Christmas Adam

The size box that Henry Box Brown used to escape slavery

The kids spent the day with their grandparents, which is always a very special treat. Paul went to work, but he had pizza for dinner at his parents' house, and Paul loves pizza so I'm sure he appreciated that. He's been downsized to two slices of pizza when we get a large pizza because Nadia now eats two slices, but I imagine he wasn't limited to two slices at his mom's house. Ian has started to request two slices, which means at some point one large pizza isn't going to be enough for one meal for all five of us. Although I really, really love being with my kids on a daily basis, every once in a blue moon I appreciate having a day to myself. Many times I try to get as many things accomplished as possible. I toyed with painting the basement walls with Drylok as that has been on my to do list for many months, but I opted to go for a pleasurable day instead of a "get lots of work done around the house" type of day. After I exercised on the elliptical, I met my friend, Cheri, for brunch at the Pine Barn Inn at 10:30; it's about 30 minutes from our house. I usually love to have a stay at home day, but it's a much rarer treat for me to have one-on-one time with a friend. Usually I only purchase food at a restaurant if we have a gift card, with the exception of a large take-out pizza, but I let her pick where we ate, and I "splurged" and paid about $9 including tip and tax for my delicious meal. There is a consignment shop near that restaurant, so I bought the kids some clothes for the future after brunch. Other errands included the bank, CVS, grocery

store, and picking up a Christmas gift Oliver left at AWANA on Wednesday night at the AWANA commander's house. The best part of my day was spending 2.5 hours talking with my friend.

It had been six months since I had nail polish on my fingernails, but I decided to buy myself a new bottle of nail polish at CVS with extra care bucks. I bought a Christmasy shade of green, which is a color I've never worn on my nails before, but I like it! I also used a coupon code for a free DVD rental from Redbox. I rented the movie "Overcomer" which I had heard many positive things about when it was in the theaters earlier this year. I love that they continue to make high quality Christian movies. I literally can go months without watching anything on a screen, but I watched two movies within three days! I enjoyed both "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" (about Fred Rogers) at the theater on Saturday and "Overcomer" on DVD today.  I've turned into such an emotional sap that I actually cried happy tears during the movie.

I took this picture to show how Oliver has two rows of teeth like a shark. The baby teeth aren't the slightest bit loose!

I did the lion share of my Christmas shopping months ago, but today I made the last purchase as I realized I hadn't yet purchased a gift card for one nephew. We've been praying that the four kids we sponsor and their families will have a special Christmas, and we've also been praying for the three kids we sent boxes to with Operation Christmas Child. Our boxes this year went to Togo and Honduras.

I ate my dinner alone, which is certainly unusual. I had some leftover white chicken chili and pumpkin bread. We gave away nine loaves of pumpkin bread and two plates of sugar cookies from Wednesday through Sunday. Since it's Christmas this week, I am going to try to cook only foods that everyone likes such as rigatoni and meatballs, tuna noodle casserole, and bacon, egg, and cheese bagels. Last week Ian, Paul, and I enjoyed the chicken Caesar wraps, but Oliver and Nadia don't like them. Everyone but Ian liked the stuffed shells I made (similar to manicotti). The biggest fail recently as far as a new recipe was when I made sweet and sour meatballs with rice. I had to eat almost all of it myself. I hadn't eaten that dish in years, and I did think it turned out quite nicely, but I didn't exactly want to eat it for so many days in a row. My sister and her family will be joining us for dinner on Friday, Lord willing, but they also like pasta and meatballs so everyone should be happy with that choice. Since I made baked ziti when they were here for Jenna's birthday last month, I have a pretty good idea of how much pasta I should make for the fifteen of us. Because this Christmas is a bit of an emotional landmine as it's the first since my brother passed away, I am grateful for days like today when there are opportunities to take a little time for "pampering" type activities like lunch with a friend, painting my nails, and watching a good movie. I contemplated asking a friend if I could take a shower today at her house. That would have been the icing on the cake if I could have taken a shower today, but I opted to just wash my hair in the kitchen sink instead. I will probably take a shower at Paul's parents house on Wednesday. Now I'm ready for my kiddos to come home as my day is not complete with hugs from Ian and Oliver!!!

Christmas Break

Friday was our last day of school for 2019. Yesterday we started our Christmas break in what felt like a spectacular fashion to my three. The kids played at home in the morning. I baked five more loaves of pumpkin bread and used the elliptical for 30 minutes. After lunch we headed to the movie theater. I had accumulated four free movie tickets, two free drinks, and two free popcorns through Coke's website. Usually we see movies at the AMC in Williamsport because the tickets are $4.99 all day on Tuesdays and prior to 3pm every day, but since I was using coupons for free tickets, it didn't really matter that this other theater charges more for tickets. They give one free refill on the popcorns so that meant we actually got free bags of popcorn. I watched most of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I missed the first 20 minutes. The kids watched the new Star Wars movie. My movie finished 85 minutes before theirs did. I brought my Kindle and sat on a bench reading while waiting for the kids. We went straight from the movie theater to the ice skating

rink; this was the reason I chose that movie theater was because it is much closer to the ice skating rink. We attended the free Christmas party at the ice skating rink - free skating, free ice skate rentals, free food, and the kids each received a small Christmas gift. Because the party was from 4-6pm, we didn't really have a proper dinner last night. Our final "meal" included things like donuts, popcorn, cookies, candy, cheese, bologna, crackers, etc. Micah and Isaiah were also at the ice skating party.

