Post-Thanksgiving Blessings

I realize that Thanksgiving is technically behind us, and I am no longer obligated to list things for which I am grateful. However, Scott has been putting in quite a few extra hours due to a major deadline that is looming on his primary project. And we haven't seen much of him around here lately. The kids miss Daddy. I miss Daddy. Everyone's patience is wearing thin, and we're all going a little crazy over here. :)

So in order to combat the crankies which are rampant in this house, I am trying to count my blessings today, instead of focusing on all of the overwhelming and demanding things that are swirling around. Here are a few...

1. Our bank recently merged and in the system change-over, royally messed up all of our online bill payments that were scheduled and other banking info. This problem has been ongoing for a week, and I think it's finally cleared up. (Didn't I just give thanks for online banking?) So the bank called this morning and told me that they are depositing an extra $25 into our checking account for all of the trouble that they caused us. I'm cheap, I think a cool $25 is a blessing. :)

2. Lily got to go to a local science center's homeschool program yesterday, and had a fabulous time! They studied Cold Chemistry and I was personally impressed with the liquid nitrogen experiements they did during orientation. She made some "snow" aka sodium polyacrylate to bring home, and a crystal garden and some other fun stuff. Lily loved the whole thing, and I was glad she went, since I feel like a failure in the science department lately. Plus, I bumped into a homeschooling mother who is friends with my aunt, and we had a nice chat during her class.

Lily, my little photog-in-training, insisted I take a picture of her as we were leaving. :)


3. Boys and their toys. Need I say more?! Here are Joey and my dad on his tractor, mulching leaves last weekend. Joey LOVED the tractor! And has since informed me that for his next birthday, he wants "a toy tractor that sucks up leaves." I'll keep my eyes open for that one in the toy aisle. :)

3. Here is a blessed sight that greeted me mid-morning:

Lily and Joey got themselves into character as "Mary and Joseph." I would like to draw special attention to Mary's lovely marabou, high-heeled footwear. I'm sure those were a wardrobe essential to a largely pregnant woman riding a donkey on the dusty trail. And let's not even mention the two, FEMALE babies she is cuddling in the above picture. And how about Joseph's staff (formerly known as a loose bedrail)? Sure, son, just rip the house apart, while you're at it. :)

The truth of the matter is that no matter what situation I find myself in, I always have MUCH to be thankful for. And that is not true just at Thanksgiving time or during the Christmas season. It's true even on the hard days when kids are sick, and mommies are tired, and daddies are busy, and the house is a mess, and there is a list a mile long of things that aren't getting accomplished and all sorts of things are changing and life feels overwhelming and I feel like hopping on a bus to the Carolinas. :) I am very, very blessed. It all depends on where my eyes are looking.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: ~ Psalm 103:2

Gracie-Scissorhands

I turn my back for one minute. I'm telling you it was ONE MINUTE! And she has the scissors out of the drawer and up the stairs. And look what she did to her dress...



The culprit very distraught over her own doings...

In her own words...

She kept crying the same thing over and over again..."I boke a dresth! I boke a dresth!" (I broke my dress.) I'm hoping the agony of the whole experience is a reminder to her to- DON'T TOUCH THE SCISSORS. (that and a hefty dose of training!) :)

I'm going to go prematurely gray before age 30 because of my baby girl, I just know it!!

And this is another week of humonguous overtime for Scott.

Someone pass me the dark chocolate.

And the Clairol Nice'n Easy. I'll be needing it.

Our Thanksgiving...in pictures

Gracie and Maria

Maria, Gracie, and Lily

All of the cousins on the stairs at Scott's sister's house.

The male cousins...this was the best we could do.

All of the cousins at my parents...once again, this was the best we could do.

:)

Gratitude 12

Today I'm grateful for:

1. the excitement my children exuded last night when we gawked at our first outdoor, illuminated Christmas decorations. I am such a blessed mommy to have the opportunity to enjoy their fresh, happy spirits so often!

2. an early Thanksgiving - I'm thankful that we have a Christmas season that extends for almost a full, five weeks this year!

3. taste buds...need I say more?

4. canned pumpkin

5. Joey's tenacious nature. He's going to make such a great leader/husband/man of God one day.

6. the new resealable Oreo package...have you experienced the wonder?!

7. leftovers - of any kind. Leftovers in take-out boxes, leftovers of my mom's wonderful stuffing, leftovers in the freezer. I'm in love with leftovers.

8. the hum of the ice cream maker

9. that my hubs can work from home today, instead of going into the office to put in some extra time

10. and lastly, I'm thankful for this...

...because it's ALWAYS helpful to have a little shark around the house to crush cookies for you , when needed. :)

We are an exceptionally refined family...

...as you can see.

Gratitude 11

Tonight, I'm thankful for...

