Thankful Thursday

1. Last Thursday I took the van for its annual inspection, and it passed. The dealer where we bought our cars does state inspections for free. It took longer than usual, but the kids did pretty well with waiting. The free popcorn helped some. Usually we ask for a (complimentary) ride to the mall, but I figured it was better financially to stay out of the mall and just wait at the dealer.

2. That same day we visited an Aldi's a little farther than the dealer. I bought SO much produce because it was SO much cheaper than at the grocery store - clementines, red grapes, pears, apples, etc. Yum!

3. I appreciated the ride Oliver was given to and from his game on Saturday, and since his shirt got soaked in the rain, she gave him a sweatshirt her youngest has outgrown, which was also greatly appreciated.

4. My dad had a safe road trip from Maryland to Tennessee to Texas to Kentucky back to Maryland. Whew. That was quite the road trip in just 9 days!

5. It finally stopped raining on Sunday (after raining off and on for three days), and I was able to go for a 3 mile run that evening. I ran 3 more miles on Tuesday during soccer practice this week. I wasn't able to do so last Tuesday because they were having a cross country meet at the same time. I mowed the lawn on Monday, and we walked to a playground yesterday. More exercise is a great thing!

6. Paul came home earlier than usual from work on Friday night (got home at 5pm instead of his usual 7pm) which meant we had dinner together and had time to do a puzzle, play games, etc. He also came home earlier than usual on Saturday and waited to have lunch with us when we got home from church on Sunday. That means we had five meals together, and over the past few months we have been averaging about 2 meals together a week so that was a big improvement. He is going to try to keep coming home earlier on Fridays and Saturdays, which will be a very good thing for the kids. I grew up having dinner with my

siblings and both of my parents almost every night, and I would like my kids to experience that at least a few days a week at the minimum.

7. I love that all three of my kids are very physically affectionate. They all like to sit on my lap, be hugged, kissed, etc. Oliver is still the hand holder of the three. He's been like that his entire life. Ian still has the highest need for physical affection of the three, but all three soak it up. Many times all three are hugging me at the same time. I treasure those moments immensely.

8. Today we are headed to the pumpkin patch with some other homeschoolers. Last year we skipped it to save money, but the mom who organized it got a much better rate than what we've paid when we've gone on a Saturday. The weather has been gorgeous this week (highs in the low 70's) which is also terrific for this outing.

9. I love it when the kids ask for MORE. For example, Nadia said it yesterday when we were reading the book of Job. I read

chapters 1-3, and she didn't want me to stop. Ian often says it whenever I hit "pause" on the book we are listening to in the van (via cds from the library). Earlier this week Nadia asked me to read a third non-fiction book about Egypt (we have usually been reading two a day). Of course sometimes they have less than stellar attitudes about doing their schoolwork (they'd rather play the entire day), so I am always grateful when they ask for MORE. Ian has even asked to practice the piano more than I require which was also music to my ears.

10. The Steelers won on Sunday night, and it was a very resounding victory. They were ahead by more than 30 points so I went to bed at the end of the third quarter confident that they would win. Unfortunately Paul's game on Monday night didn't go as well. I was also thankful our games weren't on at the same time so we could each watch our game (as we only have one tv).

11. Our choir sings a wide variety of styles of music, which means that I like some anthems far more than others. Two of the songs that we rehearsed last night were simply gorgeous in my opinion. I wish we had sung one of those two the Sunday Nadia was baptized as that was the first time my dad had heard this choir. One of the songs is a song that Sandi Patty sang back in the 80's (pretty choral arrangement of it) and the other is a gorgeous new arrangement of the wonderful hymn "How Great Thou Art". If my mom had heard the latter, she would have gotten goosebumps (her measure of really liking a song).