1 - We went skiing once at Elk Mountain. We got a new range for our kitchen. We attended our first hockey game. Nadia and Ian sang in one concert with Meadowbrook Christian School. The kids each had their first flight lesson in June. Nadia took the PSAT for the first time. We participated in an escape room for the first time. We attended a Blue Angels air show for the first time. For the first time since I was in 8th grade, I'm in a church that is in the middle of a church split. Our church has many pastors because our weekly attendance usually exceeds 2,000 people. The senior pastor fired one of the other pastors in November, and immediately a group of people from our church left to start a new church, and the pastor who was fired is the pastor at the new church. Often there is a fallout when a senior pastor retires, and when ours retired in 2021 he had been there for 40 years. We didn't experience much attrition in the first 2.5 years after he retired, but it's happening now. For now, we are not leaving our church. When our previous senior pastor retired, there were really three pastors in our church who "could" have been chosen to become the next senior pastor. I'm not surprised Pastor Ryan has become a senior pastor. He's a gifted preacher, but I didn't expect him to become a senior pastor at another church right in this same small area. Some other staff have left over his departure. It will be some time before we really know what the total fallout is from this.
2 - Paul and his brother sold two companies at the end of July! Nadia was in two performances of Mary Poppins in May. Nadia completed her first two college courses this fall (General Psychology and US History); she's currently in the middle of her third course through Grand Canyon University. We visited two indoor water parks this year. The kids went roller skating twice at Trout Pond Park. Nadia and Ian had two art teachers this year. They took an art class once a week at the homeschool co-op from January through May and from August to the present have been in an art class twice a week at Meadowbrook Christian School. We made two trips to Chicago to visit my sister's family and two trips to Lynchburg, Virginia - one to say goodbye to Margie and the second for her funeral. Milo and Grandpa joined us for our second trip to Chicago.
3 - Milo turned three on September 30. Over the course of the year, we had a total of three guinea pigs living in our home. Buttercup passed away and then Lily joined our family, which means we currently have two guinea pigs. Nadia and Ian sang in three concerts with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale. The kids and I attended a three-day Christian music festival at Six Flags Darien Lake. I organized three field trips for homeschoolers (Eckley Miners Village, Warrior Run Church, and Curtin Village/Bald Eagle State Park). As a family we saw three movies in the theater this year - His Only Son, The Shift, and Because of Bethlehem. Paul and Oliver also saw the Mario movie, and I also saw Sound of Freedom in the theater.
4- We visited four amusement parks this summer - three in Pennsylvania and one in New York. It was our first-time visiting Kennywood which was our 27th amusement park we've been to as a family. We spent four days at Great Wolf Lodge with the Towfighis at the end of May. Nadia, Ian, and I served for four hours at the Operation Christmas Child distribution center in Baltimore for the first time. Four of us own cell phones as of this fall. Nadia got her first phone last year, but she could only use it on Wi-Fi until this fall when she got her first phone number and was added to our plan.
5 - I was in the Sound of Music this fall. We put on five performances over the course of four days. Ian, Oliver, Xandir, Micah, and Isaiah spent five half-days at a Stronghold (foam sword fighting camp). The kids attended five game days with other homeschoolers - twice at our home, once at the Schrecks, and twice at the Schaffers. We received five passports in the mail. Paul and I renewed ours. Nadia and Ian received their second ones, and Oliver received his first passport. Nadia and Ian attended five Christmas parties (Oliver went to three of them) - two at church, one at a friend’s home, one at the roller-skating rink, and one at the ice-skating rink.
6 - Ian, Oliver, and Xandir spent six days at camp at PMBC. We hosted a six-week session of a homeschool co-op at our home this fall.
7 - Not counting relatives, we had families over for dinner at our home seven times this year, which was fewer times than last year, but this year we also hosted two games days (for kids) plus six sessions of a homeschool co-op. At least part of our family (and sometimes all five of us) volunteered to pack aid (hygiene kits, food, etc.) with Experience Missions seven times over the course of the year. We didn't fly anywhere from 2019-2022, but in 2023 I purchased tickets for us to fly seven times in 2023/24 (flight to Seattle in August 2023, flight from San Francisco in September 2023, flight to Miami for February 2024, flight to Quito for February 2024, flight from Quito for February 2024, and roundtrip flights to Anchorage for August 2024).
9 - The kids had nine ice skating lessons and attended three parties at the ice-skating rink.
11 - Oliver turned eleven on August 7. We visited eleven zoos/aquariums this year. Ten were ones we had never been to before bringing our cumulative total of zoos/aquariums that we've been to 31. Ian read eleven books this year. Last year he read 27 books, but some of the books he read this year were more than 700 pages long.
12 - Nadia worked twelve shifts at Reptiland between June 12 and August 11.
14 - Ian turned fourteen on December 12.
15 - Nadia turned fifteen on June 24. Ian had fifteen piano lessons with Lyn DeVito and participated in a duet piano recital for the first time.
17 - Nadia spent seventeen days at Camp Susque. Oliver read seventeen books this year (compared to twenty-one last year).
22 - As of August 11, Paul and I have been married for twenty-two years. Nadia read twenty-two books this year (down from 67 last year).
35 - We visited 35 National Park sites this year bringing our cumulative total to 130.
42 - The kids each earned around forty-two Junior Ranger badges this year (compared to 36 last year). Nadia and Ian have each earned at least two hundred badges altogether.
47 - This year we visited six states that we hadn't been in before as a family - Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. This brought our grand total to forty-seven states that we've spent time in over the last few years.
49 - We saw the license plates for 49 of 50 states (plus DC and several Canadian provinces). The state we never spotted was Wyoming. Numbers 48 and 49 were Vermont and Hawaii. Last year we spotted 48, and the two we couldn't find last year were North Dakota and Hawaii.
51 - I turned 51 on April 21.
53 - Paul turned 53 on January 3.
54 - The kids went on 54 field trips this year.
56 - I wrote 56 blog posts this year which was a new record low (compared to 78 last year which had been the record low). I made the blog more private about half-way through the year because the number of people reading the blog skyrocketed this summer for some unknown reason.
80- I've either read or listened to a total of 80 books (not including the ones I did with the kids) of which 29 were nonfiction, which was a higher percentage than usual for me. That is eleven more than I read/listened to last year.
94 - This year we listened to (or I read aloud) a total of 94 audiobooks (down from 113 last year). Altogether over the last eleven years we've listened to 1,024 books. Fifty-four of those were rereads, which means the total number of unique titles would be 970.
955 - My current Duolingo streak is 955 days. I typically spend about 30 minutes a day learning Spanish via this app. Over the last 2.5 years I've completed six of the eight sections, which means I'm supposedly recently entered the early B2 level of CEFR (having completed the A1, A2, and B1 sections). Duolingo constantly revises their program. A moving target can be frustrating, but at least I know I'm moving forward.
13,654 = the number of steps I averaged per day in 2023 according to my phone. *Most* days I walk Milo for at least four miles over the course of a day. The exception would be on rainy days as my walking buddy hates to get wet.
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