Fragile

Sometimes there are vivid reminders of how fragile life is. Last week the man who was Ian's basketball coach this year had to undergo a quintuple heart bypass surgery. Thankfully, he was discharged from the hospital today. This morning the woman who was my choir director from January 2009- May 2014 ended up in critical care on a ventilator in the ICU. At first they thought she had a heart attack, but she did not. While she was at the hospital this morning, her father-in-law suffered a small stroke. I sang in the choir with her mother-in-law those same years. What a day Pat has had with her husband and daughter-in-law each being taken by ambulance to the hospital on the same day! Similarly my mom got bad news last week that the chemo was ineffective. Her tumors grew larger, and she has a new one in her liver. I went down to Maryland Saturday morning, and my dad and I ended up taking her to the ER that night, which was a challenge because she is very weak. She was discharged from the hospital this evening. When one undergoes all the awful side effects of chemo for six months, one hopes to get some positive results, but it didn't work out that way for my mom. The kids and I are driving down tomorrow afternoon. It has almost been six months since they've seen my parents, and they've never gone that long before without seeing them. In the past my parents have come up for things like basketball games, soccer games, Nadia's birthday, when the kids were in a program at church, etc. Oliver was so excited when I started packing the suitcase this evening that he went downstairs, went into the garage, got in the van, and buckled himself in his carseat. I came down a minute or two later and let him know that we weren't leaving until after Nadia's Little Mermaid rehearsal tomorrow. They can't wait to see Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Maurice! My parents have been restricting visitors (including no grandchildren) since my mom has been on chemo due to her weakened immune system. Tomorrow it will be four weeks since her last chemo, and the grandchildren were given the green light to come at that point.

My sister, her husband, and seven kids are flying to Maryland on Thursday, hopefully. I say hopefully because there was a terrorist attack today at one of the airports they will be flying out of, and flights are temporarily suspended following today's attack. I never like to hear about terrorist attacks, but this one definitely hit me more since I know my sister and her family plan to use that one this week. I am so very glad they weren't there today! My kids haven't seen these cousins in 18 months so we are glad they'll be in the US until early September. The fact that Coach Tom (who sings in the choir I sing in and is also my music pastor's dad), my former choir director, her father-in-law, and my mom are all Christians makes all the difference in the world. This world is not our home. We're just passing through. I know I will spend eternity in Heaven with each of those people. That brings great comfort, but still there is sadness, as it is painful to watch those we love suffer.

Photo Dump

Oliver and I had a lot of one-on-one time the past two weeks when Nadia and Ian were at horse back riding camp (9-3) for 5 days and then art camp (10-1) for another 5 days. The last day of art camp I decided to try to get a few nice pictures of Oliver at the playground near the Children's Museum. I am pleased with the results! I am also glad that aside from Nadia's Little Mermaid rehearsals on Tuesday and Wednesday from 9-12 this week, we didn't have much on our schedule for this week so we could make last minute plans to head to Maryland. I had planned to take them to Home Depot for a workshop and the Children's Museum for a hands-on archaeology program this coming Saturday (taught by a professor at Bloomsburg University), but we'll probably cancel those plans so we can stay in Maryland a bit longer. Tomorrow I'll take them to their make-up tennis lesson, the swimming pool, and a Ninja party at the library. Here are some photos from the last two weeks that I hadn't posted yet. I know some people take great pics with their cell phones, but let me tell you it is SO easy for me to tell which of these photos were taken with my phone and which were taken with my DSLR camera. I am thankful for my phone, but it in no way shape or form has replaced my camera!

She loves to spin herself in the air off the diving board!

Oliver playing a large Connect Four game in the Children's Museum.

Art camp was outdoors much of the time.

Oliver played for 3 hours with the girl pictured beside him. She also will be turning 4 in August.

Pool Party!

