Thankful Thursday

It's been exactly one month since my last gratitude post so here are some things I've been thankful for over the last month.

1. Ian enjoyed the cybersecurity camp at Messiah University as well as the time spent with Nathan, Jenna, and Toby.

2. Oliver enjoyed having time with Micah, Julianna, and Wesley at our house for several days. Micah, Julianna, and Oliver enjoyed bowling with our youth group on June 10. 

3. I was very relieved that the it was a simple fix to eliminate the strange noise the van was making that week.

4. Ian has been enjoying his job at the kennel and earning money. He spent most of what he made the first few weeks when he bought himself a Nintendo Switch 2. 

5. The boys and I enjoyed helping with VBS at our church from June 16-19. 

6. I am grateful to be able to serve on the board of Meadowbrook Christian School. My first meeting was on June 16. 

7. In June I managed to escape the bug that the rest of the family had. Nadia had the mildest case. Oliver and Paul were each sick for about two weeks. Thankfully we're all healthy again.

8. Paul was able to attend his Aunt and Uncle's 50th anniversary vow renewal ceremony and lunch. 

9. I'm very, very thankful that Nadia was born eighteen years ago on June 24! Four of Nadia's friends joined her at an art studio to celebrate Nadia's birthday on June 23. The staff member was so impressed with Faith's artistic skills that night that they hired her and she started working there on July 6!

10. I'm very thankful that Milo is fully recovered from his anal gland problems. It was such a relief when he finally ate some dog food (after 4 days of not doing so) and started walking again. The vet bills were over $600 which we weren't anticipating, but we've saved a lot of money over the years by me being his groomer and trading dog sitting duties with the Seiberts. Hopefully it will be a long time until we enounter another large vet bill.

11. Bible quizzing went well in New York last month. Ian's team finished in second place. They won seven of eight matches. Nadia's team finished in third place. They won four of eight matches. Nadia finished in 10th place in the individual competition, and Ian finished in seventh place. Ian has been listening to the whole book of John two times every day he works at the kennel. He's also memorized the first 40 verses of John chapter one so far. Hopefully he will continue to stay motivated!

12. Amazon offered us a deal of paying $3.50 per month for three months of Amazon Prime and then it is $6.99/ month after that. We usually only have Amazon for a month every now and then throughout the year, but at $3.50/ month I plan to keep it for at least three months. 

13. I found out rececntly that the place where I've had my mammogram done lately isn't doing them any more. I picked them because they only charged $200, which is much less than most places. Thankfully, I found a place in Williamsport that does them for $55 for two days in October. I'm hoping to get an appointment on one of those days.

14. Our kitchen sink faucet has been leaking for a few months. Paul replaced it last week. This new faucet has a lifetime warranty. I was happy to see that because our last one only lasted nine years.

15. On Sunday morning we weren't sure we were going to make it to church because we couldn't get the garage door to open. Thankfully, Paul was able to get it open eventually. We parked the van in the driveway when we came home. We got new garage doors in September 2020, but the garage door openers are about 27 years old. Lowe's delivered new ones today, and they are supposed to be installed next week. Since our other car is at Camp Susque right now, I've been parking the van where we usually park the Subaru since that garage door opener is still working. 

16. Oliver and Xandir had a great week of camp at PMBC. 

17. Ian has enjoyed his first two voice lessons. He's been working on Olaf's song "In Summer" from Frozen. Thankfully, his voice teacher lives only five minutes away from our home.

18. Ian really enjoyed playing cornhole with the Creegers at Ben's graduation party.

19. In light of Amazon offering us a deal on Prime, Paul and I watched the movie Sarah's Oil last night. Movies based on a true story are typically my favorite genre, and this one did not disappoint!

20. I *think* we've done all the paperwork and such for Nadia to start at Liberty this fall. Recently her PCP signed the immunization form for LU, and I requested that LU send LU her transcript (for the third time in 13 months) as ridiculous as that might sound. I also had to remind them that MCS doesn't issue transcripts for homeschoolers (as they requested that again, even though MCS sent them a letter last year saying that ). She got her ID, requested a loft kit for her bed, and completed a new student orientation course online. The only thing I'm not positive that she has completed is the technology assessment. It's all very, very bittersweet. We want our kids to become independent, but at the same time it's hard to let them go! I'm very thankful I'll still have two boys at home with us. 

Sweet Sixteen

 

Sixteen years ago, my dream finally came true with the birth of Nadia Renee, whose name means hope reborn. We began celebrating her birthday at 7 pm on June 11. Three of her friends (Leila, Faith, and Julianna) and Pop Pop met us at the bowling alley in Milton. I had rented two lanes for two hours It turned out we had the whole place to ourselves. Pop Pop brought sugar cookies from Aunt Millie's bakery as Nadia had requested. The three girls then spent the night at our house. Ian and Oliver joined them for a game of manhunt outside, and then the girls hung out in the family room until they went to sleep around 1:00 am. They played more games the next morning. Faith and Julianna were picked up sometime between 10-11, and Leila was picked up around 2:30 pm. Nadia received money, an Amazon gift card, a shirt, and a book from her friends. We gave her puzzles, a portable phone charger, earrings, Wheat Thins, peanut butter pretzels, and a roundtrip ticket to Chicago so that she can spend five days with Rachel. June 13, we spent the day with most of the Towfighis at HersheyPark, which was the day before Andrew's 19th birthday. Nadia's actual birthday will be spent at Canada's Wonderland, which is an amusement park near Toronto. We splurged and got the tickets that also include food and drinks. She has a physical scheduled for tomorrow, and at that appointment the medical portion of her learner's permit application can be signed. She plans to take the driver test later this week. 

Here are sixteen ways she's changed over the past six months.

1. She has begun taking guitar lessons. If she continues to practice faithfully, we're planning to buy her a better guitar than the hand me down she inherited from her cousin.

2. She recently resumed taking piano lessons with me. I honestly didn't think this would ever happen. It's 100% at her initiative right now. 

3. She had her largest role in a musical to date as she played the part of Mrs. Mayor in Seussical. She's hoping to start taking voice lessons in the fall.

