The Most Thankful Thursday

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Were you worried I forgot to post Thankful Thursday on the most Thankful Thursday of the year? Fear not, faithful readers.  It was completely intentional that I didn't post anything on that day.

To say we've been busy lately would be a gross understatement. Currently I'm most thankful for a few stolen moments alone to catch up this blog.

I'm thankful for an amazing Thanksgiving day.  We switched up plans at the last minute and ended up eating at my parents house with my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousins.  It was a nice sized group of people.  The kids had a great time and Kael especially enjoyed the turkey, rolls and pumpkin pie.

I'm thankful Kylee enjoyed making these little Oreo turkeys the day before Thanksgiving.  Kael did make one before declaring, "Mom this is very boring.  Do I have to do any more?" He shares my lack of deriving enjoyment out of all things crafty.

I'm thankful for a long weekend with 5 full days of no school for Kael! Kent also had Friday off which hasn't happened in past years so we were very thankful to spend some quality family time together.

I'm thankful for my parents' enthusiasm about helping us out around our house.  We've been toying with the idea of moving for awhile now, and it looks as though putting our house on the market will soon be a reality.  My parents spent all of Friday and Saturday here helping us paint, move boxes, rake up leaves, clear out the garage and entertain the kids.

I'm thankful the house I'd really like to move into hasn't sold yet because that motivates me to keep working on our house and get it sold quickly!

Lastly I'm so incredibly thankful that we are expecting a baby in April. Many of you have probably played the "Will they/won't they?" game about Kent and I deciding to/not to expand our family.  After going through an incredibly difficult time when we lost a baby at 14 weeks nearly two years ago, I think many people had assumed we were done having kids.  I am 18 weeks along now and as I type this, physically I can feel the baby moving inside of me and emotionally I can't help but feel that all is right with the world.  We told the kids on Thanksgiving morning that we were excpecting a baby.  Their reactions were awesome.  Kylee hugs my belly all the time and Kael is eager to contribute to our name search.  He's such a sweetie and said, "But Mom, if we pick another K name for the baby then you'll be the only one in the family without a K name and I don't want you to be left out!" He rattled off a few L names before claiming he had thought of the perfect name: Luley Bumson.  A completely made-up name that makes me actually laugh out loud every time he says it.  He decided how it should be spelled and everything.  I'm trying to let him down gently so that he's not devastated when he doesn't have a little Luley come April. :)

I'm thankful I was able to keep a secret- I didn't even tell Kent we were expecting until I was nearly 14 weeks along and we didn't tell anyone else until I was 16 weeks along.  I don't think anyone was particularly surprised but still, I love having secrets. :) But now, I'm just thankful that everyone knows so they can share in our joy!

I'm thankful I haven't had to bust out any maternity clothes yet.  I was hoping to make it to Christmas...but unless I'd like to show up to Christmas in sweats, it's looking like I'll have to pull out the ol' maternity clothes very soon.

We have so very, very much to be thankful for.

Simple Joys

It's no secret- I love Christmas.  I've been trying to hold off on the gift-buying, house-decorating and cookie-baking by making list after list of things I want to do this year.  Finally I could wait no more.  Tonight I took the kids to Target with the intention of picking up a gift for a birthday party Kylee has tomorrow. I knew we'd end up wandering through the toy aisles for awhile getting ideas for Kael and Kylee for Christmas.
Then we walked by all the Christmas decorations and I noticed some small Christmas trees were on sale.  I stopped to look and I suggested to the kids that I get one for each of their rooms so they could have their very own Christmas tree.  I remember when I was growing up, my sisters and I always wanted colored lights on our Christmas tree and every year we had white lights.  Now that I'm grown up, I prefer the beautiful, pure white Christmas lights too.  So that's all we've ever had on our family tree.  I knew this would be the best of both worlds.

