January

We don't have any field trips scheduled for the month of January although we had planned to go skiing on January 4th, but that trip was postponed due to the weather being too warm that day for skiing. This doesn't mean we're staying home all the time. The kids' 10-week session of ice-skating lessons began on January 5th, Nadia and Ian participated in a Bible quizzing competition last weekend, and the homeschool co-op classes began last Monday. We didn't participate in the co-op last semester, but I signed Nadia and Ian up for a 60-minute art class that will continue through May 8, and Nadia has a 75-minute drama class following the art class. On May 18-19, they will be performing Mary Poppins. The auditions are tomorrow. I learned about another youth choir that Nadia and Ian could join this semester that meets on Tuesday evenings, but I decided that we have enough weekly commitments, and I didn't want to add another one to our calendar. My Bible study group resumed our study of John last Wednesday night after being on hiatus since November 9. For the past six weeks our family has enjoyed watching The Chosen on Sunday nights. Episodes #4-5 were my favorite ones so far of the third season. We have to wait until February 5th and 7th to watch the last two episodes of this season. 

Last year I set a goal to invite twelve families (not counting our relatives) over to our home for a meal. So far, we have had one family over for dinner this month, and another family is scheduled to come over this Saturday. I can only think of three families that live in Pennsylvania and are not relatives who have invited us over to their home for a meal over the last 14+ years, Dave & Marla (Dave is an employee of Paul), Kay & Allen (they have been friends of mine for 27 years), and Carol & Denis (Carol has been my friend for 29 years). Those three families all live at least 90 minutes away from our home. Earlier this month we had dinner at a local family's home, which was a first for us since we moved here in September 2008.  They had come over to our home for a meal once last summer. 

I didn't try that many new recipes last year. Of the ones that I did try, the favorite was Creamy Garlic Chicken Penne. I'm hoping to try at least twelve new recipes this year. I've tried three new recipes so far this month. The first one, Amish Breakfast Casserole, was a hit and will be added to our meal rotation, which is also what happened with the creamy garlic chicken penne. Nadia is determined to make a wider variety of desserts this year. It had been years since I had made snickerdoodle cookies. Nadia made them this month, and it turns out that they are a hit with everyone in our family except for Paul, who won't eat anything that has cinnamon in it. At the moment, Nadia's favorite dessert is apple crisp. In the last five weeks we also made peanut butter blossoms and peanut butter cup cookies, which were both well received and ones we hadn't made for several years. 

I haven't been doing a good job of taking pictures lately. Hopefully I will get back in gear with that in the near future. The first picture in this post is from when we visited the National September 11 Museum last month. I have been doing a good job of walking 4-6 miles a day almost every day. The exception would be on really rainy days. I usually listen to audiobooks while I'm walking, and I've also been reading books (paperback or via the Kindle). I've finished eight books so far this year, and I'm currently in the middle of three others. The books have been from different genres - historical fiction (Refugee by Alan Gratz), autobiography (I am Malala and Hiding in the Light), dystopian (Shadow Children series), nonfiction (Essentialism by Greg McKeown), contemporary fiction (A Life Intercepted by Charles Martin), and suspense (Edge of Dusk by Colleen Coble). Next up will be two more nonfiction books - Effortless by Greg McKeown and Find Your People by Jennie Allen. Nadia is currently reading Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Rose, and that is one I also want to read sometime this year. In addition to The Chosen, I've also been watching episodes of the third season of All Creatures Great and Small via the PBS app. I often go months without watching any tv shows or movies, so it's been a treat to watch the third seasons of The Chosen and All Creatures Great and Small. 

Because of the gigantic medical bill that we had to pay last year, I opted not to spend money on house projects last year. I am NOT implying that we were planning to spend $20K on the house. The most we ever spent on the house was $10K when we replaced our roof, and most years we spend less than $2K. Earlier this month a salesman gave us an estimate on replacing some of our windows plus our sliding glass door. We were very impressed with the product he was selling, but the price was way out of our league. I also had a contractor come in to give us an estimate on modifying our countertop/cabinet so that we can have a new oven installed because no one makes ovens that are as small as our existing one. My oven is 24 years old, and one of the two larger burners can no longer be used. I have a long list of potential house projects, but the vast majority will likely never happen (ex. having crown molding installed, waterproofing the basement, finishing the basement, replacing the windows, and finishing putting drywall in the garage). A priority to Paul is replacing the shed, which is literally falling to pieces. I'm not exactly sure which projects will be tackled this year aside from replacing the oven, but likely candidates would including replacing one broken window (above the kitchen sink), replacing the sliding glass door, replacing the shed, and replacing the 24-year-old carpet that is on the stairway, upstairs hallway, and Oliver's bedroom. We'll start with the oven and depending on how much that costs possibly move on to something else on the list. I wish I had a choice in which oven we purchased, but it wasn't worth it to me to get new countertops and/or cabinets just so I could have a choice in which oven we got. 

Towards the end of 2022 we finally got in the habit of having a weekly "family fun night." I was thinking that we would usually do it on a Saturday night, but Sunday has been working on better many times for various reasons such as Paul got home from work too late last night and the previous Saturday, we had company. Today it was Nadia's turn to choose what we did, and she picked that we played Miles Borne. 

O Canada

 

When I was growing up, we spent several of our family vacations in Canada. We went to at least seven of the ten provinces. Our trip to British Columbia and Alberta was my least favorite vacation just because of how many hours we spent in the vehicle even though we had flown out to Seattle from Maryland. My favorite place that we visited in Canada was Halifax, Nova Scotia. Several years ago, I thought it would be a good goal for us to see if we could visit all ten provinces with our children. We spent a little time in Ontario in 2018, and I had made hotel reservations for a more extensive trip through Ontario and Quebec in 2020, but naturally, those plans were all cancelled due to COVID. We ended up accomplishing the New England portion of that trip in September 2022, but I eliminated the Canadian portion due to COVID mandates that were in place at the time. Ironically, while we were on that trip Canada announced that the mandates would be ending as of October 1. Because our whale cruise in Maine was cancelled this past September due to Hurricane Fiona, I thought we'd take a whale cruise this coming September off the coast of Washington, but it turns out that the whale cruises on the northwest coast are FAR more expensive than the whale cruises on the northeast coast. Now that we are planning to visit the maritime provinces, I think we'll aim to go on a whale watching cruise in the Bay of Fundy instead. 

