Thankful Thursday

1. The grass is GREEN again. Last Thursday I could have said it's partially green, but over the past week it's turned totally green. Now I'm looking forward to seeing the trees turn green again.

2. We have been wearing short sleeved shirts! I enjoy seeing the kids wearing different clothes. I was ready to put away the winter stuff, but of course I haven't totally put it away yet because we're in that transitional phase of the year when it comes to clothing. I have loved wearing capris again!

3. We had a nice time at the Children's Museum on Friday night. It was a lot more crowded than usual, but it was a treat because #1 it was free, #2 they had yummy snacks available, and #3 Paul's parents and Paul joined us. Because of this trip I've decided to skip the $2 Tuesday this month (would be the 21st). I think our next trip there will be the $2 Tuesday in June.

4. Ladies Bible study resumed this Tuesday! We are doing a study of 1, 2, and 3 John. I'll miss two of the seven sessions due to our trip to Florida. Nadia was excited because Camille (who wasn't there during the last study) was there again today. She's a kindergartner who goes to a half-day (PM) Kindergarten so Nadia had a girl close to her age to play with during the two hour study.

5. The weather has been SO lovely! It hasn't rained as much over the past week, and it's been in the 60's or 70's. YAHOO! I've finally been getting some MUCH needed exercise!

6. Nadia and Ian had a great time at Paul's parents house last weekend! They enjoyed the workshop at Lowe's, lunch at McDonald's, shopping at Walmart, and visiting Aunt Millie's bakery.

7. Paul and I enjoyed our time with just Oliver while they were gone. We got some shopping done at Walmart and used gift cards to have dinner at Applebee's. Yum!

8. We enjoyed seeing the production of six of Aesop's' fables on Sunday afternoon.

9. Paul watches far more movies than I do, but there have been two movies lately that we both enjoyed. The most recent one was Million Dollar Arm (wasn't quite as good as "When the game stands tall", but it was a pretty good baseball movie).

10. Nadia wanted to read Anne of Avonlea. The book is at the 7th grade reading level so it was a bit too hard for her, but I love that she tried to read it herself. I will read it to her sometime, and it won't be TOO long before she'll be able to read it herself. We'll finish Pollyanna tomorrow, and then next up will be Pinocchio.

11. Oliver has been taking a nap every day without any issues. WHEW! The only day he didn't in the past 10 days was Sunday, and that was because we were at church from 8:25-12:15, then came home and had lunch, and then were back in the van by 1:20 to go see the play. I'm taking Nadia and Ian to see Mary Poppins this Sunday afternoon, but I'm not taking Oliver so he can have his nap at home with Paul. He has been napping for 2-3 hours every day. Much better. I actually had to wake him up from his nap yesterday (so we could go to get the oil chance), and I woke him up today so we could go to the playground before dinner and soccer practice. I did let him sleep 2 hours both days before waking him up. :)

12.The kids and I enjoyed having dinner at Friendy's last night (thanks to a gift card Ian received in February) while the oil was being changed on the van. The oil only needs changed every 10,000 miles on it, which works out to about once a year! I decided not to attempt to take the three kids roller skating at the AWANA family fun night. The waitress was really nice and gave us an extra bowl of goldfish (two for the three kids to share whereas we were only entitled to one) and gave Oliver a chocolate milk at no charge (I didn't order a meal for him and so expected to have to pay for his drink). How kind!

13. I was able to make our reservations for our Fast Passes, and aside from not getting any to meet Anna/Elsa, I was pleased. I was thrilled to also get a reservation for lunch at the Be Our Guest restaurant! Our vacation will be here before we know it! Nadia and Ian will be leaving with Paul's parents on May 4, which is less than three weeks from now!

14. Last week I decided to sign up for a month of the dvd service through Netflix (costs $8) because some movies we wanted to see weren't available at the library. I guess because we hadn't used it for awhile, when I signed up they said the first month was free. Great!

