Grocery Shopping

Ian carries these stuffed animals around the house every day. This photo (taken today) was not staged in any way.

Paul has taken over the grocery shopping for our family because he's the one who is still interacting with people outside our house since his business is allowed to continue operating. The man who works in the office is working from home. Paul's dad is taking a hiatus from working. Paul has most of the crew only working four 10 hour shifts (Tues-Friday). There are only three people (including Paul) working there on Mondays and Saturdays. Shopping for groceries is not an easy task at the moment as the prices have gone up dramatically for some items at some grocery stores, and all of the stores are struggling to maintain an inventory that matches the demand. I've seen so many memes about the lack of toilet paper, but that's certainly not been the only item that is hard to get these days. A few days ago I thought I'd place an order online through Walmart, but I didn't do so at first because so many of the items I wanted to get were out of stock. Also, I found it was very difficult to reserve a time slot because they are only booking one day in advance. Yesterday I went online in the morning and was able to get a slot for this evening, and more of the items we wanted were available. I planned out our meals for three weeks to determine what we needed to buy. Then I emailed Paul a list of what items we needed that we couldn't get at Walmart (margarine, hot dogs, bologna, ground beef, chicken breast, etc.). Paul got some of the things on my list at the Weis in Danville on his way home from work last night.

This morning I went on Weis's website and placed an order with the Weis in Lewisburg. The earliest available slot was Sunday afternoon. I knew when placing both orders that there was no guarantee we would get everything that I requested. Never in my life do I recall praying about the inventory of Walmart or a grocery store, but I found myself praying about it today. I was relieved when I saw that they filled about 90% of my order at Walmart. They were out of sausage, one of the cheeses I tried to buy, one of the kinds of yogurt, and only gave me one dozen eggs although I had tried to buy two dozen. I will say that I didn't notice any price increases at Walmart. Hopefully Weis will be able to fulfill our entire order on Sunday. Walmart lets you modify your online order, but Weis doesn't so I couldn't add the items that Walmart was unable to fulfill. The plan is that when Paul picks up the online order on Sunday that he'll also go into the store and pick up a few things. If Weis fulfills all of our order and Paul can pick up the other few items, then I think the only shopping he will need to do in the next three weeks will be to pick up things like milk and produce that can't be bought three weeks in advance. The governor has said we are only to go grocery shopping once a week, but Paul will have gone three times in five days by Sunday, but that's only because it's been hard to find things. I had to pay more for ground beef than I think I've ever paid before, but I did find a price that wasn't utterly ridiculous. I'm thinking at some point we should invest in a chest freezer. My normal grocery shopping routine is that I stock up on items when they are on sale in the hopes that I buy enough that it will carry us through until the next time that particular item is on sale at a great price. It's easy to store extra boxes of pasta, canned goods, and cereal, but I'm very limited in what I can store that needs to be frozen. If we get a chest freezer, then I think in the future (once life returns to normal) I could stock up more.

Since the kids and I are not going anywhere by vehicle these days, we have more time for being outside. Nadia and Ian went a short distance today on their scooters and then played in our yard until Oliver and I got home. Oliver rode his bike for almost 5.5 miles, and I walked most of that and jogged part of the time. That's the most exercise I've gotten in awhile! I used to go that route (or other longer routes) 3-4 times a week when Paul was a professor. When he went back to the family business in May 2016, that was one of the sacrifices I had to make - no more running. I'm not in good enough shape to run that many miles yet, but I'm so happy that Ian and Nadia are now old enough that they can be unsupervised for a short amount of time and Oliver is able to ride his bike for 5+ miles with me. I believe I'll be exercising outside on a far more regular basis over the coming months! I vastly prefer exercising outside to exercising in the basement. Oliver and I were enjoying seeing different animals, and I was thrilled when he noticed things that we've studied recently in science such as moss.

Oliver brings different stuffed animals down each day. He brought these down yesterday and asked me to take a picture.

12 days left

Usually when I submit my documents to our homeschool evaluator, we have logged more than 180 days of school. That would have been the case again this year had it not been for COVID-19. We had some field trips cancelled this month, and our trip to Chicago, Milwaukee, Ohio, and Detroit was cancelled for next month, and that included field trips to five national parks, several museums, an aquarium, etc. If ALL of our field trips are also cancelled for May and June, then we will only end up officially logging 164 days this year. The requirement is normally 180 days, but since the public schools won't be meeting that requirement this year and their annual tests have been waived, the same is true for homeschoolers in Pennsylvania this year. Students don't need to be tested in grades 2, 4, or 6 so that change doesn't apply to our family, but it means I won't be submitting anything to an evaluator, and it's not a problem that we didn't log 180 days this school year. We have twelve school days left, which means our last day will be April 16. By that point Ian will have completed Spelling level 5 and Beast Academy 4A-4D, Nadia will have completed Spelling level 7 and Teaching Textbooks math grade 6, Oliver will have completed his 2nd grade math textbook (minus part of the chapter on multiplication as I didn't feel he was ready for that this year) and half of Spelling Level 3, Ian and Nadia will have completed the Robin Hood textbook (grammar) and finished Edgewood through Liver books (Life of Fred math), and all three kids would have completed 11 lessons of the Spanish curriculum, all of the Botany science curriculum that we started in January, and our social studies curriculum. We have four chapters left in Story of the World and five more Tuttle Twins books to read. We read Education Vacation today about John Gatto's ideas which was very appropriate given almost everyone is currently taking a vacation from attending a school. Oliver will finish the intermediate level on typing.com before we end our school year. Nadia and Ian already finished their writing curriculum earlier this month, and Oliver's last day of being required to write in his journal will be tomorrow. I'm not hopeful that our field trips scheduled for May will actually take place, but I'm still hoping that we can take some field trips in June.

