Christmas Adam

Growing up we referred to December 23 as Christmas Adam, since Adam was created before Eve. Almost every year over the past eight years we have spent part of Christmas Day at Paul's parent's house and then drove down to Maryland and spent the next few days with my parents. Wendy and her family usually arrived in Maryland late in the evening on Christmas Day. I remember in 2009 we didn't travel for Christmas because Ian had just been released from the NICU. We have usually had our family gift exchange on the morning of Christmas Eve. We have typically done it in the morning so the kids would have a day to enjoy their new things before we left for a few days. The opening gift part of Christmas usually takes place on three days - Christmas Eve at our house, Christmas Day at Paul's parents' house, and December 26 at my parents' house.

This year we are doing things differently in part because my sisters and I thought it would be emotionally a little easier if we celebrated in a different location than usual. Yvonne and her family don't come back every year for Christmas, and they certainly aren't coming this year since they already spent 9 weeks in the US this summer. Maurice has been back in Maryland for two weeks. He's a graduate student in Texas. The plan this year was for Maurice and my Dad to drive up tomorrow around dinner time. They would have dinner with us and then go to the 7:00 Candlelight service at our church. Wendy's family was thinking they'd arrive sometime after 9:00 pm. We were thinking of celebrating with Paul's family on December 28, after my extended family had left our home. For the past 10 years Paul had about one month off (mid December to mid January). He would do some work during that time, but he would do it at home and not need to go to the university. Working for the family business means he doesn't even get Christmas Eve off even though it falls on a Saturday. He is going to come home earlier than usual though. Nadia and Ian remembered that we usually opened our gifts in the morning, but they took it pretty well when I told them it would be after lunch this year.

I started cooking today by making beef stew for tomorrow's dinner, baking an apple pie, and making the sweet potatoes for our Christmas dinner. We have been planning to eat our dinner after church on Sunday. I think I have purchased everything I need for the meals on Sunday. I am planning to make eggnog French toast for a special breakfast on Christmas morning. I feel like I am attempting to fill very big shoes because my mom was a very thoughtful hostess. She knew what kind of cereals the kids liked to eat, what kind of soda Paul likes to drink, etc. I tried to scratch my memory to buy a few things that my extended family would like, but I'm sure I have forgotten something my mom would have remembered. I picked the beef stew knowing my dad and brother enjoy that. I got a lemon meringue pie as one of the three pies for Christmas Day because I remembered that Susie likes lemon desserts. I got two kinds of crackers for my Dad and graham crackers for Drayton. I got a gallon of 2% milk for others (we usually only have skim milk). I bought several pillows this summer, and we will be putting those to good use. My mom got us three air mattresses for Christmas in 2014, and we will be putting those to good use as well as there will be thirteen of us staying here, and we only have enough beds/sofa beds to accommodate nine people.

I know this first Christmas without my mom will be a bit of a landmine emotionally. There are so many Christmas traditions I associate with my mom. She was a very thoughtful and generous when it came to our Christmas gifts. For the last 35 years we went Christmas caroling at several houses near my parents' house and in addition to singing delivered either a plate of Christmas cookies or a loaf of pumpkin cranberry bread. My mom always made a white cake with white icing, and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus before eating that cake. Hopefully my family won't mind that I didn't make a cake. I just couldn't bring myself to do it this year. I have three different kinds of pie and four different kinds of cookies instead. While we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, my mom is in His glorious presence. I struggled emotionally the day we decorated our house for Christmas, but then I've been doing well since then until today. Today was another day I felt like crying many times throughout the day at the thought of celebrating my first Christmas without my mom.

New Bikes

2016 has been the year of new bikes for our three kids from Grandma and Pop Pop. Oliver got a 16 inch Spiderman bike for his 4th birthday in August. He was riding his bike (with training wheels) until the weather got too cold. Ian got a 20 inch green bike for his birthday earlier this month. He hasn't ridden it yet. I'm not going to sell his blue 16 inch bike until I am sure he is tall enough for the new one. Assuming he grows another inch or two in the next six months, he should be ready for the new one next summer. Today Nadia got up early and went with Paul to work so she could spend the day with her grandparents. They took Nadia shopping. They got her a 24 inch bike, colored pencils, and an adult (animal themed) coloring book. Her 20 inch purple Tinkerbell bike was purchased by my mom in 2014. It will be hard to part with that one in light of who gave it to her, but she's a growing girl, and the boys are not going to want to ride a Tinkerbell bike.

