Easter Weekend

On Saturday morning the kids attended an egg hunt in our town that they had never attended before. The Wesleyan church in our town sponsored the event that was held at an elderly couple's home. It turns out they've been hosting an egg hunt on their property for 35 years, but we had never been there before. There were quite a few people there, and unlike the egg hunt from two weeks earlier, almost no one was wearing a mask or shield. At this event the kids were broken into smaller groups. Oliver was with the 7-8 year olds, and Nadia and Ian were in the group for 11-12 year olds. Even though there were a lot of kids at the hunt, they had put a LOT of eggs with candy in them, candy, stuffed animals, etc. in the grass so the kids came back with quite a bit of candy. We left Milo at home for that egg hunt. If we return next year, we will bring Milo as other families had brought their dogs with them. After we had lunch we headed out to the kids' last egg hunt for 2021. It was held in Montgomery. The other two egg hunts the kids attended this year were sponsored by churches in our town. This was the only community egg hunt they attended this year whereas typically they attend four community egg hunts each year all within 4 miles of our home. Again, almost no one was wearing a mask. They call it an egg hunt, but they only put out two eggs per age group on the field (prize eggs) and otherwise they just have candy all over for the kids to pick up. The candy could be a small piece or a large chocolate bunny. All of the other egg hunts advertised for ages 1-12. This one they broke the kids into groups by grade. Technically Nadia should not have participated because the oldest group was 5th/6th grade, but since Nadia is 12 and didn't participate in ANY egg hunts last year when she was in 6th grade, I let her participate. She knows she'll be too old to participate in any next year. There were far more kids in the 3rd/4th grade group so Oliver didn't get nearly as much candy as his siblings did, but they all came home with plenty. Oliver's will be gone first because he shares his with the kids in the neighborhood. Nadia's will last the longest. She hasn't even finished all her candy from October yet!

On Saturday we played our family game for the week since we knew we'd have company on Sunday. Ian picked Guesstures. Nadia, Paul, and Oliver were on a team. Ian and I were on the winning team. I had planned to make Torrejas for dinner on Saturday night, but we ate leftovers instead. I made the torrejas on Sunday morning for breakfast before we headed to church. The boys and I really liked them so it won't be the last time I make Torrejas! On Saturday Nadia and I made a batch of lemon crinkle cookies for our dessert on Easter, and Ian helped me make a batch of Heath bar cookies. On our way home from church on Sunday we stopped at a park so I could take pictures of the kids in their Easter attire. After eating lunch I began to prep the meatballs for our dinner. We met the Towfighis plus Jenna's boyfriend, Toby, at the same park later in the afternoon. I took pictures of their family for about one hour. After we came home, I began making the dough for the focaccia bread. All sixteen of us had dinner at about 6pm, and they left a little after 7pm to return to Maryland. They were with us for about four hours. We watched the first episode of the second season of The Chosen on YouTube, and then the kids went to bed. I took around 150 pictures yesterday! I edited some pictures last night and finished editing them today. 

Tonight the kids and I had ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and hot cross buns for dinner. I thought the buns were delicious! I've seen various ideas for a warm place for dough to rise, but this recipe suggested turning on an empty dryer for a few minutes and then putting the bowl (covered with plastic wrap) in the dryer while the dough is rising. I would have never thought of that idea on my own. I always remember my Grandma Sampson when I'm kneading dough as she was the one who taught me how to make yeast bread back when I was around Nadia's age. 

The best parts of Easter this year for me were #1 the church service and #2 spending time with my sister's family. Our senior pastor, who has been a pastor at the church for 40 years and is 70 years old, is retiring at the end of May. He and the pastor who will become the senior pastor when he retires preached the sermon together. At the end of the service, Pastor Arlie sang the song "He's Alive" by Don Francisco (written in the 80's) which is an Easter song from the perspective of Peter that I remember singing in Maryland many years ago. Last year we weren't allowed to go to church on Easter so I was all the more appreciative of the freedom to worship with other believers this year. They even had a very small choir up on the risers for the first time in 13 months. We hadn't seen any extended family members since November so it was also very special to spend some time with Yvonne's family. We were able to meet Jenna's boyfriend, and they were able to meet Milo. I forgot to take a picture of Milo with any of the cousins. I had intended to take one of Milo and Joshua as he really, really loves dogs. Hopefully I'll remember next time!

Paul's mom will likely be transferred from the hospital on Wednesday to a nursing home. We're praying that God will guide and direct her to just the right place, and we're hoping that Paul's dad will at least be allowed to visit her. She has to be on intravenous antibiotics for another 6-8 weeks.  

