Game Day!

Aside from the 90 minute homeschool gym class yesterday morning, we stayed at home all day long. I brought my camera because I am trying to expand my horizons in terms of where I take pictures. I took one of Oliver coming down one of the slides in the play land, but the slide was yellow and it made his skin look really yellow so I converted the image to black/white, which is very unusual for me. I also tried to take some photos of the kids in the gym, but I was limited in that because #1 I discovered even my 85mm lens was not quite enough (I think I see a new lens in my future...maybe 135mm?), #2 part of the time they played glow in the dark hockey (I wasn't even going to attempt taking pics of that!), and #3 Oliver didn't want to stay in there and watch his siblings very much. I was also trying to shoot in manual mode, which doesn't come naturally to me yet. After the gym class we crossed paths with the pastor's wife, and she referred to Oliver as the cute little dinosaur who came into the service on Sunday morning. The picture at left shows the mask he was wearing when he waltzed into the auditorium while the pastor was still preaching. OOPS!

Paul got home from Baltimore at 8:45 last night. Previously I wasn't expecting to see him until this evening because the last two months when he had business trips and got back to PA then he spent the first nights at his parents' house and then came home after work the following day. The kids didn't see him last night because they were all in bed by the time he got home. I found out this morning that since the kids hadn't seen him since Sunday, he decided to take today off at work and stay home. I didn't think he'd be attending their basketball games today because this past fall he only made it to see a game at the end of the season. The kids were thrilled to have Daddy home today as even over the Christmas and New Year's holidays we didn't get a Saturday with him. Ian's game was at 10:00. He played periods 2, 4, and 5. He dribbled the ball in each of the quarters and caused a few turnovers because he stepped out of bounds, but he played aggressively (I mean that in a good way). He attempted to make a basket a couple of times but didn't actually make any. He was assigned the color tag that meant he was the middle ranked player each time he was out, which was an improvement from last year when he was always given the color tag as the weakest of the three playing in that period. He still needs to work on the concept of not playing defense when his team has the ball. Overall, I was pleased with how much progress he showed compared to his first game last year.

On the way home we stopped for some groceries and then went home for lunch. I failed to check my calendar and went from memory (bad idea -in the future I will be sure to check my calendar!) and so we showed up back at the church an hour early for Nadia's game (OOPS!). I felt terrible, but I consoled myself that it was better to show up too early than too late. We drove to our church and let the kids play for 30 minutes before going back for Nadia's game. At her level they play four on four, and she always wore the tag given the weakest player. She didn't touch the ball at all the first two periods she played, but near the end of the last period of the game (there are six periods in every game), she finally was able to dribble and pass a few times. They don't keep score in the K/1st games, but in the 2nd/3rd grade games they do, and Nadia's team had a solid win. The team they were playing was coached by the man who was her coach last year, and some of the kids on that team were ones she had played with last year. Here's to hoping that both kids will get at least one basket during the season!

I woke up at 3:30 this morning and was not able to get back to sleep (frustrating when that happens). I just found out that the Steelers game has been pushed back to 8:20 tomorrow night (instead of 1:00). I had better get more sleep tonight if I am going to try to stay up later than usual tomorrow night to cheer for my team!

Doktor Kaboom

Yesterday we traveled to Wilkes Barre to see a show about electricity featuring Doktor Kaboom. Here's a video someone took at another one of his shows and posted on YouTube. My favorite part was when he put electricity through some pickles, and they lit up like light bulbs! Nadia's favorite part was when a couple of volunteers put on bubble suits and were running into each other illustrating the concepts of electrons repelling each other, etc. Her only disappointment was that she wasn't picked as a volunteer to come on stage, but there were over 1,000 kids there so the odds were not in her favor! Next we drove to Scranton as I had planned to take the kids to Timmy's Town Center (a children's museum), but it turns out they went out of business last year. I couldn't believe that we were 0-2 in a span of two days with driving 30+ minutes to get to a museum that was closed. The kids asked if there were any other museums in Scranton we could visit. It did my heart good to hear them ask me that. We had already taken them to Steamtown (run by the National Park Service), but we contemplated returning there

because we were 1 minute away from it. Since it was so warm out (although a little wet), I decided to try a large park called Nay Aug Park in Scranton. In the summer the swimming pool is open, but all year round you can enjoy many different walking trails - some by a gorge, playgrounds, etc. There is a large treehouse also.