15. While we were at the mall last night I took advantage of three coupons and got Nadia some clothes for this summer and next fall/winter and Ian some for next fall/winter. The original prices of the 9 items at JCP would have been $134, but I paid a grand total of $18.91 (saved 86%). I don't recall what the total of the original prices would have been at Sears, but I paid $16.23 total for a bathing suit for Nadia for this summer plus two long sleeve t-shirts for her for next fall/winter (Hello Kitty and My Little Pony). I don't enjoy shopping at the mall with all three kids, but I do enjoy getting some good bargains!

16. I joined a Shutterfly group on Facebook several months ago, and it has been SO beneficial. I've learned how to receive more codes for freebies (photo books and such) from various places, and sometimes people within the group trade codes (ex. maybe I received one but I'd rather have a photo book and someone else received a photo book but wants what I have). I used to average paying about $15 for a photo book (including tax and s/h) but now I rarely pay more than $9. Today someone posted that she had gift cards for Amazon that she wanted to trade for Shutterfly codes. I traded a photo book code for $20 on Amazon. Paul used that $20 toward my birthday gift. Score!

17. Yesterday Ian made my bed for the first time ever. He came in around 6:30 and was in bed with me, and at one point I got up to go to the bathroom, and while I was in the bathroom he made my bed. It was very lumpy because he forgot to straighten the sheet, but he did a nice job with the bedspread. What a sweetheart! This is proof Nadia serves as a role model for her brothers.

18. Nadia and I have been studying inventors lately as we near the end of her US History curriculum - Edison, Ford, Wright brothers, etc. We've gotten some great books and dvd's from the library to learn about these inventors. I also got a book and dvd that have been helpful in reviewing many of the topics we've covered over the last year - one being Remember the Ladies: 100 great American women and the other is a set of two dvds of the show "This is America, Charlie Brown." As a side note, I did skip one of the 100 women (Margaret Sanger).

19. Usually on Wednesdays Paul is at school for 13+ hours straight, but yesterday he came home in the afternoon for awhile and then went back in the evening. He was mostly working at the computer in our bedroom while he was at home, but he did take about 30 minutes out of his day to spend with Nadia and Ian during Oliver's nap. Usually they don't see him at all on Wednesdays so that was a special treat!

Be our Guest!

Our first family trip to Magic Kingdom was in May 2013. Several new attractions had just been added to the Fantasyland area including a new restaurant that looks like the Beast's castle. I had planned for us to eat lunch there, but when we arrived at 11:00 the line was already two HOURS long and every time we passed it was at least that long. We weren't interested in waiting that long to eat lunch! Last year I didn't have my hopes up of eating there, and the line still looked too long (we didn't ask how long the wait time would be last year). Part of the problem was that I didn't know I could make dining reservations. I thought only people staying at a Disney resort were able to book dining reservations. OOPS! Had I known this I would have started trying five months ago to get a reservation there (you can make them 180 days in advance), but I only started checking several days ago. It kept showing that there wasn't anything available for that restaurant on May 15 (the day we plan to be at Magic Kingdom), but I kept checking *just in case* something opened up.

This morning was my first chance to book our Fast Pass+ reservations for that park (can be done 30 days in advance if you're not staying at a Disney resort or 60 days in advance if you are). I considered getting up at midnight to work on it, but I didn't end up getting up until 3:30am. If this doesn't prove I love my kids.... Ha ha! After working on those 18 reservations (3 per ticket but Oliver doesn't have a ticket), I decided to check the restaurant one more time, and at 4:30 this morning I found a table for 4 available at 8:15 for breakfast. I was so happy! I entered my credit card information and everything else and hit submit and then got a message that their system was down. Sigh. When I got up a couple of hours later, I checked and their system for dining reservations was still unavailable. I kept checking and when it was up and running again, there wasn't anything available all day. However periodically throughout the day I kept checking and finally at 7:15 pm I got a table for 4 for lunch at 10:30. I have read several places that it's okay if your party is bigger than your reservation. Worst comes to worst, we can offer to have the three kids sit on our laps and then we'll only need four seats. Oliver actually prefers to eat sitting on my lap (even at home) so really six seats would be plenty. No meal at Disney is cheap, but lunch at Be our Guest is not any more expensive than other carryout places on the premise, and the ambiance looks to be WAY more special. I had to make some adjustments to our ride reservations after booking a 10:30 meal, but it wasn't too complicated. This will be a bit of a splurge for us because in the past I've brought in food for lunch for myself and the kids. The kids and I have only bought dinner in the park the last two years. We eat breakfast in our resort suite before we leave, but lunch at the Beast's castle is not anywhere near as expensive as a character dining experience (which we have never done as a family but I have fond memories of doing when I was a child).