Good Friday

Paul remarked that is surprising that some public schools still schedule their spring break to be around the time of Good Friday and Easter. Obviously they don't go so far as to call it an "Easter break," Since we weren't doing something really special this spring break (ex. spending it in Chicago with Wendy's family), I wanted there to be at least one special thing each day. Yesterday it was the trip to Kaos for laser tag, trampoline park, and arcades for two hours. We brought two neighbors with us, and Micah and Isaiah were also there with some of their cousins. Nadia liked the laser tag so much that she played three games, which translates to a full hour of laser tag. The other four children I brought played one game of laser tag and then jumped on the trampolines for about twenty minutes before declaring they needed a break and wanted to buy some Gatorade. During the second hour all of the kids played arcade games. A homeschool group has it set up so that the two hours only costs $10 per child. Our trampoline has been off limit because of a tear in the mat. 

The only thing on our calendar today was getting Milo's pre-surgical bloodwork so I decided to give the kids their Easter gifts on Good Friday to help make today special. We watched a Good Friday broadcast this evening. I made an Italian dish called an Easter meat pie for dinner. Ian didn't have any because it includes a lot of ricotta cheese, which he doesn't like. Tomorrow I'm planning to take the kids to two egg hunts. It's been very cold the last two days (had snow flurries yesterday!), but it's supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow and even nicer on Sunday. Tomorrow we're going to have a Spanish dish often served at Easter- torrijas (the Spanish version of French toast). On Sunday morning we're going to have hot cross buns. go to church, and then in the afternoon Yvonne's family is coming to our house for a few hours! I thought we were going to end up having another holiday that we celebrated with only our immediate family, but Yvonne and I made plans for them to come up a couple of days ago. Since they lived in a Muslim country for about fifteen years, they aren't accustomed to eating ham. I had already bought the sweet potatoes, ham, etc., but we're just going to push that meal off a day or two. Both families really, really like rigatoni and meatballs. It's not a traditional meal to serve on Easter, but why not if everyone likes it? I haven't made it for several months. To make the meal a little more special, I'm also going to make focaccia bread. My kids love focaccia bread. I haven't made it for Yvonne's family before, but I think they'll like it. For dessert I'm planning to try a lemon cookie recipe a friend gave me recently. Seeing their cousins will be a very, very special treat on Sunday! The last special thing planned for Easter Sunday will be to watch the first episode of The Chosen season 2 at 8pm! We loved seeing season one last year and have been eagerly anticipating season two, which will focus on Jesus' early ministry. They are hoping to eventually have a total of seven seasons!!

Since the kids didn't have school yesterday and today, I had more free time. Yesterday I started doing some planning for the next school year. Yesterday I came up with a plan so that I can finish reading the Old Testament with the kids. I skipped a few chapters that are just lists of names and all of Song of Solomon, but otherwise we will have gone through the Old Testament together for the second time. I also spent some time working on our homeschooling portfolio yesterday to show at our evaluation on May 1. Today I worked on Life of Fred plans for Nadia and Ian for next year, began selecting some read alouds for next year, and ordered some textbooks for next year. I haven't decided what I'll use for Algebra I for Nadia or 6th grade math for Ian yet. I also need to give more thought to what the boys will do in science next year. I've started a list of books I plan to request by ILL through the public library during the next school year. Field trips may still be very challenging to plan in advance, but I can start choosing read alouds or books I want the kids to read independently to supplement our study of ancient history. 

I haven't decided what we'll do to try to make Monday special, but on Tuesday we're planning to join some homeschoolers at a park. It's been chilly this week, but next week the temps are supposed to be back into the low 60's, which means I should be getting more exercise next week than I've gotten this week. The most important gift to focus on this weekend is definitely Jesus giving his life for my sins. His love is more than we can ever comprehend. Here are some lines from one of my favorite hymns.

1. "Could we with ink the ocean fill,
   And were the skies of parchment made,
   Were every stalk on earth a quill,
   And every man a scribe by trade;
   To write the love of God above
   Would drain the ocean dry;
   Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
   Though stretched from sky to sky."

Spring Break

Last year we planned to spend our Spring break in Chicago and Detroit. Wendy's kids always get a week off of school the week before Easter. We had spent Spring break with them in 2017. When our plans were cancelled last April, I rescheduled the trip  to their Spring  break in 2021, but several months ago I deleted those plans from our calendar as I realized life wasn't going to be normal by Easter. At the moment, the plan is for us to have a shorter visit with them in October. Hopefully those plans will actually take place! Since we cancelled the trip, I wasn't sure how many days I should give my kids off for Spring break. The kids in our neighborhood either attend MCS (Christian school at our church) or the local public school. The public school gave the kids a full week off - from March 31 to April 6. When the neighbors have off and we are trying to do our schoolwork, the doorbell rings many times. I decided to give the kids April 1-6 off. One neighbor rang the doorbell at 10am yesterday. Oliver had told some of his friends on Tuesday that we were doing schoolwork on Wednesday or we would have had

more kids at our door. I tried to help the kids get done a little bit earlier. Oliver and Nadia were done before we had lunch at 11:30, and Ian was done at 12:30. We have 18 days left of school for the year. We'll hit 180 days before then, but I will have documented 187 days by April 30. One of those 18 days is a field trip day so we really only have 17 days left of doing our usual subjects. 

