Vote for the library

Paul and the boys went to our polling place in the middle of the day while Nadia was getting a haircut. I arrived at our polling place at 5:20, and there was a line at that point which Paul didn't experience earlier in the day. I waited in line for 25 minutes before it was my turn to vote. I was the 590th person to vote at our particular precinct. While I was driving home from work, Paul and Oliver went into the library while Nadia and Ian were in gymnastics. That library is also a polling place. Paul said he was asked more than once if he was there for the library or to vote (the big bag of books he was carrying was probably a good clue). One of the times he was asked that question, Oliver responded, "We're here to vote for the library!". LOL! Well public libraries are something that candidates on both sides of the aisle are in favor of (I assume). 

Today I'm giving thanks....

1. For the blessing of living in the United States - including the freedom to vote. 

2. That Paul's mom has been a lot healthier the last few years

than she was in 2013-14. I vividly remember talking with my mom in the fall of 2014 about how I feared my mother-in-law wouldn't survive the chemo treatments she was undergoing at the time. Tomorrow she'll be turning 74!

3. The kids and I had dinner at Taco Bell on Monday night in between their music class and our Bible study. Taco Bell isn't their favorite, but I had a gift card so the meal was free. They did like the Cinnabon dessert I got all of us to share at Taco Bell. I selected some more gift cards (using credit card points), and the kids are thankful that this time I got Subway, Burger King, Domino's and Dunkin Donuts. I could have selected some sit down restaurants, but it costs so much more to eat at those places I opted for fast food/take out options. The kids have one more week of music class/choir. I am looking forward to their concert that is scheduled to take place on the 19th.

4. The boys got their new glasses today! I will take pictures of them tomorrow.

5. We are all healthy right now! Nadia had a cold in October, but none of the rest of us caught it from her, which was wonderful.

6. Nadia and Oliver had no trouble adjusting to the time change. Ian is moving in the right direction.

7. Nadia has made great progress with her handstand recently!

8.We didn't carve pumpkins this year, and the kids have not said a word about it. It's something we have typically done every year, but I guess it's not a big deal to them whether we do it or not.

Chemistry

Paul's two favorite fields of science are physics and chemistry. He would have loved it if that's what the kids were studying in science this year, but we've been studying animals for the last 14 months. Last fall we did those that fly, this past spring those that live in the water, and this semester we've been studying land animals. In the spring we are planning to focus on anatomy and physiology. During the 2019-20 school year I'm planning to do botany with them one semester and chemistry/physics the other. Paul will be in his heyday that semester! The kids did some chemistry recently thanks to some activities that Bucknell's chemistry club had set up at the Lewisburg Children's Museum. Paul typically works at the concrete plant on Saturdays, so I took them on that field trip. After the second service of church, Paul took the kids to the Joseph Priestley House for their free Heritage Day event that included chemistry demonstrations since he was one of the individuals who discovered oxygen. A few years ago Nadia and Ian attended a history camp at that site. I don't

think they've been back there since then. I'm hoping all three kids can do that three day history camp this summer. I think it will be the first year Oliver will be old enough and the last year before Nadia will be too old to participate. I would have joined them on this outing if it weren't for the fact that the Steelers had a game at 1pm vs. Baltimore. The Giants have a bye week, which means I can watch the entire game. We only own one television which is not a problem 99.9% of the time, but last Sunday both of our games were on at 1pm, which meant Paul had to do a lot of flipping between channels and neither of us could see out entire games (particularly since I took the kids to a Trunk or Treat during the game).

Today I'm giving thanks...

1. For the freedom of religion in our country and also praying for those Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith.

2. Nadia has recently been reading the Rush Revere history books. She has finished two and

is in the middle of book three. I love it that her leisure reading ties in perfectly with what we are studying right now in history! Ian recently read The Cabin Faced West at my request, but his preference is to read Magic Tree House books.

3. Oliver loves to spell! What a difference a year makes. As I have said before, if we didn't homeschool our children, I would have delayed Oliver's entrance to Kindergarten by one year. One benefit of homeschooling is that education occurs at the child's pace - when he or she is developmentally ready. Oliver is READY to read and spell! He asks to go above and beyond what he is required to do in those subjects. Yahoo!!

4. The Steelers beat the Ravens today! We had a shaky start to the season, but we are now at the top of our division despite one of our top offensive players from last season hasn't reported to the team yet this season.

