A Thankful Heart: Smorgasbord

I realize that I missed the traditional Thanksgiving post and even slacked on a post-Thanksgiving post. I was busy spending time with dear friends and my little family, so it was time well spent.
 I am eternally grateful for all of my many blessings in life, so I wanted to a smorgasbord of sorts of the things I am thankful for.

In no particular order or importance...


~ Thanksgiving spent with international friends. It always adds so much more to the table and to the conversation.*

~ My KitchenAid stand mixer. That lovely's muscles were put to work for Thanksgiving food prep.

~ People serving ham AND turkey for Thanksgiving...cause really, who likes turkey?!?!

~ Chubby toddler hands that wrap around your neck.

~ Davyn McClain coming home for the hospital on Thanksgiving day...after spending two weeks in the NICU.

~Sunshine and crisp breezes.

~ Fleece-lined leggings, the ultimate stretchy pant.

~Cookies and coffee...together.

~ Sugar-free Peppermint Mocha coffee creamer...in the extra large bottle.

~Black Friday deals that were online the day BEFORE Thanksgiving...and have already shipped and arrived at my door.

~ Bathroom doors with locks.

~ Getting the boys their most wanted gift.

~ Naps.

~ "Hold me, Momma" on repeat.

~ Josh Groban singing Christmas music.

~ Husband had the Friday after Thanksgiving off for the first time in 7 years. Jubilee!

Really. I have SO much to be thankful for. I have a warm home, more than enough clothes, a stocked kitchen, happy boys and a loving husband. I feel blessed beyond measure. Not just during this holiday season, but every day of the week. Even on this overcast Tuesday morning when I have completely run out of any forms of juice (absolute horrors for toddlers) I am thankful that I can get in my car and go buy some.

What are you thankful for?

* Pretend there is a really great Thanksgiving table of friends picture. I have filled my limit of images on Blogger and am in the middle of trying to figure out how to fix it. Any suggestions?

A Thankful Heart: Colin

Oh, Colin. What did we ever do without you? How dull our days must have been without your furious ball of emotions. The laughing. The crying. The dancing. The screaming. The drama. The joy.

Colin feels every emotion to the fullest extent, and he will let you know exactly what that feeling is. A guessing game is never in effect when it comes to my Colin.

His latest thing is to ask about the sights and sounds around him. "Momma! What's that noise?" "Momma! What's that sound?" and on and on. Taking him into any type of store is like a visual feast for him. He has to know what every sight, smell and sound is. I am not talking ordinary stuff, he wants to know the sound of a cart wheel that ticks. He wants to know the smell of the freshly ground coffee beans as we walk by a Starbucks. Getting out of the car, he needs to know what the sound is of a semi-trucking rumbling down the road, half-mile away. If I am not sure what sound he is talking about, he will mimic it perfectly. Who knows, maybe this one will do something with music or sound design.

Colin is also quick with a joke. He knows exactly what buttons to push with his brother, and does so hilariously. If you make a joke with Colin, he will remember it a week later and repeat it back to you with perfect comic timing.

There is never a dull moment with my sweet boy and I am thankful for every one of those moments. Dramatically happy, dramatically mad, dramatically hilarious. This little boy makes my heart just sing with the joy that he brings. Colin makes my heart oh, so thankful.

A Thankful Heart: Jack

My Jack. First born. Inquisitive. Caring. Silly. Smart. Verbal. Imaginative. Perfectionist.

I am so thankful for my first baby boy. Jack really is SO smart. It kind of overwhelms me how much he absorbs and processes in a day. I take no credit for his brains.

He prefers books to toys any day. When given a choice to get a new toy or a new book, he will always choose a book. Usually that book is some sort of a fact book. We have a few animal fact books and a dinosaur fact book. We have been told that he needs the space fact book and a body fact book for Christmas. ( They are a really great brand of books that teaches the kids information in smaller bites, with size illustrations and so forth) That is really all he wants. He caries his books with him to bed, to the bathroom, to the car and would take them out to the park or store if I would let him.

He likes stories and imagining scenarios with his very willing little brother. Most mornings are spent in the his room pretending to be animals, transformers and superheros. Sometimes all three at once. The stories usually progress to full-body wrestling and someone ends up crying, but that is expected with two little guys.

He is so loving. Throughout the day I am kissed and hugged and cuddled with. He will ask for hugs and kisses and loves out of the blue. Definitely my most snugly child, he wants to be right next to me or his dad at all times. He willingly tells me he loves me, and often. I love that.

I am so thankful for this happy, brilliant little creature that I get to call my own. It doesn't seem possible that he could be this old. Words can not express my love for this boy and he makes my heart beat with joy. And for that, I am so thankful.

A Thankful Heart: My Husband

 A willing participant at the Go,Dog, Go! Party

With Thanksgiving just a few more days away, I wanted to share a few things that make my heart thankful. I think we should move forward in life with a continual thankful heart, but since this season is for taking special notice of those around us, I wanted some things I am thankful for.

My husband has been my closest friend since we were in high school. Hours upon hours have been spent on the phone, talking and learning about each other. Years of knowing the ins and outs of life, sharing in the ups and downs, laughing, crying and living together.

While I am obviously very biased, my husband is the best sort of man. He works very hard at a job that is not his favorite. He provides for his family. He does the bedtimes and the baths with the boys. Always. He reads. He engages with people around him. He cares about his co-workers. He researches how to help people and than how to put that into action. He runs. He leads a life group in our church. He tutors. He loves his boys. He loves me. But most of all, he loves his Lord and that reflects in everything that he does.

Instead of continuing to gush on and on about my great man, I wanted to let you read a bit about his thoughts. Here are two posts that Ryan wrote on giving and thankfulness.

Give Thanks and Give a Goat

Thanks is a Verb

See? He is a good catch, that husband of mine.

He makes my heart thankful.

Meet Miss Audrey Bird

Well, her name is not really Audrey Bird. I just like to call her that. Officially she is Audrey Hazel Johnson and I am her aunt.

She is my first niece by blood. (I married into aunthood with 4 nephews and 2 nieces)


 So I flew to Michigan last weekend to meet her and to help out when I could.

My help included: making chocolate chip cookies from scratch, holding baby, snuggling baby, taking pictures of baby and installing a winter covering for the car seat. All serious business.

Her parents like to call her "bean" or "sugarbean".




 But I think she is more of a sweet little bird, an Audrey Bird.

 

So while my poor, poor husband toughed it out with two wild boys, a leaking ceiling and an extremely tardy plumber, I snuggled with this little bug.

Not a bad way to spend a weekend, wouldn't you say?

There is one problem though. Babies. They always seem to get bigger, regardless of what you tell them. So hopefully this little lady will stay little enough for her Uncle Ryan to get lots of cuddle time, but big enough to handle her cousins' "love", cause they sure want to love on her.