Where's the mouse?

This afternoon I took the kids to see The Nutcracker. It was a theatre production put on by children (not a ballet). Nadia and Ian fell in love with the story last year. Ian had a nutcracker on his wish list last year. He didn't get one then, but I got one at a yard sale in September, and they love it. Some day I want to take Nadia to the Nutcracker ballet. Oliver asked during a few scene changes when the lights were low, "where's the mouse?". Thankfully when you are three you can get away with not whispering. Oops! I saw people smiling in response to his question. We had an incident with a mouse two weeks ago. Paul saw a mouse in our family room late at night. EEK!!!! I have never seen a mouse in this house or any house we've lived in, and I hope it stays that way. I bought two mouse traps the next day, and the day after that I heard Nadia screaming in the basement, and I thought she had seen a mouse scurrying somewhere, but nope she was screaming because Ian had discovered a dead mouse and had picked that smelly thing up by its tail. Oi vey! I had him wash his hands quite a few times after that! I asked him to never pick up a dead animal ever again. The mouse traps have remained empty so maybe that was the only mouse in the house? I can only hope.

We have tickets for two more Christmas productions this week. Somehow all our Christmas shows ended up in the same week. On Wednesday morning Paul is taking Nadia and Ian to see a production of A Christmas Story in Bloomsburg (the boy who wanted a bee bee gun) and on Saturday afternoon seven of us are going to see a Charlie Brown Christmas at our church. Paul's parents are joining us for that one. The kids have also been enjoying watching Christmas dvds - Frosty the Snowman, Little Drummer Boy, etc. Two weeks from today the kids' choir is putting on their Christmas musical at church. The kids really enjoyed hearing their gym teacher sing a duet ("Mary Did you Know") this morning at church. In addition to celebrating Christ's birth, we also celebrate my dad's birthday (10th), Ian's birthday (12th), and Paul's dad's birthday (20th). They are really looking forward to going bowling and eating at Bonanza on Friday with my parents. This is a very special month!

Multicultural experiences

I am really enjoying our study of different countries this year with Nadia. We started with North America, then moved to South America, and we are now in the middle of our study of Europe. Next up will be Africa. Paul works with Nadia on learning to identify the countries on the map. Preparing the different recipes has had its ups and downs. I end up having to eat the majority of many of the dishes because no one else wants to eat it, and I don't want to waste the food. There have been times though that the kids have wished I made more of the food, such as the chocolate mousse recently. We won't have any trouble during the week we study Italy because we eat plenty of Italian food on a regular basis - lasagna, manicotti, stuffed shells, spaghetti (or rigatoni) with meatballs, pizza, etc. We live in a rural area, which means it's not very culturally, racially, or ethnically diverse, but I still have been looking for multicultural opportunities.





Last night Paul took Nadia to a multicultural Christmas party hosted by the program where Nadia took Spanish in the summer. They offer Chinese, French, and Spanish classes (some for children and some for adults) throughout the year and also offer ESL classes for those learning English. Last night they had crafts and foods from various different countries. We have been listening to German cds from the library this week in preparation of our study of Germany next week, which is perfect timing as my parents are planning to come up and spend a day with us next week (for Ian and my dad's birthdays). My dad spoke German and French growing up and then majored in German at Princeton.
This morning I took the kids to Bucknell to hear a woman dubbed the Celtic Storyteller. She grew up in France and was telling the kids how she celebrated St. Nicholas Day in France as a child, which was perfect timing because we studied France this week. At the end of the 45 minute program they had gingerbread cookies for the kids to decorate. Ian used lots of green sprinkles on his (green is his favorite color).

This coming Thursday afternoon I plan to take the kids to Camp Susque. They have a Christmas Around the World program each December, and this year the country they are focusing on is Germany - perfect timing! We are usually ahead of schedule with the chapter books I am reading the kids so right now we are enjoying The Wheel on the School, which takes place in Holland, a country we haven't studied yet. I had planned on reading Hans Brinker, but I think I'll save that until they're a little older.

Back in the groove

Last week we took the whole week off from schoolwork (although most days Ian did some reading and Nadia did reading and piano). After nine days off, it definitely was a challenge doing our work on Monday morning. Thankfully on Tuesday things were back to normal. We are going to have two more weeks of school, and then I am planning on taking off two weeks for Christmas (December 19- January 3 which is 16 days). I realize now that January 4 might be a bit of a struggle, but I am sure we will all enjoy our two weeks off. Paul will be in Baltimore that week (Jan 5-8) with Kennedy Concrete. I thought about heading down to my parents' house that week, but the kids would miss basketball, AWANA, ice skating lessons, and gym class so we'll just stay at home. In light of ice skating lessons on Thursdays starting January 7, I've decided we'll skip gymnastics on Monday nights in January and February as I don't want to have a commitment every single day of the week. We can resume gymnastics in March if we so desire.

