On this day

On the radio this morning I heard that it was on this day one year ago the pandemic was officially declared, which means we've entered the second year of COVID-19. I would think that since the vaccine distribution is already underway that over the course of 2021 life will return closer and closer to what it was in February 2020. Recently I received an email from one of the local theatre groups. They talked about what they have decided to cancel, and what surprised me was that they said they wouldn't be offering any summer theatre camps this year. It surprised me because Nadia did attend one of theirs last summer. They followed all the rules (wore masks at all times, took the kids temps, sanitized everything like crazy, kept the kids spread apart, etc.). I had assumed that this summer more things would be open rather than more things would be closed than last summer. I have signed Nadia up for one week of girls' camp at Camp Susque the first week of August and the boys up for one week of camp at PMBC the last week of June. We're planning to spend July 4-10 at Aunt Janet's house. Other than that, I'm not really sure what the summer will be like. Will they offer Camp Good News this summer? Will churches offer VBS? WVIA held their annual ski day at Elk Mountain in January, but they cancelled the one at Ski Sawmill last month because of COVID. I saw they have scheduled a day at Knoebels in May. They haven't said if they'll have their annual event at Montage Mountain waterpark in June or not. Last year the ski dates took place before the lockdowns but all of the events for the rest of 2020 were cancelled. Our membership is expired at the moment, but if it seems like the Knoebels event really will be taking place, I'll renew. Last year I had signed the kids up for the annual PA Wilds Child event. It was cancelled, and they didn't plan an event for this June.

It might be challenging to make summer plans at this point, but COVID doesn't stop us for continuing to enjoy books together! I was perusing the Newbery Award winners for the past 100 years, and I decided to count to see how many we've read or listened to together over the last several years. Nadia read Holes and A Wrinkle in Time independently, and forty-nine other Newbery books we've enjoyed together. We started two others but didn't want to finish them. I don't think we'll attempt The Crossover again, but I think we should give Moon over Manifest another whirl. The 100th book to receive the award was When you Trap a Tiger, and I'm on a waiting list with Overdrive so we can listen to that one in May. I've requested New Kid from the library for Ian, and I've requested Merci Suarez Changes Gears for Nadia. Those were the winners from 2019 and 2020. I highly doubt we'll ever read all 100 of those books, but I'm thinking in time maybe we will read 75 of the first 100 Newbery winners. A few of them I would rank as some of the best books we've read together such as A Single Shard, Doctor Dolittle, The Tale of Despereaux, and Crispin: The Cross of Lead, but many other of my favorites that were also written in the past 100 years weren't selected for the award. 

Today I'm giving thanks:

1. For what a talented artist my niece, Susie, is. She painted a portrait of Maurice on a cardboard box.

2. That the weather has been so nice the last three days. Today it actually got into the low 70's! On Tuesday the kids and I walked to a playground for the first time in many months. Yesterday we drove 4 miles to Montgomery because Oliver has been wanting to try a small skate park there. Nadia and I walked from the park to the library and introduced the librarian to Milo while also getting some books and a DVD. If I had checked the hourly forecast, I wouldn't have waited until Ian was done with his schoolwork at 2pm to go out for a walk. Nadia and Oliver were out for quite a bit, and Ian and I did get some time outside in between the times it was raining. It's not supposed to rain the next few days so hopefully I'll get back in gear with walking tomorrow. My goal was to walk at least 12 miles this week. I didn't make it far today, but I've walked 7 miles over the last 3 days, so I think I can still achieve my goal over the next two days. The boys loved the skate park. I'm planning to take them to a different skate park on Saturday afternoon.

3. Yesterday I asked Paul to come home from work at 7pm so that I could rehearse my flute solo with the pianist at FBC. Usually, he picks Nadia up from church on his way home from work at 8pm. I picked her up after I practiced the flute. It's been awhile since I've played the flute so I was very grateful for the invitation. We'll be attending FBC this Sunday as I'm playing an arrangement of The Old Rugged Cross in the morning service.

4. After playing my flute, I bought some groceries and got gas for the van before getting Nadia. One of the things I bought was Weis brand blueberry crisp ice cream; I tried some this evening. Oh. My. Goodness. I would put it as one of my top five favorite ice cream flavors. Yum!!!

5. Oliver has made the transition to silently reading a chapter book. The downside is that I'll miss having him read aloud to me while sitting on my lap, but he can't stay in that stage forever! 

6. The kids and I are really enjoying The Frog Princess; I've already requested the next two books on CD in the trilogy from the library as we'll finish the first book tomorrow. It isn't just chapter books that we enjoy together. I read the boys three picture books this evening and enjoyed all three of them - Honey Honey Lion by Jan Brett, The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read, and Robert Cade: Gatorade Inventor. One thing I love about homeschooling is that I, as their teacher, am learning new things right along side them. I didn't know anything about the history of Gatorade, and how inspiring to think of a woman learning to read for the first time at the age of 116. Wow! I highly recommend the book The Oldest Student! 

7. My cousin, his girlfriend, and my Aunt put an offer in on a house in Reno, and they are under contract. She's planning to move there in the fall of 2022. I'm happy that she'll be living close to two of her children and also her only grandson (due to be born in July). Hopefully we'll get two more weeks with her on Long Island (this summer and next summer) before she moves to Reno. 

8. I absolutely LOVE listening to Ian play an arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon. I could listen to him play that song every single day.  pia

A typical homeschooling day

Some homeschoolers have a tradition of recording what a typical day is like each year. One of my friends shared hers recently, so I thought it was time for me to do the same again. Here is a description of our day together on March 9, 2021. I'm not sure how many times I've written a post like this, but here's one I wrote in April 2018. 

I usually get up sometime between 6:15 and 7:00. This morning I got up at 6:20 and had showered and gotten dressed before Ian and Milo got up at 6:50. Milo typically gets up between 6:45-7:00, and Ian immediately hands him to me. I hold Milo and get his leash on him while Ian goes to the bathroom and puts on his shoes and coat. While Ian was taking Milo out this morning, I blow dried my hair. 

