Day 30: Thankful for....

the Christmas season.

This 30 Days of Thankful for 2010 is coming to and end, but it's been nice to reflect on my blessings and really try to have a daily focus on all the ways my life is enriched by the people I love and the small and simple things that make me happy. Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday, but I'm trying to make it more meaningful as I get older, and am trying to find traditions to bring in so my children will enjoy it. I think it's wonderful that we have a time to reflect about our gratitude for all we have, which leads us into the holiday season and focusing on the birth of Christ, service, and giving gifts.

I love Christmas and the whole season. I'm thankful that I was brought up with so many traditions and grew to look forward to the magic of Christmas and the true meaning of the season. I'm also grateful for Stephen's family and the wonderful traditions they embrace. It's fun to mix traditions from both sides as we discover what Christmas will look like in our own home. I love the decorations, planning special gifts to make for friends and family members, and the anticipation of {possibly} having a White Christmas. I enjoy reading Christmas books, getting my yearly ornaments, and now searching for ornaments for my boys. I LOVE the music {and wish we were already singing it at church.....} and enjoy sending out Christmas cards, even though this seems to be fading in popularity. I really do think Christmas is "the most wonderful time of the year."

Sadly, since we are moving in 15 days, this will be the first year in--um--forever that I haven't put out Christmas decorations. I usually start setting everything up the weekend after Thanksgiving...I think we always did this growing up and usually decorated the tree or did something Christmas-y for Family Home Evening the following Monday night. Instead of putting up my tree this year, pulling out the memory-filled ornaments, and hanging our stockings, I'm busy packing away our worldly possessions in preparation for our big move back to Texas. Luckily, I always pack our collection of books in a separate box, so I think I'll pull that out and read a new one to the boys each night. I can also enjoy Christmas music while I'm busy packing boxes. We'll also get to enjoy the decorations at both set of Grandparents' homes, so they'll be plenty of Christmas spirit to fill the void. And, it's also nice to know that I'm not going to have to worry about picking up dropped ornaments and fallen decorations now that Ryan is so mobile and *such* a helper.

{Yes, he can climb stairs!!!!!}

Thus ends another season of Thanksgiving. I will try to always show gratitude for all the many blessings that have come, and continue to come, my way.

Now, let's bring on Christmas!!!

Day 29: Thankful for....

bath time.

If you really know me, you know that my day just doesn't go well if I don't get in a good, long shower. {Baths are a true luxury, but I ALWAYS make time for a shower.} When I was teaching school, there were even a few days I had to call in a favor and have my team teachers watch my classroom so I could show up a little late in order to still take a shower before leaving for work. My shower time is my sanctuary, my think tank, my stress relief, my me-time. I have come up with quite a number of brilliant-{ish} ideas while letting that steaming hot water drain over me, so I find that taking those extra minutes to just think and relax have paid off over the years.

I also love bath time for my boys because it becomes part of our daily/nightly routine, a signal that it's time to get up and going for the day/start calming down and getting ready for bed. It's also a {mostly} happy time, since both of my boys LOVE the water.

While we were in Baton Rouge, Claire and Ryan took a bath together. Julia and I cracked up at some of their bath time fun. When we first put them in, they immediately locked legs, each grasping the nearest toy.

We also found it hilarious how Ryan flipped over, started rolling around and trying to sit up, and made his way over to Claire's territory, while Claire just stayed still, chewing on her rubber ducky!

I love this picture because it seems like Ryan is scheming something, like a toy take-over, but Claire is giving him a look like, "go ahead and try it, buddy."


I'm SO grateful for bath/shower time, for the hot, running water, and for the way that my daily routine is made complete by this essential chunk of time.

Day 28: Thankful for....

my faith.

I often wonder where I would be in life without my faith in a loving Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. I've been blessed to be raised by parents who taught me the importance of attending church, having morals, serving others, praying daily, reading scriptures, and trying to live like our Savior. How grateful I am for the blessing of knowing that God loves me and will bless my life when I make right choices. I'm so thankful that I have faith in our Savior's atoning sacrifice and have the knowledge and comfort that comes from being able to repent of my poor choices and try to be better each day. I also have faith in eternal families and God's plan for each of us, which helps me overcome sadness in trials and have more of an eternal perspective than just focusing on daily frustrations. All of these wonderful blessings have been given to me, and I hope I live worthy of them by being a positive witness of Christ.

