Thankful Tuesday

1. The weather forecast for Thursday looks perfect for Nadia's pool party. I'm very thankful because the weather yesterday (70's and raining) wouldn't have worked out very well.

2. We had a great day last Thursday - trolley ride in Scranton for one hour, miniature golfing, water park, and Cars 3 all for less than $20 total. Nadia really wanted to do the zip line, but they had a weight requirement of 75 pounds, which she just barely missed. I am sure she'll weigh enough next year when she's almost 10 years old.

3. On Friday we enjoyed free admission to the Milton pool. It was Ian's first time going down that water slide because they have a 48 inch height requirement. He went down it many times! They were giving away popcorn, bottles of water, candy, etc. in honor of the town's bicentennial.

4. The kids also enjoyed their second horseback riding lesson last Friday.

5. On Saturday Oliver had a great time with Grandma and Pop Pop while Ian and and Nadia participated in the PA Wilds Child program at the Black Moshannon State Park. They enjoyed geo-caching, archery, fishing, rock climbing (Ian wasn't crazy about it but Nadia loves it), and Ian also made a scented wax teddy bear.

6. We enjoyed going to church, Bonanza, and seeing Titanic with Paul's parents on Sunday. We're thankful for our fathers!

7. Nadia and Ian are enjoying the painting and drawing class at the children's museum this week. I should have brought my camera today as the weather was nice enough that they were painting outside (I prefer taking pictures in natural light). Yesterday Oliver enjoyed the playground during their 3 hour class. Today he spent part of the time in the museum and part at the town's playground.

8. My dentist appointment went smoothly yesterday. Nadia and Ian sat in the waiting room, and Oliver sat on the floor of the exam room and used the iPad while I got my teeth cleaned.

9. About ten days ago the credit card company alerted us to the fact that they thought there was fraudulent activity on our card. We hadn't misplaced either card, but someone had our number. Thankfully the credit card company declined the charges that weren't really from us and issued us new cards.

10. I have been waiting for a month to hear back from IUP about my certification. I finally called today instead of emailing. Lesson learned. I should have called sooner. Today they emailed me the information. Now to hope I can take the appropriate Praxis test in the near future (and pass it) so that I will have PA PS-12th grade certification as a supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction. It will cost money now, but in the long run it will save us money with homeschooling plus it will enable me to earn money by reviewing the portfolios of other homeschoolers.

11. We've ordered an elliptical! I have been swimming some laps at the pool, but I think the elliptical will be something I can use year round to lose weight and stay in better shape. I can't wait to get started!

12. Yesterday I enjoyed my most favorite salad in the entire world - the strawberry salad at Panera thanks to a $5 coupon they sent me.

13. Last night we enjoyed dinner together (a very rare treat for us to eat together on a weekday) at Friendly's using a gift card to start celebrating Nadia's birthday, and I was able to get my hair cut! Before having kids I got my hair cut every about 5-6 weeks but now I'm happy if I get it cut every 3-4 months.

Birthday Week

Today we started celebrating Nadia's birthday. The celebrations will continue on Thursday (her party) and Saturday (her actual birthday). Technically I gave her one gift early this past weekend, her own email address. She has been emailing with Susie (her cousin) for the past several months, and I decided she could have her own account (to which I know the password, naturally) when she turned nine. That was a gift that she loved and didn't cost me a penny. Similarly she knows that when she turns nine her bedtime will shift from 8:30 to 9:00. She has been begging for that to start early as well, but I've been holding off on that one. In part because I am generally with the kids from somewhere between 6-7am and 8:30pm almost every day so although I love them to pieces I am not super excited about that time being expanded. I am thinking I might tell her she can stay up but needs to stay in her room, partially because often times Paul is watching something that is not appropriate for kids. Considering he often is up before 3AM, we can't expect him to stay up later at night just

so he can watch something after the kids are down.