5. I was able to take fall pictures of Oliver today. I had some I loved of Nadia and Ian from 2016 and didn't get to doing it last year. Hopefully I will also be able to get some of Nadia and Ian this year! I love my kids, and I love colorful leaves.

Papa John Playground

This morning we began reading a new book. We hadn't read a missionary biography in awhile so I started reading them one on William Carey this morning. The kids played for a little bit, and then we headed to Home Depot for a workshop - something else we hadn't done in quite awhile. They built helicopters in honor of Veteran's Day. Nadia and Ian have done more than 15 projects at Home Depot over the years, but today was Oliver's 10th project so he received the special 10 project pin in addition to today's helicopter pin. Nadia didn't need any help. I think she'd prefer to never do any of these projects again because she thinks she's too old for them. She has definitely entered the stage of life where she frequently thinks she's too old to enjoy things that just a short while ago she enjoyed. I think she even thinks she's getting too old for Children's Museums. I remember when I taught sixth grade how the girls would be going back and forth between enjoying childhood pastimes (ex playing with dolls) and being more "grown-up." She doesn't think she's too old to play with

boxes thankfully. She also enjoys the event because she gets to meet some of my students. Oliver declared that Josh (a student in my 8:00 class) was his friend.

In November I try to write a gratitude list every day that I write a post. Here are some things I'm thankful for today:

1. The leaves are turning beautiful colors. I love this time of  year! I took some pictures of the kids yesterday when it wasn't raining and wasn't too cold for them to take a picture without a coat on. I'm hoping to get some pics of them in front of beautiful leaves with some nice fall outfits (or Sunday clothes) the next time we have a day like that!

2. The kids enjoyed gym and art classes yesterday. Nadia hadn't had art class in several weeks because the school had half-days on quite a few Fridays. The kids love Mrs. Pizzuto (the art teacher). I'm very thankful our church makes these classes available for homeschoolers.

3. This week and for the next couple of weeks I only need to visit student teachers on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which means I am with my kids the other five days of the week. I also had very little grading to do this week, which was also a big relief after having a fair amount of grading to do for several weeks in a row.

4. I have a tentative plan for observing and conferencing with my student teachers from November 6 through December 11. I will probably have to make some changes along the way, but it means I get a break from working on schedules for awhile. Creating the schedules should be easier as I'm only supposed to have 5 student teachers. I had 15 last semester and have 10 now. One of my students told Nadia today that she hopes I'm her supervisor next semester. How sweet! Actually I'd be thrilled to have her as one my student teachers as she's been a fabulous student in my classes over the past 14 months. Some of my students have had me in as many as four different classes over the past 3 semesters.

5. Ian and Oliver's new eyeglasses have already come in. They only ordered them on Tuesday! Oliver's came in on Thursday, and Ian's came in yesterday. Paul plans to pick them up on Tuesday. Expect to see some pics next week of the boys with their new glasses!

6. I'm thankful that Home Depot has free workshops where kids can learn the skills of using a screwdriver, using a hammer, etc.

7. The kids really enjoyed the Pop-Up Playground. Oliver misheard me, and he kept asking when we were going to the Papa John Playground, ha ha! The kids could have received free t-shirts, but we still had the ones from last year (although this year's were yellow which was prettier than the grey ones I thought). We all had free pizza, chips, and water. In fact they had SO much pizza (way too much) that the professor in charge told me to take two large pizzas home. The kids also brought home a few boxes.

8. Our Echo Dot hasn't been working for several days. Paul

called today and we're shipping it back and Amazon is sending us a new one. I'm thankful for warranties!

9. When Paul took Nadia to the urgent care center in July to get the earring back out of her ear, we had no idea how much it would cost us. The bill finally arrived in the mail this week, and we owe $50. I'm thankful it wasn't more than that. I'm also that since then Nadia hasn't had any traumatic experiences with her piercings. Pretty soon she can start wearing earrings that aren't the post kind. She's looking forward to that as she doesn't like sleeping with that kind of earring in her ear.

10. I've gotten a lot of books through interlibrary loan through my university lately for my kids. We still check out many books, cds, and videos from the public library also. I'm very thankful for libraries!

11. On Friday I got some work done and also chatted with another mom while the kids were in gym class. I can go months without having a face-to-face conversation with a friend so those moments aren't taken for granted!

