Exhausted!

Last Thursday was our last day of "school." To me the counting of days is rather arbitrary. We listen to audiobooks almost if not every day of the year. On Friday the kids participated in a three-hour program about soil at Ricketts Glen State Park; so obviously I'm still trying to provide the kids with educational experiences even if we're officially on summer break. Saturday morning Nadia and I planned to spend multiple hours shopping at yard sales as she needs summer clothes, but the almost non-stop rain we had on Friday and Saturday thwarted those plans along with my plan to mow the lawn. Our youth pastor and his family came over for dinner at our home that evening. His wife grew up in Thailand, and it was interesting to learn more about her experiences. 

The Stars on Ice show had two other performances in Pennsylvania which were actually closer to our home than Pittsburgh, but those shows were at 7:30pm, and since I'm not a night owl, I chose the 4:00 show in Pittsburgh. If I had known that Nadia's drama rehearsal schedule would be so demanding this week, I wouldn't have made the choice I did. On Sunday morning we left our house around 7:15am. Our first stop was the Carnegie Science Center which is right next to the Steelers' stadium. Unfortunately, because there was a flood warning for the Ohio River that day, the submarine was closed. We are 0-3 in touring that submarine! Our time in the science museum included a planetarium show and a program about liquid nitrogen. The last time we were there we had seen the electricity program that featured a Tesla coil. Our only cost (aside from gas to get there) was parking. I had planned to use gift cards at a TGIF near the Penguins' stadium, but it turned out the restaurant has permanently closed. We rolled with the punches and shared a large pizza instead. Eating a pizza is faster than eating at TGIF so we had some time so spare and considered visiting another site in the city, but in the end, we opted to arrive at the ice show earlier. The show was outstanding; our two favorites were Nathan Chen and Jason Brown. For 10+ years I've had this experience where I well up with happy tears when I'm experiencing something special with my kids. That hadn't happened for about 3 years, but in the past, it's happened when I took the kids to the circus, Disney on Ice, a Broadway musical, etc. Even though I find it a bit embarrassing to shed happy tears at random moments, I'm truly grateful for the privilege to create memories with my three kids. Oliver gave me a Mother's Day card on Saturday, Ian gave me one on Sunday morning, and Nadia made me one during the drive to Pittsburgh. I also received a card from my dad and Margie. Since we had a very early "dinner" at 2:15pm, we stopped for ice cream at Dairy Queen on the drive home. We got home around 10pm and were so very thrilled to receive a very good report from our neighbor about Milo's behavior at their home in our absence. We tried to give them $20, but they declined any payment, which was very kind of them. Hopefully this means he will be a little angel while we're on vacation for the last two weeks of May. 

Monday morning the kids and I were out the door a little before 8:30 for drama. I was planning to sign Nadia up for drama at the co-op next spring as well as sign Nadia and Ian both up for art at the co-op next spring, but this tech week schedule has been BRUTAL. As of now I'm thinking I'll sign them up for chorus and possibly art at the Christian school instead. What made the schedule particularly repulsive to me was the fact that they were expecting the four of us to spend 48 hours at the church this week. I have never been asked to stay at any of Nadia's drama rehearsals over the last nine years that she's been involved in theatre. Ian helped out as a member of the stage crew. Oliver helped some and played some. I was working in the kitchen for many of those hours as three of us were responsible for cooking dinner for eighty people four nights in a row plus providing snacks for the cast all the hours they were there. I pushed myself too much on Monday as I was up at 6am cooking our dinner, started mowing the lawn around 4:15pm after we got home from drama, finished mowing and weed whacked after dinner, and then cooked sloppy joe meat to bring to the co-op on Tuesday. 

On Tuesday morning I was not in good shape physically or emotionally. I chipped a tooth the day before Easter, and the earliest I could be seen by the dentist was May 10. At the time I thought my 2pm appointment would mean Nadia was only leaving a little early from drama, but they lengthened the rehearsal that day to 11 hours long. Although I don't enjoy having my mouth numb for 3 hours, I was thankful that the dentist appointment gave us an excuse to leave much earlier that day. Lately the only places we've had to wear masks have been medical facilities. I was pleased to see that masks are now optional at the dentist for the first time in two years. 

I have been careful NOT to push myself at home the last three days, although I have still taken Milo for a 30-60 minute walk each day. This morning we had our homeschool evaluation from 9-10am. Thankfully our evaluator came to our home. Paul didn't get home from work until 9:15pm on Monday. I asked him to come home a bit earlier on Wednesday for Milo's sake as the kids and I didn't get home from co-op until 9:30pm that night. Paul and Pop Pop plan to attend Nadia's show this evening. Oliver and I left around 6:30pm to come home since Paul could take Nadia and Ian home. The Schrecks, Oliver, and I plan to attend the show tomorrow night. There was a cast/crew party this evening that was supposed to last until midnight (seriously are these people all energizer bunnies?), but our kids aren't participating due to the time of day the party is being held and the fact we will have another long day tomorrow. Our evaluator took literally more than 1,000 pictures during a dress rehearsal yesterday, so I didn't bring my good camera to the co-op yet. I probably will bring my camera tomorrow, but since she was allowed to move in very close to the actors, I hope she got some great shots.

Part of what has made the week challenging for me is the number of hours I have spent on my feet every day. The pain level has gone up dramatically over the last four days, but maybe this is a blessing in disguise if it will help me to be better prepared for our upcoming vacation? I'm learning to just deal with the pain as I refuse to be a couch potato any longer. On Saturday I had two things on the agenda - a program about snakes and a couple I've known for 26 years (they're in their 80's) are coming up for dinner at our house. I think we're going to skip the snake program as this week has been very draining for me. On Sunday we're planning to go to church and then to Knoebels. Monday I'll be getting ready for our vacation: mowing the lawn, getting a haircut, getting the oil changed and the tires rotated on the van, and packing. And Tuesday will be the first day of our vacation. The primary election is on Tuesday, so I mailed in an absentee ballot today. Sometimes I feel like it's challenging to know whom to vote for in a primary election. I rarely have that conundrum during a general election.

Today marks exactly one year since Paul's mom passed away. I was given one thing of hers following her passing - a yellow tablecloth. I have that tablecloth on our dining room table now, and I think of her every time I look at the table. I'm grateful that she's no longer in any pain, but we miss her very much! Unfortunately, Oliver doesn't have any memories of my mom because he was only three when she passed away. Thankfully, all three of my kids have memories of Paul's mom. 

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is in five days! For about ten years of my life Mother's Day was a challenging day for me emotionally because I wondered if I'd ever be a mother. Finally, at the age of 36 I was pregnant with Nadia on Mother's Day, which made the day very different than previous ones. I was also pregnant on Mother's Day when I was 37 and 40. I really, really wanted to spend Mother's Day in 2016 with my mom, but she insisted I spend it with my children. I knew it would be her last Mother's Day on earth, and it was. Paul's mom passed away a few days after Mother's Day last year. I am very thankful for my mom, Paul's mom, and the fact that I've been blessed with three children on earth and more children in heaven. If I made a list of the biggest blessings in my life, my three kids would be near the top of that list. Friday night I took Nadia and Ian to a For King and Country concert in Binghampton, NY, which is a little over two hours from our home. Normally, I would not be willing to drive that far for a concert, but I love my kids very much and that group has been Nadia's favorite for several years. We paid $4 for parking but attended the concert for free as we were volunteers with Compassion. 105 children were sponsored that night! We had been signed up to volunteer at one of their concerts in Hershey in 2020, but it was postponed until October 2021, and I couldn't take them then because of my ankle surgery. Unfortunately, Ian got carsick for the first time in his life about 45 minutes after we left home. Cleaning up vomit is definitely one of my least favorite parts of motherhood. Some of my favorite moments include hugs, reading books together, worshipping together in church, doing service projects together, and making memories together on vacations, at amusement parks, field trips, etc. At the bottom of this post, I included a short video that a man from our church made on Saturday about a Voice of the Martyrs service project we participated in. The kids and I are in the video. Thankfully, he didn't show the time when a trailer crashed on my head. Ouch!!! The woman who witnessed the incident was afraid I had a concussion. 