This week was the week of doctor's appointments as four of us had annual appointments. Ian and Nadia had theirs on Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday I had the primary care doctor's office do my annual GYN exam because the GYN office was going to postpone my appointment three more months. In the past I have not been very faithful *at all* with getting these done. After seeing what my mom went through this year, I will not need ANY nagging to have these screenings done every year in the future. I had my mammogram last month. Yesterday in addition the pap smear, I had blood drawn for the BRCA gene mutation test. If I had done it at the GYN office, they would have done a mouth swab. If I have the gene mutation, I will be making an appointment with a GYN so I can have surgery. A woman from church came and sat with my kids in the waiting room a few minutes after I was taken back by the nurse. I was very thankful. The PCP is located about one mile from our house. They are very efficient (far more than the OB/GYN). I think I'll keep going to them for the annual appointments as it took far less time. It was the first time in my life I had a pap smear by someone other than an OB/GYN/RE, but I don't think it will be the last time. This evening Paul had an annual physical. The doctor wants to remove one of his moles next month. One of my prayer requests for 2017 is that Oliver won't be hospitalized. I am hopeful that it might happen!

2 seven-year-olds

Thinking back on when Nadia turned seven in June 2015, here are some ways my first two seven year old children are similar and different:

1. Although Ian has come a LONG way over the past several years in this regard, Nadia definitely was far more friendly and extroverted.

2. Similarly, although Nadia was still a bit braver than Ian at this age, he had again come a LONG way. They were both jumping off the diving board without any flotation devices, riding roller coasters, and singing solos or duets in front of large audiences. Nadia didn't want to ride a pony in horse back riding lessons, whereas Ian had to be talked into riding a big horse, and once he did so he realized he loved it.  Nadia enjoyed spending 3 nights at Camp Susque the month she turned 7. Ian loved the Good News Day camp this past summer, but he has no desire to go to an overnight camp at the age of seven.

3. Both were very affectionate although in different ways.

Nadia used to write me many, many love notes when she was this age, whereas I have yet to get one from Ian. On the other hand, Ian is far more prone to verbally speaking words of encouragement and also asks to cuddle with me at least once a day. Ian is also far more empathetic and sensitive to the feelings of others. He experienced the loss of a loved one (Grandma) before he turned seven, and Nadia didn't experience this until she was eight.

4. Both of them were playing the piano (up to 3 notes at one time).

5. Nadia was far more helpful, but Ian also does have some chores that he does around the house such as collecting the garbage from upstairs and bringing it down once a week, making his bed every day, putting away his clean clothes after I do the laundry, helping me dust, and putting away toys.

6. Ian is a much better soccer player than Nadia was at this age. Nadia was more

coordinated with ice skating than Ian.

7. Nadia wanted to do EVERY extracurricular activity possible. I actually had to shorten her list. Ian on the other hand often has to be prodded into doing things. Once he starts he enjoys it, but he thinks he just wants to play all the time (Legos or Mario on the Wii). Her favorite pastimes at home were dolls, books, and the iPad. Ian's are definitely his Mario stuffed animals, playing Mario on the Wii, and playing with Legos.

8. At this age Nadia was more independent. She already knew how to tie her shoes, shampoo her hair, cut her fingernails, and fill in the blanks in the sermon outlines on Sunday morning. Ian hasn't done any of those things yet, but he did learn to ride a bike without training wheels earlier than Nadia did.

9. Nadia had already been learning some Spanish and keyboarding. Ian hasn't started with either of those yet. Both of them were reading chapter books.