Sometimes Nadia sleeps in until 7:30, but if she hasn't gotten ahead with her math, then she likes to start her math promptly at 7:00, which means some mornings she gets up at 6:45 to get a shower prior to doing her math. Since we haven't been able to take a shower in our master bathroom for several years,  Nadia  and I have worked out a system that we take our showers on alternating mornings because we otherwise we're both wanting to use the shower at about the same time. I entered the password on the laptop so Nadia could start doing math on Khan academy and prepared my oatmeal and Ian's cold cereal. Paul usually leaves the house before we're up, but sometimes in the winter he doesn't leave for work as early and joins some of us for breakfast. This morning he hadn't left yet so we listened to some of Peace Child while Paul, Ian, and I were eating breakfast and Nadia was doing math. We also finished listening to Julie of the Wolves, discussed the meaning of ten vocabulary words from their grammar text, and started listening to Frog Princess by ED Baker. Oliver came down and ate some oatmeal while Nadia was finishing her math, and then he played with the Snap Circuits set. We interrupted the stories many times while I helped Nadia with her math. The boys also got dressed and brushed their teeth while Nadia continued to do her math. Ian also practiced the piano, and Oliver did part of his math lesson.

After Nadia had finished her math, gotten dressed, and taken Milo out, she started eating her breakfast around 8:30 while we all listened and discussed Judges 1-2 and Psalm 115. During this school year we've been working through the Old Testament. After the Scripture reading was over, I read Elementary Physics lesson 11 (Life of Fred) to Nadia and Ian and they answered the questions at the end. Then all four of us watched today's episode of World Watch News together. These are about ten minutes long. We also read about a country or another religion each day. Today we read about Eritrea using VOM's prayer guide. 

Nadia does science independently this year for the first time, and I've been giving her tests for the first time because starting in the fall of 2022 I have to begin giving her grades in every subject. The boys were learning about valuable minerals today (gold, silver, copper, diamonds, etc.), and they enjoyed the "mining" activity where I asked them to try to remove the chocolate chips from a cookie using only toothpicks. I don't usually let them have a cookie before lunch! While the boys were finishing science, Nadia began reading up in her room with Milo. She has to read at least 30 minutes a day from one of the books I have selected; she had been reading from Audrey of the Outback (an Australian version of Pippi Longstocking), but today she chose to read from Gold Rush Girl by Avi. The rest of the day when she is reading she can read whatever she chooses. She owns quite a few books, and I also get her more from the library. The library books she requested recently are by Beverly Lewis. While Nadia was reading, the boys each did their spelling. Oliver is in All About Spelling Level 3, and Ian is in All About Spelling Level 6. After he finished his spelling, Ian went upstairs and read until lunchtime. Today he read some of Three Go Searching by Patricia M. St. John for his required reading and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel for his leisure reading. While Nadia and Ian were reading, I worked with Oliver on his math lesson which focused on multiplication and division. My goal is for him to learn his times tables by the end of August.

After Oliver finished his math around 11:00, he took Milo out. After he came back in, Nadia and Ian came downstairs and the four of us had lunch while listening to more of The Frog Princess on a CD I got at the library on Monday. Over the course of the day we listened to that book for about one hour. After lunch we reviewed Spanish vocabulary for about 20 minutes. We were focusing on phrases related to going on a walk. 

From 12:00-1:00 Nadia played with Legos in Ian's room. I read the boys three picture books from 12:00-12:20 picture books from the library while they ate some pretzels. From 12:20-12:40 Oliver sat on my lap and read the last two chapters of a book about the Wreck of the Endurance out loud to me while Ian walked Milo and read a little bit more. From 12:40-1:00 Ian and I did some math together (Beast Academy 5C) and Oliver had a 20 minute turn using the Nintendo Switch.

From 1:00-1:45 the kids participated in a webinar about Holi put on by the Penn Museum. Part of the lesson involved them drawing a hibiscus, rose, marigold, and Palash tree. After the lesson was over, all four of us plus Milo went to the playground. The weather was perfect today! It was our first trip to a playground in many months, and it was Milo's very first time at a playground. A good time was had by all! The boys rode their bikes, and  Nadia, Milo, and I walked to playground. We talked to Grandma on the phone part of the time we were at the playground. I got the mail when we got home. Many times we only have junk mail that goes straight to the recycling bin, but today we received three things we appreciated in the mail. Nadia got a letter from her pen pal in Wisconsin. They each write each other two letters a month on average. We also received three Junior Ranger Badges from the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and six books to use when we celebrate Passover next month. We usually get two free books from PJ Our Way each month, but this was an added bonus for this month. 

After we came back inside, I sat with Ian to help him finish his math while Nadia played Minecraft in her bedroom from 3:20-4:20 while chatting on Zoom with her cousin, Rachel. They typically play Minecraft together twice a day - once when Rachel finishes her online schooling, and the last 45 minutes before Nadia goes to bed at night. During that time Ian played the Switch for 45 minutes and Oliver played outside with kids in the neighborhood. At 4:30 Nadia had her weekly 30 minute voice lesson over Zoom. The kids haven't been able to use the trampoline for a little over 3 months because of a small tear in the mat. By the time the repair kit arrived in the mail, the weather was too cold. The trampoline was covered with snow for the vast majority of the past three months. They had been waiting for Paul to do the repair. Since it was in the low 60's today, I decided it was warm enough to attempt the repair. Paul doesn't usually get home from work until 8pm (M-F), and it's supposed to be cold again starting on Saturday. So I attempted the repair today. Hopefully I did a good job. It has to dry for 24 hours so around 4pm tomorrow we can see if I succeeded. It certainly was a messy job as I had to use a lot of glue, plus I had to kneel under the trampoline part of the time. After I finished cleaning up my hands (which was no small undertaking), I began cooking dinner. Some things I cook take hours to prepare. Thankfully we were having a simple dinner of croque monsieur (ham, swiss cheese, with a béchamel sauce) and applesauce tonight. 

Once Nadia's lesson was over, it was almost time for dinner. In a typical week I cook three dinners by myself, Nadia helps me cook one dinner, Ian helps me cook one dinner, we get takeout pizza once, and we have leftovers once. I use an app for meal planning and have a long list of meals that we cycle through to avoid getting into a rut, plus we regularly try new recipes. I usually schedule one night when we have breakfast for dinner (this week it will be blini because they are celebrating Maslenitsa in Russia this week), one night when we have pasta (Nadia will make baked ziti this week), one night when we have a soup, stew, or salad, one night that we eat a "sandwich" of some sort (sloppy Joe, meatball sub, pulled pork, etc.), and the fifth night is something that doesn't fit into any of those categories. We listened to The Frog Princess some more during dinner. We listened to it for about one hour altogether today. 