Sometimes we start listening to a book and decide we don't want to finish it. We've usually loved books by Gloria Whalen, but Ian wasn't liking The Hedge School. We gave Hello, Universe a whirl because it won a Newbery Award, but Nadia didn't want to finish that one. The kids are enjoying a Newbery Honor award recipient - Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. I recently had counted how many Newbery award books we've read so far. They've listened to 51 of the Newbery award winners. Nadia and Ian read one of them (New Kid) on their own, and Nadia read three others on her own, which means Nadia has either read or listened to 55 of the 100 Newberry award winners. There are more than 300 Newbery Honor books.

We've read at least 57 of them together, Nadia and Ian each read another one, and Nadia read five more independently which puts her at 63 total. I have picked out some Newbery award and Newbery Honor books for us to listen to together in the coming months as well as for Nadia and Ian to read independently. We shall see how many we end up reading over the years to come. 

Today we're headed to an indoor entertainment venue (trampoline park, laser tag, etc.), which is something I've avoided for several months due to COVID. I wasn't sure when to resume such activities. When Tab said they were going, I decided we'd join them. We're also bringing two kids from our neighborhood. I did see yesterday that the state historical sites, which have all been closed for over a year, are at least partially reopening the end of April so that's a good sign that things are moving back in the right direction. And my sister called yesterday to ask if they could join us for a few hours on Sunday! We haven't seen any relatives since November, and no relatives have met Milo yet. This means I can finally give two nephews and one niece their Christmas gifts that have been under my bed for months; I guess we'll call them Easter gifts, ha ha!

P.S. Milo didn't get the memo that Spring break started today. He woke Ian up at 6:50, which meant Ian woke me up as well.

6 Months Old!

Photo credit- Nadia

Milo turned 6 months old yesterday! It was in the 60's so I walked him for a little over 4 miles. He's been in our family for 3.5 months, and his behavior has improved a lot over that time span. He's lost quite a few baby teeth. Ian has found five of them. Occasionally he still chews the wrong thing (ex. the kitchen chair or this morning he chewed our Fire stick remote), but in general the chewing problem is much, much less of an issue than it was in the beginning. One upside to having a puppy is that the main floor of the house has even less clutter than usual. The kids' toys that used to be on this floor of the house have been relocated to the basement or one of their bedrooms. The three things he gets in trouble the most for putting in his mouth are facial tissues , guinea pig bedding, and shoes. He honestly likes tissues more than dog treats! Yuck! As for the shoes, we had been keeping them higher on the shoe rack in the entryway, but he had learned how to stand on his back paws and shake the rack with his front paws to make some shoes fall off the rack. So we moved the shoe rack to the garage so Milo wouldn't eat the kids' shoes, but it turns out I actually like it better there aesthetically speaking. 

Thanks to his belly band, we haven't had to clean any accidents for a few weeks aside from the one time he had an accident in the crate when we were gone for 4 hours. He's having bloodwork done this Friday in preparation for being neutered next week. Hopefully this will curb his desire to mark the territory inside the house. We also don't have to take him outside nearly as often as we did at first. The schedule now includes only taking him out six times a day (twice per child although sometimes I take one or more of their turns when I take Milo for a long walk). He's basically going about 3 hour stretches without needing to go outside. It's been several weeks since he scratched at the door to let us know he wanted to go out so we've been taking him out based on the clock not his behavior. 

He still has a long way to go with being compliant when we're grooming him, but Nadia and I are improving our skills in caring for a dog in terms of bathing and shampooing him, trimming his fur, brushing or combing him, plucking ear hairs, cleaning his ears, trimming his nails, etc. He also tries to jump up to get on the counter when there is meat of some kind up there. I hope he can learn that is not permitted in this house. Thankfully he hasn't actually succeeded although he's gotten very close.

I am still his most favorite person. If I put on my shoes, he sticks to me as closely as possible as he's hoping against hope I will be taking him with me. He cries sometimes even when I just do something like go to the bathroom! Ian was also like that when he was young.  

He barks a lot more now than when we first got him. That's definitely not something I like about dogs.