1. a great sale at the grocery store

2. these evil, evil chocolate chip cookies we got at a cafe today that are sitting on my kitchen counter. (Have I mentioned that they are evil and they know my name?)

3. my Gracie's fun-loving, capricious nature

4. my tape measure

5. music. The Lord often speaks to me through music. I like how it's one more avenue, that He created and uses to get His message through to me.

6. my hubs who does dishes. Oops, I already mentioned that. OK, my hubs who sweeps my kitchen floor. There. That's not the exact same. :)

Nighty-night!

**Edited to add...Scott just walked in here and announced, "I had to die daily. I had to die to those cookies." See, I told you they were evil. :)

Gratitude - 10th edition (I think)

1. modern air travel - especially when you have out-of-state family

2. online flight tracking - especially when your children are un-napped and the flight is delayed :) Sooo helpful!

3. a safe (direct!) flight for my father-in-law

4. the opportunity to have Granddaddy stay with us, even though we are tight on space. We're still going to have such a great time with him!

5. ebay- the place for stay-at-home moms to make a little cash without leaving the house (also, thanks to the aforementioned usps website)

6. safety on the roads, especially with an under-inflated tire which was replaced tonight

7. calamari (GOOD calamari, that is). We discovered tonight, that Joey loves eating little octopuses (or should that be "octopi"??)

8. the little singspiration going on in the kids' room :) They are singing to Grace to try to get her to fall asleep. It's not working, but it's really cute to listen to!

Glee

glee (glē)
–noun
1. open delight or pleasure; exultant joy; exultation.
2. what happens when you set up a pack-n-play and an air mattress in preparation for a grandparent's arrival


...very similar in nature to the related word...


ex·u·ber·ance (ĭg-zōō'bər-əns)
-noun
1. joyful enthusiasm
2. overflowing with eager enjoyment or approval
3. manifested by much running, jumping, screaming, silliness, and a general lack of sleep


:)

Sunday Gratitude

1. the USPS's site. I love how I can schedule my nice, little postman to come pick up my packages, and I don't have to be presentable, or leave my house, or pack up my children and 16,000 boxes and try to wrestle them and my children into the postoffice and wait in line and go through all of that grief. With just a few clicks, my packages are all neatly labeled and sitting on my front porch. And this week, I was very grateful to have the mailman pick up the Africa-bound box of candy canes before they had a chance to be broken by someone in THIS house. :)

2. the "find handset" feature on our phone. Loosing things is one of my biggest pet peeves. Now if we could only install a "find handset" feature on other things, like my husband's keys, for example. :)

3. laughter. Life would be so boring if God had not created us with a sense of humor. And because we are made in His image, I am delighted to think that He too, finds things amusing or funny.

4. a warm house on a beautiful, snowy day

5. a day of rest. I'm thankful that the Lord knows our frame and remembers that we're dust. He knows we need a break that we would not normally take, if He had not ordained it.

6. a place to worship on that day of rest. I am keenly aware that there are many who are not as exceedingly blessed as we are to worship together with brothers and sisters in Christ!

This, my friends...

...is why I'm thankful that the Lord gave us Lily first.

She folds whole loads of laundry.

I rest my case.

My Sweet Soul

Lily LOVES King's Kids! She is doing very well memorizing her verses and already has 3 buttons on her sash! I had no idea there were so many dress-up nights in King's Kids (I am such a newbie KK's mom). Here is my little pilgrim (with a baby-pilgrim-wannabe looking on)...



And while we're on the topic, here is my little cowgirl from a few weeks ago...

I forgot to take a picture of her on the first dress-up night...which was Noah's Ark night, I think.

And as an evidence of her sweet soul, I offer this story...

A few nights ago as Scott was tucking Lily into bed, she asked him thoughtfully, "Daddy, do we have a Pop-up Blocker?"

S- "Yes, sweetie, we do."

L (with tears now beginning to well)- "Daddy, I don't WANT a Pop-up Blocker!!"

S- "Why not, honey?"

L- "Because I love Pop-pop and I don't want to block him from coming to our house!!"

:)

Praying Children

My children praying is something that touches my heart almost every single time I hear it. But, ironically, it's not something that I attempt to document by recording or photographing very often.

However, tonight we did a fun Christmas project (with my sister's kids, too) of sending candy canes to one of our missionaries to distribute with tracts to Africans this Christmas.

So we took some time to pray over the candy canes that we sent to them. And here they are praying...

Aren't they adorable?! May they always open up their hearts to our loving Lord!!

Thanksgiving Lit

The kids and I have been reading our way through several books from the library on Thanksgiving. I thought I would share our favorites with you...

