Day 14

I am thankful for today. I am thankful for every today that I wake up. I am thankful for every today that each of my amazing babies wake up. They are my world, my reason for being. I am thankful for every today I get to spend with my beautiful, amazing babies.

Day 13

I am thankful for hot drinks. Hot cocoa, hot coffee, hot tea. I have no voice, and while my throat doesn't hurt, those hot drinks are very soothing right now!

Day 10, 11, and 12

Day 10 - I am thankful for warm fall days. Fresh air when you have a head cold is an amazing thing. :)

Day 11 - I am thankful for gentle animals. They seem to bring out the best in people and bring a smile to your face. <3 Sadie! :)

Day 12 - I am thankful for my brothers. We didn't always get along well, sometimes we didn't even like each other, but I love them both. They've helped to make me who I am today. <3 Miss you, Josh!

Day 9

November 9th already! Today, I am thankful for the home we live in, the roof over our heats, the heat, the water, a place to call home. Many people aren't so lucky. And now only do we have a roof over our heads, but we have a decent sized place to live...big enough for all six of us and then some so we can have company over. :)

Day 8

Today I am thankful for good friends. Friends who can actually be trusted. Friends who do things just to make you smile. Friends who I can do things for just to make them smile. GOOD FRIENDS.

Day 6 and 7....

Day 6 - I am thankful for the internet. It is so much more convenient to google things than it is to pack up the kids and go to the library to look through encyclopedias every time the kids have a question I don't know the answer to!

Day 7 - I am thankful for coffee!

Day 5

Today I am thankful for the little things. The silly things my kids do that make me smile. Building forts, making playdoh, Go fish, craft time, board games.

Day 4

Today I am thankful for the right to homeschool. Actually, everyday, I am thankful for the right to homeschool.

I like that I can keep my kids home with me, to protect them and love them all day. I get to choose what they learn. I can teach them according to how they learn best. They can learn at their own pace. And, best of all, I get to learn right along with them. And I know that they will remember what they learn because they aren't just required to memorize things and spit the info back at me, they are allowed to ask why. And if I don't know why, we learn why together!

November 3

I love this time of year. The crazy holiday season. People absolutely lose their minds. They totally lose the spirit of the season and are crabby and rude when out and about. It makes me feel bad for them. Christmas isn't about buying your kid the most expensive, most popular, or hardest to find toy. Christmas is about family. It's about love, and hope, and joy. Try to keep that in mind when you are fighting with someone in the store because you both had your hand on that last hard to find toy and you want it for your kid. Chances are your kid will not only survive without it, but they probably won't even remember they wanted it on Christmas morning.

I have decided to slim down on gifts this year. Normally I go all out and try to get the kids everything they want/asked for. This year, it will be mostly learning toys and games. I have a playroom full of toys that rarely get played with. Lilli would rather read, draw, craft, or do science experiments. Delaney loves her Barbies, but more often than not, she enjoys playing with homemade playdoh or cooking in our play kitchen. Owen loves cars and trains, but he gets involved when we do school work everyday and ASKS for school work. And Maisy LOVES baby dolls, but she gets right in there when we are crafting at the dining room table. So yeah...mostly learning toys, books, and I'm sure I'll cave and get them a few toys they asked for.

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I am so busy crocheting. I have 10 more orders to catch up on. I need to hurry because there are come crochet gifts I want to make for family and friends, and I can't if I'm working on orders for everyone else.

Speaking of crochet, I have decided that my ability to crochet is what I am thankful for on day 3. I have been blessed with this ability, and I love doing it. It's my way to unwind. It's so relaxing to pick up some yarn and a hook and turn it into something beautiful. There is actually nothing like it in the world. At the end of the day, I can look at what I made and be proud of it. :)

So, day 3 of the 30 days of thanks, I am thankful for my crochet talent.

Day 2

Today I am thankful for electricity. Under ground wires so our power doesn't go out a lot. I hated that so many of my friends and family were effected by the snowstorm by power outages so much that I offered for a lot of people to come shower, do laundry, or just get warm since we have heat. You never realize how much we rely on electricity until you don't have it. When I was in school, we lost our electricity for 2 weeks during an ice storm, so I can totally relate!

Thirty Thankful Days....

November. A month of thanks. Of course, we should be thankful for everything in our lives everyday, but sometimes it's easy to forget about the little things.

Day 1 - I am thankful for my amazing family. My parents, my grandparents, my brothers, my aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are the people who made me who I am today. I am also thankful for my beautiful children. They are my heart and I wouldn't be whole without them.

Friendship

I love that my friends and I are all different. We come from different backgrounds. We grew up differently. We have different beliefs. We parent differently. We have extremely different income levels and family sizes. Some of my friends breastfeed for years. Some of my friends use formula. Some of my friends use cloth diapers, some don't. Some of my friends are vegetarian. Some are meat and potatoes people. But somehow, we are able to put that all aside. We support each other. We laugh together. We cry together. We get angry together. We share joy together. We embrace our differences because they are what makes each of us who we are.

