Thirty Days of Thankfulness

Days 21, 22 & 23:  Food, Nephews & Nieces, and Imaginations

I know, quite the spread of gratefulness for the first part of this week, huh?  FOOD:  Monday, I did  some hefty grocery shopping and am so thankful that we can afford the ever-inflating food prices.  I'm also thankful to do the light couponing that I do to save $20.55!  May I also add on a side note that I'm appreciating cooking and baking and I'm starting to really bond with my kitchen now!

Nephews & Nieces:  Tuesday, was my nephew Austin's 9th birthday and I thought about all of my  12 nephews & nieces and thought how lucky I am to be an aunt to all of them.  I love them ALL to pieces and they all brighten my day when I hear about what they are doing or saying.  I've been an aunt since I was 16 years old, so that's a long time of feeling love and pride for the kiddos!

Imaginations:  Our family is really thriving on our imaginations lately, probably more the kids than the adults but we are doing our fair share too!  I can never get enough of Olivia singing on the top of her lungs about fruit and vegetables, AND we've been playing "Thanksgiving Feast," "Grocery Store," & "House Inspector" a lot lately.  (House Inspector is the only way I can get her to clean without her knowing that she is cleaning {wink. wink}).

Connor never ceases to amaze us with his Lego creations, last one he did is a snow-covered park with a snowboarder and a house at the corner of the lot.  The two of them together play chess (I still don't know how to play and NOW my 5 year old is playing!)  However, they also play their own version of chess it is a lot more physical and noisy than the real game.  I love watching them make up their own games!

I've been wowing my imaginations by Pinterest and have actually followed through with some projects:  the paper projects that I showed from the weekend and I'm painting a crate to become a hanging shelf.  Paul is opening his mind by refining his Spanish.  He has been reading it, listening to it, studying it and maybe he'll be able to use some of it when we go to Mexico in February??? 

Anyways, being thankful for what we have because what we have is good enough!

A close up

Thought maybe you would want to see a preview of the floor, the other picture didn't really show it.  There are more gray tones that do not show up in this picture.  It's been seven years with the old floor and parts of the floorboard were showing through.   We tried to cover them up with rugs, but so glad we have a new floor to cover it all up!  Many thanks to Paul and Danny for their hard work on the floor.

Thirty Days of Thankfulness

Day 19 & 20:  Rest

Yesterday, I was totally exhausted and so I rested and so I am thankful. Caught up on a lot of sleep, even napped a headache away. I can't say that all of us were resting and I intermittently feel a little guilty? well, anyways . . . I did manage to check off some paper crafts off my list yesterday . . .

This guy was able to balance out some Wii and reading . . .

Danny & Paul placed new flooring in our kitchen!!!  I can't stop looking at it (kinda like the orange paint).

Thursday, was Olivia's last day of swim lessons and she swam, bobbed, dipped, and floated to her heart's desire.

She surprised us all by passing level one!

Happy rest of the weekend everyone!

Thirty Days of Thankfulness

Day 18:  God

"This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it"  Without God, I have nothing.  I am so glad that I have God in my life, providing me my purpose, and making sense of life.  A higher power and the promise of eternity is something that I am so grateful for in a sometimes chaotic life.  I will be glad in each day that God has given me and I will search for a little bit of heaven each day.  May God bless you.

Thirty Days of Thankfulness

Day 16/17:  Gratitude

I am so thankful that I'm thankful.  I see too many ungrateful people in my life . . . you probably know those who thrive on problems, crises, complaining . . . ugh!  It just drains the life out of a person.  I'm grateful that I tend to gravitate towards people with positive, cheery, and pleasant attitudes.

Thirty Days of Thankfulness

Day 15:  This Girl

 Check out the legs!  Passing the leg cross from one generation onto the next!

Olivia made my morning yesterday.  She primped and made herself beautiful adorning herself in a necklace, earrings, headband, dress, and tights.  She topped the outfit off with some of my chapstick (she calls it lipstick!)  I couldn't help but smile.  She has this way of making me laugh and smile and I love that about her.

This funny girl is also very smart and sweet.  I've written how I love spending time with her but I also just love her!  She is willing to sing at the top of her lungs about anything and everything, she doesn't worry about what others think of her (and I'm hoping to some extent that this will continue), and she goes after what she wants.  I'm so thankful to watch this little girl evolve into a bright woman of the future!

Yep, those darling earrings are stickers (a doggy and a kitty).  We lost them at Target yesterday but found them   in.   her.   hair!  That is Daddy's face isn't it?!?!