Thankful Thursday

1. All three kids are healthy. Nadia had a bug for over a week, but she's healthy again. Hopefully they won't get what Paul and I have right now. I skipped choir rehearsal last night due to having a sore throat and fever. The choir usually sings every Sunday morning (Sept through May), but we're not singing the next two Sundays so if I had to miss a rehearsal, it was a good one to miss.

2. I can't exactly figure out how the health insurance we have now works. Some things we pay 100% of the cost and it goes toward our deductible. Some things we just pay a copay, and the insurance pays the rest, and some things the insurance pays 100% of the cost because it's considered preventative. The confusing part to me is what they consider to be preventative. My mammogram and such were preventative and didn't cost us one penny. Paul's annual physical (first one in years) we paid a copay for. Paul's bloodwork (to check his blood sugar, cholesterol and such) we paid 100% of the cost. Aren't those preventative?

The good news is that the things they didn't cover were MUCH cheaper than the things they did cover. The kids' annual appointments are considered preventative so we don't pay a penny for those. The only thing we got charged for with my appointments was the venipuncture for my bloodwork. Thank goodness they covered the BRCA analysis because that was not cheap. I had to pay for two venipunctures since the lab threw out my first sample because they didn't know if I was Jewish, but those are very cheap. Last month I was told my results were negative, which is a good result, although I admit I almost wanted a positive so I could justify a hysterectomy. But I just need to rest in the knowledge that it is highly unlikely that I'll have ovarian cancer like my mom did. I would rather have a surgery now than go through what I witnessed her go through at this time last year. There is a man in my Sunday School class who was diagnosed with leukemia in December. He's been undergoing chemo and still attending the class each week. It reminded me again that my mom's experience with chemo was so far from normal. Her life went from normal (going to the grocery store, going to church, etc.) to immediately being confined to one floor of their home or the hospital. My kids were allowed to come and see her my first trip down, but then even they weren't allowed to come to Maryland with me for five months due to how sick she was. Although I miss her something fierce, I am grateful she is free from all she went through in 2016. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could come up with a cure for cancer? It seems that when you scan a prayer list so many of those on the list have some form of cancer these days.

3. Last night was Duck Tape Night at AWANA. As you can see from the picture below, Oliver wore a chef's hat (Paul cut a few inches off before he went so it would stay on his head better), Nadia wore a tiara, and Ian wore a necktie. I made the tie, and Paul made the other two Duck Tape creations. Tomorrow night Nadia will be participating in an AWANA Bible quizzing event, and next week Nadia and Ian will be in AWANA games (they were called AWANA Olympics when I was a kid). I'm so glad they are able to be in an AWANA.

4. Nadia and Ian both finished their handwriting textbooks, and they are both *almost* done with their spelling. We are just going back through the whole book and reviewing a few words that they struggled with throughout the year. This means we started creative writing today! Ian is writing in manuscript, and Nadia is writing in cursive so they're still getting some practice with handwriting. Today's prompt was to write about an animal that had a superpower of some sort. Surprise, surprise they both wrote about a guinea pig. I am looking forward to spending more time on creative writing with them in the coming months.

5. I'm also enjoying the astronomy science curriculum we started a few weeks ago. This week we're studying the planet Mercury. Normally Oliver doesn't join in on the science lesson, but he did today because we were dropping pebbles and marbles into a pile of flour to simulate asteroids creating craters on a planet, and then we made three models of the planet Mercury out of a salt dough and again put lots of craters on each model. When I was a classroom teacher I made a high priority of doing hands-on activities in science. Although I take the kids on a lot of science related field trips (that are very hands-on), I definitely have been slacking with doing hands-on activities with science at home. Hopefully I will do a better job with our study of astronomy.

6. Paul's mom got good news at the oncologist today. It seems the new medication is doing what it's supposed to, which is great news as we'd prefer that she didn't need to do more chemo. We're still praying for her appointments with the dermatologist to remove the skin cancer, and also for Paul's dad's eye problem to be resolved.

7. The kids enjoyed their ice skating lesson tonight. They have two more lessons and then the final class session is for an open skate and pizza party. Oliver can't wait to join them in the ice skating lessons next year.