As I was growing up, the only pets we had were cats. When I moved to Annapolis in 1994, I took my cat, Snowflake, with me, but he had a very difficult time being left alone all day when my roommates and I were at work. I ended up taking Snowflake back to my parents' house, and he was much happier there. The next time I lived in a home with a pet was December 2016 when we got our first two guinea pigs. I've known other people who consider their dog to be their child. I never felt that way about a cat or the guinea pigs, but I admit I do feel like I'm a mom of Milo. He follows me around the house whether I'm collecting dirty laundry or vacuuming the carpet. When I go to the bathroom, he waits for me outside the bathroom door. My mom would have called him my shadow. Thankfully his behavior has improved a LOT over the last 16+ months that he's been in our family. We don't even lock him in the crate when we leave the house, although we still make sure the bathroom and bedroom doors are closed before we leave. He's turned into an obedient dog (most of the time anyhow) and has always been a very affectionate dog. Now to hope and pray that he will handle our vacation better than he did last September. He'll be spending most of our vacation with our next-door neighbors and Memorial Day weekend at a kennel. Unfortunately, he'll be spending a lot of time at home alone next week due to Nadia's lengthy drama rehearsals. Considering that for decades I wasn't fond of dogs, it's quite amazing to me how much I love Milo. 

I am also very grateful for the privilege to be a stay-at-home homeschooling mom as this enables me to spend many more hours with them each week. Our 180th day of school will be tomorrow, but Thursday will be our last day of school. We're planning to attend a three-hour program about soils for homeschoolers at a state park on Friday. Including field trip days, I believe we'll hit 194 days by the end of June. I've done most of the lesson planning for next school year. We never have a guarantee what will happen tomorrow (much less a year from now), but I definitely feel more comfortable making longer range plans now than I did the last two years. For example, Nadia has been asking for a few years for us to see the Broadway musical, Wicked. I haven't purchased the tickets yet, but I have tentative plans for us to see it in Saint Louis in April 2023. As of May 1, attending a Broadway show no longer includes a requirement to show proof of vaccination (yay!). 

Physically I take after my dad more than my mom, but there are certainly ways I take after my mom. Enjoying planning vacations would be one example. Growing up my mom tried to include an industrial tour on our vacations when possible. I recently read a list of the 25 best factory tours in the USA. I have no idea why they included the White House on the list of factories. Of the 24 factories listed, we've been to five of them so far (Crayola, Henry Ford, Julius Sturgis, Turkey Hill, and Louisville Slugger). We have also been on other industrial tours that weren't included in this list such as Corning Glass, Hershey, Purity Candy, Martin Guitar, BWP Bat, Schimpff's Confectionery, Boone Creek Creamery, and Salt Works. We have plans to visit eight others from the list of twenty-four: Jelly Belly (2023), PEZ (2022), World of Coca Cola (2022), Utz (TBD), Ben & Jerry's (2022), American Whistle (2023), Boeing (2023), and Roasterie (2023). I had originally planned to visit Taza in September, but I think that one will be eliminated. We had tickets to tour the White House in 2020, but those were cancelled. I do want to take them there at some point over the next four years, but I don't consider the White House to be a factory. I also have plans to take the kids on some other industrial tours not included on the list such as the Harley Davidson factory (PA), Tabasco Factory (LA), Snyders of Hanover (PA), Whetstone Chocolate (FL), Herr's Snack Tour (PA), Mack Truck (PA), and Herbaria Soap (MO). I haven't given any thought yet to what we might see and do when we visit Alaska and Hawaii so it's possible that I might add another industrial tour to the list in the future.

Speaking of planning vacations, I've had to make several changes to our upcoming vacation recently. Flexibility is vital! I had to eliminate Monocacy Battlefield (which thrilled Nadia and was a big disappointment to Paul), Discovery Science Center, Billy Graham Library, Cedar Creek and Belle Grove, C&O Canal, the National Museum of the Mighty 8th Air Force, and the St. Augustine Lighthouse due to changes to the days of the week the site is open or construction. I added some new stops to replace some of the ones that were deleted such as Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Catoctin Mountain, National D-Day Memorial, and Booker T. Washington. The kids will still have the opportunity to earn a total of twenty Junior Ranger badges during the vacation. They are most excited about the two beach days, four amusement park days, and swimming with the manatees. 

I love my husband and children very, very much, but celebrating birthdays, Christmas, Mother's Day, etc. is not their forte. There have been years when my birthday wasn't celebrated at all. This year I planned a special outing for the family on my birthday, and I'm glad I did because I received three birthday cards this year - one from my dad/Margie, one from a lady in our Sunday School class, and one from my friend Tab's sons.  I received two gifts. Ian and Nadia together purchased a digital book for me, which I read a few days after my birthday, and my dad/Margie are going to pay for a new door for our home. It wasn't intentional, but it so happens that I scheduled a special outing for the family on Mother's Day this year, so the day will be special even if I don't receive anything. We are headed to Pittsburgh! Nadia wanted to see the Stars on Ice show for the first time, and we're also planning to visit the Carnegie Science Center for the second time. We didn't watch the Winter Olympics at all this year, but we're looking forward to seeing some of the ice skaters in person! When we visited the Carnegie Science Center in December 2016 with my dad, we weren't able to tour the USS Requin submarine in the Ohio River, but we should be able to tour it on Sunday. 

Half a century

I've been alive for half of a century. Only God knows what fraction of my life here on earth I have already lived, but I assume I am past the half-way mark. 

When I turned ten, I was a fourth grader at Grace Christian School in Bowie, Maryland and had two sisters. We had moved from Texas to Maryland the previous summer. Our family attended Belcroft Bible Church.

When I turned twenty, I was student teaching in a middle school in Dayton, Ohio. I graduated from college a few weeks after I turned twenty, and in the fall of 1992, I began my career in education as a middle school teacher in Maryland. I had two sisters and a brother and was driving a Toyota Tercel. This was the only vehicle that I've owned that had manual transmission and didn't have air conditioning. I was singing in the choir of a Baptist church in Cedarville, Ohio. It cost about $1 to buy a gallon of gas. I was accustomed to having a cat as a pet.

When I turned thirty, I had been married for eight months and was living in a house in Pottsville, Pennsylvania that I had purchased 15 months earlier. I was the principal of a Christian school and was working on my dissertation at IUP. I graduated with my doctorate at the end of 2002. I was driving a Toyota Corolla. Paul and I went on two vacations in 2002; we spent two weeks in England/France and ten days in Mexico. I was a member of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Cressona.

When I turned forty, I was pregnant with Oliver, the mother of a three-year-old girl and a two-year-old son, and a tenured Associate Professor at Bloomsburg University. We had lived in our home in Watsontown for about 3.5 years. I was driving a red Toyota Prius, but in September 2012 I began driving a Toyota Sienna. I was a member of First Baptist Church in Milton.