He had been waking up at 6:45 until the time changed, and then for more than a week he got up at 7:30. He's now getting up at 7:00. He still sleeps in Ian's room. I asked Nadia if she wanted to move the guinea pigs downstairs as I *think* Milo won't hurt them as long as they are in their cage, but she said she likes having them in her room. Personally I'd never sleep in the same room as their cage. Even though we change their bedding once a week, it stinks! Milo goes absolutely nuts if he sees a guinea pig out of the cage so they pretty much are confined to Nadia's bedroom all the time. Because his behavior is much better, he doesn't spend much time in the crate aside from overnight and when we leave the house. He absolutely hates it when we leave him in the crate by himself. He cries very loudly which tugs on our heart strings. Usually he's only left home alone once per week - Sunday morning when we're all at church. The last two weeks we did leave him alone at home in his crate one additional time per week for about 4-5 hours each time, which is longer than we're gone on Sunday mornings. 

We feed him dry dog food, but we also give him little bits of our food. I don't have to rinse the dishes any more before putting them in the dishwasher as Milo loves to lick them clean. We never let him have any chocolate, and the only food he avoids like the plague is applesauce. He generally is good about not begging, but sometimes he reverts to begging. He weighed four pounds when we first got him. His rate of growth has slowed down over the last month as he weighs about 7 1/2 pounds now.

Yesterday we also celebrated Holi (one day late). We had two Indian dishes - chicken tikka masala and chapati bread. I can assure you I won't ever be making either of those again. I think Ian and Oliver will eat more of the chicken so at least I won't need to throw it out. The kids enjoyed throwing colored powder and squirting each other with colored water. Milo was NOT a fan of this activity. It took me awhile to make the colored powder and it was quite an ordeal to clean up afterward including baths or showers for the kids and Milo. All that to say hopefully a fun memory was made, but I don't plan on ever doing this again. We only have one holiday left to celebrate this school year - King's Day (Netherlands) on April 28. We also need to read about Shavuot, which is celebrated in May.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Paul's mom was moved from the ICU to a regular room in the hospital yesterday. 

2. We had an enjoyable play date at the park last Thursday with other homeschooling families.

3. The weather was really lovely most of last week! I walked over 30 miles over a period of 8 days! I am positive I won't log as many miles this week, but hopefully there will be other weeks in the coming months when I walk at least 25 miles a week. 

4. The kids enjoyed the Hak4kidz conference on Saturday - especially the escape rooms, Lego animation workshop, and the Edison robot programming session. I've already purchased a stop motion app, and I believe I'll be buying an Edison Robot sometime over the next several months. It was refreshing to do a field trip as we haven't done many over the past year. Everyone was wearing masks or shields and using copious amounts of hand sanitizer.

5. The kids were thankful for the chocolate bunnies they received at the drive-thru egg hunt on Saturday.

6. Milo didn't have any accidents while we were gone for 5+ hours on Saturday!

7. The grass has turned green and the hyacinth are in bloom!!!

8. Nadia enjoyed having lunch and a quizzing practice after church at her coach's home on Sunday.

9. They are talking about resuming the adult choir at our church in about a month!!!

 10. Paul survived his crazy schedule last week. He left for work before 3AM most days and got home after 9pm most days. He went to bed after I did so I have no idea how much sleep he got, but it wasn't very much. He's spending the night at his dad's home last night and tonight, which means either he'll have more time to work or he'll get some more sleep. He wasn't really spending any time with the kids or I, so the two hour round trip commute seemed to be in vain in my opinion. He left yesterday morning around 6:30am with leftovers to eat for dinner tonight and tomorrow. He's planning to come home around 8:30pm tomorrow night. When he doesn't get much sleep I am concerned about him staying awake while driving. I feel much better knowing his commute (to his dad's house) is extremely short.

11. Aunt Janet was fine with us switching the dates for our trip to spend a week with her in July. This meant I was able to sign Nadia up for a two week (four hour per day) outdoor theatre camp. It's for grades 6-11, and they'll be putting on a production of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. Many places aren't offering a theatre camp again this summer due to COVID. I'm thankful she has an opportunity to be in an outdoor theatre camp and that it only costs $50, which is far less than what I've paid for her theatre camps over the last eight years!

Ethical hacking and a play date

On Thursday five moms and thirteen kids gathered at a park to get some exercise and enjoy the warmer weather. Nadia was one of only two girls in the group. Most of the kids were between the ages of 8-13. Ian always enjoys playing with Micah and Ean. Ean is nine months older than Ian and nine months younger than Nadia. Ian and Ean love to chat about Minecraft. Milo was crying during the ride to the park, but I'm sure he greatly preferred that we brought him along rather than leaving him home alone for 4 hours.