Although our last day will officially be April 16, it doesn't mean all learning will cease on that day. We listen to chapter books together three times a day all year round. Our current pattern has been to alternate between two books each day - a biography and a novel. The two books we completed last week were The Teacher's Funeral (a comedy) and Brother Andrew: God's Secret Agent.  This week we're in the middle of Rascal and Alan Shephard. I have a list of 65 chapter books we can pick between this summer. We shall see how many of those we listen to this summer! Also, in the summer when we have a day at home (meaning we're not on vacation, they're not at camp, and we're not on a field trip), the kids are allowed to earn up to three 20 minute turns to use an electronic device (Nintendo Switch, app on an iPad, etc.). To earn a 20 minute turn they need to complete a jigsaw puzzle (minimum 100 pieces for Oliver and a higher requirement for the other two), read, practice the piano, or earn a Junior Ranger Badge. Oliver will also have the option of doing math flashcards this summer.

A friend came over today to dig up and take our blueberry plant. We also gave them some cards they asked us to make for a friend of theirs who is in the hospital, and I loaned them some of our Tuttle Twins books. It was so nice to talk to another human being in person outside of our immediate family. I wonder how long it will be until that happens again? Paul doesn't want me to go anywhere (not even the grocery store) or even get the mail. He wants to be the only one possibly coming in contact with the virus, and he washes his hands thoroughly once he comes home. The last time I went a lengthy period without driving was 2012 when I was on bedrest for 10 weeks. We shall see how many weeks I go without driving in 2020. Previously our governor had set specific dates when the schools and such might be reopened, but yesterday he just said that the businesses, schools, churches, libraries, etc. are closed indefinitely. I'm sure that means at least until the end of April, but I realize it might mean until the end of May. The only two things I haven't yet officially deleted from our calendar in April are a simulcast at our church on April 25 and seeing Esther in Lancaster on April 21, but I'm expecting Sight and Sound won't actually be open on April 25, and if there is a simulcast on April 25, I think it will only be viewed individually. As of this afternoon, our county has had ONE person test positive for COVID-19. The county where Paul's parents live has had more than 30 positives.

I've been trying to find small ways to add special moments to our days in light of the fact it feels like we've all been "grounded." Last week when Paul went to Walmart for some groceries, I put YoCrunch yogurt and ham and cheese Hot Pockets on the list as a treat for the kids. Nadia would love to have a hot pocket every single day for lunch, but we just buy a big box of them every once in a while. I signed up for a free 30 day trial of Netflix, which means right now we have three streaming services - Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Disney+. We've been watching at least one movie together as a family each week that Paul or I have chosen. For example, this past Sunday we watched National Treasure. The kids weren't excited about it when we picked it, but they (especially the boys) ended up really enjoying it. I've been making a list of movies I'd like the kids to see through Netflix, Disney+, or Amazon. Right now those include: Hugo, Miracle, Arthur Christmas, Holes, White Fang, Fiddler on the Roof, E.T., Karate Kid (the original one not the remake), It Takes Two, Adventures of TinTin, and Yours, Mine, and Ours (the original one with Lucille Ball). I also have been looking for things I could watch albeit I don't typically watch anything. So far I saw one episode of Little Women on Netflix and the Stargirl movie on Disney+. I'm also planning to watch Anne with an "E" on Netflix.

Although a few years ago I started buying the kids one small gift for Valentine's Day (book, puzzle, etc.) plus one chocolate treat, I haven't ever bought the kids gifts for Easter. Usually they amass a LARGE collection of candy because I typically take them to at least six Easter egg hunts per year, but this year there won't be any Easter egg hunts. I know our church is planning to deliver a little bag of treats to the homes of kids up through 5th grade right before Easter, and Margie and my dad mailed the kids some treats that I'm planning to let them open on Easter Sunday. I decided to also buy them each one gift this year on Amazon plus I'll have Paul pick up a sweet treat for each of them at CVS. I bought a Princess Bride dvd for Nadia (the kids have not yet seen that movie), Pit (card game) for Oliver, and a world geography game for Ian. Nadia and Oliver's gifts each cost less than $10. Ian's was more expensive, but it's also very educational and perfect timing as we will be working on learning to identify most of the countries of the world during the next school year. I also went on Thriftbooks and ordered Paul 7 books for about $30 total. I had recently used $20 worth of Amazon credits to get him books for the Kindle, but I am wanting to use some of the Amazon credits toward renting or purchasing videos (some of the movies listed above) during this time we can't check out DVDs from the library. Plus I usually use some of the Amazon credits for the kids. Nadia recently read three books that I got for the Kindle through Amazon credits. I figure games, books, and movies are all things we will appreciate during our time of "quarantine."

I keep reminding the kids that although it's unpleasant, it's certainly not the worst thing to ever happen in the world or in our own country. Just in terms of other pandemics, when this one is all said and done, I feel quite certain it will pale in comparison to the Spanish influenza of 1918-1919. It is estimated that between 50-100 million died from H1N1 during that pandemic of which about 675,000 were from the United States (0.5% of the US population at that time). I don't think people are predicting that 50+ million people will die from the coronavirus, and the world's population is much greater now than it was in 1918. Similarly, although the population is much greater now in the US than it was in 1918, the current estimate is that 100-200,000 will die from COVID-19 in the US, which is more than typically die from the flu each year but far less than died from the Spanish influenza. We keep praying it will peak ASAP, that a vaccine will be developed, that those in government will have wisdom, that those in healthcare will be protected, that the elderly will be protected, etc.

