Thankful Tuesday

1. On October 25 we enjoyed the Homeschool program at Bald Eagle State Park - tree identification, birding, how to pack for an overnight camping trip, fishing, etc. The kids and I also enjoyed a dinner at Friendly's that night (using a gift card) while the van was being serviced at Sears.

2. The kids enjoyed going to trunk or treat events on October 26, 27, 28, and 29 as well as a party at the library on October 30. Nadia was the only one who went trick or treating on the 31st with Paul. I stayed home with the boys because they had some issues at the babysitter's that day (Ian had trouble focusing and Oliver had trouble obeying). Nadia definitely ended up with far more candy than her brothers did so trick or treating definitely results in more candy than trunk or treating does.

3. The kids were able to learn about Gustav Klimt and paint a canvas at the Children's Museum on October 28.

4. Paul took the kids to Bloom Bounce on October 29 as it was free for WVIA members that day. We all visited the Lackawanna Coal Mine and Anthracite Heritage Museum for the first time on November 4 because it was free for WVIA members that day. The tour down in the coal mine lasted about one hour. We were about 350 feet below the ground.

5. I got a free long sleeve Bloomsburg University t-shirt for my participation in the Open House event on October 28.

6. The kids each got a free meal at Applebee's on October 31. I used part of a gift card for my meal. Yum! We'll make this an annual tradition if Applebee's continues to give kids free meals on Halloween.

7. On November 1 I took the kids to see Snow White (a musical with 4 actors plus the dwarfs were played by puppets) and then to the Children's Museum for activities about microbiology. Two of

my students were volunteers helping with the program. It's a small world!

8. On Saturday on our way to Scranton to tour the coal mine we stopped at Home Depot. The kids built and painted Humvees in honor of Veteran's Day. I brought my good camera with me to take photos at Home Depot and at the coal mine, but it turns out the battery was totally dead so I was only able to use my cell phone (all the pics in this post are from my iPhone). Lesson learned = keep the spare camera battery in the van because I rarely bring the whole camera bag with me.

9. The trees are so pretty at this time of year! Hopefully I will find the time to snap some photos of the kids with the pretty fall leaves. The pics I have in frames on the wall in the family room now of Nadia and Ian are from last fall with pretty leaves in the background.

10. Paul's mom was finally able to have her 2nd chemo treatment. Praying it is successful with minimal side effects! Today is her 73rd birthday.

We hope to be able to celebrate her birthday on Sunday if the kids are healthy by then. All three kids are sick at the moment, and she can't be around them when they're sick when she's undergoing chemo.

11. I really like my bifocal glasses. I tried the monovision contact lenses for 5 days. I could read better with them than with my other contact lenses, but for distance things were much blurrier. Since it costs $50 every time the eye doctor attempts to get the right contact prescription for me, I have decided just to stick with bifocal glasses for now. There are moments when I wish I could wear contacts (like when I open the oven door and my glasses get all steamed up), but most of the time I've gotten accustomed to wearing glasses again. It is heavenly to be able to see clearly up close and at a distance without getting a headache.

12. I found out that homeschoolers can take specials at the Christian school at our church for $150 a year (per subject). Because we missed 1/4 of the school

year, they are going to waive the registration fee that is usually in addition to that. I have signed Nadia and Ian up for a 4th grade art class (thankfully the principal is allowing Ian to also join the class even though he's not in 4th grade). The class takes place after their homeschool gym class on Fridays. I'll just take Oliver to the Well (indoor playland) while they have their art class. How perfect is that! Nadia was so excited that she was hoping they'd be able to start November 3. They will actually be starting on November 17.

13. Nadia had been wanting to buy a Barbie doll of Elena's sister. When she had enough money it was $15 at JCPenney, but since our local store closed she would have had to pay about $7 for shipping. I convinced her to wait until early November to buy it. This was hard for her at first (she actually cried about it), but her patience was rewarded because the dolls were on sale and we picked them up at the JCP in Wilkes Barre (no shipping fees). She got two dolls (Moana was the second) for $21 including tax, which is less than what one doll would have cost if

Praying mantis on our swing set!

she hadn't waited.

14. On Saturday when we stopped at JCP to get Nadia's two dolls, I also bought the boys 16 pairs of socks for $4 each (after taking off $20 using coupons). Since the JCP stores near us closed in the summer, it was the first time I had been in a JCP since July. Lately I have been shopping at Sears instead, and I got the sad news recently that our Sears is also closing in less than 2 months. I guess shopping on clearance racks will be a thing of the past. Thankfully I get most of the kids' clothes at yard sales (and a little bit at consignment stores). While we were at that mall in Wilkes Barre I also used a $35 off coupon to get Paul a new pair of sneakers for $15.