At the age of fifty, I am a homeschooling mom of three kids between the ages of nine and thirteen. We have two two-year-old female guinea pigs and a male eighteen-month-old Bichon Frise. My youngest now sits beside me in church, fills in the sermon outline, and writes me messages like "Mom, I love you so, so much" on the bulletin. Nadia has three weeks left of middle school as she'll be entering high school this fall. I'm entering a new decade without my brother, mother, or mother-in-law. Over the last decade the type of gifts I ask request for my birthday and Christmas has changed. Paul used to get me good jewelry, but over the at least last five years I've preferred to receive things like a new sink faucet (my 45th birthday gift). Dad and Margie are giving me a new door for our home for my birthday this year, which is something I'm very, very grateful to receive at this stage of life. I'm currently a member of Christ Wesleyan Church in Milton. During the past decade my skills in photography improved dramatically. I used to enjoy riding almost every ride at an amusement park, but over the last decade that changed dramatically. Now I ride very few rides and instead prefer to take pictures of my kids on the rides. I'm driving a Honda Odyssey, our second minivan and my first vehicle with heated seats. It costs over $4 to buy a gallon of gas. Over the last decade we purchased our first iPad, Kindle, and smart phones. In addition to photography, I feel that I also expanded my skills in the kitchen over the past ten years. Most of my life I never raised my hands in worship, but over the last few years I have begun to do so. 

If I live to see my sixtieth birthday, I might have an empty nest as Oliver will probably graduate from high school in May of 2031. Milo could still be alive. I have no idea what all will happen over the next ten years, should the Lord tarry, but I want to soak up every minute that I can with my kids as the years that they live under our roof are numbered. I gained some weight over the last two years so I'm hoping I weigh less when I turn sixty than I do now. Lord willing, we will have achieved our goals of visiting all fifty states, gone on a short-term mission trip together, and the kids will each have earned at least 200 Junior Ranger badges before I enter another decade. I'm also hoping I will have achieved my goal of speaking Spanish fluently in the next few years. Although I would love to become a grandma at some point, there's a good chance that will not happen until after I turn sixty.

I think that physical changes are more significant between ages 40-50 than from 30-40 although some of it has more to do with my ankle surgery. Here are some of the changes I have noticed over the last ten years.

• I now wear bifocal glasses. Even with the magnification, I can read things that are close up more easily without my glasses, so in the last several months I've gotten in the habit of taking them off and on many times a day. For about 30 years of my life, I had worn contact lenses. 
• My height has shrunk about 1/2 inch, and my shoe size has also gone down 1/2 size.
• It probably has more to do with three pregnancies than age but sneezing or jumping can cause bladder issues.
• I've had numbness in my hands due to carpal tunnel since my mid 30's, but in the last few years the numbness has spread to my elbows. This happens most frequently when I am sleeping.
• Sleeping in bed became a painful experience for my back around age 36, and it has only gotten worse over the last decade.
• Perimenopause
• My skin is getting thinner. In particular, my hands are prone to bleeding more easily. 
• More grey hair or "old" hair as Oliver calls it. Thankfully my hair is not turning grey as early as mom's hair did.
• My short-term memory is not what it used to be. I also am far more prone to saying the wrong name. I rarely do this with Nadia's name, but I often mix around Oliver, Ian, and Milo's names. 
• Due to the plate in my ankle, I think my days of ice skating and snow skiing are permanently over. 
• I've been nervous about walking on icy roads or sidewalks for about 30 years because I had two previous falls (concussion when I was in college and then another bad spill when I was a principal), but due to my fall in September, my fear of falling has grown exponentially. I gladly hold on to someone else if there is any ice or even water on the ground.
• I'm by nature a "Type A" personality, but I've definitely chilled out some over the last decade. I think the pandemic played a role in this. Maybe there are times I should be more motivated (ex. I didn't have my kids participate in the Living History homeschool fair in February), but in general I feel that being more relaxed and not filling our calendar quite as much is a good thing. 
• I'm entering this decade with a right elbow that is in pain every day from all the weight bearing I did with my arm while my right leg was out of commission. Thankfully the pain has been decreasing recently.
• I'm also still dealing with ankle pain and swelling in my right foot which means I spend far more time sitting in a recliner than I ever have at any other point in my life. Hopefully before I turn 51, I'll feel like I've returned back to normal in terms of being able to stand and walk without tightness/pain.  Thankfully the massage therapy has been helping me make progress.
• Up until Nadia was born, I didn't have trouble falling back asleep during the night. This was a big problem when I was nursing each of my children during the night. Since Oliver was weaned, I had a few years where I could again fall back to sleep easily during the night. Unfortunately, it's again a lot more challenging to fall back asleep. Sometimes I get up much earlier than I really want to get up just because I can't fall back asleep even though I'm still tired. 

One other change that I've noticed over the last several years is that for the first time in my life I find myself thinking that I prefer how things were in previous decades. I realize we have had many technological advantages. For example, I enjoy being able to take pictures with my smart phone and the fact that my vehicle has many features that didn't exist in previous decades. Communicating with a sister who lives in another country is much easier now than it would have been thirty years ago. But I could list many ways I think life was better a few decades ago than it is now. Appliances were built to last for far more years. Biological males didn't compete in women's sports. Freedom of speech wasn't so frequently taken away here in the USA. And the list could go on and on. Sometimes it has more to do with matters of taste rather than values. For example, I find myself longing to sing music in church that more closely resembles what we sang in previous decades. 

Some years we have not done anything to celebrate my birthday, but that is not the case this year. I've never received a birthday gift from one of the kids before, but this year Nadia and Ian together paid for a $10 Kindle book for me. I haven't been with a sibling near my birthday in I can't remember how many years, but Wendy took me out for dinner last week as an early birthday celebration. Nadia needed some new clothes for our vacation, and most things are 50% off at the thrift store on Wednesdays. We hadn't been there since last summer. Yeseterday afternoon I took the kids to the thrift store and then we used a coupon for a free birthday meal at Red Robin when the kids and I had dinner at Red Robin before we went to church. My friend Cheri, who turned 65 in January, is planning to take me out to lunch next Monday while the kids are at gym class. And I made plans for the five of us (plus Paul's dad) to spend some time in Lancaster today. We have tickets to see David at Sight and Sound, and we're planning to have lunch at Shady Maple (a first for Paul and the kids), tour the replica of the Tabernacle, and tour Wheatland, the home of President Buchanan. I had made similar plans for April 21, 2020 (Esther instead of David), but those were cancelled because of COVID. It seems far more probable the plans will actually come to fruition today. I'm thankful for the fifty years that the Lord has given me so far. Knowing my brother only made it to his 35th birthday, I don't take these years for granted. If I were to live as long as my mother did, I would have 21 more years left to live. I hope to use whatever time the Lord gives me wisely. 

He is Risen!