Spring Cleaning

Since our schedules have been cleared for at least four weeks, I think many Americans have more time than usual. In most families this likely means they are spending far more time together than usual which might mean eating more meals together and playing games together more often. Eating with my kids for 21 meals a week was already the norm for me, and Paul is still working. We have been playing more games over the past week. I have been compiling a list of all the games we own. I haven't included Paul's games in the list, and there are 72 games on the list. Our goal is to play all of the games at least once during this time of "social distancing." So far we've played Connect Four, Picture Apples to Apples, Oval Office, Spot it, Mastermind, Racko, Mancala, Jenga, pizza fraction game, Skip Bo, Bananagrams, Swipe, and Apples to Apples Jr. We also attempted to play Trivial Pursuit, and then realized that it was too difficult for the kids and rather dated even for adults. I added the game to the growing collection of things that are in the trunk of the van which I plan to take to Goodwill once we are no longer homebound. The kids have primarily gotten their exercise by jumping on the trampoline, but this afternoon I said we'd go for a walk. They used their scooters. Even though I've had time to use the elliptical lately, I haven't been using it. Since the weather should be getting warmer, I'd like to start taking walks on a regular basis. We're also doing more Junior Ranger badge booklets than usual. Tomorrow we should be completing #49!

As for cancellations and postponements, the For King and Country concert was moved from April to June, the Sidewalk Prophets concert was moved from April to August (which won't work for us assuming we are able to travel to Canada as planned), and many other things have been cancelled. The Governor has only extended the closure of the libraries and schools for two weeks thus far, but I'm expecting for the closure to be extended longer than that. I was expecting things to be cancelled in April, but things in May are also being cancelled left and right. Sight and Sound has only cancelled their shows through April 17 thus far. Our tickets are for April 21; I'm not very hopeful we will actually be able to see Esther in April. We already knew our trip to Chicago in April was cancelled due to the coronavirus, but now it seems our trip to Maryland in May will also be cancelled because I already received emails this week that Ford's Theatre and the Washington Monument will be closed then (we had tickets for May 19). Hopefully life will be returning back to normal in June? Time will tell. So far there aren't any cases of COVID-19 in our county or two other counties we frequently visit, but there are cases in counties not that far from us.

I've also begun to do some spring cleaning. First I reorganized the five bookshelves in our living room and dining room. Then on Tuesday I started to organize, clean, and purge in the basement. I was thrilled that evening with the vast improvements. Unfortunately I injured my back working on that project. Yesterday I was in excruciating pain. Thankfully my back is on the mend today. Today I began tackling the tool shelves in the basement. That has been on the honey do list for years. That project isn't complete, but I'm very thankful that in the very near future it WILL finally be organized. The next thing on my to do list is to apply a coat of Drylok to the basement walls. Plus we've still be doing our usual homeschooling. We aren't bored. Yet. Nadia has been interacting with her cousin via Facetime and also using Skype, Zoom, Instagram Live, and YouTube live to interact with two youth groups. Her plan at the moment is to participate online with our church's youth group on Wednesday nights and FBC's youth group on Sunday nights. Since Ian is an introvert, he is definitely the one in our family least bothered by social distancing, although he was bummed to find out we couldn't go visit Wendy's family in Chicago. Here's to hoping and praying they will announce that COVID-19 has peaked in the USA sooner rather than later...

One week down

For the boys and I, today is our seventh day of social distancing. Nadia attended a youth group event on Sunday night, so tomorrow will be her seventh day. Thus far no one in our county or any of the neighboring counties has tested positive for COVID-19, yet some times it feels like we are acting like everyone has the Bubonic plague. The kids in our neighborhood usually play outside. I've seen kids outside a tiny bit, but 99% of the time they've just been playing in their own backyard. Oliver was SO excited when he saw his friend Karyss come out on Thursday. Normally they play together whether that means Oliver joins her or she comes over here. "Playing together" looks very differently with a quarantine. She was swinging on her swing in her backyard facing Oliver and talking to him while he was on our trampoline. After only interacting with our immediate family for several days, he was grateful to at least be able to talk to her even if he had to do so with a fence in between them. Similarly, the youth pastor at FBC hosted a "game night" on Zoom last night, and Nadia enjoyed participating in that. I haven't developed a sense of cabin fever yet, but I know if this lasts for many weeks that will set in eventually. The weather was really warm yesterday (quite appropriate as it was the first day of spring), and I was hoping to go for a walk, but it rained most of the day. Hopefully the weather will warm up again soon, and we can at least enjoy the fresh air. I thought of my mom a lot yesterday because she would have turned 75 yesterday.

We had to cancel our trip to Chicago/Ohio/Detroit that we planned to take next month because of the coronavirus. We had planned to spend two nights at a cousin's house, five nights at my sister's house, and two nights at a hotel. I had booked the nonrefundable rate through Priceline because it was cheaper, but thankfully due to COVID-19, they did give me a full refund when I cancelled that reservation. Our tickets for homeschool day at the Hershey Museum were moved from March 26 to June 4. A homeschool day on the Battleship New Jersey has been indefinitely postponed. The other things likely to be cancelled in April include: Sidewalk Prophets concert (I had bought 2 tickets), For King and Country concert (we don't have tickets but three of us had volunteered to help Compassion), a Priscilla Shirer simulcast at our church (I bought one ticket), and seeing Esther at Sight and Sound (I purchased 7 tickets last summer). I feel confident we'll receive a refund from Sidewalk Prophets and in the case of Esther the opportunity to reschedule or receive a refund. The other things I'm not expecting to take place in April as originally planned would include egg hunts, a dinner at the home of one of our pastors, Maker Faire at the children's museum, homeschool gym class, and art/chorus classes at Meadowbrook. I'm wondering how long it will be until we can return to church for youth group, Sunday mornings, AWANA, choir, Bible quizzing, etc. I also am curious how long the public libraries will be closed. I think libraries could offer only "to go" service like the restaurants are doing now. Thus far the schools and libraries in our state are supposedly re-opening on March 30, but that seems 100% unlikely to actually happen. Assuming the restrictions might continue to become greater, I decided to return our library books and DVD yesterday afternoon in the outside drop boxes and since we were out used a gift card to get pizza at Domino's. One perk of the economy taking a beating is the gas prices have really dropped. I paid only $1.99 a gallon for gas this week, and since the only place I think I'll be driving for awhile will be the grocery store that's less than 2 miles from our house, that tank of gas should last a LONG time.