I did our FP+ reservations for Hollywood Studios on Monday. Those are pretty easy. I picked Star Tours, Toy Story Mania, and the Frozen Sing-a-long show. Once the last one is used (for us it will be about 3pm) we can request additional ones. Last year we got a second set for Star Tours and then for the Fantasmic show at the end of the day. Getting the tickets today was more complicated because some of the rides Oliver is not tall enough to ride. I think he is tall enough for Barnstormer this year! Nadia is tall enough for Space Mountain, which is very exciting. She's never been on that ride before. I got 4 passes (Paul and I plus Nadia and Ian) for Big Thunder Railroad and Splash Mountain and 3 passes for Space Mountain (Paul and I plus Nadia).

I was REALLY hoping to get 2 for meeting Anna and Elsa for Nadia's sake. We had two in July 2014, but there weren't ANY available for May 15 as of 3:30 this morning. I felt so badly for Nadia, but at least she did get to meet them last year. Maybe the stand by line will be reasonable at some point that day. We shall see. I did get 2 passes for meeting Ariel again. Over the past several months she's lost interest in some of the princesses (such as Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle), but she still loves some princesses (Jasmine, Mulan, Ariel, Elsa, Merida, and Tiana). I will keep checking periodically over the next 4 weeks to see if any passes become available for Anna and Elsa, but I'm not expecting it.

The hardest decision I'm having right now is whether to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train first thing or go to Enchanted Tales with Belle in the first hour. Last year I had FP+ for Belle and we didn't need them as the standby line was almost nonexistent so in the park I changed those reservations to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Last year even at 9:00 the line was already very long for the Mine Train. If any of you have input as to which of those two attractions it will be easier to get a FP for later in the day (after we've used our three reservations), I would greatly appreciate that feedback! Although the kids liked the Mine Train last year, I think if they had to pick between the two they'd pick Enchanted Tales with Belle. Nadia really wants to be the Beast again (she was picked the last two years for that role and it means you get to dance with Belle for a minute). I have tried to include a few experiences and rides in our plan that the kids have not done before. This year we are planning on signing them up for the Jedi Training Academy at Hollywood Studios, for example. I haven't typed up our agenda for Sea World yet, but that is a much simpler task than Magic Kingdom. I am not complaining though. I LOVE the Fast Pass + system. I remember standing in LONG lines as a child at many amusement parks, and we rarely wait more than 5-10 minutes for any ride at Disney World with this system. I just hope and pray none of us have the stomach flu when we're at Disney this year like we did when we were at Magic Kingdom last summer. It certainly takes some of the "magic" out of the day!

Pet peeves

Probably everybody has at least one pet peeve. Nadia's biggest one is that she wants her plate cleaned in between eating different things. Her plate gets washed multiple times in one meal most of the time. Even if only ONE tiny spot of the plate has a crumb or ketchup or water on it, the whole plate is deemed unworthy of being used unless the plate is cleaned. Heaven forbid if you asked her to have a sandwich AND pretzels on the same plate. Sometimes she gets a napkin and puts the other food on the napkin to avoid cleaning the plate. I would say her next two biggest pet peeves would be if her clothing gets wet (and I just mean the tiniest drop of water) she wants to change clothes and she doesn't like it when Ian wants to play with her All The Time. I keep telling her that it won't be long until Ian is mostly playing with Oliver and she'll be having plenty of time to play by herself. Oliver does not like his hands or face to be messy while eating. You think this would inspire him to use utensils instead of his fingers. Nope. I wash his hands and face multiple times every meal, and he also goes through a few napkins at every meal. I wash his hands and face far more times a day than I ever washed the other two kids. Thankfully he usually doesn't mind if his shirt gets wet when I'm washing his face.