8. Paul came home around 5:15 yesterday, which was earlier than usual. It was a treat to have dinner with him. We usually have dinner with him on Sundays. Sometimes we have dinner with him on Saturdays but we can go months without having dinner with him M-F, which made it a treat to eat with him last night. Thankfully everyone liked what I made - barbeque chicken, pierogis, and green beans.

Thankful Tuesday

1. I had a very nice chat with a homeschooling mom during the kids' gym class on Friday morning. Adult conversation is a rare treat for me.

2. Nadia and Ian enjoyed their practice for the upcoming AWANA games on Friday night. They also enjoyed the pizza, chips, and cookies the church provided. We look forward to cheering them on next week!

3. I am aware of our President's character flaws, but I have been praying for him to make wise decisions. I am very certain I won't like all of his decisions, but the one I had been praying about the most was his nominee for the Supreme Court. Time will tell (as we learned from John Roberts who was supposed to be conservative but has actually proven to be a swing vote), but it seems that Gorsuch is a good replacement for Scalia, and those are very BIG shoes to fill. There is no way that Hillary would have nominated someone like Gorsuch.

4. I placed a big order with Shutterfly on Saturday night. It was my first big order in two months, and I wasn't expecting to be able to do one so soon, but it turns out that one type of free shipping code that in the past was only good for one item is now in 2018 good for your whole order! So I ordered $230.89 worth of products with free shipping and paid not one penny. I love how you can stack many coupons in one order with Shutterfly! One of the items I ordered was a photobook of pictures of my mom - some I had taken and some ones I had scanned from her childhood and such.

5. I also hadn't done a couponing trip to CVS since December. On Saturday while Nadia was getting her team picture for basketball, the boys and I went to the CVS near that church and got three 2 liters of Pepsi, 2 big bags of M&Ms, 12 boxes of cereal, 3 boxes of Kleenex, and 36 rolls of toilet paper for a grand total of $23.78!

6. Nadia and Ian each scored a basket on Saturday!

7. We are really enjoying reading The Green Ember. I give it two thumbs up!!! There are three books in the series. We'll read the other two sometime this year.

8. Last year on this day I was with my mom for Valentine's Day. I certainly have no regret for the trips I made to be with her last year. I do have regret that I let her talk me out of coming down in May for Mother's Day. I should have followed Wendy's example and gone even when Mom tried to talk her out of coming. I wish so badly I had spent my mom's last Mother's Day with her, but at least I was there for her last birthday and last Valentine's Day. I love you forever, Mom!

9.Last year I got back from Maryland and just a couple of days later Oliver ended up in the hospital. I'm thankful that he is healthy right now.

10. I am so thankful for my three little Valentines. Although I cook breakfast food about once a week on average, I almost never serve it at breakfast. Valentine's Day is the exception. I usually try to make the kids a hot breakfast for Valentine's Day. This morning Nadia and I had toast with a heart shaped fried egg in the center, and the boys had heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes. Just one little way of trying to show them how much I love them. I gave them their gifts early this year. I got Paul a 2 pound bag of Hershey's cookies and cream candy bars, but he finished those off several days before Valentine's Day, so I got him a big bag of peanut M&M's on Saturday.

11. Nadia made a new friend in the kids choir, and I have invited Baylee to come to our house in a couple of weeks. I definitely don't win the prize when it comes to scheduling play dates for my kids, but I'm thankful that every once in a while I get around to making those type of plans.

12. The kids got Valentine's Day cards and gifts from my dad and Paul's parents. They are much appreciated!

13. The two Bible studies I was in had been meeting from 7-9pm, and they both switched recently to 6:30-8:30. I like the earlier ending time since I'm not a night owl. The kids have been getting up earlier so I've been going to bed earlier. I went to bed at 9pm the last two nights, and that's not possible if I'm at church at 9:00!

14. Nadia was really disappointed we didn't go on our scheduled field trip yesterday, but I was thankful my friend, Della called me to let me know most of the schools in that area had a two hour delay or were closed due to icy roads. We had planned to meet her for lunch on our way back home. I haven't seen Della in years, but we are determined to make plans again and hopefully get together sometime this year. She was the first grade teacher in the school where I was principal from 1996-2003. I think we hired her in 1997, if my memory serves me correctly, and she was a fabulous teacher!