Canada has an Xplorers program similar to the Junior Ranger program in the US. The kids completed the Xplorers booklet at Fort George in Ontario in 2018. I don't expect them to earn anywhere near as many in Canada as they have in the US, but hopefully they'll earn at least ten over the next four years at places such as Banff, Lake Louise, Fundy, Green Gables Heritage, Cape Breton, Halifax Citadel, Alexander Graham Bell, Jasper, and Gros Morne. This week I decided to give more thought to making plans, which if they come to fruition would enable us to visit all of the Canadian provinces within the next 4.5 years. Here are some of those plans:

1. Spend one day in Toronto this July in conjunction with a music festival we plan to attend at Darien Lake (NY).
2. Spend two days in British Columbia this September. I deleted San Juan Island (Washington) from the current potential itinerary and lengthened the vacation by one day to add in this province.
3. Spend about one week on a trip to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City in June or July 2024 immediately following a Bible quizzing competition in NY. On the way home we could visit the three National Park sites in Hyde Park, New York that we weren't able to visit this past fall. 
4. Take a vacation to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland in 2026. Although Gros Morne National Park looks like it is very beautiful, I think the province that is the most likely to be eliminated from our travel plans would be Newfoundland given the time and expense it would take to get there from Nova Scotia. 
5. Visit Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan along with Glacier National Park and some sites in South Dakota in 2027. Those would be the final three provinces, and this trip would involve the most driving even though I'm thinking we would fly out to Minneapolis. Hopefully we will all have a good opinion of this trip even though we'll have to spend more time in a vehicle than we'd like. Canada is a VERY big country! 

Some of the gingerbread houses that the kids made.

I fully realize that this tentative plan is subject to change, but I also think there's more of a chance that we will achieve the goals to visit all 50 states, all (or at least 9 of the) 10 Canadian provinces, Ecuador, and the British Isles if we have some potential plans. I also want the kids to visit a third world country on a short-term mission trip (probably Guatemala) over the next couple of years. 

1. April 2023 - Nebraska, Kansas, Chicago, and Iowa
2. September 2023 - Lake Tahoe (Nevada), northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia
3. January 2024 - Ecuador and southern Florida
4. May 2024 - Virginia
5. June or July 2024 - Ontario, New York, and Quebec
6. September 2024 - Alaska
7. March 2025 - Texas and Louisiana
8. May 2025 - D.C.
9. September 2025 - Hawaii
10. Spring 2026 - D.C.
11. May 2026 - England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland
12. August 2026 - New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland 
13. August 2027 - British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan as well as some sites in the US (Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota)

Ian's bedroom after I took down the border and painted his walls at the end of December. 

100th Day

Today was our 100th day of school. When I was a student, that wasn't something that was celebrated, but through my Facebook feed as well as my time in various schools observing student teachers, I have learned that in many younger classrooms, the 100th day of school is a big deal. As of Monday, we will be half-way through our school year in terms of number of days that we do schoolwork at home. Including field trips, I think we'll end up with 187 days of school this year (7 more than required) by May 10, which I anticipate being our last day of school this year. I have chosen next Thursday to be the final day of the second marking period for Nadia because she will finish the first semester of Biology on that day. During the second half of the school year Nadia and Ian will be taking a weekly art class at the homeschool co-op, Nadia will also be taking a drama class at the co-op, and all three kids will be participating in a ten-week ice skating class which began yesterday evening. Here are some highlights of what we've been up to during the first 100 days of school:

1. Read and discussed Matthew, Mark, Acts, Romans and 1 Corinthians together. 
2. Memorized Ephesians 1:1-4:10; Nadia and Ian have also memorized select verses from Acts 1-9.
3. Oliver has been studying earth science, and Nadia is half-way through biology. Ian started the year doing biology with Nadia, but part-way through I switched him to General Science. I recently ordered Ian another Python book as he wants to learn more about coding. 
4. Ian currently has earned an A in Algebra I, and Nadia currently has a B in Geometry. Oliver completed Beast Academy levels 3C and 3D. This week he began 4A. In Life of Fred Ian and Nadia are half-way through Beginning Algebra. Oliver completed Honey, Ice Cream, and Jelly Beans. 
5. In Social Studies we have covered about 1,000 years of history so far this school year as we read about Leif Erickson today. The kids will be participating in a living history homeschool event in early February. Nadia is researching Joan of Arc, Oliver will be doing the Apostle Paul, and Ian is reading about Marco Polo. Marco Polo wasn't Ian's first choice, but I couldn't find books at the library for his first few choices. I wish I had been able find more books about Leif Erickson (one of his choices) as getting him a Viking costume would have been much easier than finding something for him to wear when he portrays Marco Polo. We haven't read any Shakespeare yet this year, but we will be studying Macbeth starting on Monday. 
6. Nadia completed unit studies four biographies about Joni Eareckson, Corrie ten Boom, C.S. Lewis, and Rifka Bary in addition to ones on the Screwtape Letters and The Green Glass Sea. For leisure she has been reading books by Karen Kingsbury. Ian read Beorn the Proud, Twice Freed, Augustine Came to Kent, and Son of Charlamagne. For leisure he has been reading books by Brandon Sanderson, Andrew Peterson, and J.K. Rowling. Oliver and I have been reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books together. 
7. Nadia has completed two personal finance courses through Dave Ramsey, and Ian is part-way through one finance course. 
8. Nadia and Ian sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale.

Yesterday Ian had his annual physical. He currently is 59.5 inches tall, which puts him at the 26th percentile for height. He grew 2.25 inches over the past year, and his height percentile didn't change that much as last year he was at the 30th percentile. When Nadia was twelve years old, she grew 3.25 inches and was 5ft 1.25 inches tall, which moved her from the 29th percentile for height to the 41st percentile. Ian lost a little weight over the last year. Yesterday he weighed 76 pounds, which put him at the 6th percentile. Last year he was at the 20th percentile for weight. Because of this his BMI is currently only at the 3rd percentile, which classifies him as underweight for the first time since he was an infant. I'm going to have him weigh himself periodically just to make sure he doesn't lose any more weight. For the last few years Oliver has been the slenderest member of our family, but Ian now holds that position. I was very pleasantly surprised that the clinic had ended the mask mandate since the last time we were there! It was the first time in almost 3 years that we could enter a medical facility without wearing face masks! I had started to think that might be a permanent change. I'm glad I was wrong!

Fifty-three

As of today, my husband is 53 years old, which means in two years the two of us can join the "Classics" group at our church which is led by our former senior pastor and his wife (previously named "Best Years Fellowship".) We became friends and started dating shortly after he turned 27, so as of early next year he'll have been in a relationship with me for half of his life. Over the past 26 years, Paul has been a full-time student for 11 years, a college professor for 3 years, and worked full-time at Kennedy Concrete for 12 years - half of the time as an employee and the other half as the owner. In 1997 he had recently moved back to Pennsylvania from Albuquerque. He was single, working for his dad, had a car loan, hadn't attended college, and lived with his parents and their dog, Fergie. We've been married for almost 21.5 years, he has a B.S. in math, M.S. in chemistry, and Ph.D. in physical chemistry, we own our home and have been debt free for almost 4 years, and we have three children and have had a total of five pets (three at the moment). 