One of Ian's pet peeves is things not being done in the way they are usually done. It really upsets him if we eat our main meal at noon instead of at 5:00pm. We often do that on Sundays. He used to always get really upset when his clothes got wet. That hasn't been an issue lately. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not washing his face any more or because this doesn't bother him any more.

If I had to pick my two biggest pet peeves, I would say they would be clutter (things not being put in their proper place and also just having too much stuff) and certain noises. Ever since I was a child I haven't liked the sound of other people chewing. It doesn't bother me when I'm also eating because then I can't hear their chewing. However if I'm sitting on the couch and someone next to me is eating or chewing gum, I have a desire to plug my ear; if I start chewing a piece of gum that also solves the problem. I also like to turn the fan off as soon as I get out of the shower because the sound of a fan in a bathroom really gets under my skin. I have certainly had to deal with more clutter now that we have kids, but I'll take a messier house, if it's because kids live here!

The time it was the hardest for me to deal with clutter was when I got home from the hospital in 2012. After spending about 18 weeks in either a hospital room or Ronald McDonald room, I had a hard time coming back to clutter as those environments were extremely stark. The kids were complaining a couple of weeks ago about cleaning up, and Oliver loves to make messes; so I took a LOT of toys to the basement. I have to say the kids haven't seemed to miss them at all, and it's been a lot easier to clean up and the house looks less cluttered. Probably at least some of them will come back up in the late fall when the weather gets cold, but during the months when the weather is nice and we spend more time outside, I doubt they're going to miss them.

On a totally unrelated note, yesterday I took a quiz online regarding what type of homeschooler you are. My top three were Unit studies education (25), Montessori (25), and Charlotte Mason (20). My lowest was traditional education (negative 23). I thought I'd share in case any other homeschoolers read my blog and might enjoy the survey. :)

P.S. Oliver walked all the way across the rope without ANY assistance from an adult today for the first time. Way to go, Oliver! (see first pic)

Aesop's Fables

This afternoon we took the kids to a community theatre to see "A Bagful of Fables." They performed six of Aesop's fables - “The Fox and the Crow,” “The Fox and the Grapes,” “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” "The Boy who Cried Wolf," and “The Sun and the Wind.” I had read all three kids several of Aesop's fables last week. All three kids enjoyed the play, but since it was at 2pm it meant Oliver didn't get a nap today. Oliver was really miserable starting around 5pm. The boy needs a nap! For the next year or so I'm going to try to avoid buying tickets for a 2pm show (unless Oliver and a parent are staying home). Lesson learned! 

Paul surprised us by walking to the playground with us this afternoon. Nadia walked all the way across the rope without holding the ropes that are there for your hands for the very first time. Oliver walked all the way across the rope using those ropes for the first time today. In the past he had held my arm as he walked across the rope. Ian has no desire to be on the rope at all, yet. I am SO glad that spring has finally sprung. The only downside is that my allergies have kicked into high gear. Not fun.

Just the three of us

We've been parents of at least two children for five years and four months now. It's been awhile since we were the parents of "just" one child. Nadia was 17 months old when Ian was born so we were never the parents of "just" a two-year-old. They don't call them the "terrible twos" for no reason. We didn't really experience that with Nadia, aside from her not wanting to eat veggies when she was two. Oliver definitely is our most challenging two year old (hitting, throwing things, spilling milk, etc.), but today I came to the realization that taking care of him is MUCH easier when he's the only child at home. Although he really wanted to go to Grandma's house, it was nice to have a day where it was just the three of us. Paul took a 90 minute nap during Oliver's two hour nap. After his nap, I pushed him in the stroller to a playground. I walked over 3 miles round trip. It was about 60 degrees out and sunny, and on Monday it's supposed to get up to 75 degrees! The ten day forecast shows the high every day at least 64 degrees! Woohoo it is almost time to break out my sandals and paint my toenails.

