Thankful Thursday

1. We had a lovely day in Corning, NY on December 1. We spent about six hours at the two museums, decorated cookies, and the kids made blown glass ornaments, which were delivered to our house this week.

2. On December 2nd I took the kids to a local production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," which was based on a book I had read to Nadia and Ian a few years ago. The kids enjoyed it!

3. Nadia has been enjoying attending the Middle youth group (grades 4-8) at the Methodist Church about a mile from our house on Sunday evenings.

4. Someone made it possible for Todd and I to participate in the faculty meeting on December 3 by Zoom (meaning I was able to stay at home).

5. The kids had a great time at Great Wolf Lodge on December 4-5.

6. I ate some yummy food at the APSCUF luncheon

Nadia holding the ornament she made!

on campus on December 6.

7. Nadia enjoyed roller skating on December 6.

8. I gave our tickets to Hope House Christmas show to Melissa, and she rounded up a group of five to use them on December 8.

9. Instead of going to Baltimore on December 8 the kids made candy canes at Purity Candy and the boys got a picture with the Santa at the grocery store.

10. Paul was able to enjoy watching his team have a solid victory on December 9 against the Redskins.

11. Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law came up on Monday to help us celebrate Ian's 9th birthday. Millie made a yummy cake!

12. Tuesday was my last day of driving to visit a student teacher. I get a break for six weeks from doing that! On Monday I also got the REALLY good news that my five student teachers will be very close to home next semester. That is a big answer to prayer!

13. Yesterday was Ian's actual birthday. I am extremely grateful that he's a part of our family! It was nice to spend about 4 hours at Tab's house. My kids were excited to play with her boys, and Nadia always wants to snuggle with Ruby (a long haired dachshund).

14. On Monday I submitted the course grades for my student teachers and my assessment class. Yesterday I submitted the course grades for one section of my math class. Today I submitted the grades for the other section of the math class, which means I am DONE grading!! I have a few more assessments I need to do for accreditation purposes, but I am done grading, writing letters of recommendation, etc. I get 5.5 weeks off of school.  I will do some schoolwork during that time in terms of preparing for the spring semester, but I'm taking a few days off before I start tackling those items on my to do list.

15. The kids started their basketball practices tonight. Ian and Oliver are thrilled that Micah and Isaiah are on their teams (the boys they played with yesterday). Tab and her husband are Oliver's coaches. Nadia and I read during the

boys' practice, and then we came home. Paul took Nadia to her practice at 7pm, and while they were gone I wrapped Christmas presents and gave both boys a haircut.

16. I didn't do much Black Friday/ Cyber Monday type shopping this year, but I did get a few good deals. The best was that I got a $20 order from Walmart completely for free. Actually the refund (via an Amazon gift card) exceeded what I paid by a few cents. Legos for free works for me! I also got 50% off tickets to the Crayola Factory. We haven't been there since 2014, and we plan to go in the spring of 2019.

17. I came down with a bug on Sunday. I'm thankful that the fever/headache part of the bug is over as it was a REALLY intense headache. The bad news is that my voice disappeared on Tuesday afternoon, and it is still MIA. I am learning how to homeschool kids while whispering. I'm also thankful for a book on CD or on Audible because reading chapter books aloud is out of the question right now for me.

18. The kids enjoyed caroling at Warrior Run Manor last night. I usually join in that activity if I don't have choir rehearsal that particular night, but one can't sing with laryngitis. So I kept grading while they sang.

19. Tuesday was the last day I had to get up early. For quite a few days in a row I had to be out the door before 7am. My body is programmed to wake up by 5:30. This morning when that happened I did manage to fall back asleep and didn't get up until 6:30. I'm hoping my body will shift toward a later wake-up time. This also means I'll be able to get back in the habit of exercising on the elliptical. I couldn't bring myself to exercise in the morning when I had to leave the house that early.

20. We have picked a contractor for replacing our deck in the spring.

21. Ian liked the gifts I gave him yesterday. His two favorites (yesterday) were a Stitch stuffed animal and an Elves Lego set. Other gifts included 4 smart outlets (that Alexa can control), a good microscope (we already had a super cheap one but I know Ian likes microscopes and figured as homeschoolers we should invest in a quality microscope), and a Beethoven DVD that contains all 8 Beethoven movies about the St. Bernard.

22. It looks like the kids will be able to take a few private ice skating lessons this winter since they can't be in the group class due to their basketball practice being on the same day/time.

23. I have two books to read for LEISURE from the library - one is fiction and the other is about the woman who married C. S. Lewis. I haven't even taken the time to play a 2 minute Boggle game on the iPad since I can't remember when.

24. None of the kids have any cavities. Thus far none of them have ever had one. The bad news is that one of Oliver's permanent teeth fully erupted a while ago, but the baby tooth isn't loose yet. The dentist is giving him a few weeks, and if it doesn't come out then they will be extracting two of his baby teeth next month. Poor guy. I am not crazy about the idea that the FIRST tooth he loses will be by extraction in a dentist's office.

25. I've mailed our Christmas cards, we baked our sugar cookies, and I have finished almost all of the Christmas shopping (and wrapping). Usually we give trays of cookies to their AWANA leaders, choir leaders, and SS teachers, but due to a lack of energy on my part I think I'm going to buy gift cards to have the kids give instead.