15. I recently purchased a Bluetooth speaker. What an improvement! We use it when listening to the Bible or an audio book.

16. I mowed the lawn on Friday. I believe that will be our last time for 2017. Although normally I enjoy the exercise, any reduction in my workload at this point is a blessing. I will have an eleven day break (Nov 17-27), and I am hoping to get ahead during that time so that the last three weeks of the semester won't be as hectic for me.

17. I chipped one of my back molars on October 25. When I called the dentist the first available appointment was November 1, but that didn't work for me because of the kids' field trip. The next available appointment was November 13. I am grateful that I haven't experienced any pain in that tooth.

18. I got my first free shipping code for Shutterfly today. This means I need to start putting in some time making ornaments, calendars, etc. on Shutterfly. I am usually almost done with my Christmas shopping at this point, but this year I haven't even started yet. I also need to put some thought into Ian's birthday which will be here before I know it (12/12). We need more Legos like we need a hole in the head. Trying to come up with some other ideas for him....

19. My brother has been calling me about once a week. I miss my mom something fierce, but one upside is that it's forced my siblings and I to make more efforts to keep in touch with each other.

Pumpkins, Costumes, and Klimt

Yesterday morning I took the kids to the Children's Museum for a program about Gustav Klimt. The presenter showed the children several different examples of his artwork, and then she focused on his painting entitled "The Tree of Life." Then she gave each of the kids a canvas and guided them through making their own version of the Tree of Life. The canvases were still wet when it was time to leave, so we left them there and will pick them up the next time we're at the museum (most likely on Wednesday). I love that programs like this are free for members. We definitely get our money's worth out of our membership at the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg. I was a little nervous that I was going to end up with paint on myself. Normally I wouldn't care since the paint was washable, but my next stop was the University for an Open House event. Thankfully my outfit stayed clean, and I was able to wash the paint off my hands.

Ian selected his Bounty Hunter costume (from Star Wars) for each of the trunk or treat events. Today is day four out of our six days of Halloween. It's not my favorite costume, so I talked him out of that one for Friday night as I stopped at the park on the way to church to take their annual photos, and I didn't want him wearing one with a mask. If I had been thinking, I would have picked a costume with a mask for Oliver since he's the hardest one to get to cooperate for a photo, ha ha! Because Ian switched to Luigi, I had Oliver switch to Mario just for the photos, but actually he wore Mr. Incredible for the trunk or treat on Thursday and Ironman for the ones on Friday, Saturday, and today. Nadia has been an Egyptian princess at all of the events this year. They were doing face painting at the one Paul took them to yesterday afternoon, and they painted her face in a way that matched her costume. This afternoon they had their fourth (and final) trunk or treat. I enjoyed this one because it included yummy foods like ham and bean soup, strawberry shortcake, etc. Tomorrow they have a Halloween party at the library that they'll attend before gymnastics (Nadia) or after gymnastics (boys).

We'll be making a trip to the dentist in Watsontown who gives kids $1 per pound of candy as we have way too much candy in our house right now, and they'll still be collecting more on Tuesday night. They go through their bags and pick out what they want to keep and what they want to donate. Last year they donated six pounds so they each received two $1 coins. It was a rainy day today, but it was nice out the last three days. Thankfully the church that hosted the event today had a Hall of Treats inside the church building. After church today Paul took the kids to Bloom Bounce as it was free for WVIA members today. It worked out well for them that the Giants have a bye week and the Steelers are playing at 8:30pm, as it meant we were free to take them to Bloom Bounce and the Hall of Treats this afternoon. Usually we're watching one or two football games on Sunday afternoon. We had planned to attend a field trip at a state park tomorrow, but that has been cancelled as it's still supposed to be raining tomorrow morning. I'm happy to stay home until 5:10pm tomorrow when we leave for gymnastics.