Aside from Friendly's, we usually don't go out as a family to a sit down restaurant. Usually Paul and I go when we go out on a date, which then involves paying a babysitter $10/hr. I suggested to Paul that we should go out tonight since we only had Oliver with us. I fed him a hot dog right before we left, and we shared some of our food with him at Applebee's, We picked that restaurant because we had gift cards plus we wanted to buy a couple of things at Walmart (and the restaurant is right beside Walmart). We got the 2 for $20 special that includes an appetizer and two entrees. Considering how much Oliver likes string cheese, it wasn't surprising that he liked our mozzarella sticks. I ordered him a chocolate milk but not a kid's meal. We just shared with him. They didn't charge us for his two chocolate milks which was nice. It was also nice to have a break from encouraging Ian to eat today. I really missed them though, and I really missed reading Pollyanna to them. They enjoyed their first visit to Aunt Millie's bakery today after the Lowe's workshop and lunch at McDonald's.

38 hours at Grandma's house!

I hadn't signed the kids up for the workshop at Lowe's this month because their first soccer game was supposed to be the same day. When I found out tomorrow's games were going to be rescheduled, I tried to book them for the workshop at the Lowe's where Paul usually takes them, but there weren't any seats available. There were seats available at the Lowe's near Paul's parents. Paul's dad agreed to take them. We met them at the children's museum in Bloomsburg this evening because they were having a free family night at the museum from 5-7.

As expected, it was FAR more crowded than when we go in the morning or afternoon on a Tuesday, but the seven of us went for free. It was Paul's first time there. Oliver made it quite clear he wanted to leave in their car and go to Pop Pop and Grandma's house, but he came home in the van with Paul and I. Nadia and Ian are spending 38 hours with their grandparents. We'll meet them at church on Sunday before Sunday School. I'm sure the kids will have a very special day with them tomorrow! It will be strange to only have one child here at home.

Thankful Thursday

1. Christ died for our sins and then rose from the grave! He lives! Between the Saturday night service and Sunday services, over 2,400 attended our church's Easter service this year! In an urban area this would not be unusual, but we live in a rural area. The church is in a town that has a population less than 7,000. Even more exciting than the number who attended is the fact that more than 20 people came forward at the end of the services saying they had accepted Christ as their Savior.

2. Paul ran to CVS for me over the weekend, and using the coupons and list I gave him, he bought 4 boxes of granola bars plus 2 boxes of Nutrigrain bars for a grand total of $4. I also was very happy with the price of skim milk and eggs at Aldi's yesterday. I love CVS and Aldi's!

3. The kids enjoyed the egg hunts, hotdog lunch, dinner at McDonald's, workshop at Home Depot, and the Peking Acrobats show on Saturday. It was a very busy and a very fun, special day. The only thing that cost us money that day was the show at Bucknell, and we took advantage of the faculty/staff discount for those tickets.

4. It was fabulous to have Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law join us for church and then come to our house to visit for a few hours on Sunday. They brought yummy food for our meal and tasty treats for the kids, which we are still enjoying a few days later!

5. The soccer field has been declared OPEN as of this Monday! I would much rather see the kids putting on soccer cleats than snow boots. I am very thankful that both of their practices are at 5:30 on Thursdays. I'll stay home with Oliver. Paul will take them as he's Ian's coach.

6. The boys and I enjoyed 90 minutes at the playground in Lewisburg on Monday!

7. We were able to go for a walk on Tuesday in between rain showers. The kids greatly enjoyed their rain  boots and umbrellas, and Ian looked so cute in his raincoat!

8. We had a fabulous time with my parents at the Whitaker Center yesterday. It was our first time at that science museum, and we also enjoyed a yummy lunch in Strawberry Square and watching the IMAX movie on pandas.

Experiencing wind as strong as felt in a hurricane!

9. Of my three kids, Ian is the one who sings the most around the house. I love to hear him sing! Lately he has been singing the Armed Forces medley. Now I need to work with Nadia on the song she's going to sing for her Annie audition next week. She has been working on memorizing the lines from the script that are being used in the audition.

10. Oliver can count to eleven! Sometimes he still skips a number, but I have heard him count from 1-11 accurately more than once. I know he's a little late for learning that, but we're still celebrating the accomplishment! He's also doing better identifying more colors correctly.