After we all had finished eating and I started the dishwasher, Nadia and I took Milo for a 40 minute walk while Ian played Legos and Oliver played outside. Nadia, Milo, and I walked a little over 4 miles total today! After we got home, Nadia also played outside with some of the neighbors. Ian played with Legos, read, and had a 20 minute Switch turn. Oliver really enjoyed playing whiffle ball with the neighbors this evening. After Nadia came inside, she and Ian played Legos together. Once Oliver came inside, he and I chatted. He told me he was hungry. I don't usually let the kids eat after dinner, but I let him have a bowl of cereal after he got on his pajamas.

At 8:15 I called Nadia and Ian down for our family devotions. We just recently finished a two month study of the book of Daniel, and to continue the theme of future prophecy, we've started a study of Revelation. Tonight we read and discussed part of chapter one. After we prayed together, we tucked Oliver in to his bed around 8:30, and then I threw in a load of laundry. Nadia fed the guinea pigs and gave them water prior to her second session of the day of playing Minecraft with her cousin via Zoom. She's been choosing to play Minecraft with Rachel twice a day rather than watch TV lately. Oliver was the only one who watched a little TV today. He finished an Inspector Gadget movie on Disney+ today that he had started earlier this week. 

Some days our schoolwork takes longer than it did today. We do art through Creating a Masterpiece three times a week; that takes a good chunk of time. Whenever Nadia and Ian have a bridge to do in Life of Fred, then math takes a lot longer than usual. This week they will have a bridge on Thursday. We often read part of a chapter book for Social Studies - most recently one it was about Logical Fallacies, but we aren't reading one this week. However we don't typically do a webinar, and I counted that as our Social Studies today as the lesson was on archaeology and anthropology. Finally, I don't have Nadia and Ian do creative writing every single day. They weren't working on a writing project today. Usually Nadia is the first one day, Oliver is the second one done, and Ian is almost always the last one done with his school work. The boys don't use Zoom at all. Nadia uses it to talk to Rachel, for a weekly voice lesson, for a bi-weekly ASL lesson through the public library, and for two 2 hour long theatre rehearsals per week.

Paul carries Milo's crate up to Ian's bedroom each night. Nadia and Ian go to bed around 9:30 after Nadia takes Milo outside one last time. The kids each take him out 2-3 times per day. He used to spend a lot more time in his crate, but his behavior has been improving. Today the only time he was in his crate was when I was out repairing the trampoline. Nadia holds the guinea pigs when she's in her bedroom. Although technically one of the guinea pigs is Ian's, in reality Nadia is the only one who holds the guinea pigs. Because of Milo they have to stay in her bedroom. I usually go to bed shortly after Ian and Nadia go to bed, and that is when Paul usually eats his dinner.

So this is what life is currently like during a pandemic while homeschooling three kids in grades three, five, and seven. Our school year will be ending the end of April so our "summer" will be here before we know it! The main difference between this school year and the last seven school years has been that we've been at home far more - FAR fewer field trips, no Upward basketball, no ice skating lessons, no homeschool gym class, no choirs, no AWANA, no art class, etc. I can't believe that in the fall I will have TWO middle schoolers! I am still trying to decide whether I should hold Oliver back a grade or not. If I could go back in time, I would wait until he was six to start Kindergarten with him, but I can't go back in time. One decision I have never regretted, is our decision to homeschool the kids. I'm so, so glad that Paul had the idea to homeschool our kids and that I am able to be a full-time homeschooling mom. These precious years are just flying by far too fast! 

Thankful Tuesday

1. My Dad and Margie made it back safely Mexico after spending three weeks in Cancun.

2. The Echo dots are a big blessing. It's funny how a device can go from something you've never heard of to something you use in many different ways every day in not that long of a time span. We use them to listen to music, as a Bluetooth speaker for listening to the Bible and books on Hoopla or Overdrive, to hear the weather forecast, to set umpteen timers a day, as an intercom to communicate from the family room to the kids' bedrooms, to listen to books on Audible, ask how to say a particular word in Spanish, etc. Since we don't own a landline and the kids don't own any cell phones, I am very, very, very thankful that they can call my cell phone through the Echo dot when I'm not at home - whether I'm outside taking a walk with Milo or picking up some books at the library. The next time they have a great sale on Echo dots, I want to buy one more and assign that one a different wake word (not Alexa) and have that Echo dot ONLY speak in Spanish. We have our family room Echo dot set up to respond in either English or Spanish.

3. Today through Friday it's supposed to be in the 60's, and we might even get into the low 70's one of those days! The warmer temperatures aren't here to stay yet, but I'll take what I can get! I'm so looking forward to taking long walks with Milo four days in a row this week. He will also be thrilled!!

4. I did some shopping at CVS on Saturday, and I bought nine boxes of cereal for less than $3 total. In general I haven't done much couponing lately, but I have been using coupons at CVS at least once a month for about 18 months. Actually I didn't pay any money at CVS because I used a gift card Al and Millie gave me at Christmas toward the cereal purchase. We'll see how far I can stretch that gift card! :) 

5. We have finally been getting into a routine of playing games together as a family on either Saturday or Sunday. For example, the previous weekend we played Quirkle (it was Paul's first time ever playing that game), and this past Sunday afternoon we played Suspend and Pit. Paul won all of the games! 

6. Paul and I watched a movie together on Saturday night - the Queen of Katwe on Disney+. I thought Paul would enjoy it because it's about a true story of a young chess player in Uganda. It's very rare for Paul and I to watch a movie together so I savored it.

7. Yvonne's husband is slowly starting to recover from COVID. He has been very sick for more than 2 weeks. I am also on the mend. I didn't feel well last Monday through Friday. I began to feel better on Saturday. I'm not 100% back to normal yet, but I'm feeling much better than I did last week.

8. The kids participated in a program put on by the Penn Museum today that was about Holi. I hope to take the kids to the Penn Museum some day, but for now we participated online. Maurice was a tour guide at the Penn Museum during the last 6 months of his life. I've started buying the materials so I can make the color powders for the kids to throw later this month in conjunction with Holi as we're learning about different holidays this year. In the beginning of the pandemic we did more of these virtual field trips. We haven't done any since last spring, but I signed up for two this month. The next one will be a tour put on by Chick-Fil-A. Virtual field trips certainly have the advantage of not needing to spend hours in the van traveling to and from the sites. 