4. She visited South America for the first time. 

5. She completed three more college classes through Grand Canyon University - English Composition, World History, and a Communications class. After completing five courses, her GPA there is 3.94.

6. She was appointed to be the team captain for our church's "B" team at the Bible quizzing Nationals last week. She qualified to be in the finals of the individuals, and the team she was on qualified to be in the top division of the finals! Her performance at Nationals was SO much better than the first three years she participated. 

7. She was offered a job to work at Camp Susque this summer for four weeks. 

8. She's been working on jigsaw puzzles almost every day. 

9. She's recently gotten in the habit of drinking a glass of milk every day. Since she almost always skips breakfast, I'm glad she's drinking milk, but it has meant that I need to buy milk more often. She eats breakfast when we are staying at hotels, and she also eats it when we have Cinnabon cereal.

10. Hot pockets are still her favorite lunch, but when we don't have those, she's not been always having grilled cheese sandwiches as she had done for quite a while. She's recently discovered she enjoys having a tuna salad sandwich for lunch, for example. 

11. She's been studying to take the test for her learner's permit. Driving here we come!

12. Her closest friends at the moment (aside from her cousin, Rachel) include Leila, Faith, and Julianna.

13. She completed Marine Biology in science this school year. Next up is chemistry.

14. She completed a course in Algebra 2 this school year. She had an easier time with this class than she did with Algebra 1 or Geometry. Next up is pre-calculus. 

15. She registered to take three classes (worth a total of seven credits) at Liberty University this fall.

16. She's been using the iPad less, which means she's hardly been watching any shows, which means she's been having less screen time. 

Thankful Thursday

 

1. The Schrecks came over for dinner on May 25. We always enjoy spending time with their family. Another family was supposed to come over for dinner on June 8, but they accidentally forgot. Because we've been hosting the co-op and homeschool game nights at our home, I haven't been attempting to have one family over for dinner every month, but we still have more people coming over for dinner than we used to.

2. Cheri joined the five of us for the movie Sight at the theater on May 26. we're so thankful there are many more Christian movies now than ever before

3. We had a nice vacation in Virginia from May 27- June 2. The weather was wonderful which was an answer to prayer. The top three highlights for Ian and Oliver were the two amusement parks, Virginia Beach with their cousins, and water skiing. Paul really enjoyed the Udvar-Hazy Center and the Virginia Aquarium. The fact that we also got to spend time with 8 of the Towfighis and Grandpa while we were in Virginia was definitely icing on the cake! 

4. One of my most favorite desserts is chocolate peanut butter twist soft serve ice cream or custard. I never had it in 2023, but I've had it on two different days over the last few weeks as I had some at a Kohr's in Virginia Beach and then again at an ice cream shop on the way home from Hershey Park last week. 

5. We've been enjoying watching season four of The Chosen. We've seen five episodes so far, which means we have three to go. Lazarus is going to be raised from the dead next Sunday! 

6. While we were on vacation, I received word that my mammogram was normal, and while we were at Hershey Park last week, I received word that my pap smear was normal. Those two tests cost us $614.90. I am very grateful for the $18K we received from the insurance company. I think that will end up covering all our medical, dental, and orthodontic bills for this year. 

7. Paul and I have enjoyed the first two weeks of our Intermediate Cha Cha class. We will miss the class tomorrow because of the Bible quizzing, and we will miss next Friday because Paul and Oliver will be camping for one night, but we hope to attend the last four weeks of the class. It had been ten years since the last time we took a class. Hopefully not nearly that much time will pass before we take another class!

8. On June 8 I had a belated birthday lunch at Panera with Cheri. I always greatly appreciate having time to chat with a friend!

9. I was the substitute teacher for our Sunday School class on June 9. We discussed the first half of the book of Amos. It went well. 

10. The kids and I saw a movie at a Drive-In theater for the first time. It wasn't a first for Paul. In hindsight, we shouldn't have brought Milo. He just couldn't settle down! We saw Garfield. I think we all decided we prefer to see a movie in a theater, but I'm glad we got to try something different. 

11. On June 11 Pop Pop and three of Nadia's friends joined us for two hours of bowling. The girls then spent the night at our house. It was an early birthday party for our girl who will soon turn sixteen!

12. Oliver is very glad that he has been promoted to the youth group at church. He attended his first social on June 5.

13. On June 13 Paul and I were fingerprinted in Hershey for TSA PreCheck. The closest location is in State College, but since we didn't have any plans to head that direction, we went to the one in Hershey on the same day we met eight of the Towfighis (plus three of their friends and Joe's sister) at Hershey Park. It was a very hot day, but at least it was a dry day. Paul and I spent the first six hours with Wesley, which meant we rode a lot more rides than we typically do when we are with our kids at an amusement park. He's seven years old, but he's very small for his age. We walked through the Zoo and saw the show featuring seals and sea lions in addition to riding rides. The other kids exclusively rode roller coasters all day. My kids love spending time with their cousins, and they love roller coasters, so the combination of the two is amazing for them!

14. The kids had extra 2.5-hour Bible quizzing practices on Friday and Monday. They missed the one on Thursday due to our trip to Hershey. I'm thankful for all Dave Seibert does for the teams!

15. Paul's dad came over on Saturday for Father's Day. The kids played Mario, foosball, and Labyrinth with him. We had shrimp, prime rib, Nadia's favorite kind of macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, and cheesecake for dinner. I sent some shrimp and corn home with Pop Pop. Paul had prime rib again on Sunday and Monday. 

16. On Sunday afternoon the five of us saw a production of the musical Oliver. Nadia had read Oliver Twist earlier in the school year. Some of the kids' friends were in the musical. The man who played my husband in Sount of Music was also in Oliver. Next year one of the productions they will be doing is A Wrinkle in Time, so I've decided to require Ian and Oliver to read that book next year. Nadia already read it several years ago. 

17. Nadia was supposed to babysit for the youth pastor on June 3, but several of us had a stomach bug that week. She was able to babysit for them on June 17. 

