmart or the grocery store than seeing a show at Sight and Sound. We usually attend the Sight and Sound shows with Paul's parents or my parents. I think this was the first show we saw there with just our immediate family. 

3. On December 5 we participated in a drive-thru Christmas event at the Community Arts Center in Williamsport. In years past we haven't attended it because it was the same weekend we would go to Corning. We listened to a band playing Christmas music as we drove through the line, and each child received a bag filled with various goodies. 

4. I enjoyed teaching the preschool class (ages 2- Kindergarten) on December 6. The lesson was on John the Baptist. I asked the kids what are some of their favorite foods prior to discussing how John ate locusts and honey. When I mentioned that brownies are one of my favorite foods, one little boy (age 5) told me I shouldn't eat those because they aren't healthy. LOL! Normally at our church there are FOUR different classes for ages 2

through Kindergarten. It's still surreal to me that I am taking kids' temperatures at church and that there has been such a massive decrease in attendance as that one class (that used to be four classes) had only five kids in it (much fewer than would normally be in ONE class). 

5. We also enjoyed a free dinner (thanks to a gift card) at Cracker Barrel on December 8 on our way home from Lancaster. That is also something we can't do in the state of PA as of December 12. Normally we just get carryout pizza so our restaurant habits aren't really impacted by that edict. Speaking of restaurants, our church is giving 1,000 essential workers in our area $25 restaurant gift cards. We chose to give one of them to the manager at our local CVS. She literally welled up with tears when she opened the card and saw what it contained. It was a pleasure to play a small part in that. 

6. Nadia and Ian were in an audition via Zoom for a production of Secret Garden. They weren't selected,

but I'm still thankful they had the experience of auditioning.

7. On Sunday night the youth pastor from the Baptist church brought Nadia a gift bag (Gatorade, etc.) to our house since they decided to hold all of their meetings in December via Zoom rather than in person.

8. Some churches in our area have gone back to only offering online services. I'm thankful that #1 the Governor isn't forcing churches to do that this time around and #2 that our church is still giving people a choice. More are choosing to worship online than in-person, but our family is choosing to continue to worship in person. We only attended one service this past Sunday, but we're planning to attend two services this coming Sunday.

9. We were able to talk with Aunt Janet twice last week as we called her on her birthday, and she called Ian on his birthday. She said we can bring Milo with us when we visit her in Long Island next summer! Ian had one other call on his birthday - a video chat with Yvonne's family. 

10. We have a puppy!!! I personally never aspired to own a dog, but Paul and all three kids have wanted a dog. I used to say we wouldn't get one until Paul worked fewer hours, but since we waited until the kids were a bit older to get one, they are able to take the dogs for walks since Paul still works long hours. I won't mind walking Milo when the weather is nicer, but that isn't something I aspire to do in this winter weather! I enjoy when he sleeps in my lap and it is fun to watch him playing with his toys. 

11. I went to two different libraries today. One of the ones I went to is only 15 minutes from our house, but I haven't gone there many times over the past 12 years. They had some books I was looking for that the other libraries didn't have, and as an added bonus when I picked up the books, they gave me a gingerbread kit for each child! Oliver and Karyss shared a kit this evening on the front porch. 

12. Some new toys arrived on our doorstep today for Milo. He really loves some of them. I'm hoping they keep him entertained while we're doing school work tomorrow. Homeschooling three kids with a puppy is challenging. I am sure with time it will get better. I'm also thankful that so far he doesn't show any signs of having the parvovirus. 

13. The guinea pigs woke Paul and I up at 4:40 this morning as one of them was CHIRPING very loudly because they were out of food and water. Neither of us went back to sleep after I fed them and gave them water. I'm thankful I had gone to bed at 9:30 last night, and I'm thankful that typically the pets and kids don't wake me up that early. I had more time to read and exercise this morning before my shower. Nadia likes to start her schoolwork promptly at 7:00 which means I need to be dressed and have my hair blow dried by 7:00. 

14. Our new toilet hasn't gotten clogged at all so far. Yahoo! If we continue to have that experience with it, I want to replace our other two toilets sometime next year. Also, Ken glued down the linoleum in the master bathroom yesterday. He had rented a roller. Stretching the linoleum back out is the hardest part of the project. I'm not sure exactly when he'll finish the project, but at least progress is being made!

15. I planned to make ham and cheese crepes for dinner tonight, but given how long it took to do our schoolwork today with a puppy, I decided to pick up pizza when getting the library books with Oliver. It's nice to have a break from cooking, we all like pizza, and I feel like now is a good time to try and support local restaurants as 2020 has been a hard year for them. 