If You Were At the First Thanksgiving is probably the most informative of the books we chose and is really a whole mini-unit study in itself. The kids loved this book and we purposely took several days to read through it so they could grasp and we could discuss the details of the first Thanksgiving. Tonight they want to pretend they are pilgrim children at dinner and do all of the serving and stand not sit for dinner, and also abide by the "no talking" rule for pilgrim children. :) Great book!

Thank You, Sarah gives the background of how Thanksgiving became a national holiday. The illustrations are amusing and delightful...mixing the old and new. I, personally enjoyed the details of this book, although there were certainly some things that the children did not understand. But overall, it told the story quite nicely. I think it is written from a feministic viewpoint, although the authoress specifically points out that Sarah Hale believed in traditional roles and was not a feminist. Still a great book, and one that brought up points of discussion with the children.

I've already mentioned how much we enjoyed An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving, particularly the gorgeous illustrations!

Molly's Pilgrim is a different type of "Thanksgiving/Pilgrim" book that my mom found with the kids at the library. I'm glad we included it with all of the other traditional Thanksgiving books. Molly was a young, modern Jewish girl who migrated to America with her family to escape religious persecution. The book is written from that slant, and it was fun way to open up discussion about those topics.

I could go on and talk about A Thanksgiving Turkey, which discussed the more "important" topics of Thanksgiving like hunting and turkey...a great one, especially for little hunters-in-the-making. :) And The Story of Thanksgiving which goes into many of the traditions and ancient harvesttime festivals from which modern-day Thanksgiving celebrations are derived. But I will stop. :) Do you have any favorite books for this season?

And while I'm on the topic, this afternoon, I'm thankful for:

1. the library, liberal though it may be. It's a great resource for "real books" and the request system couldn't be easier. Plus our library has a wonderful children's room and a great Storytime where we have met several, nice families.

2. Amazon. I love that place. :) Researching, buying, reviewing, whatever, it's such a nice place to find books.

3. dark chocolate...I splurged and had two squares today, instead of my usual one. Living life on the edge, I know. :)

Shopping, Skimming, Thanking

I went out yesterday, braving the beautiful weather, to do much of the remainder of my Christmas plundering...uh...I mean shopping. :) Well, plundering is what it felt like. You should have seen the bags that filled this room when I came home. But it wasn't all for me. I was shopping for three other people, complete with lists and coupons, so all of the loot wasn't mine. Which was definitely better (for my wallet, in particular), but it was just as much fun. I like spending other people's money. :)

Consequently, I am very close to being finished with our Christmas shopping. And I have a good plan for the last few things. (But then I have cards and wrapping and baking and mailing...oh my!) And I agree with all of you who commented on Black Friday shopping. I have just one or two big ticket items that I am looking for this year. And I definitely don't plan to window shop on that day. I just have to check the ads yet, to see if the things that I am looking for are on sale anywhere....and pray that it doesn't involve me standing outside of Best Buy at 4am. :)

Secondly, did you hear about the oil spill in SF bay last week?

Notice the gaping hole in the side of the ship... bad, bad, bad.

Here is a skimming vessel...

...with skimmers doing their job quite nicely.

The company that my brother works for made these skimmers and delivered them just one month ago. And there they are cleaning up the spill...in time of need. Pretty cool?! Just thought I would share. These are the things that I take for granted in life. :)

Thirdly, I'm thankful for...

1. printable coloring pages - Joey is obsessed with animals. And every day he requested a coloring page of his favorite-animal-of-the-day, which sometimes changes by the hour, really. And every day that coloring page is just a click away. He thinks I'm the queen, consequently. (This is yet another reason why I love the internet.)

2. 90% off post-halloween sales. My mom scored a shark outfit for Joey for $2.50 the other day. He thinks she is the queen now, too. (And may I add that the sight of my son's face peeking out of felt teeth is just melt-your-heart precious?!)

3. for the opportunity to stay home with my children. I really love my babies! Even though I long for a break at times (quite often, really), I can't imagine me leaving them or them leaving me every day. :)

Ads and Gratitude

So, have you checked out the Black Friday ads yet? Are you venturing out that day?

In recent years, I haven't stepped foot inside a retail establishment on Black Friday. I try to Christmas shop throughout the year, and every year my goal is to be finished by Thanksgiving. Sometimes I am meet my goal, more or less, and sometimes I don't. I'm expecting to be basically finished this year, if the Lord wills, but I think I actually am going to go out on Black Friday with the rest of the crazies. But I have specific items in mind. So hopefully it shouldn't be TOO bad.

How about you? Am I the only Crazy Girl? What should I expect? I hear the hype has increased over the last few years, and I don't want to be trampled or anything. :)



And secondly, I'm thankful for...

1. contact lenses (and a fresh pair today!)

2. how the Lord daily showers me with mercy

3. that God left us with His Words which are alive and new each time I open them up!


