Two Years in Heaven

 

As of today my brother has been in Glory for two full years. In some ways the grieving process has been similar to what I went through when my mom passed away in July 2016, and in other ways it has been different. The time of shock with my mom came with her diagnosis of stage four cancer about 6.5 months before she died. Although saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest moments of my life, I actually had been praying for the Lord to take her home and bring her suffering to an end. I would have thought my mom would live past the age of 71, but still her life was a little more than twice as long as Maurice's life. With Maurice the shock was receiving the phone call from the police that his body had been found. There was no opportunity to say goodbye. Although I was closer to my mom and spoke to her more regularly over the years, I had always loved my brother very dearly and had become closer to him following our mom's passing. In both instances, the intensity of the grief and loss has diminished over time as I've adjusted to the new normal of life without a mom and then life without a brother. Even though I don't cry nearly as often in response to missing them, there are still times when I grieve their absence in my life. For example, recently I've had nightmares related to Maurice's passing. I take great comfort in the knowledge that they are in a MUCH better place and that I will see them again some day. 

I saw this video (above) a couple of months ago and decided to share it today. Some money was given in Maurice's honor to AVA, the school where he taught in Brazil. They used the money to greatly improve the entrance to the school. The first time I saw the video I cried when they showed the stone with his name on it.  It took almost two years for me to start reading a book called Imagine Heaven that Margie sent me shortly after his passing. At his funeral they shared a clip from a sermon Maurice gave years before. It was more than I could handle to hear his voice at that point, and I have to say two years later I still am not ready to hear his voice, but in general I have come a long way over the past two years in processing this loss. I miss my brother very, very much. I really miss talking to him. I miss his hugs. I wish my kids could have had more years with their Uncle Maurice, but we'll just have to wait until we're reunited some day. I also find comfort in knowing that my Mom and Maurice are together. When life seems to be going in a crazy direction down here on earth, I find myself wishing the Lord would return ASAP, which would also speed up my reunion with my mom and brother. 

Lists and plans

I enjoy making plans and lists. As a homeschooling mom, I have plenty of opportunities to utilize those skills. There is menu planning which leads to online grocery orders or a grocery list if I'm shopping in person.  I have spent almost no time over the last year planning field trips, but that's usually something I really enjoy doing. Requesting library books is another regular task whether I'm requesting audiobooks from Overdrive or Hoopla or physical books from a local library. I check out hundreds of books a year from local libraries - mostly for the kids. Homeschooling three children involves making plans for each of them in various subjects. For example, we are using Creating a Masterpiece for art. I choose exactly which projects we'll do, and then I have to make sure we have all the art supplies that we will need to complete those projects. In recent months I've purchased watercolor pencils, inktense blocks, wooden eggs, various types of paper, and many other things for art. Buying Christmas gifts for thirty-two family members each year also involves a list.

Two lists I've been working on lately relate to Junior Ranger badges and future vacation plans. The kids have earned about 80 Junior Ranger badges thus far. In 2018 and 2019 they were earning them in person. They earned a few in person in 2020, but the vast majority of the ones they earned in 2020 and all of the ones they've earned so far in 2021 have been earned through the mail or online. Because of COVID, some national parks that previously only allowed children to earn badges in person have for at least the time being allowed kids to earn them from a distance. In some instances, they won't give you a physical badge if you earn it from home. I've been trying to only select those who will actually send you a physical badge or patch. My goal is 

for the kids to each earn at least 200 Junior Ranger badges. Because of COVID, some places haven't actually mailed us badges even though I mailed the booklets to them. Maybe we'll get them eventually? I realize some of the rangers are working remotely and may not have access to badges. I've picked out 133 badges that I'm planning to have the kids earn over the next four years (32 online or by mail and 101 in person), and I also have another list of another 37 that we might be able to visit at some point - mostly in NY, NJ, MD, or VA. Printing the booklets, keeping track of which child completed which booklet, mailing them at the Post Office, or scanning them and sending them by email are some of the efforts I put into the kids earning Junior Ranger badges. 

Nadia will be graduating from high school in 2026, which is a little more than five years from now. That is a sobering thought! It causes me to

want to be intentional about thinking through our future vacation plans. 2020 certainly taught us that all our plans can be scrapped right and left, but hopefully that won't be the norm for the next five years. I have done some reworking of previous plans in light of COVID and also in light of the vacations that were cancelled last year. Here is what I'm thinking at the moment:

1. This fall spend about 3 1/2 weeks on a long road trip that includes doing things in 18 states the kids haven't been in before. Some highlights would include Mammoth Cave (KY), US Space and Rocket Center (AL), Shiloh (TN), Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Chicago, and Detroit. 

2. Next year fly to Atlanta and spend some time in Georgia before driving to Florida and fly back from Tampa. This trip would be our usual length (between 1-2 weeks) and would add one state to the kids' list of states (Georgia). Highlights would include the Georgia Aquarium, fourteen National Parks in GA/FL, and three amusement parks. 