On the Friday before Palm Sunday, Grace and Rachel flew from Chicago to Wilkes Barre unattended. Rachel had flown by herself once last summer, but this was a first for Rachel. Because Nadia had a sleepover birthday party that began that afternoon, she wasn't with us when the boys and I picked the girls up at the airport. After we picked them up, I took them to a trampoline park for an hour. After that we had dinner at Denny's and then drove home. On Saturday morning I took Oliver, Ian, Grace, and Rachel (two nine-year-olds and two twelve-year-olds) to two Easter egg hunts. It was in the 40's, but thankfully it didn't rain during the egg hunts. The kids came home with a lot of chocolate and quite a bit of trading ensued between the kids. At the second egg hunt the church also served everyone in attendance hot dogs, bottled water, cookies, and chips. After we finished eating, we drove to Jill's house to pick up Nadia. In the early afternoon we went to a third egg hunt. Nadia brought Milo along. She is too old to participate in any egg hunts this year, but the other kids did share some of their candy with her. The kids weren't very thrilled about the third egg hunt because they only picked up hardboiled eggs and didn't happen to find any prize eggs. They would

have preferred to receive more candy, but the hard-boiled eggs have been eaten over the past week. Some were eaten as is, and Wendy, Oliver, and I also ate some egg salad sandwiches. I was tempted to make creamed egg on toast in memory of my mom, but I'm the only one in our family who likes to eat it. I would have been very content to stay home the rest of the day on Saturday, but Nadia and Rachel wanted to see the final performance of the musical Shrek, Jr. at our local middle school on Saturday night. Paul stayed home from work on Saturday so he could take Ian on a date to see Sonic the Hedgehog 2 at the movie theatre. I gave him a coupon for one free ticket, one free popcorn, and one free soda. They shared the soda and popcorn, so the cost of their date was $5.50 (the cost of one ticket). Ian was thrilled to be able to see the movie the day after it was released!

On Sunday morning we went to both services at church and then stayed home the rest of the day; after the youngest two went to bed, Rachel directed a ballet challenge between Ian and Nadia where she gave them various challenges related to balance, grace, and flexibility. On Monday morning I made blueberry muffins for breakfast and then all five kids played glow-in-the-dark dodgeball at our church's homeschool gym class from 10:30-12:00. Wendy drove from Chicago to our home on Monday. Nadia and Rachel had a sleepover on Monday night. They had a very detailed schedule

that they followed from 8:30pm to 3:00am that included things like playing Twister, a ballet challenge between Ian, Nadia, Grace, and Oliver, playing Racko, watching the movie Tooth Fairy, etc. The younger kids were jealous the next morning, so we let Ian, Grace, and Oliver stay up until 10:00 pm on Tuesday night. The only thing on my schedule on Tuesday was to take Nadia to her drama class. Rachel came along with us. On Wednesday morning we played Codenames. After lunch we headed to Williamsport to help pack hygiene kits for Christian Aid Ministries who will be giving them to Ukrainian refugees. The kids played on a playground a little, and then Wendy treated us all to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in honor of my birthday. After dinner we dropped Nadia, Ian, and Rachel off at our church for youth group. Wendy and the girls left our home early on Thursday morning. The kids had a great time with their cousins. When Nadia wasn't around, Ian and Rachel played together while Oliver and Grace played together. Once Nadia came back from the sleepover party, Nadia and Rachel were pretty much inseparable. Most of the time Oliver, Ian, and Grace played together. One of their

projects was creating a stop motion movie featuring Grace's LOL dolls and Ian's pirate ships. The kids would love it if they lived a LOT closer to either set of cousins, but we are thankful that COVID is no longer making it impossible for our paths to cross. 

Originally, I had planned for our spring break to be from April 14-18, but once we knew that cousins were coming to spend time with us, we changed our spring break to being from April 9-13. We had school on Thursday and Friday whereas the kids in our area had off those two days. Flexibility is one of the perks of homeschooling! I didn't want to extend the spring break because I still wanted May 5 to be our last day of school because Nadia has theatre rehearsals all day from May 9-13, and we leave for vacation on May 16. Not counting field trip days, we only have 13 days left of school! On Thursday we stayed at home all day. I mowed half of the lawn. It was my first time mowing in more than seven months. Usually, I mow the whole lawn at one time. Due to my ankle I opted to mow half of the lawn on Thursday and the other half on Friday. We attended a Good Friday service on Friday evening. 

Yesterday I took the boys to two egg hunts. This is Ian's last year to participate since the egg hunts are for ages 1-12, and it's the first year that Nadia has been too old to participate. At the first egg hunt, they separated the kids into groups by two-year increments, and there were very few 11-12 year old children who attended. Ian took a VERY big basket, and it wasn't big enough to hold everything! The third hunt I planned to take them to yesterday was postponed until April 30 because there was rain in the forecast. Thankfully it didn't rain during either of the egg hunts. Nadia wants me to take Milo to a bone hunt for dogs that is being held next Saturday. I usually try to stick to ones that are within 8 minutes of our home and that one is 15 minutes away so I haven't decided if we will go or not. The last thing on our schedule on Saturday was attending Micah's 11th birthday party at the roller-skating rink. When we got home from the party, we watched a DVD from Redbox. I had been waiting four months to see the new Spider-Man movie. 

This morning Pop Pop met us at our church. It had been more than two years since he attended our church. He also spent time at our house afterward. I served Jell-O, homemade dinner rolls, ham, potatoes au gratin, deviled eggs, cherry dump cake, green beans, and peach kuchen. The weather had been in the high 70's a few days ago, but today it was snowing as we were driving home from church. 

Thankful Thursday

1. My friend, Cheri, joined the kids and I at our service project on Friday afternoon. We packed hygiene kits for Voice of the Martyrs for 3+ hours on Friday afternoon. We were making room in the warehouse so volunteers can begin packing kits for Christian Aid Ministries for Ukrainians.  

2. The kids stayed with the Schrecks from 12pm on Saturday through 8:50am on Sunday. They attended Isaiah's last Upward basketball game for the season and also visited Reptiland with them. A baby kangaroo was at Reptiland on Saturday. 

3. Paul and I went on our first date in 49 months! Hopefully we will not wait anywhere near that long before our next date. If my ankle fully recovers, I'd like to go ballroom dancing sometime this year. Paul and I attended a touring Broadway performance of Fiddler on the Roof in Hershey. Fiddler on the Roof was the very first musical that I saw aside from church productions. I saw it at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre in Lancaster during a high school band trip. Paul hadn't ever seen the musical and only saw the classic movie for the first-time last year. We planned to have dinner at Applebee's, but because of a wait for a table and the traffic we sat in when exiting the Hershey Theatre, we ended up just getting food at a drive-thru at Wendy's because Milo would have been locked up in his crate for too many hours. It's been 4+ years since Paul and I ate a meal just the two of us that wasn't eaten in a vehicle so I hope we can also accomplish that feat sometime this year. We used a code for a free On Demand movie with Redbox to watch An American Underdog, which is about Kurt Warner. I haven't watched any football games in a couple of years, but the only two movies I've watched so far in 2022 have been about football players or coaches. Milo slept in our bed on Saturday night. I'm grateful he usually sleeps with Ian or Nadia.

4. I had another 25-minute massage on my right calf and foot on Monday while the kids were at their gym class. The bad news is that on Monday night the pain came back in part of my foot. The very good news is that the tendon which has been very tight for 6+ months is much looser. Progress! I took a longer walk on Monday afternoon with Oliver and Milo, maybe that is why the pain returned? The massage therapist said I should wait two weeks to return for my third 25-minute massage.

5. I'm taking Nadia on a date tonight to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Some of her friends from church are in the musical. 