Thankful Thursday

1. Ian got a good report at the orthodontist. He told Ian, "Your mom is a good orthodontist." LOL! He meant I've been doing a good job turning the key in his expander once a day. It did not go smoothly at first, but thankfully I've gotten the hang of it and now can do it quickly, which is a relief to Ian.

2. We finally got back in gear with Spanish yesterday. We've started working on words related to the outdoors and going on a walk. 

3. In January and the first half of February our pastor preached an excellent sermon series on the book of Ruth. Since the series ended on Valentine's Day and we had baby dedications that day, they gave everyone a Baby Ruth candy bar as we exited the sanctuary. My mom used to buy Baby Ruth candy bars for me to give my classmates on my birthday, and at one of my baby showers when I was pregnant with Nadia they gave everyone Baby Ruth candy bars. Ironically, I don't like Baby Ruth candy bars, but Paul was happy to eat two of them as I gave him mine. 

4. I'm very excited about learning how to make quality videos. I took some video clips of Milo running with Ian and Oliver yesterday, which was the first time I used my DSLR camera to take a video. I've been on a plateau for a long time as far as making progress with my photography skills. Although I certainly haven't "arrived" in that skill, I'm excited about developing my videography skills. I downloaded a free version of DaVinci Resolve so I can edit videos. I've had my cell phone for 6 years, but I bought a refurbished phone that was almost 2 years old so my phone is almost 8 years old. I have asked Paul if I could have a new phone for my birthday because my phone doesn't do a very good job taking videos or pictures. I think the only other thing I'll need to purchase is a microphone. There's something invigorating about learning a new skill. My cooking and baking skills have definitely been stretched over the past five months, but I am even more excited about learning how to make quality videos.

5. The Serbian potato moussaka was okay. We didn't have trouble eating it, but I won't make it again. Nadia really, really liked the Hamantaschen cookies we had when celebrating Purim. I really, really like the strawberry pretzel salad I made earlier this week. I have no idea why it's called a salad. It's a dessert in my opinion. Anyhow, I've had it before but never made it before. 

6. I've been under the weather the past four days. I'm thankful that so far no one else in the family has come down with it. Hopefully none of them will. Everyone in Yvonne's family has recovered from COVID except for Joe. He got fluids at the ER on Sunday but still has been feeling pretty lousy. We keep praying for him to feel healthy again and also for Paul's mom to feel better. She's been in a lot of pain lately, but she is doing a little better today, thankfully. 

7. The kids have been on fire with doing Junior Ranger badges lately. Ian earned 6 in February and did 6 more over the past three days!

8. Our Governor removed the travel restrictions on Monday that had been in place since the middle of November! This means once Joe and I are healthy, Yvonne's family can come up to visit us, and I can give two nephews and one niece their overdue Christmas gifts!

9. Paul and Ian have really been enjoying listening to Hank the Cowdog books together. They really crack Paul's funny bone! 

10. We haven't watched many movies together lately, but we did see Flora and Ulysses on Disney+. It followed the book pretty closely. I liked the book better than the movie. The best movie I've seen on Disney+ over the last year is definitely Safety. We wish they hadn't fired Gina Carano from the Mandalorian. Twitter deleted a quote from Mother Theresa claiming it was hate speech, YouTube has banned pro-life videos, Facebook blocks pro-life ads, etc. It seems freedom of speech is only for those of a certain political persuasion in our country these days. We'll just keep praying for our country! Big Tech companies might favor abortion, but thankfully abortion rates are dropping in the US. I think that ultrasounds have been the biggest asset in dispelling the "blob of tissue" lie. I'm always encouraged when I hear of states passing laws to limit abortions. South Carolina last month linked it to when a heartbeat is detected. The fewer babies that are killed the better.

11. Yesterday the weather was GORGEOUS again! Last Wednesday and this Wednesday it was in the low 50's. Last week I walked (and jogged part of the time) with Milo for 10 miles from Wednesday through Friday. Yesterday I walked him for 4 miles. It's much colder today, but next week we're supposed to have several days in the 50's. I absolutely love being outside when it's warmer out!!! Milo likes it too. :)

Two Years in Heaven

 

As of today my brother has been in Glory for two full years. In some ways the grieving process has been similar to what I went through when my mom passed away in July 2016, and in other ways it has been different. The time of shock with my mom came with her diagnosis of stage four cancer about 6.5 months before she died. Although saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest moments of my life, I actually had been praying for the Lord to take her home and bring her suffering to an end. I would have thought my mom would live past the age of 71, but still her life was a little more than twice as long as Maurice's life. With Maurice the shock was receiving the phone call from the police that his body had been found. There was no opportunity to say goodbye. Although I was closer to my mom and spoke to her more regularly over the years, I had always loved my brother very dearly and had become closer to him following our mom's passing. In both instances, the intensity of the grief and loss has diminished over time as I've adjusted to the new normal of life without a mom and then life without a brother. Even though I don't cry nearly as often in response to missing them, there are still times when I grieve their absence in my life. For example, recently I've had nightmares related to Maurice's passing. I take great comfort in the knowledge that they are in a MUCH better place and that I will see them again some day. 

I saw this video (above) a couple of months ago and decided to share it today. Some money was given in Maurice's honor to AVA, the school where he taught in Brazil. They used the money to greatly improve the entrance to the school. The first time I saw the video I cried when they showed the stone with his name on it.  It took almost two years for me to start reading a book called Imagine Heaven that Margie sent me shortly after his passing. At his funeral they shared a clip from a sermon Maurice gave years before. It was more than I could handle to hear his voice at that point, and I have to say two years later I still am not ready to hear his voice, but in general I have come a long way over the past two years in processing this loss. I miss my brother very, very much. I really miss talking to him. I miss his hugs. I wish my kids could have had more years with their Uncle Maurice, but we'll just have to wait until we're reunited some day. I also find comfort in knowing that my Mom and Maurice are together. When life seems to be going in a crazy direction down here on earth, I find myself wishing the Lord would return ASAP, which would also speed up my reunion with my mom and brother. 