In light of the upcoming break, I have set a few goals for the next two weeks. I would like Ian to see if he can finish the first grade spelling book before we go on break so he can start the second grade book in January. He finished the first grade handwriting book this week so today I had him start writing in a journal. I'll post a picture of what he wrote and drew. If you can't read the last line, it says "My favorite character is yellow dot." He didn't ask for any help with spelling that sentence. I had planned to wait until January for Nadia to start the third grade handwriting book, but she was just DYING to learn cursive so we started it on December 1. She is VERY excited about learning how to write in cursive. Nadia is almost done with her second grade math book, but she won't be able to finish it in two weeks. The goals I have set for her are to finish the third grade spelling book and her two Level 1A piano books this month. It would be wonderful to start Level 1B in piano and the fourth grade spelling book in January. We shall see! Ian's science lesson yesterday was on magnets, and as you can see Oliver enjoyed the lesson as well!

Thankful Thursday

1. Paul came home early from work last Friday so I could run and take advantage of the weather being unseasonably warm that day. The kids and I also tackled one of the apple trees that day. I would say we have now gotten down about half the apples off the one tree and 95% off the other tree. Even though it was much cooler on Sunday afternoon, it was a very sunny day so I ran 5.5 miles while Oliver napped and Paul watched football. I hadn't run much lately and figured it was good timing due to eating things like pecan pie (got one for $2.50 at the grocery store the day after Thanksgiving -yum!).

2. Paul was able to come home from school earlier than usual on Tuesday, which meant he was able to take Nadia to her art class, which I greatly appreciated because it's a challenge to keep the boys occupied for 90 minutes during her class since the children's museum is closed at that time and it is dark outside.

3. Paul took Nadia and Ian to Home Depot on Saturday morning for a building project.

4. We are studying France this week including the art work of Monet and Renoir. I started making some French recipes last week and continued this week. They loved the Croque Monsouir (Ian in particular) and chocolate mousse. They were not fans of the crepes (Nadia took almost 20 hours to eat hers). Nadia loved the cheese omelette Paul made. Next up is creme brulee.

5. Some FB friends responded to my request for Kellogg's codes, and they gave me enough to help me reach my goal of 5,500 points for a Frozen personalized placemat for a Christmas gift for Paul's great niece. Coupon codes for Shutterfly plus codes from Coke and Kellogg's points and also using credit card points on Amazon have enabled me to save literally hundreds of dollars on Christmas gifts this year. I am almost done shopping, and everything that has arrived has been wrapped. Yay!

6. My dad had a significant hearing loss in one of his ears for a few weeks but thankfully his hearing is finally coming back. PTL! Paul and I went to the dentist on Tuesday and got good reports, and my pap results also came back normal.

7. The grocery store is having a four day meat sale starting today. They are selling boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.29 a pound. Wow! I am going to stock up that is for sure. Last week the extent of my Black Friday shopping was a trip to CVS for some deals there (many freebies) and one online order at Rainbow Resources. Cyber Monday I made two purchases - some freebies on Shutterfly and I bought a gift card for Sight and Sound because if you bought one they gave you a $25 gift card for free. I will use these for when we buy our Samson tickets next year.

8. Ian's soccer team will be practicing on Tuesday nights from 5-6 starting next week! His coach is a man who sings in choir with me, and his son is my choir director (music pastor). Small world! I am grateful they can play Upward basketball this year. It will be Ian's first year and Nadia's third. I don't know who Nadia's coach is, but her practices are also going to be on Tuesdays, which is very nice (although hers will be from 6-7). She will miss half of her first two practices due to art class, but after that it will be fine.

9. Paul doesn't have any labs left this semester. He only has 2 lectures (today and next Tuesday) and a final exam, and he's done until January 19th!