We'll be serving pizza at her birthday party, but she asked if we could also go to Friendly's for her birthday. We could have gone on Saturday night, but I had a $10 off coupon that was expiring tomorrow so we opted to go out tonight instead. We were using a gift card, but we like to stretch out the gift cards by using coupons with them. Paul came home early (5pm) so that we could have dinner at 6pm (very late for our kiddos). I had a hair appointment at 7pm (in the same mall as Friendly's). I was a few minutes late as we weren't leaving Friendly's until 7:00, but it worked out perfectly. It had been three months since I had a haircut. Paul took the kids to Toys R Us while I got my haircut. Nadia used a $3 coupon plus some of her own money plus the $9 we gave her for her birthday to buy a Beauty and the Beast Barbie doll that looks like the character from the newer movie. Oliver used some money from Valentine's Day that he hadn't spent yet plus a $3 coupon to buy a pool toy. Nadia was given

a balloon and a crown at the store in honor of her birthday. I also got her string cheese at Walmart today. I only buy string cheese for Oliver and Nadia's birthdays. This week I will also be buying a gallon of chocolate milk and donuts for our breakfast on Saturday (two more birthday traditions we have).

This week is the beginning of lots of camps, classes, and lessons over the next two months. This week is painting and drawing "camp" from 10-1 at the Children's Museum M-F. Today they did some papier-mache and also another stained glass project. Oliver and I hung out at the playground until the rain interfered with those plans. Tomorrow night they begin Kidzway Camp at our church from 6:00-8:30pm the next four nights (which is partially why we went to Friendly's tonight). Nadia was very disappointed that it was rainy and we couldn't swim at our pool this afternoon, but I was happy to have some time at home. Next week the kids will have tennis and swimming lessons in the morning and a sports camp at a church in the evening. Never a dull moment this summer! I'm trying to work on the paperwork to submit to the school district for next school year and also do some research into a possible trip to Niagara Falls in September.

Father's Day

In addition to thinking of my dad, Paul's dad, and Paul each Father's Day, I also remember our first baby because it was a little before Father's Day in 2005 that I found out I was pregnant. That was the first time I gave Paul a Father's Day card, and it was three more years until I gave him his second one. I hope my mom has met our first baby.

I had Nadia and Ian make cards for Paul and Pop Pop on Friday. I also got them each a can of cashews that day. Grandma helped Oliver make a card for Paul on Saturday when he

was at their house. The kids and I went to Sunday School during the first service. I was helping out with the 3rd-5th graders. Paul and his parents joined us at 10:45 for the worship service. Oliver joined us as well, although typically he stays in his class for both services. After church we went to Bonanza for dinner. I have never seen the place so crowded! Thankfully we were seated pretty quickly as we could only stay there for about 1hr 15 minutes as then we were heading back to see Titanic at 2:00. They did a top quality job with the

performance, but I can't say it's going to go down as my favorite musical. It was the first time we bought a ticket for Oliver to see a performance there. In the past Paul and I have taken turns staying home with him. It was a bit tough for him to sit through a 3 hour musical that wasn't as child friendly as the productions at Sight and Sound (more boring for a little guy), but I knew his ticket was cheaper than hiring a babysitter. On the way home I called my dad, and then after eating a little snack I mowed the lawn despite the fact it was about 90 degrees out, which is definitely not my favorite temp for mowing the lawn.

My kids love their Dad, Grandpa, and Pop Pop very much. Especially with the passing of my mom, I am not taking their presence in our lives for granted.