18. On Tuesday Julianna joined the kids and I at Montage Mountain. The weather has been hotter than usual lately (highs in the 90's!), but that weather was ideal for a day at a water park. I spent more time in the water than I usually do when we go to a water park!

19. Nadia and Ian have been working diligently to prepare for the national competition for Bible quizzing. Paul, Oliver, and I didn't arrive up here in time to see the first rounds of the individual competition today, but we were able to watch the team competitions. The team Ian is on won all their matches today. I was rather impressed with how much Nadia improved over the last year. She is the captain of our church's B team. Ian is on our church's A team for the first time. 

20. Someone picked up our spinning seesaw on Monday. Given how many people contacted me after I posted it on Facebook, I probably could have sold it instead of giving it away, but nonetheless, it has been taken away. The kids had stopped using it, and the seat covers needed to be replaced. The concrete pad it was attached to is still on the lawn, but we've made progress. Paul and I have made significant progress with removing our fence. I probably also could have sold that. I buy things second hand sometimes, but I almost always just give our unwanted stuff away instead of selling it. I'm looking forward to NOT needing to clean the fence every year, and I will also be doing a lot less weed whacking once the fence is totally gone. Yay! The concrete pad the shed was on is still in the yard, but I think we'll save that project for another year. Unfortunately, the fence was installed incorrectly 14.5 years ago, and we didn't figure it out soon enough, so it's never done us a lick of good, but that's how it is in life. Some purchases end up being worth far more than you paid for them, and other times you realize it was a waste of money. Thankfully, most of the time I haven't regretted purchases that cost us thousands of dollars like the fence did. 

21. Paul, Oliver, and I saw the movie Arthur the King on Wednesday afternoon. Aside from the fact it had some language, it's my kind of movie - heartwarming and based on a true story. 

22. We received our "known traveler numbers" through the TSA. The kids need to be on our reservations in order to go through TSA Precheck with us. Thankfully, Alaksa Airlines was able to make a switch so that all our kids will be able to go through the Precheck. They were able to fix it only because Oliver is under the age of 13. I'm grateful as I had a bad experience with TSA in March, and we're hoping using TSA Precheck will prevent that from happening again.

18 years later

The last time Paul and I went on a date to see a movie at the theater was in 2004. It's not something we did very often while we were dating or in the early years of marriage. I think the two we saw in the theater together that Paul liked the best were The Perfect Storm and A Beautiful Mind. Generally, we have been content to wait until a movie comes out on DVD, and that has been even more true since we became parents in 2008. Saturday night Paul and I went to see Lifemark because I had received two free tickets through K-LOVE. It was our third date in 2022 after going a few years without any dates! Sam's Club is very close to the theater, so we picked up a few things there before the movie. In hindsight, we could have spent more time at Sam's Club because the previews lasted a full 31 minutes before the movie started. Oi vey! That didn't exactly inspire us to choose seeing movies at the theater over waiting for them to come out on DVD. The movie was excellent. I reflected on the years we tried to adopt and also the experiences of some of my friends who have adopted. The next movie I was contemplating seeing was I heard the Bells, which has been made by Sight and Sound and will be shown in December, but maybe we will return to our pattern of typically waiting to see movies on DVD. Now that Oliver is ten, we aren't paying his siblings to babysit him. There have been three "firsts" in the last month in regard to the kids being left alone. The three of them ate lunch once together at home alone when I went out to lunch with Tab last month, they ate dinner together at home alone once last month when I was at a meeting at church, and Saturday night was the first time that Oliver went to bed when we weren't home and no one else was babysitting. We certainly don't feel comfortable leaving them home alone for extended periods of time yet. We left as quickly as possible after the movie was done. 

Speaking of Oliver being ten, he's now old enough to volunteer with Compassion. Ian and Nadia have volunteered with me on more than one occasion. Next month all five of us are signed up to volunteer with Compassion at a concert featuring Casting Crowns, Anne Wilson, and Cain in Hershey. It will be the first time either Paul or Oliver have volunteered with Compassion. 

Speaking of dates, Nadia had her first date for 2022. She went bowling with Paul yesterday afternoon. They bowled four games. Oliver wanted to have his third (and final) date of the year yesterday, but the weather didn't cooperate. He has requested going to a corn maze for his last date. Technically Nadia's first date was split over two days. Last Sunday evening Paul took her out for pizza and then to a bowling alley, but the bowling alley wasn't open. Our new tradition is for the kids to each get three dates a year with one of their parents. Nadia has two left for 2022, and Ian should have one more. 

Nadia took this photo of her guinea pig, Peppa.

It's been 2.5 weeks since I wrote a gratitude list so here are some things that I am thankful for today.

1. Nadia enjoyed having Macey over for a sleepover at the end of August.

2. Two sixth grade girls joined the Bible quizzing team. One of them lives across the street from us so we will be taking turns driving the kids to their practice at 4:30 on Wednesdays. 

3. We enjoyed having a family from our church over for dinner on August 28. They go to our church, but I met them in 2020 when Nadia and their daughter, Natalie, were in a play together. One of my goals for the year has been to have 12 different families/couples over for dinner this year (not counting our relatives). We've had seven over so far.

4. Nadia and Ian had their first rehearsals with the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale on August 29. Their second was tonight because they had last Monday off due to Labor Day. 

5. I am enjoying doing my grocery shopping on Monday evenings at Aldi (and sometimes Walmart) while the kids are in Ninjastics and/or choir rehearsals. 

6. We had a tour of a creamery that is housed in a building that is almost 200 years old. The ice cream is made from milk from their cows. It was SO delicious! We hope to go there again at some point in the future as the peanut butter Oreo ice cream was amazing! 

7. On August 31 Oliver and I were able to help serve food to people who were coming to our church for a food bank distribution.

8. The kids and I participated in a three-hour program at a state park on September 2nd. I was very grateful that I didn't injure myself on the hike. 

9. We enjoyed spending a couple of hours at Panera with the Kinleys. I had invited them to have a meal at our home, but he is highly allergic to guinea pigs, so they treated us to a meal instead. 

10. The boys enjoyed seeing the new Pinocchio movie on Disney+. 

11. Paul loved that they talked about Coolidge (one of his favorite Presidents) on the latest episode of the Tuttle Twins that we watch together as a family whenever new episodes come out on YouTube. 