One thing I can say about my friends is that despite all of our differences, we are able to come together and help each other out. When one person is in need, we band together and help them overcome that need. When one person needs love, we do whatever we can to show them how much we love them. When someone does something amazing, we show that person how proud we are of them. And the amazing thing to me is that these incredible people I am proud to call my friends is that we are always there for each other in good times, bad times, happy times, sad times.

I am a lucky girl to have such an amazing, loving, generous, kind group of people in my life. And in case I ever forget to thank each of you individually for how awesome you are, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for showing me there are people who value others for who they are.

Life is not about the amount of money you have or about how many expensive things you can buy. Love goes a lot farther than money. And I truly believe that love CAN keep you warm, put clothes on your back, and food in your tummy, you just have to love people, trust people, and give them all of you without expecting anything in return.

To my friends who spend the time to read this, you are amazing. You are inspirational. I love you. And I am lucky to have you in my life.

Maisy is one!

Today is September 12, 2011. Today, Maisy turns one. My sweet, fun, on the move, independent, cuddle bug is one today. Has it really already been a year?? That is absolutely amazing to me. One year ago today I woke up with contractions and I knew today was her day. One year ago today, I went to Lilli's first soccer game in labor. One year ago today, I was laid back and relaxed all day. I ate lunch, took a nap, at dinner. It wasn't until after dinner that I decided to go to the hospital. I was 8cms when I got there. Maisy was born at 926 pm. She was my smallest baby. She was 8lbs 7oz. Happy Birthday to my sweet girl, Maisy Elizabeth.

Meal plan

I have been having a really hard time following my meal plan lately. I write it, then something happens and I don't do the grocery shopping in one big trip and the plan goes out the window. Generally, my week starts on Wednesday, since that is grocery day. So, the plan for this week is:

Breakfast:
Egg "muffins"
cereal
Egg white omlet with spinach and swiss cheese
Breakfast trail mix


Lunch:
Grilled gees
Mamamunchables (homemade lunchables)
Mac and cheese
Pizza puffs
Peanut butter sandwiches
Mini bagel sandwiches
Quesadillas

Dinner:
Stuffed shells
Vegetable curry in crockpot with jasmine rice
Zucchini pizza
Lentil Daal
Falafel
Baked potato bar
3 bean chili with cornbread

Hopefully I am successful at following this. If not, there's always next week, I suppose.

A walk in the woods...

Last night, before going to the pool, Mark and I took the kids for a nature walk in the woods. Lilli complained the whole time because she had to leave her friends for a half an hour, but I think she secretly enjoyed herself because she caught three tiny tree toads.

Up the hill from our development, there is a pond, complete with beavers. It's so pretty.

Mark and the kids like to throw rocks in, but yesterday they were checking it out for little critters.

And here are some more pictures of our fun adventure.

Summer fun!

I hate Summer. My kids love it. So I try my hardest to make the best of it. We are lucky enough to have central air. We are also lucky enough to live in a sort of townhouse community where there is an inground pool open to residents and their guests only. When it is as hot as it has been, we spend a lot of time inside (since Maisy is still so little) and we spend a lot of our time at the pool. It has been fun for everyone. :) Lilli has taught herself to swim. Delaney is less afraid of the water. Owen is absolutely fearless. And Maisy loves to sit in her little float in the pool. I definitely miss my parents pool, but this is the next best thing. Here are a few pictures from our Summer fun. :)

The weekend

This weekend, my friend had a birthday party for her daughter who turned 5 earlier this month. My kids had a blast. She also had a slumber party for her daughter, Lilli, Delaney, and her daughter's friend, Ariel, and because she's my best friend, she had the babies and I spend the night as well. I am glad she asked us to stay because all of my kids had a good time. :)

She planned a lot for the kids, including a pinata, awesome party favor goodie bags, and ice cream cake. For the sleepover, the girls did chocolate facials, they made purses, necklaces, sock puppets, tiaras, and watched a couple of movies, played hard, and ate snacks.

Janee and I were up pretty late with the girls, were up a few times through the night, and got up relatively early. We are still tired and I cannot wait until (my) bedtime tonight! Especially since I am starting school with the girls tomorrow!

About me....

I am the mother to 4 amazing children, an infant (almost a toddler), two pre-schoolers, and one big kid. This blog is my way to keep track of our daily (colorful) adventures, big and small. We are crafty and artistic. Wild and crazy. Loud and colorful. "Green" and aware. Open-minded. We love messy fun. We write on the walls (well, at least one of us does). We paint, decorate and create. I have pink hair and a tattoo. We cloth diaper and breastfeed. We homeschool. I believe that kids are people too.