10. In terms of school work, when Nadia turned seven she had already finished first grade (= summer birthday), and Ian was half-way through first grade. Nadia had completed the first grade science textbook, whereas Ian will finish the second grade science textbook next month. Nadia had completed part of the third grade science curriculum, whereas Ian will finish the second grade curriculum next month. Nadia was half-way through the 2nd grade math book, and Ian is one fourth of the way through that book. Ian knows his addition and multiplication facts, which Nadia didn't have memorized when she turned seven. Nadia's handwriting was better than Ian's.

11. Although Nadia was the one saying she wanted to be an artist, actually Ian is the one who spends far more time drawing than Nadia ever did.

12. I can't compare their weights/heights precisely because Nadia's appointment was when she was almost 7 1/2 and Ian's was right after he turned 7. But at 7 1/2 Nadia weighed 50 pounds and was 46 inches tall compared to Ian's weight of 48 pounds yesterday and height of 46.5 inches. Although the numbers are very similar, the percentiles were very different because of the difference in gender. Ian still wears size 5 pants, which wasn't true of Nadia when she turned seven.

Thankful Tuesday

1. The kids and I enjoyed the Christmas service at church on Friday night.

2. Paul was home on Saturday! The kids had a great time playing with him, and I was able to do a lot of baking, dishes, and painted the dining room. I love the green walls. When we moved into this house, every room had some shade of white walls with the exception of Nadia's pink bedroom. Paul painted the master bedroom blue and Ian's bedroom green. Two people from church painted Oliver's walls yellow in 2012. This summer I painted Nadia's walls purple, the half bathroom blue, and the kids' bathroom bright green. I repainted the living room, kitchen, hallways, and master bathroom this summer, but they are all still some shade of white or off-white. If I had to do it over again, I wish I had painted our master bathroom a more interesting color. The dining room looks so much better with green walls. I am looking forward to painting the living room in a couple of weeks. I am not going to use any shade of white.

3. The kids sang in both services on Sunday morning. I enjoyed singing "O Holy Night" with my choir.

4. I love the dress Nadia wore on Sunday. Gorgeous!

5. I love my new camera!

6. This is the first year I've put gifts under the tree since 2008.  I waited until the morning we were opening them because I was afraid the kids would open the gifts weeks before they were supposed to do so. I am happy to know they have enough self control to leave the gifts alone. The downside is that I used to move the tree around the room when taking pictures of the kids (mostly so the window would be behind me to get better lighting). With all the gifts under the tree I haven't been moving it at all, but thanks to #5, I have been able to take pictures even though the lighting isn't ideal.

7. We sang many Christmas carols (acapella) in Sunday

School class in between listening to the teacher read the Christmas story from the Bible. I loved it.

8. When I checked our library account a few days ago, it showed that a book was still checked out that I thought I had returned. I searched the van and house high and low and couldn't find it. Today I decided to stop at the library and see if it was on their shelf, and indeed it was. Whew. We typically have 40-60 items checked out at a time, and thus far we haven't lost any, and only one time did I have to pay an overdue fine.

9. Nadia made 5 baskets in her practice this evening! There are seven kids on her team (3 girls and 4 boys). She already knew both of the other girls as one goes to our church and the other was on her soccer team.

9. I am very thankful that the only time I take Nadia and Ian to the doctor is for their annual check-up each December. They had their appointments this afternoon. At Nadia's three year check-up, she weighed 34lbs (80th percentile) and was 36 inches tall (26th percentile). On October 12, 2012, she was 40lbs (75th percentile) and 40 inches tall (39th percentile), on November 8, 2014 she was 47 lbs (80th percentile) and 42.5 inches tall (30th percentile). Those three years they said something to me each time about Nadia's BMI, but in 2015 she didn't say anything because Nadia weighed 50 lbs (55th percentile) and her height at 46 inches was at the 45th percentile. Last year Nadia weighed in at 58 lbs (70th percentile) and was 1/4 inch shy of 4 ft tall (30th percentile). The doctor said she was just shy of being labeled overweight in terms of her BMI. Today she weighed 68 pounds (75th percentile) and her height was 51 inches (45th percentile). Although I think her BMI was actually very similar to what it was last year (today it was 82%), since it was technically in the correct range the pediatrician who saw her today

said it was good. 