This morning Nadia and I went to church for two services as usual. My Sunday School class had a Christmas party during the second service that included eating lots of yummy food, sharing testimonies, and singing Christmas carols together. The choir sang "Mary did you know" in both services, which is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Paul and the boys were at a nursing home today as the kids' choir presented their Christmas musical there. They could have gone to the second service, but Paul wanted to come home and work on the bathroom. I washed my hair in the sink this morning because we still are still without access to a shower. Next we are headed to have dinner at Dave and Marla's house. They live 90 minutes from us. Dave is the office manager/salesman/ receptionist, etc. for Kennedy Concrete. The kids are going home with Paul's parents when they leave Dave's house so they can spend the day with Grandma and Pop Pop tomorrow. Pop Pop had his 78th birthday two days ago. Grandma wanted the kids to decorate their Christmas tree. A day at their grandparent's house is also a great way to begin their Christmas break!

Thankful Thursday

1. Although it was a very painful way to receive a second iPad, my brother's iPad was much newer than ours. Ours is at the point where the software can no longer be updated, and this means that some apps can't be installed on our iPad. If they kids want to use Hulu or Disney +, they use what we've dubbed the blue iPad because Maurice had a blue cover on his iPad.

2. Nadia and Ian's basketball practices will be from 5-7pm on Tuesdays, and Oliver's will be from 5-6 on Fridays. Last year their practices were on Thursdays, which meant they couldn't take the group ice skating lessons. This week I mailed in the registration form and payment for the three of them to take ten weeks of ice skating lessons from January through March. I also had been waiting to find out the basketball practice schedule before signing the three kids up for a four week computer hardware class on Fridays from 2:30-4:00, but we should also be able to do that in January.

3. It was wonderful to see my friend, Joyce, on Saturday in Camp Hill. I wish we lived closer, but thankfully we can keep in touch in other ways since we see each other very infrequently in person.

4. We were also able to visit the National Civil War Museum and see a wonderful Christmas musical on Saturday.

5. The Christmas candlelight service was outstanding! I really, really, really enjoyed it. I'm thankful Nadia and Ian had the privilege of singing in these concerts and that Paul's parents were able to come to the performance on Sunday afternoon.

6. The kids enjoyed playing with Micah, Isaiah, and their dogs. Ruby, the long haired dachshund, was actually on my lap for quite awhile. I'm typically a cat (not a dog) person, but I enjoyed Ruby last Wednesday. Nadia and I also enjoyed being able to take a shower at their house.

7. Last Wednesday the kids and I were able to go caroling at Warrior Run Manor with the AWANA club. Yesterday the kids were able to buy  and wrap many Christmas gifts with their AWANA shares. Even though Nadia bought gifts for 7 of her cousins, her parents, two grandparents, and two brothers, she still had enough to buy herself one Calico Critter toy. Ian had enough left over after buying gifts for his immediate family to buy himself a Lego set.

8. I pulled one of Oliver's teeth out on Monday morning! This was the first tooth he lost the "usual" way. I thought I'd just wiggle it a little, and it came out when I wiggled it. He has an appointment to have the dentist pull his top two front teeth in January because those permanent ones are in but the baby teeth aren't the slightest bit loose. Nadia was the tooth fairy on Monday night.

9. I bought myself a new umbrella recently on Amazon that has a lifetime warranty. The last few years we have broken several umbrellas. I'm hopeful this one will last a lot longer, and if it doesn't, they will send me a replacement!

10. Last week I started working on a photobook in the hopes that there would be an unlimited pages code, and that code came through on Saturday. I was able to finish and order the book on Sunday a few hours before the code expired. I used to buy 20 page photobooks. I don't go that route any longer with the exception of the books I made to remember my Mom and Maurice.

11. The kids enjoyed the homeschool Christmas party at the bounce place. I was thankful that they planned the event #1 on Ian's birthday (perfect timing!) at a location only 15 minutes from our home whereas typically they schedule things in a location that is at least 30 minutes from our house.

12. Paul worked through the night on Monday night. Aside from a one hour nap at work during the night, he was at the plant for more than 30 hours straight. I'm thankful he was able to comehome on Tuesday night in time to attend the Christmas program at MCS.

13. The choir I'm in sang an anthem on Sunday that contained several different Christmas carols including my most favorite "O Holy Night." I love Christmas music!

14. I got a good report from the mammogram I had earlier this month.

15. It has been super easy to find Coke or Pepsi 2 liters for 99 cents each lately, which hadn't been the case for much of the year.

16. Nadia sang in the Christmas program at MCS on Tuesday night. All of the kids in grades 1-5 sang three songs, then the middle school chorus (only those students in grades 6-8 who CHOSE to take chorus) sang three songs, then those who chose to be in the high school chorus sang three songs, and then all 200 of the students who sang previously that night all sang "Somewhere in my Memory" together. The elementary children especially enjoyed singing "Mele Kalikimaka" as they wore leis and some wore sunglasses while they sang that one. The whole program lasted about 45 minutes.

17. When I wrote the lesson plans for this week, I had given Nadia and Ian the week off from writing, and Ian also got the week off from spelling and math. This has been greatly appreciated and has made it easier to find time to bake gifts for their teachers, for me to use the elliptical a little bit, not feel as rushed trying to be done before a 2pm dentist appointment yesterday, etc. Hopefully I'll remember to make the last week of school in December a lighter week next year also! I don't really have to make adjustments for Nadia because she is generally Miss Speedy Gonzales when it comes to completing her schoolwork each day.