11. We enjoyed our dinner at Red Robin last night. In the past I only bought one kids' meal so it cost a little more this time, and they didn't give a free birthday dessert like they've always given me in the past, but it was still a treat! We usually only go to Red Robin once a year (always in April). I plan to take advantage of two other free birthday meals this month at Perkins and the Watson Inn. There are perks to turning one year older!

12. The public library we usually go to only had an abridged version of Pollyanna. I was utterly amazed at how quickly they got us an unabridged version through an interlibrary loan. I am thoroughly enjoying reading the books that were my favorites when I was a child!

13. We also got a DVD from the library this week that Paul and I really enjoyed. If you like football movies, I recommend "When the game stands tall."

14. Duke won the NCAA Championship on Monday night! I found a free app for the iPad that enabled Paul to watch the game live for free even though we don't have cable tv right now. Most people around here cheer for PSU for college football and teams from either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh for hockey, baseball, and football. When I first met Paul he had five favorite teams - Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz, Notre Dame (football), Duke (basketball), and the Giants (NFL). Gradually over the past 18 years he has cut back on watching sports. For most of our marriage he just watched the Steelers, Giants, and Duke, but over the last five years he has really only been watching the Giants and Steelers. I was stunned when he came to bed at half-time on Monday. I thought for sure he'd stay up to watch Duke, but he only saw half of their 5th Championship victory. There is of course nothing wrong with watching sports, but I am glad that spending time with his family and also working to support us are higher priorities to him in this stage of life.

15. We're all healthy, and Paul's mom has been healthy for the past six months. PTL!

16. Oliver was fussy at Aldi's yesterday (since he had a very short nap which ended when I pulled into the parking lot). I just listened to him cry while I pushed the shopping cart around the store, but once we got to the checkout line I held him (which is what he wanted). It was a challenge to get the groceries out of the cart while holding a toddler, and the woman in line behind me ever so graciously came over and helped me unload my groceries onto the conveyor belt. The kindness of stranger is always greatly appreciated!

Whitaker Center

Usually on Wednesdays we are home all day until we leave for church after dinner. Today we were gone for twelve hours as we left the house at 8:30 this morning to drive to Harrisburg and didn't return until 8:30 this evening after we came home from church. We met my parents at the Whitaker Center (science museum) at 10:00, and we spent two hours in the museum and then walked a very short walk (indoors) to the food court at Strawberry Square to have lunch. After lunch we saw an IMAX movie about panda bears in the museum. After that we spent about one more hour in the museum. Nadia and Ian would have loved to stay longer, but the adults were tired, and I wanted Oliver to be able to take a nap. He did sleep on the way home. His nap would have been longer, if I hadn't stopped at an Aldi's that is about 30 minutes from our house. We were needing a few items, and I rarely drive past an Aldi's so I wanted to seize the opportunity. They had eggs on sale for $1 cheaper per dozen than I've been paying lately so I bought 3 dozen, and the milk was on sale for 50% of what I usually pay so I got 4 gallons of it plus a bunch of other items we had run out of or were running low on that I usually like to buy at Aldi's. 

By the time we left the grocery store it was after 4:00 so I decided to cash in my free birthday dinner (good anytime this month) at Red Robin. I bought two kids' meals and we shared some food with Oliver so our bill including tip was $13. I tried a new burger. It had teriyaki sauce on it plus two slices of pineapple and was very yummy. I don't think I've ever had a pineapple on a burger before. After dinner we headed to church. The kids played in the playland for a few minutes before I took them to AWANA, and I headed to choir rehearsal. It was a very fun and exhausting day. I am glad the only thing on our schedule tomorrow is soccer practice at 5:30. Hopefully the practices won't get rained out.

When I asked Nadia what her favorite parts of the museum were she said the best part was being with Grandma and Grandpa, and her second favorite part was the Panda Bear movie. Ian said his favorites were racing cars and buying a toy in the gift shop. I have to concur with Nadia that although the museum was very nice, the best part was being able to see my parents whom we hadn't seen since February. They're hoping to come up and visit us in a couple of weeks. Harrisburg is pretty close to half-way between our two homes although it's a bit longer of a drive for them than us due to traffic in Baltimore. It was great to see them today!