12. Milo had diarrhea in Nadia's bed once last week. Unfortunately, it happened again in Ian's bed the next night. Yuck! Considering I didn't want to start washing bedding on a daily basis, we had him sleep in his crate the next night. It happened in his crate the third night, but thankfully that was the end of it. After he had a night without any issues in his crate, we resumed having him sleep with the kids. That was the first time in the last 21 months that had ever happened, and hopefully it won't happen again! 

13. Nadia and Ian also came down with a bug last week. Last week Paul was going in to work VERY early (as in leaving our home at 12:30am) so he was also coming home much earlier than usual which was very helpful as I didn't want to leave Ian alone at home if he wasn't feeling well. Ian for the first time in his life managed to throw up in the right place. I wasn't happy that he was vomiting, but I was very, very grateful I didn't have to clean it up. Whew. Nadia came down since on Thursday. I had already cancelled Thursday's field trip, and because the kids were sick, we opted not to go to our church's quarterly Friday evening worship service. Thankfully, Paul, Oliver, and I have escaped this bug. 

14. Nadia, Oliver, and I attended a monarch butterfly class last Wednesday morning. We brought home a monarch egg, and it hatched this past weekend! I also took them to the thrift store to get Nadia some more jeans. Most things are 50% off at that store on Wednesdays. 

15. My Bible study began on Wednesday night. I can already tell that this is a better fit for me than the group I was in on Wednesday nights last spring. 

16. Paul and I enjoyed the movie Lifemark. We'll get it on DVD from the library in the future so the kids can watch it. 

17. Nadia enjoyed bowling with Paul yesterday afternoon. 

18. Paul and I enjoy our Sunday School class. Yesterday I was one of the two people signed up to bring snacks for our class. I made a strawberry pretzel Jell-O salad, German apple cake, and German peach kuchen. It seems like I made the correct amount of food as there was only a tiny bit left of each at the end of class. 

19. The kids enjoyed skating at the homeschool party at the roller-skating rink today. Oliver won the four corners game and received a free popcorn from the snack bar as his prize. Oliver also enjoyed the cookies that they had at the orthodontist office this afternoon. 

20. I've lost 18 pounds since I started dieting on June 1. I'd like to lose five more, but clothes that haven't fit for a year or more are fitting again, which is a great feeling. I've been faithfully walking with Milo for at least three miles a day rain or shine. 

21. Although we weren't able to be there in person, we were able to see a video of my niece, Susie, giving her testimony and being baptized at their church in Chicago on Sunday. 

22. We have no plans to go anywhere tomorrow. I am very thankful for that because today was a hectic day with the roller skating, errands, orthodontist, mowing the lawn, choir rehearsals, Ninjastics, etc. 

23. Our neighbors have agreed to watch Milo this Friday/Saturday while we're in Philadelphia and also for our nine-day trip to New England later this month. So thankful!!!

Double Digits!

We have had at least one child who was in single digits for fourteen years, but that is no longer the case as Oliver turned ten years old today! Although Nadia is more of an extrovert than Ian, Oliver is the most extroverted member of our family. We have had a play date with the Schrecks around Ian's birthday, but he's never invited any friends to a birthday party. Since 2018 (except for 2020) we have celebrated his birthday by going on an overnight trip to Great Wolf Lodge. Nadia has invited at least two girls over for her birthday for the past seven birthday parties which have either been at a swimming pool or a sleepover at our house. Last year Oliver had two birthday outings with a total of four friends. 

This year for his tenth birthday he invited ten friends to go bowling for two hours. Nine of the ten we invited were planning to go, but yesterday Maddox came down with a stomach bug, and Xandir's mom came down with COVID. I had rented two lanes at a bowling alley for two hours, which meant up to twelve people were allowed to bowl. I hadn't brought any socks because I didn't think I'd be bowling so ten kids plus Paul bowled for two hours last night. We had a bit of a scare when we arrived at the bowling alley because the doors were locked. I called and stated that I had booked a birthday party from 5-7pm. The bowling alley didn't open for the general public until 6pm. Thankfully, after the employee made a phone call, he let us in. Whew! We brought in four large pizzas, a gallon of Hawaiian Punch, some bottles of water, pretzels, a pan of brownies, and a pan of Rice Krispie treats. Aunt Millie usually makes him a cake, but they have been on vacation in Tennessee for the past week. The entire pan of Rice Krispie treats was consumed in addition to 3.5 of the 4 pizzas and the whole gallon of punch. We brought home most of the pretzels and a little bit of the brownies. The paper products featured Baby Yoda (Grogu). Bumpers were used on one lane. Ian, Ean, Micah, Nadia, and Paul didn't use bumpers the first game, and Paul won on that side, and Nadia was in second place. Isaiah switched to the non-bumper lane for the second game, and Ian won the second game. Of the group that used bumpers, Karyss won the second game, and I can't recall if it was Westyn or Oliver who won the first game. It was definitely the most expensive birthday party that Paul and I have thrown over our 21 years of marriage, but compared to the parties that many others have, it was still a simple affair. Oliver received $20, a $25 gift card to Amazon, some candy, some chips, water balloons, and a gallon of iced tea from his friends. 

I let the boys stay at home yesterday morning when I went to get Nadia from Camp Susque. On the way back home we picked up donuts for today's breakfast. Since Oliver is the birthday boy, he gets to eat two of the six donuts. He'll have leftover pizza for lunch, and he requested grilled hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for dinner. We started watching the new movie "Luck" on Apple tv yesterday, and we're planning to finish watching that movie together as a family today. It's rare to find a movie that just came out that is rated G, but that is true for this one. We are ever so grateful that Oliver joined our family ten years ago, and I look forward to seeing how he will grow and develop in the years to come! 