In the first 31 years of his life, Paul only went on vacation a couple of times. Not counting shorter (2-3 day) getaways, he's been on at least 25 vacations over the last 21.5 years. The kids and I went on an additional nine vacations with other relatives during which Paul didn't join us from 2011-2021. In September 2021, Paul decided that he wanted to join us for all of our future vacations. The kids still occasionally ask Paul if he will be joining us. Paul has very diverse interests, so he enjoys most of the activities included in our vacations, but the forts, battlefields, battleships, and military museums are definitely included primarily for his benefit. 

At the same time that he made the vacation decision, he also made a change in how many days/hours he spent at the plant each week. Previously he typically went into work before the kids got up and got home close to (or after) Oliver's bedtime M-F and worked shorter hours on Saturdays. Over the last fifteen months, there have been far fewer weeks when he has gone to work six days in a row. He often works on the laptop at home if he takes a day off of work (M-F). We used to have a desk in our bedroom, but we gave it to Nadia a year ago. This week I ordered him a small, simple table that I'm planning to put in the living room to become his computer desk as he's been using our dining room table as his desk for the last year. He also has been going in to work much later most of the time - in that case it's not about having more time with the kids but rather just his own preference. Typically, the only times lately that he has put in as many hours as he used to on a regular basis or gone in very early has been when his brother is on vacation. Even though his brother is on vacation this week and they will be in Baltimore at a trade show next week, Paul was planning to take tomorrow off to go skiing with the kids at Elk Mountain. The only other time he went skiing with the kids at Elk Mountain was in 2021 because the trade show was cancelled that year due to COVID. The kids and I are very thankful that Paul is now joining us more often. This ski day has been postponed by WVIA because of the warm (highs in the 50's) and wet weather forecasted for tomorrow. 

When I met Paul his hobbies included ballroom dancing, reading, chess, computer games, and watching college and professional basketball and football games on tv. Although we often went ballroom dancing in the beginning of our relationship, we have gone ballroom dancing very few times over the last 21 years. I am hoping that at some point we will resume taking ballroom dancing classes together. Over the years Paul gradually reduced how many sports he followed on tv. The last one to go was the NFL. We used to watch the Steelers and Giants' games together. We have both been completely oblivious to what has been happening in the NFL the last few years. Paul still loves to read. During the first few years that he was the owner of Kennedy Concrete he didn't read much, but over the last 2+ years he has been reading more - mostly a combination of science fiction, military history, and books about investing in the stock market. Thankfully, he is fine with reading physical books or books with the Kindle or a Kindle app because our bookshelves are overflowing with books. He received three history books for Christmas and one more for his birthday. I got him two books about the Civil War, and my dad and Margie got him one about the French and Indian War and another about the War of 1812. He hasn't played any computer games in quite a while, but he does play on our oldest iPad, which he dubbed "iPadasarous". He enjoys playing Sudoku and Boggle online. He still enjoys chess although he doesn't play very often. For the first 25.5 years that I knew him, I don't believe he ever lost a game, and the only time I remember a game ending in a draw was when he played Yvonne's friend's husband. However, in the last six months, he lost a game to the kids' Bible Bowl coach (hoping for a rematch soon), and in Virginia last week a game between Paul and my fifteen-year-old nephew, Adam, ended in a draw. Adam has improved a lot since they last played as usually Paul gives his nieces, nephews, and children an advantage as he starts the game with fewer pieces. Paul has recently gone back to reading some books about chess, which he hadn't done in a long time. 

For his birthday meal, I offered to pick up a bucket of chicken from KFC using a gift card my dad and Margie gave him for Christmas, but he asked me to make spaghetti and meatballs. Nadia made him Heath bar cookies for his birthday dessert. Hopefully this next year will be an excellent one for Paul. I know he really misses his mom. The kids and I love him very much! 

2023 Bucket List

Last year instead of creating a list of goals on January 1, I created a list of first-time experiences for the year, and I decided to do the same this year. Last year's list changed throughout the year, but it ended up including 147 first-time experiences.