3. In the fall of 2023 I'd like us to take a 12 day vacation to New England and Canada. Since I was combining what had originally been planned as two different trips, I deleted a few stops such as Quebec City, Acadia, and some sites in CT/RI. Some of the stops are in states we've already visited (MA, NY, and the province of Ontario), but this trip would add three states (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont) and one province (Quebec) to their list. Highlights would include 20 National Parks, several science museums, a whale watching cruise, and some other historical sites in Salem, Boston, Ottawa, and Montreal. 

4. In 2024 I'm thinking we could fly out west to visit Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Redwoods, Crater Lake, Portland, Mt. St. Helens, Seattle, Mt. Rainer, etc.  This trip would add three states to the kids' list (WA, OR, and NV) as they've already been to California. 

5. In the fall of 2025 spend about 2 weeks in England and France. 

Other trips that aren't included in this list would be shorter and closer to home such as in Philadelphia and D.C. I also want to take the kids on a short term missions trip sometime in the next 5 years - most likely to Guatemala. If we go on these trips, the kids will have actually done something in 43 states plus DC, Ontario, England, France, Guatemala, and Quebec. The seven states currently omitted include: Louisiana, Hawaii (which has been on my bucket list for many years), Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri. It would be lovely if we could take the kids to the Caribbean at some point. Nadia was there in 2009 when she was 11 months old, Nadia and Ian were on a Caribbean cruise with us in 2011 as well as a trip to Grand Cayman in 2012, but they were too young to remember any of those trips. There are other places in the US that aren't included in the plans that would be great places to take the kids some day if possible such as Carlsbad Caverns, Glacier National Park, the Alamo, Space Center Houston, Acadia, Hoover Dam, Bryce Canyon, White Sands, Zion, and the Everglades. The kids have also expressed a desire to visit their cousins in Quito. If we make it to South America, I'd also like to meet at least some of the kids we currently sponsor as three of our five sponsored kids live in Bolivia and Peru. Our other two live in Kenya and Haiti. We might have to wait until we're in Heaven to meet our sponsored kids.

Five Months Old

Since Milo was born on September 30 and there aren't 30 days in February, this is as close as we can get to the day he turns 5 months old. We've had Milo for 2.5 months, and he's changed a lot in that time! When we got him he weighed only four pounds; he currently weighs seven pounds. I would say he is officially done with housetraining. He wears a belly band because he wants to mark his territory in our house. I have no idea how many months he'll be wearing a belly band, but I'm very grateful for them at the moment. He's attempted to lift his leg and spray in a variety of places such as the clothes hamper or a bed post, but the vast majority of the time if he lifts his leg inside the house he's attempting to spray the drapes in front of the sliding glass door in the kitchen or the kids' coats or snow pants in the foyer. Over the past month he's improved with getting his nails trimmed. Prior to him going to the groomer, he used to like being brushed. It's been a lot more challenging to brush him over the last few weeks. Sometime in March I'm going to use the clippers on him for the first time. He's getting used to our broom, mop, and vacuum, but when he saw a picture of himself on my laptop monitor, he started growling and then barking at his photo. Ha ha! He absolutely loves going on long walks outside. He loves to run! I think this puppy is going to get me into shape! He occasionally goes to the door to let us know when he has to poop. We can go longer amounts of time in between trips outdoors to go to the bathroom.  We still sometimes have to tell him not chew something he shouldn't be chewing, but it doesn't happen nearly as often as it did at first. Whew. 

He absolutely hates being left alone. He cries when we leave for church on Sunday morning. That's usually the only time each week that he's left alone in the house, but there are other times when he's in his crate and we are somewhere else in the house. He doesn't like that At All. He wants to be able to see one of us at all times. Much to Nadia's chagrin, I am his favorite person. She gets really perturbed at Milo when she picks him up and he leaves her arms and comes over to me, and she takes him back again and he again leaves her and goes back to me. Milo does love Nadia very much. His little tail wags like crazy when she comes in the room, but when I've been gone - whether I've gone to the grocery store or just been shoveling the driveway, Milo looks like he's about to jump out of his skin he's so excited to see me. It cracks me up since I never had any desire to have a dog, but he does spend more time with me than he does with anyone else. I do love holding him because he warms me up!

Prior to taking Milo on walks recently, I was still thinking that cats are better pets in my opinion because they require far less maintenance and keep themselves a lot cleaner. You don't have to give cats a bath, for example. Cats are not as exuberant in showing their affection, but they do show affection by rubbing your legs when you're standing or purring while on your lap. Wednesday through Friday Milo and I walked (and jogged part of the time) for a total of ten miles! Now that is not something I have ever done with a cat. 

I've started the videography course, and I think my first cinematic home video will be of Milo! I plan on doing a MUCH, MUCH nicer video of the kids around the time of their birthdays than I have in the past, but the next birthday won't be until June so I think my first project will be to make a video featuring Milo.