15. On Sunday morning I had gathered all the snow gear so we could go to R. B. Winter State Park for their annual Snowfest after church. Then Paul pointed out that it was raining. I checked the forecast and discovered it was supposed to rain until 4pm. The idea of being outside in 34 degree weather with rain wasn't appealing so we didn't go. Ian was looking forward to ice fishing, Oliver was excited about the search and rescue program with dogs, etc. We went two years ago, and it was the first time the kids rode a snowmobile. I had bought sleds a couple of weeks ago with Snowfest in mind as we discovered two years ago that was a good idea as it's on a mountain and they had a great place to sled. I had planned on taking the kids last year, but then I ended up going to Maryland, and Paul didn't feel comfortable taking the kids there by himself. There won't be a Snowfest there next year because the woman is retiring in June and there's a state wide freeze on all FT positions. She was telling us about a state park where her daughter is the naturalist, but I looked online and it's about 2.5 hours away. I might take the kids there once, but I certainly wouldn't travel that far on a regular basis, but in my searching I found another state park that is near Penn State (a little more than an hour from us), and if their naturalist offers programs for homeschoolers I might give that a whirl at least once, particularly if it's a 3-4 hour program, which would make it easier for me to justify the drive. I discovered they offer some nice programs for kids in the summer. Nadia was disappointed the archery camp was already full (in February- for a camp in August!), but I signed her up for a 2 day (a few hours each day) kayak camp in June, and I signed Ian and Nadia up for a one day all day Wild Child program that involves fishing, kayaking, archery, how to build a fire safely, and much more. So I'm excited about trying out a new state park since the one closest to us won't have any programs after the middle of June for at least a couple of years.

16. I am glad the kids love their guinea pigs so much. I had a fear of chasing these creatures through the house, but that was totally unfounded. First of all, if they "escape" they run TO the cage, and secondly they rarely try to escape. They will sit in one spot for quite awhile whether that's on a child's lap or on a spot on the floor next to where they are playing. Now if we could only litter train these creatures. It is super easy to get Patches to purr, which is also a treat. Jenna purrs also but not as often as Patches. I never would have pictured myself owning two rodents, but they are much more cuddly than a gerbil or mouse (in my opinion), and none of us are allergic to them. I have a mild allergy to both cats and dogs, and Paul has a more significant allergy to cats.

17. The kids often say things that just crack me up. Yesterday they were into measuring things around the house with a tape measure. Ian was accurately telling me how many inches high, wide, and long the guinea pig cage was, and then Oliver came over and measured me with the tape measure while I was seated and said, "Mommy you are four pounds!" HA HA HA! Four is naturally his favorite number since that's his age.

18. Speaking of four-year-olds, today we had super quick FaceTime call with the Towfighis because Julianna turned four today. With the time difference it's her bedtime when we're eating lunch, which makes chatting with cousins a bit trickier to schedule. We hadn't talked to them much since November, but we had a longer chat last week. So grateful for technology that makes this possible! We also FaceTimed with the Benners a little on Friday because it was Adam's tenth birthday. We are looking forward to visiting them in two months hopefully. Nadia wrote Susie an email this week, and she was so happy to get a response back right away. It was good practice for her keyboarding skills also, plus it's nice for the cousins to have more communication than just at Christmas each year. I wish their cousins didn't live so far away, but I'm thankful for things like email, texting, and FaceTime to help bridge the gap.

Thankful Thursday

1. On Friday after gym class I took the kids to Lewisburg. We got pizza at Vennari's for lunch. That is my MOST favorite pizza place bar none, and we hadn't had any pizza from there since May because Paul used to pick it up on his way home from Bucknell. Then we enjoyed seeing some ice carvings. I planned to take the kids back to the ice festival on Saturday morning for some games, but since it was SO cold outside we opted not to return. Maybe next year! The pizza was scrumptious, and they were having a special that meant we got a free order of breadsticks, which were also delicious.