1. Nadia and Ian take an art class at the co-op - done!
2. Watch season three of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS - done!
3. Watch new episodes of The Chosen - done!
4. Watch new episodes of the Wingfeather Saga - done!
5. Watch the movie The Magician's Elephant - done!
6. Watch the movie The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - done!
7. Watch the movie Matilda the Musical - done!
8. Watch the movie Dog Gone - done!
9. A Horse and His Boy at the Museum of the Bible - done!
10. Memorials in DC (Lincoln, Korean War, Vietnam, and WWII) - done!
11. Attend Freedom Bound show at the Community Arts Center - done!
12. Attend Julius Caesar at the Community Arts Center - done!
13. See the movie His Only Son at AMC - done!
14. Pullman Memorial - done!
15. Herbert Hoover National Historical Park - done!
16. Homestead National Historic Park - done!
17. Henry Doorly Zoo - done!
18. Brown v. Board of Education - done!
19. Kansas City Zoo - done!
20. Wilstem Wildlife Park - done!
21. National WW1 Museum and Memorial - done!
22. Science City - done!
23. Eat at Culver's - done!
24. Eat at On the Border - done!
25. Meramec Caverns - done!
26. Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site - done!
27. Herbaria tour - done!
28. See Broadway performance of Wicked - done!
29. Gateway Arch National Park - done!
30. Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site - done!
31. Children's Museum of Indianapolis - done!
32. Hopewell Culture National Historical Park - done!
33. COSI - done!
34. Hampton National Historic Site - done!
35. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad NHP - done!
36. Eat at Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen - done!
37. Assateague Island National Seashore kayak tour - done!
38. Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm - done!
39. Fort Washington Park - done!
40. Thomas Stone National Historic Site-done!
41. Nadia and Ian camp for two days at Camp Susque in May - done!
42. Eckley Miner's Village - done!
43. Historic Warrior Run Church - done!
44. Nadia participates in two performances of Mary Poppins - done!
45. Nadia starts her first job (Reptiland) - done!
46. Kids attend an Airmen of Note concert - done!
47. Spend 3 nights at Great Wolf Lodge with the Towfighis - done!
48. Great Pocono Air Show - done!
49. Attend a concert by the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra - done!
50. Four-hour kayaking/fishing trip with HERYN - done!
51. Young Eagles Rally at Bloomsburg Municipal Airport - done!
52. Rodale Institute - done!
53. Crystal Cave - done!
54. Boys participate in a 5 day foam sword fighting camp - done!
55.  Eisenhower National Historic Site - done!
56. Eat at Primanti Bros - done!
57. Kingdom Bound festival at Darien Lake - done!
58. Bushy Run Battlefield - done!
59. Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium - done!
60. Kennywood - done!
61. Lake Tahoe with Aunt Janet and meet Ziggy and Robin - done!
62. Redwood National Park - done!
63. Museum of Flight - done!
64. Oregon Zoo - done!
65. Wildlife Safari - done!
66. Oregon Museum of Science and Industry - done!
67. Oakland Zoo - done!
68. Exploratorium - done!
69. Jelly Belly Factory - done!
70. San Fransisco Maritime - done!
71. Pier 39 - done!
72. Crater Lake - done!
73. Multnomah Falls - done!
74. Mount St. Helens- done!
75. Fort Vancouver- done!
76. Olympic National Park - done!
77. I participate in Sound of Music - done!
78. Get ice cream from Ghirardelli Square - done!
79. Attend an Unspoken/ JJ Weeks/ Cade Thompson concert - done!
80. Attend a concert featuring Katy Nicole/ Consumed by Fire, Stephen Stanley, etc. - done!
81. Arlington Cemetery - done! 
82. Curtin Village - done! 
83. John Muir - done! 
84. Fort Point- done! 
85. Marin Headlands- done! 
86. Alcatraz Island - done! 
87. Muir Woods - done! 
88. Rosie the Riveter - done! 
89. California Academy of Sciences - done! 
90. PA Lumber Museum - done! 
91. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens - done! 
92. Belmont-Paul Women's Equality - done!
93. Library of Congress - done!
94. Tour the US Capitol - done!
95. See a performance of Twelfth Night - done!
96. See a Hershey Bears game - done!
97. Attend Beethoven's 9th Symphony - done!
98. See a performance of Cheaper by the Dozen - done!
99. Attend a Micah Tyler concert - done!
100. Attend a concert featuring MercyMe, Crowder, and Andrew Ripp (just Nadia) - done!
101. Ian's first duet piano recital - done!
102. See the movie Journey to Bethlehem - done!
103. Help at the Baltimore distribution center for Operation Christmas Child - done!
104. Spend a night at a Kalahari resort/ water park - done!
105. Participated in an escape room for the first time - done!
106. See a performance of the Broadway show Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Chicago - done!
107. Visit Google's office in Chicago - done!
108. Visit the Toledo Museum of Art - done!
109. Boys climb with Rachel, Adam, and Susie at Brooklyn Boulders - done!
110. See the movie The Shift - done!

2022 by the numbers

At the conclusion of 2018, 2020, and 2021, I posted a synopsis of the year using the alphabet. This year I thought I'd do a numerical one instead. 

1 - We went skiing once this year at Elk Mountain in January, and Oliver had sutures once this year. We spent one day in Pittsburgh during which we spent time at the Carnegie Science Center and saw a Stars on Ice show for the first time. We swam with manatees in Florida one morning in May. We replaced our front door thanks to a birthday gift from my dad and Margie and replaced one toilet using credit card points. I won the annual family Boggle game in Virginia earlier this week by one point. We got one picture that included all five of us. The last time we got good one was 2019. We didn't take any photos that included all five of us in 2020, and we did get one last year in front of the Grand Canyon with me wearing a boot. I'm hoping we can get at least one good one in 2023, and we also need to take one that includes Milo as we've never gotten one with him before. As of May, it has been one year since Paul's mom passed away. Holidays and the celebration of birthdays have been very different following my mom passing away (2016), my dad moving to Virginia (2017), and my mother-in-law passing away (2021). I used to talk on the phone on an almost daily basis with my mom and Ellie, but now I often go weeks without talking to anyone on the phone. I know Ellie is in a better place, but Paul, the kids, and I really miss her.

2 - The kids and I participated in two homeschool classes at Rickets Glen State Park. The five of us also spent two days in New York City, two days at Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos, and two days in Philadelphia. Oliver, Ian, and I went to Knoebels twice. Paul and Nadia joined us one of those times.  Milo turned two years old on September 30, and as of December 12 he has been in our family for two years! I got him a Christmas gift this year, and I count it a success because *so far* he hasn't succeeded in destroying it despite having chewed it for many hours. The kids and I spent two days at Camp Susque for a homeschool retreat. I had two mammograms in December because they thought they saw something suspicious in the first one. Thankfully, the second one was all clear. The national statistics are that 10% of the time women are called back for a second mammogram. This was the first time it happened to me. In my forties I had one almost every year but didn't pay a dime for them. I am not planning to continue doing that considering this one cost us $476 and the fact that screening mammograms only detect cancer in fewer than 5 women for every 1,000 women who have one in the US. 

3 - Nadia, Ian, and I assisted with Compassion at three concerts this year - two For King and Country Concerts and one Casting Crowns concert. Paul and Oliver also participated in two of those concerts. Nadia and Ian sang in three concerts with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale. The kids each had 2-3 dates with a parent this year, and Paul and I also went on three dates, which was a drastic improvement after going several years without any dates. Our dates were to see a touring Broadway performance of Fiddler on the Roof in Hershey, ballroom dancing at a Methodist Church, and seeing the movie Lifemark at a theater. We learned about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow three times this year - toured his home in Portland, toured his home in Cambridge, and saw the movie "I Heard the Bells" in the theatre, which was the first movie ever created by Sight and Sound. Three of us got a new pair of eyeglasses this year - Oliver, Ian, and me. Nadia is the only member of our family who doesn't need glasses. I got three new pairs of boots this month! I received snow boots and hiking boots for Christmas and then got myself a new pair of rain boots at Walmart. I have never owned hiking boots before, but I believe it will be safer for me to hike in those. I will be VERY grateful for the snow boots the next time it snows as I've been without any snow boots for a few years. 