Christmas Traditions

Although traditions are not as important to me as they were to my brother, I know that family traditions are important. As the years pass by specific memories become blurry. I can't recall all of the exact places that we went on family vacation when I was a child, but I know that I loved our family vacations (the ones with scads of driving were my least favorite). Traditions seem to create strong memories. When you do the same thing every year, it's easier to recall. I remember growing up we didn't decorate our house for Christmas until after my dad's birthday as my mom didn't want his birthday to get lost in the shuffle of Christmas. I've been the kind to usually decorate for Christmas the first weekend after Thanksgiving. The first several years of our marriage we got a live Christmas tree each year, but we switched to an artificial one about 11 years ago. In 2016 it was really, really hard for me to decorate for Christmas because I so strongly associated that with my mom. It's still a bit painful for me, but the kids' excitement helps me power through the grief that comes over me in those moments. They

LOVE the Christmas decorations. I do enjoy the lights on the tree, but n general my dislike of clutter makes me not a very big fan of decorations. I'm the one who gets excited to put them away a few days after Christmas. There are so many different kinds of Christmas traditions out there. Many people hide that little elf all over the house. We own one of those elves, but if he gets hidden it's because one of the kids hid him. I have never had an interest into that particular tradition. Some people put a LOT of time, energy, and creativity into that tradition! Many people buy matching Christmas pajamas for everyone in their family. I attempted this one time (minus Paul who I don't think will ever wear a pair of pajamas of any kind much less Christmas ones), but through pictures on Facebook and also seeing how many people were walking around Great Wolf Lodge wearing matching Christmas pajamas, I can see this is quite a wide spread tradition. The photographer in me would like to buy the kids matching pajamas, but the frugal side of me wins out in this instance. The

kids have no need for another pair of pajamas.

Here are some of our Christmas traditions... it's a list that is constantly evolving. I imagine we will have traditions five years from now that we don't have right now, but here's what we've been doing lately...

1. Decorating a tree and putting out other Christmas decorations including the stockings that Paul's Gram made for each of us. I put the presents under the tree as soon as we put the tree up. I asked the kids if they had the self-control to not peek. Oliver said he wasn't sure so his wrapped gifts are still up high on top of a bookshelf, but Nadia and Ian's gifts are under the tree. Paul sometimes puts lights outside our house, but some years we skip that. In light of our bathroom projects, I believe we'll be skipping the outdoor lights this year. Last year the kids also decorate Grandma and Pop Pop's pre-lit Christmas tree, and they are planning to do the same next Monday.

2. Going to Purity Candy on a Saturday in December for a free demonstration of the candy maker making candy canes, which concludes with each child being able to shape a candy cane to enjoy.

3. Going to the Museum of Glass and Rockwell Museum in Corning, NY the first Saturday of December which includes decorating Christmas cookies and making a piece of glass such as a hand blown ornament, fused glass, flamework, etc. The snowmen the kids made on December 7 arrived by UPS today. The kids are holding them in the pictures in today's post.

4. Going Christmas caroling with the AWANA club at the Warrior Run Manor on a Wednesday night in December.

5. Eating monkey bread for breakfast on Christmas morning. Oliver, Ian, and I enjoy this tradition!

6. Going to Paul's parents house on Christmas day for a gift exchange and a delicious meal mostly prepared by Aunt Millie.

7. Attending a Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church.

8. Exclusively listening to Christmas music from Thanksgiving through the end of December.

9. Doing our gift exchange with our children in the morning on Christmas Eve.

10. Typically I send out a Christmas card that contains pictures and text (or a card plus a letter), but this year in light of losing my brother and my job, I've decided to take an at least one year hiatus on that tradition.

11. Making cut out cookies that the kids decorate with sprinkles and such. Sometimes we make both gingerbread and sugar cookies, but at the very minimum we do a big batch of sugar cookies. To be honest this is my least favorite Christmas tradition, but I do it for the kids and also because we share some of those cookies with others.

12. Giving gifts to the kids' Sunday School teachers, AWANA leaders, and Soul Patrol directors. Usually we make plates of homemade cookies. Last year due to my exhaustion from working FT while juggling homeschooling, etc. I opted to give them gift cards instead. This year we are going back to homemade gifts. I am baking at least 9 loaves of pumpkin bread in addition to the sugar cookies we made earlier this week and letting the kids decide which they want to give to their leaders/teachers. The kids will given their AWANA leaders their cookies or bread this evening.

13. The kids shop for their immediate and extended family at AWANA. Tonight will be Nadia's last year with this tradition. Next year if she wants to give gifts she'll have to use real money not AWANA shares.

14. We usually visit the Santa that is beside our local grocery store. It doesn't cost anything. Nadia has outgrown this tradition. Some years we have attended a breakfast with Santa such as the free breakfast our local fire department hosts each December, but many times we have schedule conflicts and can't do any of the breakfasts. It didn't work out to do a breakfast this year.

15. Attend a Christmas musical at a large church in Camp Hill or the Christmas show at Sight and Sound. One of these years I want to take the kids to see the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall, but it costs a small fortune to buy four tickets to that 90 minute show!