We have another field trip planned for Wednesday, which is another reason I don't mind that tomorrow's has been cancelled. The last few days I have been putting many hours into planning field trips and vacations for the coming months. I realize some things might get rescheduled or cancelled and other new things will be added, but it still helps to do some research and have tentative plans. Here are a few highlights of the trips that are more than three hours from our home:

1. A couple of days in DC/Baltimore (Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Museum of the Bible, Museum of Industry, Museum of the American Indian) in January 2018 when Paul has a business trip to Baltimore

2. A couple of days in Philadelphia in March (my spring break) to visit the Adventure Aquarium, US Mint, Franklin Institute, Franklin Court Museum, and Garden State Discovery Center

3. Four day trip to Buffalo Museum of Science, Old Fort Erie, Niagara Falls, Fort George, Rochester Museum and Science

Center, Strong Museum, and Genesee Village in May 2018

4. Chesapeake Children's Museum and Blue Angels air show in Annapolis on May 24, 2018

5. Fort McHenry and Port Discovery in Baltimore on August 17, 2018

6. Trip to Pittsburgh to visit Fort Ligonier, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh Children's Museum, Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium, Fort Pitt Museum  - August 31 - September 2, 2018

7. Jamestown, Yorktown, and Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia September 14-17, 2018

8. Vacation in San Diego area October 10-15 to visit San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park, Sea World, LEGOLAND, Disneyland, Maritime Museum, USS Midway Museum

9. National Archives and National Zoo in DC in November 2018

10. Luray Caverns, Montpelier, Monticello, and Virginia Discovery Museum November 17-20, 2018

11. Vacation in Michigan in May 2019 to visit Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, Fort Mackinac, Colonial Michilimackinac, Soo Locks, National Museum of the US Air Force (OH), Flint Children's Museum, Michigan Science Center, Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, Sloan Longway, and Imagination Station (OH)

Well I'd better stop planning trips and get back to writing lesson plans and making PowerPoints. I am caught up on grading at the moment, which is always a nice feeling.

Field Trips

Oliver trying to pick up a worm for his bait.

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you probably have figured out that I place a high priority on taking my kids on field trips. Being able to go on many field trips is one of the perks of homeschooling in my opinion. That has been curtailed over the past two months due to me going back to work. In the past we skipped some field trips due to our finances being tight. Now we skip them because time is the limited commodity. On Monday I took the kids to an art class at an art studio. I brought a book that I've been trying to read as I determine which textbooks to submit to the bookstore for my classes next semester. In reality, I didn't end up reading the book during their art class. I find myself torn so many times these days as to when to just be in the moment with my kids and when to do my work although I am physically present with them. Not trying to get my work done at the same time also frees me up to take pictures of them, which is something I also really enjoy doing.

On Wednesday we went to Bald Eagle State Park for a four hour program put on by students at Penn State. The program was very well done. It included five stations plus a group session focused on a broad winged hawk, which is kept at Shaver's Creek because it is blind in one eye. Seeing the hawk was Ian's favorite part of the day. My kids were put into the red tailed hawk group. Our first stop was tree identification. Then the kids went fishing. None of my three caught any fish, but another girl in our small group caught four different fish (perch and rainbow trout). Oliver said the fishing was his favorite part of the day. We ate lunch in our van because it was COLD out. It was about 51 degrees, cloudy, and very windy. Brr! After lunch we did an activity about what to pack if you are going backpacking for a few days. That was Nadia's favorite part of the day. Our fourth station was a bird identification talk. The kids were given field guides, binoculars, etc., but we didn't see many birds. Our last station was probably my favorite as we went on a walk and then collected various macro invertebrates from the water. The kids found newts, damselfly nymphs, water spiders, etc.

Broad winged hawk

The downside of field trips is that it sometimes means we're not home very much on a given day. We still had some time at home on Monday, but on Wednesday we were gone almost the whole day between the field trip, getting the van to Sears for an oil change, tire rotation, etc., and AWANA for the kids and choir for me that night. Thursday I took the kids to the library, Walmart, and a trunk or treat event right after I picked them up from the babysitter so that was another day that we were gone from the house for about 12 hours straight. I was very grateful on Friday to stay HOME until 5pm when we left so I could take the kids to our church to help out with that trunk or treat event. Somehow Halloween has morphed from a one day event when I was a child to a six day event for my kids. Having a day at home means I have time to get work done for the university plus also time to do things like vacuum, exercise, do the laundry, etc.