Have a Grateful Night (or Day!) everyone!

Scott and I cracked up about this one...

I think it's the rubbery, turkey sounds, or something. :)

This is what happens...

...when you purchase a CPR training kit...

...your baby finds the "man" and plays with it as her new baby doll.

:)

Tonight I am grateful for:

1. a hubby who is doing the dishes. And does them every other night, too :)

2. on-line banking

3. an entire day at home with my family where the farthest I travelled was out to our trash bin behind the garage

Book It and Daily Gratitude 4

I mentioned awhile ago that we signed up for the Book It program from Pizza Hut. Lily met her reading goals for October, so today we met Scott at Pizza Hut for her celebratory pizza. And may I just say that it was totally adorable and nostalgic? I realize that the program may be a teeeny bit self-serving to Pizza Hut (ie roping you into going there once a month for six months) but, at the same time, she loved earning her very own pizza. And well....who can resist going out for pizza at least once a month? (However, we were cheap and took advantage of the lunch buffet, thereby cutting our costs, considerably. And precluding me from making pizza for "Pizza Friday." So who, exactly, was self-serving today??) My husband wishes Book It ran year-round. :)




And here are a few things I am thankful for today:

1. Lily's helpfulness

2. a new road that bypasses quite a bit of local traffic. It really is a pleasure to drive on. (I guess that statement reveals just how much my sometimes-traffic-engineering husband has worn off on me. Have I mentioned that I notice traffic signaling and channelized turn lanes?)

3. that I live in the Northeast. I know we have our urban sprawl and high taxes/cost of living problems. But, I am a Yankee, through-and-through, and I'm grateful to be so and to be living in this region.

Daily Gratitude 3

Tonight, I'm grateful for:

1. The opportunity to sit in church, mid-week. We've been teaching Jr. Church on Wednesday nights and I haven't been in a mid-week service in 6 weeks. It was a treat!

2. My son's crankiness instantly disappearing every time I tickle him. Like instantly. :)

3. The use of my arms and legs. It's a simple privilege that we take for granted. We have several recently paralyzed people on our prayer list. I use my limbs a lot...I am thankful that I don't have to do without them.

Nighty-night!

Thankful Banner

The kids and I made this fun banner to remind us to give thanks this month. We used things that we scavenged on a "nature walk." For example: leaves, sticks, acorns, those "helicopter" seed pods, pine boughs etc. I punched holes in the corners and tied them together with twine. This idea came from Family Fun Magazine...I think. (Yes, here it is.) And was relatively easy to do. I did eventually break out the glue gun, though, because I didn't feel like waiting for the letters to dry, only to have the stuff fall off. :)


And for those who commented, here is a link to the recipe for the Mouse Cookies. I had clipped the recipe from a Taste of Home mag, years ago. But I found it online today. Enjoy!


And remember, Give Thanks!

Daily Gratitude 2

Three things, for which I am thankful:

1. that after today the elections are over and my phone will stop ringing and my mailbox will stop filling with campaign literature. :)

2. the elections that I just complained about (wait...wasn't this supposed to be a post on gratitude...how did a complaint slip in there?!). We truly live in the best country on the planet. Though our country has her problems, our free elections give us a voice that millions around our globe and down through the years, have not had the privilege of voicing.

3. fresh produce in my grocery store. All of these stories about the pilgrims, makes me glad that I'm not eating only dried or canned things until next harvest. :)

Farm Mouse Cookies

We made these fun Farm Mouse Cookies a few days ago. Basically, they are peanut butter cookies with licorice tails and peanut ears. I knew my farm animal-loving son would go wild over these. And he did. And the rest of us are enjoying them, too. A little too much. :)



I think they looked a little more like mice in person.

Gratitude - 1

Have you realized that Thanksgiving is a mere two and a half weeks away? I know it's "early" this year. And every year it seems more and more forgotten, sandwiched in between the gross materialism associated with Halloween and Christmas. In reality, Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays, but yet the most neglected. We want to emphasize this holiday this year with our children. So we are highlighting gratitude and thanksgiving this month and trying, very consciously, to focus on possessing a thankful spirit.

And so I thought that I would make an effort to post three, ORIGINAL things that I'm thankful for, on a frequent basis during November. Maybe not every day, but perhaps every other.

Here goes:

1. I was thankful for LIGHT this morning when I left for my morning walk. The sun had not been out at that hour, lately, and the dawn of the day was a blessed result of the time change.

2. I am thankful that the trees are vivid colors, yet, and it is the first week of November. Normally they would be barren by now, but due to the long summer, their colors persist.

3. Lastly, I am thankful for my husband's job. Though it's busy and demanding, and I am often tempted to complain about his current projects, I am thankful that the Lord has provided for our family through his employer.

Soooo, what are you thankful for? Care to share?