One year later

It has almost been a full year since life became very abnormal. Although we were aware of COVID-19 earlier in 2020, our life continued on as normal until March 12, 2020. If I had known they would be closed for months, I'd have gone to the library on March 13 (the last day they were open) and checked out a massive amount of books. We quickly learned that we are not fans of online church services. In our case, our church was only closed for three months. I say "only" because some people have been limited to online services for a full year at this point. So many things have happened over the last year that I never would have thought possible. Our church even being forced to be closed for even two weeks would have seem unthinkable prior to COVID. I fully realize that life has changed more drastically over the past year for many people that for our family. We already homeschooled our kids whereas it's been an unexpected shock for many families to experience virtual learning at home. None of us came down with COVID, none of our friends or

family have passed away from COVID, and Paul's business actually had its best year ever in 2020. But the past 12 months have still felt very abnormal. Spending more time at home than usual has had some positive outcomes such as the kids doing FAR more puzzles than ever before and we played more board games than we'd ever played before, and we've been very healthy!

In the very beginning I don't think I could have handled the knowledge of how long this was going to last. I kept thinking life would be back to normal in maybe 2-3 months. As the spring and then summer progressed I began to realize that normal could be more than a year away. At this point, I'm hoping but not 100% confident that life will be close enough to normal that we will go on vacation in September. The pace of life has definitely slowed down, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Time will tell exactly how much will truly return to normal at some point. Will we ever ditch the facemasks and shields? Will we ever

shake hands with people again? At this point the change I'm looking forward to the most is everything be fully open again - museums, historic sites, national parks, etc. I'm hoping that will happen sometime in 2021, but I realize it might not happen until 2022. Here are some of the main ways life has been different for our family over the past 12 months due to COVID-19.

1. We typically go to several concerts over the course of a year. From January 2020 to the present, Nadia, Ian, and I only attended one concert - the Compassion Roadshow in Wilkes Barre in early March right before everything shut down. Paul and Oliver haven't been to a concert since 2019. Since the middle of March concerts have either been virtual or drive-in events. We watched a little of some free virtual ones in the beginning of the pandemic and discovered that we vastly prefer in person concerts. We haven't experienced a drive-in concert. Some friends and

family attended a drive-in concert by For King and Country in our area, and I heard positive feedback about that. At this point I have no idea how long our concert hiatus will end up lasting. 

2. We also typically attend several dramatic productions each year. I took the kids to see Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom in February 2020, and Nadia and I saw MCS's production of Annie in early March right before everything ground to a halt, but since then, we've only attended one production - Queen Esther at Sight and Sound in Lancaster in December. It was very strange to be in such a large theatre with such a very small audience (capacity greatly limited). We don't have any plans at the moment for attending anything in 2021. We shall see when that returns to "normal." If life is a lot closer to normal by December, I'd like us to go to NYC in December and see a show as part of that trip.

3. The last time we flew in an airplane was May 2018, but we actually hadn't planned to fly anywhere

in 2020. However, of the five one week trips I had planned for 2020, three of them were cancelled due to COVID. The kids and I did spend a week with Aunt Janet in August, and all five of us spent a week in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania in October. As for 2021, I'm planning to take the kids and Milo to visit Aunt Janet for a week in July, and the five of us are hoping to go out west in September/October. Due to COVID, I've changed that vacation itinerary so it doesn't involve any flights. I'm thinking we probably won't step onto an airplane until 2022. Hopefully COVID-19 won't be a factor by then!

4. Even though we "only" were away from church for three months, life at church still hasn't returned to normal. We wear masks or shields. Temperatures are taken for those 18 and under. There aren't any choirs. I haven't attended an adult Sunday School class in a

year. Usually there is a time for people to come forward to the altar for prayer each Sunday morning. That hasn't happened in a year. Usually we shake hands and hug people. Now we just wave from a distance.  We used to pass an attendance pad. Now we sign in online even if we are attending church in person. The attendance has been drastically lower in person as many have chosen to participate only in the online services. Communion is also handled differently. The boys haven't been to AWANA in a full year. This means Ian's time in AWANA ended in early March 2020 as he'll be entering 6th grade this fall. Similarly, his time in the kids' choir at church ended in March 2020 because again he'll be too old for it if the kids' choir resumes at some point in the future. Although there were months when the youth groups were only meeting online, Nadia's experience at church has been closer to normal as she has been attending the youth group at our church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night and at another church on Sunday night. 

5. The libraries were totally closed for a few months, and then they reopened just for picking up books you had already requested. That is still the status of the library we had used for several years, but in September I got a card for a different library system, and that other library system is totally open. Discovering there is a library closer to our house through which I can request books from several libraries has been one of the blessings in disguise of COVID-19 for our family. 