10. From January through mid August the plan had been that both Paul and I would apply for academic jobs this fall (that would start in August 2016). I had started looking at job postings in August, and Paul had given me guidance as to what exactly he was open to in terms of type of school, location, etc. Then on August 20 he informed me of his new plan, and since it didn't involve any job applications, I also stopped looking for jobs for myself. Two weeks ago I decided to see what had been posted in my field over the past three months..
When I saw there were two tenure track jobs posted at schools within the state system I taught in for 10 years, I decided to apply for those two jobs. Later I talked with Paul as I considered applying for one in North Carolina, but he told me he was not willing to move out of Pennsylvania. Previously he wanted to trade places with me and be a stay-at-home homeschooling dad, but now he wants to work at least part-time at Kennedy Concrete. The reason I was excited about jobs being posted at PASSHE schools was that a couple of years ago when I contacted the union they said that those schools *could* honor my tenure and promotion (albeit they don't automatically have to do so). If I end up going back to work, it would be really wonderful not to have to start over back at the beginning. Last week I submitted two more applications. Two of the four schools are 90 minutes from KCI and the other two are 105 minutes from KCI. Our current house is pretty close to being in the middle for one of the four jobs. The one that interests Paul the most is East Stroudsburg.
For me the top two are that one and Millersville (near Lancaster). I have mixed feelings about it. I absolutely loved being a professor. I definitely miss it. In an ideal world, I would like to be an adjunct professor (part-time) at this stage of my kids' life. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and for as long as I can remember that was my goal, and while we were dating Paul said he was 100% in agreement with that. The plan was changed when he decided to go back to school as I had to be the primary (and at times exclusive) breadwinner while he was a FT graduate student for 7 years (half of our marriage thus far). The two universities closest to KCI aren't hiring right now (the two where I taught previously). I am thankful that my references are helping me out (one even placed a call on my behalf prior to me submitting the application), and I am just waiting to see how the Lord leads. Three of the applications are due this month (the fourth isn't due until March) so I am hoping that next month I will start to have an indication whether or not I will be selected for an interview. I still wish that Paul was keeping his promise to me (from 10 years ago) and submitting applications for a job in his field (industry or academia), but he is unwilling to pursue anything other than Kennedy Concrete (ironically his desire NOT to work there was the whole reason he went to graduate school for seven years). We shall see what God has in store as far as the timing of selling our house and whether or not I return to being the primary breadwinner of the family.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Paul came home early from work yesterday (he usually gets home around 7pm when he works at Kennedy Concrete) so that I could go for a run because it was unseasonably warm out. He got home around 4:15, which meant I was able to run three miles before it got dark outside. As I was jogging I passed many people putting up Christmas lights and doing other decorating outside their homes. When I got back we had dinner and then started our Christmas decorating. The kids were so excited to play with the Little People nativity set, read Christmas books, listen to Christmas music, etc.  because those goodies are stored in the basement for eleven months of the year. Paul worked on assembling the tree and putting the lights on the tree while I did other decorating around the house. This morning after breakfast the kids helped me put the ornaments on the tree. It is quite obvious that young children helped because in some places near the bottom there are quite a few ornaments clustered together in a very small space. This was the first year though that all three children understood how to actually hang an ornament and not just lay it on a branch. I do love Christmas music, so I am really enjoying hearing the kids playing those cds. Paul plans on putting up the outside lights tomorrow. I have finished most of my Christmas shopping (about 3 people out of 30 left to buy gifts for), and I also have most of the gifts I have bought wrapped, which is a great feeling. The package of presents that I mailed to Turkey already arrived there safe and sound, much faster than usual!

I did our Christmas cards much earlier than usual because of specials that Shutterfly was running this summer. Usually I do a photo card plus a letter, but this year I selected a tri-fold card, and the larger card meant there was room for paragraphs in addition to photos so I wasn't planning on writing a letter in addition to the card this time. If I was making the card right now I would have some additional information to include (for example in the card I mention that Nadia learned to ride w/o training wheels but that also could be said about Ian), and there are some other pictures I would have wanted to include, but I like the way the cards turned out, and given my emotional state of being for the past three months, I am very grateful that I created the card before I knew that Paul was giving up on chemistry. When I included a letter, I wrote a handwritten note at the bottom of almost every letter that was individualized. I can't do that this time, which is a disadvantage, but it also means it's a much quicker task to get the cards ready to mail. All I had to do was write the addresses on the envelopes. I am planning to mail them next week, which will be the earliest I've ever done that. So aside from finishing buying a few presents and then finishing up the wrapping, all I think I have left to do to get ready for Christmas is bake lots of Christmas cookies to give as gifts. I will say that decorating seemed contrary to the decluttering I just went through to get the house ready for showings, but that can't be helped this time of year. Paul snapped this photo on Wednesday morning before he left for work. He loved the fact that all three kids were reading (well of course Oliver was only looking at the book). Nadia was reading a chapter book, and Ian was reading to me. We all love books!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from the Kennedys! In November 2012 I started a tradition of writing in a journal each year. Nadia started writing a list in the journal in 2013, and Ian started writing in it last year. They enjoyed reading what they had written in the past when they wrote their lists this week. I try to write a gratitude list once a week on the blog, but of course those are just a few of the MANY blessings in my life. Some that I don't mention every week that certainly could be on the list would include:

1. My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ - I can't imagine my life without Him. I long for the day when I will see Him face to face. What a glorious day that will be! I'm very thankful that Nadia and Ian have become Christians.