16. Bringing up a box of Christmas picture books that are kept in the basement most of the year but are up in our family room during the same time of year that we are listening to Christmas music. We also own a nice variety of Christmas DVDs that come up at that same time, but this year since we recently paid for a year of Disney +, the kids are not watching as many Christmas DVDs although they did watch the three Santa Clause movies on Disney + the week we paid for that service.

17. Getting together with extended family is usually a big part of Christmas. Some years we get together with some of Paul's mom's extended family at her sister's house in the Harrisburg area. The number of people who gather at Paul's parents' house has gotten smaller as Paul's three grandparents passed away and Brandi moved to Florida. Many years Yvonne's family was in Turkey over Christmas so it hasn't been as typical for us to spend Christmas with them, but we have usually spent Christmas with my parents, Wendy's family, and my brother. We used to celebrate with them in Maryland. Since my mom passed away we celebrated Christmas at our house twice (2016 and 2018) and in Maryland once (2017). My dad now lives in Lynchburg, Virginia. Paul can't travel at this time of year due to his preparations at work for a trade show that takes place in Baltimore in early January. We will probably see the Towfighis sometime next week in conjunction with when they come up to Pennsylvania to visit Joe's family, but we will have to wait until April to see Wendy's family again as, Lord willing, the kids and I are planning to go out to Chicago the week before Easter. Part of the reason we're not traveling is because I'm wanting more time to adjust to the new normal of celebrating Christmas with my side of the family without my brother. I know spending time with their cousins is VERY, VERY important to my kids. This made it a really hard decision to make. I know that Christmas break will definitely be more relaxing for me if it doesn't involve a round trip drive to Maryland or Virginia.

18. Making a gingerbread house. Lately we've been doing it at a public library, but that wasn't possible this year. I am planning to buy a kit a day or two after Christmas after they are on clearance.

19. Attending a Christmas party at the ice skating rink. The party includes free ice skating, free food, and Christmas gifts for the kids. How wonderful is that! We plan to be there this Saturday.

20. Attending two or three Friday night Christmas events at our church each December. This year two of those included my boys singing in the Soul Patrol choir. The other featured a variety of Christmas music including some by the Tran Siberian Orchestra. This year Nadia and Ian also sang in two Christmas candlelight services with the Susquehanna Valley Chorale for the first time; that might become an annual tradition. Last night Nadia sang in Meadowbrook Christian School's Christmas program for the first time; I have a feeling she will want to continue to sing in their chorus in the future.

Hopefully our kids will have positive memories in the future related to our Christmas traditions!

Oliver lost a tooth on Monday; it was the first one that came out without the aid of a dentist!

Birth Order

Much has been written over the years about the personality traits often associated with an oldest child compared to a middle child or the youngest child in a family. Although in some cases my three might exhibit the behavior that would be "expected" based on their birth order, that certainly isn't always the case. I frankly don't give a lot of thought to that, but what I do find myself contemplating is how things are different in some ways based on birth order.

Nadia had the experience of being the only child for almost 18 months. She didn't comprehend that a sibling was coming, and she was not happy at all about his arrival. Thankfully the temper tantrums didn't last too long, and she grew to love her brother. Ten years later, she and Ian are good friends and playmates. If she had remained an only child, then she would have a lot more freedom in pursuing things that interest her like trying out for various plays and musicals. Since she has two brothers, I also need to take that into consideration. When Ian was a baby, as long as it didn't

interfere with his nap schedule, I would just carry him around while she was in gymnastics class. 

I didn't have to teach Ian to identify the letters of the alphabet. Unknown to me, he had been paying attention when I taught Nadia. Because of this, I decided to teach him his multiplication facts when he was in first grade because Nadia was learning them in third grade. In many instances, Ian has been pushed ahead academically because in several subjects (grammar, composition, history, and science) I have Ian and Nadia doing the same thing. For example, the writing curriculum we are using this year is for grades 6-8, and he's doing it in the 4th grade. I started him on the piano two years after I started Nadia, but because he has practiced more than her, he has actually surpassed where she is in piano. I wanted Nadia to sing in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale because she had outgrown the kids' choir at church, and so Ian also joined the chorale even though he's still in the kids' choir at church. 

Oliver has had the opposite experience of Ian academically. It's partially due to the timing of his birthday. I probably should have delayed his "entrance" into school by one year, but it's also because he's the youngest. I have given as much attention to handwriting, spelling, math, and reading with Oliver as I did with his siblings, but they definitely spent more time learning about social studies and science when they were his age. Oliver's in second grade, and I'm just hoping he learns his addition and subtraction facts this year knowing we will work on multiplication next year when he's in third grade. I have decided to wait a bit longer with starting his piano lessons than I did his siblings. On the other hand, what he watched on TV has been a different experience than his siblings. Nadia mostly watched Veggie Tales when she was young. Oliver hasn't watched Veggie Tales anywhere near as often as they did because his siblings were already showing preference for other shows or DVDS by the time he was old enough to enjoy them. He also has been in some instances able to watch things at an earlier age although sometimes we still have him go into another room and watch something else if Nadia and Ian are watching something I think is too scary for him. He began listening to chapter books at an earlier age than his siblings, but I know I read FAR more picture books to his siblings than I did to him. It's easy for me to pick chapter books that are geared more towards Ian and Nadia, but I try to also periodically pick ones that are more geared toward Oliver. The same goes for what we watch. If the other two don't want to watch something they deem too "babyish," then they can go play with Legos or whatever else interests them. Oliver might have the experience of being the only child at home his last two years of high school depending on what Nadia and Ian do after high school.