16. Margie and my Dad have decided that she will pursue 4 chemo treatments 3 weeks apart starting in early January. It's an answer to prayer that a decision has been made. Praying it will be successful with as few side effects as possible.

17. Milo does sleep some of the time. It really reminds me of the days of having an infant or toddler. We really appreciate it when our little ones take naps.  Thankfully, he hasn't had any accidents in his crate. I wasn't a fan of potty training my kids so I can't say I'm crazy about training Milo to go outside, but I keep reminding myself "this too shall pass." Thankfully the kids have been helping with cleaning up his accidents. In the past 24 hours he hasn't had any #1 accidents, but he's had three #2 accidents today. 

Back to Milo

We thought we had decided to call our puppy "Comet." Then yesterday Oliver made a nickname of the name (changed the "t" to an "ee" sound) which reminded Paul of a communist. So we had to change his name. Some were lobbying for Buddy, but I *think* we've decided to call him the name the seller had given him - Milo. I called a veterinarian in our town. We hadn't used this vet before because they only take care of cats and dogs. He has an appointment for December 23 for his next vaccine. The seller called me this evening to say that another one of their puppies was just diagnosed with parvovirus, which is highly contagious. There is a vaccine, but if left untreated it can quickly become fatal. Thus far Milo seems perfectly healthy. She said that Milo didn't have any direct contact with the other dog, but that doesn't guarantee he couldn't have caught it. We're praying he doesn't, but I'll take him to the vet ASAP if we see any of the symptoms. 

Owning a puppy feels like having a two-year-old in the house. We are trying to teach him to go to the bathroom outside. On Saturday he had only one accident. Yesterday he had four accidents. He went 23 hours without any accidents, but then he had two accidents this evening. The good news is that he hasn't had any accidents in his crate. We left him at home alone in his crate for two hours on Sunday morning. We only attended one service. Saturday night I slept on the couch in the family room. We put his crate on top of the toy box right and placed it right beside the couch. If someone wasn't right beside him, he cried and cried and cried. When I slept beside him, he only cried when I got up and went to use the bathroom during the middle of the night. Nadia slept on the couch last night. Of the seven accidents he's had, three have been on carpet. Yesterday Paul put baby gates up from the kitchen to the dining room so that he can't do anything on that carpet, and the other gate is blocking the entrance to the living room from the foyer. We put that gate their to protect the guinea pigs, Christmas tree, and gifts under the tree. In addition to learning to use the bathroom outside, he also needs to learn what he can and cannot chew and also to be nice to the guinea pigs. They are terrified of him. And we're also hoping he can learn to sleep in his crate at night without crying. Ian was going to sleep on the couch tonight, but he hasn't learned yet how to take care of the dog on his own, which means Nadia is going to sleep there again tonight. 

Needless to say it was challenging to do our schoolwork today. Milo has a lot of energy. He wants to run and play and does not want to be in his crate, but if he's out of his crate he needs constant supervision, and it's tough to keep him out of trouble while teaching three kids who are three different grades. I purposefully didn't include every single subject in the lesson plans for today knowing it would be more challenging with a new puppy, but we did start a new art project today which is ironically of a cat!  Thankfully the menu I planned for dinner today (chicken teriyaki and basmati rice) was much easier to make than the St. Lucia saffron buns and a raspberry Charlotte Russe dessert. It took almost five hours to make those two things plus do the dishes. Whew. Nadia really likes the dessert, which isn't a surprise as she loves raspberries, sponge cake, and whipped cream - which are all included in that dessert. Nadia and Ian do not like rice, but they said the basmati was better than any other rice I've served before. Oliver preferred the risotto that we had yesterday to the basmati. 

We have a puppy!

I have done a LOT of research this year regarding pets - dogs, cats, various reptiles, fish, etc. We got two rabbits in February, two more guinea pigs in April, two zebra danios in August, and yesterday we got a puppy! I had researched hypoallergenic cats this summer, but had been turned away by the price, especially as I knew it didn't guarantee that Paul wouldn't be allergic. I have a mild allergy to dogs, and Ian has had an allergic reaction to some dogs over the years. I had researched the dogs that are advertised as being hypoallergenic, and I had settled on Bichon Frise. The factors I took into account were size (wanted one that was small enough to be on your lap), doesn't shed much, hypoallergenic, good with kids, sweet temperament, and looked cute (some of the hypoallergenic ones looked rather odd). I found one Bichon Frise not that far away that was up for adoption, but the dog hadn't had much experience with being held and that concerned me. Plus I remembered how fun it was when we got a kitten when I was a child. So I started searching for Bichon Frise puppies. Most of the time they were several hours from our house. Then I found "Milo" who was 15 minutes from our home, just turned ten weeks old on December 10, and the price was 25% less than the typical price. I contacted the seller on Friday and placed a curbside order at PetSmart on Friday night of the things we would need to bring home a puppy.