We have been praying multiple times a day regarding the pandemic - for the doctors and nurses to be protected, for the virus not to spread and to peak ASAP, for researchers to come up with a vaccine, for all those in our state and federal governments to have wisdom, for the protection of the elderly, etc. Our governor ordered many businesses to close on Thursday. I thought at first that Paul's company would have to close, but they don't. The problem is that the governor did close the quarries in the state, which means they won't be able to continue making concrete if this lasts more than two weeks. Also, they are already starting to see a reduction in their orders. So far Paul let one employee go and also cut the hours back of most of the employees. Those who typically worked 60 hours a week will now only be working 40 hours a week. If this lasts longer, he will have to let more employees go. Many people are facing unemployment because of the government's decisions. I hope and pray that these closures are actually necessary because the cost is going to be very great. Time will tell.

Aside from not having access to books we planned to read at the library and having field trips cancelled, our homeschooling hasn't been impacted that greatly by the quarantine. We continue to enjoy listening to audiobooks for free through Hoopla and Overdrive. A few we finished recently include A Night Divided (highly recommend that book that takes place in the 60's in Berlin), The Cay, Echo, and three biographies by Janet and Geoff Benge - on Milton Hershey, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. We've had a little more time for working on Junior Ranger badges than usual, and we've used Right Now Media more than usual. I've had more time to read. I read Chasing Vines by Beth Moore this week as well as a Tea Shop Mystery. If this lasts for months instead of weeks I expect to accomplish some spring cleaning and home repair projects around the house. I'm also working on an eight week Bible study on the life of Joseph by Kelly Minter. Because of the virus, Lifeway gave free access for the next three months to many of their Bible study videos. I signed up for two more studies yesterday and bought ebooks to go with the studies as they were on sale for only $5 each. I chose one on Colossians and another on Job. We shall see if I can complete three Bible studies in three months (each one is supposed to last 8 weeks).

I wrote down all of the games that we own and came up with a list of 62 games (not counting a deck of cards which naturally could be used to play a variety of games). I said that every day every child needs to play at least one game, and we are going to see if we can play all of the games we own at least once before this "quarantine" ends. We played Jenga, Racko, and Spot it on Thursday. Yesterday we played a pizza fraction game and Skip Bo. Five games down and at least 57 to go! Similarly, I'm thinking since we are just watching a service online, we could try a variety of pastors. I've heard good things about Alistair Begg over the years, but I don't think I've ever heard him preach before so I think that's whom I want to try tomorrow either in addition to our church's livestream or instead of our church's service.

Home Sweet Home

Cocoa loves to lick; in this photo he's licking Nadia's face. 

We all attended the basketball awards program on Saturday night, and Nadia attended the youth group at that same church on Sunday night. When she was there, she was told that they were still going to hold the middle school social at the youth pastor's home this Friday night (March 20). Nadia wanted us to attend that church last Sunday morning, but we opted to watch our church's service online. Last Friday we received an email from our church that said the middle school would still be meeting this Wednesday night. Because the CDC's guidelines quickly went from 250 to 50 to 10 people, both churches have now cancelled everything for the time being. Nadia was *very* disappointed. Watching an online service is the only option for this coming Sunday. One positive is that we will be spending less on gas for the van this month. Our lives have been disrupted less than most since we have been homeschooling for years. Who knew that in 2020 just about everyone would be homeschooled for a few weeks (or months)? At this point we assume we won't be going anywhere until April 1 at the earliest. I feel 99% certain that our trip to Chicago will be cancelled. Right now I just hope that life will return to normal within two months so we can still go to Maryland/DC in the middle of May as planned. I'm very thankful that our family vacations were scheduled for the end of August and early October. I would really, really hope that life will return to normal by then!

Social Distancing

The last time I recall a pandemic being declared was in 2019 with H1N1 (swine flu). That time the only way the pandemic affected my life was because the hospitals were being stricter about screening guests, and because of H1N1 Nadia wasn't allowed to enter the hospital following Ian's birth and NICU stay. Once we got home after staying in the hospital for about 10 days, H1N1 didn't really impact our lives in any noticeable way. Over the years I've been aware of other viruses that have made the news (SARS, Ebola, and Avian flu all come to mind), but they never seemed to be an issue here in central Pennsylvania. So when Paul first told me about the coronavirus, my first instinct was to assume it would be like the others. Also, I looked up how many people typically die each year from the flu, and seeing that number made me wonder if this was going to be any worse than the flu we deal with every year (for example, according to the CDC over 80,000 died from the flu in the 2017-18 season). Well I don't know if more will die this year in the US from the coronavirus than from the flu, but life certainly has quickly become very different around here over the past few days.

First, our governor said on Thursday that we should try to avoid being in groups of 250+ people for two weeks. This caused our church to decide to only offer a service by live streaming on March 15 because our church has an average attendance that far exceeds 250. Then on Friday our governor said all the schools in PA should be closed for two weeks. The soonest they can return is March 30. The local universities had extended their spring breaks by one week, and now some are contemplating moving to an on-line format for the remainder of the spring semester. I have received a barrage of emails from museums, restaurants, AMC, and many more organizations stating how what they are doing in light of the coronavirus. In some cases that plan of action has changed multiple times in a short time span. Yesterday morning I received texts from the kids' basketball coaches that they would still be having their final practice last night, final game today, and awards assembly this evening. Then the next texts said that everything was cancelled. The third round of texts said that there wouldn't be any more practices or games but they would hold the awards assembly in a different location (the church rather than the public school auditorium) and only for grades 4-6 instead of grades K-6. Similarly, we received an email this morning from the AWANA commander saying they would have AWANA next Wednesday as usual, but then within an hour I received a recorded phone message stating that the Alliance Church (where the kids attend AWANA) would not be having any programs or services through March 28.