Lists and plans

I enjoy making plans and lists. As a homeschooling mom, I have plenty of opportunities to utilize those skills. There is menu planning which leads to online grocery orders or a grocery list if I'm shopping in person.  I have spent almost no time over the last year planning field trips, but that's usually something I really enjoy doing. Requesting library books is another regular task whether I'm requesting audiobooks from Overdrive or Hoopla or physical books from a local library. I check out hundreds of books a year from local libraries - mostly for the kids. Homeschooling three children involves making plans for each of them in various subjects. For example, we are using Creating a Masterpiece for art. I choose exactly which projects we'll do, and then I have to make sure we have all the art supplies that we will need to complete those projects. In recent months I've purchased watercolor pencils, inktense blocks, wooden eggs, various types of paper, and many other things for art. Buying Christmas gifts for thirty-two family members each year also involves a list.

Two lists I've been working on lately relate to Junior Ranger badges and future vacation plans. The kids have earned about 80 Junior Ranger badges thus far. In 2018 and 2019 they were earning them in person. They earned a few in person in 2020, but the vast majority of the ones they earned in 2020 and all of the ones they've earned so far in 2021 have been earned through the mail or online. Because of COVID, some national parks that previously only allowed children to earn badges in person have for at least the time being allowed kids to earn them from a distance. In some instances, they won't give you a physical badge if you earn it from home. I've been trying to only select those who will actually send you a physical badge or patch. My goal is 

for the kids to each earn at least 200 Junior Ranger badges. Because of COVID, some places haven't actually mailed us badges even though I mailed the booklets to them. Maybe we'll get them eventually? I realize some of the rangers are working remotely and may not have access to badges. I've picked out 133 badges that I'm planning to have the kids earn over the next four years (32 online or by mail and 101 in person), and I also have another list of another 37 that we might be able to visit at some point - mostly in NY, NJ, MD, or VA. Printing the booklets, keeping track of which child completed which booklet, mailing them at the Post Office, or scanning them and sending them by email are some of the efforts I put into the kids earning Junior Ranger badges. 

Nadia will be graduating from high school in 2026, which is a little more than five years from now. That is a sobering thought! It causes me to

want to be intentional about thinking through our future vacation plans. 2020 certainly taught us that all our plans can be scrapped right and left, but hopefully that won't be the norm for the next five years. I have done some reworking of previous plans in light of COVID and also in light of the vacations that were cancelled last year. Here is what I'm thinking at the moment:

1. This fall spend about 3 1/2 weeks on a long road trip that includes doing things in 18 states the kids haven't been in before. Some highlights would include Mammoth Cave (KY), US Space and Rocket Center (AL), Shiloh (TN), Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Chicago, and Detroit. 

2. Next year fly to Atlanta and spend some time in Georgia before driving to Florida and fly back from Tampa. This trip would be our usual length (between 1-2 weeks) and would add one state to the kids' list of states (Georgia). Highlights would include the Georgia Aquarium, fourteen National Parks in GA/FL, and three amusement parks. 

3. In the fall of 2023 I'd like us to take a 12 day vacation to New England and Canada. Since I was combining what had originally been planned as two different trips, I deleted a few stops such as Quebec City, Acadia, and some sites in CT/RI. Some of the stops are in states we've already visited (MA, NY, and the province of Ontario), but this trip would add three states (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont) and one province (Quebec) to their list. Highlights would include 20 National Parks, several science museums, a whale watching cruise, and some other historical sites in Salem, Boston, Ottawa, and Montreal. 

4. In 2024 I'm thinking we could fly out west to visit Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Redwoods, Crater Lake, Portland, Mt. St. Helens, Seattle, Mt. Rainer, etc.  This trip would add three states to the kids' list (WA, OR, and NV) as they've already been to California. 

5. In the fall of 2025 spend about 2 weeks in England and France. 

Other trips that aren't included in this list would be shorter and closer to home such as in Philadelphia and D.C. I also want to take the kids on a short term missions trip sometime in the next 5 years - most likely to Guatemala. If we go on these trips, the kids will have actually done something in 43 states plus DC, Ontario, England, France, Guatemala, and Quebec. The seven states currently omitted include: Louisiana, Hawaii (which has been on my bucket list for many years), Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri. It would be lovely if we could take the kids to the Caribbean at some point. Nadia was there in 2009 when she was 11 months old, Nadia and Ian were on a Caribbean cruise with us in 2011 as well as a trip to Grand Cayman in 2012, but they were too young to remember any of those trips. There are other places in the US that aren't included in the plans that would be great places to take the kids some day if possible such as Carlsbad Caverns, Glacier National Park, the Alamo, Space Center Houston, Acadia, Hoover Dam, Bryce Canyon, White Sands, Zion, and the Everglades. The kids have also expressed a desire to visit their cousins in Quito. If we make it to South America, I'd also like to meet at least some of the kids we currently sponsor as three of our five sponsored kids live in Bolivia and Peru. Our other two live in Kenya and Haiti. We might have to wait until we're in Heaven to meet our sponsored kids.

Five Months Old

Since Milo was born on September 30 and there aren't 30 days in February, this is as close as we can get to the day he turns 5 months old. We've had Milo for 2.5 months, and he's changed a lot in that time! When we got him he weighed only four pounds; he currently weighs seven pounds. I would say he is officially done with housetraining. He wears a belly band because he wants to mark his territory in our house. I have no idea how many months he'll be wearing a belly band, but I'm very grateful for them at the moment. He's attempted to lift his leg and spray in a variety of places such as the clothes hamper or a bed post, but the vast majority of the time if he lifts his leg inside the house he's attempting to spray the drapes in front of the sliding glass door in the kitchen or the kids' coats or snow pants in the foyer. Over the past month he's improved with getting his nails trimmed. Prior to him going to the groomer, he used to like being brushed. It's been a lot more challenging to brush him over the last few weeks. Sometime in March I'm going to use the clippers on him for the first time. He's getting used to our broom, mop, and vacuum, but when he saw a picture of himself on my laptop monitor, he started growling and then barking at his photo. Ha ha! He absolutely loves going on long walks outside. He loves to run! I think this puppy is going to get me into shape! He occasionally goes to the door to let us know when he has to poop. We can go longer amounts of time in between trips outdoors to go to the bathroom.  We still sometimes have to tell him not chew something he shouldn't be chewing, but it doesn't happen nearly as often as it did at first. Whew. 