Thankful Thursday

Since today is the first day of November, a month when we focus on giving thanks, it is apropos for me to write a gratitude list today!

1. The kids enjoyed going to four Trunk or Treat events (Thursday through Sunday) plus trick or treating last night. I took them on Saturday and Sunday. Paul took them the other three times. Nadia wore her new colonial costume three times, and her Descendants costume twice. Ian wore Kylo Ren (from Star Wars) once, his colonial costume once, and Lego Ninjago three times. Oliver wore Mr. Incredible twice, Ironman once, was a pirate once, and Thomas the Train once. We have LOTS of candy in the house even though they took three pounds to the dentist with Daddy. The dentist gave them each a $1 coin in exchange for the candy. I still need to get some nice individual pictures of the kids in their costumes, but other than that we are done with anything related to Halloween. Next up is Thanksgiving, various birthdays (including Grandma, Pop Pop, Ian, and Grandpa), and Christmas. I also

need to go through Oliver's costume bin because quite a few of them are size 4-6 and are too small. Time to start donating some costumes. We have quite a collection because when Ian and Nadia were younger they wore costumes almost every day of the year, and often times they wore multiple costumes per day. Oliver has never gone through such a phase as his siblings did.

2. Gym class was from 1:00-2:30 last Friday. I have to say I preferred that time (it's usually from 10:00-11:30).

3. I took the kids to a Chemistry event at the Lewisburg Children's Museum on Saturday that was put on by students at Bucknell.

4. I didn't see much of the game because #1 Paul's game was on at the same time and we only own one tv and #2 I took the kids to a Hall of Treats event at 3:30, but the Steelers won on Sunday.

5. I ordered glasses for Paul and I on Zenni, and Paul bought Ian and Oliver's glasses at the eye doctor. Oliver's glasses have

already come in. I will pick them up when Ian's also have arrived. Three eye exams plus four glasses cost almost $1,000, and that was with using Zenni for two of the glasses (which cost far less than at an optical shop). I have submitted the receipts to the vision fund for faculty and believe we'll be reimbursed for the majority of it.

6. Paul took Nadia to the WGRC skate night tonight. She loves going to this event.

7. Someone came over  yesterday to give me an estimate on a new deck. Progress!!

8. We went with Tab and her boys to a state park for a homeschool program yesterday. It was lovely to enjoy each other's company, and Tab drove which was great for me since I drive so much for work these days. Oliver was selected to pull the tickets to see who won the two door prizes. Would you believe he drew HIS number first and Ian's number second?!?!? We received a $20 gift card, and he drew a third number so that another family could receive the second prize.

The kids enjoyed making S'mores, playing a version of "sharks and minnows," playing a bird bingo game with candy corn, looking for animals in the frog pond, etc.

9. We had dinner at Applebee's last night. We went because last year they gave kids a free kids' meal if they were wearing a costume. It turns out this particular restaurant wasn't participating in the promotion this year. I should have asked before we ordered. Thankfully we were using a gift card my Dad gave us in August.

10. I only have 4 weeks left of classes (plus final exams) this semester! WOOHOO! Just two more weeks until Thanksgiving break!!

Beethoven and decisions

Lately we've been checking out DVDs from the library of movies the kids have never seen before. Two that recently saw were Babe and Beethoven. Beethoven (the movie about the St. Bernard dog) will always be memorable to me because it was the first movie I saw in a theater. Although we got a VCR when I was in middle school and had watched movies on tv (such as the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights), we weren't allowed to enter a movie theater. I graduated from college one month after I turned 20 years old, and that summer I started my master's degree at a university in Virginia. While in graduate school that summer, I went with my suitemates to the theater for the first time. It was a nerve wracking experience for me. I literally thought God might strike me dead just for walking into the building. Once I got over the trauma of entering the building, I did really enjoy the movie. I should add that somewhere along the way (when I was an adult), my dad started going to see movies with my brother, and sometimes we all go see one together at Christmas (ex. Star Wars).

Last spring I only signed Nadia and Ian up for the 2019 season of Upward Basketball because the first two years of team sports for Oliver (basketball, soccer, and flag football) seemed like a complete waste of time and money because he mostly just stood on the field/court and wasn't actually a contributing team member in any fashion. Taking him to a practice 1-2 times a week plus 1 game a week is too big of a time commitment if he's not really going to try. When I reminded him of this recently, he objected and said he really wanted to play basketball and promised to run and try to make a basket, etc. He has matured quite a bit in the last year so I signed him up this week (cost a bit more than if I had signed him up in the spring). Hopefully he will be a contributing member of the team this year! I wish that two of the kids could be on the same team, but since they are each two grade levels apart that's not possible. I am reminding myself though that we used to do three seasons a year of games on Saturdays (two of soccer and one of basketball) and now we're down to just one season when we have three games every Saturday.

