A Month of Thanks Wrap-Up

Wow! A month of thanks has flown by! The last few days, I have been thankful that I have been so wonderfully busy and happy that I haven't even had time to blog!

The past long weekend was one of the very BEST Thanksgiving weekends I can remember!

It's almost midnight, and my iPhoto is acting nutszo, so I'll share my thanks-sentiments and the pics from Thanksgiving with our family tonight and share the rest of the pics later. Stay on the edge of your seat because there's some good ones! (I'm biased though ... my kids rock!!)

THURSDAY: I am thankful that it snowed Thanksgiving morning. We were expecting family, and I had a list of chores to do before they arrived. But who can do chores when there's sledding to do?! So I didn't clean the toilets, and I didn't change all the sheets until later, and I didn't fuss around. I played in the snow with my kids!!! The result was that I had a fantastic morning and spent the afternoon in a home that looked exactly like it is - like four kids live and play there - and I was very happy with that! (We're pretty neat people anyway, so it's truly just my OCD nature that I had to suppress. The snow allowed for that, and it was delightful!)

(Above) Eli and Grandpa Sharing Stories .... while (Below) Grandma read stories with the older kids!

Seriously, I was jealous of Collin in this moment Thursday. Next year I'm not holding back. I'm loading up an olive per finger and enjoying them one-by-one too! I LOVE doing that!

Mmmm ... goodness. Mmmmm.

Clockwise: Kate, Grandma J, my brother Zac, my sister-in-law Carolyn, my new little niece Greta, my dad/Grandpa J, Collin, Owen

Again, playing with his food ... it's a hat! No, it's a roll! Nope, it's a hat. ; )

Kate was very thankful to be licking the spatula after Grandma whipped up the homemade cream to top the pumpkin pie! Kate is also a very good sharer:

Kate is wearing "the dress my Grandma made to me!"

Owen took nearly 80 photos on Kevin's iPhone. Wonder where he learned that? (Super cute!)

Baby Greta - 2 Weeks

FRIDAY: I am thankful for patience. We drove out to our Tree Farm Friday, and (despite the general lack of good trees due to some bug that turned them all brown - ugh) we picked out "the perfect Christmas Tree" for 2010! Once home, we pulled out the ka-zillion boxes of decorations and ornaments and started Project Decorate. The kids were so excited! They were pulling out ornaments and ripping the packing paper, tearing through the boxes. If I reminded them, they'd slow down, but the excitement was just bubbling over! I cringed as they pulled out the ornaments and decorated feet 1 to 3.5 of the tree (I did the top, and eventually rearranged a few decorations because the middle was seriously full!!). I pictured each ornament breaking, one by one. OH!!! But then I took a deep breath and kept smiling. I reminded myself to have patience, to bust in the box myself and rescue the ones that I really cared about, and to remember that they are just ornaments ... big deal. Telling the kids to stop wasn't even an option! Nothing compares to the joys the kids had as they took the ornaments out and examined each and every one in delight and discovery! I was truly so pleased by how many of them they remembered from past years (some they'd made, some bought, etc.) and the connections to stories and emotions they have already made with them. It's the kind of response I've been hoping for ... the reason I believe ornaments are so cool. If you listen, they tell stories of years past. (Which is sort of also why I don't want them all to break.) So, yes, I am thankful that my patience was excellent that night. We had a blast decorating the tree and laughing about past Christmas moments! *In the end, only one ornament was broken; i don't even remember which one or how. must not have been too important. so cool.

SATURDAY: I am thankful for good friends, tacky glue, good brew, and burn cream! We spent Saturday with one of our favorite families, crafting gifts for the kids to give for Christmas (you're gonna love them! and so simple!), brewing what became appropriately and awesomely labeled "Third Degree" beer (our first experience brewing), and nursing the dads' burnt hands while we watched Disney's new Jim Carey "Christmas Carol." I am thankful the dads' hands are ok (a few serious blisters, some missing layers of skin -- ouch!), thankful that I don't own that movie (I don't recommend it - not because it's scary like people said -- it's not scary -- but I don't recommend it because it's slow, not funny like you might expect from Carey, and clearly drawn with 3-D effects in mind, not for viewing in a living room), and thankful that most of the beer survived "The Big Spill" and is currently fermenting!

SUNDAY: I am thankful for the opportunity and good fortune to attend Sunday's Seahawk game vs. Kansas City Chiefs at Qwest Field! Wow! What an experience! It was LOUD! It was ENERGIZING! And we had awesome seats, from which we could see each and every play AND watch the ferries come in and out of the terminals in downtown Seattle. So cool!! The boys LOVED the game, followed the plays, and lived it up! Me too! I think we'll have to save up and try to make it an annual tradition. ; )

MONDAY: I am thankful for sleep. I need to get more of it.

TUESDAY/TODAY: I am thankful that I posted regularly for the past month! I feel so accomplished! It is amazing how little time it really takes when I just sit down each night and start typing. (Tonight was a little longer because I took a few nights off ... which just lends right into the argument that I should do a little each day!) I know I'll always treasure the time I spent tracking our many moments. *Thanks, Katie K! You're a swanky inspiration! ; )