One of the easiest places to start being a positive example is in the home, so Stephen and I are trying to teach our boys about the gospel and to have their own faith and knowledge of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We went to church today, and Kyle was SO excited to go to church, even though I think it was more to see his friends. To illustrate, on the way to church, he saw some Christmas decorations up in several neighborhoods and started talking about Christmas and Santa Claus. I said that we might be able to go see Santa soon. Kyle responded, "No go see Santa yet. We go to church first." I just had to take a few pictures with both boys all dressed up for church. It's getting harder and harder to get both of them to look at the camera, smile, and not have a blurry/action shot.


I sure am glad I took photos before church, though, since Kyle came out of nursery with a fat lip and a shiner under one eye from fighting one of his best friends. I guess he's just trying to go out on a bang before we move in a few weeks.

Day 27: Thankful for....

Kyle!

Oh, how we love this little boy! I'm so grateful to be his mom and for the perspective on life this gift has given me. He is challenging, energetic, intelligent, stubborn, witty, kind, friendly, helpful, and loving. He loves playing, running, making friends, building towers, waterfalls, candy, cooking,


and many more things.

Kyle amazes me everyday with what he is learning and what his memory holds. A few examples: 1) Before we went on our road trip, we told Kyle that we'd be going to Grandpa and Grandma's house. He thought about it for a second and then said, "I'll play ball with Max-o." We couldn't believe he remembered playing ball with the dog from a year earlier! 2) He's recently picked up an interest in Star Wars, which excites Stephen for some father-son bonding. Kyle was watching the ice world of Hoth and told me he wanted to play in the snow at Granna and Gramps' house. How does he remember that? 3) He can remember episodes of his favorite shows/movies and tell us what's going to happen next.



I can't believe how quickly he's growing! We were looking at pictures from when we first moved to Florida and just cried because he was just a baby then, and he's such a boy now! He loves friends and considers any kid he sees to be his friend. We were walking to the playground the other day and passed some boys {probably around 10 years old} on bikes. Kyle told me, "My friends are back!" As we passed the boys, he greeted them with a friendly, "Hey, guys!!" as if he'd known them forever! He's my little social butterfly.

Some other funny things he says:
"Have wait commersh." {You have to wait until after the commercials for your show to come back on.}
"You're a BAAAAAD DOG!" {He says this to Ryan a lot.}
"The sun is down, so I have to take a big nap."
"I have to do it every mineself."
"I make the biggest tower, etc., you ever see."


One of my friends told me that Kyle is going to be one of those kids that "has it all." She explained, "He's smart, funny, athletic, good-looking, makes friends easily, and has plenty of creativity and energy to keep things interesting." I am truly grateful for all of Kyle's wonderful qualities, and that helps me keep things in perspective when I lose patience in his moments of stubborn independence. I have to remember that I was once very much like him and have to help him learn that he's not always right and that he CAN do many things "mineself," but not everything. All that energy has to be channeled into something positive or it's easily taken out of control. And, BOY, that attitude sometimes......



Just in the last few months, I really have seen Kyle grow and mature SO much. He's quite polite and almost always remembers to say, "please," "thank-you," and "you're welcome." He will voluntarily tell us, "I love you, Mom/Dad." When he knows he's done something wrong, he'll automatically say, "I want to say 'sorry!' and give a hug." {Side story: Kyle told his first lie last week. He came downstairs, and I noticed something on the corners of his mouth. I thought he'd eaten something, so I went upstairs to investigate. I found several spots where Kyle had vomited, so I started to clean up and found a stool-softener in one pile. When I asked Kyle if he ate them and how many, he told me, "No." He flat-out lied!!!! Thank goodness I knew that was what he'd eaten because I kept asking me and gave him "the tone." He immediately started crying and said, "I want to say sorry!" I know he realized that hying to me was wrong, but I was so shocked that he actually did it anyway. That will just be something else I've got to be on my toes over. Great.} Kyle does know right from wrong and has started to understand the concept of obedience and positive vs. negative consequences. He rarely has to have time-outs or spankings because, when given the choice, he'd rather obey that get in trouble.

I'm so grateful for my first-born and for the wonderful/challenging/loving boy he is!

Day 26: Thankful for....

Ryan!