The bottom line is that it's a juggling act as a parent when you have more than one child! The kids are not at exactly the same stage in life and don't have the same interests. So sometimes Nadia has to "suffer" through a game of Candyland because Oliver enjoys the game. Sometimes the boys have to deal with long commutes so that we can take Nadia to and from theater camp, and other times I say "no" to Nadia doing something just because I think it's asking too much of her brothers. Although the thought of my kids driving is terrifying on the one hand, it will make decisions like that easier if Nadia is able to drive herself to the theater rehearsals, for example. Time will tell how all that unfolds in the future. I know I am a very imperfect parent, but I love all three of my children oh so very much and try my best to juggle their varying needs, interests, and abilities.

I videoed Ian's 10th birthday interview today. The battery died part way through the interview so I uploaded it as two separate videos rather than asking him to redo the first part of the interview. I was going to do his birthday interview yesterday, but because we stayed home all day yesterday he asked if it could be a pajama day. He was the only one who chose to stay in his pajamas; I didn't mind saying "yes" because to me that's one small perk of homeschooling. You can do your work in your comfy pajamas sometimes if you so desire! However, I didn't want to record his annual birthday interview in his jammies. :) I also finally got around to uploading one of the videos from the kids' spring musical at church. Here was Oliver's debut with having a small speaking/singing part in the song "Three Blind Guys."

Half-way point

Today is our 90th day of school for this school year, which means my kids are half-way through grades 2, 4, and 6! This Friday will be our last day of school for 2019 as our Christmas break will begin on December 21.

Math - By the end of this week we will have completed 4 of the Life of Fred Books - from Edgewood through Honey. Nadia has completed 55 of 116 lessons. I haven't actually calculated her average, but I would estimate it is around 90%. Math is typically the subject Nadia does first each morning. On Friday Ian completed Beast Academy 4B. This week I'm just having him use the Alcumus website to solve a few problems each day. He'll start 4C in January. Oliver says he likes math (which is good!) but honestly it doesn't come easily for him at all thus far. Recently we've been working on time, money, fractions, and measurements of capacity. I like the Beast Academy so much I am thinking of having Oliver use that in third grade instead of the Purposeful Design text that his siblings completed in third grade. I'm actually considering having him complete half of Beast Academy's 2nd grade curriculum during the second half of this school year.

Reading - Ian has been primarily been reading titles from the Treasure Chest series. He is currently reading one about Harry Houdini. From July 1 to the present he's read at least 3,160 pages (26 books). Nadia will be finishing Little Women in the very near future. She reads far, far more than I require her to for school. Not including Little Women, from July 1 to the today she read at least 10,381 pages (38 books). This Friday Oliver will be finishing Level 4 of All About Reading! Starting January I will have him read books like Frog and Toad, Little Bear, Amelia Bedelia, etc. I'm hoping by the end of second grade he will have progressed to easy chapter books.

Bible - The boys have made progress in working through their AWANA books. Nadia completed hers on December 4. Now Nadia is working on memorizing Hebrews. She has memorized chapter 1 and next she is going to work on memorizing chapters 11-12.  She wants to compete in the national quizzing event in Oklahoma in July. Together we completed The Young Peacemaker curriculum. Recently we have been reading Ishtar's Odyssey as well as Then Sings my Soul. We read a little about the author of the hymn and then sing four verses of the hymn together. I have been trying to help Nadia and Ian to sing the melody while I sing harmony (alto).

Music - Nadia and Ian continue to make progress in Alfred Level 3 on the piano; they also sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale this fall. They performed a concert to honor Veterans on November 17 and two candlelight services on December 14 and 15. Oliver and Ian sing in the Soul Patrol choir at church. They sang in two Sunday morning services in October. This month they presented a Christmas musical on a Friday night at our church and will present the same musical at a nursing home on December 22. Nadia also attends chorus at Meadowbrook once a week. She will be singing in the school's Christmas program tomorrow night.

Art - I include a little bit of drawing in our social studies curriculum. For example, recently we've been drawing pictures related to the Titanic. Nadia and Ian take an art class for grades 6-12 at Meadowbrook once a week.

Handwriting - At least once a week I have Nadia write something in cursive such as a Bible verse in science. Ian and Oliver have both completed the vast majority of their handwriting textbooks. They should finish them by the end of January. I love seeing what Ian has written in cursive. Writing is still a challenge for Oliver. Maybe cursive will come more easily to him next year? Oliver has written some journal entries this fall, but once he finishes his handwriting textbook I will have him do that on a daily basis.

Grammar - Nadia and Ian are on page 33 out of their 59 page grammar book. They have been working on identifying clauses, subjects, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, etc. as well as punctuation used in quotations.

Composition - I am very, very pleased with the progress Ian and Nadia have made in their writing skills over the past 12 months. They are including more ly words, prepositional phrases, dependent clauses, strong adjectives, and strong verbs in their writing.

Keyboarding - Nadia and Ian have spent some time playing games on Typing.com, but lately they have been typing some of their writing compositions.

History - We have studied from Abraham Lincoln through Warren Harding. By this Friday we will have completed chapters 1-21 (out of 42) of volume 4 of Story of the World. This week we are focusing on the Titanic and WWI.