Yesterday the boys played at the skate park near the library we've been using since September. Nadia, Milo, and I walked from the playground to the library and back. They also spent a little bit of time at another playground while I picked up a few things at the grocery store.

Ian and Ean

Today the kids attended an ethical hacking conference for kids. A conference for adults was also being held at the same fairgrounds that focused on forensics, cybersecurity, etc. The event for kids was free, but some of the workshops entailed a small fee of $2 per participant. The ones that cost money were the kids' favorite. First they participated in one that involved using Legos and an app to create an animated video. Nadia's favorite station that didn't involve a fee was the one where you tried to pick locks. She was able to pick the two easiest locks. She spent a lot of time trying to pick the third of five locks, but she didn't master it before it was time for our first escape room. We conquered the escape room with a little bit of help and some extra time. After that escape room the kids participated in a class that focused on programming a robot. Our last stop was another escape room. This one was a bit scary to Oliver as it featured a mummy. We managed to solve that one (with some help) within the allotted time. I already purchased an app so Nadia and Ian can do more of the Lego animation at home.

On our way home we stopped at the drive-thru egg hunt. Each child picked a color, and one of the adults running the event opened an egg of that particular color which had a number on it which let them know which prize they had won. I imagine this was the first and last "drive-thru" egg hunts that the kids will ever participate in during their lifetime. The upside was that in a traditional egg hunt all three of them don't typically find a prize egg. After we got our chocolate bunnies, we came home to rescue Milo. We had been gone a little over five hours, which was the longest we've ever left him alone before. Last week he had an accident in his crate when we were at Tab's house. It was the first time in 3.5 months that he had peed in his crate. He cried REALLY loudly when we were leaving which tugged on all our heartstrings, but thankfully he was a good boy and didn't have any accidents while we were gone. He was SOOOOO excited when we came home. 

This evening we had a Passover seder. Let me tell you that none of us like horseradish. YUCK!!!! We also weren't fans of dipping our celery in salt water, but those were to remind us of the bitterness of slavery. The grape juice (instead of wine), charoset, and Matzoh crackers went over much better. We asked the questions and read through two different books during the meal to learn more about how the Passover is celebrated. We're eternally grateful that Jesus is our Passover lamb! 

Paul's mom took another ambulance trip to the hospital again. Her blood pressure is too low, she had a stroke recently, and she has an infection in her blood stream that likely originated in her back and possibly liver. She's having another heart catheterization on Monday. Prayers for her are appreciated as well as prayers for her family members. It's hard to watch someone you love deteriorate physically. I've been praying in particular for Paul, his brother, his Dad, and Aunt Debbie. And of course I'm praying for Ellie. I hope they can reduce the amount of pain she has been in the last couple of weeks. She's struggled even to talk on the phone for most of this month. We love her and miss her!

Evaluations

In Pennsylvania when I first started homeschooling the law stated that children who were eight years old or older needed to be evaluated each year, and that those in grades 3, 5, and 8 needed to be tested. The law changed to a lower age, but the change didn't impact our family because Oliver turned eight the year it went into effect. Because of COVID-19, homeschoolers didn't have to be evaluated or tested in 2020. Since my kids were in grades 2, 4, and 6 last spring, they weren't due for a test anyhow. Nadia was evaluated in 2017 and Nadia and Ian were both evaluated in 2018 and 2019. The evaluations aren't a big deal to me, but I was really hoping that the testing requirement would be waived again this spring since the pandemic certainly isn't over yet. Our state requested another waiver, but the Biden administration said the school districts MUST conduct their state testing this year even though some schools have not yet resumed meeting in person. I'm not a big fan of standardized testing in general, and I haven't found it to be helpful with my children thus far. Nadia took a standardized test at Camp Susque in 2017. Nadia and Ian both took the MAP Growth test online in 2019. I had been planning to use the MAP Growth test for Oliver and Ian this year, but I've made other arrangements. The evaluators I used from 2017-2019 are only certified for K-6th grade, which means I need someone else to evaluate Nadia this year. I ended up picking a woman in Bloomsburg, and the price she charges to administer the Woodcock Johnson was less than what it costs to do the MAP Growth online. We are scheduled to be at her house from 1-4pm on May 1st during which time she'll look at the portfolio and other documentation for all three kids plus administer the WJ-IV for Ian and Oliver. 