2022 Bucket List

Although things were definitely closer to normal in 2021 than they were in 2020, in 2022 we have continued to make even more strides back toward normal. Making future plans was a very precarious thing to attempt over the last two years, but I am feeling more optimistic at the moment that fewer things will be cancelled due to COVID. I've made a bucket list for several years each summer, but I thought this time I'd make one for all of 2022 instead. My bucket lists in the past have included some activities that were "firsts" for the kids or the whole family as well as some that weren't. This time around I'm only going to list things that would be "firsts" for us. If our trips this year go as planned, we will cross five states off the list - Georgia, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, which will bring us down to just nine states left to visit! On that note, we're planning to visit Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri during our spring break trip in April 2023; if that happens, we will only have six states left as of April 13, 2023. Our last six would be Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Louisianna, Hawaii, and Alaska. I'm sure over the course of the year things will be added to and deleted from this list, but hopefully I'll be able to write "Done" by most of them before 2022 comes to a close! Hiking at Worlds End State Park has been on previous lists but not been accomplished yet. Hopefully we can make it to that park sometime this year. 

1. Nadia dog sits for another family -Done!
2. See a production of The Secret Garden - Done! 
3. Watch Home Team on Netflix - Done!
4. Nadia and I see "Les Misérables" at Lewisburg High School - Done!
5. Paul and I see Fiddler on the Roof (touring Broadway) - Done!
6. Nadia and I see "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at MCS - Done!
7. Oliver attends Winter Jam with Uncle Al - Done!
8. Ian sees Sonic the Hedgehog 2 at AMC - Done!
9. Nadia, Rachel, and I see Shrek, Jr at WRMS - Done!
10. See "David" at Sight and Sound - DONE!
11. Visit Wheatland (home of James Buchanan) - Done!
12. Eat a meal at Shady Maple Smorgasbord - Done!
13. For King and Country concert (Nadia and Ian) - DONE!
14. See "Stars on Ice" in Pittsburgh - Done!
15. Have Witkowski family over for dinner - Done!
16. Have Artz family over for dinner - Done!
17. Have the Sweigard family over for dinner - Done!
18. Have dinner at the Rowley family's house - Done!
19. Oliver and Ian attend a sleepover at Xandir's house - Done!
20. See "Matilda" in Dover, Delaware - Done!
21. Cape Henlopen Beach - Done!
22. Tour Union Country courthouse - Done!
23. Tour a snowboard factory - Done!
24. First State National Park - Done!
25. Ruth and Paul go ballroom dancing at the Methodist Church in Muncy - Done!
26. Attend Valley Fest - Done!
27. Air Command Mobility Center - Done!
28. Longwood Gardens - Done!
29. Brandywine Battlefield - Done!
30. Georgia Aquarium - Done!
31. Titanic Museum - Done!
32. Great Smoky Mountain - Done!
33. Chattanooga Battlefield - Done!
34. Chickamauga Battlefield - Done!
35. Ocmulgee NM - Done!
36. Martin Luther King, Jr. NHP - Done!
37. Medieval Times - Done!
38. Andersonville NHS - Done!
39. Castillo de San Marcos NM - Done!
40. Canaveral National Seashore - Done!
41. Fort Frederica NM - Done!
42. Whetstone Chocolate - Done!
43. Harper's Ferry NHP - Done!
44. Catoctin Mountain Park - Done!
45. Fort Pulaski NM - Done!
46. Kingsley Plantation - Done!
47. Fort Caroline - Done!
48. Fort Matanzas - Done!
49. Shenandoah National Park - Done!
50. Swimming with manatees - Done!
51. World of Coca Cola - Done!
52. Universal Studios Florida - Done!
53. Busch Gardens Tampa - Done!
54. Carowinds - Done!
55. Daytona Beach - Done!
56. Nadia participates in "Forgotten" with the Homegrown Players - Done!
57. Islands of Adventure - Done!
58. Tybee Island Beach - Done!
59. Pirate's Island miniature golf - Done!
60. See Spider-Man: No Way Home on DVD - Done!
61. See Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers on Disney+ - Done!
62. Watch Obi Wan Kenobi on Disney+ - Done!
63. Nadia and Ian participate in a two-week drama camp - Beauty and the Beast - Done!
64. Oliver attends PA Wilds Child - Done!
65. Nadia and Ian participate in Bible quizzing in South Carolina - Done!
66. See Minions: The Rise of Gru in the theatre - Done!
67. Oliver has a birthday party at a bowling alley - Done!
68. Have Schreck family over for dinner - Done!
69. Listen to all of the audiobooks in the Lamplighter Club - Done!
70. Boys attend overnight Camp Good News and Nadia serves as a junior counselor - Done!
71. See The Tiger Rising on DVD - Done!
72. Have the DeWald family over for dinner - Done!
73. Attend Homeschool Expo - Done!
74. Attend a Midsummer Night's Dream - Done!
75. Oliver and Ian take a Ninjastics class - Done!
76. National Canal Museum and ride canal boat pulled by mules - Done!
77. Lehigh Valley Zoo - Done!
78. Nadia joins the Valley Singers - Done!
79. Ian joins the Camerata choir - Done!
80. Roasting Ears of Corn Festival - Done!
81. Paint your pet program at R.B. Winter State Park - Done!
82. Tour Old Mill Creamery - Done!
83. Have a meal with the Kinleys - Done!
84. See new Pinocchio movie on Disney+ - Done!
85. See the movie Lifemark - Done!
86. National Constitution Center - Done!
87. Betsy Ross House - Done!
88. Fireman's Hall Museum - Done!
89. Edgar Allen Poe House - Done!
90. Eastern State Penitentiary - Done!
91. Battleship New Jersey - Done!
92. Thaddeus Kosciusko National Memorial - Done!
93. Martin Van Buren NHS - Done!
94. Saint Gaudens NHS - Done!
95. Sugarbush Farm - Done!
96. Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHS - Done!
97. Cold Hollow Cider Mill - Done!
98. Vermont Teddy Bear tour - Done!
99. Marginal Way walk - Done!
100. Acadia NP - Done!
101. Lowell NHP - Done!
102. Lousia May Alcott's Orchard House - Done!
103. Weir Farm NHP - Done!
104. PEZ Visitor Center - Done!
105. Newport Cliff walk - Done!
106. Tour The Breakers (one of the Newport Mansions) - Done!
107. Boston Lights at the Franklin Park Zoo - Done!
108. Roger Williams NM - Done!
109. Adams NHP - Done!
110. USS Constitution - Done!
111. Bunker Hill - Done!
112. Freedom Trail - Done!
113. Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters - Done!
114. See the Cry Innocent show in Salem - Done!
115. Minute Man NHP - Done!
116. Harry Potter Exhibition at the Franklin Institute - Done!
117. Nadia and Ian participate in an Outdoor Adventure Skills class at Camp Susque - Done!
118. Local history tour of McIntyre - Done!
119. Nadia and Ian attend Fallout retreat at LOVEhill - Done!
120. Casting Crowns concert with Cain and Anne Wilson - Done!
121. Chesapeake and Ohio Canal NHP - Done!
122. Eat at Buffalo Wild Wings - Done!
123. Cedar Creek and Belle Grove NHP - Done!
124. Waterdale Environmental Center - Done!
125. ZooAmerica - Done!
126. Oakes Museum of Natural History - Done!
127. Watch the second season of The Mysterious Benedict Society on Disney+ - Done!
128. Have the Paulhamus family over for dinner - Done!
129. Four of us attend a two day homeschool retreat at Camp Susque - Done!
130. Wolf Sanctuary of PA - Done!
131. See Disenchanted on Disney+ - Done!
132. Panera and Christmas show at CLA with Toby and Jenna - Done!
133. For King and Country Christmas concert- Done!
134. Begin watching the third season of The Chosen - Done!
135. Christmas Spectacular at the Radio City Music Hall - Done!
136. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway - Done!   
137. Nadia attends Freeze Camp for high schoolers at Camp Susque December 28-31- Done!
138. I Heard the Bells movie - Done!
139. Nadia makes a glass flower, and the boys make icicles at Corning Museum of Glass - Done!
140. Ice skating outdoors in NYC - Done!
141. Seeing the Christmas lights in NYC - Done!
142. Castle Clinton NM - Done!
143. Federal Hall NM - Done!
144. National September 11 Memorial and Museum - Done!
145. African Burial Ground NM - Done!
146. Christmas in Lynchburg with my side of the family - Done!
147. Begin watching season one of the Wingfeather Saga - Done!