I woke up around 2:15am on Saturday morning, and I couldn't go back to sleep I was so excited for the kids. This was exactly why I didn't tell the kids on Friday.  While I was lying in bed awake at 3am, I had the idea of telling the kids through a hangman puzzle. The boys were up promptly at 7am because it was Ian's birthday. I usually let her sleep in on Saturday morning, but I went up in her room at 7:00 and asked her to come down. I had put the blanks on our whiteboard to spell out Bichon Frise puppy. The kids took turns guessing letters, and they were very confused when the board read "Bichon Frise _u_ _ _". They were very confused what the first two words meant. Fries? Bike? Then finally they guessed the letter "p," and I knew they'd figure it out even though they hadn't guessed "y" yet. Nadia SCREAMED. I wish I had asked Paul to video their reactions. It was a very special way to start Ian's 11th birthday! We ate our traditional birthday donuts that Paul had got at Dunkin' on his way home from work on Friday night, and then Ian opened his gifts. Grandpa and Gubba gave him a drone and some money. I had bought him a 300 piece Pokémon puzzle, a Pokémon drawing book, a card game, Nintendo Switch remote charger, and four Switch games. Around 10am I heard back from the seller that we could come between 11-12. We quickly put all the puzzles away that Nadia had done over the past 4 weeks (10,306 pieces!!!!) and got ready to head to the pet store and then to get the PUPPY! He's the first pet we've had that we know his birthdate - September 30, 2020. 

I've never had a dog before; this is my first experience with potty training a puppy. He cried when he was in his crate while we ate lunch but thankfully he was content in it while we ate dinner. He loves playing fetch and running outside with the kids. The kids spent a LOT of time outside with him on Saturday even though it was cold outside, which meant he wasn't having any accidents inside. He took one nap in Nadia's arms on Saturday afternoon. The seller (an Amish woman) had named him Milo. For a couple of hours on Saturday morning we discussed a wide variety of names. The kids were aghast at some of the names Paul suggested. It reminded me of the struggles we had to agree on names when I was pregnant. Three of the kids' suggestions that were given serious consideration included Luke (Skywalker), George (Washington), and Snowball. Paul wasn't crazy about Snowball, but that gave him the idea to suggest Comet since a comet is a combination of rock and ice. Nadia was upstairs in her bedroom when we were discussing the merits of the name Comet, and I assured the boys that Nadia would like that name because I remembered that was the name of the dog in the show Full House, and that's one of Nadia's three favorite shows. Welcome to our family, Comet! We hope he has many happy, healthy years in our home, and we hope it isn't too hard to train him. This Christmas is going to be very different than our usual Christmas due to COVID-19. I think having a new puppy will help make this month special even if we are in the midst of a pandemic.

11 years old!

A - I require the kids to eat a fruit or vegetable at lunch and dinner. Ian's preference at lunch is to eat half of a crunchy apple that has been cut into three slices. If he doesn't deem the apple to be crunchy, he dips the slices into peanut butter. One of the words Ian uses the most is "awkward." He frequently uses the word if a story contains anything slightly romantic in it. 

B - Ian got his second guinea pig in April, and he named her Buttercup, after the character in the movie Princess Bride. Unfortunately, Buttercup has issues with peeing and biting. Sadly, she spends almost all of her time in the cage. Also, he loves to eat bacon!

C - For two months this year he owned a rabbit named Coal. Ian loves to spend time with his cousins! Occasionally he chats on Facetime with Nathan or Joel. One of his favorite games to play is chess albeit he often calls it "chest." Oops!. He'll play it with a cousin, his dad, Pop Pop, or a friend. He even played chess on the front porch last month with Camden. If it weren't for COVID-19, Camden would have come inside, but due to the pandemic, they sat on the front porch wearing winter coats playing a game of chess together. When we go out to eat, Ian almost always orders chicken nuggets or chicken tenders with honey mustard. Ian really enjoys reading Calvin and Hobbes comic strips! Starting next week he'll have a new chore of cooking one dinner a week. He has the least experience cooking of the three kids, but that should be changing in the coming weeks and months!

D - Ian loves to draw. Sometimes it causes him to take longer to complete his schoolwork. 

E - Ian is doing a great job learning to speak Español. 