Science - This fall we studied chemistry and physics. By this Friday we will have completed it aside from the final review. In January we will begin our study of botany. Oliver participates in a little bit of our science. For example, last week when we were studying magnets, I read him a book about magnets from the library and he participated in the activity when we went around the house trying to determine what items were magnetic or nonmagnetic.

Spelling - Oliver finished Level 2 this fall and began Level 3. Ian and Nadia are making good progress through levels 5 and 7.

Physical Education - We haven't done very much this fall with the exception that Oliver participated in an eight week session of gymnastics. Basketball practices start this week, and weekly ice skating lessons will begin on Thursday nights in early January. Ian and Nadia will have their basketball practices on Tuesday nights, and Oliver's practices will be on Fridays. Ian will miss his first practice tomorrow because it's at the same time as the Christmas program at Meadowbrook. The kids are also hoping to go skiing twice this winter. Nadia goes roller skating once a month.

Candles and Carols

Every week in my Sunday School class we are asked to go around and say our name plus answer a question. Today's question was "What is your favorite part of Christmas?". Some people mentioned the lights, a particular food, or spending time with family, but my answer was the one that was mentioned the most often - Christmas music. I love Christmas music! Even though we skipped going to the Christmas concert put on by the Repasz Band last Tuesday, events that focus on Christmas music have been filling our schedule recently. On December 6 the boys put on their Christmas musical at church with the Soul Patrol choir. The chorale Nadia and Ian have been in the past four months had a rehearsal for their Christmas concert on December 9 and 13. The kids and I joined the AWANA club and sang Christmas carols at a retirement home on December 11. Oliver and I attended a 90 minute worship service in the evening on December 13 that featured a variety of Christmas music. We attended a three hour Christmas musical at a megachurch near

Harrisburg yesterday at 2:00. Nadia and Ian sang in a Christmas candlelight service last night from 7:30-9:00pm, and they had their second performance today from 3:00-4:30. Nadia will be singing in Meadowbrook Christian School's Christmas concert this Tuesday night, the boys will be singing at church again this Friday night and at a nursing home in the morning on December 22, and of course we have been and will continue to sing Christmas music at church on Sunday mornings and at the Christmas Eve service next week. If I had to pinpoint my answer more specifically, I would say that I believe last night's candlelight service will be my favorite part of Christmas 2019. It's hard to imagine anything that could top that concert for me.

The program featured a brass ensemble, harpist, organist, three other instrumentalists (percussion, guitar, flute), two readers as there were nine Scripture readings throughout the program, handbells, and a choir that included a little over 100 adults and a little less than 50 children. Some songs only featured the adults or only featured the children, and some songs all 150 singers sang together. The church has a massive pipe organ, which I thoroughly enjoyed. My favorite instrumentalist was the harpist. She was AMAZING. It would be hard to pick my favorite song because I really enjoyed the entire program, but I would probably choose "The dream Isaiah saw." There were about 500 in attendance, and we all joined in with singing some of the carols and held candles while we sang Silent Night and Joy to the World. Sometimes the choir sang a beautiful descant for the last verse of the carols the audience sang with the chorale. The chorale rehearsals take place in a different location (farther from our home) in the spring so we are taking that season off. Nadia already said she wants to come back next fall. I am fine with that as long as it won't conflict with rehearsals next fall for Tuck Everlasting (presuming she is selected to join the cast after the auditions).

Yesterday was a very, very full day. We left the house around 8:30 am. We drove in two cars for the first part since Paul and Oliver were not attending the candlelight service last night. My first stop was to return a bag full of items at the library. Then after leaving Paul's car in the parking lot at Aldi, we stopped at the bread outlet as Nadia and Oliver had been asking for bagels for weeks, but I hadn't gotten any due to the price. We bought a LOT of bagels yesterday, so they should be set for awhile. We arrived at the National Civil War Museum at 10:15. Usually we only go to museums we can get into free with our ASTC membership, but I made an exception the last several weeks. We paid to enter a total of three Civil War museums - Richmond, Appomattox, and Harrisburg since that is what we studied this fall in history. I'm very thankful we usually get into museums for free because it isn't cheap to buy five tickets! Yesterday we only had to buy four because they have a family package where you get one free child's admission if you buy two adult and two children tickets. After the museum we drove to a Subway restaurant where my friend, Joyce, met us. Joyce and I have been friends for 23 years, but ever since she moved to Harrisburg in 2000, we haven't seen each other anywhere near as often as we did the first four years we were friends. It had been four years since we had gotten together in person. Our gift card covered all but $2 of our bill, and for our supper we ate food I had packed that morning. Joyce also joined us for the three hour Christmas production in Camp Hill. At the end they had everyone hold a candle so Nadia and Ian held candles in three services over the past two days - yesterday afternoon, yesterday evening, and this afternoon. The program ended a little before 5pm, and Nadia and Ian needed to be at the church in Sunbury at 6:45. It was *supposed* to be a 75 minute drive, but we hit a lot of traffic so they were a few minutes late. They had to change into their performance attire at the church, and somehow Ian dropped his tie along the way. I searched for it but came up empty handed. Someone else found it, but it wasn't returned to Ian until after the end of the concert. Nadia was on the end of the bottom row, but Ian was on the other end of the second row so because there were girls standing in front of him, it wasn't really obvious that he wasn't wearing a tie. He DID wear his tie for the concert this afternoon.