2. My family - kids, husband, brother, sisters, parents, nieces, nephews, in-laws, etc.

3. Our planet - what an amazing creator God is! I love seeing a blue sky, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, leaves as they turned colors, flowers, etc.

4. Our country - we enjoy more freedom and prosperity than many others do around the world.

5. Music - I enjoy being able to sing in a choir and listen to music throughout the week.
6. Our health - Paul's mom has been doing SO much better lately than she had the previous couple of years. Oliver seems to be handling respiratory viruses better than he did last year. Maybe we can all avoid hospitalizations in the next year. I can now run 4-6 miles for the first time in my life.

7. Homeschooling - It is such a privilege to not only be their mom but also their teacher. I am so thankful for the progress that each of them have been making. To that end, I recorded two videos today (see below). Ian read the entire book (Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner) for the first time today. I recorded him reading just a few pages (because the video would have been awfully long as the book is more than 60 pages long). I also recorded Nadia identifying the countries of Europe. Next up will be Africa. Paul works with her on the maps after the boys

go to bed. I have really been enjoying our study of various countries. Next up is France. In particular I'm thankful for the progress Ian has made with eating and reading, that Nadia and Ian both learned to ride their bikes without training wheels, that Nadia stopped sucking her thumb this year, and that Oliver is done with potty training.

8. My camera - of course the reason I enjoy my camera is because of my three kids

9. Vacations, field trips, and amusement parks - I am very thankful for the two weeks we had in Florida with Paul's parents, the one week we had in Williamsburg with my parents, and many field trips and day trips to amusement parks. For example, the kids really love going to the children's museum where we now have an annual membership.

10. My friend, Cheri - we've been friends since January 2005. I might get to see her more often depending on where we move next year.

11. The library - what an awesome resource for homeschooling. We check out picture books, chapter books, books on cd, cd's of music, and dvd's. They also have been helpful with getting me books through interlibrary loan when they don't have the book in one of the three libraries in their system.

12. Our house - It keeps us warm and dry on cold days. Paul fixed the garage door today. I am very thankful that the van is in the garage for the first time in more than a month.

13. Gym class - Nadia and Ian really enjoy the 90 minute class each Friday, Oliver enjoys playing on the playland, and I enjoy talking to other homeschool moms (such as Allison). I'm also thankful for the other opportunities the kids have - AWANA, Upward basketball, AYSO soccer, gymnastics, ice skating lessons, tennis lessons, kid's choir, summer musical, summer camp, and that Nadia was able to be in Annie this past summer.

14. Oliver is such a good eater. What a relief this is to have a child who LOVES to eat vegetables! Nadia and Ian continue to make progress with eating a wider variety of foods.

This list could go on and on, but these are just a few of the many blessings in my life. The turkey is in the oven, and we are looking forward to Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law joining us later for the big meal. Hopefully Nadia and Ian will eat more of the meal than they have in the past. I hope that you have had a special day with friends and/or family as well!

Thankful Tuesday

1. I had my second mammogram last Wednesday (bright and early at 7:00am), and the results came back normal. If it weren't for the fact that my primary care doctor's office was VERY persistent, I wouldn't have had it done. I'm grateful for normal results.

2. Nadia's hives are definitely decreasing. She's down to just two pills a day - one Zyrtec in the morning and one Benadryl at night. She is doing really well with swallowing pills, which is also nice. She was hoping the allergist would say she was allergic to peas, ha ha! She was very relieved that she wasn't allergic to chocolate.

3. Paul has a ten day break from teaching over Thanksgiving. I decided to declare this a vacation week for Nadia and Ian also - just reading for Ian and reading and piano for Nadia this week plus writing in our Thanksgiving journal and of course I will keep reading picture books and chapter books to the kids (focusing on Europe). They are excited to have a week off of math, spelling, etc.

4.  Today the kids are going

with Paul to Kennedy Concrete so they can spend the day with Grandma and Pop Pop. They always love to spend a day at Grandma's house! My friend, Cheri, whom I have hardly seen over the past year got the day off of work, and we are having a girl's day out. She wanted to get a massage, and we each signed up for one at a beauty school (cheaper since it's a student doing it). I haven't had a massage since January 2012 so that is a rare treat for me, and I am going to use gift cards to buy us both lunch at Panera. I love my kids dearly, but it is nice to have a few hours of time with a friend every once in a blue moon.

5. On Friday the kids had their last gym class for the year. I am very grateful our church offers this.

6. On Saturday morning we went to the Little League Museum for Children's Day. The kids enjoyed having their picture taken with Curious George. It was a very nice (free) event for the community. The kids' favorite exhibit in the museum was where it would time you running the distance between home plate and first base. Nadia had the fastest time of our three kids (3.62 seconds).