4 - We visited four different beaches this year - Tybee Island, Daytona Beach, Canaveral National Seashore, and Cape Henlopen State Park (Delaware). At least some of us saw four different movies in the theatre, Paul and Ian saw Sonic 2, the kids and I saw the new Minions movie, Paul and I saw Lifemark, and all five of us saw I Heard the Bells. Nadia was involved in a theatrical performance four times this year - Forgotten (twice), Beauty and the Beast, and You're Not Alone. Ian was in the stage crew for Forgotten and also performed in the other three. Oliver only participated in You're Not Alone. I walk Milo at least four miles almost every day; I've had other years when I walked or ran regularly when the weather was nice, but this is the first time in my life I've continued to exercise regularly outdoors when it's cold. We went to four amusement parks that some (or all) of us had never been to before - Busch Gardens Tampa, Carowinds, Islands of Adventure, and Universal Studios Orlando. Four times this year we attended something related to Harry Potter - two days at Universal Studios, seeing the Broadway show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and visiting the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Franklin Science Institute. It's now been four years since I last saw my brother in person, and in about three months it will also be four years since he passed away. 

5 - The kids (and in some cases Paul) visited five states for the first time this year - Georgia, Delaware, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. The kids all participated in five ninety-minute homeschool gym classes at our church. Nadia and Ian participated in five three-hour Outdoor Adventure Skills classes at Camp Susque. Oliver and I helped pack shoeboxes at a packing party at our church, and our family personally packed five shoeboxes that were sent to kids in South Africa and Columbia. I bought five half-gallons of homemade Peanut Butter Oreo ice cream at Old Mill Creamery this year even though it costs more than double what I am usually willing to pay for ice cream. The kids and I love it! 

Milo loved his Christmas present!

6 - The kids roller skated at Trout Pond Park six times this year. As of this year, Paul has been back at Kennedy Concrete for six years following his seven years in graduate school and three years as a college professor. Oliver, Paul, and I went to six different amusement parks this year. Ian and Nadia joined us for five of those. The boys spent six nights at overnight Camp Good News. As of this year I've lived over six years without my mom. In general, I have adjusted to her absence, but there are still moments every once in a while, where I miss her so much that I shed a few tears. The two most recent times this happened were when I was thinking about how much she would have enjoyed attending the Candlelight Christmas concert that Ian and Nadia sang in with the chorale and then when we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus with a white cake in Virginia earlier this week as that's a tradition that I strongly associate with her. 

Ian wearing his new glasses

7 - We visited seven zoos or aquariums this year. Not counting his siblings, seven kids came to Oliver's tenth birthday party which we held at a bowling alley. We saw the license plates of seven Canadian provinces from May through September. 

8 - The boys had eight one-hour sessions of Ninjastics. 

9 - The kids had nine weeks of ice-skating lessons in the winter.

10 - Oliver turned ten on August 7.

12 - Not counting relatives, we had families over to our home for dinner twelve times this year. Most of the time when we had company this year (including relatives), we played the game Code Names. 

13 - I helped with a service project (packing food or other humanitarian aid) thirteen times this year. Oliver participated twelve times, and Nadia and Ian joined us eleven of those times. Ian and Nadia participated in thirteen rehearsals with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale.  Ian turned thirteen on December 12. For the last 13 years his bedroom walls have been painted light green with a wallpaper border that featured various kinds of vehicles. The last two days I removed the border and painted the walls dark grey, which was Ian's choice. A few years ago, I had started changing his room to a Mario theme. I've ordered a second Mario comforter for the bottom bunk, a Mario light switch cover, and a Mario waste basket for his room. The only transportation themed item left in his room is a small bookshelf. We also reorganized his closet to accommodate his Legos. 

14 - Nadia turned fourteen on June 24. 

15 - Nadia and Ian had a half-day theatre camp on fifteen days in the summer. Oliver joined them for five of those.

16 - Nadia spent sixteen nights at overnight camp this year - six as a counselor at Camp Good News and ten as a camper at Camp Susque (seven in the summer and three at Freeze Camp in December). As of this month, I have been blogging for sixteen years. I wrote the fewest posts this year (78) compared to a high of 332 in both 2009 and 2010. I contemplated ending the blog in 2016 after my mom passed away, and I contemplated quitting again last year after my mother-in-law passed away. I started the blog in part as my way of updating my mom, whom I used to email every day. In the beginning, I received a LOT of comments on my blog plus some friends and family would email me in response to something I said on the blog, so it felt like more of a two-way form of communication than it has the last six years. This year I received a grand total of six comments (five from one woman). In the early years of blogging, I had many individual posts that received more comments than that as I've received over 1,800 comments altogether over the years. The lack of comments or any other form of interaction in response to the posts is part of the reason I have contemplated quitting the blog over the last few years, but for now I'm at peace with writing fewer posts but not quitting altogether in part because it gives me an outlet for sharing pictures that I have taken as I very rarely post on Facebook. 

18 - Nadia had drama rehearsals at the co-op on eighteen different days. For most of the weeks they only met for 75 minutes, but the week of the performance they put in long hours (sometimes more than 10 hours in a day) for five days. 

20 - I lost twenty pounds this summer and have kept them off thus far. As of this month, it has been twenty years since I became Dr. Kennedy. 

21 - Paul and I have been married for twenty-one years as of August 11. Oliver read 21 chapter books this year.

26 - As of this year, I've been sponsoring kids through Compassion for 26 years. I've sponsored nine different kids over the years. Five of those we currently sponsor. Two kids aged out of the program, one lived in India (and the government of India no longer allows child sponsorship to take place), and one child moved out of the reach of a Compassion center. 

27 - Number of books Ian read this year

30 - As of this spring, it has been thirty years since I graduated from college. 

36 - The kids each earned at least thirty-six Junior Ranger badges this year. Almost all of those were earned when we visited a National Park site in person. 

41 - As of September, all five of us have spent time in least forty-one states. Milo had only been in Pennsylvania for the first 27 months of his life, but we took him with us to Virginia earlier this week. He acted like a very fidgety, fussy toddler the whole way down there (which was exhausting!), but thankfully on the way home he slept in my arms or on my lap for most of the six-hour drive. Prior to that trip the longest he had been in a vehicle was 40 minutes (the length of time it takes to get to Knoebels and Camp Susque). 

48 - From May through September we spotted the license plates for 47 states (plus DC), and then I spotted one from Alaska on our way down to Virginia earlier this week. We didn't see North Dakota or Hawaii.

50 - I turned fifty on April 21.

51 - We went on fifty-one field trips this year. Our first was to see a performance of Secret Garden on February 20, and our last was a day in NYC on December 15 during which we visited three national park sites, the National September 11 Memorial, and saw the Christmas show at the Radio City Music Hall. 

52 - Paul turned fifty-two on January 3. 

67 - Number of books Nadia read this year

69 - Number of books that I read or listened to this year

96 - As of December 15, we have visited ninety-five National Park sites to date.

Oliver loves his new Nerf gun

113 - Number of audiobooks the kids and I (and in some cases Paul) listened to together (a small minority were books I read aloud to them)

365 - Number of days I completed at least one lesson the Duolingo app as I currently have a 590-day streak. I am on pace to finish the entire Spanish program within the next 18 months. 