Well Nadia's eight birthday party is in the books so to speak. Sometimes her birthday celebrations have extended over several days and included outings like a trip to Six Flags with my dad or a trip to Sight and Sound with all of her grandparents, but this year the festivities just took place on her actual birthday. It was a jam packed day as we ate our special birthday donuts (including a candle in Nadia's) and were out the door at 7:30 am to do some yard sale shopping before heading to their last day of art camp at the children's museum. The class put on an art reception for parents and such last evening, but we skipped that due to Nadia's party and also the distance involved getting to and from that museum from our house. I spent a record amount of money (for me) at one of the yard sales yesterday morning. I usually spend between $40-50 at that yard sale each year (one of our neighbors), but I spent $74.25 yesterday at one yard sale and the items I purchased ranged in price from $0.25 to $1.50 so obviously I bought a LOT of clothes and shoes to rack up a total that high. Most of the items were $1 each. In the past 6 months I spent less than $300 total on clothes and shoes for the five of us so spending that much at one time is not the norm for me, but we got a LOT for our money!  On our way to the art class we also stopped at the dollar store so Nadia could pick out one Mylar balloon (she picked a Minion one) and also to get some plastic utensils for the party, which I had forgotten to get earlier.

On our way home we stopped for chocolate frosties at Wendy's and then changed into our bathing suits, picked up Claire, and headed to the swimming pool at 3:00. Nadia's friend Grace arrived about 30 minutes later and then Paul's parents arrived about an hour after that, and Paul arrived another 30 minutes later with pizza. Claire got Nadia a pink raft to float on in the pool. After pizza, chips, and Hawaiian punch to drink we ate the delicious cake that Uncle Al and Aunt Millie made for Nadia. Then Nadia opened up her gifts from Grandma and Pop Pop and Grace. The kids swam until about 7:00 when Grace's dad showed up to pick her up. At the very beginning of the Nadia was the only one of the group brave enough to jump off the diving board. Eventually her bravery rubbed off on Claire and Grace and they attempted it first with pool noodles and then without them. Oliver got onto the diving board several times but never worked up the courage to walk to the end and jump. Ian was too cold and didn't spend much time in the pool. Since it was her birthday, the lifeguard let Nadia jump off the lifeguard chair once (which is higher than the diving board). That was special!

On our way home we stopped at a block party a grocery store was having last night. They were giving away free cake and ice cream (we passed on those), but the kids enjoyed the free cotton candy and free popcorn and also had fun jumping in an inflatable. Nadia started opening her presents before Paul or I were in the house which was frustrating, but we saw her open most of her presents from us. Hopefully she liked them; I had wrapped them in Minion wrapping paper. I made last minute plans to head to my parent's house this weekend because my dad could use some help in caring for my mom, and so the kids needed to go home with Paul's parents last night because Paul leaves for work around 3:30am most days (including Saturdays). They will come home with Paul after work tonight. I am driving down this morning to Maryland, and I plan to come back home tomorrow night. I am planning on returning to Maryland on Wednesday afternoon, but that time I plan to take my kids. YAHOO! They haven't seen Grandma in almost 6 months so they are very excited about that. I think Nadia had a great day. It was her first birthday party that included friends, and as of yesterday she no longer has to sit in a booster seat in the van! When she turned 7 we allowed her to start staying up until 8:30, and I had told her then that when she turned 8 she would outgrow the booster seat, when she turns 9 I'll move her bedtime to 9:00, and when she turns 10 she may have her ears pierced. She can't wait to turn 10, but I am hoping time passes as slowly as possible as she is growing up WAY too fast!

Eight years old!

June has been a month filled with both grief and celebration over the past 11 years. In June 2005 I saw two lines on a pregnancy test for the very first time in my life. At that point we had been trying to conceive for three years so to say I was very excited was to put it mildly. Sadly that pregnancy ended in early July because it was determined to be ectopic. My final pregnancy (in 2013) had a due date in June. I never held those little ones who would be 10 years old and 2 years old at this point, but thankfully, on June 24, 2008 I gave birth to Nadia Renee whose name means "hope reborn." Although I would rather if she had waited until closer to her due date (July 20) to arrive on the scene (and thus have avoided the NICU stay), June has become a month that we eagerly anticipate in this house because birthdays are VERY important to Nadia. I must admit the frequent discussion of the upcoming special day does stress me out a little because I get worried that I won't do enough to make it special, and it won't live up to my precious girl's expectations, but hopefully she will have a fabulous day today. I had longed to be a mom since I was a child myself, and although I was technically a mom since June 2005, I didn't really feel like I was a mom until 2008 when I was 36 years old. I will never take any of my children for granted. They are such precious gifts from the Lord. I am so thankful that He works through shots, egg retrievals, embryo transfers, etc. to bring little miracles into this world.