6. I redeemed some credit card points last January for an AMC gift card. We planned to see at least three movies in the theatre in 2020. We never entered an AMC theatre in 2020. The only movie we saw outside of our home from January 2020 to the present was one IMAX movie at a science museum in Cincinnati in October. Will we use the gift card in 2021 or 2022, or is seeing movies at a theatre a thing of the past?

7. At least one of our kids has gone to camp at Camp Susque every year since 2014, but the kids ended up going to PMBC because Camp Susque cancelled their camps due to COVID. We haven't been to Camp Susque in 18 months because the other events we had registered for were also cancelled over the last few months. We are scheduled for a field trip there in April. We shall see if that actually takes place. At this point the plan is for Nadia to go to Camp Susque this summer and the boys to go to PMBC. I don't think we ever would have learned about PMBC if COVID-19 hadn't closed many other camps last summer.

8. Not counting our one week vacation in October, we have only been on five field trips over the last twelve months - Reptiland, hike at Hawk Mountain, Dale's Ridge Trail, Refreshing Mountain, and a trip to Hershey/ Indian Echo Caverns; most of these field trips were outdoor events. We went on three field trips between February 21 - March 8 so that means our grand total of field trips from January 2020 to the present would be eight, which is far, far less than usual. We haven't gone on any yet in 2021. I have three field trips scheduled for March and April. We shall see if those actually take place or not. I'm not holding my breath! Since we are studying various countries and cultures this school year, prior to the pandemic I had planned out a variety of cultural festivals for us to attend from June 2020- May 2021 in Camp Hill, Philadelphia, DC, Doylestown, etc. So far every single one has been cancelled, and I'm expecting that trend will continue for the next three months. I do miss our field trips and look forward to the day when I can plan them again without such a high risk of cancellation being present all the time. The upside is that I put a lot less mileage on the van over the last year than I typically do in a year.

9. I never would have dreamt I'd be wearing face masks or shields. I definitely prefer the shield. Although I'm hoping they aren't here to stay for years on end, ditching them is not as important to me as other aspects of "returning to normal." We've also become accustomed to staying six feet apart during the rare times we're in a public place.

10. Nadia has benefitted financially because you can't bring an extra person with you to a doctor appointment, the dentist, etc. This has meant I've needed to pay Nadia for babysitting Oliver more than I would have normally.

11. Although I've homeschooled the kids for the past eight years, I have outsourced for many of the extracurricular subjects as the kids have been in choirs at church and other places, taken art class at MCS, theatre classes/camps, soccer teams, ice skating lessons, swimming lessons, basketball teams, gym class at CWC, etc. Ice skating and basketball ended right around March 12 last year, and since then the kids haven't been in a choir, played on a team, etc. Nadia really misses ice skating. Nadia has been participating in voice lessons over Zoom and theatre productions over Zoom. We've been taking online art classes together. We hadn't planned to join a swimming pool in 2020, but I did join one due to COVID. Paul took the kids skiing once in January, but basically their "physical education" for this school year has been whatever exercise they get while playing inside and outside.

12. When this first started last March, I wasn't feeling the need to be very cautious because the numbers were very low in our area, and since we don't have any risk factors, I figured it wouldn't be very horrible if we came down with it. Once things reopened, we started going to church, the library, etc. In the beginning, Paul was more cautious than me. I didn't even drive the car for awhile because he even took over picking up the online grocery orders as he figured since he was already going to work the rest of us should just stay at home. However in November my attitude changed as the cases began to rise in our area. I began to choose to stay home and avoid indoor activities that didn't seem worth the risk to me such as roller skating. Now it feels hard for me to know when to return to those activities. Thankfully the numbers have begun to decline. Hopefully at some point it will be clear to me that we can resume indoor activities (aside from church). 

13. Although I had placed a few online grocery orders prior to COVID, I certainly have done it more than usual over the past year. During the months when many businesses were forced to stay closed, it didn't affect us that much because the places I usually shop in person were still open. We definitely dealt with shortages on various items more in the past year than any other time in the previous 48 years of my life. It's not as hard to locate items as it was in the first few months, but there are still limits on buying some things such as facial tissues. Aside from food, paper products, and cleaning products some other things that were hard to find were bikes and freezers. The lockdown is the reason I bought far more puzzles than usual as well as two pairs of roller blades for the kids.

14. In the very beginning even the kids in the neighborhood stopped playing together. After several weeks they resumed playing together outside. The kids haven't been inside any other houses in our neighborhood over the last year. Most of the year none of the neighborhood kids were in our house either, but three kids in the neighborhood have been in our house a few times. We also saw far less of our extended family over the past year. I haven't seen my sister Wendy and her kids since August 2019, which is the longest I've ever gone without seeing her. Paul's mom hasn't been in our house since December 2019, and we were only in Paul's parents' house one time since December 25, 2019. Since Paul's family only live an hour away from us, we usually see them far more often than that. We saw my Dad and Margie in August when they were on their way to the Poconos. We saw the Towfighis a few times between June and November. We spent time with Paul's brother, Dad, and sister-in-law two times since December 25, 2019. The boys and I have only been in two other homes aside from ours over the past 14 months - one time at Paul's parents' house and a few times at my friend Tab's house.