Nadia, Ian, and I got home at 10:00pm last night. We were exhausted and went straight to bed. Paul and Oliver were already in bed. Paul went to bed early because he left for work at 3:20am this morning because he took yesterday off of work to go to Harrisburg. This meant the kids had to leave at 7:55am to go to church with me. I had to wake Ian up this morning. I felt badly doing so since he went to bed an hour later than usual last night, but it couldn't be helped. Paul came home from work while we were at church. He took the kids to the second candlelight service. Paul's parents met them there. In hindsight, we should have left Oliver at home with me because sadly he wasn't well behaved. I was grateful to be able to stay home this afternoon so I could accomplish other tasks such as completing a photobook on Shutterfly. On Thursday Ian put together the 1,000+ piece Star Wars Lego set I had purchased for his birthday. He started the one that my Dad gave him on Friday, but he didn't have time to finish it until this evening. I'm sure he'll be getting more Lego sets next week for Christmas, but for now he's done putting together new sets. Even though Nadia got home at 5:30 from today's candlelight service, she still wanted to go to the youth group meeting at the Methodist church tonight as she typically does. After she ate a very quick meal, I took her to the church. Tomorrow the kids and I are going to stay home sweet home all day long!

Double Digits!

Ian turned ten-years-old today! I love this boy oh so very much. Physical affection is one of my stronger love languages, and Ian and Oliver sure do know how to shower me with plenty of hugs. Ian says he wants to live at home and go to college online and then wants to live very close once he moves out of our house. I realize between now and then he may very well change his mind, but I'm fine with the idea that he might always live near me! We have been celebrating his birthday off and on over the past 11 days. Today is the last day of his birthday celebrations. On December 2-3 we went to Great Wolf Lodge as a part of his birthday celebration. On December 8 Paul's brother and parents came up for a birthday meal, birthday cake, and to give him his presents. On December 9-10 Ian had pepperoni pizza for dinner. On December 10 he had two donuts for breakfast. Yesterday we had a play date with two boys for 2.5 hours; they made him birthday cards. Today he got the day off from school work aside from art class at Meadowbrook, and we attended a Christmas party with our homeschool group at a bounce place from 11:00-1:00. In addition to using the inflatables, the kids were able to eat pizza, chips, brownies, cookies, donuts, chocolate covered pretzels, etc.. He also opened his gifts from Grandpa/Margie and from Paul and I. Some parents give their kids big birthday parties. I've never done that, but I think in our own way we have helped him have a very special birthday! As a side note, Nadia and I also took showers yesterday during the play date. It felt heavenly; I was very grateful my friend let us take showers at her house!

One way Ian has changed over the past year is he has shown more courage. It was NOT easy for him to climb the steps to the top of the crown of the Statue of Liberty, make his video for the baptism, go zip lining, or climb the rock wall, but he DID it. In the case of the zip lining, he found he loved it and easily did it several more times. I don't think he's itching to go rock wall climbing or climb another spiral staircase any time soon. I know he is very grateful he was baptized. He continues to be very empathetic. Of my three kids, Ian definitely took the passing of Uncle Maurice the hardest. He has only recently finally gotten out of the habit of mentioning Uncle Maurice in his prayers. Another way Ian changed this past year is that he *finally* started waking up a bit later on a more regular basis! I started to wonder if he would ever experience "sleeping-in." Although he's occasionally still the first one up, the vast majority of the time Oliver is now the first one up, and thankfully when they aren't sharing a bedroom with a cousin they rarely get up before 7am. I really, really appreciate this change. Thank you, Ian!

He had so many doctor appointments the first three years of his life, but he has been very healthy for the past seven years. At the moment the only two things we know he is allergic to are pecans and walnuts. He also has come a LONG way in overcoming the reflux (vomiting) that used to happen when he laughed. He laughs a lot, especially when his cousins are around, and he only threw up once due to laughing over the last several months. He eats breakfast and lunch quickly most of the time. Dinner can still be a challenge, but compared to what it was like when he was two-years-old, he's come SUCH a long way. It's hard to find side dishes that he likes because he doesn't like rice, macaroni and cheese, pierogies, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, French fries, or baked beans. His favorite foods include chocolate or peanut butter cereal, bologna sandwich, hot dogs, peanut butter and marmalade sandwich, yogurt, cookies, brownies, ice cream, candy, chips, popcorn, Gala apples, red grapes, green beans, salad, rolls, monkey bread, donuts, pizza, tuna noodle casserole, nachos, rigatoni and meatballs, fish sticks, Goldfish crackers, bacon, chocolate chip pancakes, steak, beef ravioli, and chicken tenders or nuggets. Oliver and Nadia are like me in that they don't like to drink anything that's carbonated. Ian is like his Dad. He does like soda. His first choice is usually root beer. He also loves to drink apple juice.