30,786 - The number of dollars we spent on medical bills this year. Yikes! Hopefully we'll never come anywhere close to that number again in the future!! As a point of comparison, the least we've spent on medical expenses over the last nineteen years was $305 (in 2019) and previously the highest amount was $14,104 (in 2011). The only years our medical expenses exceeded $5K in a year were the four years we paid for IVF (2007, 2009, 2011, and 2012) plus the last two years. We started paying for my ankle surgery last year, and we paid $2,655 last year and $2,655 again this year for Ian and Oliver's orthodontics. 

Building a new Lego set with Pop Pop

14.5 Years Old

 

Ice skating in NYC

 As of today, Nadia is 14.5 years old! She loves having her first cell phone and can't wait until she has a phone number. She mainly uses her phone in connection with an ear bud while listening to Christian contemporary music via Amazon Music or listening to Adventures in Odyssey. Sometimes I have to ask her to take the ear bud out because she's using it at a time that I deem inappropriate such as when we are seated at a restaurant having dinner. Her favorite artists at the moment are For King and Country, Matthew West, Cain, and Anne Wilson. She saw the latter three in concert once this year and For King and Country twice. She wishes that I had gotten tickets so she could have attended a MercyMe concert in our area last month. Hopefully there will be another opportunity for her to see them in person sometime in the next few years. Initially, she said she would prefer to be a counselor at Camp Good News next summer, but she recently changed her mind and has decided to join us at the Kingdom Bound music festival at Darien Lake instead, which means she should see Matthew West at least twice in 2023 as he's planning to come to our church in March and Kingdom Bound in July. This year she has begun collecting t-shirts and sweatshirts from the artists. So far, she has a t-shirt from Casting Crowns, Matthew West, and For King and Country as well as sweatshirts from For King and Country and Matthew West. She listens to every single song an artist has sung before attending his/her concert. Nadia is usually able to quickly identify the artist when we are listening to a Christian radio station in our vehicle. 

Nadia also still loves to go ice skating. She has ice skated twice this month and is signed up for ten weeks of lessons that start the first week of January. She had a pair of ice skates on her Christmas wish list. She also still loves to read. Over the last six months she read at least 38 books of which 33 were written by Karen Kingsbury, who is currently her favorite author. She included many of Kingsbury's books on her wish list. 

As a ninth grader, she is receiving grades for the first time in her life. Her courses this year include Biology, Medieval History, New Testament Survey, Geometry, English, Personal Finance (1/2 credit), Spanish 1 (1/2 credit), Chorus (1/4 credit), and Physical Education (1/2 credit). Her highest grade is in history. She has the opportunity to earn money each marking period. Nadia really wants to have a job outside the home. I expect that will happen sometime in 2023. At the moment, her plan is to attend Liberty University and major in Zoo and Wildlife Biology.

Over the last six months she has been involved in a variety of activities including:

1. Beauty and the Beast theatre camp in Lewisburg
2. Youtheatre camp in Montoursville
3. Cousin swap in Maryland with Yvonne's family
4. Counselor at Camp Good News for six nights
5. Camper at Camp Susque for seven nights
6. Volunteer packing food and hygiene kits with Experience Missions and with Compassion at concerts
7. Singing in the Valley Singers (high school choir of the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale)
8. Youth service at 10:45 on Sunday mornings and small group on Wednesdays from 6:30-8:00
9. Member of our church's Bible quizzing team (book of Acts this year)

Traditions and Habits

I was thinking about the word "habit" lately as when I think of "goals," most goals involve establishing (or reestablishing) a habit of some sort. I haven't heard people refer to things like brushing their teeth every morning as a "tradition" yet aren't most traditions actually a habit albeit maybe one that is only practiced as infrequently as once a year? It seems the more mundane habits aren't labeled as traditions. Some traditions that we had for years have gone by the wayside as the kids have gotten older, but here are some of our current habits/traditions. There are others that I still need to work on doing better at such as drinking more water and flossing more regularly. 