Up until Thursday our schedule went on as usual. We attended an ice skating party Thursday night, and the kids attended art and chorus at Meadowbrook on Thursday afternoon. Yesterday was the first day in which our schedule was changed because of COVID-19. Oliver's pizza party with his basketball team was cancelled last night, and his last game was cancelled today. Far fewer people attended the Upward award assembly this evening. Nadia was the only member of her team who showed up. We had planned to attend a maple sugaring program at Montour Preserve this afternoon, but they cancelled because of the virus. We've had a few other field trips cancelled thus far that we planned to attend this month - Saturday Science at Susquehanna University, an art program at the Children's Museum, and a homeschool day at the Hershey Museum. That field trip was postponed until June 4. The others were just cancelled. The kids and I had planned to take a ten day trip to Ohio, Chicago, and Detroit in April. It seems very likely that we'll have to cancel that trip. If that happens, I'm hoping Priceline will refund what I paid for two nights at a hotel in Michigan. We were really looking forward to spending time with Wendy's family as well as with one of my cousins in Ohio. We haven't made a firm decision, but I'm not feeling very optimistic at the moment that it will take place. The other closure that rocked our world was finding out the public library will be closed for at least two weeks. I will adjust the lesson plans accordingly. I'm hoping that these closures will really only last for two weeks. Time will tell!  I'm thankful I was just at the library on Thursday, we have many books at home, and we can access many books through digital means. From what I've read, the virus doesn't do well in temperatures above 70 degrees so I'm praying the temps will rise to that point sooner rather than later! We're especially praying for senior citizens as it seems those over the age of 80 and those with some pre-existing condition are the most at risk. If this happened when Oliver was younger, I would have been very nervous about what might happen if he contracted COVID-19, but thankfully he seems to have outgrown the lingering respiratory effects of being born prematurely. We've never been swabbed for the flu. I don't know if any of us have ever had the flu. I know Oliver has had RSV twice as well as HPMV once.

Nadia is thankful that First Baptist (where the kids play basketball) hasn't cancelled their services. She can still attend youth group there tomorrow night. She had planned to attend Winter Jam (concert) with our church's youth group (both youth groups had planned to attend), but they've cancelled the rest of that tour because of COVID-19. Nadia, Cheri, and I have tickets to attend a Sidewalk Prophets concert in April. That band has cancelled their concerts for a month, but not the one we have tickets for (yet anyhow). Sight and Sound has cancelled their shows in March, but thus far they haven't cancelled Esther in April, which is when we plan to attend. Our church hasn't made any decisions beyond tomorrow thus far. We shall see if Nadia and I go there on Wednesday for Bible bowl, choir (me), and middle school youth. Here's to hoping life returns to normal as quickly as possible. For one thing I assume it's not good for the economy to have a lengthy time when most people are staying home as much as possible. We might homeschool our kids, but we certainly don't typically stay at home all day most of the time.

I typically don't read news articles on the web, but I have certainly done that more recently both in terms of the virus and also the stock market. I have no desire to check and see what has happened to my retirement accounts recently. I can't actually use those funds for I believe at least 14 years, and after seeing what happened to my brother, I'm reminded there's no guarantee I will actually live long enough to use any of it. So ignorance is bliss in my opinion. I don't want to know how much money we "lost." We escaped the worst of the crash in 2008 because I borrowed money from my retirement account to buy our current home, but I assume we didn't dodge the bullet this time.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Nadia enjoyed attending a six hour youth conference at our church on Leap Day.

2. We survived the rabbits' first trip to the vet on March 2. The vet said they are healthy. The plan is to neuter them on May 5. I do not plan to take them for an exam every year as it cost $120 for two rabbits and didn't seem helpful in any way. They continue to do well with peeing in their litter boxes almost all the time, but they only poop in their litter boxes about half of the time. It seems like they are learning not to chew our windowsills, furniture, etc., but we still don't let them romp around the house without supervision. Sometime this summer we plan to move them to an outdoor hutch.

3. Nadia, Ian, and I attended Compassion's Roadshow concert on March 6 in Wilkes Barre. My favorite that night was Matt Maher. We stayed for 2.5 hours of the concert which meant we heard five of the seven groups. We left at the beginning of the sixth band because #1 none of us care for his music and #2 it was already going to be 11pm

by the time we got home. I would have enjoyed hearing Bethel Music (the seventh band), but I was very thankful that Peabod (the one we didn't want to hear) hadn't been scheduled earlier in the concert than they were. We passed out brochures for Compassion and were thrilled that we were able to help seven people sign up to sponsor a child!!!

4. Nadia enjoyed seeing Meadowbrook's production of Annie on Saturday afternoon with me. She wanted to attend because several of her friends were in it. I usually love taking her to see musicals, but my heart wasn't in it this time because last year I had tickets to take her to see Little Women at Meadowbrook, but instead of taking her I was in Philadelphia cleaning out my brother's apartment with Wendy. Annie is a musical I'm very familiar with because I directed a performance of it at the Christian school where I was the principal because the music teacher left part way through the year and also because Nadia was in a performance of Annie, Jr. in 2015.