To break up the drive back, we stopped at the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg on the way to dinner and ice skating lessons. Usually we only go to that museum when they're having a special program. On Wednesday we had attempted to attend a program for homeschoolers about the planet Mars. They do two programs a month for homeschoolers, and they also have others on Saturdays that we often attend, but we won't be going there on Saturdays for the next several months because of basketball and then soccer games.  I also am not planning to take them to the second homeschool hangout this month because I chose a program at R. B. Winter state park for our field trip that

particular day instead. So the time we spent at the museum yesterday is likely the only time we'll be there this month. A new children's museum is opening in Lewisburg (much closer to us) in a couple of months. I already purchased a three year membership. I am hoping they will do nice programs like the one in Bloomsburg, but if not we are in Lewisburg on a far more regular basis than Bloomsburg so I am confident we will make good use of that membership. If the one in Lewisburg doesn't end up offering the kind of programs the one in Bloomsburg does, I think we'll maintain memberships at both museums.

To sum up our day yesterday it went like this - leave the house at 8:30, drive to Wilkes Barre (made two stops en route for things like gas for the van), watch Doktor Kaboom show for 1 hour, drive to Scranton, find out museum is closed, spend an hour at a park, drive part of the way home, spend time at Children's Museum in Bloomsburg, have dinner at Cracker Barrel, drive

30 minutes to Sunbury for ice skating lessons, and drive home. We made one tiny detour on the way home to stop and register Nadia for softball so we didn't actually arrive at home until 7:00 pm. Yes, we are going to give Little League a whirl for the first time ever starting in March. Technically all three could play - tball for Oliver, coach pitch baseball for Ian, and minor league softball for Nadia, but I only signed Nadia up. I offered to let her do gymnastics instead of soccer or softball, but she really wanted to do softball. I have no idea how this is going to play out with her softball season taking place at the same time as Ian and Oliver playing spring soccer. It might be the first and last time we do Little League, but I felt like I had to let her try it once. Hopefully it will be feasible for me to get all three kids to and from their practices and games this spring! All in all we had a great day although it's never my preference to spend that much time in a vehicle. I kept telling myself that the next five days we don't plan to go more than 15 minutes away from our house each day. One upside was that we listened to a lot of the book Island of the Blue Dolphins while we were in the van.

When I first got my DSLR camera I stayed in Automatic mode. I can't remember exactly when I made the switch, but at some point I tried Manual mode and then because I was taking pictures outside at the time and the lighting might change quite a bit from minute to minute (if the sun went behind a cloud or something like that), I switched to using AV (aperture priority) mode, and that's where I've stayed for far too long. I am not saying I'll never use AV mode again, but yesterday at the ice skating rink I discovered two things: #1 I brought the wrong lens (50mm is not a good choice for taking pictures at that location now that I have a full frame camera). I am going to try my 85mm next week. Hopefully that will work better. #2 I could do a better job in manual mode than in AV (the camera was choosing too fast of a shutter speed and my pictures were too dark). Did I nail those photos on the ice skating rink? Nope, but the ones I took in manual were better than the ones I took in AV. I have two more months to practice taking pics of Nadia and Ian's ice skating lessons. :)

Thankful Thursday

1. I've used a few different websites/apps for getting money back on purchases made (ex. Ibotta and Checkout 51), but in late December I tried out a different one (Klipem), and it was much better than the other ones I've tried. The particular rebate I requested was for 12 packs of Coke. If you bought four 12 packs, they would give you an $11 rebate either through PayPal or a gift card from Amazon. Most of the other sites I've used you have to accrue at least $20 before you get any money back. I've gotten a check from Checkout 51, but as of yet I haven't hit the $20 mark with Ibotta in part because with that app it matters not only what you buy but where you buy it. Anyhow I paid $13.77 for four 12 packs of Coke at CVS, and Klipem gave me $11 back already, which means I paid $2.77 for 48 cans of Coke for Paul. I hope I can find other good rebates from Klipem in the future!

I am still taller than all my nieces and nephews, but Susie is getting close!

2. It has been three months since Oliver wet the bed. Hoping this means those days are behind us.

3. I really love the Fragrance Spheres I got from Yankee Candle a couple of months ago. I replaced the old ones a few days ago, and now I smile every time I walk into one of the two bathrooms where I am using them. They were on sale for $2.50 each when I got them. Money well spent in my opinion!

4. I took Ian to an orthodontist yesterday, and the orthodontist said that Ian won't be ready for braces for probably two more years. I am happy to wait on that. I'm going to cancel Nadia's appointment.