As I looked through the post I wrote last year about her, I realized that she hasn't changed as much between the ages of seven and eight as she did between six and seven (and every other year prior to that). If I had to pick the three biggest ways she's changed I would say they are: her height (she loves the fact that she is now over 48 inches tall because this means she can ride more rides and go down more water slides at amusement parks!), learning to write in cursive, and she really made huge strides with playing the piano. Otherwise I would say she's still....

*our friendly little social butterfly. Just this week an older woman at the swimming pool commented to me on how easy it was to have a conversation with Nadia (and they had just met). She is very excited that Grandma, Pop Pop, Olivia, Claire, and Grace (the last three are three girls from church who are also going into third grade this fall) are joining us at the swimming pool today.

*a very obedient and helpful child for which I am very grateful. She's not perfect by any means, but she is rather compliant. She rarely complains when I ask her to help me, and many times she volunteers to help. Sometimes I pay her a little money to "babysit" Oliver while I am doing something like mowing the lawn (I pay her about $1/hr).

*very brave. She will ride any ride that an amusement park says she is tall enough to ride. She doesn't show any fear when singing a solo or having a speaking part in a play, even when there are more than 800 people in the congregation. She is really looking forward to spending seven nights at Camp Susque this summer for the first time (she spent 3 nights at camp last year).

*enjoying a wide variety of activities. She wants to do just about every extracurricular activity out there! She enjoys being on a soccer and a basketball team,  taking gymnastics, swimming lessons, ice skating lessons, tennis lessons, art camp, and horseback riding camp. She loves singing in the kids' choir at church, participating in musicals, going to VBS, etc. Every time I ask her if she wants to try some new activity or class, the answer is always "YES!". She loved playing the part of Pepper in Annie last summer and is looking forward to being in a production of A Little Mermaid, Jr. next month. She's also looking forward to taking diving lessons for the first time in August.

*enjoying her dolls. Although she plays with a variety of toys such as Legos, costumes, and the Wii, I would say her four favorites are Disney princess Barbie dolls, stuffed animals, Melissa and Doug magnetic dolls, and her Little House on the Prairie paper dolls. Although she still loves princesses, she has veered from her usual princess party theme and asked for a Minion birthday party this year.

I hope she has a super special day today. Yesterday we picked up the donuts for her breakfast this morning, and we bought the gallon of chocolate milk I get three times a year on Wednesday. Last night I put up some decorations and blew up some yellow Minion balloons. She was very happy to see them when she came home from VBS. During the closing program last night they sang Happy Birthday to Jack (whose birthday was yesterday) and Nadia, which was very sweet. I tried to pack her an extra special lunch (including string cheese I bought just for her birthday, which I almost never buy). I promised her that we would stop at Wendy's for chocolate frosties on the way home from art camp, and then we'll be swimming, eating pizza, and having a minion birthday cake at the pool. She'll have to wait until bed time to open her presents because Paul leaves for work long before any of the rest of us get up. He is going to come home 3 hours than earlier to meet us at the pool at 5pm. I did let her have the two books I got her for the Kindle this morning since I couldn't exactly wrap that. She said she's going to start one of them today! Hopefully she'll love all the gifts I got her! Words cannot describe how much I love this girl. She is an answer to the prayers of many!

Slip 'n slide

The kids had their third night of VBS today, and "game" time tonight featured trips sliding down a hill on the church's property. Ian and Oliver loved it! Nadia has loved it in the past but wasn't a fan tonight, which was quite obvious on her face (hence I deleted the photos of her).

Below you will find two short videos (the first is literally only two seconds long) I took with my phone over the past few days. The first is of Nadia working on diving (rather than jumping) off the diving board. I'm trying to have it work on it a little throughout the summer in preparation for her diving lessons in August. Many times it ends up being a belly flop. Oops! Also, this morning Oliver was sitting on the couch playing his guitar and singing "Father Abraham" so I had to run and get my phone and catch a brief video of that. I should have grabbed the video camera because the volume is a little soft, but you get the idea.