We got home and I promised the kids they could set up their trees but we would wait until after Thanksgiving to actually decorate them.  I wish pictures could capture their excitement.  Kael's face lit up, "Aww! So cool!" he said.  Kylee sighed happily, "This is the best night ever. I just can't stop looking at how beautiful my tree is in my room."

Buying the kids their own little trees is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. :)

Thankful Thursday

I'm so thankful for the auxillary cord Kent bought me so I can hook my phone up in my car and listen to Pandora Christmas music all around town.

I'm thankful for inspirational messages on Halls throat drop wrappers.  What a pleasant surprise it was to read, "Don't give up on yourself" and "You've survived tougher".

I'm thankful I have a couple of boys who like to spoil me take care of me when I'm sick.  Kylee and I were gone in Kansas City on Friday and Saturday and when we got home I walked in the kitchen and saw this: 



Kent got me multiple brands of chicken noodle soup, some crackers, chips, coffee (Starbucks, even!), Kleenexes, throat drops, ice cream- all the things a girl needs to feel better.


Also I'm thankful that Kent washed and vacuumed my car while I was gone AND put up Christmas lights AND raked up at least ten bags full of leaves from our yard.

I'm thankful the boys squeezed in some time for fun while we were gone.



A sleepy Kael at the Ankeny Diner.  Mickey Mouse pancakes!



We get some pretty good piles of leaves around here.

 

Exploring the woods at Saylorville.


I'm thankful KK and I had fun in KC too, even though I was kind of a downer, being sick and all.



Strawberry malt with whipped cream and sprinkles? Yes, please.  She downed hers, then ate half of mine. :)

I'm thankful we got to be there to watch my niece Brooklyn swim for the first time! She LOVED it!

Fun Stuff

So, I'm not on Pinterest (yet) because I am afraid of how much time I would spend on it! Also, my list of fun ideas/crafts/projects is growing long enough as it is anyways and I figured it was time to do something about it.  In the interest of not letting time get away from me, I've also created a big calendar at home with one or two fun things on each day that I'm going to do before Christmas.  Kent said, "Did you really make a calendar to schedule fun?" Yes, I sure did.  I'm such a fun bully. :)



Thanksgiving gifts for the kids teachers. I love how these turned out! 



Thankful pennant banner because I have seen them everywhere and wanted one.

Kylee and Ryan decorating Christmas mailboxes.  A sneaky way to get them to practice their handwriting- make mail for each other!

Painting with pudding.  The "painting" part lasted five minutes because Kylee was soooo excited to get to lick her fingers clean.

Spinach smoothie.  Shh don't tell!

Kylee loved it, but Kael's discerning palate was skeptical. 

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for the time change.  It took us a few days to get used to it (for three days straight at least one of us was up before 5:00) but now we are all adjusted. I have still been waking up at 5:00 but have found that I can get an awful lot done before everyone else gets out of bed!

I'm thankful for celebrating my grandma's 80th birthday last weekend.  It was wonderful to see her so happy and we enjoyed spending time with family that we don't see often enough.

Kael with the birthday girl.

I'm thankful for SNOW!!! There is something so magical about the first snowfall of the season and the awe of it all was not lost on my kids.  They were up at 5:30, had a quick breakfast and went out to play in it before school.



I am so about to get bombed. 



I'm thankful for my slippers.  Every year I am gifted a couple pairs for Christmas and every year they are my favorite present.  I had stashed these in the back of my closet so that I wasn't tempted to wear them until it got closer to Christmas.  Also, I had completely worn through the bottoms of my last pair, so it was time to break out some "new" ones!

I'm thankful Kent and Kael got to spend some quality father/son time last Friday night.  

I'm thankful for genuinely nice people.  I was shopping the other day and noticed some really cute glittery snowflakes on the wall of the store and asked where I could find them to purchase some.  The owner said, "Acutally that's all I have, but I'll just take some down and give them to you." And she did just that.  I was so taken by her generosity and decided to pay it forward, buying a few small "just because" gifts for people.  And you should see the snowflakes.  They're gorgeous!