F - Ian is a home body are more of an introvert than his siblings, but he does play outside with the neighbors some. His best friend is Micah Schreck, whom he doesn't get to see very often. 

G - His favorite color is green.

H - Ian loves hugs! He has beautiful handwriting. He still loves to eat hot dogs with ketchup and mustard. In the past Ian's favorite types of apple have included gala and golden delicious. At the moment his favorite kind is honeycrisp.

I - His favorite ice cream flavors are Moose Tracks, Touchdown Sundae, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and any other flavor that features vanilla ice cream and peanut butter cups. 

J -  Like  his dad, he loves to chew Juicy Fruit gum; unlike his father, he does not like to wear jeans. He likes spicier food than the rest of us. He's eaten several jalapeño peppers that one of the neighbors gave him. He also likes to eat beef jerky.

L - Ian still loves Legos! The biggest set he's assembled so far had over 4,000 pieces. Of all the people in our house, Ian puts the least amount of clothes into the laundry.

M - As soon as he earns or receives money, he wants to spend it ASAP. He NEVER spends any of his money on food like his siblings do. He spends almost all of his money on either Legos or stuffed animals. For quite a few years Ian has been a huge fan of the Mario Brothers and peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches. Last month he and Nadia began to play Minecraft again, which means he's using the iPad some.

N -  He really enjoys playing the Nintendo Switch. Occasionally he'll play the Wii or use an iPad, but the vast majority of the time he chooses the Switch if he earns a twenty minute turn. Ian and Nadia play Legos together for many hours every week. He's thankful that now that he is 11 his bedtime is nine-thirty!

P - I love listening to Ian play the piano! He's currently in Alfred Level 5. He also enjoys playing Star Wars and Disney music. In addition to Super Mario and Star Wars, Ian also really likes Pokémon. When he eats a slice of pizza, he puts pepperoni on his slice. On Sundays he always wants to eat some popcorn. Like his Grandpa, he loves to tell puns. Ian's first pet, Patches, passed away in February. Because of Buttercup's issues and since Nadia has two guinea pigs, Ian holds Peppa far more than he holds Buttercup. Although he has to avoid most nuts, he still loves to eat peanuts when we go to Texas Roadhouse.

R - This boy loves to drink root beer! He loves to read books in which the main characters are animals. He enjoyed rock climbing for the first time in September!

S - Ian has quite a large collection of stuffed animals! It is VERY challenging to find a side dish that Ian likes because he does not like rice, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pierogis, or French fries. For example, at Thanksgiving he just eats turkey, a vegetable, and a roll. He still doesn't like to wear socks. He takes his socks AND shoes off when we come inside the house.

T - He was given a prescription for Epi-Pens in July due to his allergy to tree nuts. We know he's allergic to cashews, walnuts, and pecans. We're not taking a chance with any other tree nuts. Thankfully he can eat peanuts. 

U - Ian has played Upward basketball for five years. This year he played full-court basketball for the first time as he was on a team of 4th-6th grade boys.

W -  He doesn't play the Wii very often, but from time to time he will play a game on our Wii. 

Y - Ian looks forward to each new episode of The Mandalorian on Disney+ which includes a very cute baby Yoda. It's hard to believe that in just six months he'll be old enough to join the youth groups that Nadia currently attends.

Clamping Down

Our governor has tightened the COVID restrictions some more starting tomorrow. Two things we did on Tuesday - saw Queen Esther and ate inside a Cracker Barrel are no longer possible starting tomorrow. Sight and Sound is hoping to reopen in February. In the spring, the maximum indoor gathering of 10 included churches, synagogues, and mosques. This time around the Governor said that those organizations are excluded from the guidelines, but of course he is hoping that churches will return to only offering online services due to the rising number of COVID cases. I'm thankful that more respect for the freedom of religion is being shown this time around. I imagine some churches will choose to return to only offering online services, but I'm thankful that it's a decision that churches and individuals can make. Nadia is in two youth groups. FBC has returned to only offering their youth group via Zoom for the month of December. Nadia has a Zoom meeting with them tonight. Our church cancelled a Christmas program that was to take place this evening because some members of the worship team (including the Worship Arts pastor) have COVID right now. Our church's youth group only has one more Wednesday night meeting planned for this month. The church is still planning to offer in person worship and online services on Sundays and also on Christmas Eve. I am aware of at least one business that is planning to defy the governor's orders this time around. I know of a roller skating rink which is going to stay open even though all indoor entertainment venues are banned starting tomorrow. We had been signed up for a homeschool Christmas party at the roller skating rink for next Wednesday. Even before the governor tightened the restrictions, I had decided not to attend. I was very surprised to see today that the owner is still allowing the group to have their party there. There are 150 people signed up for the party! I imagine some will cancel their plans as I did, but I am a bit in shock that some would  be okay with being indoors with 150 people who aren't wearing masks. A few months ago it wouldn't have bothered me because there were very few cases in our area, but it's a different story right now. No roller skating party is worth contracting COVID-19 in my opinion. We rarely eat in a sit down restaurant so it's not a hardship to us that eating inside a restaurant has been banned again, but I feel badly for the restaurants. This has been a very tough year for restaurants. Although I won't take the kids roller skating right now, the three places I will still enter are the library, grocery store, and church. In the spring we weren't able to go to the library or church. I am thankful that those places haven't been required to close.