On Monday Paul and I made a bigger decision. They are just starting to work on the summer and fall schedules so I haven't been informally asked yet (and a form offer wouldn't happen until probably May), but it is very helpful for me to know what my answer will be when they ask (I figure the latest they'll ask is in January). Paul thought I should work 50% (two math methods courses). I was asking if he thought I should work 25% (one night class), 50% (two afternoon classes), or 75% those two put together. This semester my two math classes are from 8:00-10:45 on T/TH. In the spring they will be from 2:00-4:45 T/TH. I am going to ask if they could be from 2:00-4:45 both semesters next school year. If I only teach those classes I would be gone from home from 12:00-5:30 two days a week. This means I would be able to homeschool my kids five days a week with the exception of if we had a field trip on a Tuesday or Thursday that would last past 12pm then Paul would need to take them. I'm very grateful that we have made this decision together. There are downsides to this choice such as I won't be eligible for orthodontic coverage for my kids. I would have been eligible the ten years I was FT at this university, but the kids didn't need braces during those ten years. My timing is off, but even that is not enough to convince me to work FT. If I could be FT without having any student teachers, I might be making a different choice. Thus far I haven't been given any online courses. I had taught several different online courses when I was there previously. Maybe I'll be able to teach an online version of the math class this summer? Considering I was at 125% last spring and this fall, 50% will be a drastic reduction. My working PT will enable us to have the money in the coming years to replace our roof, replace our minivan, etc. Now to decide what to do about Bible study. The kids (primarily Nadia and Oliver) really like going to BSF on Monday nights. I'm not a huge fan. I prefer the inductive Bible studies at our church. I will probably sign up for a study at our church starting next fall, but I am not sure what to do from December through May. We are going to keep going to BSF through November 19. Life is full of SO many decisions!!!

A snapshot in time

When Ian and Nadia were little I used to write a little synopsis of them every month, and then I went to every three months and now for awhile have been doing it twice a year - on their birthdays and half-birthdays. Today is none of the above for any of my kids, but I had the urge to just record  some thoughts about each of them today. Kids change so quickly!

Nadia had a phase this summer where she wore a million bracelets on her right arm. I never said anything (as long as I was sure none of them were cutting off her circulation), but I was not a fan of that look so I'm grateful she has outgrown that for now anyhow. She has been painting her fingernails a lot more regularly lately. I'm thinking one of her Christmas gifts this year will be her first professional manicure and maybe for her 11th birthday next June her first professional pedicure. I can't remember the last time I had either of those myself. It sounds like a fun "girls only" outing. She prefers to be with kids who are her age or older, but she does play with Ian and also Adalayde

(neighbor) who is 2 years younger than her. Her favorite pastimes are listening to Adventures in Odyssey CDs, listening to Christian contemporary music, playing with paper dolls, playing with Legos with Ian, and adult coloring books. She really, really wants to be promoted to Level 3 in gymnastics. She practices her cartwheels and handstands every day. She has already mastered her headstand so she doesn't practice that very often these days.

I finally integrated poetry into our homeschool curriculum (long overdue!). She wasn't too thrilled at the outset, but I have seen her reading poetry lately on her own initiative. She likes doing 5th grade math via Teaching Textbooks (online) this year. She had a couple of assignments that her grade was far less than desirable, but in general she's been doing well. All of her math quiz grades have been very satisfactory. She's just finished step 6 of 30 of the 6th grade spelling textbook. Nadia loves being in the 5th grade art class on Fridays.

Nadia and Ian both enjoy chewing gum. Thus far I haven't discovered gum put in any wrong place. I wish I could say the same about Laffy Taffy, but some of that ended up in a load of clothes. I didn't discover it until I was taking the clothes from the dryer. Nadia often chooses a salty snack (chips) as her "dessert" at lunch. The type of chips which is currently her favorite are Sunchips. She has them at church on Sunday mornings sometimes. I have never bought any, but I am planning to buy her a bag as one of her Christmas gifts this year.