7. Shutterfly has been giving out free shipping codes like crazy lately. Normally that is the only thing I pay for (free items but you have to pay shipping) so I have been getting things totally for free lately. I did pay something for one item though. I had my eye on a shower curtain for a few months, but I was trying to see what would be the best deal. The regular price is $80, but by combining a few discounts, I got one for $17. I told Paul he can wrap it up and put it under the tree and he's done with his Christmas shopping for me. We have had a lot of orange packages coming to our house lately (Shutterfly's packages are always orange). I'm also thankful that my parents and Paul's parents give me their Coke codes, which I use toward Shutterfly codes. I am currently getting VERY close to getting my first free 10x14 Canvas from Shutterfly via Coke points. I need about 70 more Coke points (it costs 1,203 points) to get it (a cap is worth 3 points, a code from a 12 pack is worth 10 points, and a code from a 24 pack is 20 points). If  any of you happen to have any that you are not going to use, I would be so grateful if you shared the Coke code with me. I want to order it in December so I can use one of my free shipping codes and truly get it for free.

8. Nadia was very disappointed a few weeks ago when she found out she wasn't picked to have one of the speaking parts in the Christmas play at church. She wasn't picked last year either, and they don't have try outs so I am not sure exactly how they make their selections. On Sunday she was given a very small part as one of the narrators, and this made her day. She was totally content to have a tiny little speaking part as long as she had SOME speaking part. I was rejoicing with her!

9. For the first time ever, Paul was responsible for getting the three kids dressed, fed, and out the door all by himself because I had to be at church at 7:15 on Sunday because fifty of the choir members wore individual microphones for our anthem because we sang it "flash mob" style spread out through the congregation instead of up on our usual risers on the platform. He forgot to brush their hair, which wasn't a big deal for the boys but Nadia's hair looked like a rat's nest. I used my fingers to comb it out a bit. Nadia and Ian's outfits looked perfectly fine. I would not have put together the combination Oliver was wearing, but it wasn't awful, and he had everyone there by 8:50, which was right on time for the 9:00 service. Way to go, Paul!

10. I am going to be picking up a free pie from our State Farm agent today. Yum! The kids have really been enjoying the white chocolate chip cranberry cookies I made recently. Nadia and Ian were hesitant to try them at first, but now they want to have three at a time! Oliver and Nadia also like the Snickerdoodle bread I made recently (uses cinnamon chips). Let the holiday baking begin!

11. Our house was shown on Sunday afternoon and last night. It only went on the market on Wednesday. When our house was on the market 2 1/2 years ago, we only had one showing during the two months it was on the market so it seems like the price we have it listed for now ($9K less) is more appropriate (although I would rather have sold it for the price we listed it at in 2013). One positive of showings is that it means our house is very clean and tidy right now. Sunday afternoon we passed the time at CVS and the grocery store. Last night I took the kids to the indoor playland at McDonald's.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Last Tuesday Nadia started having her second case of hives. She had them on her legs for several days the last week of October. Last Wednesday they really started to spread all over her body - abdomen, back, shoulders, face, hands, etc. so I called the Pediatrician's office. They said to start her on Benadryl and give it to her every six hours. Paul was at work, and I had no vehicle, but he left a little earlier than he planned and got her some Benadryl. It did not make her sleepy, but it certainly helped with the hives. Sunday morning I didn't give her the pill she was due at 7am as I was hoping she didn't need it any more, but by the time we got home from church on Sunday she was breaking out in various places again. Yesterday I called the allergist and although at first I was told the first available appointment was in March, there was a cancellation for today, and I took it and the Pediatrician's office faxed a referral. We spent 90 minute in the office today, and I have three things I was thankful for as we left. First, the kids were very well behaved. For quite awhile I have avoided taking all three to the doctor, but

really it went fine so now I know we can handle this. Second, Nadia only has a virus and is not allergic to a food or laundry detergent or something. At one point we were guessing maybe it was almonds, but I am relieved to know it's just a virus. She will need to be on Zyrtec and Benadryl for a few more weeks (possibly months!), but the pharmacy at the hospital had amazing prices on the medication - 24 tablets of Benadryl for $1.06 including tax and 100 tablets of Zyrtec for $5.30 including tax. Wow that is cheap! I am a big fan of CVS, but they definitely charge a lot more than that for those medications.  I now remember that she did have a virus in late October (I remember giving her Tylenol for a fever and headache) and that must have been the start of these hives. This morning when she woke up she had them on her face. We just never know where they are going to pop up next!