15. Holidays were also very different in 2020. The only holiday we celebrated with other people in 2020 was Thanksgiving when we had three guests at our house (Paul's dad, brother, and SIL). The only birthday we celebrated with other people was Paul's mom's birthday in early November which was again a big change. There weren't any egg hunts for Easter last year. We didn't see any fireworks or attend any parades during the summer. Halloween was different in some ways but wasn't as different as the other holidays. I'm not certain what the holidays will be like in 2021, but I do think there will be some egg hunts this spring albeit they will probably be different (masks required, etc.). I still have Christmas gifts to give some of Yvonne's kids because to enter or re-enter the state of Pennsylvania has required either quarantining or a COVID test since the middle of November. We don't know when that restriction will be removed. I hope it's still not in place in July when we hope to visit my aunt on Long Island! Because we weren't going to Great Wolf Lodge for Ian's birthday, we weren't going to see any relatives at Christmas, and we've been home more than usual, those were three of the reasons I bought Milo on December 12. So one upside of COVID-19 was the addition of a puppy to our family.

Life definitely is closer to normal right now than it was in the spring of 2020, but I'm hoping that by March 2022 it's completely or at least almost totally back to normal. Time will tell. The last twelve months were unusual in other ways as well as I think back through what has happened in our country, but since I try to think about politics as little as possible, I'm just focusing on how our lives were different because of COVID-19. 

Goal Check-up

In four days we'll be entering the third month of the year so I thought I'd take the time to reflect on how we're doing with the 21 goals I set for 2021.

1. Paul took Oliver on a date this month. I told Oliver recently that when he learns all his times tables, he will earn an extra date with the parent of his choosing. Nadia and Ian are eagerly anticipating their dates.

2. We haven't been making much progress with increasing our use of Spanish. We need to get in gear!

3. The kids each earned one Junior Ranger badge in January, and they've earned four so far this month.

4. We memorized Matthew 6 over the last two months!

5. Nadia and Ian have each been cooking one dinner per week. For example, Nadia made beef noodle bake yesterday, and Ian will be making ham and cheese Stromboli on Saturday. 

6. Oliver did finish his cursive handwriting book. 

7. Nadia and Ian learned the location and capitals of all the countries in Europe and Oceania. They are working on Asia now. 

8. Milo has learned to obey a few commands (sit, down, leash, and come). If he wears a belly band, he only goes to the bathroom outside. He still tries to eat things he shouldn't (facial tissues are one of his favorites), but in general he's doing better with only chewing his toys. He's also doing better with not biting/nipping us as much, and in general he's doing better with not begging during meals.

9.  I haven't been completely regular with exercise, but I'm going in the right direction. Yesterday it got up to the low 50's!!! I took Milo on a 2.7 mile walk, and he actually had me running part of the time! I think he's going to be an excellent exercise buddy for me once the weather gets warmer. 

10. The kids have been doing art with Creating a Masterpiece three times a week lately. This week the kids did a pastel project (of hydrangeas) on Tuesday and started a colored pencil project (of a lion cub) today that they will finish tomorrow.

11. The kids and I finished Numbers, read all of Deuteronomy, more of Psalms, and we're nearing the end of Joshua. In our family devotions we've been studying Daniel for two months. We're about to start chapter 10 today. It's been the kids' first introduction to future prophecies. 

12. We've tried 33 new recipes so far in 2021. Over the next few days I'm planning on making Serbian potato moussaka, Hamantaschen, and phyllo meat pie for the first time.

We haven't made any progress toward the other nine goals yet. This week I decided to add another goal to the list even though that means I have 22 goals for 2021, ha ha. I have started a course to learn how to create cinematic home videos! Just as I have improved with my photography skills over the years, now I'm going to learn how to make MUCH nicer videos. I'm very excited about tackling this challenge after seeing what others have created! Hopefully I can create some videos that our family will treasure for years to come. 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. The belly bands are a huge blessing. Most of Milo's attempts to mark the territory inside our home are thwarted. The only time we've had to clean up a puddle over the last nine days has been when he hasn't been wearing a diaper. The kids are learning the hard way that they need to carry Milo inside the house otherwise he'll lift his leg the very moment his feet hit the kitchen floor. It's been more than a week since he pooped in the house, and that has nothing to do with his belly band.

2. Nadia's weekly voice lessons resumed via Zoom on February 9. None of us can sing in a choir due to COVID, but Ian is making great progress on the piano (he's almost ready to move to Alfred Level 6), and Nadia is taking voice lessons and practicing at least four times a week.

