June 2018

Um...It's actually June 24th (though I plan to finish this later). It's been a good month, but starting more than three weeks late means I will definitely forget some important blessings.

Here are some June blessings I've experienced.

1. Strawberry picking with the kids.
2. Enjoying pound cake to go with the strawberries.
3. A new microwave. (The microwave was only four years old. Derek repaired it after it died on Thanksgiving Day. This time...the microwave could not be repaired.) 
   
4. Evan found his lost sweatshirt at school. Not the one he lost earlier in the year but the new sweatshirt.
5. A fabulous day at the Children's Book Festival in North East, MD. Derek even brought the kids at the end...and then it began raining.
6. Visiting friends from northeastern PA at AI duPont Children's Hospital before their little girl's heart surgery. Surgery went great!
7. Signing a contract for a book idea I had back in 2014. This will be the first book I can potentially earn royalties on. (This is a fairly big deal.)
8. Taking the kids swimming on their last day of school.
9. A nice Father's Day for Derek.
10. Fresh chocolate chip cookies. 
11. Chocolate chip cookies out of the freezer.
12. Meghan having a great week at the Summer Career camp.
13. A cleaner basement. Granted it still needs to be disinfected due to septic leaking onto the wall and floor. But we lost very little. The basement is significantly decluttered! 
14. Derek being home to find the leak. 
15. Getting a plumber here within a couple hours...instead of the Friday to Tuesday wait two plumbers told us of. Number three worked out for a diagnosis and temporary fix. Number one is who we hired to do it though since they were thousands less. 
16. Evan being in a group of all boys for swim lessons. For the past few years he hated being the only boy in his group.
17. The children having a good dentist appointment. They're also more committed to using their electric toothbrush after a talk with the dental hygienist. 

May 2018

With May's arrival I can finally say it feels like spring. However, May 3 and 4 are supposed to be about 90 and humid. Oi. (Edited: I wrote that more than a month ago. May was a cool, wet month.)

Here are May's blessings.

1. Wearing less layers of clothing.
2. Reaching 20,000 words in my latest writing project.
3. Making these biscuits. Do you see the layers...even if they are a bit uneven.

4. Meghan gave me a hug goodnight and realized I had a fever. (It was only low-grade.) Thankfully I woke up feeling more myself.
5. Having a cuddly cat.
6. Beautiful temperatures with low humidity.
7. The same publisher that made me an offer on a book 25 months ago was finally able to give me a contract for the same book. (We'd been waiting on rights and permissions.)
8. An easier week of baseball. I love watching them play, but it's exhausting to have dinner ready at 4:30 (and can't be late!) four nights in a row...let alone the late nights for all of us.
9. Visiting Esther's class to read one of my books to them and talk about how insects and flowers help each other.
10. Chaperoning part of Meghan's big field trip at Ashland Nature Center.
11. Memories of Nature's Classroom while at Ashland.
12. Seeing Meghan work through some friend issues and have fun with #10.

13. Meghan giving me a spontaneous kiss as I helped serve dinner at #10. That hasn't been allowed in public for a long time!

 14. Meghan appreciating me during the field trip and letting me know I'd be missed. (For the microscope use, hats had to be backwards.)

15. Knowing Meghan's favorite teacher would give her extra love after I would leave to sleep at home.
16. Watching Evan's great hit...even if it was caught.
17. Evan asking if I saw his big hit. He was proud even if it was caught and he was out.
18. Hearing Esther sing a song she made up. "Shaking my booty all day long..."
19. Feeling appreciated on Mother's Day. Esther wanted to give me dinner in bed since I didn't get breakfast in bed. (Maybe I shouldn't have declined.) Derek even made chocolate chip cookies. It was good to be loved.
20. Watching birds at my new bird feeders.
21. Knowing the whole family is already enjoying my Mother's Day gift of the bird feeders.
22. Helping Evan complete his roller coaster project. It was his first big research project with a tri-fold display.
23. Hearing Evan tell about his group working together on roller coasters at school...and winning the big competition.
24. Evan telling me how a girl (Kate) said anyone on Evan's roller coaster team would likely win the roller coaster competition.
25. Kate was right. Evan's team took first place.
26. Esther wanting to walk to the bus stop in the rain. We only did it once before. The first time was really windy with a heavy rain. I didn't really try to talk her out of it though we did get a bit wet under the umbrella. This time she said it'd be okay because it wasn't windy. She was right.
27. This detailed drawing Meghan made of me makes me chuckle every time I see it. She made it in 2014. When I showed it to her she said it was "cringy" because I don't have yellow skin, big lips, or apple cheeks. Oh, and the ugly glasses. She didn't mention the Christmas snake eyes being a concern...

28. Hearing Evan exclaim, "That's where all my stuff is!!" He was looking in his duffel bag. His last overnight trip may have been in March during spring break.
29. Morning walks after the bus stop for exercise. I get bored so I typically only do a mile...but occasionally it's more.
30. Working in the flowerbed with Derek.
31. Meghan making snickerdoodle blondies since I was busy in the flowerbed. They were a big hit at Bible study.
32. Making good progress on my writing project...and getting excited about it.

March's Blessings

Let's dive in...