African Burial Ground National Monument in NYC

1. The kids are required to eat a fruit or vegetable at lunch and at dinner almost every day.
2. We pray together before lunch and dinner.
3. We have a time for devotions and prayer together at 8:30pm almost every night. 
4. The kids' bedtimes are determined by their ages. Ian's bedtime just switched from 9:30 to 10:00pm because he turned thirteen this month. I've started allowing Nadia to stay up until 10:30pm on Friday nights. 
5. We listen to audiobooks together during many meals and during longer drives. I also listen to audiobooks when walking Milo and mowing the lawn. I anticipate we will hit our 1,000th book in 2023. We are thinking of celebrating with a trip to HersheyPark as we haven't been there for quite a few years. 
6. The kids and I each write a list of blessings in a special journal on Thanksgiving Day.
7. The kids write thank you notes for gifts they've received from people outside of our immediate family. 
8. We have donuts for breakfast as a birthday treat, and the birthday girl/boy gets the extra donut from the half dozen. 
9. We celebrate the kids' physical and spiritual birthdays.
10. Turns for screen time must be earned almost all the time, and there is a limit on how much time can be used in one day.
11. On Sundays we attend a worship service together at 9:00, and then we attend separate classes/groups at 10:45.
12. Ian and Nadia are also at church from 4:30-8:00 on Wednesdays. Some weeks of the year Oliver and I are there from 6:30-8:00.
13. We decorate the house for Christmas sometime after Thanksgiving and put most of it away by the end of December. I keep the snowman stuff up through the middle of March. I significantly expanded our Christmas decorations this year.
14. The kids each receive a gift for Valentine's Day.
15. The kids each go on 2-3 dates per year with a parent. This year Paul and I also managed to go on three dates so I'm hoping that will become an annual tradition for us to go on at least three dates together as a couple. 
16. I walk Milo three times a day (3-5 miles total). 
17. Ian and Oliver get at least one shower or bath a week, typically on Saturday.
18. I cut Ian, Paul, Milo, and Oliver's hair.
19. Nadia and Ian take turns every other week with cleaning the guinea pig cage and every other night in terms of having Milo sleep with them.
20. The kids earn Junior Ranger patches or badges at National Park sites.
21. We are working toward our goal of visiting all 50 states together.
22. The kids go skiing once or twice a year when it's free with our WVIA membership.
23. We go to DelGrosso's once a summer when it's 50% off.
24. We go to Knoebels and Montage Mountain water park once a year when it's free with our WVIA membership.
25. We spend two days at Great Wolf Lodge in December to celebrate Ian's birthday.
26. Some of us eat monkey bread in the morning on a few holidays each year.
27. We wear patriotic clothing on July 4th and Memorial Day.
28. I send out Christmas cards to friends and family.
29. We attend a candlelight service at our church on Christmas Eve.
30. The kids and I make Christmas cookies.
31. A weekly family fun night is something we've started more recently; each of us have had the opportunity to plan one this year. I think in 2023 we should each get to plan nine family fun nights. We haven't had a tradition for New Year's Day or New Year's Eve in the past, but this year I said that the three kids together should plan a longer than usual Family Fun Night for December 31. I think this will also become an annual tradition. 
32. We volunteer with Compassion at concerts, and I regularly write letters to the five kids we sponsor.
33. The kids and I help out with service projects at our church, First Baptist, and Experience Missions.
34. The kids each attend one week of overnight camp as a camper. This summer Nadia started a new tradition of also serving as a counselor for at least one week. Nadia is hoping to make it a tradition to attend a few days at winter camp every year (starting this month). COVID foiled those plans the last two years. 
35. I try new recipes every year. My goal for 2023 is to try at least twelve new recipes.
36. I invite at least twelve families (not counting relatives) over to our home for dinner each year.
37. Nadia and Ian take turns with Milo during the various school subjects each day.
38. The kids get candy at Trunk or Treat events and trick or treating in October and at Easter egg hunts in March or April. Oliver is the only one who hasn't aged out of the egg hunts yet. 
39. We do a cousin swap in the summer with Yvonne's family.
40. I use the MealBoard app to keep track of what we make for dinner and dessert so that we don't get in a rut of making the same few dishes all the time. I try to go 3-4 months before making the same dish for dinner. We typically have breakfast for dinner once a week.
41. We attend new productions at Sight and Sound (typically once every year or two) and also Christmas and Easter productions at a church in Camp Hill once or twice a year (sometimes with other family members). 
42. We take approximately 145 days to complete the curriculum each school year. The remaining 35 days are for field trips. We usually end up logging more than 180 days including field trips. 
43. I spend time learning Spanish on Duolingo every single day. Nadia is the most faithful of the kids, but all three attempt to do Duolingo every day. Ian sometimes completes lessons in other languages (such as German). 
44. Ian practices the piano about four days a week on average. He recently started working on some piano duets to play with me. I would love it if that became a new habit! 
45. Nadia has a great habit of reading for pleasure. Her current favorite author is Karen Kingsbury.
46. The kids take ten weeks of ice-skating lessons from January through March and attend a free Christmas ice skating party in December.
47. The kids attend three free homeschool roller skating parties each year in September, December, and February.
48. The kids and I have chores that we have divided up amongst the four of us. We typically do the weekly ones on Saturday.
49. We watch new episodes of The Chosen, Wingfeather Saga, and Tuttle Twins on the Angel app. We are currently enjoying the third season of The Chosen.
50. Nadia regularly chats with her cousin, Rachel, via Zoom. Ian regularly talks to his cousins Joel and Nathan via FaceTime. 
51. This year the kids and I fell in love with the homemade peanut butter Oreo ice cream at Old Mill Creamery, and the kids want buying a gallon of that ice cream to be something we do throughout the year for birthdays and other special occasions. 
52. The kids attended their first (touring) Broadway show in 2018 (Aladdin in Buffalo), and I thought we'd have a tradition of going to one show a year. We saw Lion King in Norfolk in 2019, and then we took a hiatus due to COVID. The kids saw their first show on Broadway last week - Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We have tickets to see a touring Broadway performance of Wicked in St. Louis in April. So far Aladdin has been our favorite show. I've seen at least ten shows over the past 30 years, and my top three would be Phantom of the Opera, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Aladdin. 
53. In 2017 we started taking the kids to Corning Museum of Glass in December to do a make your own glass project. We took a hiatus the past two years due to COVID. We went this month, but it might be our last time as the experience wasn't as good as it was in 2017-2019. 
54. Typically, the only time we eat out is when we are on vacation. We use gift cards that we obtain through credit card points when we eat out. The exception to that is that we do buy pizza (to go) when we are at home, and we don't usually use gift cards for pizza. 
55. We give the kids money (the same amount of dollars as their age) for their birthday. In high school the kids receive grades after each marking period, and Nadia has been the first to receive money based on her grades. 
56. I buy a box of Hot Pockets for Nadia on her birthday and spiritual birthday, and for Christmas. 
57. Our kids get their first smart phone when they turn fourteen. Nadia doesn't have a phone number yet; she can only use her phone when she has access to Wi-Fi. We haven't decided yet when we'll get her a phone number.
58. I have been making photobooks a few times a year for many years and videos about the kids after each birthday. More recently I've been making additional videos such as recaps of our vacations. Hopefully these videos will be treasured years to come! 
59. Giving gifts to the kids' small group leaders at church (in the past this included choir directors and AWANA leaders). Some years we've given them a plate of assorted homemade cookies or a gift card. This year we gave out loaves of pumpkin bread that I made yesterday. 

Rockefeller tree in NYC

Another teenager!

Ian turned thirteen years old today, and today also marks the second anniversary of the day Milo joined our family! He's thankful that his bedtime has been moved to 10:00pm. In many ways he is the same as he has been for years such as enjoying playing the piano, giving lots of hugs, his favorite color is green, and eating a peanut butter and marmalade sandwich on honey wheat bread for lunch almost every day. Here are some things that are more recent developments. 

1. He's been chatting with some of his cousins in Ecuador (mostly Joel and Nathan) fairly often via FaceTime. Sometimes they play Brawl Stars together. 

2. If he has money to spend, he usually spends it on either Brawl Stars (via Apple) or for something on the Nintendo Switch. 

3. He frequently asks for us to play games together. His favorite game at the moment is Exploding Kittens.

4. Before he asks me a question, he almost always says "I have a question."

5. He often talks in a voice that he says is like Villager News from Minecraft. Previously, he had a habit of snapping his fingers many, many times during the day, but that habit has come to an end at least for now.

6. Ian enjoys doing Algebra I via Teaching Textbooks and is looking forward to making more progress with learning Python in a few months. His current aspiration is to be a computer programmer.

7. He usually remembers to give a tithe at church. 

8. Ian is getting new glasses this week. I'm waiting until we pick them up to take his 13th birthday portrait. 

9. His retainer has only ended up a garbage can once, but we were able to retrieve it from the trash at Panera Bread. Thankfully it's never been broken or lost. 

10. He has drastically improved his performance in Bible quizzing the last three months compared to during the last school year. 