We did give a restaurant some business yesterday as I bought pizza (carryout). Ian had two boys (brothers) over since his birthday is tomorrow. They were here for about 8.5 hours. The kids played outside and inside and watched a Home Alone movie together. Micah beat Ian in chess, and Nadia beat Micah. They had made two piñatas on Wednesday, and they brought one of them to our house yesterday.  In the picture above they are each holding the candy they got from the piñata. They also brought a bag of SunChips which is a highly prized item in our house (and one I very rarely purchase). Aunt Millie had made a Pokémon cake for his birthday; it was our first Aunt Millie birthday cake this year because Nadia didn't want cake in June and Oliver was in New York in August. It's birthday week in our extended family as Aunt Janet turned 78 on Wednesday, my Dad turned 77 yesterday, and Ian will turn 11 tomorrow. Aunt Janet is in Tahoe as two of her kids live there. She didn't want to spend more holidays alone in 2020 so she went out there before Thanksgiving so she could spend Thanksgiving, her birthday, and Christmas with family. My dad celebrated his birthday by having cataract surgery. We're praying for Margie because the doctors are strongly encouraging her to have chemo based on the results of her MammaPrint. They had thought she'd only need surgery plus radiation. Margie and my Dad are trying to decide whether or not she'll pursue the chemo or not.

During the first nine days of December I took a grand total of one picture with my camera. Oops! I also hadn't recorded any videos in four months. I have been scanning more artwork than I usually do. As I was listening to Ian practice the piano today, I decided to record him playing one of his songs. Lately he's enjoying playing through a book of Christmas music. From the picture below you can see that the kids did an art project today that involved using Bombay ink and Tombow pens. 

Queen Esther

Ian did this with pastels. He's not a fan of pastels. Today we did the northern lights pastel project.

During the summer in 2019 I purchased 7 tickets to see Queen Esther at Sight and Sound on April 21, 2020. Paul's parents planned to join us. We planned to tour Wheatland (home of Buchanan - the only President from PA) and eat at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord (kids and Paul have never been there). Of course all those plans were cancelled. This summer I called to reschedule, but due to Paul's mom's health (couple with the pandemic) I asked my Dad and Margie if they'd like to use the other two tickets that originally were for Paul's parents. They thought they'd be traveling a lot in the fall (actually all those trips were cancelled), so we made reservations to see the show on December 8 since my Dad's birthday is December 10 and Ian's is the 12th. Then Margie was diagnosed with cancer and PA now requires a negative COVID test to enter the state. Paul's parents considered going, but then Nadia was with someone on November 30 who later tested positive for COVID, so they don't want to risk being around Nadia nine days after she was potentially exposed to the virus. Thankfully, Sight and Sound is going to give me a gift card for the value of the two tickets we won't be using - basically I have a credit that can used in the future. I assume we will use the credit in 2022 as they are showing Queen Esther again in 2021. I never would have guessed that two tickets I paid for in 2019 wouldn't be used until 2022! Wheatland has remained closed since March. I thought of taking the kids to visit the replica of the Tabernacle again since they were very young when we went the first time and we've been reading through the Old Testament this fall (we've read Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus and almost finished Numbers), but in December it's only open certain days of the week, and Tuesday isn't one of them. So I think the only thing we're doing to do in Lancaster tomorrow is see the show, and then we're planning to stop at Cracker Barrel on the way home to have dinner since we didn't use our Cracker Barrel gift cards when we were on vacation two months ago. I thought there was a good chance Sight and Sound would be required to close again this fall, but it hasn't happened thus far. For the last several months they've been operating with only seating 15% of the occupancy whereas normally their 2,000 seat auditorium would be filled to capacity. The last time we were there was in 2018 to see their production of Jesus. It's hard to imagine they can top that one, but I've heard this one is also outstanding. We're looking forward to it! Since Ian's birthday falls on a Saturday this year, he's thankful that we're taking the day off of school work tomorrow for this field trip as normally they get a day off of school on his birthday.