Today is our first Saturday without flag football. I'm taking the kids to an art class at the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg, and then I am participating in an Open House event at the university for high schoolers who are considering being an education major at the university. Paul is taking the kids to a trunk or treat this afternoon at the church where they do Upward Basketball. The last few days I have been putting a lot of time into planning out field trips and vacations for the next about 14 months. I am hoping to take more trips once this semester is done. I am assuming next semester will be more manageable since I'll have more course preparations done before the semester starts. Having a job does make planning field trips more complicated because some of the days that a particular venue is having a "Homeschool Day" or a "Hands-on History Day" happen to fall on a day I am teaching. I'm thinking that in January or February I will know more of what my schedule for next fall might be. I'm hoping to be on Tuesdays and Thursdays again because I have planned some four day weekend trips (Friday through Monday). If I am teaching on T/Th next fall, then I think we're going to skip participating in a team sport next fall so we can go on more trips in September and October. I'm still trying to figure out a way to schedule our vacation to San Diego for October. I'm thinking we could be gone 6 days if one of the days we were on vacation I had my students take their midterm exam. It would be about $900 cheaper to go in October as the kids would get in free to LEGOLAND, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park etc. If it won't work to go in October, then I think we'll go late May or early June. I do love planning field trips and vacations! Now to get back to grading.....

Thankful Tuesday

1. The kids enjoyed playing flag football for the first time this season. It was nice that Nadia was able to sing the National Anthem at the game on Saturday and that Pop Pop was able to join us.

2. We attended a painting class yesterday morning. There were 10 homeschoolers at the painting party. Each child painted a pumpkin on a canvas. I am displaying all three canvases on our mantle for the next few weeks, and then we'll hang them on their bedroom walls. I am trying to increase the frequency of our field

trips - not to what it was when I was unemployed, but more than it has been the past two months.

3. All three kids are enjoying their gymnastics classes. They had their second class last night.

4. I took the kids to a Chemistry show at Bucknell last Tuesday night. We had schedule conflicts the previous two years, which prevented them from attending; so this year I decided to skip their final flag football practice so we could attend the event.

5. We had a wonderful time birding on Friday morning with another homeschool family and a birder from our church.

6. The kids enjoyed playing glow in the dark field hockey in gym class on Friday morning.

7. The Aldi's was reopened last week which meant we were able to shop there on Saturday after their football games. We also stopped at Sears to use two more coupons to get some very inexpensive clothing.

8. All three kids did a good job singing in kids' choir in both services on Sunday, and Nadia did well with her short solo.

9. I am still enjoying my Bible study on Nehemiah. We met last night. We will conclude our study in two weeks.

10. I'm so thankful for libraries!!!

11. The Steelers are now 5-2. Yay!

Last 2 Games

Our first season of flag football is in the books. Yesterday all three kids played at 11:30. It was the only time this season their games happened simultaneously. Pop Pop, Paul, and I didn't bother bringing our chairs on to the field as we had at all the other games because we figured we'd be walking back and forth to see parts of both games. Nadia's game ended in a tie. She didn't really have anything to do on offense, but on defense she certainly was running and trying to pull the flag of the QB or whomever had the ball. The boys' team won their game. They won the first game and last game and lost the other six games. Ian tried to pull a ball carrier's flag when he was on defense, but he didn't succeed with that this game. Ian played center for almost every play on offense, but there was one time when someone else played center and Ian was the running back on that play. He got a couple of yards. In our opinion, Oliver should have been the center. I'm not sure what we'll do next fall if we'll go back to soccer, take a break from a team sport, or maybe do Upward flag football at a different church.

We'll make that decision in the spring. If they do flag football again in the fall, Nadia and Ian could be on the same team. Oliver says he can't wait for Upward basketball. We have a little break from a team sport as those practices don't start until the middle of December, and the games don't start until the middle of January. In terms of the NFL, today was a good day for the Steelers (who are now 5-2) and a bad day for the Giants (who are now 1-6).

Nadia sang the National Anthem before their game on Saturday. I'm not sure why, but she got off pitch in one section ("o'er the ramparts we watched"). She never had trouble with that when we practiced. I was proud of her for being willing to sing a Capella in front of everyone gathered for the two games. I was also pleased that she kept going and managed to get back on pitch. She had another (smaller) solo in the song the kids' choir sang at church today. She did a perfect job in both services with that solo. I also was very pleased with Oliver. He showed GREAT improvement. I took a video of both services, especially as Paul's mom couldn't come. She's had a cold for a couple of weeks which has prevented her from having her chemo the last two weeks. She's supposed to have it every four weeks, but if she has it this week it will be seven weeks since her last treatment. Thankfully the first treatment was a lot more effective than the chemo she had been on earlier this year. Hopefully she'll be deemed healthy enough this Thursday to have the second treatment. I heard the kids sing in the both services. Paul and Pop Pop heard them in the second service.