He absolutely hates being left alone. He cries when we leave for church on Sunday morning. That's usually the only time each week that he's left alone in the house, but there are other times when he's in his crate and we are somewhere else in the house. He doesn't like that At All. He wants to be able to see one of us at all times. Much to Nadia's chagrin, I am his favorite person. She gets really perturbed at Milo when she picks him up and he leaves her arms and comes over to me, and she takes him back again and he again leaves her and goes back to me. Milo does love Nadia very much. His little tail wags like crazy when she comes in the room, but when I've been gone - whether I've gone to the grocery store or just been shoveling the driveway, Milo looks like he's about to jump out of his skin he's so excited to see me. It cracks me up since I never had any desire to have a dog, but he does spend more time with me than he does with anyone else. I do love holding him because he warms me up!

Prior to taking Milo on walks recently, I was still thinking that cats are better pets in my opinion because they require far less maintenance and keep themselves a lot cleaner. You don't have to give cats a bath, for example. Cats are not as exuberant in showing their affection, but they do show affection by rubbing your legs when you're standing or purring while on your lap. Wednesday through Friday Milo and I walked (and jogged part of the time) for a total of ten miles! Now that is not something I have ever done with a cat. 

I've started the videography course, and I think my first cinematic home video will be of Milo! I plan on doing a MUCH, MUCH nicer video of the kids around the time of their birthdays than I have in the past, but the next birthday won't be until June so I think my first project will be to make a video featuring Milo.

One year later

It has almost been a full year since life became very abnormal. Although we were aware of COVID-19 earlier in 2020, our life continued on as normal until March 12, 2020. If I had known they would be closed for months, I'd have gone to the library on March 13 (the last day they were open) and checked out a massive amount of books. We quickly learned that we are not fans of online church services. In our case, our church was only closed for three months. I say "only" because some people have been limited to online services for a full year at this point. So many things have happened over the last year that I never would have thought possible. Our church even being forced to be closed for even two weeks would have seem unthinkable prior to COVID. I fully realize that life has changed more drastically over the past year for many people that for our family. We already homeschooled our kids whereas it's been an unexpected shock for many families to experience virtual learning at home. None of us came down with COVID, none of our friends or

family have passed away from COVID, and Paul's business actually had its best year ever in 2020. But the past 12 months have still felt very abnormal. Spending more time at home than usual has had some positive outcomes such as the kids doing FAR more puzzles than ever before and we played more board games than we'd ever played before, and we've been very healthy!

In the very beginning I don't think I could have handled the knowledge of how long this was going to last. I kept thinking life would be back to normal in maybe 2-3 months. As the spring and then summer progressed I began to realize that normal could be more than a year away. At this point, I'm hoping but not 100% confident that life will be close enough to normal that we will go on vacation in September. The pace of life has definitely slowed down, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Time will tell exactly how much will truly return to normal at some point. Will we ever ditch the facemasks and shields? Will we ever

shake hands with people again? At this point the change I'm looking forward to the most is everything be fully open again - museums, historic sites, national parks, etc. I'm hoping that will happen sometime in 2021, but I realize it might not happen until 2022. Here are some of the main ways life has been different for our family over the past 12 months due to COVID-19.

1. We typically go to several concerts over the course of a year. From January 2020 to the present, Nadia, Ian, and I only attended one concert - the Compassion Roadshow in Wilkes Barre in early March right before everything shut down. Paul and Oliver haven't been to a concert since 2019. Since the middle of March concerts have either been virtual or drive-in events. We watched a little of some free virtual ones in the beginning of the pandemic and discovered that we vastly prefer in person concerts. We haven't experienced a drive-in concert. Some friends and

family attended a drive-in concert by For King and Country in our area, and I heard positive feedback about that. At this point I have no idea how long our concert hiatus will end up lasting. 

2. We also typically attend several dramatic productions each year. I took the kids to see Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom in February 2020, and Nadia and I saw MCS's production of Annie in early March right before everything ground to a halt, but since then, we've only attended one production - Queen Esther at Sight and Sound in Lancaster in December. It was very strange to be in such a large theatre with such a very small audience (capacity greatly limited). We don't have any plans at the moment for attending anything in 2021. We shall see when that returns to "normal." If life is a lot closer to normal by December, I'd like us to go to NYC in December and see a show as part of that trip.

3. The last time we flew in an airplane was May 2018, but we actually hadn't planned to fly anywhere

in 2020. However, of the five one week trips I had planned for 2020, three of them were cancelled due to COVID. The kids and I did spend a week with Aunt Janet in August, and all five of us spent a week in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania in October. As for 2021, I'm planning to take the kids and Milo to visit Aunt Janet for a week in July, and the five of us are hoping to go out west in September/October. Due to COVID, I've changed that vacation itinerary so it doesn't involve any flights. I'm thinking we probably won't step onto an airplane until 2022. Hopefully COVID-19 won't be a factor by then!

4. Even though we "only" were away from church for three months, life at church still hasn't returned to normal. We wear masks or shields. Temperatures are taken for those 18 and under. There aren't any choirs. I haven't attended an adult Sunday School class in a

year. Usually there is a time for people to come forward to the altar for prayer each Sunday morning. That hasn't happened in a year. Usually we shake hands and hug people. Now we just wave from a distance.  We used to pass an attendance pad. Now we sign in online even if we are attending church in person. The attendance has been drastically lower in person as many have chosen to participate only in the online services. Communion is also handled differently. The boys haven't been to AWANA in a full year. This means Ian's time in AWANA ended in early March 2020 as he'll be entering 6th grade this fall. Similarly, his time in the kids' choir at church ended in March 2020 because again he'll be too old for it if the kids' choir resumes at some point in the future. Although there were months when the youth groups were only meeting online, Nadia's experience at church has been closer to normal as she has been attending the youth group at our church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night and at another church on Sunday night. 

5. The libraries were totally closed for a few months, and then they reopened just for picking up books you had already requested. That is still the status of the library we had used for several years, but in September I got a card for a different library system, and that other library system is totally open. Discovering there is a library closer to our house through which I can request books from several libraries has been one of the blessings in disguise of COVID-19 for our family. 

6. I redeemed some credit card points last January for an AMC gift card. We planned to see at least three movies in the theatre in 2020. We never entered an AMC theatre in 2020. The only movie we saw outside of our home from January 2020 to the present was one IMAX movie at a science museum in Cincinnati in October. Will we use the gift card in 2021 or 2022, or is seeing movies at a theatre a thing of the past?