Oliver's birthday celebration began on Wednesday evening when I took the boys to Knoebels. On Thursday he selected, and I bought two birthday balloons at Dollar Tree. On Friday night we attended Aunt Debbie's 70th birthday party. The bowling party yesterday was the second part of Oliver's celebration. Today he's opening his birthday gifts from his parents and also from my dad and Margie, eating his birthday donuts, and eating the food he requested for dinner. The last part of his celebration will be tomorrow when we have dinner at Bonanza. He also will have his ten-year-old doctor appointment tomorrow morning. Every child is a miracle, but when I was pregnant, many people referred to Nadia as a miracle considering how many years that we waited to become parents. Nadia's pregnancy was very smooth aside from the fact she came four weeks early and the delivery didn't go smoothly. Oliver's pregnancy was extremely precarious for both he and I once I reached about 21 weeks. I will never forget lying in the hospital and begging the doctors not to take him by c-section because at that point he was too early to be deemed "viable." They thought they needed to do so to save my life. Thankfully I didn't bleed to death, and Oliver stayed in the womb long enough that he could be cared for in a NICU after he was born. We love our ten-year-old very much! 

Cousin time!

My kids really, really love to spend time with their cousins. 2020 was a rough year in that department. Thankfully 2022 has been much better in that regard. At least some of the Benners have traveled out to our home from Chicago four times over the last eleven months and we went to their home once in that time span, which is in contrast to not seeing them at all for the 24 months prior to that. We were able to spend four days with Wendy and Grace and three of those days also with Rachel. Nadia and Rachel were pretty much inseparable, but they did join us for a few activities like playing Codenames, eating meals, swimming, roller skating, bowling, and a trampoline park. They created a brand new, very non-traditional cookie recipe. They called them "apple lime cookies." Their recipe included marshmallow fluff, apple pop tarts, key lime pie yogurt, whipped cream, etc. A few were eaten but no one was crazy about the final product so most of them ended up in the trash can. The girls laughed their heads off through the baking process. We weren't told what was in the "mystery" cookies until we each ate one. On Wednesday night they had a "sleepover." They always plan out their night ahead of time. They managed to stay up until 4:15am! I was soundly asleep LONG before that. Grace, Ian, and Oliver enjoyed playing together both inside and outside the house. They opted to play arcades instead of bowling on Thursday. They chose to eat at Kid's Cafe on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday they had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, and on Wednesday they had pancakes and bacon. We had macaroni and cheese in honor of Grace on Monday and Tuesday, spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread at Rachel's request on Wednesday, and Wendy requested white chicken chili and cornbread on Tuesday as an early birthday dinner. On Thursday we had pizza after the kids spent two hours at Kaos (laser tag, trampoline, bowling, and arcades). On Tuesday night Aunt Wendy, Grace, Ian, and Oliver watched the first Sonic movie for free through Hulu. On Thursday I splurged and paid for a rental of Sonic 2 on Amazon because it hasn't come out on DVD yet. Paul and Ian had already seen it at the theatre, but it was the first time that Oliver, Wendy, and Grace saw the movie. We might get to see them in December, and we are planning to go to their home next April. Susie is headed to college in California in September! When Ian went up this evening at 6:50pm to ask Oliver if he wanted to play Quirkle with us, he discovered Oliver was already fast asleep! Even though he didn’t stay up nearly as late as Nadia and Rachel, he was definitely tuckered out!

The Benners started driving back to Chicago early this morning. Nadia, Oliver, and I spent a few hours yard sale shopping this morning. I spent over $100, and most items were $1-2 each. We mostly purchased clothing and shoes for the kids. I also bought myself one dress for $3, six books for the kids (50 cents each), and rollerblades for Ian. Since we plan to be away during our town's community yard sales in September, I imagine I am now done with yard sale shopping for 2022. Although I often take the kids to the pool, today was the first time this summer that I got in the water as it was very hot out today. Tomorrow we're signed up as volunteers to help run the inflatables for an hour at our church, and then we'll be attending concerts and fireworks at our church. On Sunday we're having a combined outdoor service at 10:00am (combining two services into one and also two campuses into one) and then Dave and Marla (Dave works for Paul) are coming to our house for a meal. 

Thankful Tuesday

 1. Last Wednesday through Friday morning I used my laptop in the church's lobby while the kids were in the theatre workshop. I wish I had thought of that on Monday instead of trying in vain to go in the public library! Getting the kids out the door at 7:50 each morning isn't ideal in my opinion, but they must have had a good week because on Friday they were already talking about doing this workshop again next year. 

2. On Thursday I took the kids to McDonald's, Rita's, and bowling after their theatre workshop. 

3. Paul intended to go to work on Friday morning and come home a few hours later to attend the kids' musical which was at noon. When I woke up at 6am, I was surprised to see Paul still in bed. I'm accustomed to being the only person in our bed when I go to bed and when I get up in the morning. When I woke him up and told him the time, he was upset with himself, but at that point it was too late to go to work if he was going to attend the kids' program. Milo was thankful Paul overslept because it meant he wasn't in his crate as many hours as Paul left the house a few hours after the kids and I did. Usually we see him on Saturday evening. We only saw him for maybe two minutes on Saturday evening just before we went to bed, but we saw him FAR more on Friday than we usually do. Paul's dad also joined us for the musical and ate pizza with us at the bowling alley.

4. Paul and I repaired the screen on one window on Friday evening. I am always SO thankful when a project is accomplished from the to do list. 

5. On August 6 our apple tree split. In the past I've always trimmed the branches to make it easier for me to mow. The tree had SO many apples on it this year, I had just been dealing with branches touching down very low when I mowed. I wish I had trimmed the branches like I usually do. In my defense, our next door neighbor's apple tree branches are also bowed down to the ground, and their tree hasn't split. Anyhow on August 7 we started cutting some branches and carrying them to the tree farm in our development. One of our neighbors came over and started to help. They were a HUGE help. They used a chain and one of their vehicles to drag large branches to the tree farm. Their kids helped pick up apples, put them in buckets, and carry the buckets to the tree farm. The deer must have had an apple feast! It was so very kind of our neighbors to help. I gave each of their kids a few dollars and told their parents that I'd love to babysit their kids the next time they want to go on a date as my way of saying thanks for their help. We are trying to save the tree. Paul has a plan of what he is going to do to try to help the tree, and he's been buying the things he thinks he needs for that task. 