Thinking about possibly visiting three different Six Flags parks for the first time sometime this summer (May-July) lead me to consider visiting some other places in conjunction with those trips. Some of these places are already open but 5 of the 6 National Parks are not open at the moment. I'm hoping some (or all) of them will open sometime over the next four months. If so, I'm thinking we could do a one day trip to Six Flags America in Maryland (primarily to spend time with cousins), and a one day trip to the Buffalo area to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural site plus Six Flags Darien Lake. We could also have a two day trip to The Great Escape plus possibly four National Parks (if they reopen) - Martin van Buren plus three in Hyde Park. Lastly, we could take a three day trip to Springfield, MA to visit Six Flags New England, Old Sturbridge Village, the Springfield Armory (if it reopens), and the Springfield Museums. Most of these sites had been included in the vacation plans for fall 2023. If we are able to visit them this year then I think we can add other things to the fall 2023 trip - the Weir Farm and PEZ factory in CT, Acadia National Park in ME, Quebec City, and three sites in Rhode Island (Newport Mansions, Roger Williams Monument, and John Brown House museum). The one member of our family who would NOT like these plans if he could comprehend them would be Milo. The only thing on our calendar thus for as far as amusement parks was Knoebels in May, and they are very pet friendly. I was planning on bringing Milo along. Pets aren't allowed at Six Flags. I'm thinking we could offer to pay Micah and Isaiah $10 a day to pet sit Milo when we go on these one, two or three day trips. We are planning to take Milo with us to Long Island in July, and if we go on our vacation in the fall, he'll have to stay with someone else for 3.5 weeks. 

Thankful Tuesday

1. It's SPRING! Winter is my least favorite season. It not only officially became spring on March 20, but the weather turned nicer that day. Milo and I have logged a little more than 21 miles total over the past four days! Yesterday I took one walk with Oliver after I got home from Ian's orthodontist appointment, and then I took a walk with Nadia after dinner. Today Oliver rode his bike while Milo and I walked to the playground in our town that is the farthest from our house. We'll probably take the day off tomorrow because it's supposed to be cooler and rainy, but it's supposed to get up to 72 degrees on Thursday!! Getting exercise and fresh air on a pretty day is a balm to my soul.

2. Millie's knee replacement surgery went well on Friday. 

3. I tried a new recipe today - Swedish Apple Oatmeal Pie. If you like apple crisp, I suggest you give this recipe a try! Nadia and I thought it was delicious. 

4. Paul and I were able to watch a recorded Zoom performance of Nancy Blue, Girl Detective this weekend. Nadia was one of the members of the cast.

5. We've finally gotten into a good habit of playing games together as a family at least once each weekend - usually Saturday afternoon.

6. We enjoyed watching Sight and Sound's production of Samson. The kids and I finished it this morning. Yesterday we tried waiting until Paul got home so that he could continue watching it with us, but considering he got home a little after 9pm and Oliver usually goes to bed at 8:30, we couldn't wait for him. We aren't going to see any productions at Sight and Sound this year, but they are going to do a new show in 2022 and will be revealing what it will be on April 2. We are curious, and we're hoping to attend the new show in 2022! 

7. Although our absence greatly distressed Milo, we enjoyed a play date at a friend's house on Friday afternoon.

8. The earliest Milo has gotten up since the time change was 7:15 (today). Every other day he woke up at 7:30, and prior to the time change he had been getting up at 6:45 almost every day. 

That doesn't look very comfortable, Milo! What a goofball!

9. I'm thankful I was able to play a flute solo at FBC on March 14.  I miss playing my flute and appreciated the invitation.

10. We enjoyed our virtual Chick-Fil-A tour on March 18 and learned about the history of the company.

11. The kids were thankful to be able to participate in an egg hunt for the first time in two years at the Alliance Church on March 20. Most egg hunts have been cancelled for the second year in a row so we aren't taking it for granted.

That looks a lot more comfortable, Milo!

12. In January 2020 I purchased a membership to Six Flags thinking we'd visit five different Six Flags parks. Two of the ones I thought we'd visit never opened in 2020 due to COVID, and we couldn't cross the border into Canada for La Ronde. We did make it to two Six Flags parks a few times last year (MD and NJ). I saw recently that three parks that didn't open at all in 2020 are opening in May 2021! Although we stopped paying for our membership a few months ago, we were given extra months this year due to the closures last year. So I'm hoping that in May- July we'll visit the one in Maryland again (just because my sister's family lives near there and they also have a season pass) and also visit up to three Six Flags parks that we've never been to before  - two in New York (one near Buffalo and the other near Lake George) and one in Massachusetts.  Now if more National Parks would open up - not just out west but even in New York. I recently pushed our plans to see the Blue Angels to 2022 because of COVID so it's nice to contemplate making some new plans to visit some amusement parks for the first time in light of cancelling so many other plans over the last year. 