5. Every year on a Sunday in March it is free to attend a variety of museums and historic sites in Pennsylvania in honor of Charter Day. I prefer to stay at home on Sunday afternoon, but since Paul usually works six days a week, Sunday is the optimal day for him. On Charter Day in 2018 we visited a couple of sites near Philadelphia. This year we went to the PA Military Museum near PSU. The last time I was there was when I was dating Paul while he was an undergrad at PSU (i.e. more than 20 years ago). Paul really, really likes this military museum. Some of their special events are geared toward children and include hands-on activities. They did offer free guided tours yesterday because of Charter Day, but they didn't have hands-on activities. The upside was that the Kids' Days aren't free, and we all got in for free yesterday. The museum contains many items from WWI that are very rare such as a German fire thrower. To be honest, guns, tanks, and such are not interesting to me, but my husband feels quite the opposite. For many years he wanted to own a real tank (I'm not

joking!). I don't think the kids thought much of the inside of the museum. The tour guide had the advantage that he is a veteran, but Paul could have given us just as thorough of a tour. The kids favorite part of the day was climbing on the tanks outside the museum. The weather was absolutely gorgeous that day. The museum is about 70 minutes from our house. I knew we needed to go there at least once since Paul loves it so much, but I doubt we'll return. I had planned to take the kids on a Saturday last fall but didn't go when I found out Paul wasn't going to join us. It's harder to find WWI and WWII field trips compared to Revolutionary and Civil War field trips since those wars weren't (thankfully) fought here on our soil. The USS Pennsylvania battleship which was used in WWII was scuttled in 1948. The museum has two of the ships guns are on display outside the museum (kids can't climb on those as they are too high up!).

6. Yesterday the temperatures got up into the low 70's, and it was a sunny day! I walked to the

playground while the boys rode their scooters there. It was so nice to be out in the fresh air and sunshine!

7. Although it was unpleasant to lose an hour of sleep last Saturday night, the kids are getting up a little later now that it's not getting light as early in the morning. To add insult to injury, the bunnies decided to THUMP loudly during the middle of the night on that night, which meant I lost even more sleep. Thankfully this hasn't happened very often over the past month that we've had the rabbits.

8. We spent about 2.5 hours at Micah and Isaiah's house today for a playdate. Even though it was a rainy day, the kids were able to run around and play outside some while they were there.

9. Over the years we've gradually added subjects to our school day. For example, in January 2019 we started putting time into grammar (parts of speech and punctuation). Over the years I have attempted to include Spanish into our day through Rosetta Stone and Duolingo. I decided it was better if we did it together, and so the plan had been to learn sign language together starting this past fall. We did it sporadically, but I decided to go back to Spanish in 2020. I'm not completely thrilled with the curriculum I recently purchased, but Nadia, Ian, and I are learning some Spanish each week. I had studied Spanish for two years, German for two years, and ASL for one year when I was in high school. Naturally I have forgotten a lot of the Spanish I had learned since that was more than 30 years ago, so I am learning (or re-learning) along with the kids. I'm determined to put even more time and effort into Spanish during the 2020-21 school year. I'm trying to use more Spanish throughout the day. I was pleased last Thursday when we were in the playland at church, and I overheard Ian say to another child "no come hamburguesa".

10. We've continued to receive Junior Ranger badges in the mail. Today we received three via FedEx from a national park in Alaska! Nadia has earned 36 badges thus far.

11. I feel like I've come up with a good plan to ensure we eat a wide variety of meals at dinner. I made a list of recipes in several different categories and then every few months we cycle through those lists. Most weeks we have soup (includes stew and chili) once, salad as a main dish once, pasta once, a "sandwich" once (could be Stromboli, quesadilla, meatball sub, sloppy joe, pulled pork, calzone, etc.), breakfast for dinner once, use a gift card at a restaurant or buy takeout pizza one night, and the other night is my miscellaneous category, which is where I put the main dishes that are not pizza, pasta, salad, soup, or sandwich such as meatloaf, pork chops, shepherd's pie, chicken cordon bleu, etc.

12. Nadia has been enjoying putting her hair in curlers when she takes a shower in the evening. I think her hair looks nice with some curls in it.

Winding Down

Winter is almost over. Yahoo! I am not a fan of cold weather. Thankfully this has been for the most part a fairly mild winter. We have had several days over the past two weeks where the temperatures were in the 50's. Tomorrow Nadia and Ian will have their last basketball games for the year. In Nadia's case, it will be her very last game. She has been on Upward basketball teams for seven years, and she has aged out of the program. Oliver's last game will be on the 14th. For three years we've had three basketball games each Saturday. Next year I think we will just have one game a week as Ian said he does want to play again. Yesterday was the last ice skating class. The ice skating classes are having a party next Thursday. After that party, we won't be ice skating again until December. As you can see below, I took a few videos last night. I intended to use our video camera, but the battery was dead. The quality isn't as good with my phone, but it's better than nothing! Because Nadia wants to be in Meadowbrook's spring musical next year, I don't think the kids will be taking ice skating lessons next year. I'm thankful all three of them know how to skate. Nadia definitely has more of a knack for skating than her brothers do, but all three of them can ice skate. I'm hoping this summer to take them roller skating a few times in the hopes that the Oliver will also learn how to roller skate.

Although we've periodically had some very pleasant days lately, it was rather chilly last Friday. I took the kids to Gettysburg for a homeschool day. We were inside rotating through nine learning stations in the morning, and in the afternoon we drove around the battlefield to complete a digital scavenger hunt. We were given a list of ways to earn points by taking pictures of specific items or making videos that contained specific things. We earned enough points that each child received a blue ribbon. The program was very well done. The children were divided into eight groups, and the other kids in our group were from Annapolis, Maryland.