2. Paul got his car back last night! Oh  I am SOOOOO grateful to be back to a two vehicle family. If we lived in a city and had public transportation options that would be a different story, but for where we live, having only one vehicle is definitely less convenient. We skipped a few field trips (such as the tour of the SPCA yesterday morning) due to only having one car, but now life can go back to "normal." Yay!

3.  I have really enjoyed how tidy our bedroom has been over the past week. It has been far neater (less cluttered) than it has been in 3 years (plus 3 months). I guess there are some perks to putting your house on the market. We signed the contract on Friday, but actually I don't think it's on the MLS yet, and there isn't a sign in our yard yet so I guess it's not quite officially for sale.

4. The kids really enjoyed glow in the dark dodgeball at gym class on Friday morning. This Friday will be their last class until January.

5. I could have run during Oliver's  nap on Friday or Saturday (because Paul was at home), but I didn't because it was just TOO cold and windy for me. However it turned much warmer on Sunday, and I thoroughly enjoyed my run from 4-5 pm that day. It got up to almost 70 degrees on Monday, but I couldn't run because Paul wasn't home until 8:30pm, but I did walk with the kids to the playground.

6. We took the kids to Lowe's for a building project and then to Toys R Us for a Lego build on Saturday morning. Both were free events. We left with three pull back cars and three Lego mini Star Wars x wing fighters. It was Oliver's second time going to Lowe's. He went once this past summer, but this project was much easier and Paul was pleased with how Oliver did.

7. Nadia has really been enjoying the biography of George Muller. She actually would rather hear it than Snow Treasure (although Ian and Paul prefer the Norwegian WWII novel).

8. Paul's parents came up on Sunday to hear the kids sing at church, and she came bringing food for our lunch, which was very kind. The kids enjoyed playing with their grandparents in the afternoon.

9. On Sunday afternoon Paul replaced Nadia's window blind that she broke a couple of months ago. A few weeks ago he fixed the spring on my garage door, but he has one more repair to make on the door before it can be used. I have really missed being able to put the van in the garage. It didn't fit on Paul's side so I couldn't even put it in the garage during the 2 weeks we were down to one car. I am hoping this next weekend Paul can finish fixing the door so I can go back to parking inside the garage (which means no more scraping my windshield).

10. It took two weeks, but the boys adjusted to the one hour time change. I actually had to wake Oliver up on Sunday morning so we could be out the door by 8:05. That was quite a change from November 1 when he was up 2.5 hours before we needed to leave for church.

11. We sang "It is well" on Sunday morning. I love that hymn. I almost always cry when I sing that hymn. "When peace like a river...." I also liked the anthem the choir sang. The lyrics were straight from John 3:16-17 (with a few "Amens" added at the end of the song). The pastor's sermon also really spoke to me.

Thankful Tuesday

1. We are half way through our two weeks of only having one car. Some days it hasn't caused any inconvenience. On Sunday Paul didn't go to church with us because we only had one car, and last Wednesday I couldn't go to choir rehearsal. Today Nadia is missing her first art class at the Children's Museum because we only have one car. We will be ever so grateful when we have two cars again next week! I will be able to go to choir tomorrow night because there isn't any AWANA tomorrow night due to the church having a business meeting.

2. Last week I ended up receiving several free shipping codes for Shutterfly (from Gymboree, Kellogg's, AYSO, etc.). I am going to be receiving a lot of orange packages in the next two months! I am trying to use Shutterfly to save money on Christmas gifts.

3. We had a great time together as a family of five on Friday going to see Curious George and Steamtown National Historic Site.

4. The kids enjoyed building a jet (in honor of Veteran's Day) at Home Depot on Saturday morning. They love that Home Depot projects involve paint. Paul prefers the ones at Lowe's because they don't involve paint, ha ha.

5. We had a great time celebrating Paul's mom's birthday at their house on Saturday. Oliver made up his own birthday song and kept singing it while playing a guitar. What a hoot! We are so thankful that Paul's mom has been MUCH healthier over the past year than she had been the previous two years. We are also thankful she is done with chemo and radiation. She really liked the present we gave her, which put a smile on my face.

6. The kids really enjoyed the field trip at Papa John's yesterday. Paul was wishing he could have joined us for that tour. The highlight for the kids was that they each got to make their own 10 inch pizza. I wish I had a video of Oliver tossing the dough in the air. The kids could have put ANY topping on their pizza, but they just made three cheese pizzas. We then enjoyed the pizza, drinks, and a little taste of their chocolate chip cookies. The whole thing was free!

7. The piano was tuned this morning for the first time in at least three years.

8. Nadia and Ian are going to be evaluated tonight for Upward basketball (every child is evaluated in their attempts to have the teams be somewhat balanced). I am grateful they can both be in this program this year.

