Day 30: Thankful for This Blog

Stephen thinks I'm ridiculous for including this on my thankful list, but I'm thankful to have this blog.  Not only does it allow me to document our lives, it allows me to keep connected with friends and family, and it lets me have a creative outlet.

There have been many times in the craziness of life that I haven't been able to keep up with a journal or scrapbooking.  I have managed to document major events since Kyle was born on this blog.  When I was finally able to catch up on Kyle's baby book and first year scrapbook, the blog was priceless for helping me remember dates and match events and locations with pictures.  Between the move from Miami, our lives in storage for longer than planned, the unexpected pregnancy, the birth of Evan, the move into our home, and life in general, I've gotten WAY behind on documenting the lives of Ryan and Evan in books, but I've been able to record their milestones {along with small silliness I'd like to remember} with this blog.  I've been very grateful for that.

I moved away from home when I was 18.  And by "away," I mean several states away.  It hasn't always been easy to be the only one not in the same home/state as the rest of my family, especially since I started having children.  The internet has made the world much smaller, and there is so much benefit to using technology to keep in touch with our loved ones.  It comforts me to know that our family members and friends can see what we are up to and how the boys are growing by following this blog.  When we lived in Florida and had baby #2, I know both sets of grandparents checked the blog everyday {sometimes many times a day,} and we were able to post videos and pictures and let them feel close to their grandchildren, even when the miles were great.  I'm grateful that this blog helps our loved ones feel closer to us.

Sometimes I say too much and speak my mind too freely.  It's gotten me in trouble more times than I can count.  I do, however, like to use this blog as a creative outlet at times, being able to write down thoughts and solve the world's problems from my computer.  I've been able to share feelings and release stress at times through writing this blog.  It's nice to share creative talents and work I've done on teaching my toddlers and know that people use my ideas in their own homes.  I'm grateful for a place to document not only the comings and goings of our family, but to be ME at times, too.

So, at the close of this Thankful Thirty, I'm thankful for this blog that allows me to document our lives, stay close with others, and be myself.  This blog also allows me to do things like this and {hopefully} force gently encourage others to use their blogs, too!  

   Rules:

Each person must post 11 things about themselves, 

answer the questions the nominator asked,

and create 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

Then, choose 11 people and link them in your post.

Go to their page and tell them.

No tag-backs.

11 Things About Me:

1.  I am not very spontaneous.  I like to have a plan, know what's going on, who's in charge, who will be doing what, and stick to the plan.  
2. I love pedicures and getting my hair done.  I noticed how much I'd missed those when my mom came to visit and offered to watch the boys so I could have a ME day.  It was as if I'd stepped into the light after hibernating all winter!  
3. I LOVE pasta and Mexican food.  I could pretty much eat from those 2 food groups every day of the week.  
4. I do some of my best and most creative thinking in the shower.  I've been taking a lot of baths lately in my new, big tub, so maybe that's why I feel like I'm losing my mind half the time! 
5.  I like to travel, or at least I did before we had children.  Children complicate the process so much!  Stephen and I have a traveling "bucket list."  Hopefully we can start crossing places off that list as our children get older. 
6. I don't like heart jewelry/decorations except when it comes to Valentine's Day, but even then the heart jewelry just isn't my favorite.  
7. I love holidays and love to decorate.  My favorite holidays are Christmas and Halloween.  And my birthday. 
8. It's EXTREMELY difficult for me to not correct someone when his/her grammar is blatantly incorrect.  People have, thankfully, corrected the errors that I make from time-to-time on this blog.  It's like friends telling you there's lettuce in your teeth.  Who wouldn't want that?    
9. I don't like to drive, especially in traffic or at night.  
10. I LOVE going to the movies, yet another thing that is few-and-far-between as a parent.
11.  It's hard for me to resist warm chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of milk.  

My answers to Emmalee's Questions: 
What is your biggest pet peeve?

  poor grammar 

What is the scariest thing you’ve ever done?

  probably some high-rise ride--I have a fear of falling from high places.  

If you could have any super power what would it be and why?