1. A husband who buys some of our groceries every week at Aldi so I only have to shop a couple times a month
2. Knowing that high winds were coming and putting the basketball hoop on its side (despite the 300 pounds of sand inside it)
3. A fabulous trip to Philadelphia
4. The kids loving the visit to Philly
5. My first real Philly cheese steak
6. Seeing Derek's grandparents, uncle, and mom while they were close by for the Holstein convention
7. Evan spending his own money on an inexpensive train set and loving it
8. Teaching Esther's class at church
9. Hearing from Evan's teachers some great improvement in work habits
10. Having a day of basketball where we attended all three kids' games as a family
11. Having a shopping day with Meghan, even if it was exhausting
12. Learning that Meghan and I had a Wendy's lunch date...same as Derek, Evan, and Esther but in different towns
13. Meghan loving her exceptional Sunday school teacher
14. Meghan carefully spending with a gift card and saving plenty for later
15. A new purse...that is so small Evan's emergency medication couldn't fit in it...but I don't have to consider that any more which is an even bigger blessing
16. Knowing you're kids are really smart
17. At Meghan's suggestion, getting rid of the calendar in my purse (because it didn't fit) and using the Google calendar on my phone...which I had already been using on my computer
18. Only packing one lunch (Esther's) because of early dismissals for all the kids
19. Then finding out she doesn't need lunch at school either and packing no lunches for one day
20. Enjoying the kids' early dismissal with a trip to the library
21. Getting an email from Evan's teacher about a fabulous work day
22. Evan getting excited about his improvements in school and hanging a paper on his bedroom wall
23. An invitation to a children's book festival
24. Meghan still cuddling up next to me
25. Meghan trying (again and again) to scare me
26. Esther's hugs and jokes
27. Meghan making no-knead bread
28. Eating Meghan's bread
29. A busy week of revisions and school visit preparation
30. A school visit that was wonderful though exhausting and still worth it
31. Derek supporting me and sending me to a writing conference
32. The writing conference
33. Being home early enough from the writing conference on Sunday to recover so I could get right back to work on Monday
34. An unexpected early dismissal on the first day of spring followed by snow days at the end of March...but not losing spring break
35. Knowing the children would be home early from school and saving errands for the afternoon so they could experience Rita's water ice for the first time
36. Managing to find some time to work on a manuscript and prepare for another school visit with the children home
37. Driving to northeastern PA with good timing...despite leaving Derek at home.
38. Spending Saturday and Sunday with family (both mine and Derek's)
39. A great author visit to Northeast Bradford...my alma mater!

40. Returning to sleep in my own bed.
41. Watching cousins play together and often get along...
42. Reading an article about the school visit and appreciating the journalist didn't make me sound like a fool (since I don't interview well)
43. Visiting the Herr's factory again
44. Sleep.

February's Blessings

1. January is over! I lost count of the 2-hour delays, but we also had multiple snow days during that month...along with 2 scheduled days off from school and 5 sick days between Evan and Esther.
2. Meghan sick on a snow day. She didn't want to change her perfect attendance.
3. Clean and disinfected bathrooms. (See #2.)
4. Watching the kids' basketball skills improve.
5. Solid writing time.
6. Enjoying the Olympics with the whole family.
7. Valentines.
8. Volunteering at a book event for teens called Festival of Words.
9. A night out for Derek and me.
10. Derek's family coming to visit.

11. Tons of leftovers after the family visit.

12. Janice's cheesecake. I think it is the best I've ever had!

13. Germs not spreading to the rest of us when Esther had yet another fever and cough.

14. The second half of the month being pretty healthy.

15. My writing time well-focused.

16. Meghan's cute, new haircut.

17. Hope of a possible book contract that's been on hold for a long time.

18. Evan's fun Curriculum Night at school. Meghan joined me to make it extra fun. 

19. I didn't attend, but Meghan had a fun and successful Curriculum Night, too. 

20. Meghan finally finishing her quilt...but so far has refused pictures.

21. Esther spotted the first robin of spring on 2/28 on the way to the bus stop. After she was on the bus, I saw another dozen or so on my walk around the neighborhood.

(Boy, I didn't do very well at keeping track of them this month!)

How We Spent Christmas Vacation

On my other blog, This Simple Home, I took Fridays to consider the blessings of the week (usually five).  I am going to start doing here, since it is such a  nice summary of our weeks and focusing on the positive.

I'll back up a bit and consider Christmas vacation.  Here is the good stuff!

1. Safe travels.  Though Esther threw up on the way to NE PA (five hours), we made it there and home again a few days later without any problems.  Part of this was due to us making the choice to leave a day early to beat the storm.

2. Grandma's 90th birthday.  We had a great time with Derek's family celebrating the wonderful woman his grandma is.  All of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren were there!!

3. Family.  We were able to see most of my family and all of Derek's family while up.  We left here at 7 a.m. on Saturday and returned Christmas night (Tuesday) at 11 p.m.  In between we had Christmas with my mom, dad, Derek's extended family, and Derek's immediate family.  Plus, we had a birthday party for Grandma!  

4. HOME!!  Then we came home!  From Thursday until the following Wednesday I only left the house to go to the pharmacy and church.  It was wonderful to be home!!  (If you didn't know, I am a homebody and prefer to be right here at home.)

5. Sewing with Meghan.  Meghan learned to sew over Christmas break, at age 6!  It was awesome to spend that time together.  I wrote more about how we did it and included some more pictures at the other blog here.  She really sewed almost every stitch herself!

6. A painted bedroom.  Derek painted our bedroom on his time off.  Neither of us love it, but we are glad it is painted.  Now, maybe after 4.5 years, we will hang something on the bedroom wall??