Spring Forward

 Well we might be springing our clocks forward an hour during the night tonight, but we haven't exactly had spring weather the past two days! It was gorgeous on Thursday, and then we got snow on Friday. It laid on the trees in the most beautiful fashion and covered the grass (maybe 2 inches?), but the roads were fine where we live so the kids still had gym class. The roads weren't clear on all of Paul's commute. He witnessed three accidents within less than 10 miles. We're very thankful he had gotten new tires on Thursday and that he made it there safely! We're supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow in three days. I was hoping the snow yesterday was our last blast. I was wrong. Hopefully next week's snow will be the last blast of winter. Ian has been waking up earlier and earlier. I am hoping that the time change will help him go back to sleeping until closer to 7:00 am. Tonight we split the difference and put the kids to bed 30 minutes early according to the "old" time. We shall see what time they wake up tomorrow. My choir isn't singing, which means we can leave the house about 30 minutes later than usual which will be a help tomorrow.

Nadia and Ian had their last basketball games of 2017 today. Nadia's team was undefeated this season, and they dominated every team except for one. They played eight different teams. Nadia's softball practices are supposed to start on Monday, weather permitting. I ordered a face mask and mitt for her on Amazon, which are supposed to be delivered on Monday. I'll find out next week what days/times the boys will have their practices, and when their practices start will depend on the condition of the soccer field. Snow isn't a good thing for the field, but I'm fine with having a little gap in between the end of basketball and the start of soccer. Paul's parents joined us for the games today, and for the third time this season we had lunch at McDonald's in between the two games. They came over to our house for a few hours after Nadia's game. We played the game Guesstures together (everyone except for Oliver). I think everyone had fun playing that game. I bet we'll play it again some time! Although the basketball season is far simpler because all of the games are at the same location (only 12 minutes from our house), one plus of soccer and softball is that those games will be outside, which means much better light for my camera. Taking non-blurry pictures of a moving target indoors is a huge challenge for my photography skills. Hopefully in the coming years my skills will progress in that regard. I'm thinking about enrolling in a sports photography course online to help me with that.

First standardized test

Today Nadia took her first standardized test, the Terra Nova. Most homeschoolers in the US aren't required to take these tests, but it's one of the rules in Pennsylvania, and part of the reason Pennsylvania is ranked number #2 in the list of states with the worst homeschooling laws. New York claims the #1 spot. In our state homeschoolers are supposed to take a test in grades 3, 5, and 8. I paid $50 for her to take the test at Camp Susque today. In two years Ian and Nadia will both need to take a standardized test. I didn't file any paperwork for homeschooling Nadia until last summer in preparation for starting third grade with her, but I'll need to start the process with Ian this summer prior to second grade for him because he'll turn eight (the magic number in PA) during second grade since he has a December birthday. I feel confident that Nadia is on target or ahead depending on which subject we are talking about, but I have no idea how she'll do on the test, particularly since she's not accustomed to taking tests. Hopefully I'll be pleased when I see her results. I am so repulsed by how much time is spent in public schools preparing children to take the state test, that I just couldn't bring myself to spend more than a few minutes discussing some general test taking strategies with Nadia.

Since they allowed four hours for the testing today, I made plans to carpool with another mom so that the boys and I didn't have to stay up there the whole time. Allison dropped Melanie off at our house at 8:15 and we left around 8:45. I let the boys play on the playground up there for a little and then we came home. We made one stop on the way home to get some tickets to see a show later this month in Williamsport. Usually I order all tickets online, but I needed to do this one in person because the kids were getting free tickets if I bought one for myself. It's a beautiful day outside, which makes the weather forecast of 1-3 inches of snow tomorrow seem a bit out of place, but that's what the weather can be like in March - spring one day and winter the for next.

One thing on my heart lately has been one of the kids we've sponsored for almost six years - Manu Mohanan who lives in India. Unfortunately the government of India has broken ties with the vast majority of NGO's working in the country, and Compassion was one of the latest casualties. He's one of 145,000 children who are losing their sponsors effective March 15. Manu is 12 years old. I picked him because his birthday is December 12 like Ian. Every time I think about it I feel like crying. I hope that the partners in India who have been working with these 145,000 children will find a way to keep helping them even though the money from Compassion has come to an end. Compassion has been working in India for more than forty years. I also am praying that the Lord will guide us as we select another child to sponsor in place of Manu.