  It's a toss-up between flying and mind-reading.  I would love to be able to get places quickly through the air, but knowing what people are thinking could come in handy at times--only if I could turn it off when I wanted to.   

If you could live anywhere but where you live now where would you want to go and why?

  On a private island somewhere. 

 What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

  spa day

If you could have dinner with anyone in the world living or dead who would it be?

Paula Dean?  She'd be great company and cook a fantastic dinner. 

What is your favorite TV show or movie and why?

  It's too hard to just list one!  I have too many to count.  

What’s the #1 thing on your bucket list?

  pay off student loans 

What’s your favorite thing about yourself?

  I'm a good teacher.

If you could switch lives with someone else who would it be and why?

  I'd like to switch lives with my future self--the one who is already debt-free.  

Who is your idol?

  Jesus Christ.  I'm thinking He's the only person I really am trying to become exactly like.


My Questions:

1. What did you want to be when you grew up?  Has your dream come true?
2. What is your favorite recipe to make? 
3. If you had an extra $500, what would you do with it?
4. What has been the favorite class you've ever taken?
5. What is your favorite book?
6. What tv game show would you like to be on, and why?
7. What is your best talent?
8. What is one thing you would change about yourself?
9. What is your least favorite holiday, and why?
10. If you could go back to school and study anything, what would you study?
11. What do you like to do most in your free time?

My People:

1. Julia--Cooper Connection
2. Rebecca--A Tale of Two Coopers
3. Julianna--A Hermit's Ranting Tantrums
4. Jon Liz Marshall--The Adventures of The Marshalls
5. Chrystal--The Smitty Gritty
6. Marci--We Are a Happy Family *private
7. Katie--The Heller Hotline
8. Stacey--The Sanchez Family
9. Lila--Casa de King
10. Tenille--Sagers Sagas * private
11. Amber--Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

Day 29: Thankful for Our Home

 Probably the biggest blessing of 2012 was being able to buy our first home.  How grateful I am to be able to live where we live and enjoy this beautiful house!  It truly is something that I'm most grateful for. 

I realized that I never posted pictures of our living room.  I took pictures with our old couch and chair WAY back on my birthday before I knew I'd be getting new furniture.  Then, I guess there have just been so many more blog-worthy things happening between then and now! 

Here's some before pictures of our living room:

The after, with our old furniture:

Our new couch and chair!  

I'm so thankful for our home and for the people I get to share it with!  We are very blessed. 

Day 28: Thankful for 1st Gifts of the Season

 We usually start getting the Christmas tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  It seems early this year, doesn't it?  Between all the moves and broken trees we left behind, we got a small tree that will suffice this year and hold us off until trees go on sale after Christmas. 

Kyle helped me get most of the ornaments on while his younger brothers we napping.  It went MUCH quicker that way. 

That night, we did the traditional opening of the yearly ornaments.  We always try to get ornaments if we go somewhere or to go along with a theme---we've had Disney, beachy, Texas-y, etc.  I started collecting Santa Clauses when I was in high school, so I try to look for a yearly ornament for us with Santa on it.  Through coincidence, all of Kyle's ornaments from grandparents and great grandparents his first year were snowmen.  We've kept with the theme, and every year Kyle gets an ornament with a snowman.  This year's ornament from us came from Chinatown!  The other one is from Granna. 

Since Kyle had an ornament theme, we decided to set one up for Rhino, too.  He gets reindeer or moose, or something with antlers every year. 

 

The Baby's ornaments all have bears on them.  This year's has a panda bear! 

 

After they opened their ornaments, the boys all added the new ones to the tree. 

Once his brothers were gone, Evan decided to start "helping me" UNDECORATE the tree.  It's a good thing the office doors can be closed! 

  
I'm thankful to get the Christmas season off with a good start through these first gifts. 