This evening after watching the kids on the slip n slide I was able to run four miles before returning to pick them up. Tomorrow night I plan to mow the lawn while they're in VBS. One thing I haven't done much of last week or this week like I did the first few weeks of our summer break is work on projects around the house. My right hand and arm are finally recovering from the strain of having done too much painting. I did pay someone to reseal our driveway on Saturday. It's a boring way to spend money, but we had never had that done (and many of our neighbors do it every single year). It likely had been at least 10 years since our driveway had been resealed so it was time. I will say it does look a lot nicer black (it was a light grey before I had it done). Last week I also bought a hardware kit for the bi-fold doors covering our washer and dryer in the kitchen because the one door was always coming off the track. Paul started working on installing the new track tonight, and I am looking forward to the door staying on track when I open and close it when he finishes that project.

Last week I finished digging a trench around the circumference of the apple tree we cut down. I think tomorrow Paul plans to finish cutting the roots and get that stump out of there. It was a lot of work to get rid of that tree, but it will be saving us many hours in the future of picking and getting rid of apples. One apple tree is more than enough for me. Two was one too many!

My mom had a CT scan on Monday. We're hoping and praying that she will get good results tomorrow regarding the effectiveness of her six chemo treatments. I am grateful she is done with the chemo. The kids and I are really looking forward to driving down to be with her in two weeks!

Summer Solstice

Although we'e been working on our summer bucket list since early May, today is officially the first day of summer. Yesterday after church we headed to a state park for their annual Summerfest event. Highlights included examining skulls and pelts of various mammals, tasting three jellies made from wild edible plants, searching in a stream for crayfish and other "creek critters," making a butterfly feeder, hearing a story about the longest day of the year, doing a sun print craft activity, watching a show put on by several falcons and owls, playing in the sand, and kayaking. Nadia went in her own kayak for the first time this year. Ian said next year he wants to do the same. We got home an just had enough time to get the kids washed up (ie get all the sand off of them) and fed before it was time for me to take them to their first night of VBS for the year. I am so glad the Summerfest took place on a Sunday because Paul works long hours at the plant Monday through Saturday. His hours at the plant (including 12 hours of time commuting back and forth) have been averaging 88 hours a week, which means the kids don't see much of him at all except on Sundays. He was able to join us in these activities yesterday, and it meant we had two meals with him (lunch in the van on the way there and dinner at home). Sometimes he comes home early enough on a Saturday to have dinner with us, but usually we only eat together on Sundays (and usually he eats lunch by himself at home while we're at church).

This morning I took the kids to the children's museum for an art class (10:00-1:00). Nadia and Ian will be in that class every day through Friday. Today Oliver and I went elsewhere (playground, post office, bank, etc.) because the museum is always closed on Sundays and Mondays, but the rest of the week I plan on letting him play in the museum during their class. After their class was over we drove to the swimming pool and swam for 2.5 hours. Ian has come a long way. He actually was going in to the deeper section (5 ft) on his own initiative. After swimming we came home to put dry clothes on, eat dinner, and again head to VBS. Yesterday I ran 3 miles during part of the time they were at VBS, but today I decided to stay home and get some other things done. I ran as slow as molasses yesterday, but I don't run as well at night to begin with and on top of that it was almost 90 degrees. Last summer I ran from 6-7am when it was much cooler out, but that isn't possible this year because Paul usually leaves for work before 4am. Slow running at 7pm is better than no running at all. I was only able to run once the entire month of May so I am thankful that VBS will enable me to run more this week. I am hoping to run again Tuesday and Thursday nights. Last week I broke the 39 day drought of running and ran on Wednesday afternoon because Oliver was at Grandma's house while Nadia and Ian were at horseback riding camp.