Looking at our textbooks, we can also see that our school year will be winding down before we know it. Not counting field trip days, I think we only have 31 days left of school. I've already been putting time into planning for the next school year. The past two school years we have had a plethora of options for field trips that related to what we were studying in history (Colonial period to the present over two years). Next year we are studying different countries and cultures. Nadia isn't much of a fan of battlefields, although she did enjoy the homeschool day last week. She's probably glad we won't be going to any during the next school year. Some cultural field trips that I've planned next year include a Native American Powwow, Polish festival, a couple of other trips related to Native Americans, Celt Fest, La Festa Italiana, Christkindl Market, Christmas around the world, Sakura Matsuri (in DC), Greek Fest, Chinese Lantern Festival (Philadelphia), Poland through the ages, and Around the World Embassy tour (DC). 

Recently I finalized with my Aunt when we would be going to Long Island, which meant I was then able to make reservations for our lodging during our family vacation. Over the past 20 years most of our vacations have involved staying at a resort for a week through my time share, but that won't be the case in 2020 or 2021. Although my 20 year time share ended a few months ago, we still have a membership with Interval. I spent a lot of time researching lodging options via Interval, Hotels.com, Priceline, and Airbnb. I didn't use Airbnb yet this year, but I used the other three websites to make reservations for a 9 day/8 night trip the end of August to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City, that includes stops in NH, VT, MA, and NY and for an 8 day/ 7 night trip in early October to Ohio and Kentucky which includes stops in PA and WV. Together the two trips include two Six Flags amusement parks, 19 national parks, 7 industrial tours, 9 science museums, 2 cathedrals, and other sites that are harder to neatly categorize such as Parliament Hill, National Museum of the US Air Force, Creation Museum, Ark, Underground Freedom Center, Cincinnati Art Museum, Shaker Village, Kentucky Derby Museum, Kentucky Horse Park, Rideau Canal, Byward Market, La Citadelle, Chinatown, Montmorency Falls, Terrasse Dufferin, and the Plains of Abraham.

When I saw Oliver was doing spelling on his hippo, I had to take a picture.

Sking at Ski Sawmill

My father and I took Nadia and Ian skiing for the very first time at Ski Sawmill in February 2017. Paul took them skiing at the same location in February 2018; Oliver and I stayed at home that time because he had recently fractured his skull. All five of us skied at Ski Sawmill in February 2019. Last month I took the kids skiing at Elk Mountain for the first time. We can receive four lift tickets and four ski rentals for free from WVIA (PBS station) twice a year. We had *planned* to visit Elk Mountain the past three years, but this year was the first time the kids went skiing more than once in a year. All five of us skied at Ski Sawmill yesterday. Thankfully this ski resort is only one hour from our house. They have a t-bar lift for the bunny slope, which was a big problem last year for Oliver. The first attempts to use the lift this year also didn't go well, but thankfully yesterday he learned several important skills including how to ride a T-bar lift, how to get off the T-bar lift without falling off, and how to stop. They didn't have any T-bar lifts at Elk Mountain, and his method of stopping last month

was to sit on his bottom. Once he mastered the T-bar lift, he then began going up farther on the bunny slope. Once he could do that without falling, I agreed to let him go to the top of the mountain on the chair lift. Nadia did that slope more than ten times yesterday. All five of us did it together twice. I stayed in the rear so I could help Oliver get up if needed. I videotaped parts of his second trip down with my cell phone. I had forgotten to bring the camcorder. We skied for five hours. None of us were injured although some of us have some sore muscles today. Last year Paul had a bad fall; he was particularly relieved that this trip went better than the last one. The weather was incredibly nice. It was unseasonably warm; it got up to almost 60 degrees! Today is a rainy day, but Saturday through Monday were warm and sunny days.

Today I am giving thanks....

1. That the kids and I had an enjoyable Valentine's Day together. We had brownie batter donuts for  breakfast that morning that we had purchased

at Dunkin Donuts after ice skating lessons the previous night. They received gifts and cards from me and also from Grandma. We had a little bit shorter school day than usual so the kids would have time to assemble their new Lego sets. We had pizza for dinner and that was the only time we left the house that day, as Oliver's basketball practice was cancelled because it was Valentine's Day.

2. That we're healthy again. The kids had a respiratory bug. They got over it much faster than Paul and I did, but we're all healthy again. It had been seven months since the last time I was sick. Here's to hoping I can have a nice long stretch like that before I succumb to another bug!

3. Paul and I were both sick on February 16. We only attended church that day because the boys were singing in the kids' choir, and the choir is now only singing on Sunday mornings twice a year. The choir is small so their absence would definitely  have been noticed. Paul attended the first service, and I attended the second

service. Oliver REALLY sang out!!!

4. Nadia enjoyed the nerf war at the Mennonite church in the afternoon on February 16. It was an event planned for two youth groups. She is really enjoying being a part of the youth group at the Baptist church on Sunday nights.

5. On February 20 Ian scored a basket! It was his first time scoring this season. This is his first year playing full court basketball with the hoop at the full height. The WHOLE gym burst into applause when he scored!!!

6. We didn't go on any field trips in January, but we went to Wilkes Barre and Scranton last Friday. First we saw an outstanding show called "Turning 15 on the road to freedom" which was about the civil rights movement so that blacks would be allowed to vote in the 1960's. The actors had AMAZING voices. Then we visited the Electric City Aquarium in Scranton for the first time as well as spent some time at Bee's Backyard. All of

the shows we attend at the FM Kirby Center are free (aside from feeding the parking meter for an hour). The kids got in free at the Aquarium (thanks to WVIA), and we all got in free to Bee's Backyard (again thanks to WVIA). The aquarium was nothing compared to the ones in Baltimore or Camden (our two favorites), but we attended an interesting program about animals who live in the rainforest (tortoise, python, cockroach, and gecko), and the kids always enjoy touching sting rays. Ian was disappointed that their octopus had passed away. Nadia was thrilled that we used one of the gift cards from Aunt Millie and Uncle Al (Christmas gift) and had an early dinner at Red Robin before taking Oliver to his basketball practice. One unfortunate part of the day was a boy accidentally broke Ian's glasses while we were at Bee's Backyard, but considering he's worn glasses for more than four years, I guess I can't complain as this is the first time he's had a broken pair of eyeglasses.