Day 27: Thankful for Kyle's School

I am SO grateful for the way things worked out for us to get Kyle into the school he's in.  He was supposed to go to the Bridge program at the same preschool he was in last year.  When I first signed him up, it seemed to be a great idea.  Then, I started to not feel right about it.  I actually called Wee Wuns to see if there was a spot earlier in May, but we talked ourselves out of it.  I still had a bad feeling about it all summer.  We got back from our vacation in August and went up to the school to turn in the paperwork, only to find out that JV didn't *really* have enough to form a *true* Bridge class and that Kyle would be in a class of 9 and be THE ONLY BOY! 
Later that day, I called Wee Wuns again.  I was able to go in for an interview the next day, and the director decided to accept us into the program!  I truly believe this was a great blessing and am SO thankful for Kyle's school and his teachers.

Mrs. Shroyer and Mrs. Malota with Kyle  

 Kyle at his school's Thanksgiving Feast!

The "Stages of Kyle," as his teacher calls the boys.  

 There are also quite a few people we know from church who have children at the same school.  Kyle with one of them:

There are a few times in your life when you can see the hand of the Lord in leading and guiding your daily decisions for good.  The choice for changing Kyle's school was one of those times in our life.  How thankful I am for the tender mercies of the Lord! 

Day 26: Thankful for Park Time

Sometimes you just need a little trip to the park to bridge the gap between lunch and nap time.  I'm thankful that Uncle Bando recognized this AND took a video of the joy of swinging with Baby Ry.



Love it!   

Day 25: Thankful for Craft Time

We did a lot of fun crafts for the month of November.  I'm thankful that the boys and I are able to have fun and hopefully make some memories together.  And, I'm thankful that a few other people were able to join in our crafting time this month!

While Granna was here, we each painted a thanksgiving magnet one night for Family Home Evening. 

Here' the finished results--Mom: turkey, Dad: pumpkin, Kyle: corn, Ryan: leaf.

Another time, the boys made some leaf turkeys with leaves Granna sent from Utah.

We also made Thankful Turkeys out of our hand shapes. 

When Claire came to visit, she joined in the fun.  One day, we made thankful turkeys out of foot and finger prints.

We also made fall leaf families. 

We had fun making thanksgiving crafts this month!  I'm thankful for the use of creativity. 

Day 24: Thankful for the Aggies

It was so nice to be able to go to the last Aggie game of the season!  It was also SO nice to be able to go without any children AND in a winning season AND in some cooler weather.

The game was awesome, the weather was amazing, the company was fun, and the Aggies BTHO mizzou.  I'm thankful for great evenings like that.

Rosa's after the game wasn't half bad, either!

Day 23: Thankful for my Baby Zombie

With November being Evan's birth month, I have a feeling that he'll be highlighted a bit more than the others in my Thankful Thirty posts.  {Being the baby might also contribute to this, anyway!} I know I've already made a long list of things I'm thankful for about The Baby, but here's just one more.  I was able to get a video of Evan playing The Zombie game.  I love how he answers with a growl when he's asked if he's a zombie.  We had The Hulk with Kyle and Ryan.  Now we have our Baby Zombie! 

Day 22: Thankful for The FEAST!

 We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.  We did. 

One little, two little, three little Indians....

We watched some football...

We played inside on the horsie and with trains.

We played outside and built a "fire."  

The big boys had the real fire on the turkey outside.

Hello, pretty bird! 

Ryan was READY to feast!  {He sat there for a good 5 minutes while we were finishing up and getting everything ready.}

Does anyone know a good place to pick up a red and white dress?

It was finally time to feast!  

We feasted on turkey, ham, rolls, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, sweet potato casserole, dressing, watergate salad, deviled eggs, and cranberry sauce.  It was quite the feast!


Nana requested a photo with 4 of her great-grandchildren.

We finally got them all to look at the camera when I shouted, "Who wants pie????"

Before dessert was served, we needed a little time to let the dinner settle.  So....it was MUSIC TIME!

Uncle Bando {and Uncle Hubba and Rebecca} showed the proper respect.  

The kids enjoyed the organ.

Ryan was still jammin into the evening.

 Finally....FINALLY it was time for dessert! 

We were all sufficiently stuffed, tuckered out, and ready for bed.  Another successful Thanksgiving!