There are currently 152 recipes on my list of new recipes to try. We've tried 70 of those recipes so far plus we also tried bacon wrapped chicken at Rachel's recommendation. Of those, I'm planning to make 31 of the recipes again. Paul and I both liked the chicken piccata, but none of the kids did so I'm not including that in the make again list, and the same goes for the double layer pumpkin cheesecake and French onion soup. I thought they were scrumptious, but not enough people shared my opinion for me to want to make it again. In some cases, we liked a recipe we've used in the past far more than the new one we tried. This would be the case for the Sopa Paraguaya that I made today, which is a Paraguayan cornbread. We prefer our usual cornbread which also happens to be easier and cheaper to make than the Paraguayan one was. The same goes for the Eplekake, which is a Norwegian apple cake. We prefer the German apple cake recipe I've used for many years. Some of the recipes were more challenging for me than others. The recipe for chicken Kiev said it was challenging, but I succeeded with that one. I don't know where I went wrong yesterday with the ham croquettes, but I decided to scratch bunuelitos de jamon off the list as they seemed rather similar to the ham croquettes. Sometimes I have to improvise because I don't have all the ingredients, and sometimes I have to improvise because I don't have the kitchen equipment. For example, when I made tiramisu today, I had to improvise as it called for using a double boiler, and I don't have one. Where there's a will, there's a way! I will say I've purchased cream FAR more than usual the past few months and gone through far more eggs than usual. I'm going to list the fifteen foods we loved the most so far:

1. Croque monsieur  - I've already made it again!
2. Quiche Lorraine
3. Mousse - both dark chocolate and strawberry (even though only Nadia and I liked them - we loved both of them enough to warrant making them again just for the two of us)
4. Swedish meatballs
5. Jerk chicken
6. Hasselback potatoes
7. Key lime pie
8. Pepperoni and mozzarella panini 
9. Peach kuchen
10. Jam thumbprint cookies
11. Fettucine alfredo
12. Bacon cheese frittata
13. Tagliatelle with prosciutto 
14. Tiramisu
15. Honey Garlic Chicken

O Christmas Tree!

 The day after Thanksgiving we put out a little bit of Christmas decorations such as Christmas tablecloths on both tables at Oliver's request. We had a toilet sitting in a box in our living room for 16 days. I told the kids that we wouldn't put up the tree and the rest of the decorations until the new toilet was installed because the guinea pig cage is usually located where we usually put the tree, and the toilet was sitting where I planned to put the guinea pig cage while the tree is upstairs. Ken came yesterday afternoon and installed our new toilet. The old one got clogged many times each week. I'm hoping that won't be the case with the new one. The old one also had a crack in the tank. If the new toilet works out well, we'll probably replace the upstairs toilets at some point in the future.  In 2016 I really, really, really didn't want to decorate for Christmas in our house because I associated it so strongly with my mom. Each year since then I would have strong feelings of grief when putting up the tree and such, but each year it was less difficult for me emotionally to decorate for Christmas. Although I still miss my mom, I'm happy to say that I didn't feel any sadness when the kids and I put up the Christmas tree this year! Although I never took a year off from putting up a tree and decorating, last year I took the year off in terms of mailing out Christmas cards due to how I was feeling emotionally following the loss of my brother and then my job. Today was the first day we received Christmas cards in the mail, and I'm planning on putting our cards in the mail on Monday. I put the Christmas gifts under the tree this morning as all three kids said they had the self-control to not touch the gifts until we say it's time to open them. 

Although many of our usual Christmas traditions can't happen this year, we did something new this year that I might continue in the future. Growing up we never had anything in a stocking. We've had stockings up each December for the past 20 years, but the stockings that Paul's Gram made are not strong and can't actually hold anything - for decoration only. So my kids aren't accustomed to getting things in a stocking on Christmas Day. Tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day, and one of the traditions is to put one shoe out the night before and the next morning the child will find fruit, candy, coins, or small toys in their shoe. I had fun shopping for a few little things to put in their shoes tonight - chewing gum, Christmas socks at the Dollar Tree (where everything truly is $1), and fingernail polish for Nadia. Most of the extra holidays we're celebrating this year in connection with our study of other countries and cultures I don't plan to celebrate again in the future, but since we don't do Christmas stockings I'm thinking maybe we'll keep doing the shoe tradition on the even of St. Nicholas Day in the future. 