Nadia abhors the color pink and loves various shades of blue (including aqua/teal). The boys don't feel as strongly about their favorite color as Nadia, but they both like green the best. The eye doctor on Monday said that Ian needed a new pair of glasses (his pair is almost 3 years old), and said Oliver needs glasses for the first time. That means Nadia will soon be the only member of our family not wearing glasses. Ian and Oliver liked the same frame, but I insisted they pick two different ones as that would be very, very confusing!

Ian and Oliver love for me to give him a piggy back ride up to bed at night. Although Nadia's "lovey" has remained the same for more than 8 years (her Poland pillow), Ian's "lovey" is constantly changing. Right now it's a tiny little stuffed animal (fits in your hand) that he has named "Squeakers." He got blood on it two nights ago when he was pulling a tooth, and he was very distressed when I temporarily took it away from him (so I could clean it). Oliver currently has two "lovies." The green blanket has been a lovey for most of his life. The small orange fish (plush) was purchased this summer with money Aunt Janet gave him for his birthday. Ian spends money as SOON as he gets it. He doesn't ever save up his money. Oliver is the most prone to saving his money. We just counted his money yesterday. He had over $18. I suggested he use part of his money to buy a watch because in the last week or so he has gotten in the habit of asking me incessantly "what time is it?". He selected a green watch, and Amazon is supposed to deliver it on Sunday. I also decided to start teaching him how to read an analog clock since he's so interested in knowing what time it is. Thus far Oliver's schoolwork only consists of reading, math, and handwriting. Spelling will be added in the very near future! He participates in some of what Nadia and Ian do for social studies and science.

Oliver talks ALL the time. This caused a problem during the 30 minutes spent in the one room schoolhouse on Thursday. When he was younger, he used to listen to the chapter books I read. He rarely listens these days. He does listen when I read picture books. I want to start reading a few chapter books more geared for his age (ex. Ramona the Pest or Charlotte's Web) and also break him of the habit of talking while I'm reading chapter books (even if they are geared more for his older siblings).

When it comes to eating, Oliver is by far the least picky child in our family. He has a few idiosyncrasies such as preferring to eat his hot dog bun separate from his hot dog and almost always eating dry cereal for breakfast. Although there are a few things that Nadia likes which Ian doesn't (like lasagna), in general I would say Nadia is the pickiest eater. Some of the things she doesn't like to eat include soups, bacon, stews, chili, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and salads. She is also very particular about the temperature of her food. She will eat egg salad sandwiches, but otherwise she

prefers to have hot food for lunch such as a ham and cheese hot pocket. Nadia LOVES eggs, and her brothers LOVE bacon. She would eat an egg for breakfast every single day if her Daddy would let her. She will only eat Italian bread. Her brothers eat almost every kind of bread (one exception would be pumpernickel). They all like to drink apple juice or apple cider. The boys enjoy chocolate milk. The vast majority of the time they just drink water. Ian is the only child who enjoys soda. The other two are like me and don't like to drink anything that is carbonated.

All three of them like the iPad. They usually earn at least one 20 minute turn per day. Of the three kids Ian is the most prone to earning two or sometimes three turns in a day. Oliver rarely has more than one turn. Over the course of a year Ian goes back and forth between using the Wii or the iPad. The last several weeks he's just been using the iPad.

Ian does not like to wear socks. The minute he comes inside he sheds his socks, shoes, and coat.

Nadia still gets carsick if she reads. Lately even watching a dvd in the van has caused her to be nauseous. Ian doesn't enjoy having his face painted, but Nadia and Oliver do. Oliver doesn't like to wear jeans, but his siblings do.

The boys like to watch tv once a day. Nadia does watch tv some days, but other days she chooses to stay in her room and listen to something on the radio or her CD player while they are downstairs watching tv.

Nadia likes coloring the most, and Ian likes drawing the most. Nadia and Oliver spend far more time playing outside than Ian does. Ian chooses to go to the worship service with Paul and I rather than attending the 3rd-5th grade boys Sunday School class. Nadia and Oliver choose Sunday School over the worship service. Oliver pays almost no attention to the guinea pigs. Ian spends more time with Patches than Nadia does with Jenna. Well I could write and write and write some more about my three precious children, but I think I'll stop right here.

Daddy took them to the trunk or treat at our church last night!

I had to take a picture to show that Ian lost a tooth on his bottom jaw this week!