I continue to be amazed at what a great eater Oliver is. Paul would object to that statement since Oliver prefers for me to feed him, but I mean that he truly eats just about everything. On Friday at the Oppenheimer playground where the kids get a free lunch (thanks to funding from Walmart), Oliver had celery dipped in peanut butter for the first time. I am not a fan of celery, but he ate all he was given. He also is my chili eating partner. I made chili last week and typically I have to eat the WHOLE thing myself. I like chili, but I don't want to keep eating it for days on end. Oliver joined me in eating a bowl of chili with a corn muffin a couple of days which cut down how many days I was eating chili. I am so glad I am no longer the only person who will eat chili in the family. Paul doesn't like tomatoes for one thing.  Oliver, Nadia, and I went crazy eating green grapes last week because they were on sale for 79 cents a pound at Aldi's. Yum!

One of the upsides to spending very little time at home is the fact the kids have spent very little time the past couple of weeks watching tv or playing the iPad or Wii. Another upside is we have had a lot of time to listen to books on cd in the car while we travel (we recently finished Shiloh and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in the van and are currently listening to Little House on the Prairie). One downside is I am buying gas a LOT more often than usual (and the van doesn't get good gas mileage). Paul wisely spent the night at his parents tonight. He would have seen the kids for less than 10 minutes total (time it took to brush their teeth, put pjs on and tuck them into bed after coming home from VBS), and this way he can get a little more sleep tonight. All the extra driving is tiring for me so I am looking forward to going to bed early myself. I also am pleased that I checked two more things off my to do list this evening - finishing the spring photo book (March-June) and my list of objectives for the year for Nadia to send the school district (wrote about 50 objectives).

Lunch boxes

Although I do pack lunches for the kids and I to eat in the van or at other destinations (such as amusement parks), I am always packing all our lunches in one large bag. Today was the first time I ever packed lunch for a child who wasn't going to eat the meal in my presence. Ian and Nadia started their horseback riding camp today, which lasts for six hours a day for five days. I found a Disney princess bag that Nadia had craft supplies in which was the size of a traditional lunch box, but I didn't find anything for Ian. I sent his lunch in a very strange bag today, but while they were at camp I bought him a Spiderman lunch bag at a surplus store. I'll be packing Ian's lunch for a total of four weeks this summer and Nadia's lunch for a total of three weeks this summer. I was unsure how much to pack Ian given I had no idea how much time they would give for lunch (since he's a slow eater). Nadia said he was the last one done eating, which meant he was the last one in the swimming pool. There are ten kids in the camp this week, and two of the other eight children are also homeschooled.


Usually we miss Paul at meals and when we go on special outings (like Penn's Cave) as in the past he would have joined us at these in the summer, but this week I am really missing his help with driving the kids. We used to split the chauffeuring duties last summer also when the destination was 30+ minutes away from home. Today Oliver and I never come home but rather stayed within 15 minutes of their camp. I did some pricing of things at Lowe's, grocery shopping at Aldi's, and did a little other shopping at a few places like Goodwill. Then I took Oliver to a playground that has outdoor equipment, a splash pad, and also things to do indoors.

The swimming pool we joined did open on Saturday. I learned that on Sunday evening. I had brought my swim suit and planned to go swimming there this afternoon with Oliver, but it was only in the high 60's when I checked the temperature around noon. Much too cold for me to get in a pool! That was why I opted for the splash pad instead. Tomorrow I am coming home because someone is coming for an estimate on replacing our kitchen flooring. We received one estimate on Saturday. I figured it didn't hurt to get free estimates from two different carpet stores. Oliver fell asleep on our drive to pick Nadia and Ian up, and he slept for almost two hours total in the van. That was his longest nap in quite awhile. Nadia and Ian had a great time. In addition to riding horses (Ian opted to ride the pony "Clyde" again whom he had ridden two years ago), they also did some grooming on the horses, swam, did a craft, wrote in a journal, played frisbee, and ate lunch. They both said they had a great time! Ian's cowboy boots are WAY too big for him, but he doesn't care.

Speaking of shoes, I bought the two pair pictured above for Oliver today at Goodwill. Aren't they so cute? I don't buy him very much because 90% of his clothes and shoes are hand-me-downs from Ian, but every once in a while I get him something new. He asked for those cleats, and I had to agree they were super cute. Soon he will be past the age where things are still "cute" so I am soaking it up while I can. I loved the loafers for him to wear on Sundays in the fall and winter. I also got Nadia a pair of sparkly purple sneakers for the future, the boys some neckties (47 cents each!), and Ian some water shoes at Goodwill as I discovered at Sesame Place the ones I had for him to wear this year are too big. At the Dollar Tree I got Nadia some Minion cups for her birthday party (only 11 days away!). We were home for 2 1/2 hours, and then we got back in the van to take Nadia to swim lessons (6:30-7:00 M-F this week). Whew. I hope she makes a lot of progress this week!