Ian weighed 32 pounds in December 2012, 35 pounds in 2013, 39 pounds in 2014 (45th percentile), 41 pounds in 2015 (20th percentile), and 48 pounds today (25th percentile). He was 36 inches tall in 2012, 39 inches in 2013, 41 inches in 2014 (12th percentile), 44.5 inches in 2015 (30th percentile), and 46.5 inches today (25th percentile). Last year she wanted to see Ian gain more weight as his BMI was on the low side. Today the doctor didn't say anything like that because Ian's BMI is 50% since his height and weight are the same percentile. I still think Oliver might end up being the tallest of the three kids when they are full grown, and Ian might end up being the shortest. Time will tell! I decided to skip flu shots this year so it meant none of the kids had a shot today.  Last year Ian failed his vision screening. This year the nurse said he is 20/30 with his glasses on, and she said Nadia was 20/20.

Years down the road

Although I enjoy the pictures of my kids right now, part of the reason I take the pictures and videos is to capture them at these ages to enjoy in future years. Maybe it's because I'm an auditory not a visual learner, but my visual memory is very poor. I think of the ancient quote, "The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory." Of course they weren't referring to photography, but I think the same principle applies. And that's the reason why I do the annual birthday interviews with the kids. I did Ian's today. I'm only seven days behind, which isn't bad. I also uploaded two videos today of the kids singing in church. To be honest, I was tempted to just delete them because Oliver was not on his best behavior to be sure, but some day I'll probably think it was cute, which is not what I was thinking while it was happening. It reminds me of story I was told many times as I was growing up of when I was a toddler. My dad was the pastor and was leading the congregation in singing a hymn. My mom was playing the piano. I stood up on the first pew where I had been sitting, turned around to face the congregation, and attempted to "direct" the congregation with my arms just like my Dad was doing.

This is the Duquesne Incline we rode in Pittsburgh. I took this photo at the top.

To me that story sounds incredibly cute, but when it happened my mom said she was dying of embarrassment. Now that I'm a mom I can understand her reaction better than I could before I became a mom. Something like that is cute when it's someone else's child doing it, but when it's your son talking to the girl next to him when he's supposed to be singing on the platform at church, it's vexing not cute. However, I think even my mom must have found what I did humorous after some time had passed by or I wouldn't have heard the story. Hopefully some day I'll enjoy seeing this video, and even more I hope that in the future he will do a much better job of SINGING with the choir instead of playing with his tie or talking to the girls on either side of him. I wish they had put the top row of kids on the step above the bottom row because it was really hard to see Nadia. I will say that Ian is doing a great job. When I remember that at the age of 4 (Oliver's current age) Ian was too scared to even come up on the platform, it puts Oliver's behavior into perspective. There are three videos below - Ian's 7th birthday interview, the kids singing in the 9:00 service, and the kids singing in the 10:45 service. The pictures in this post are from three cameras - some with  my old camera when we were in Pittsburgh (I still haven't posted all of them yet!), some with my new camera, and the two photos from church were posted on the church's Facebook page today (not taken by me).

A photo of part of our choir as we were singing "O Holy Night" yesterday

Day with Daddy!

Almost every week I make a batch of cookies or brownies. When I make a batch that Paul loves (ex. M&M cookies), I end up making cookies twice in the week because they vanish so quickly. I have quite a few different cookies that I make throughout the year, but sugar and gingerbread cookies are not included in that list. Sometimes I make them at Valentine's Day or some other holiday, but the one time I'm guaranteed to make them is Christmas. They are my least favorite kind to make because of the colossal mess involved. But the kids love decorating those cookies, and so I will keep making them as long as I have a child who wants to do it with me. Of course when they get older I expect they will be more helpful with the cleaning up part of the process, which will make it less odious to me. Yesterday afternoon the kids and I made 3 dozen sugar cookies. Today I made 3 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, two loaves of pumpkin cranberry bread, and about six dozen gingerbread cookies. We have six plates of assorted cookies ready to give the kids'

Sunday School teachers and Soul Patrol kids' choir directors tomorrow, and we'll make up plates on Wednesday for their AWANA leaders. One of the loaves of bread went into the freezer to save for our Christmas dinner. I need to make one batch of chocolate peanut butter chip cookies this week, and that will be it when it comes to making cookies for the near future.