Thankful Thursday

1. Paul and I enjoyed some pie during our Sunday School class this past Sunday. There were three pieces left of the lemon meringue pie when I brought it back home. Nadia and I enjoyed eating them over the last few days. 

2. Nadia has been doing a little more cooking/baking than usual lately of her own initiative. This week she made hamantaschen cookies, which happened to be perfect timing as yesterday was Purim. She loves those cookies but not too many of the rest of us do so I think next time she wants to make those I'll have her cut the recipe down. 

3. Ian has been enjoying Python coding so much that he has begun writing his own programs in addition to completing the exercises in the book. 

4. Paul's dad came up again on Monday. I enjoyed chatting with Tab during the kids' gym class, and then Pop Pop took the kids to Bonanza for lunch before coming back to play with the kids for a few hours. He did Snap Circuits with Oliver and worked on building and programming a different Lego robot with Ian. 

5. We had snow and cold weather on Saturday and Sunday, but then we've had gorgeous (much warmer) weather the last few days. I took a short walk on Monday with Milo and again with Oliver and Milo yesterday. 

6. I don't think that time necessarily "heals all wounds," but for me personally time definitely has helped ease the grief over losing my mom, brother, and mother-in-law over the last several years. Maurice passed away in early March three years ago, and my mom's birthday was March 20. I sent four sympathy cards out this week - one to a woman who delivered a stillborn baby boy during the 2nd trimester, a woman in our church whose dad passed away last week, a couple in our church whose twenty-five-year-old son passed away, and to a woman in our church whose mom passed away last week. Earlier this month a fifth-grade boy in our school district was killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. I'm praying for each of these families as they grieve. Although I still miss all three of our loved ones who passed away in the last 5+ years, I'm grateful that I know I will be able to see them again one day. 

7. I had a 25-minute massage on my right foot and calf on Tuesday. I wish I had done so a lot sooner, but better late than never! What a difference!! The progress I've felt the last couple of days gives me some hope that I might be able to stand and walk a lot more in two months without excessive pain. My next massage appointment is scheduled for Monday while the kids are in gym class.

8. I've had a goal for a while to begin introducing the kids to Shakespeare, and finally this week we have begun studying A Midsummer's Night Dream. The kids aren't too enthralled yet, but hopefully their appreciation will grow with time. Also, speaking of books although we still liked A Place to Hang the Moon better, we also enjoyed The Last Cuentista, which was the book that won the most recent Newberry Award. 

9. Prices are pretty frightening in general these days. I paid $75 for gas on Monday morning. Ouch. I intended to buy some yogurt yesterday evening, but the price for the generic brand had jumped more than 60% in one week. I didn't buy any. I placed a small order at Sam's Club to pick up on the way home from Nadia's drama class on Tuesday. Some of the prices at Sam's are good, and some are not, but I was very pleased to find out that their price for romaine hearts is much better than what I usually pay. Nadia was thrilled because I came home with more romaine than I usually do. I try to rotate through the recipes and not repeat them more than 3 times a year, but I might need to make an exception for chicken wraps. Everyone in the family really enjoys them. I make mine a salad without a tortilla. I love it when I find something that is healthy, easy to make, and everyone likes it! 

Spring Forward

This weekend we change our clocks again. Paul never likes losing an hour. As a parent I have found that falling backward is harder for the kids to adjust to than springing forward, but now that Ian has changed to being a kid who likes to sleep in, I don't think "falling backward" an hour will be as challenging as it was in the past. March is one of those months in our state where the weather is typically ALL over the map. Just this week we've had temps as high as the 70's (yahoo!!!) and then it snowed on Wednesday and Saturday. I did take my first walk in six months on Monday. I didn't go nearly as far as I would have gone prior to breaking my leg and there was a lot more pain involved, but I just couldn't stay inside on such a pretty day. Next week, on my mom's birthday, it will officially be spring. Winter is my least favorite season, so I always eagerly anticipate the arrival of spring. Yvonne and Joshua flew to Maryland to be home during Jenna's spring break. Yvonne, Joshua, Jenna, and Toby were planning to come up yesterday and leave today, but when they learned that we were supposed to get snow today, they changed their plans and spent 24 hours with us starting at 5:30pm on Thursday. They met us at the ice-skating rink for the second half of the kids' ice-skating party. Because of our guests, I gave the kids the day off of school yesterday. I don't usually cook a hot breakfast, but because we had guests, I made a bacon cheese frittata for breakfast yesterday and chicken parmesan for dinner. Not long after they left, the kids and I left to attend a worship service that our church holds four times a year on a Friday night. Today we are just staying at home sweet home all day long, which hasn't happened for me since March 1. Tomorrow we're having pie day at Sunday School since it's one day before Pi Day (3/14), and I signed up to bring a lemon meringue pie so that is one item on my to do list for the day. 

I haven't written a gratitude list since February 24, so here goes:

1. Margie had her sixth round of chemo, which means she's DONE! Her completion of chemo is a much happier ending than my mom experienced in 2016. 

2. I was pleased with Nadia's standardized test scores. I was nervous about how she would do on the math test. It was her lowest score, but I was fine with the score she received. Next year we get a break from standardized tests because 7th and 9th graders don't need to take a test, and I am going to consider Oliver to be repeating fourth grade, which means we'll wait a year on having him take the 5th grade test.

3. Ian and Nadia did well on the written portion of the Bible quizzing on James on February 26. We had memorized James 1-4 at that point which helped them out!

4. Nadia got a 95% on her physical science test yesterday, which was on electricity and magnetism.

5. I attended a women's conference that was broadcasting a simulcast from Texas on March 4-5. The church that hosted the event didn't charge anyone a dime, and they really went above and beyond providing nice touches to the event such as fresh flowers at the table, very delicious food both days, etc. The speakers included Francis Chan, Jennie Allen, Curt Thompson, Ann Voskamp, a pastor who spoke live from Ukraine, etc. They asked for donations to an organization called Illuminations which is working to coordinate the efforts of ten different Bible translation organizations around the world. They estimate that by 2033 (or sooner) the Bible will be translated in EVERY language on the globe which was astounding to me because I know there are still MANY people around the world who still have no way to access a Bible in their language. Last year women around the world who "attended" the conference gave over 2 million dollars towards translating the Bible into some of the languages spoken in Iran, and the same thing happened this year! It's obviously a VERY risky activity to work on translating the Bible in Iran. My friend, Cheri, attended the event with me, which made it even better! We have seen each other on four different occasions so far this year and it's only March 12! That's far more often than usual.

6. The homeschool gym class resumed on Monday. We hadn't participated in it since the spring of 2019. I enjoyed chatting with Tab during the 90 minutes the kids were in gym class. Paul's dad watched the kids in the gym, took them to lunch, and the worked with Ian on programming the Lego robot. Ian has worked on the Lego robot more since he was here. He's made three of the five different types of robots so far.