6. Oliver "finished" learning his times tables yesterday! We'll obviously need to keep on reviewing them over the next year, but he definitely made progress this summer.

7. One neighbor will be taking care of our guinea pigs during our lengthy vacation. Another family is watching Milo for 24 of the 25 days. Two days ago her in-laws agreed to watch Milo the last day of our trip. I'm paying one of Oliver's friends to mow our lawn once when we're on vacation. I'm thankful for each one who is helping us with our home and pets while we're away.

8. I have become friends with a mom we met at our pool. She is homeschooling two of her children - a boy who is in 6th grade (same as Ian) and a girl who is in 7th grade (one grade below Nadia).The kids have enjoyed swimming together a few times this summer, and I have enjoyed chatting with the mom. Hoping we'll find other opportunities to get together over the next year as they don't live too far from us.

9. I had thought it would be free to visit the Lowell Observatory on our trip with our ASTC membership. They haven't opened for general admission yet, but they are giving tours. The tours are rather expensive, but I found out that if we paid for a membership there, we could take a tour for free. The membership cost only a tiny bit more than paying for one person to take the tour. So I joined the Lowell Observatory yesterday as that will be a much cheaper way to have five people take the tour. I also booked our Mammoth Cave tours recently. The kids and I are excited that it's just three weeks until our trip! That thought stresses Paul out. Later this week I'm planning to book the Lowell Observatory tour and the Timpanogos Cave tour (they cannot be booked more than 30 days in advance). Then on the first day of our vacation I'm planning to book our cliff dwelling tour at Mesa Verde as they can only be booked 14 days in advance. I've put much more time into planning this vacation than any other we've ever taken. Hopefully we will have a great time!

10. I took the kids to see a free production of The Tempest on Saturday night. It was their first exposure to Shakespeare. I can't say they loved it, but they did think there were some funny parts. The next play we plan to see there is Secret Garden in February. I predict they will like that one a lot more. The Tempest won't be their last exposure to Shakespeare! The actors were all vaccinated and didn't wear masks. Everyone in the audience was required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status, and they were very careful to keep everyone spread out in the auditorium.

11.As of August 11, Paul and I have been married for twenty years. They say opposites attract. There are of course some ways in which we are very similar or can usually easily come to an agreement. In our case some of those would be finances (we rarely disagree when it comes to money), our faith, and our kids. I'm extremely grateful that Paul encouraged me to consider IVF in 2007 and then homeschooling our kids, and I'm very, very thankful that he supports our family financially so that I can be a stay-at-home homeschooling mom. They say that money and infidelity are two of the top three reasons for divorce in the US. I've never had any reason to question that Paul would be faithful to me, and most of the time we've been on the same page with finances over the years. There are naturally many ways in which we are very different. I was freezing in church this past Sunday morning, and Paul was very comfortable. The three areas where I think we differ the most that can lead to conflict are saving things (him) vs. decluttering (me), his choice of employment (because of how little time he can spend with the family most weeks), and the length of time it takes to complete projects around the house. I have been waiting, for example, for three months now for him to hang one picture on the wall. I usually do that type of task myself, but it's heavier than anything else we have on any of our walls, and my attempt was a failure. Anyhow, I am thankful for the 20 years of marriage we've enjoyed thus far. We loved traveling to the Caribbean and Europe together during the first 5 years of marriage, and we've enjoyed being parents the last 13 years. My favorite three years of the past twenty were from August 2012 - August 2015, and that's because I was at home with our three kids AND we spent FAR more time with Paul those three years. Paul's parents were married 54 years. I doubt we'll both live to make it that far, but maybe we'll make it another 20 years if the Lord doesn't return before then! One area we could definitely do better in would be to go on dates more often. Our last date was on May 4, 2018 for Pete's sake! We have one scheduled for this November. I had thought we might go on a getaway without the kids for our 20th anniversary, but it's really hard for Paul to get time off in the summer. I am very, very thankful though that he's agreed to go on a 25 day trip in September. I used our 20th anniversary as one of the reasons when I was trying to get him to agree to the length of the road trip. 

12. I contacted Nadia's pen pal's mom yesterday, and she said that we should be able to work something out for the girls to meet in person (they've been corresponding faithfully for 2 years) in early September during our vacation in Illinois or Wisconsin! 

13. The kids have been able to sleep in the past few days! I know they won't sleep in on Friday or Saturday morning as they never sleep in when cousins are in the house, but I'm enjoying a few quieter mornings at the moment.

Back to the Beginning

The kids had a theatre workshop this week from 8:15-12:30pm each day in Montoursville. The musical was called "Back to the Beginning." Paul's dad, Paul, and I attended their program at noon today. Ian did a great job of singing, smiling, and doing the motions. He had auditioned for a speaking part, but he didn't audition for a solo. Next year I told him that he MUST audition for a solo. He has a beautiful voice. Oliver tried to do the motions, and he did sing a little bit. Learning that many songs in less than five days was very challenging for him. Nadia did a good job with her small speaking part and solo. After their show, we went to a bowling alley where the kids can bowl two games for free. Paul, Ian, and Oliver have bowling shoes. I want to get Nadia bowling shoes for Christmas this year. I paid for Paul's two games plus Nadia's shoe rental. We also bought a pitcher of root beer and pizza for the six of us to share. The bowling alley gives a $5 credit towards their arcade games when you pay for a shoe rental for a child. The kids used the credit and earned a few pieces of candy. The first game they all bowled without bumpers. Paul had two strikes and four spares in the first game and ended with a score of 137. Nadia had a "strike on the second ball". That was the only spare for any of the kids in the first game. She beat her brothers with a final score of 72. Ian had 54 and Oliver had 36. After the first two frames of the second game, the kids decided to use bumpers, Paul, even though he didn't use bumpers, improved to 152 in the second game. Ian had the highest score of the three kids with 100 points. Nadia was in second with 70, and Oliver was in third with 66. Pop Pop and I just cheered on the bowlers. The worst part of this camp is the fact that we need to be out the door by 7:50 each morning. We're looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and not needing to rush out the door. I'm planning to mow the lawn tomorrow morning.