This baby boy is 33 weeks old today. He's had a busy morning, too. Our Black Friday consisted of a visit to the doctor and the unfortunate chore of 5 vaccines for Baby Ryan. The doctor was impressed with Ryan's display of crunches on the examination bench, that he was so smiley, and that he pulled himself up to a stand when the doctor held his hands. Neurologically, the doctor said, "he's perfect." Now, as for height and weight....that's up for discussion. When the doctor put Ryan's stats {height: 26 inches, weight: 15 lbs. and 14 oz., head circumference: 43 cm} onto the chart, he's right on the line at the bottom--somewhere around the 5th percentile. "Is he a preemie?" he asked. "Is his dad really short?" When I responded, "No." to both questions, the doctor seemed concerned and wrote in Ryan's chart that we needed to monitor his growth closely and may need to run some tests to make sure nothing else is wrong. He did tell me that some kids go through growth at different levels, and he may even out on his own. It could just be his genetics or it could be something more, like a thyroid issue. I guess only time will tell, but I'm happy and grateful that he is developing perfectly neurologically.

I'm also so thankful that Ryan is such a good baby. He smiles all the time, is very ticklish, and has started figuring out how to make all kinds of noises. We had to lower his crib because he figured out how to stand up in there already! Ryan keeps us on our toes now that he can climb up the 2 bottom stairs or squeeze behind the couch or crawl through the underside of the table. He's also always on the hunt for paper. The kid LOVES to eat paper! Just when I think I've moved everything out of his reach, he'll do something like pull one of Kyle's art projects off the fridge and stuff a piece in his mouth. Several times, we've found a paper "retainer" molded to the top of Ryan's palate. He'll just smile a colored-paper grin as we pull the wad out and go on, happily, about his business!Ryan is following in Kyle's shadow on a few unique traits, too. He loves to move his hands like crazy, especially when concentrating on something. We've also caught him trying to master "The Hulk."

How grateful we are for this little---and I do mean LITTLE--guy!

Day 25: Thankful for....

yots and yots of stuff....

In honor of Thanksgiving, Kyle and I have done a few lessons on being thankful and why we celebrate Thanksgiving. For one project, we made a Thankful Wreath out of "leaves" that we used to display all the things we are grateful for. Kyle helped me paint the paper, and I cut out the leaves. Then we talked about what it means to be thankful. I told him that it means to say "thank you" for things that we like/love/make us happy.

I gave him some examples: I'm thankful for my family, for our home, for clothes, for church, Jesus, and for good food to eat. Then I asked him if he could tell me some things he's thankful for. He said, "Mom, Dad, Baby Ry." I wrote our answers down on the paper leaves:

When I asked him to tell me more, that's when it started to get interesting. He listed: Santa Claus, mail, waterfalls, rainbows, ice cream cones, the park, my friends, and hawks. {I thought he said, "hugs," but he insisted it was HAWKS.} I attribute that little nugget to our adventures at Uncle Bando's house. We witnessed a Hawk taking down a squirrel out of a tree at the park, and Kyle got to study Uncle Bando's birds of prey coffee table book. I guess he absorbed that info and is thankful for hawks. I just love that Kyle is thankful for so many things--and that so many of them are unique to him!

This year for Thanksgiving, we decided to spend the holiday with just our little family. Who knows--it may be the one and only time we ever do it that way, since we'll soon be MUCH closer to many family members. We also caved in and gave up our rebellious ideas of grilling steak and lobster in favor of a traditional{ish} Thanksgiving meal.

Kyle helped me make the green bean and sweet potato casseroles.


We made a big ham and a little Cajun-flavored turkey breast.


Here's the whole, deliciously carb-filled spread:



We're also thankful for our Aggies and look forward to spending the day watching them play basketball and BTHO t.u. in football!!!! Gig 'em, Aggies!

Happy Turkey day, y'all!

Day 24: Thankful for....

Stephen!

I know every married woman says that her husband is "the best," but I like to say that Stephen is the best husband FOR ME. He loves me unconditionally and even loves things about me that cause me to feel self-conscious. I'm so grateful that he is so hard-working and reliable. I don't worry about whether or not he's going to be successful at whatever he does or if he will provide for our family, even though his/our plans have been altered over the years--he always has a plan B, or C, as the case may be. He's loyal and easy-going and helps me from getting to out of control over things that don't really matter~{tries his hardest, anyway!} He puts me first and lets me have my way most of the time, and he makes many, many sacrifices for my happiness. He also makes me laugh and knows how to have fun.


Stephen is also a great dad. While we were checking out at the grocery store last night, {just one example of a sacrifice he made after working at the hospital all day}, Stephen was helping Kyle "help" load all of the groceries onto the conveyor belt and place the bags back into the cart. At one point, Kyle said, "I love you, Dad," and Stephen responded, "I love you, Kyle." The cashier commented that it was so great to see a good dad and to be able to tell that Stephen loves his kids and is grateful for his family. {She went on to say that her husband just walked out on her and their 2 year-old and 8 month-old children, and that some people just can't grow up and handle responsibility.} That sad story really helped me to focus on how grateful I am for Stephen. Being reminded that not everyone has the same blessings that I do made me even more grateful to be married to a wonderful man.