7. That the five of us had a great day of skiing yesterday. Paul worked ALL day on Sunday so

he could join us at Ski Sawmill yesterday (he didn't get home from the plant until after 8:30pm on Sunday). I haven't been taking many pictures lately, but I took a LOT of pictures and videos yesterday. I'm including some of the photos and some of the videos in this post. WVIA used a picture of our family at Ski Sawmill last year on an email they sent out and also on the page on their website about this year's event. I was very surprised to see my face in an email from WVIA! In the afternoon as Oliver and I were in line for the T-bar, a man looked at me and said - you were on the WVIA website! I said he was right. He said he kept trying to figure out where he knew me from and then remembered it was the photo on the WVIA website. We're famous, ha ha! I pasted the picture from the email here (at left).

8. Coal and Cocoa turned three months old on February 11. Jenna (our guinea pig) seems to be doing fine so we aren't planning to adopt a second guinea pig. The bunnies are definitely getting used to us. We have all been licked by Cocoa. It feels very similar to being licked by a cat. Cocoa was very confused on Sunday when she licked my leg when I was wearing nylons. They almost always pee on their litter boxes, but they poop on their litter boxes less than half of the time. We are also teaching them not to bite the wood around our house. They want to eat our windowsills, baseboards, etc.

9. The kitchen table pad, which I ordered the end of December, finally arrived. I bought a new vinyl fitted tablecloth which has worked MUCH better than the linen tablecloths we had been using because #1 it stays in place (the kids were constantly pulling it), #2 it's easy to wipe up spills, and #3 it fits better as my other tablecloths were much too big for our new kitchen table. Having a vinyl tablecloth is not my first choice aesthetically, but practicality has won out to be sure as I didn't enjoy frequently laundering the linen tablecloths. I think between the table pads and the vinyl tablecloth our table should stay in good condition for many years to come. That's the goal anyhow! Paul drilled in glides to the bottoms of the chairs to protect our floor.

10. Nadia continues to make good progress in memorizing Hebrews and 1 Peter. She has been memorizing 21 verses per week so that she will memorize Hebrews, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter by June. She's already decided that next year she will start working on memorizing the book of Matthews in the middle of July because that book has more verses than these three books combined.

11. We've been doing some Junior ranger badges online and also by mail. Yesterday Nadia received a large envelope filled with goodies from a national park in Ohio about the Buffalo Soldiers. That had been an easy one to complete, and we only had to email something to show she had completed the quiz. She received a boatload of freebies for earning that Junior Ranger badge!

Giving Thanks

1. I got my van back on Friday afternoon! Paul came home early because it was snowing, which meant I didn't have to walk to the auto body shop as I thought I would need to do. Ian and Nadia were thankful they could stay home with Daddy while I took Oliver to basketball practice on Friday night.

2. We spent some time with friends on February 29, which included visiting a sheep farm. We always enjoy spending time with them. Unfortunately we learned that Nadia is very allergic to hay. She had hives on various places on her body after crawling through some tunnels Micah and Isaiah had made the previous day with bales of hay.

3. We used a gift certificate to get pizza from Papa John's after we left the computer programming class on January 31 while we were en route to Oliver's basketball practice.

4. Oliver had his best basketball game  on February 1. Nadia had her best game of the season thus far on February 8. Paul joined us for Ian's game on February 1, and he saw all three games with us on February 8. Nadia helped in the concession stand for 5 hours on 2/1 and for 3 hours on 2/8. I'm thankful she likes to help! Nadia has three games left, and the boys have four games left as they each had one game cancelled due to snow. This Saturday is a bye week. Yahoo!

5. Nadia enjoyed the Super Bowl party at our church. She didn't actually watch the game. She played bubble ball with her friends for about three hours. I was very thankful the Chiefs won because SF already has 5 rings.

6. The youth pastor's wife gave Nadia a ride to church on Wednesday afternoon so she could attend Bible bowl.

7. Oliver did a great job in AWANA on February 5. He recited all the books of the Bible, a few verses, and located 10 books of the Bible that they asked him to find in his Bible. Way to go, Oliver!

8. My dad gave Paul some money for his birthday that he said was for a steak dinner. Paul joined us at ice skating lessons on February 6, and after the lessons we went straight to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I don't order an entrée there - just a side dish (a sweet potato). We all love their rolls. Paul and Ian enjoy the peanuts, and Paul enjoyed his steak!

9. My brother's birthday was February 1. It was a hard day for me. I had an awful nightmare related to him on Sunday night. I am thankful for the 35 years I had a brother, and I am thankful he's with our mom, his body is whole, and I will see him again one day.

10. I'm thankful Patches was such a sweet little guinea pig. We miss her very much!!! Her little white hairs are still throughout our house....

11. The kids were so excited to go pick out two rabbits at the SPCA last week. Hopefully Cocoa and Cole will be as good of pets as Patches was. Rabbits are more expensive because they need to be neutered, which costs $259 per rabbit. Ouch!! We plan to have that surgery done next month. Now if we could just figure out how to tell the two apart!

12. I don't normally drive Paul's car, but I did last week because we only had one vehicle. We saw more of Paul than usual (which was good!) because he came home from work earlier than usual on Tuesday and Friday, and he stayed home from work on Thursday (so I could have the car) and on Saturday (so he could attend all three basketball games). When driving his car I noticed he was very overdue with getting his oil changed and tires rotated. He is taking the van to Walmart to have that taken care of right now.

13. We're in the middle of three read alouds right now, and Paul really is glad we're listening to Breaking Stalin's Nose.