His favorite toys are still Legos and stuffed animals. He loves playing on the Nintendo Switch. He generally earns one or two 20 minute turns each day. His favorite educational app is Stack the States. His favorite books are those that involve a character that travels back in time - Imagination Station, Magic Tree House, or the series he's been reading most recently - Treasure Chest. He enjoys reading, but he is NOT a book worm. He reads for school or to earn a turn on the Switch. Nadia reads just for fun. He will read a picture book for fun, but he doesn't read a chapter book unless I require him to do so or he's trying to earn a turn. He loves to tell jokes (puns in particular), and he does an amazing job imitating different voices and sounds. He's made amazing progress in learning to play the piano. It's the one area where he is more advanced than Nadia and can give her assistance. He LOVES to draw. He draws on pretty much every bit of paper he gets his hands on all throughout the day every day. He even drew on his music during chorale rehearsal. He draws on the church bulletins, his schoolwork, etc. Although I think it's great that he enjoys drawing so much, his school work would get done in a more timely manner if he didn't draw quite so much. Finally, he loves to play with Nadia. He prefers to play Legos with her, but he will play paper dolls with her, Calico Critter animals, or basically anything she wants if it means she'll play with him. He enjoys playing board games like Sorry, Candyland, and Chess. He loves his guinea pig. He has been so gentle with Patches over the past three years that she is very docile with him. She'll just sit beside him or on his lap for long periods of time. Nadia's guinea pig is far more skittish than Ian's. 

Ian has received two birthday calls thus far today - from Aunt Janet and Grandma. Paul delayed his departure to work this morning so that he could be here when Ian opened his presents. You can tell what he likes by what he was given. Grandpa and Gubba gave him a Lego Movie 2 Lego set (706 pieces). I bought him a stuffed animal, two small Mario figurines, and a Star Wars lego set (1,060 pieces). Just for his birthday Ian received over 3,000 Legos total! I wonder how many tens of thousands of Legos we have in this house right now? Legos, anything related to Star Wars, stuffed animals, and anything related to Mario are his favorite things! We love Ian so very much, and I think his tenth birthday has been very special for him!

Thankful Tuesday

1. Our new microwave arrived yesterday. Although microwaves are only supposed to last about ten years, I'm hoping this one will last longer than that. Now to get used to the new microwave. It is possible for old dogs to learn new tricks, right?

2. Paul spent the night at his parent's house last night so he could watch the Giants game on TV as we don't get the channel that Monday Night Football is aired on. Unfortunately, the Giants lost in overtime (although plenty of our friends and family are happy with that outcome as we know many Eagles fans), but staying at his parents saved him two hours on the road.

3. I was able to schedule my mammogram for 4:45 yesterday. Even though the commute to Lewisburg is only twenty minutes, which is short compared to Paul's commute to work, I still try to make as few trips as possible. I scheduled it for that time knowing that Ian and Nadia would have their last Monday night chorale rehearsal from 5:45-6:45 last night. After the mammogram we stopped at

the library, CVS, and a pizzeria before I dropped Ian and Nadia off at their rehearsal. During their rehearsal Oliver and I bought donuts at Dunkin' for our breakfast this morning, picked up the online grocery order at Walmart, and donated some items at Goodwill.

4. The worship arts pastor told us on Sunday that people in our congregation had given over $36,000 on Giving Tuesday towards building wells in Sierra Leone. A quadruple matching offer that day meant it became over $144,000, which is enough to build 14.5 wells that will provide clean water for about 11,000 people!

5. We are so, so grateful for the almost ten years that we've had with Ian Alexander! I pray that the Lord will continue to help him grow into a godly young man! The kids and Paul have been enjoying the delicious cake that Aunt Millie made. Ian built two new Lego sets on Sunday - one of which contained over 1,100 pieces! It was nice to spend about five hours with Paul's brother and parents on Sunday at our house.

6. We used a coupon for a free large one topping pizza at Venarri's last night, which meant I didn't need to cook dinner yesterday or today as we paid for one cheese pizza in addition to the free one. I also used a coupon for a free drink at Dunkin' last night; I love their hot chocolate!

7. We were able to talk with Aunt Janet on Sunday and Monday and with Grandpa today. It sounds like they both have had special birthdays!

8. Nadia has gotten off to a great start with memorizing Hebrews! She has almost learned the first chapter over the past 10 days! The fact that she's going to be doing the Bible Bowl makes me all the more glad that we cancelled her audition to be in Annie. She and I both really like that musical, and she was eligible to audition because she is in the chorus at Meadowbrook, but the rehearsals will take place January through March, which is also when she plans to be on a basketball team and take ice skating lessons. In 2021 she will be too old to play Upward

basketball, and so if we take the year off from ice skating lessons as well, then she can probably try out for whatever musical Meadowbrook puts on in March 2021. She is planning to audition to be in Tuck Everlasting at our church in November 2020.

9. I had planned to take the kids to a free Christmas concert tonight put on by the oldest band in the United States, but I decided just having a day to stay home all day was preferable. I am thankful that I have been exercising the right to delete things from the calendar more often the last few months. When Paul came home from work at 7pm tonight, the kids and I were playing a game of Qwirkle, and earlier today we read some poetry by Robert Frost. Poetry and games are things I've been trying to include more often in our weekly routine, but we don't always succeed. Today we did!

10. I hadn't won anything for about 2.5 weeks on the Coke website, but yesterday I won a free movie ticket. Yahoo!

11. Ian and Nadia have been

playing chess with Paul more often lately.

12. The Steelers won on Sunday. I actually watched the whole game. I haven't watched much football this year. Considering we lost our QB very early in the season and started out with a pitiful record, I am quite amazed that if the season ended today we'd be going to the playoffs.

13. A woman at church who is one of the volunteer photographers emailed me some nice pictures of Ian's baptism. I really appreciate having those and also the video!