7. At least one of our kids has gone to camp at Camp Susque every year since 2014, but the kids ended up going to PMBC because Camp Susque cancelled their camps due to COVID. We haven't been to Camp Susque in 18 months because the other events we had registered for were also cancelled over the last few months. We are scheduled for a field trip there in April. We shall see if that actually takes place. At this point the plan is for Nadia to go to Camp Susque this summer and the boys to go to PMBC. I don't think we ever would have learned about PMBC if COVID-19 hadn't closed many other camps last summer.

8. Not counting our one week vacation in October, we have only been on five field trips over the last twelve months - Reptiland, hike at Hawk Mountain, Dale's Ridge Trail, Refreshing Mountain, and a trip to Hershey/ Indian Echo Caverns; most of these field trips were outdoor events. We went on three field trips between February 21 - March 8 so that means our grand total of field trips from January 2020 to the present would be eight, which is far, far less than usual. We haven't gone on any yet in 2021. I have three field trips scheduled for March and April. We shall see if those actually take place or not. I'm not holding my breath! Since we are studying various countries and cultures this school year, prior to the pandemic I had planned out a variety of cultural festivals for us to attend from June 2020- May 2021 in Camp Hill, Philadelphia, DC, Doylestown, etc. So far every single one has been cancelled, and I'm expecting that trend will continue for the next three months. I do miss our field trips and look forward to the day when I can plan them again without such a high risk of cancellation being present all the time. The upside is that I put a lot less mileage on the van over the last year than I typically do in a year.

9. I never would have dreamt I'd be wearing face masks or shields. I definitely prefer the shield. Although I'm hoping they aren't here to stay for years on end, ditching them is not as important to me as other aspects of "returning to normal." We've also become accustomed to staying six feet apart during the rare times we're in a public place.

10. Nadia has benefitted financially because you can't bring an extra person with you to a doctor appointment, the dentist, etc. This has meant I've needed to pay Nadia for babysitting Oliver more than I would have normally.

11. Although I've homeschooled the kids for the past eight years, I have outsourced for many of the extracurricular subjects as the kids have been in choirs at church and other places, taken art class at MCS, theatre classes/camps, soccer teams, ice skating lessons, swimming lessons, basketball teams, gym class at CWC, etc. Ice skating and basketball ended right around March 12 last year, and since then the kids haven't been in a choir, played on a team, etc. Nadia really misses ice skating. Nadia has been participating in voice lessons over Zoom and theatre productions over Zoom. We've been taking online art classes together. We hadn't planned to join a swimming pool in 2020, but I did join one due to COVID. Paul took the kids skiing once in January, but basically their "physical education" for this school year has been whatever exercise they get while playing inside and outside.

12. When this first started last March, I wasn't feeling the need to be very cautious because the numbers were very low in our area, and since we don't have any risk factors, I figured it wouldn't be very horrible if we came down with it. Once things reopened, we started going to church, the library, etc. In the beginning, Paul was more cautious than me. I didn't even drive the car for awhile because he even took over picking up the online grocery orders as he figured since he was already going to work the rest of us should just stay at home. However in November my attitude changed as the cases began to rise in our area. I began to choose to stay home and avoid indoor activities that didn't seem worth the risk to me such as roller skating. Now it feels hard for me to know when to return to those activities. Thankfully the numbers have begun to decline. Hopefully at some point it will be clear to me that we can resume indoor activities (aside from church). 

13. Although I had placed a few online grocery orders prior to COVID, I certainly have done it more than usual over the past year. During the months when many businesses were forced to stay closed, it didn't affect us that much because the places I usually shop in person were still open. We definitely dealt with shortages on various items more in the past year than any other time in the previous 48 years of my life. It's not as hard to locate items as it was in the first few months, but there are still limits on buying some things such as facial tissues. Aside from food, paper products, and cleaning products some other things that were hard to find were bikes and freezers. The lockdown is the reason I bought far more puzzles than usual as well as two pairs of roller blades for the kids.

14. In the very beginning even the kids in the neighborhood stopped playing together. After several weeks they resumed playing together outside. The kids haven't been inside any other houses in our neighborhood over the last year. Most of the year none of the neighborhood kids were in our house either, but three kids in the neighborhood have been in our house a few times. We also saw far less of our extended family over the past year. I haven't seen my sister Wendy and her kids since August 2019, which is the longest I've ever gone without seeing her. Paul's mom hasn't been in our house since December 2019, and we were only in Paul's parents' house one time since December 25, 2019. Since Paul's family only live an hour away from us, we usually see them far more often than that. We saw my Dad and Margie in August when they were on their way to the Poconos. We saw the Towfighis a few times between June and November. We spent time with Paul's brother, Dad, and sister-in-law two times since December 25, 2019. The boys and I have only been in two other homes aside from ours over the past 14 months - one time at Paul's parents' house and a few times at my friend Tab's house.

15. Holidays were also very different in 2020. The only holiday we celebrated with other people in 2020 was Thanksgiving when we had three guests at our house (Paul's dad, brother, and SIL). The only birthday we celebrated with other people was Paul's mom's birthday in early November which was again a big change. There weren't any egg hunts for Easter last year. We didn't see any fireworks or attend any parades during the summer. Halloween was different in some ways but wasn't as different as the other holidays. I'm not certain what the holidays will be like in 2021, but I do think there will be some egg hunts this spring albeit they will probably be different (masks required, etc.). I still have Christmas gifts to give some of Yvonne's kids because to enter or re-enter the state of Pennsylvania has required either quarantining or a COVID test since the middle of November. We don't know when that restriction will be removed. I hope it's still not in place in July when we hope to visit my aunt on Long Island! Because we weren't going to Great Wolf Lodge for Ian's birthday, we weren't going to see any relatives at Christmas, and we've been home more than usual, those were three of the reasons I bought Milo on December 12. So one upside of COVID-19 was the addition of a puppy to our family.

Life definitely is closer to normal right now than it was in the spring of 2020, but I'm hoping that by March 2022 it's completely or at least almost totally back to normal. Time will tell. The last twelve months were unusual in other ways as well as I think back through what has happened in our country, but since I try to think about politics as little as possible, I'm just focusing on how our lives were different because of COVID-19. 

Goal Check-up

In four days we'll be entering the third month of the year so I thought I'd take the time to reflect on how we're doing with the 21 goals I set for 2021.

1. Paul took Oliver on a date this month. I told Oliver recently that when he learns all his times tables, he will earn an extra date with the parent of his choosing. Nadia and Ian are eagerly anticipating their dates.