P.S. The pics above are of Ian's room. He wanted a picture with the curtains pulled closed to show more of them. I didn't take a photo of the sheets, ha ha!

Six and a half years old!

Today Ian is officially 6 1/2 years old. As I looked back at the post I wrote  about him on December 12, here are some ways that he has grown and changed over the past six months:

1. Although he still enjoys playing with Legos, he has not played with them as many hours over the past six months as he did over the previous 18 months. Lately he and Nadia have been spending hours playing with their stuffed animals. Some of his favorites include his Mario stuffed animals.

2. Ian played on a basketball team for the first time and scored a basket in two of his games. He took ice skating lessons for the second year (level 1) and played his last season of U6 soccer. He continued to make progress and typically scored multiple goals in a game (one time more than ten!).

3. He sang a duet at church and did an outstanding job. He has come such a long way in this regard!

4. He finished the All About Reading curriculum (it goes up to level four), and he began reading chapter books. His two favorite series are the Magic Tree House books and the Cul-de-sac Kids books. One of his (half) birthday presents today was a box set of six Cul-de-sac Kids books. (I am sure Nadia will also read them.) He usually reads the chapters out loud to me. I think in the near future he can switch to reading them silently. He read six chapter books over the past month! Nadia was about half-way through level four when she turned 6 1/2 so Ian actually finished earlier than she did in this subject.

5. He lost his first tooth. To date he's only lost one tooth. In contrast, Nadia lost her fifth tooth a little before she turned 6 1/2.

6. He stopped playing with his belly button! WOOHOO!

7. He has started eating a wider variety of fruits and vegetables at lunch. He always used to have a banana. The last few months he has been eating either baby carrots with dip, oranges (or clementines), or watermelon.

8. Ian saw his very first Star Wars movie (episode IV) for his birthday, and since then he saw the two after that. He cannot wait until he earns the privilege of seeing the Clone Wars movies (episodes 1-3).

9. He still loves playing on the iPad or Mario on the Wii. He loves Mario so much he's getting a Mario comforter, sheets, and curtains for his bedroom today as well as a Mario game and a Mario Kinex set. Because his birthday is so close to Christmas, we are giving him his birthday presents today on his half birthday instead of in December. This is our first time trying it this way. Of course he loves it today. We shall see of he still likes it in December. He has to wait until his real birthday for his donuts, balloons, cake, etc., and he will still get gifts from extended family then.

10. He finished the first grade spelling book and complete part of the second grade one. In contrast, Nadia had finished the second grade spelling book when she was 6 1/2, but I started her on spelling at an earlier age than I started Ian.

11. He finished the first grade handwriting book and started the second grade one. Nadia had already finished the second grade handwriting book and three chapters of the second grade math book when she was his age. He made good progress through the first grade math textbook.

12. He finished his first Sparks book and also finished the review book. Memorizing comes easily for him.

13. He got his first pair of eyeglasses!

14. His favorite foods right now include either Cocoa Puffs or Apple Jacks for breakfast, peanut butter and marmalade sandwich, yogurt, and cheese on cheese crackers for lunch, and either pizza, tuna noodle casserole, rigatoni and meatballs, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, chocolate chip pancakes, hot dog, or fish sticks for dinner. He loves green beans, watermelon, baby carrots, oranges, cookies, brownies, chips, pretzels, pop corn, pop tarts, ice cream, candy, etc. Although he sometimes still takes way too long to eat, our battles over getting him to eat different foods are pretty much over - thank you, Lord! Actually I would say Nadia is the pickiest eater in our family, and Ian had that title for several years.

I look forward to seeing how he will grow and change over the next six months until he turns seven! I enjoyed teaching him kindergarten and am looking forward to doing first grade with him in the near future.