Happy Thursday everyone!

I bet you didn't know...

***I wrote this post back in August and forgot to publish it.  Whoops! Thought I'd go ahead and post it anyways- the picture of Kylee on the monkey bars has me wishing it were summer again!


Kylee has turned our toyroom into the Cherry Pie Cafe where she is owner, waitress and cook. Her cherry apron was the inspiration. Cute!

Sometimes I let Kylee paint my nails. Pretty darn good for a four year old, huh?

Kylee can go across the monkey bars all by herself.

I NEVER stay up if Kent is going to bed. I won't even stay up and watch TV by myself, or read a book or anything.

My kids don't like sheets on their beds. Every night I would find their sheet crumpled up at the bottom of their beds and I every morning I would help them make their beds and pull the sheet back up to where it belonged. Then it dawned on me. Duh, Laura. If the kids don't like the sheets, just take them off! Problem solved.


I'm a repeat offender of the "I'll start on Monday" diet. Well, diet's not even really the right word. But I tend to eat far less healthy on the weekends, promising myself I'll do better. And I usually do. Until the following Friday evening.


One of my biggest pet peeves in the whole world is getting water in my ear. I can NEVER get it to come out and spend the rest of the day walking around all off balance and stuff.


Kent and I took the TV out of our room awhile ago and we don't miss it at all.

***I think the reason I never posted it was because I intended to write more, but that's all I got for today.  No get outside and enjoy this weather! It might be the last nice day we get for awhile!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for the guy last week at Incredible Pizza Company who was running the go-karts.  Kael was a couple inches too short to ride alone, but the guy told me if Kael could reach the pedals, he would let him go.  Kael could reach! He was soooo excited to be able to drive all by himself!

I'm thankful for Kylee's enthusiasm.  Last week when she kept coming out of her room during quiet time, I told her there was nothing exciting to be getting up for because all I was doing was scrubbing the toilets.   "Can I try?" she asked.  I figured it was just a ploy to get out of resting, but this week when I was cleaning the bathrooms she raced in and said, "Wait! Don't scrub the toilets without me!!!"

I'm thankful we finally....got a new vehicle! Now, minivan moms, don't get me wrong.  I loved my minivan for the purpose it served.  It's functionality was second to none.  It's just that it was time for us to get something different.  Kent and I went on Tuesday night to "look" at an Acadia he had seen online.  I knew from the second we walked into the dealership that we'd be walking out with it.  We happened to get a fantastic deal on it and I am really excited about it!
I'm doubly thankful that my parents were able to help out and watch the kids while Kent and I went car shopping.  We didn't tell them about it and they were sooo excited the next night when I told them we needed to go run a quick errand and came home with the Acadia! I love surprises.

I'm thankful for a fun evening spent with my in-laws to celebrate Keith's birthday.  An evening out with the Pattersons almost always ends with ice cream and for that, I'm really thankful.  Kylee is too. :)

I'm thankful the kids had a fun Halloween. I'm also thankful they don't mind if I eat all the Snickers out of their candy baskets.

This picture cracks me up because Kylee is so cute and happy and proud of her pumpkin, and in the background Kael is sneaking into the snack cupboard.  Ha!

I'm thankful Halloween has come and gone because Kent all but refuses to talk about Christmas with me until after Halloween.  Now that Halloween is over, you better believe Christmas music has been flooding our house, our car, etc. I hold off on the decorations until after Thanksgiving, but the Christmas shopping is in full swing too. Starbucks update: 53 days and counting until Christmas!

I'm thankful the morning got off to a good start. I told the kids last night that I'd wake them up in time to get donuts before school.  (Speaking of, I'm quite thankful for Wednesday late start days.) One of them was up in more than enough time, and one I had to wake up.  Ten points if you can guess which one. ;) I'm not sure there's anything better than an early morning trip (it was still dark out) to Casey's for donuts in your jammies with your favorite stuffed animal.

Happy Thursday!