2. We haven't been making much progress with increasing our use of Spanish. We need to get in gear!

3. The kids each earned one Junior Ranger badge in January, and they've earned four so far this month.

4. We memorized Matthew 6 over the last two months!

5. Nadia and Ian have each been cooking one dinner per week. For example, Nadia made beef noodle bake yesterday, and Ian will be making ham and cheese Stromboli on Saturday. 

6. Oliver did finish his cursive handwriting book. 

7. Nadia and Ian learned the location and capitals of all the countries in Europe and Oceania. They are working on Asia now. 

8. Milo has learned to obey a few commands (sit, down, leash, and come). If he wears a belly band, he only goes to the bathroom outside. He still tries to eat things he shouldn't (facial tissues are one of his favorites), but in general he's doing better with only chewing his toys. He's also doing better with not biting/nipping us as much, and in general he's doing better with not begging during meals.

9.  I haven't been completely regular with exercise, but I'm going in the right direction. Yesterday it got up to the low 50's!!! I took Milo on a 2.7 mile walk, and he actually had me running part of the time! I think he's going to be an excellent exercise buddy for me once the weather gets warmer. 

10. The kids have been doing art with Creating a Masterpiece three times a week lately. This week the kids did a pastel project (of hydrangeas) on Tuesday and started a colored pencil project (of a lion cub) today that they will finish tomorrow.

11. The kids and I finished Numbers, read all of Deuteronomy, more of Psalms, and we're nearing the end of Joshua. In our family devotions we've been studying Daniel for two months. We're about to start chapter 10 today. It's been the kids' first introduction to future prophecies. 

12. We've tried 33 new recipes so far in 2021. Over the next few days I'm planning on making Serbian potato moussaka, Hamantaschen, and phyllo meat pie for the first time.

We haven't made any progress toward the other nine goals yet. This week I decided to add another goal to the list even though that means I have 22 goals for 2021, ha ha. I have started a course to learn how to create cinematic home videos! Just as I have improved with my photography skills over the years, now I'm going to learn how to make MUCH nicer videos. I'm very excited about tackling this challenge after seeing what others have created! Hopefully I can create some videos that our family will treasure for years to come. 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. The belly bands are a huge blessing. Most of Milo's attempts to mark the territory inside our home are thwarted. The only time we've had to clean up a puddle over the last nine days has been when he hasn't been wearing a diaper. The kids are learning the hard way that they need to carry Milo inside the house otherwise he'll lift his leg the very moment his feet hit the kitchen floor. It's been more than a week since he pooped in the house, and that has nothing to do with his belly band.

2. Nadia's weekly voice lessons resumed via Zoom on February 9. None of us can sing in a choir due to COVID, but Ian is making great progress on the piano (he's almost ready to move to Alfred Level 6), and Nadia is taking voice lessons and practicing at least four times a week.

3. Nadia also is participating in a play with other middle schoolers via Zoom called Nancy Blue (a spin off of Nancy Drew). One perk of voice lessons and play practices being conducted on Zoom is I do a lot less driving. In a typical week I drive to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night and also make one trip to the library + grocery store. Aside from church, in all of February we only had three other things on the calendar that took place outside of our house - Milo at the groomer once, Ian at the orthodontist once, and I had one doctor appointment. Two of those appointments took place about 1 mile from our house, and Paul took Ian to the orthodontist because it had snowed some that day. The price of gas has gone up 50% over the last year, but I'm not buying as much gas as I used to before COVID. 

4. Nadia is also enjoying a bi-weekly ASL class on Zoom through one of the libraries in our area.

5. Everyone in Yvonne's family came down with COVID recently (they have 8 kids), but thankfully they only had a mild case of the virus. Andrew was the first one to catch it, and his only symptom was a headache.

6. Paul finished repairing a hole in the drywall behind the refrigerator that had been there for years, and he also got the glass back in the door in our entertainment center. Next up is to finish the master bathroom project so we can resume using that shower. 

7. Paul has been at home more lately because of the snow. We've gotten more snow than usual this year. We got at least 4 inches yesterday morning. He had a VERY short work day yesterday as he sent the crew home very early because of the snow. He had a very, very hard time making it home in his Mazda. We are very thankful he made it home without getting in an accident.

8. Margie and my dad are having a good time in Cancun. She's receiving alternative treatments for her cancer.

9. Although we couldn't even make ourselves finish the acai bowls or pao de queijo that I had prepared, we have found some "winners" this month including Belgian waffles, challah, and strawberry crepes. Oliver really loved the pan de coco. Today is the Emperor's Birthday holiday in Japan. I bought the kids cotton candy (wata-ame). I can't remember the last time I did that. Look up cotton candy in Japan and you will see images of how BIG their rainbow cotton candy is. Oliver wants to go to Japan just for the cotton candy, ha ha! We're also having jaga bata (a Japanese buttered potato recipe) and kasutera (a Japanese sponge cake) tonight. We shall see if either of those are "winners." On Friday we'll be celebrating Purim by eating Serbian potato moussaka and Hamantaschen cookies. I ordered chopsticks today because Oliver said he wanted to try eating with chopsticks. Now I need to figure out where I'm going to buy color powder for when we celebrate Holi next month. 

10. When Nadia came home from youth group on Valentine's Day she came with a bag filled with many lovely gifts. Our friend, Tab, had organized the project that several ladies in the church had worked together to gather the goodies for each of the girls in the youth group. Her bag contained socks, a mug, hot chocolate bombs, candy, jewelry, etc. What a sweet surprise!

11. The kids and I enjoyed eating our brownie batter donuts. We only get them once a year, and they're our favorite kind of donut. Yum! 

12. Over the last couple of months I had my annual mammogram and also the less frequent pap smear. I'm thankful for negative results on both.

13. Sometime last month I bought a charging stand that holds and charges our 5 electronic devices (two phones, one Kindle, and two iPads). It now sits on the fireplace mantle. The cords are SUPER short. It's a small thing but let me tell you I really appreciate that the devices and all their longer cords are no longer on the kitchen counter. Woohoo! 

14. We had taken a bit of a break from doing Junior Ranger badges, but now the kids have resumed earning them. As of today, each child has earned 76 badges! We received some badges in the mail today from New Orleans, and I have some packets I need to take the Post Office to mail to some national parks.