I have purchased quite a few ingredients over the past three months that I had never purchased before in my life. For example, we had tagliatelle with prosciutto for dinner today. I had never purchased either of those ingredients before. Today some of my purchases included ladyfingers, mascarpone cheese, golden syrup, gruyere cheese, and risotto, which were all first time purchases. Some ingredients I doubt I'll ever buy again such as capers, which I used when making chicken piccata a few days ago. According to Wegman's website, they had rose water and potato starch in stock, but I failed in my attempt to locate those two ingredients. I'm planning to substitute vanilla extract and corn starch respectively. I did end up placing an order for saffron threads through Amazon as it was cheaper there than at Wegman's or Walmart. I hope we LOVE the saffron buns next week as they will definitely be the most expensive bread I've ever made, lol. I will say that making SO many new recipes over the last 3 months (64 new recipes in the past three months) has led to the kids doing a better job with eating new foods, and we've found some that we like and want to eat again in the future.

Thankful Thursday

Nadia did this with pastels.

 1. Al, Millie, and Paul's dad were able to join us for Thanksgiving Day. 

2. I got quite a few things for free at CVS last week, and I got some good Black Friday online bargains at Walmart, Target, Shutterfly, and Chewy. I also made a lot of progress with my Christmas shopping on Amazon. I think I just need to buy Christmas gifts for three more people at this point. I have our Christmas cards. I just need to address and mail them. One of my bargains was that I paid less than $2 total for a Shutterfly order that contained 23 thank you cards. 

3. I bought a pair of pants at a thrift store for myself in September and really liked them. I was hoping to get a couple more pairs-different colors but the same manufacturer and style. They were on sale on Black Friday, and I used credit card points to pay for them so they didn't really cost any money. I don't buy myself clothes very often. I wore one of the new pants yesterday. It does feel nice to have something new to wear every now and then. 

4. Nadia's skills with puzzles have really improved this year! She's put together more than 7,000 pieces in about 2.5 weeks.

5. We're thankful for audiobooks! Some favorites recently have included Small Acts of Amazing Courage by Gloria Whelan, Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan, Alice's Farm: A rabbit's tale by Maryrose Wood, Small Steps: The year I got polio by Peg Kehret, Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan, and A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. We listened to 71 books over the past five months!

6. I ordered a collage frame for each of the kids. Nadia's is up on her wall with 4 of the 5 openings filled with some of her recent art work. Two of Ian's openings are filled. I envision we will switch out what is in the frame from time to time over the years to come. 

7. The library system I've been using the past couple of months is still fully open. I had still been using the Union County system some, but last week I decided to cancel all my requests because #1 the "new" library is much closer to our home and #2 it's very complicated to figure out when to request books due to the way they are doing things during the pandemic. I'm not saying I will never use that library again, but I think my trips there will be very few and far between. To me getting books at the library is in the essential category along with getting food at the grocery store. As long as the library stays open I'll be going there. 

8. The Steelers are 11-0! 

9. We're continuing to enjoy (especially Nadia) our membership with Creating a Masterpiece.

10. We've enjoyed watching a few movies together as a family including Gifted Hands (about Ben Carson), Around the World in 80 Days, and Swiss Family Robinson. The boys wanted to see Home Alone again. Nadia opted to watch something else. We were shocked to learn that it was the first time Paul had seen any Home Alone movie! Next up will be Night at the Museum. 

11. I had a lengthy conversation with my friend, Cheri, on Monday and my friend, Carol, on Tuesday. I was thankful to hear that her husband's brothers helped her out with some projects around the house after her husband passed away. 

12. The church isn't allowing small groups to meet on campus right now due to COVID. Thankfully Bible Bowl can meet at someone's home, and one of the parents drove Nadia and two other kids from the home to the church for youth group, as the youth group is still meeting at church on Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:00. I realize they might stop the youth group from meeting again at some point due to COVID, but I'm thankful that for now Nadia can still attend youth group on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. 

13. The kids and I enjoyed having 5 days off of school. 

14. I'm very thankful that the pain in my arm has gone away and I've regained my full range of  motion. I'm also thankful I had extra bucks that Paul could use to pay for the Aleve and sling. I had planned to use those for cereal for the kids, soda for Paul, etc., but it was nice to get what I needed for free at CVS through extra bucks. We take so much for granted - our sight, hearing, ability to walk, etc. I am very, very thankful to have regained the use of two arms and hands. Cooking and getting dressed were particularly challenging and painful. 