5. The kids are really enjoying their guinea

pigs, and Nadia has taken over the job of getting both of them out of their cage. Whew. I didn't enjoy chasing them one iota. I'm grateful for the reprieve.

6. I've been watching some videos on photography online in the evening. Usually Paul has the tv on after the kids go to bed which means I need to go elsewhere if I want to listen to a photography video on the computer, but since he's not home this week the tv isn't on in the evenings as the only tv I watch are my Steeler football games. All of the pics in this post are cell phone pics. I

had planned to take pics at the Children's Museum yesterday, but when we got there we found out it was closed because of the icy roads (which weren't icy when we drove there because it was 45 degrees out). Now I know to check online before we head out there in the winter because it takes more than 30 minutes (one way) to get there.

7. The Steelers won on Sunday! Now to see if we can beat the Chiefs again this Sunday (we beat them earlier in the season).

8. Nadia and Ian enjoyed their first ice skating lesson of the year last Thursday evening. Nadia was elated that if she learns how to do *one* more thing then she will be promoted to the level 4 class. The kids and I enjoyed sharing two footlong subs prior to their ice skating lesson using a gift card Oliver was given at Christmas.

9. Nadia and Ian enjoyed playing hockey in their gym class which resumed on Friday. Ian was thrilled that a teammate from his soccer team (the coach's son) joined the gym class for the first time.

10. We were finally able to celebrate Christmas with Paul's parents on January 8. We are thankful for the many gifts we were given by his parents, aunt, brother, and sister-in-law.

11. I enjoyed playing the flute on Tuesday morning as well as eating at the delicious buffet. I also greatly appreciated June watching the kids at McDonald's while I was at the Country Cupboard.

12. The only day I could run since Paul went back to the family business was on Sundays, and I haven't been going at all in the cold weather. I'd go today if I had someone to watch the kids for an hour for me. Anyhow I contemplated asking Paul if we could combine the money we got for Christmas and get a piece of exercise equipment (like maybe an elliptical), but then I remembered that he needs to get new tires for his car. So instead I decided to try exercising in the family room using a DVD. It turns out I have three exercise buddies! Nadia sticks with it the longest, and Oliver does the least. The kickboxing dvd was harder for the boys. Ian liked the DVD that had a lot of push-ups and sit-ups and such. The problem was I only had two sets of weights; so yesterday at Walmart I bought three more sets - five pound purple weights for Nadia, three pound pink weights for Ian, and 2 pound blue weights for Oliver. My goal is to try to do 20 minutes a day as many days of the week as possible. Yesterday was day #2. This will hopefully help me be in better shape and also lose some weight. I'd MUCH rather run outside, but it is fun doing it with Nadia (and the boys when they join us).

Flute solos

A couple of months ago I was asked to play two flute solos at a Christian Women's breakfast that is held once a month at the Country Cupboard restaurant. Normally we are doing schoolwork at 9:00 am on a Tuesday, but I haven't had many opportunities to play the flute the last 2 1/2 years since we switched churches. The two churches I attended from 2004-2013 both gave me a lot of opportunities to play my flute. I asked a woman from church if she would meet us at the McDonald's near the Country Cupboard and watch my three while they played in the play land. She graciously agreed to do this, and even bought each child either an apple juice or a chocolate milk to drink. The breakfast buffet included many delicious foods, and I played two solos. Their protocol is to have one secular song (I picked one by Bach) and one sacred (I had been requested to play "When we all get to heaven"). I do love the arrangement of that song as it even includes a cadenza. Normally Nadia has basketball practice on Tuesday nights, but the practices this evening were cancelled because we're supposed to get some ice. We got a little bit of snow this afternoon. It's supposed to get up into the 50's on Thursday. That's much more my kind of weather than the 20's we've had the past few days. Brr!

Ian finished assembling the 1,500 Legos yesterday. It only took him only one day to assemble the three sets. It was hard for him to focus on his schoolwork on Monday morning as he hadn't quite finished at that point.

3 razors, 4 subpoenas

This morning when we were snuggling in bed, I asked Oliver what was his favorite gift that he got yesterday. He said the shaving things. Grandma had gotten him a Minion set that included a (fake) razor and soap foam (to look like shaving cream). I would have never thought of buying a razor for my preschooler, but he loves it! All three kids wanted in on the action this morning. I said to Nadia that she wasn't ever going to be shaving her cheeks, but she said the boys don't need to shave yet either. So I got two of Paul's razors WITH the blade covers on and let all three kids enjoy the experience of shaving. I wanted pictures because I thought it would make for cute photos, but the bathroom is not a room I have experience with when it comes to taking photos. I apologize that the line from one of the sections of the mirror is coming through their faces in some of them. It was also a challenge to keep myself OUT of the picture since I was aiming my camera at the mirror. I couldn't use natural light in the bathroom (which is always my preference), but it forced me to work on my skills at fixing the white balance in Lightroom (since I haven't yet mastered the use of my Expodisc).