I also took the kids bowling yesterday. Monday through Wednesday we went straight home for lunch after I picked the kids up. I took them swimming in the afternoon on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday I took the kids to McDonald's and Rita's before they bowled two games. I imagine Milo will be grateful the theatre workshop is over because he spent more time in his crate than he usually does this week. Yesterday the kids bowled one game with bumpers and one without. The first game Oliver had one spare, and Nadia had two consecutive strikes. She won with 93, Oliver had 88, and Ian had 75. Their scores were much lower without bumpers yesterday. Ian had 38, Oliver had 35, and Nadia had 30. Nadia didn't go bowling in 2020 so when she bowled yesterday it had probably been about two years since she had gone bowling. The boys have gone bowling more often than she has this year. As of yesterday, VBS is done for our family for 2021, and as of today all classes/camps for summer 2021 are done, but we still have 16 days left of summer break. 

Birthday Eve

Oliver has eagerly anticipated this birthday for months.  I had planned 5 special events for his birthday. The trip to DelGrosso's Amusement Park with Karyss and Maddox had to be cancelled since he got four stitches the day before we planned to go. He started wearing his birthday shirts on Monday; he really likes the "Birthday Dude" shirt. This week Micah and Isaiah came over at 10:15 on Wednesday. The boys played at our house, and then I took them to the playground where the played and had tacos and root beer floats compliments of Kid's Cafe. Then they played some more at our house before I took them to Centered Earth. They each picked out a piece of pottery and what color paints they wanted to use. Ian painted an owl cup that he plans to use as a pencil holder in his bedroom, Oliver painted an ice cream bowl, Isaiah painted a dolphin, and Micah painted a gingerbread house. Our next stop was to get breakfast sandwiches from Dunkin'. Because they are still not allowing any customers inside the restaurant, we ate outside on some grass. Then the boys went roller skating; It's free to skate on the first Wednesday night at that rink. I bought them each a slushie. The boys gave Oliver a light for his bicycle tire, fruit snacks, and Goldfish crackers. We got home around 8pm so the boys had almost ten hours together that day.

Yesterday Westyn and Addi joined us for an outing. We would have left a little earlier than we did, but they were attending another Good News Camp. We left around 2:45 and headed to the bowling alley. The kids could have each bowled 2 games for free, but we only had time for 1 game. Ian and Oliver wore bowling shoes that we own. I paid to rent shoes for Addi and Westyn. Because we paid for their skate rental, they gave us two $5 cards to use on the arcades. The kids each got one small piece of candy from the points they earned on the games. The kids used bumpers when they bowled. Addi had two strikes and came in first place (99), Ian got a spare on his first frame and ended up in 2nd place (81), Westyn didn't have any spares or strikes but he came in third place (80), and Oliver had three spares and came in last place (78). Next we drove to Kaos where I paid a total of $40 for the four kids to play for a little less than 2 hours. First they played on arcade games, then they did two games of laser tag, and they ended with 20 minutes on the trampolines. Our excursion ended with sharing a large cheese pizza at Long Island Pizza. We got home around 7:15pm. Paul spent the night at his dad's apartment last night.

Oliver went on a date with Paul in February for his half birthday, which meant his birthday date would be with me. Since Nadia is at overnight camp this week and Paul has been working extremely long hours (ex. on one of the nights he came home this week he got home after 8pm and left for work again at 2:30am), Ian is joining Oliver and I on our date. Oliver picked to go to Knoebels. On Wednesday and Friday nights you can get a handstamp for $12 that is valid from 5-9pm. I'm going to buy the boys each a handstamp this evening. Oliver wanted to bring Milo along as Milo loved being at Knoebels in May, but Ian really wanted to have pizza once more this week. So Oliver agreed that we would share a pizza at OIP in Elysburg prior to arriving at Knoebels at 5pm. Tomorrow, his actual birthday, will bring his four day birthday celebration to a close. 

Oliver will be getting donuts for breakfast tomorrow morning while we are on our way to pick up Nadia at Camp Susque. I can't wait to hear all about her week at camp! Pop Pop is coming to our house tomorrow, and he's bringing a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing that Oliver requested from Aunt Millie and Uncle Al. He asked for macaroni and cheese with grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner tomorrow night, and he invited one of the neighbors (Maddox) over to join us for his birthday dinner.

For the first several years of his life it was very hard to come up with ideas of what to buy him for Christmas or his birthday because #1 he didn't have any particular interests, #2 we already had a lot of toys, and #3 he never asked for things. Last year was the first time he actually gave a few suggestions for a wish list. Over the past year he's told me MANY things he would like to receive such as: table and chairs for our deck, a tent, a swimming pool for our backyard, a treehouse, a minibike or electric dirt bike, an electric scooter, a skateboard, an Edison robot, Paw Patrol toys, a snowboard, Fritos, Goldfish crackers, gummies, a new slide for the play set in the backyard, a knight costume, a subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited, and Super Mario 3D World + Bower's Fury, which is a Nintendo Switch game. He also asks me very, very often if we can adopt another child. I tell him it's Daddy he has to get to agree to that request. I got him a skateboard and a few toys that he picked out at yard sales the last three months, and my Dad and Margie got him the Edison robot. He's not getting even half of the things he's asked for, but hopefully he will have a great birthday tomorrow! 

Speaking of birthdays, I finally finished Nadia's birthday interview video. I didn't record many videos over the past year. I included pictures of her from July 2020 to June 2021, her video interview, two short videos from white water rafting, and short interviews of Ian, Oliver, and Paul. It's definitely an improvement over the videos I've done over the past 13 years as I've never done any editing before - just hit record (mostly with a camcorder) and uploaded whatever I recorded. However, I utilized very little of what I've learned in the video course. In the future I hope to record short video clips FAR more often with either my phone or DSLR. I also hope to improve my skills both with recording videos and also with putting everything together with video editing software. I hope that I will improve with each video I make, but I especially hope that I can do MUCH better with my video of our vacation in September. I've learned that it's better to record interviews indoors (to avoid background noises of birds and such), to use the tripod when I'm recording a video with my DSLR camera, and to use the stabilizer when I'm recording videos with my cell phone. The stabilizer has been a big help for almost every occasion. I got a good video of Oliver doing the limbo at the roller skating rink on Thursday, but I couldn't figure out how to use the stabilizer when I was taking videos of the kids bowling yesterday. I'm sure it's my lack of knowledge that was the problem. Ian and Oliver have already seen Nadia's birthday video. I hope Nadia likes it when she sees it tomorrow. Just like I have to say "I'm done" when making a photo book (or I could spend an absurd amount of hours making one), I had to say "I'm done" with her video. It's the type of project that I could keep tweaking for hours on end. 