11. If his small group is dismissed before I come down to get him, he plays pool with some other boys in the youth center. 

12. He sings and makes other noises rather frequently throughout the day. He was a member of the Camerata choir (middle school) of the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale for the first time this fall. 

13. The last few months Ian has been responsible for brushing Milo's fur and teeth every day.

Ian's birthday celebration began on December 8 when we drove to the Poconos for an overnight at Great Wolf Lodge. The kids enjoyed spending two days in the water park. We packed one lunch and used gift cards at Dunkin' Donuts and Red Robin over the two days. We saw the play "Miracle on 34th Street" in Williamsport on Friday night. Due to various people being sick, our plans for Saturday (dinner at the Seiberts' house) and Sunday (getting together with Al, Millie, and Pop Pop) were cancelled. When I realized Ian wouldn't be having a birthday cake from Aunt Millie, I asked him what dessert he wanted to have. He chose peanut butter cup cookies, which is something I haven't made for a few years. I don't think years will pass before I make them again! I also got him a two liter of Root Beer and a bag of Barbecue chips which are two treats he enjoys that I don't purchase very often. We let him open his birthday gifts yesterday afternoon, and it was my turn to plan a family fun night. We played Quiddler, watched the first episode of the third season of The Chosen, and ate soft pretzels. He enjoyed using his new Switch controllers, playing his new Switch game, and started reading a book I got him. Four boys were supposed to come over for a play date this afternoon, but that also will have to be rescheduled due to illness. Ian, Nadia, and I are going to have dinner at Bonanza before I take them to their choir rehearsal tonight. The only negative in my mind regarding the fact that two of my kids are now teenagers is that it means there aren't many years left until they are old enough to fly from the nest. I love Ian Alexander so very much and am so grateful for the privilege of being his mom and teacher! 

Grateful

It's already December! In just ten days I will be the mother of two teenagers.  We didn't have many things on the calendar in November, but that is not the case for December. For example, from November 21-29 the only time the kids left the house was to go to church. Although we're looking forward to the various special activities planned for the month, we also appreciate days (like today) when we just stay home all day. I had wanted to add a few more things to my gratitude list for November so I'm finishing that list today (two days late). 

43. Oliver still prefers to read out loud rather than silently. Although it would shorten the length of our school day if he could read silently, I do enjoy the time to snuggle with him and enjoy a good book together. He was very young when I read the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books aloud, so we are reading those aloud together. We take turns reading paragraphs for thirty minutes. In my opinion, if a children's book is well written, it can still be very enjoyable even to an adult in her fifties.

44. I have had three different "favorite" types of chewing gum this year. The first two were very rarely available at Surplus Outlet so it was more of a splurge to buy them, but thankfully my current favorite (Trident's Tropical Twist) has been available at Surplus Outlet, and I was able to stock up on it for Nadia and me. Similarly, they have had Paul's favorite (Juicy Fruit) available. Although many categories in our budget went up in 2022 due to inflation, thanks in part to shopping more at Surplus Outlet, our food budget only went up 4% this year despite the fact that the price for most of the items went up FAR more than that. 

45. I tend to be on the minimalist side when it comes to Christmas decorations. Last year I purchased a garland with lights for the banister. I'm really enjoying it again this year, and so I bought another garland with lights that I put on top of the kitchen cabinets on Tuesday. We are enjoying this new addition! 

46. Last week we got a few projects down outside. Paul painted the outside of the new front door to try to get it closer to the color of our siding. I painted the mailbox, two light fixtures, and one lamppost black and painted the wood that holds up the mailbox green. 

47. I'm thankful that I have the freedom to make changes during a school year to the curriculum. For most of the years I've been homeschooling, Nadia and Ian have done science together. Two years ago, Nadia studied General Science while the boys did science together. Last year I went back to having Nadia and Ian study Physical Science together. Nadia and Ian had been doing Biology together, but as of last week, all three kids are in a separate science curriculum for the first time as I moved Ian from 9th grade Biology to 7th grade General Science. Since he already completed the Physical Science course, I decided to spread the General Science curriculum over the rest of this school year and next school year which will give him more time to work on Python (coding), which is something he really enjoys. The *current* plan (which obviously could be changed) is that Nadia will study Marine Biology next year and then the two of them will have Chemistry and Physics together during her last two years of high school and his first two years of high school.

48. One of my favorite traditions from my childhood was "family fun night" which we tried to have once a week. We rotated between the family members as to who would plan what we did that night (play a game, do a puzzle, color in coloring books, etc.). I have attempted to begin that tradition in our family in the past, and it never really got off the ground so to speak. I recently made another attempt, and I think this time we will succeed in making it a tradition in our family. In addition to planning an activity, I said that person could also plan the menu for dinner for that night. Nadia is the least enthusiastic about this new tradition. Oliver had the first one. He asked for grilled hotdogs and macaroni and cheese for dinner and peanut butter bars for dessert. He had asked for us to play Lord of the Rings Monopoly, but then at the last minute he switched his plans and we played another (shorter) game so that we could also watch a new episode of The Mysterious Benedict Society together. We did play Lord of the Rings Monopoly the next week. When it was Nadia's turn, we had grilled ham steak and scalloped potatoes for dinner and s'mores pizza for dessert. We watched the movie Joni (from the late 70's) because Nadia had recently read the book. Ian picked breakfast bagels for dinner tonight and at 8pm we're watching the Wingfeather Saga premiere on the Angel app while eating caramel popcorn. I can't recall if I ever bought caramel popcorn before. I'm estimating that each family member will get to plan about nine family fun nights a year after subtracting the weeks the kids are at overnight camp or we are on vacation. Hopefully they will have fond memories of our family fun nights when they are adults! 

49. It took me more than two weeks, but my body finally adjusted to the time change. I'm so grateful to be getting 8-9 hours of sleep at night again. 

50. Last night we saw the movie "I heard the Bells" at the theater. It was the first time in 2022 that all five of us attended a movie together. I used credit card points to get an AMC gift card that I used to buy the tickets. It was very well done, although the kids wish they hadn't included the part of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's wife being burned to death. It was very timely for us because we visited two of his homes (Portland and Cambridge) in September. Much of the movie took place in his home in Cambridge. 

51. For years Compassion has allowed children as young as ten to participate with a parent as a volunteer at concerts. Oliver and Paul have only been volunteers once so far because Oliver just turned ten in August. Today I found out that Compassion is changing the minimum age to fourteen effective January 1. It's disappointing that it will be a year until Ian can volunteer again and about 3.5 years until Oliver can do so, but thankfully the five of us are signed up to volunteer tomorrow night at a Christmas concert in Hershey by For King and Country.