15. Target accidentally included four pairs of little girls' pants in a package that was sent to our house. I called Target, and they said that they didn't want them back. I gave two two a neighbor who has a kindergartener and the other two to a neighbor who has a preschooler. It was nice to be able bless others with free, brand new clothes. 

16. I told Nadia she had to finish the level of piano music that she had been in for what seemed like forever before her voice lessons were over. She accomplished it in the nick of time yesterday as her last lesson was today. Ian had asked me to get him a book of Christmas music. Nadia actually was playing the piano today - the new Christmas book as well as a book of Disney music. So maybe she isn't totally done playing the piano? At the moment I only have one piano student - Ian. Thankfully he really enjoys playing the piano.

17. I placed an online grocery order with Walmart because they were having a great sale on boneless skinless chicken breast (75 cents a pound!!!!). Unfortunately shortly before I left to go to Walmart on Tuesday I received an email saying they were out of chicken. I had ordered two different types (the other was $1/ pound which is also an unheard of price). I was disappointed because the whole reason I placed an order was to get the chicken. To add insult to injury, Oliver and I had to wait for 45 minutes in the parking lot for them to bring out our order. In texting my neighbor I found out she has had to wait many times - sometimes as long as 2 hours!!! I'm thankful that usually I've had almost no wait when I've gotten our groceries there, and I'm thankful there are other places I can get my groceries as I don't plan on returning there any time in the near future. 

18.I'm thankful that thus far Nadia doesn't have any symptoms of COVID-19. She was in close contact with a girl in the youth group on Sunday night as they decorated the sanctuary for Christmas, and that girl tested positive this week. The youth pastor at that church (not our church) called me today to tell me that Nadia needs to quarantine. The current CDC guidelines are to quarantine for 7 days if you have a negative test or 10 days if you aren't tested and don't have any symptoms. Since we didn't find out until four days after they had contact, she will only be quarantining for six more days. She's bummed that she won't be allowed to attend church this coming Sunday morning. This other church cancelled the youth group for next Sunday night because of this positive test. 

19.  I probably won't make it again because Ian and I were the only ones who liked it, but I really, really loved the German Apple Pancake I made for dinner tonight. Yum! I am thankful that I inherited a cast iron skillet from Maurice. I had never owned one prior to his passing, and I'm amazed at how many times I've used it.

20. Ken called us tonight. When he was here two weeks ago he was forgetting that last week was Thanksgiving. He's planning to install our new toilet tomorrow afternoon and work on the shower and other projects next week. 

21. Ian has really enjoyed reading the Calvin and Hobbes book I got him from the library. The next one will be Garfield. Our kids don't have experience with reading comic strips as we've never subscribed to a newspaper during the 12+ years we've lived in this house. 

22. Even though it's been cold, Oliver has still been playing outside. I never used to allow them to play outside after dark, but I've been letting Oliver (and sometimes Ian) play manhunt outside with them from time to time lately partially because it gets dark so early. I'm thankful he has friends to play with!

Safer at Home

Ian chose to do his art project yesterday with Peppa while sitting in a box.

Last Spring when the COVID restrictions were the harshest in PA, our area wasn't hit very hard. The COVID restrictions at the moment aren't nearly as strict, although they are stricter in Philadelphia, but the numbers are far worse in our area than they were in the spring. I still am of the opinion that if the kids or I were to contract COVID-19, it wouldn't involve a hospitalization, but if we are going to have contact with people who are in a higher risk category (such as Paul's dad who will be turning 79 this month), I think we need to be more careful than we have been since we entered the green phase in June. I had planned to take the boys roller skating tonight, but I told them today that we're going to avoid optional activities until the COVID numbers improve in our area. No one wears masks at that rink. I also planned to take them to the laser tag/ trampoline/ arcade meet-up on Thursday. I had rescheduled Nadia's voice lesson so that we could attend the meet-up, but I've decided we won't attend that event either. Masks or face shields are required there, but I don't think they sanitize the surfaces frequently enough. Camp Susque cancelled the Christmas in Tanzania program that we planned to attend next week. At the moment my thinking is that aside from attending church, picking up books at the library, and going to the grocery store, the kids and I are going to stay at home until the COVID-19 situation improves. One exception would be seeing Esther at Sight and Sound next week. I don't think that will be risky because we'll be wearing masks/shields, and I know they are sanitizing, keeping groups separated, etc. I am fine with the kids playing outside with kids in the neighborhood without masks on, but if our local school district resumes to meet in person next week, I've asked the boys to avoid having physical contact with the kids in the neighborhood. I'm hoping and praying that the vaccine distribution will take place as quickly as possible and that the COVID numbers will start going down as soon as possible!