3. Nadia also is participating in a play with other middle schoolers via Zoom called Nancy Blue (a spin off of Nancy Drew). One perk of voice lessons and play practices being conducted on Zoom is I do a lot less driving. In a typical week I drive to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night and also make one trip to the library + grocery store. Aside from church, in all of February we only had three other things on the calendar that took place outside of our house - Milo at the groomer once, Ian at the orthodontist once, and I had one doctor appointment. Two of those appointments took place about 1 mile from our house, and Paul took Ian to the orthodontist because it had snowed some that day. The price of gas has gone up 50% over the last year, but I'm not buying as much gas as I used to before COVID. 

4. Nadia is also enjoying a bi-weekly ASL class on Zoom through one of the libraries in our area.

5. Everyone in Yvonne's family came down with COVID recently (they have 8 kids), but thankfully they only had a mild case of the virus. Andrew was the first one to catch it, and his only symptom was a headache.

6. Paul finished repairing a hole in the drywall behind the refrigerator that had been there for years, and he also got the glass back in the door in our entertainment center. Next up is to finish the master bathroom project so we can resume using that shower. 

7. Paul has been at home more lately because of the snow. We've gotten more snow than usual this year. We got at least 4 inches yesterday morning. He had a VERY short work day yesterday as he sent the crew home very early because of the snow. He had a very, very hard time making it home in his Mazda. We are very thankful he made it home without getting in an accident.

8. Margie and my dad are having a good time in Cancun. She's receiving alternative treatments for her cancer.

9. Although we couldn't even make ourselves finish the acai bowls or pao de queijo that I had prepared, we have found some "winners" this month including Belgian waffles, challah, and strawberry crepes. Oliver really loved the pan de coco. Today is the Emperor's Birthday holiday in Japan. I bought the kids cotton candy (wata-ame). I can't remember the last time I did that. Look up cotton candy in Japan and you will see images of how BIG their rainbow cotton candy is. Oliver wants to go to Japan just for the cotton candy, ha ha! We're also having jaga bata (a Japanese buttered potato recipe) and kasutera (a Japanese sponge cake) tonight. We shall see if either of those are "winners." On Friday we'll be celebrating Purim by eating Serbian potato moussaka and Hamantaschen cookies. I ordered chopsticks today because Oliver said he wanted to try eating with chopsticks. Now I need to figure out where I'm going to buy color powder for when we celebrate Holi next month. 

10. When Nadia came home from youth group on Valentine's Day she came with a bag filled with many lovely gifts. Our friend, Tab, had organized the project that several ladies in the church had worked together to gather the goodies for each of the girls in the youth group. Her bag contained socks, a mug, hot chocolate bombs, candy, jewelry, etc. What a sweet surprise!

11. The kids and I enjoyed eating our brownie batter donuts. We only get them once a year, and they're our favorite kind of donut. Yum! 

12. Over the last couple of months I had my annual mammogram and also the less frequent pap smear. I'm thankful for negative results on both.

13. Sometime last month I bought a charging stand that holds and charges our 5 electronic devices (two phones, one Kindle, and two iPads). It now sits on the fireplace mantle. The cords are SUPER short. It's a small thing but let me tell you I really appreciate that the devices and all their longer cords are no longer on the kitchen counter. Woohoo! 

14. We had taken a bit of a break from doing Junior Ranger badges, but now the kids have resumed earning them. As of today, each child has earned 76 badges! We received some badges in the mail today from New Orleans, and I have some packets I need to take the Post Office to mail to some national parks.

Expander and belly bands

 Milo's belly bands arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we couldn't wait to put one on him because as every day passed he was marking the territory more and more in our house. For example, on Saturday morning he attempted to spray Paul's work jacket that was hanging on a chair in the dining room. Thankfully Ian scooped him up as soon as he lifted his leg, but there were plenty of other times we had to clean up a mess. Since we started using the belly bands on Saturday, we've only had to clean two accidents in the house. He pooped in Ian's room once on Saturday. Thankfully it's very rare for him to poop in the house because the belly bands won't help with that one iota. On Sunday morning after he came inside the house he walked right over to the hamper as I was throwing in a load of laundry and lifted his leg and sprayed. He had been in the house less than 5 seconds so we hadn't put his diaper back on yet. Thankfully since Sunday morning he hasn't had any accidents in the house - at least none that escaped his "diaper" anyhow. We take off his diaper when he's in the crate or sitting on the couch as he is prone to trying to chew the diaper. He doesn't have accidents on the couch, in our arms, or in his crate so we primarily use the belly bands for when he's walking around the house. I hope that when he's neutered that will bring an end to this behavior and we can discontinue the belly bands, but for now they are a blessing. We have three of them, and I can launder them. 

Ian finally got his expander for his top jaw on Monday. I turned the key once yesterday. It brought back memories of the years (starting when I was in 4th grade) when I would put the key in my expander on a daily basis. Now there are things that Ian can't eat, and he's relearning how to enunciate words with that metal device in his mouth. I know he will adjust. It's a bit hard to understand what he's saying sometimes at the moment.