7. It was lovely to be able to have my sister, Jenna, Toby, and Joshua at our house for about 24 hours this week. We definitely see them more while they are living in Quito than we did when they lived in Turkey. This is primarily due to the fact that their kids are older and need to be in the US to attend college, get their driver's licenses, work at Chick-Fil-A, take the SATs, etc. Yvonne and the kids plan to come back the end of May and stay through some time in August. Yvonne told me I should buy a "tennis elbow" brace for my right warm, which should relieve the pain I have had in that elbow for almost 6 months due to injuring it when I wasn't able to use my right leg. As for my foot, Yvonne pointed out the places where I still have inflammation and tightness and suggested that I use massage and also ice to decrease the pain. She suggested a massage therapist might be more helpful than a physical therapist at this point as she thinks I have probably regained full range of motion. She also suggested I might need to use a knee walker on our vacation in May. I really hope that's not the case. I hope that massage plus ice can bring about a lot of improvement over the next two months. 

8. Although it didn't count as one of her "dates" with a parent, I took Nadia to see Les Misérables at a local high school last Saturday afternoon. I also am planning to take her to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers later this month. The kids and I had to wear masks and they had everyone really spread out when we saw Secret Garden in February. There wasn't any social distancing at Les Misérables, the crowd was MUCH bigger, and no masks were required. I am very thankful for the easing of the COVID regulations.

9. Paul's brother took Oliver to Winter Jam last week at PSU. Nadia and Ian could have attended with the youth group, but for whatever reason they didn't sign up to go. Oliver is too young to go with the youth group, and one of his favorite artists (Skillet) was part of the tour. Uncle Al made the evening very special for Oliver. He liked the food they ate, Al bought him a t-shirt, and they attended a meet and greet with some of the artists. One of the highlights for Oliver was when Matthew West was walking up to the stage, he walked through and aisle. One of the people whom he gave a high five to was Oliver! 

10. Albeit I am ready for spring weather, Oliver is having fun playing in the snow today. 

11. I love my new laptop. If my old laptop had continued to work, I wouldn't have asked for a new one, but wow the new one is much faster! I don't think my new microwave is an improvement over the one that died, but at least it consistently works, which couldn't be said for the old one. 

When it rains

I got a new laptop last week. Laptop computers have definitely improved over the last six years! I am loving my new laptop and hoping it will last me at least six years as switching from one computer to another is a headache. I used Paul's external hard drive to copy files from the old to the new computer. This computer doesn't have a CD drive as all of my previous computers have. I had a copy of Microsoft Office 2010 on CD. I opted to purchase a digital copy of Office 2021 rather than paying an annual fee for Microsoft. That was the cheaper way to go as long as I keep the computer for at least two years, and I hope to use it for much longer than that. When I logged into my Adobe account, I learned that they no longer would provide the download link for the Lightroom 6 I had purchased in 2017. There is no longer a way to download a previous purchase or purchase it aside from paying a monthly fee. I couldn't envision paying $10 a month for years on end. If I was earning money through my camera I might feel differently. Thankfully I was able to locate the exe file on my old laptop, copy the file, transfer it to my new laptop, and I installed it on my new computer. That was a big relief, but yesterday I found out I couldn't transfer pictures from my camera card to Lightroom on my new laptop so it's not fully functional yet. I also installed the video editing software on my new laptop that I had purchased last summer; that was much simpler. Nadia and Ian are now using Grandma's laptop for Python (coding), Quiz Master (Bible quizzing), and Ian's Teaching Textbooks (on CD) so I didn't install any of those programs on my new laptop. The only other thing I think I need to purchase and install in the coming weeks will be an antivirus program for my new laptop. Paul has held off thus far on getting a new cell phone, but his days of using his 5 year old cell phone are definitely numbered as the battery dies out very, very quickly these days. The reason I said "when it rains it pours" is because our microwave oven that I purchased in December 2019 also decided to give up the ghost this week. Seriously?!? Ironically when I searched online on various websites that gave reviews on microwaves, the one that only lasted a little over 2 years was the one that most sites recommended as the #1 microwave to buy! I am not buying the same one again, and I hope the one I ordered will last a LOT longer than two years. The one that died in November 2019 lasted more than 11 years because I know we had that one when we moved to this home in 2008.

I'm hoping we don't have to replace anything else for awhile. We received a tax bill this week that was $800 more than last year's tax bill, but thankfully that was an error and we received a corrected bill today. Whew! I've never paid more than $4/gallon for gas in the state of Pennsylvania. The only time I've paid over $4 gallon has been on vacation. When I first moved to Pennsylvania in 1996 the gas was less than $1 a gallon. Back then it used to cost me $10 to fill my tank, and I could go 400 miles on a tank of gas. Now it costs me almost $80 to fill my tank that lasts a little less than 400 miles. I filled my tank on Monday before the prices jumped  so I haven't paid over $4/gallon yet, but unless this price increase is very temporary I will be paying over $4/gallon the next time I get gas.

The cost of a microwave and a laptop is a drop in the bucket compared to the more than $20K medical bills we have had hanging over our heads since the middle of November. We submitted a complaint to the hospital last week regarding the preauthorization process, and the administrator of the outpatient surgery center contacted us and said she will be investigating our situation and get back to us within 30 days. This is I think our last chance to see the bill come down as all of our other efforts haven't gotten us anywhere. Even though I don't have much hope that it will be lowered, I am still praying to that end. If the bill comes down, the first thing I am going to do is schedule an appointment to see a physical therapist because right now I have no idea how I'm going to be able to do the standing and walking that we plan to do on our vacation in 2.5 months. If I see a PT, I'm also going to ask about my right elbow. Another thing I'd like to spend some money on that costs a lot less than an ankle surgery is having some work done on our basement to keep water OUT. We had water in our basement twice in February. 

A day in our life

Most of my life what time I have gotten up has been dictated by what time I needed to be at school. When I first became a stay-at-home mom, what time I got up was usually dictated by when Ian or Oliver woke up. This has been the first school year in which the kids have very rarely woken me up in the morning. I usually get up sometime between 6:00-7:00, but every once in a while I sleep until sometime between 7:00-7:30. On March 3, I woke up at 6:30 but chose to rest for twenty more minutes before I got up to take a shower. After I finished blow drying my hair, I woke up Nadia and Ian at 7:20. I ate my breakfast, checked my email, solved the daily Wordle puzzle, and put Paul's dishes from dinner into the dishwasher while they took the two dogs outside. We only own one dog, but Nadia is earning $10/day by dog sitting a female Cavapoo named Cookie. Paul ate dinner after I went to bed last night. Nadia began her Algebra I lesson on the iPad while the boys began eating their bowls of cereal while we listened to an audiobook. I started a load of laundry and swept the foyer before sitting down in my recliner. Due to ongoing issues with my ankle, I still spend quite a few hours in that chair every day. We paused the audiobook whenever Nadia wanted to ask me a question regarding her Algebra 1 lesson. 

At 8:15 the kids and I began watching today's episode of World Watch News. Recently, we began working through a new book about the Old Testament. Every other school day we watch a three minute video that corresponds with the book. A few decades ago, I attended a Walk Thru the Bible seminar. These short videos are teaching the kids the hand motions from Walk Thru the Bible. After we watched the video, we worked on memorizing James 5: 4 and reviewed verses 1-3 of the same chapter. We have been memorizing the book of James and listening to half of the Old Testament together this school year. Today we listened to and discussed three chapters of Ezekiel. After we finish Ezekiel, we will have two books left (Isaiah and Jeremiah) and then we will have finished listening to (almost) the entire Old Testament (I say almost because we skipped Song of Solomon). The last subject that we all do together is history; thus far this year we have studied from creation through around 400 BC. Topics this week have included the Peloponnesian War, Pericles, Malachi, Plato, and Aristotle. 