Date with Daddy

For the past 12 years we haven't had a routine as far as taking our kids out on individual dates. Years ago Paul took a child with him to the Watson Inn for dinner on his birthday, and I did the same on my birthday, but it's been years since we've done that. Nadia has had the most dates with a parent since she is the eldest and also because sometimes she and I have done something that was for girls (like getting our nails done) or seeing the Nutcracker ballet. Oliver and I have had outings together when Nadia and Ian were attending something like history camp when he was too young to join them, but in general Oliver has had the fewest individualized outings with a parent. I read a book last fall that really emphasized taking your children out on dates. I came up with the plan that each child would get to plan a date in the month of their birthday and half-birthday so that they will each have at least one date per year with each parent. Oliver's half-birthday was yesterday. He decided that he wanted to go bowling and eat dinner at Bonanza with Paul. We never went bowling in 2020 because of COVID. Oliver had a great time on his date with his Dad. We shall see what Oliver will plan for he and I to do in August! I hope this is a tradition the kids will eventually have fond memories about when they are adults. It's possible we could expand it to each child having 3 or 4 dates per year with a parent as even if we did 4 per year we could arrange it so one parent had one date with a child per month, but six dates a year is at least a good starting point!

Since I stayed home with Milo when Paul took the kids skiing last month, we won't have any skiing pictures to include in any photo books this year. Paul did take two videos with his phone which I finally got around to uploading. 

We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow. I'm VERY ready for spring to come. Nadia has her first voice lesson for the spring semester tomorrow, but since they take place via Zoom, snow won't cause any problems. 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. Nadia was able to participate in a Bible quizzing event at our church for 7 hours on Saturday, and then she went home with one of the girls on her team for an impromptu sleepover. It's the second time this year she's spent the night at a friend's house, and she's had friends over for a sleepover at our house at least five times this year. I'm thankful she's developed friendships at church - primarily through Bible quizzing.

2. I enjoyed teaching the 1st-5th grade boy's class at church on Sunday. We were studying the third and fourth commandments.

3. The boys and I enjoyed the delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Pastor Ken's house on Sunday evening. That meal is usually my favorite meal of the year - baked pineapple casserole, baked corn casserole, pumpkin roll, and Watergate salad are foods that I really, really love and typically only eat at a potluck meal. Oliver's favorite dish that night was no surprise - sweet potatoes. I enjoyed those also! Ian liked the turkey the best.

4. The first few years we had guinea pigs, we didn't have trouble with their water bottle. We have had LOTS of water bottle problems this year with both the rabbits and then the guinea pigs. I bought our fourth water bottle recently, and it seems we have found the "winner" as my mom would have said.

It doesn't drip (which means the bedding will last longer) and doesn't have to be removed from the cage in order to be refilled. As long as Nadia refills it once a day, I think we will be set!

5. Margie received the good news last week that the cancer hadn't spread to her lymph nodes. Unfortunately the pathology report also showed that the surgeon hadn't removed all of the cancer. She's having another surgery this Thursday to remove the rest of the cancer. Six weeks later she'll begin radiation treatments.

6. Something was crossed off the house "to do" list yesterday! Paul had a dermatologist appointment yesterday morning and decided to come home and do some work for the business on his computer rather than going in to the plant. Paul installed a window well cover. I had bought two in April 2019. He installed one. While waiting for the other one to be installed, it had been broken. Paul bought another one in April 2020, and he installed it yesterday. So now the list has five projects on it. I'm very thankful Paul was able to accomplish one task around the house for me! Also, Ken came today and said he thinks he can finish three or four of the other projects on my list in one night next week. WOOHOO! I am so excited!! 

7. The kids and I enjoyed the sirniki (cheese pancakes) on Friday. Almost everyone loved the pommes aligot and chicken Kiev that I made on Saturday. Nadia and I really, really liked the peach kuchen I made on Sunday. Now since what I'm planning to make tomorrow includes rice, it probably won't go over very well, but I'm thankful that the majority of new recipes have gone over well so far. I have struggled to find some of the ingredients, but last night it hit me that I could probably find those ingredients at Wegmans. Sure enough, they do! The next time I take the kids to the place where they have trampolines, laser tag, arcades, bowling, etc. I will also pick up a few things at Wegmans.

8. The Steelers are 9-0 for the first time EVER. I actually watched a few minutes of the game on Sunday at Pastor Ken's house, which was the first time I watched any football in 2020. 

9. There are about 2,500 people who consider our church to be their church (far fewer than that are official members and far fewer than that attend on a given Sunday especially due to COVID). Over the past eight months we've only had four people come down with COVID-19 within our church, which is less than two tenths of one percent. Up until Sunday I wasn't aware of anyone I personally knew who had COVID-19, but the couple (#3-4) who came down with it recently were in the same Sunday School class I used to attend prior to COVID (the class hasn't resumed meeting yet). I'm thankful that our area hasn't been hit very hard and that a vaccine has been developed. Praying the numbers will start falling around the country and around the globe once the vaccine distribution begins. 

10. It took a little over two weeks, but Ian's body has finally adjusted to the time change. This morning was the first time he slept in past 7am since the time changed. He had been getting up between 6:00-6:30 each morning. Oliver slept in until almost 9:00am! I'm not really wanting him to sleep in that late on a regular basis, but to me that is one of the benefits of homeschooling. If he needs that much sleep, he can get that much sleep. Oliver goes to bed at 8:30, and the other two go to bed at 9:30.