2. Friday night I took Nadia and Ian to Bucknell for family night at their observatory. They looked out of a large refracting telescope that was built in the late 1800's. Nadia enjoyed seeing the craters on the moon. They made a craft (supposed to look like a protostar), looked out of a reflecting telescope, listened to a 30 minute concert by a singer/guitarist who sang songs about the planets, and heard part of a talk by a professor about stars.

3. I was summoned for jury duty last June, but I asked to be excused because my mother was on hospice. That request was approved. I was summoned again last month. I asked to be excused because I am homeschooling my three children, but that request was denied. Thankfully they didn't have a civil case this week so I didn't need to actually appear, but they said it means I'm going to get summoned again.

4. Grandma and Pop Pop were able to come to the kids' basketball games on Saturday. The games were back to back (12:00 and 1:00) which was really nice. It's the only time that will happen this season.

5. I went shopping by myself on Saturday afternoon at the mall, which is an extremely rare occasion. I would have enjoyed it more if I had been feeling better (had a fever and was upset about something), but I used three coupons that took $15 off my purchases at JCPenney and PetSmart and. I spent about $12 total at the mall. I got some food for the guinea pigs, two long sleeve Mickey t-shirts for Oliver for next year, and two short sleeve Mario t-shirts for Ian for next year.

6. Yesterday we had a field trip to the Children's Museum. They had one white bull snake, three ball pythons, and one bearded dragon available for the kids to hold. I would have gotten better pictures if I had brought my speedlight. The lighting in the museum is awful, and I had to raise the ISO way higher than usual and use a wider aperture than I really wanted to, which meant the pictures are definitely not as crisp or "in focus" as I wanted. Next time hopefully I'll remember to bring the speedlight. Usually they have the programs in the classroom, which has better light than most of the museum, but they are remodeling the classroom right now (putting in a big sink, kitchen, etc.).

7. It was SO warm that I took the kids to the playground after we spent two hours at the museum. What a gift the warmer weather was!

8. Today was quite the opposite. Very cold, windy, and we got about six inches of snow. Paul had to take a snow day because it wouldn't have been safe to drive to work this morning.

9. At Walmart yesterday I finally got Ian a strap for his glasses. It cost less than $5, and now his glasses are staying where they are supposed to. Yay!

10. The kids and I made Valentine's sugar cookies today. Usually I don't take a day off of school for snow, but since Paul was home I did. The kids did a little science and social studies with Paul, and they always read at least a couple of chapters in whatever book they are reading, but I'm not counting today as a school day.

11. Nadia and Ian love to listen to Christian contemporary music. We love our local Christian radio station. I know there might be a time in the future where our tastes do not agree, but it's nice that we all like the same music right now. My parents were not fans of Christian contemporary music when I was a child (that's putting it mildly - I was told it was "bad" because drums were used); so I didn't listen to my music in their presence, but I am thankful at least two of my kids share my taste preferences in music right now. One of my most favorite songs at the moment is "Thy Will" by Hillary Scott. I heard on the radio recently that she wrote the lyrics a couple of years ago following a miscarriage. Maybe that is in part why the song resonates so strongly with me. When Nadia and Ian were little all they wanted to listen to were VeggieTales or Slugs and Bugs CDs. Let me say Hillary Scott is much easier on my ears than Bob the tomato!

12. Although I'd still like to get myself a pair of snow boots at some point, the rain boots I wore for the first time today did a MUCH better job of keeping my feet dry while we were out in the snow today. Yay!

13. My Bible study was still held this evening. I am enjoying my studies on 1 Samuel and Revelation. Unfortunately the kids' ice skating lessons were cancelled, and they didn't email or call or text us so we drove down there (30 minutes one way) for naught. Bummer. But we did enjoy dinner at the Domino's near the ice skating rink before we found out the class was cancelled.

14. I'm thankful that Odd Squad is available on Amazon Prime. All three kids love that show, and I like that it's an educational show.

15. As always, I am thankful for my camera and lenses! I took TONS of pictures the last couple of days - too many to include in this post, but here are a few. I'll share more in the coming days.