Usually one of the highlights of Ian's day is his 30 minutes on the Wii. Well it seems that new Lego sets trump electronics as he told me he wasn't going to use the Wii or iPad today. Although Nadia enjoys her new toys, she still took time to hold Jenna and play the iPad. I should say that Jenna does trump electronics for her. Grandma and Pop Pop gave Nadia a $15 iTunes gift card yesterday, and she spent $3 of it yesterday and another $3 tomorrow. She rarely plays the Wii as she prefers the iPad. Ian enjoys the iPad but would never pick it over the Wii. Nadia is wearing the new dress she got yesterday from Grandma and Pop Pop.

In today's mail was an envelope containing 4 subpoenas for a trial regarding the incident when we saw the drunk driver flip his vehicle on December 26. Wendy would be the more helpful witness than me, but I live 15 minutes from the courthouse rather than 9+ hours away. Testifying in court sounds stressful to me, but I will do my part to help the police, if necessary.

14th Day of Christmas

The five of us worked on a puzzle last night that my mom had given us a few years ago.

The kids usually have three days of opening Christmas gifts. Many times they have opened their gifts from Paul and I in the morning on Christmas Eve, their gifts from Paul's family on Christmas morning or afternoon, and from my family on December 26. This year they opened their gifts from Wendy and my Dad on Christmas Day, and then they had to wait until today to open their gifts from Paul's brother, Paul's parents, and one of Paul's aunts. Maybe we can add two verses to the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song, ha ha. The kids were itching to open their presents right after we finished eating after church, but Paul had them wait until the half-time of my football game. I missed most of the third quarter of the game because it took longer than half-time for the kids to open all their gifts, but the good news is that the Steelers won! We are headed to Kansas City next week! Unfortunately for Paul, his team didn't win today. 

Surprise, Surprise - Ian got more Legos! His grandparents gave him three large sets that altogether included 1,500 pieces. The smaller sets he received on December 24 and 25 he assembled the same day he got them. These three sets will take him more than one day to assemble. Nadia got more magnetic dolls - Frozen ones from Aunt Millie and Uncle Al and Melissa and Doug ones from Grandma and Pop Pop. I got a Steelers drinking glass (which was perfect because in August Paul broke the one I had used for more than 10 years) and a new memory card for my camera. The kids were also excited to introduce their pets to their grandparents. Pop Pop only wanted to be introduced from a distance. Grandma held Patches for a little bit. Having these guinea pigs makes me really wish we could have a cat, but I know we can't because of Paul's allergies. I'm glad the kids love their little furry friends as I'm not ready for a dog. 

When the kids were tucked into bed tonight they said goodnight and goodbye to Paul. He is going to spend the night at his

parents house and then will leave for Baltimore tomorrow morning, and I don't think we'll see him again until Saturday night. Thankfully my Bible studies haven't started back up yet, as I'd have to miss it this week due to Paul's trip. The only thing I'll miss is part of my choir rehearsal on Wednesday night as I'll arrive late and have to leave early to take the kids to and from AWANA. Otherwise, I am accustomed to being their exclusive chauffeur when it comes to basketball practices, ice skating lessons, field trips, etc. We didn't have any field trips last week, but I have a couple planned for this week, which put a big smile on Nadia's face. 

Lastly, I'll close with a funny story from this morning. After my Sunday School class let out at noon, I went down to get the kids from their choir rehearsal. The kids knew that Paul's grandparents had come for the second service, and so Oliver scampered ahead of me and before I realized what had happened he had opened one of the doors to the sanctuary and

walked in (the front) wearing a dinosaur mask from his Sunday school class (the lesson was on God made the dinosaurs). The pastor was still preaching, but Oliver didn't comprehend this. He just wanted to get to his grandparents ASAP who were seated near the front on the opposite side of where he entered. Thankfully I got his attention and he came back to me so we could exit the sanctuary and wait for the service to come to a close. I think my face was bright red, but I saw several smiles at the little child charging in wearing a dinosaur mask and a three piece suit.