We've continued to try some new foods. Nadia usually doesn't like hot breakfast foods (aside from eggs, which she loves), but even Nadia really liked the Belgian waffles I made earlier this month. None of us were crazy about the pan de queijo (a gluten free Brazilian cheese bread), but I remember my brother talking about those when he lived in Brazil. The kids had never heard of a cold fruit soup before, but they enjoyed the strawberry soup I made them yesterday. Paul doesn't usually eat what I prepare when I make breakfast for dinner, but he actually ate some of the pannenkoek that I made on Saturday evening. The Dutch pancake was thicker than a crepe and thinner than an American pancake. I read that you could put either sweet or savory toppings inside it. I opted to put bacon and cheddar cheese inside them, which I think is partially why Paul was willing to give it a try. Oliver and I enjoyed the Spanish flan and also the pan de coco (Filipino bread recipe). The kids and I all really liked the challah. Of the new recipes we've tried so far this month, two of them will be added to our rotation - Belgian waffles and challah. Over the next ten days I'm planning on making acai bowls, strawberry crepes, honey kasutera, jaga bata, candy apples (ringo ame), Musaka, and hamantaschen for the first time. 

Happy New Year!

In September we celebrated Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year, and of course we celebrated the New Year on January 1. Today marked the third time in five months that we've celebrated a "New Year" as today is the Lunar New Year, which is celebrated in China, South Korea, Tibet, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Because it's based on the moon, the date changes each year. Last year it was on January 25. One of the traditions is to wear red, which considering this year the Chinese New Year is two days before Valentine's Day, it probably looked like we were celebrating Valentine's Day based on the red shirts and sweaters and kids and I are wearing today. The inktense art project today was of a Chinese rooster that included the Mandarin characters for the word "rooster." The kids are looking forward to receiving a red envelope (yasui qian) that contains money this evening. We're having an Asian orange chicken and Jasmine rice for dinner tonight. Last week we celebrated the Sabbath. The kids were puzzled as to why I had a lace tablecloth on the table and had lit two candlesticks (remember, keep) for our dinner. The kids absolutely loved the challah bread. I'm sure I'll be making it again!

As for Valentine's Day, I got the kids each a gift - headphones for Ian because he's been obsessed with listening to Parry Gripp songs on the Echo Dot, a box of 12 Hot Pockets for Nadia because that's her favorite thing to have at lunch and I don't buy them very often any more, and a hoverboard go kart attachment for Oliver. Oliver paid for about half of the go kart attachment using some of the gift card money he hadn't spent yet from Christmas. I'm assuming both Nadia and Oliver will take turns using the go kart attachment since they both have hoverboards. We made heart shaped gingerbread cookies on Wednesday. We usually make gingerbread cookies in December, but we hadn't made any in 2020. I'm planning to make heart shaped breakfast foods on Sunday morning - either toast with a heart shaped egg inside or a heart shaped chocolate chip pancake. I'll let the kids choose what they want. On Monday when I take Ian to the orthodontist I'm planning to get 6 brownie batter donuts at Dunkin'. They only sell them around Valentine's Day in our area, and I'll also buy the kids some candy on Monday since it's always cheaper the day after the holiday. 

Milo has started marking his territory inside our house. We had this trouble around this time last year when we had two male rabbits. I thought because we only have ONE male dog, we wouldn't have this problem. The vet won't neuter him until he turns 6 months old. They suggested buying belly bands. Amazon is supposed to deliver them tomorrow. Our plan is to have him wear a belly band when he's inside the house. Hopefully this will do the trick. As of today we've had Milo for exactly two months, and we're all very ready to be done cleaning up his accidents!!!

Date with Daddy

For the past 12 years we haven't had a routine as far as taking our kids out on individual dates. Years ago Paul took a child with him to the Watson Inn for dinner on his birthday, and I did the same on my birthday, but it's been years since we've done that. Nadia has had the most dates with a parent since she is the eldest and also because sometimes she and I have done something that was for girls (like getting our nails done) or seeing the Nutcracker ballet. Oliver and I have had outings together when Nadia and Ian were attending something like history camp when he was too young to join them, but in general Oliver has had the fewest individualized outings with a parent. I read a book last fall that really emphasized taking your children out on dates. I came up with the plan that each child would get to plan a date in the month of their birthday and half-birthday so that they will each have at least one date per year with each parent. Oliver's half-birthday was yesterday. He decided that he wanted to go bowling and eat dinner at Bonanza with Paul. We never went bowling in 2020 because of COVID. Oliver had a great time on his date with his Dad. We shall see what Oliver will plan for he and I to do in August! I hope this is a tradition the kids will eventually have fond memories about when they are adults. It's possible we could expand it to each child having 3 or 4 dates per year with a parent as even if we did 4 per year we could arrange it so one parent had one date with a child per month, but six dates a year is at least a good starting point!