PA Wilds Child

Nadia and Ian participated in the PA Wilds Child program today at Back Moshannon State Park. This park is in the general direction of State College. It took us 75 minutes to get there. If we were a little closer we might go out there more often, but I thought it was worth the drive for a six hour program. There were three one hour classes plus a break for lunch and time to walk from session to session. There were over 100 children there, but there were usually no more than about 15 kids in a particular session because they had multiple sessions running during each of the four periods. Classes including things like hand spinning, wilderness survival, kayaking, hiking, atlatl, first aid, rope making, bee keeping, campfire cooking, fire fighting, etc. Nadia and Ian had three classes together - geocaching, archery, and rock climbing. During the third session Ian made a scented wax teddy bear (his favorite activity of the day) while Nadia was fishing. Once a fish bit her worm, and another time she screamed that she caught one, but he escaped before she could reel him in. At the registration

they provided juice and small donuts, and at lunch they served hot dogs, chips, apples, and cake. Our lunches were included in the registration fee. Ian's least favorite activity was the rock climbing. He only made one small attempt, and then his fear of heights brought an end to that. On the other hand, Nadia went up many times over the course of an hour. She was very proud to ring the buzzer at the top a couple of times!

Oliver spent the day at Grandma and Pop Pop's house. The plan had been for all of us to see our town's parade this evening. Oliver usually loves to see the fire engines, and the other two love to pick up pieces of candy. But Nadia REALLY wanted to go swimming. I should have packed our swim suits, and they could have swum in the lake at the park. Instead the three of us came home, ate a very quick meal, and then drove to the pool. The plan at that point was to just have a short swim and go straight to the parade, but there were some other kids at the pool whom Nadia and Ian were really enjoying playing with, so they decided to skip the parade. Paul also decided to skip the parade since Oliver fell asleep in the van on the way home from work/ Grandma's house. Ian was very sweet and he put a Pittsburgh Steeler ribbon on the coconut scented wax teddy bear in my honor.

Jam packed day!

Yesterday morning we left the house at 8:45am, and we didn't get home until almost 13 hours later. Our first stop was to ride a one hour trolley ride in Scranton. The ride started at the Steamtown National Historic Site. We ate our packed lunch in the van as we drove the short ride to Montage Mountain, a ski resort. At the resort we played miniature golf and then spent about four hours in the water park. They had a wave pool, lazy river, and three different types of water slides. Nadia and Ian were tall enough to ride all of them, but only Nadia rode the biggest one (with Paul). Oliver was tall enough to ride two different types, but he only rode the one where you laid on your belly on a mat. They rode that one many times. We got dinner at Burger King (using a gift card) on the way back home.

About half way home we stopped in Berwick to see Cars 3 at the movie theater. Because of our WVIA membership, the trolley ride, miniature golf, and water park were totally free. The kids also got free tickets to see the movie plus they each got a free drink and a free popcorn.

Oliver picked a bottle of water, and the other two picked a cup of fruit flavored iced tea. Paul and I had to pay for our movie tickets, which were $5 each. I didn't buy any food or drink. Paul got himself a popcorn and soda for $3 total. We also had purchased a snack at the water park that we shared. So all in all our jam packed day cost us $19.25 plus the gasoline to get there and back. My first choice would have been to take them there to see Despicable Me 3, but that would have involved making a special trip out there whereas it was on our way home to see Cars 3 last night. We'll just wait until Despicable Me 3 comes out on DVD. This was a rare treat to see a new release in the theater. Usually we just wait until we can check it out on DVD from the library (for free).

At first it was in my opinion a little too chilly to go swimming, but eventually the sun came out and I was in the wave pool, lazy river, and did the mat water slide. Ian is always the one most prone to shivering. Of the three kids he spent the most time out of the water. I would say we will definitely plan on renewing our

WVIA membership in December. It is well worth the money!

This morning we stayed home, and then after lunch we went to the Milton swimming pool. It was free to get in there today because Milton is celebrating their bicentennial this week. They were giving away many freebies today including popcorn, candy, bottles of water, etc. It was cooler today (in the 70's) so I didn't even wear my bathing suit. I read a little bit. They had a water slide that Nadia and Ian went down many times. One of Nadia's softball teammates was there, and they had fun swimming together. After swimming we went to Walmart and the library and then to horseback riding lesson #2. Ian rides Beau, Nadia rides Baye, and Oliver rides Clyde.