Speaking of tugging on my heart strings, this week I read the book, A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea. It's heartbreaking to know what the people of North Korea have been enduring for decades and that their plight is still so miserable. Speaking of first world problems that are so utterly unimportant compared to the struggles people face in communist dictatorships, I think I have finally resolved the last issues related to switching what bank account is used for all our automatic bill payments. The bank I had used since 2004 wasn't the best choice now that Paul works for the family business. Almost all the changes went through smoothly and there were quite a few - charitable donations, utility bills, credit card bills, mortgage, etc. There were two that involved a glitch. The natural gas company decided to charge BOTH bank accounts (old and new) in January and February. I called last month and tried to straighten it out, but I called again today and I think as of today they will only deduct the payment from the new account.

The other one was a much bigger headache. Our chase credit cards made the switch without a problem, but our Citi credit card company decided last month to deduct the payment from the bank account I had deleted from the account a few months ago, and there wasn't enough money in the account because I was in the process of closing the account and no money had been deposited in it since Paul's last check from Bucknell in August. If I hadn't driven out to Bloomsburg (in other words drove for one hour just to give the bank a check from our other account), the fees would have totaled $187 because of Citi's error. As it is we were charged $42 by the bank and $25 by Citi. Today I convinced Citi to remove their $25 fee. It's bad enough we have to pay the bank $42 because of their error, but it's beyond ridiculous that we should be expected to pay $25 to them because of a glitch in their system. Needless to say I am not a fan of Citi credit cards at the moment. It's a shame because the credit card gave 2% cash rebate on everything, which is better than most credit cards, but at the moment we're just using our Chase credit cards because I have no faith in the customer service of Citi. I'm grateful though that at least I won the battle over the $25 fee today. I don't want to add up how much time I have spent on the phone or emailing with Citi over the past few weeks. On the other hand I got $15 yesterday for completing a survey with 1800contacts, which was nice. "Easy come, easy go" as they say! Paul had a tire blow out early on Tuesday morning. We were very thankful that it didn't result in an accident because it was still dark outside when he had to change the tire. Today he went to Sears and got four new tires. We were expecting to spend about $500 on his tires this  (and that's what happened today), but then they said he also needs new brakes. I need to up the car repair line item in our budget. It's been quite a few years since we put brakes on a car so I'm not even sure how much that will cost when he takes care of that.

Thankful Tuesday

1. Paul and his Dad had a safe trip to Cleveland and back.

2. We enjoyed two Dr. Seuss parties - one at the Milton library on Thursday and one at the Lewisburg library last night.

3. The kids and I enjoyed a yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse on Thursday before their final ice skating lesson. Ian and Nadia each got a kid's meal, and Oliver and I shared an adult meal. Ian loved the peanuts they leave on every table, and all four of us enjoyed the rolls. Yum!

4. The kids had fun playing with Kayden on Friday afternoon. Oliver was actually playing with cars yesterday - an influence from Kayden who prefers cars to Legos.

5. Nadia did a great job in her basketball game on Saturday. She is definitely making progress!

6. The kids had fun playing with Baylee on Sunday afternoon. Even though it was cold outside, the kids were jumping on the trampoline. The neighbors and one of their cousins also jumped

on the trampoline.

7. Ian's basketball team had a pizza party for the team and their families. The kids and I enjoyed the pizza and Doritos. Nadia's team is having a pizza party tonight, but she's skipping it as we're headed to a show about Frog and Toad at Bucknell University this evening. Since she's missing it I was especially grateful she could be included in Ian's pizza party last night.

8. Pop Pop came to our church on Sunday for the second service as Paul needed to ride back with him to their house to get his car. Oliver chose to sit in the worship service with Pop Pop. It's not surprising he chose that over Soul Patrol (as he's not a fan of being in the choir), but he adores the Airport (classroom for four-year-olds). Pop Pop trumps the Airport! Ian prefers to be in the worship service. Nadia prefers to be in her classroom although she does fine in the worship service. We hadn't really begun to teach Oliver to stay in a worship service, but I guess this proves he's

Field trip at Country Cupboard earlier this year

capable!

9. Lately the kids have really been into watching Superbook when I let them watch tv. I'm so grateful our church gives us access to Right Now Media. It's like the Christian version of Netflix. This week they also started watching some Torchlighter videos. Yesterday they watched one on John Wesley, for example.