Day 23: Thankful for....

being almost done with Christmas gifts!

This year we are having more of a simple Christmas for many reasons: 1) We're moving 10 days before the holiday. 2) We are on the tail-end of a 2 1/2 year stint of being jobless {and paycheck-less.} 3) I LOVE making homemade gifts.

I've been planning and brainstorming ideas of Christmas gifts to make for our families. Stephen vetoed the one I was really planning on, but accepted a second idea. I was able to incorporate one of my family traditions with the gift, as well as keep everything to a meaningful theme. Since I knew we were taking a road trip this past week, I really had a goal to get most of the gifts ready and wrapped so we could take them with us and not have to worry about mailing/packing them along with the rest of the house.

I'm thankful I was able to accomplish this goal and get my Christmas to-do list about 95% completed!

Day 22: Thankful for....

home, sweet home!

Road trips and vacations are wonderful, but it's also nice to get back home, sleep in your own bed, and get back into your normal routine. I'm grateful that we made it home safely and that our home was kept safe while we were away. (There was a message on our phone when we got home from the Broward County sheriff, warning us of a string of burglaries that have been taking place in the area!)

It's an interesting feeling, returning home this time, seeing as this will only be our home for a few more weeks! I'm thankful for our time in our Florida home~we've been able to grow and experience so many fun things that we never would have anywhere else. Ryan was born here, so we will always have a reminder of this wonderful home. It's also the place that helped Stephen reach his educational goals, so I will always be grateful for that opportunity.

Who knows where our next home will be, but I'm looking forward to making new memories wherever we go. And, while I'm taking a break from packing up our Florida home, I'm thankful the boys and I were able to have fun coloring and making some Thanksgiving crafts:

Day 21: Thankful for....

a happy baby!

I'm very grateful that Ryan has such a good temperament. I know it's a wonderful blessing and try not to take it for granted. He sleeps pretty well, is easy-going, can go just about anywhere without too much of a hassle, loves to smile and laugh, will stay busy playing with toys, and seems to be perfectly content being held by anyone who's willing.

He's also discovered an interest in teeth---future dentist???

What a blessing this happy baby is in our lives!

P.S. Ryan started babbling this week while we were on vacation. We mostly hear, "da-da-da-da," but every now and then a "ma-ma-ma" will sneak its way in. We sure had fun listening to his jibber-jabber during the long car ride home!

Day 20: Thankful for...

spontaneity.

Here's more pictures from our road trip to Uncle Bando/Aunt Julia's house.

For lunch we ate some yummy chicken at Raising Canes. While there, someone mentioned that we were having so much fun in Baton Rouge that we didn't want to go home yet. Why not just stay another day and Stephen could use his LAST sick/vacation day instead of going to clinicals on Monday? Right there at the table, we decided to change our plans. I think the clincher was that we could stay and watch the A&M game, since it's not on tv in Florida. I love being able to be spontaneous every now and then. It keeps life fun and interesting!

Day 19: Thankful for....

baby gates.

I seriously can't believe that I need to start watching out for Ryan climbing UP stairs! How can he already be getting this big?

And trying to sit up already? Are you serious???

It's a good thing we already have one gate up AND that we have Kyle to help me keep an eye on little brother and keep him from getting into too much trouble.

Day 18: Thankful for......

parks and recreation.

Today had the perfect weather for a field trip to Hermann Park. We saw some waterfalls/fountains, crossed a couple of bridges, and saw some ducks in the pond.


Then it was time to ride the train!






After the train ride, we went over to the playground on the other side of the park. Kyle had SO much fun on a new piece of equipment:

He also got to go down the "bumpy slide" with Grandma.

We kicked the ball around and Kyle got good and muddy. It was a day well spent, and I'm so thankful for the beautiful weather and a fun park to play in.

Day 17: Thankful for......

Good Tex-Mex!

We've been in Texas this week and have FINALLY eaten some good Mexican food. In fact, we had Mexican food for dinner last night, breakfast this morning, and for lunch. Here we are at one of our favorite places, Freebirds. {Kyle wasn't too thrilled to have a picture taken.}

Ryan also had his first taste of a Monster. Yum, yum.


It's a silly thing to be thankful for, but I sure have missed my Mexican food while living in Northern South America these past few years!