We had sleet in our area during the night, and it was supposed to worse down near the plant so Paul took the DAY OFF!!! Usually *if* he takes a day off (which he doesn't always do - sometimes he goes down there 7 days in a row), it's either on a Sunday OR because he's joining us for one of our frequent outings (ex. he went with us to Corning, NY and to Lancaster this fall). It had been more than six months since he spent a Saturday with us here at home. Sundays are different because we go to church and in the fall we watch football on tv. When I found out he was going to stay home my first thought was to ask him to tackle some things on the honey to do list. Top priority is to repair the grouting around the floor in front of our shower. He told me in May that we were growing mushrooms there. YUCK! He bought the supplies at Lowe's in May, but that's as far as he's gotten with that project. We keep pulling mushrooms out periodically which is incredibly disgusting. Many times he has told me he will do the project on xyz day, but then he's always too tired to do it. Working those long hours at the plant takes a toll on him, and he's exhausted when he's with us. In the 20 years I've known him, I have never known him to take as many naps as he has the past six months.

But then I thought about the kids and how thrilled they would be to have a day with him. It would be the best Christmas gift possible for them. Ian in particular had commented just this week how much he misses his Daddy. This week was worse than normal because he was in Virginia Monday-Wednesday, and he spent Wednesday night at his parent's house because they got back so late. He didn't get home until 8:00pm on Thursday. Oliver was already asleep. He had 15 minutes with Nadia and Ian before they went to bed. The kids and I went to church on Friday night for a special Christmas service, and we didn't get home until 8:30 which meant they went to bed immediately. When Paul is with the kids he gives them 100% of his attention. Today he played the Wii with them, played Don't Spill the Beans with Oliver, did a puzzle with Oliver, read the kids books, did math flashcards with Nadia and Ian, etc. He did help me a little by doing thing like running to the grocery store for molasses for the gingerbread cookies and helping spackle a little in the dining room.

I had wanted to paint the dining room before Christmas, and I was wondering how I was going to get it done, but I figured today was the day when I found out he was staying home. The kids and I had picked up some green paint on Wednesday afternoon. Between the baking and painting, I was on my feet for almost 10 hours straight. I am exhausted! I love the color of the dining room. It looks SO much better than the boring white that has been there since we moved in. I painted many rooms this summer, but the two I hadn't gotten to that were on my list were the living room and dining room. Now I am very motivated to do the living room. Maybe I'll tackle it after we put away the Christmas decorations. It's amazing what a difference a gallon of paint can make. I used a $10 off coupon, which meant it cost me about $15 to repaint that room. The room is a disaster at the moment, but tomorrow after church and the football game I will put the things back in the bookshelves and get everything back in order. With the new flooring in the family room and kitchen on Tuesday and Wednesday and the new paint in the dining room today, this floor of the house has undergone quite a transformation in the past five days! As you can see, I've also been practicing on my new camera. I love it! There is a bit of a learning curve involved in the transition, but I am SO glad I bought it.

I had planned to take the kids to a Happy Birthday, Jesus party at First Baptist this morning, but it was cancelled because of the weather. Then I planned to take them to a party (that included making gingerbread houses) at the library that is very close to First Baptist. Then I planned to come home and make cookies with the kids. I am very glad we just ended up staying home today because it gave the kids far more time with Daddy than they usually get any day of the week. I'm going to be hoping there will be other snow days that keep Daddy from work over the next few months.

Marie

 When I was pregnant with Ian (before we knew we were having a boy), we had picked a girl name. Paul had picked the first name (Deborah in honor of his mom's sister), and I had picked the middle name - Marie, which was my mom's middle name until she got married and made her maiden name her middle name. When I was pregnant with Oliver we didn't spend any time thinking about a girl's name because we knew we already had a name. Now with my mom passing away earlier than expected, I am really wishing we had used the name Marie. Seven years ago I had the idea of sponsoring kids through Compassion who had the same birthdate as my children. I already was sponsoring a girl at that point so I added a boy born on 12-12 after Ian was born, and added another boy born on on 8-7 after Oliver was born. I figured when the girl aged out of the program that the next girl I'd pick would have a birthdate of 6-24, but somehow Compassion picked for me. Nadia enjoys writing Carmen, but I know she has wished for one that shared her birthday.