Singin' in the Rain

Nadia and Ian received umbrellas at Christmas, and they have been *dying* to use them. I kept telling them (throughout the winter) that they needed to wait until the spring to use them. This is a rainy week (April showers bring May flowers, right?). Yesterday the boys and I spent about 90 minutes at a playground, but I didn't get to take a walk. Today I decided we'd take a walk after lunch, but I knew the playground equipment would be too wet. The kids are not fans of taking a walk just for the sake of walking. They see the walk as the means to a desirable end - the playground. I sold them on a walk today by suggesting they wear their rain boots so they could jump in some puddles. Even though it wasn't raining when we took our walk (although it started raining just as we were coming in an hour later), they were enjoying using their umbrellas. Oliver doesn't have an umbrella (finally I have an idea of something to get him for his birthday!), but I gave him a small black one to use so he wouldn't feel left out. Ian even wore a cute rain coat.

When we got home Oliver went down for his nap and fell asleep right away. What a relief! Tomorrow he'll probably be taking his nap in the van on the way home from Harrisburg.

Nadia has been making a lot of progress with her handstands, headstands, and cartwheels. I'll have to take some pictures or a video. I'm looking forward to seeing her first ever progress report in two weeks. They just started a new policy of writing up individual progress reports every eight weeks. Nadia and Ian have been having a lot of fun with the gymnastics mat during Oliver's nap (which has already exceeded two hours!).

Ladybugs

On Saturday I picked up some books on Mount Rushmore and ladybugs from the library. Nadia had just studied South Dakota last week, and I wanted her to see more pictures and learn more about Mt. Rushmore, and on Friday afternoon we had a delivery at our house of ladybug larvae and food for our ladybug habitat! We are to add two drops of water every other day until they are pupae. The kids really enjoyed watching the butterflies go through metamorphosis last year, and they are excited about watching the lady bugs this year. I was waiting until the weather was warm enough for them, and I was hoping that would happen when there was still enough time for them to become adults before our trip to Florida.

Oliver was one VERY fussy child this morning. I was tempted to put him down for a morning nap he was SO stinking tired. Everything was an absolute tragedy. The tears kept streaming down his sweet face, and he was yawning All The Time. Skipping three naps (Tu, Wed, Fri) and then me waking him up during his nap the last two days (on Saturday because of the Peking Acrobats and yesterday because he decided to wait until almost 6:00pm to take his nap).

Even though he was quite obviously very tired, he really, really fought me on taking a nap. I made a lot of trips up and down the stairs putting him back in his bed while doing schoolwork with Ian and folding a load of laundry. I decided I would give up after one hour, and thankfully after 55 minutes of fighting the nap, he fell asleep. To be honest, today would have been a nice day for him not to take a nap because we could have enjoyed more time outside as it's warm and sunny today. It's supposed to rain most of the rest of the week, but as badly as I wanted to have a 2-3 mile walk, I knew the nap was more important. I took the boys to a playground while Nadia was at gymnastics so we still got some fresh air albeit I didn't get the exercise I was hoping to get. We stayed at the playground for almost 90 minutes. I wish I had just offered to pick Nadia up because we were very close to the gym, but I figured I could have dinner on the table ready for them when they came home. Nope. I came home and Paul was already here without Nadia. Her forgot to pick her up again. The poor dear was VERY hungry when she finally got home at 6:20 (her class ends at 5:30). Thankfully there are people in the gym until 9pm so she was safe and didn't cause an inconvenience to anyone.

Oliver wet the bed this morning, which he hadn't done in more than a month. I know what the problem was. He went to the bathroom around 7:00, and he didn't go again before bed although I tried to get him to go closer to his bed time. Also, he ate and drank much later than usual because he said he was hungry after I woke him up from his really, really late nap. Up until a week ago I would have said his two problems related to the potty were #1 using WAY WAY too much toilet paper and #2 sometimes his aim is off and he gets pee on his shirt or the floor. However in the last several days he pooped in pants twice (which hadn't happened in months), peed on the carpet once in his bedroom, and wet the bed (this morning). Potty training this child sometimes feels like it's never going to end, but I know it will. Hopefully this week he'll get back on track with using the toilet and taking an afternoon nap.