9. Ian is doing SO well with reading. He is now reading our Bible story to us before bed time. At some point we'll go back to the reading curriculum, but for now he's into Little Bear books.

10. Last Monday they finally harvested the corn field near our house. I always prefer when they plant soybeans in that field because once the corn gets to a certain height, it blocks our visibility to see if cars are coming where we need to make a turn. I was so happy when I saw they had finally harvested
that crop. Whew.

11. I mailed the checks this week to pay off one of our retirement loans (the smaller one). That was a good feeling! It is going to take longer to pay off the other one, but I am still hoping to do so before we sell this house.

12. Although at first I was not sold on the idea of Paul being a professor, the idea had definitely grown on me because I knew from experience what the salary and benefits could be, and I knew that the two semesters last about 30 weeks of the year, and that professors usually teach three days a week which makes one's schedule on the other days rather flexible. It has been hard to let go of that plan after investing seven years in graduate school toward that end, especially considering running a manufacturing plant is a 6-7 day a week job all year long. I contacted Bloomsburg to see if they were doing any tenure track searches, but they aren't even hiring adjuncts due to decreased enrollment. I have wished that could go back in time and not resign from my position, but I do love homeschooling my kids.
Today part of our schoolwork including reading picture books about Ireland, watched a video of a Riverdance, listened to Irish music (thanks to the library), and we're having beef stew for dinner. For handwriting Nadia wrote a thank you note to Papa John's. I do love being their mom and teacher!

13. On Sunday evening I realized I had started to come down with something. Paul stopped on his way home last night to get me some antihistamines, which I really appreciated. That and putting some ointment on my raw nose has helped. I'm hoping no one (particularly Oliver) catches it from me.

14. Although selling the house and moving are not tasks I look forward to going through, there are some benefits along the way. One is having the house really decluttered (many toys moved to the basement for example) for the photos the realtor took yesterday and also to be more easily prepared for showings in the future. Paul cleaned the fence and did a few other small projects around the house. He also went through a large stack of papers I had been wanting him to go through for three years. Well he didn't totally go through it. Some of it just was hidden under the bed, but he did start the project anyhow. We have taken car loads to the donation center (before I started trying to sell things) and sold other things. This means less stuff to pack and move and in the case of selling things has resulted in some money to put toward the retirement loans.

Twists and turns

Life rarely follows a straight path. There are usually many unexpected bumps, hills, twists, and turns along the way. We certainly experienced many of those during the years we were trying to become parents. My path in terms of degrees earned and corresponding jobs held was fairly straightforward. I graduated with my bachelor's degree in Elementary Education in May of 1992 and three months later started teaching middle school. I completed my master's degree in School Administration in August of 1994 and became a principal in  July 1996. I earned my doctorate in December 2002 and was a professor from 2003-2012. Paul's education and career path has had far more twists and turns. When I met him in 1997, he had recently moved back to PA and was working for his father. He told me very early on that he was just working there temporarily because he never wanted to own the company. In January 1998 he started going to college. I was quite surprised by this. I supported his decision, although I knew it would mean we would have to wait a few years to get married (if the relationship ended up in a marriage). I had wanted him to go to a more local college (such as Bloomsburg or Kutztown) because of the cheaper tuition and the fact he could have lived with his parents and saved money on rent, but he wanted to go to Penn State. We got married in August 2001 after he had completed 3 1/2 years at Penn State. He came back to work for his dad. After a break from being a student, I strongly suggested he finish his BS degree before it was too late, and he took classes at Kutztown and Bloomsburg and transferred the credits and graduated in December 2004 from PSU.

In 2005 Paul told me that he wanted to get his PhD in chemistry because he wanted to be a Physical Chemistry professor. One of the last classes he had taken toward his BS was Physical Chemistry at Bloomsburg, and he really loved the class. I was not at all keen on the idea for three main reasons #1 because we were trying to become parents at that point (had an ectopic pregnancy that year), and our plan had always been for me to be a SAHM, #2, he had never spent one minute trying to get a job that used his BS in mathematics and I was afraid the same thing might happen again, and #3 I didn't think he would enjoy being a professor because he didn't like getting up in front of people and talking. He was convinced that he would like teaching Physical Chemistry because the classes are very small. I agreed to continue being the primary (and at times sole) breadwinner for the family as long as he promised to actually use this degree after he earned it. He applied for PhD programs but didn't get in; we figured this was because his BS was in math not chemistry. He was accepted into a master's program at Bucknell. He quit his job and went back to school as a FT student in January 2005 taking undergrad chemistry classes to be prepared to start his MS in chemistry at Bucknell that August. He finished his classwork at Bucknell in 2008, but it took him awhile to finish his thesis so he didn't technically graduate until January 2010. I was hoping he would be satisfied just with his MS degree, but he really wanted his PhD, which meant we had to move. If we hadn't moved, our house would have been paid off by now, but it was too far of a commute to PSU from the house we bought in 2004 so we moved in September 2008. He defended his dissertation in January 2013, which was also the month that I resigned from being an Associate Professor to become a SAHM. He graduated in May 2013 and started teaching at Bloomsburg University as a FT adjunct that August.