13. Oliver is finally reading chapter books independently! He probably could have started sooner than he did, but I really enjoyed having him read aloud while sitting on my lap. He's currently reading books from the Dragon Masters series. Speaking of books, the kids have all been enjoying the Frog Princess series by E. D. Baker. We're almost done with the third book in that series. 

6 Miles!

Two weeks ago I set a goal of walking at least 12 miles that week. It was a lot colder last week, so I set my goal at 7 miles. I didn't walk at all on Thursday or Friday, but I logged about 5 1/2 miles on Saturday which put my total for the week at 9 miles. Yesterday I went on two separate walks - one with Nadia and Milo and a second with Oliver and Milo. Milo did fine with walking 5.5 miles yesterday when there was a break at home in the middle. I told Nadia yesterday that my goal was to walk at least 15 miles this week, but since I walked a little over 6 miles today, I'm changing my goal to 25 miles for the week; it's supposed to be in the 60's all week. Oliver was riding his bike when Milo and I were walking today. Oliver wanted us to walk at least 8 miles today, but Milo was very thirsty and tired. Prior to today's walk, I had wondered what his limit was because in every previous walk he had seemed like he could keep going. At two different points in today's walk he sprawled out on the road. I picked him up and carried him for part of the trip during two different instances. When I take Ian to the orthodontist tomorrow, I'm going to buy Milo a water bottle that has a bowl attached that he can use when we're taking a walk. I *think* if he had been able to drink during our walk he could have kept going. We shall see if he's up to an 8 mile walk later this week if we bring water for him. Oliver was convinced he couldn't ride his bike up one of the hills on our route. I offered him a Hershey bar if he could ride his bike up the hill without stopping. That was just the motivation he needed! I'll also be buying a Hershey bar tomorrow. 

Other highlights of the weekend would include:

1. I rented Samson from Sight and Sound this morning. We watched part of it. We saw the show in Lancaster five years ago, but naturally Oliver doesn't remember it. We have been reading the book of Judges lately and had been reading about Samson last week so I thought it was good timing. We'll finish watching it tomorrow as it is two hours long. We considered it to be our "first service" this morning as we are only attending one service at church due to COVID. 

2. We played Uno this afternoon (Nadia's choice). Paul won the first round, but we played four games. Oliver won the second, and I won the third and fourth, which meant I was the winner today. Paul had won every single game we played the last three weeks. His streak came to an end today. 

3. Nadia and I gave Milo a bath yesterday afternoon. We've been giving him a bath every two weeks, but this was the first time that after I blow dried his fur, we trimmed his fur. I used the clippers on him, and Nadia used the scissors on his face while I held him. It was quite a messy endeavor, but I think that considering we have no experience and he's not exactly cooperative (the groomer gave him a D last month), I think we did a pretty good job! If he is a part of our family for 12 years, we'll save about $6,000 if we do the grooming ourselves. (The pictures in this post were taken last week prior to when we groomed him.)

4. Yesterday morning I took Milo and the kids to an egg hunt. This church hasn't had an egg hunt the past 12.5 years we've lived here. If COVID hadn't ever happened, they would have had one last year, and I doubt that many people would have attended. Because there were zero egg hunts last year and there is only one "drive-thru" event egg hunt scheduled in our town this year, there were TONS of people at this egg hunt. They gave a gospel presentation first (read the story of the Lost Sheep and then went through the colors of the wordless book), had an egg hunt, and then gave out free hotdogs, bottled water, chips, and cookies to everyone in attendance. Almost everyone was wearing a mask or shield, but the 6 feet rule wasn't being followed. I was surprised that being in a crowd bothered me. It was the first time I had been in a crowd in a year, and it was a bit unnerving, which certainly never bothered me prior to COVID. I brought my good camera, but the battery was dead so I just took two pictures with my 8 year old phone. They had the youngest children (0-3) search for eggs on the playground and had a field roped off in two groups. My three were  in the same section as it was for ages 8-12. Ian and Nadia have sometimes been in the same age bracket for an egg hunt, but Oliver and Nadia have never been in the same bracket before. The kids picked up quite a few eggs, but they didn't get any prize eggs. Their eggs contained either little toys (erasers, tops, tiny slinkies, etc.) or small pieces of candy such as a tootsie roll or Starburst. Some of the candy (ex. Twizzlers) was as hard as a rock. I have a feeling they had these eggs prepared last spring. Milo was not happy that we were gone for 4+ hours on Friday (play date). He peed in his crate for the first time, and he's been with us for more than 3 months. That was part of the reason we took him to the egg hunt. He sticks to me like glue if he sees that I am putting on my shoes. He does NOT want me to leave the house without him.