After we finished history, Oliver copied Isaiah 9:6 in cursive and then started working on a  Spanish lesson with the Duolingo app while I read Nadia and Ian the next to last chapter of Life of Fred's Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics. After Nadia and Ian completed the problems at the end of the chapter, we discussed correlative conjunctions and discussed one day of Fix it Grammar's Little Mermaid. I also read them a brief essay on the taming of Bucephalus and reviewed the concepts of antagonist, theme, protagonist, and climax.  

At 10:00 Nadia took Cookie up to her room while she read Mara, Daughter of the Nile; on school days she has to read at least thirty minutes a day from a list of books I created. She reads other books of her choosing at other times during the day. Currently she's reading Shine by Chris Grabenstein, The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden by Karina Yan Glaser, and Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien. While Nadia was reading and Oliver was finishing his Spanish lesson, I asked Ian to spell some French loan words such as limousine and exhaust as he is nearing the end of the Level 7 All About Spelling curriculum. After spelling, Ian practiced the piano. While Ian practiced the piano, I asked Oliver to spell the words contained in four sentences from his Level 4 spelling textbook. 

At 10:40 Nadia began working on Physical Science, took Milo out, and then used a laptop to complete some coding exercises from Python for Kids. During this time Ian read God King which focuses on three kings - Hezekiah of Judah, Sennacherib of Assyria, and Taharka of Egypt. After his schoolwork is done, he reads books of his choosing. He recently finished reading books #2-5 of the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series by Brandon Sanderson. Currently he's reading On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson. While Ian read, I worked with Oliver on math (Beast Academy 3B) and started making lunches for the boys and I. Nadia always makes her own lunch. 

Around 11:30 Ian came down to eat his lunch. After Nadia took Cookie outside, she began making her usual grilled swiss cheese sandwich. We finished listening to Cheaper by the Dozen and began listening to Jessica's Journey. After Nadia finished her lunch, she worked on Duolingo on the iPad while we were listening to the story. I had read Cheaper by the Dozen aloud to the kids in 2015 but they didn't remember it. I decided to have them listen to it aloud again partially because a new movie based on the book is being released on Disney+ in the near future. The kids enjoyed the book, and Nadia and Ian said they want to read the sequel, Belles on their toes. 

At 12:15 Nadia took Cookie upstairs and had a turn on the iPad because she had finished all of her school work aside from a science experiment that I asked her to wait to do so that she and Ian could do it together. She typically plays Minecraft and watches a show during her turns. During this time Ian used a laptop to work on Python and lesson 91 of Teaching Textbooks Math 7. I worked with Oliver in his Swimming Creatures workbook where he completed a crustacean crossword puzzle and dictated a creative writing assignment that featured two different types of crabs. He also took Milo out for a walk. Nadia finished her turn before Ian finished Python or Oliver finished science. Ian really enjoys the Python coding exercises, but they often take him a LONG time (more than an hour today). Nadia took a shower while Ian was working on math and Oliver was finishing science.

Ian has been learning how to do a "shoot the duck" 

I helped Oliver practice the piano while Ian finished his math. Sometimes I needed to leave the piano bench to answer one of Ian's questions, but he's generally pretty independent in math this year for the first time in his life. Nadia also began making peanut butter bars, which is her most favorite dessert. After Oliver finished practicing the piano around 2:30, he had a turn on the Nintendo Switch and then started working on a puzzle until one of his friends rang our doorbell at 3:30 and he went outside to play with her. I helped Nadia make the dessert. Nadia and Ian each are required to cook once a week, but she made this of her own initiative as she had already made jerk chicken and pommes aligot on Tuesday. After Ian finished his math, he drew an illustration of one of the ten plagues and then completed a lesson in the Physical Science textbook. Nadia and Oliver each took the dogs out a couple of times during the afternoon. I folded the load of laundry that I had done earlier in the day, did the dishes, and make chicken quesadillas for dinner. Ian finished his work at 3:00pm, which meant that it was time for Ian and Nadia to do a very simple science experiment related to electricity as the unit they are working on now deals with electricity and magnetism.

For a few years the kids and I had dinner around 4:00pm most of the time. Nadia had asked that we shift the time to 5:00pm, and that is usually the case these days, but because we leave for ice skating lessons around 4:30pm and don't get back home until a little after 7:00pm, we have been eating dinner at 4:00pm on Thursdays. Oliver chose to have split pea and ham soup that I made yesterday. Ian, Nadia, and I had quesadillas. We listened to more of Jessica's Journey while we ate albeit Ian was lobbying for us to start The Last Cuentista, which was this year's Newberry pick. Today was their last ice skating lesson. Next week they have an ice skating party from 4:30-6:30 that includes pizza so we won't eat dinner before heading out to ice skating next week. I have considered these ice skating lessons to be their gym class for the last two months. Ian and Nadia skate for 75 minutes, and Oliver skates for 45 minutes. Usually during ice skating lessons I read a book and/or work on Duolingo. I do spend time on Duolingo every day. My current streak is 287 days straight. Today I had the privilege of chatting with another homeschooling mom for about 30 minutes. Our paths hadn't crossed for almost two years due to COVID so it was great to chat with her a bit last week and again today. 

On our way home from ice skating we made a very quick stop at a grocery store so I could buy some milk and bananas. After Ian and Nadia took the dogs out around 7:20pm and I put away the groceries, we had our devotions and prayer. Typically we do that at 8:30pm, but we had it early because we planned to watch the first part of Addams Family 2 that I checked out from the library yesterday. Paul came home from work a little before 8pm while the kids were watching the movie. Oliver went to bed at 9pm, Ian and Milo went to bed at 9:30pm, and Nadia will go to bed at 10pm. A large portion of our day is the same most weeks Monday through Friday. On Tuesdays Nadia and I are usually gone from 3:00-5:15 for her drama class. On Wednesdays Oliver and I drop Ian and Nadia off at church at 4:30pm and then return at 6:25pm so that he can attend a midweek program for elementary students and I can attend a ladies Bible study. Our weekly commitment for ice skating will be ending next Thursday, but on Monday we'll be starting a ten week session of a 90 minute weekly homeschool gym class. The kids haven't been in a homeschool gym class since spring 2019. I'm thankful we don't have any weekly commitments for three days of the week (has been Monday, Friday, Saturday and will be true for Thursday, Friday, Saturday for the following nine weeks). We typically do most of our chores on Saturday (cleaning the bathrooms, changing the bedding in the guinea pig cage, vacuuming, dusting, etc.).

I am very thankful that I'm "only" homeschooling three kids, doing the laundry, cooking, cleaning, mowing the lawn, etc. and not also juggling a FT job as I did for two school years (August 2017 - May 2019). I again have margin in my schedule - time for activities like reading and working on learning Spanish. On Tuesday I finished reading The Lady's Mine by Francine Rivers, and yesterday I started The Winter Rose by Melanie Dobson. I didn't have time to read today due to working on this post. I've written posts like this several times throughout the years including March 2021,  April 2018, December 2015, September 2013, and February 2013.

Nadia working on her "waltz jump"