He participated in many interviews the first half of 2013, but once it became time to go on interviews in the spring of 2014, he started cancelling the interviews because he wasn't sure he wanted to teach any more. The committee at Bucknell graciously rescheduled his interview, and he was offered a one year contract there. He started to participate in phone interviews in early 2015 and then accepted a one year extension at Bucknell. In early August (2015) we talked, and Paul told me he didn't want to apply for jobs at community colleges, but he did want to apply for jobs at four year schools teaching either general chemistry or physical chemistry. Then on August 20, when I was starting to work on an application for him, he told me he didn't want to apply for any jobs but rather had decided to become the owner of his dad's company. I could not have been more dumbfounded. For the previous 18 years Paul had told me repeatedly that he never wanted to own the company, and he had many times given me a long list of reasons why he felt that way. If Paul told me he was going to vote for Hillary that would have been less shocking (and Paul is registered Independent because he thinks the Republicans are too liberal so you can see for him to vote for Hillary would be a HUGE change on his part). I did not handle the news well that night. I am not sure if I experienced a panic attack or what exactly it was, but my heart was racing and I was unable to sleep one wink that night. I had this incredible burst of energy and was in constant motion the whole night (running outside, cleaning the basement, etc.). At least we paid of his student loans. That would add insult to injury if we had $100,000 in school loans like many do after that many years of graduate school. I am still struggling emotionally with this turn of events, but most of the time I am back to being able to sleep at night, which is a big relief. Ironically, there have been physical chemistry positions posted here in PA this fall. It pains me that he is not going to apply since this was what he deemed his dream job for the past ten years, and he has not yet even experienced it. He hasn't even taught one class for chemistry majors yet. If he didn't want to be a professor any more, I would like to see him apply for other jobs that would make use of his degrees and knowledge of math, chemistry, physics, and/or computer programming, but he is convinced that no one will hire him because he is almost 46 years old. I suggested he visit with the career development office at Bucknell to get advice of possible careers using his degrees because he is a graduate of their school, but he doesn't want to do this.

I held off on telling the kids this news until this past weekend. In part, I was hoping maybe Paul would change his mind. We looked at a house on Saturday morning, but we are definitely not interested in buying that one as it was 800 sq feet smaller than our current home and only a tiny bit cheaper. A realtor came out today to take pictures of our house and start the process of putting our house on the market. I am praying that it will sell in the Lord's perfect timing. We aren't in a rush. It could sell this month, or it could sell nine months from now, and that's fine with me. If we are moving back to that area (we'd love to buy the same house we bought in 2004 but I highly doubt that will happen), it would be especially wonderful if we could live within a reasonable driving distance of the church I attended when we lived there. I loved that church. The problem is the houses in that area are more expensive. There are houses we can afford that are a very reasonable drive to the plant, but they are not a reasonable drive to that church. I am praying for a miracle that a nice house that we can afford will become available in the area near that church when we have a buyer for this house. It's not just the pastor, handbell choir, ladies Bible study, etc, but also what will be available to the kids - AWANA, Upward basketball, etc, and if we moved to that area we would still be within a reasonable drive to things like homeschool art and gym class on Friday mornings, which would not be the case if we moved into one of the other houses that are too far from the church I love.

Nadia's first question was whether my parents would still move up here. They have talked about possibly moving closer to us once we were "settled down." She was very relieved when I said they still might move up to PA to be closer to us. She also was thrilled when we toured the house that she would get to pick out the color of carpet if we bought that house (the only flooring in the entire house was in the bathrooms and laundry room). It doesn't take much to make her excited about moving, lol! Ian was the one who was more upset. He said he didn't want to go to a new church, and he rattled off the neighborhood kids that he would miss. Hopefully wherever we move the kids will be able to make some new friends to replace the ones they will be leaving behind. The bottom line is that prayers are appreciated for the sale of our house (for a good price) and for us to find just the right house to buy. We are hoping to avoid a mortgage this time (yay!) and just borrow money from my retirement accounts instead to make up the difference between the equity in this house and the one we buy, which means within ten years the loans will be paid off and we'll stop paying interest to a bank as soon as we sell our current house as when you borrow from your retirement account you only pay interest to yourself.