Since I stayed home with Milo when Paul took the kids skiing last month, we won't have any skiing pictures to include in any photo books this year. Paul did take two videos with his phone which I finally got around to uploading. 

We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow. I'm VERY ready for spring to come. Nadia has her first voice lesson for the spring semester tomorrow, but since they take place via Zoom, snow won't cause any problems. 

8.5 years old!

 A - I am not sure why, but Oliver has had the "joy" of dealing with acne at a younger age than usual. He actually started using a special soap to wash his face when he was only seven years old. He doesn't seem to care, but I've felt badly that he had to start dealing with having large quantities of pimples on his face at such a young age. He likes to eat half of a gala apple at lunch. He still pronounces the word animal incorrectly most the time. He says "aminal." 

B -  Oliver loves to eat bacon and ride his bike!  (not at the same time of course!) One of Oliver's friends is a ten-year-old boy named Bentley. Prior to a few months ago we had never had any trouble with any of the kids in the neighborhood, but we have definitely had issues with Bentley. We are praying for him and trying to teach Oliver to be kind but also not let himself be bullied. 

C - Oliver has been learning how to write in cursive the past few months. Camden is one of his friends in our neighborhood.

D -  Oliver still eats his cereal dry most of the time. He does ask for milk in the bowl when he eats Cocoa Puffs. Oliver is always excited when he sees that Deacon (a boy close to Oliver's age) has come to visit his cousin (a little girl in our neighborhood). 

E -  Oliver eats almost everything. His list of foods that he doesn't like is very, very small.  

F -  Friends are VERY important to Oliver. He plays outside with the kids in the neighborhood whether they are several years younger than him or several years older than him. He would gladly skip eating a meal if that gave him more time to play outside with a friend. Oliver is very friendly - no one is a stranger to Oliver! Oliver can swim, but he still hasn't mastered the art of floating on his back.

G - Oliver is almost always generous! I often see him sharing food with the kids in the neighborhood or getting one of them a glass of water. When we invited some neighbors to join us at the trampoline park, Oliver immediately offered to pay for their socks with his own money. It's very rare when Oliver isn't willing to share. He likes to have grape jelly on his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. One of his favorite expressions to say is "Guess what?".

H - Oliver loves hugs and riding on his hoverboard. Oliver loves to play with my hair, which is something I really appreciate. He loves to drink hot chocolate with marshmallows and often asks me to also make a second mug for one of his friends.

I - Oliver often asks for his back to be itched. We've tried to get him to use the word scratch. It reminds me of my brother who loved to have his back scratched his entire life. This past fall he spent $10 of his money to buy a back scratcher on Amazon, and for awhile it was one of his most prized possessions!

J -  Like  his dad, he loves to chew Juicy Fruit gum; unlike his father, he does not like to wear jeans. Jack is one of his friends in our neighborhood.

K - Karyss is one of his friends in our neighborhood. He also has been known to share our Klondike bars with his friends.

L - Of anyone in our family, Oliver creates the most laundry.

M - One of Oliver's favorite things to eat for breakfast is maple brown sugar oatmeal. He likes to drink milk all day long. Maddox, who is in 7th grade, is one of his friends in our neighborhood. Oliver loves to listen to music; sometimes I ask him to listen in his room because it's not something I want to listen to. 

O - Oliver loves to play outside. He spends more time outdoors than his siblings do. He would gladly forgo using electronics, watching tv, or even eating a meal just to have more time to play outside with his friends.

P - Oliver loves Paw Patrol toys. 2020 was the first year it wasn't hard to shop for him for his birthday and Christmas. I used to have the hardest time coming up with ideas of what to buy him, but now I buy him Paw Patrol toys.

R - Oliver learned how to roller blade in the spring, and he rollerblades around the neighborhood many times a week!

S - This boy takes after me in several ways - one being his love of sweet potatoes! I'm also very, very thankful that he love to snuggle just as much as Ian does! He also likes to ride his scooter.

T - Like his mom, he doesn't like to drink soda, but like his Dad he does like to drink sweetened iced tea. Oliver loves to climb trees!

V - Oliver asked me this morning, "What is this thing that has no arms?" He was showing me a sweater vest from his drawer. He wore it to church this morning over a long sleeve polo shirt and looked quite handsome! I haven't done a good job of taking pictures the last several weeks so I failed to get a picture before he changed clothes to play in the snow. 

W -Westyn is one of his friends in our neighborhood. He still really loves to eat watermelon!

Y - Oliver hasn't seen all of the Star Wars movies yet, but he was excited each Friday in the fall to watch an episode of the Mandalorian on Disney+ to see baby Yoda!

Z - Oliver got his first pet six months ago - two zebra danios. He named them Henry and Zuma.  Unfortunately they both died at the very end of December. Since we got Milo a little before the fish died, I didn't agree to getting any pets to replace his two fish. We still have the plant that was on top of the fish tank.