5. Since Paul comes home from work earlier on Saturdays (5:30pm compared to 8:30pm M-F), I placed a small grocery order for him to pick up at Weis on his way home yesterday. Partially I was trying to get some things we need for our Passover seder this week (grape juice, Matzoh crackers, and horseradish), and I also was hoping to get some more of the Blueberry Crisp ice cream. The Weis closest to our home is small, and they don't carry that flavor. Paul could not believe how thrilled I was when he brought in the grocery bags and I saw that they had filled that part of my order. I was surprised because I had received an email saying a couple of items were unavailable and that had been one of them. I am telling you it is SUCH a delicious flavor of ice cream. YUM! 

Eggs and trips

The kids usually attend around five Easter egg hunts each year. Usually the first one is in our town's park on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. The day before Easter they have often attended four egg hunts - one at our local library followed by two more in our town and one in the neighboring town about 4 miles from our home. Some years the kids have also attended an egg hunt at a church - either the Methodist church in our town, the Baptist church in Milton, or our church. Last year the Alliance church where the kids have gone to AWANA since 2011 planned to have an egg hunt, which they haven't done over the past 12 years we've lived here, but of course last year ALL the egg hunts were cancelled. The three churches where the kids have participated in egg hunts before are not having an egg hunt this year, but the Alliance church is having one tomorrow. It will be held outdoors (as egg hunts almost always are) with everyone asked to wear masks or shields. They said it's for ages 0-12; I told Nadia she should be glad her birthday is after Easter. This might be her last year to participate in Easter egg hunts. I think she's going to hope her brothers will be generous and share their candy in the future although since Ian is 11 his days are also numbered when it comes to being eligible to participate. 

The library said that they are giving children one plastic egg for several weeks whenever they check out a book from the library. Our local library isn't one we actually use very often so we won't be receiving any eggs from them this year. I haven't seen any advertisements for the two egg hunts typically held in our town the day before Easter so my guess is that those two won't be taking place this year. The one in Montgomery (4 miles from our house and where I've been going to the library this school year) IS having a traditional egg hunt. I've noticed the people in that town are far more lax when it comes to wearing masks than the other towns around here so my guess is that not many people will be wearing masks at that egg hunt. The egg hunt being held in 8 days in our town has been advertised as a drive-thru event this year. I am not sure how you conduct a egg hunt as a drive-thru event. I'm guessing they'll just give each kid a bag with some candy or hardboiled eggs or plastic eggs with candy in them? We are registered to attend an event in Bloomsburg that day so I am not sure if we will get back in time to drive-thru the egg hunt or not. The bottom line is that I'm thinking the kids will participate in two egg hunts (one tomorrow and the second on April 3) and possibly the drive thru event on the 27th.  Considering they didn't participate in any egg hunts last year, two egg hunts is definitely a step back towards normalcy although they've certainly never worn a mask or a shield at an egg hunt before.

There were seven kids at the play date today (plus three moms). Cheryl (one of the moms) was giving me some pointers as they went on a 37 day road trip out west two years ago. They planned to go to Acadia last summer for one week but naturally that didn't take place. This year they are planning a one month trip out west again. When she found out we were going to Mt. Rushmore, she suggested we also visit the Crazy Horse monument. I'm planning to add that to our itinerary. They drove to some places farther west and farther north than we're planning to go (California and Glacier National Park). Of the places in our current itinerary, 28% of them are still completely or partially closed one year later. A few of those are not important to me (ex. 3 science museums), and some are closer to Pennsylvania so the odds are greater we could see them again at some other point in the future. Ten places that are currently closed are the ones I'm paying attention to the most - Lowell Observatory, two places on Native American soil (Lower Antelope Canyon and Four Corners Monument), and the other seven are National Parks (Little Bighorn, Timpanogos Cave, Effigy Mounds, Pipestone, Devil's Tower, etc.). I thought about switching the plans and going to GA/FL this year instead of next year, but the same situation exists in GA/FL in terms of many visitor centers in National Parks are still closed. Tab said they would watch Milo when we're on vacation as long as it doesn't interfere with their vacation plans. My guess is that we WILL take our trip out west this fall. I'm hoping and praying that over the next 6-7 months more of the national parks will reopen, but if they don't I'll just need to readjust our plans. Because of that uncertainty, I'm not quite ready to actually start making any reservations. 

I did see that one of the churches where the kids usually attend VBS is having VBS this summer. They listed a rain date, which they've never done before which makes me wonder if maybe VBS will be held outside this summer? They've typically attended about 3 weeks of VBS each summer. There weren't any VBS programs around here last summer so if they even attend one week of VBS outdoors (wearing masks) this summer that will again be a step back in the right direction.