Wednesday night I did a search and there was ONE girl on their website that was born on June 24. What made this discovery even more amazing to me was that #1 she was born in 2008 like Nadia (the boys we sponsor are older than my boys and #2 her first name is Marie. I couldn't believe it. I chose to sponsor her, and Nadia was thrilled when I told her yesterday morning. I searched Wednesday night and there were multiple boys born on 12-12 and on 8-7 that need a sponsor, but none of them were born in the same day, month, AND year as my boys. One of our boys lives in India, and India has stopped allowing 50% of the NGO's to continue working there, and that includes Compassion. We've been praying that Compassion will be allowed to continue working in India, but if the situation doesn't change we won't be able to keep sponsoring Manu and will have to select another boy. The kids enjoy corresponding with these children and praying for them. I hope to meet them in Heaven some day!

The last photo in this post (the one of Oliver doing a puzzle) was taken yesterday morning. It's the first one I've posted that I took with my new camera. I absolutely LOVE my new camera. I didn't like taking pictures indoors with  my old camera, but I can tell that it will be much easier to get nice ones indoors with my new camera (although I'm sure I'll always prefer natural light). Some people seem to think that people in heaven are constantly watching their loved ones that are still on earth. I don't believe that, but it does seem to indicate in Hebrews that they do at some times have some knowledge of what is happening down here. I wish I could say a big "THANK YOU" to my mom regarding my new camera. I know how much she enjoyed seeing the pictures I posted of her grandchildren on this blog. I wish she could still see them, but we'll have to wait awhile for that to happen, unless the Lord returns in the near future. I love you, Mom, and when I am corresponding with and praying for Marie (who lives in Haiti), I will be thinking of my mom and the day I became a mom.

Thankful Thursday

1. The kids had a blast at the "Parents' Night Out" event. Evidently it's an annual event, and I am hoping the kids can participate again in the future because they had fun and we were able to take a date without paying for a babysitter! We used a gift card that covered most of our bill at Olive Garden. The food was delicious! The kids' event included coloring, kickball, pizza, cupcake decorating (and eating), Santa hat decorating, 9-Square, freeze tag, musical chairs, red light-green light, toilet paper snowman building, and more! Nadia loved the photo booth. She took SO MANY pictures of herself, ha ha!

2. While we were shopping on our date I used three coupons at JCPenney which enabled me to buy Oliver a long sleeve Mickey t-shirt for 80 cents (original price was $18), Nadia a pair of ski gloves for $2.83 (original price was $20), a welcome mat for our front porch for $2.65 (original price was $25), etc. 

3. On Saturday I used coupons at CVS that enabled me to get 6 boxes of Kleenex, 8 boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, and 6 two liters of Pepsi for less than $11 total!

4. I placed two more orders with Shutterfly within the past week using my last two free shipping codes. The one I did yesterday cost me $1.37 for three photo books (saving $161.95). I don't remember how much I saved on the other order, but I know I got two 8x10 prints, two sets of address labels, and a double sided 18x18 pillow (first time "splurging" on the second side) for $7.41 total. CVS, Shutterfly, and JCPenney are three of my favorite companies for how generous they are with coupons!

5. On December 2nd the kids and I had a play date at Isaiah's house. Isaiah is six years old, and his mom is homeschooling him. She treated everyone to pizza from Domino's. The kids enjoyed playing with Isaiah. We plan to invite Isaiah and his mom to come to our house soon. 

6. The kids and I enjoyed the free breakfast with Santa on Saturday morning. It included crafts, cookie decorating, sausage, pancakes, fresh fruit, eggs, juice, hot chocolate, and potatoes. Yum!

7. Nadia, Ian, Paul, and Paul's parents enjoyed seeing A Christmas Carol at our church on Saturday afternoon. The ghost of Christmas past was their favorite character. 