Stealing

Normally we'd be very upset if one of our kids stole something, but it is encouraged in most sports. Nadia has had a few steals this season, but today was her best game ever. She stole the ball multiple times, particularly from a boy she guarded who was shorter than her. She also made two baskets, and that was a first for her to get two baskets in one game. Way to go, Nadia! Next Saturday they will have their final game of the season. Next year Oliver will be playing on a K/1st team, Ian will be promoted to a 2nd/3rd grade team, and Nadia will have her first experience playing on an all girls team (grades 4-6). She'll be playing on a full court next year for the first time. Her team dominated again today. They have only had one close game thus far this season, and if you go by the actual scores, they are undefeated. I say actual score because they don't allow the gap to be bigger than ten points so many of their baskets aren't recorded because they have a lead greater than ten points.

The last few years I have often purchased the 8x10 memory mate when they had professional pictures for soccer or basketball as it included an individual photo, the team photo, and the team name. This past fall I didn't

do so for soccer because they had raised the price on the item plus I would have been buying three of them for the first time, and it just seemed to be too much money to spend. I was thankful that the photographer they used for Upward this year had an option for a 5x7 team photo for $5. Sold. I bought one for each child, and for some reason they gave us three (two of Nadia's) so we got three 5x7's for $10. Nadia smiled for her team photo, but Ian didn't. It's always a gamble purchasing a picture before it's been taken.

Paul and his dad met us in the parking lot at 1:45 right before Nadia's game. Paul's dad didn't stay to watch the game since he had been away from home since Wednesday. They were in Cleveland this week, and the kids and I are planning to go to a museum there next month en route to Chicago.

Lion and the lamb

The saying goes that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. Well on Wednesday (March 1) the weather was quite balmy (around 70 degrees). I had hoped to walk with the kids to the playground that day, even though my muscles were still VERY sore from skiing on Monday, but the weather didn't cooperate. It rained off and on throughout the day. During some of the times it wasn't raining the kids did play outside - riding bikes, taking the guinea pigs outside, etc. Today it was cold enough that it snowed at one point during the day. So we have experienced lion and lamb type weather within a span of three days. It's been a crazy winter in terms of the weather. Kayden (one of Ian's friends) came over today for five hours, and the cold weather didn't stop the kids from going outside and jumping on the trampoline. It didn't feel strange taking the kids to ice skating lessons yesterday since it was actually cold out. Oliver enjoyed warming himself by the fire. Yesterday was their last lesson. Next week all four of us get to skate at their skating party.

The first week also means it's time to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. The three libraries closest to us were having a total of four Dr. Seuss events over a span of eight days. Two of the events conflicted with other things on our schedule - such as gym class this morning, but yesterday I took the kids to a party at 11:00 at the Milton library. That party was geared for younger children, but I figured that most of the time Oliver gets carted to events geared for his siblings so it was fair for once to have them go to something geared more for his age level. One of the library staff running the event happened to be Ian's basketball coach! This coming Monday night I am planning to take them to a Dr. Seuss party at the library in Lewisburg, and I assume that is geared for elementary age children since it's being held at 6:00 pm. I have been dressing the kids up in a cat in the hat costume every year since February 2011. The costume Oliver was wearing this week (in the photo above) is the same costume Nadia wore in 2011. Looking at the Dr. Seuss pictures in the past also showed me that my photography skills (and equipment) have improved over the last six years. I wish my learning curve had been a bit faster, but I am very motivated to keep striving to learn more and more about how to be a better photographer.

Kayden was quite at home with our two guinea pigs because they have three dogs and three guinea pigs at their house. In addition to jumping on the trampoline and playing with the guinea pigs the kids played hide and seek, played with light sabers, played rough house, played the piano, and played with cars. My boys can go months without touching a car, but we brought up a few of the race tracks from the basement so they could play with them with Kayden. Cars are Kayden's favorite thing to play with, whereas Ian's favorite is definitely Legos.

Oliver had a roommate three nights this week. Grandpa (my dad) slept in his bed on Sunday and Monday night, and Pop Pop (Paul's dad) slept in his bed on Wednesday night. Oliver sleeps on an air mattress in his bedroom when he has a roommate. Pop Pop came home with Paul from work on Wednesday night because they left for Cleveland on Thursday morning. They plan to return tomorrow night.