8. Ian and Grandpa had a very special birthday weekend! Paul's parents, brother, and sister-in-law joined us for pizza on Saturday evening. Millie brought two delicious cakes. One was mandarin orange (for my dad), and the other was half chocolate and half vanilla for Ian. I'm very thankful for the 7 years of life thus far God has granted Ian and then 73 years thus far he has granted my dad.

9. The Steelers and the Giants won on Sunday! It looks like both of our teams will probably be in the Playoffs as either a wild card or division winner.

10. My dad had a safe trip to our house on Saturday afternoon and a safe trip back on Monday morning.

11. Ian and Nadia started their basketball season this week. Ian's team name is the Dragons, and Nadia's team name is the Alligators. The husband of the childhood director at our church is her basketball coach, and one of her teammates from soccer is on her basketball team. Small world!

12. We made Christmas ornaments at the library on Monday night, and the kids and I also enjoyed having Ian's birthday dinner at Bonanza that night. Kids' meals are only $2 on Mondays at Bonanza, which is a great price for an all you can eat buffet. That night they also had a Santa there and he was giving out free bags of candy. They had crafts you could do, but we couldn't stay very long because of Ian's basketball practice. 

13.  I collect points through Kellogg's and Coke. I vastly prefer Coke because it takes SO long to get enough points with Kellogg's because the require a LOT of points for their items. For example it takes about 200 boxes of cereal to get a free photo book. Well on Tuesday they started a seven day promotion where you can win free points, and I won what would equal 75 boxes of cereal on Tuesday. I only won a tiny amount yesterday, but I am thankful for what I got on Tuesday and hoping to win more in the next five days. It's possible to win what would be equal to 1,000 boxes of cereal!

14. I am so thankful for the new flooring in the kitchen and family room! I also appreciate that he repaired one edge of the dining room carpet.

 15. The kids are very thankful for the snow! They played outside in it for hours each of the past three days.


16. I'm also thankful that Lindsey allowed me to drop my kids off at her house at 5:45 last night and took them to AWANA so I could attend at least part of the membership class at church. I had to leave 75 minutes before the class was over to go pick them up since Paul was on a business trip. He usually takes them to and from AWANA while I am at choir rehearsal.

17. My gyn appointment was cancelled by my doctor's office. They were going to push it back three months because they have lost two providers. I opted instead to schedule it at my primary care doctor's office. I asked a woman in my Sunday School class if she'd sit with my kids in the waiting room. She lives in our town (which is where our primary care doctor's office is located). I am so thankful she can help me out. I took the kids with me to my dentist appointment on Monday, but it's a whole different matter with a pap smear. I am also having the BRCA genetic test done (hopefully - that's the plan anyhow). Most of my life I have been the kind of person who *hates* to ask for assistance from someone (I think I take after my mom in this). With Paul's work schedule, it has been necessary for me to ask for people to help - arranging other moms to take my kids to and from soccer games, etc. I guess me stepping out of my comfort zone and asking for help from others is probably a good thing even though it does not come naturally to me At All. I also have usually not been faithful in getting these screenings done, but let me tell you after what my mom went through this year I plan on being VERY faithful with getting an annual mammogram and pap smear.

18. My new camera arrived last evening! Amazon had said a signature would be required. We were home all day until 5:45 pm when I left to drop the kids off at Claire's house and then drive to church. I figured I'd come home  at 8:10 to a note on the door saying they tried to deliver it but couldn't since I wasn't home. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find they had just left the package on the front porch without a signature! I am very excited to use my camera for the first time today. I am excited to take my photography to the next level. 

19. Paul's mom's recent biopsy showed she does have some lymphoma in her stomach, but the good news is that they have released a new medication (pill) that she can take daily (probably for the rest of her life) that is supposed to prevent the cancer from growing. We are so grateful she doesn't have to do chemo and/or radiation again, and we're praying that this will be very effective with little or no side effects. 

20. I'm done with my Christmas and birthday shopping for a few months, and I'm very close to being done with wrapping my gifts for various relatives plus the presents my dad had shipped here that he asked me to wrap on his behalf. Now I need to start baking Christmas cookies with the kids!