Happy Turkey Day!

You know a lot of my family members and friends put on facebook every day what they are thankful for and they add a little thing every day, I always thing man that would be cool to do that, but it never fails that I remember like in day 10 so than I can’t “join in” b/c it’s already day 10… you know. So what I decided to do this year is provide a small sampling of what I’m most thankful for … in no particular order mind you:

1. My family, extended and immediate. Both mean a lot to me.

2. Being a mother, I know there are people out there who do not have the ability to become a mother for whatever reasons. I am thankful for having the opportunity to have given birth to three wonderful children and have all the ups and downs that come with it.

3. My husband. Marriage is hard. There are many things that you don’t expect when you get married both good and bad. I love my husband and he is a very loving and caring individual.

4. Our home. Our home is one of the most wonderful places that exist on this earth. I can go and relax and enjoy all of my favorite things on this earth.

5. My parents. Being a parent now I understand that things are again much harder than that look when you are wearing the other person’s shoes. I am thankful that I had two loving parents growing up and even today I have two parents that care a lot about me and my family.

6. My grandparents. I have my living grandmother who I look up to and respect. My other grandparents have moved onto another world and I missed opportunities to get to know them better, but I’m thankful that I knew them at points of my life.

7. My education. Life doesn’t always give you the things you want. I’m grateful that I had two parents encouraging me to further my education and learn about different fields. I had the ability to go to college and had the determination to get through, both things that were given to me by my parents.

8. My job. I am grateful that I get to experience new things. I am glad that life threw me a curve ball and made me change some things. I am glad that I am able to provide for my family in a financial sense.

9. Music. Music has a strong way of influencing me. It touches my heart. I love being able to turn on the computer or radio and get lost in the feelings that music makes me feel. I love being able to singing and having the ability to share my voice with others.

10. Last but certainly not least I’m thankful for my children. I have three very bright young spirits that have come to us for us to inspire and encourage to live righteously and to become the best that they can be. Each one has their own special personalities and come with their own stars to shine. They mean the world to me and I’m thankful for having them.

Okay so that’s just a little sampling of what I’m truly grateful for, there are many other things but I don’t want to get too heavy for this Turkey Day blog.

Well I had the best Thanksgiving. I was able to host Thanksgiving and I had a house full of people it was wonderful. My two brothers and their families came up for Thanksgiving. I was able to cook and cook and cook some more it was GREAT. We also played so many board games it was so much fun. I really miss the days of playing board games and hanging out with the family. I hope they all had a good time. The kids got to see each other and play with one another. They were in heaven, it was loud, but it was fine. They really play well with one another so it works out.

On Friday Jackie and I did some Black Friday shopping. I hadn’t done that in so long! That was really a lot of fun. When I told Helen (my mother in law) that we left at 6:30 am in the morning her response was “wow that’s really late.” But you know it was still fun even though it was “late.” They braved the stores at like midnight and didn’t stop until like 4 am… yikes no thanks, 6 was early enough for me. We did get some good deals on things. I think I’m totally done with the whole shopping thing. I have a niece to shop for and that’s it. So that’s exciting! I really had a great time hanging out with my family and enjoying their company and I think they did too.

Well we are still in transition in our home. Tait and I have been adjusting to our new schedules with the kids. We have been back and forth as to what to do with the kids in the morning. The girls were being picked up before school by a friend’s parents well on Monday they forgot to pick them up. So Tait and I have to come up with another idea as to what to do with them in the morning. We have come to the conclusion that we are going to be taking them to CLC. This is the before and after school programming for the kids that we can sign up for, it’s $10 dollars a day for them, but it will avoid us having to get them from school and also what to do with them in the morning before school. We just can rely on the family that was picking them up. We will still utilize Monica when they are out of school for the day, but even the ½ day on Friday we will have them go to CLC, b/c it doesn’t change the cost of it at all. It’s crazy to try to figure out what to do with kids every day. We are trying to figure out what to do about the summer still. I’m trying not to stress about it yet, but as Christmas is fast approaching so will the summer. But I’m trying not to have anxiety of that YET. I am trying to be as rational as I can.

Anyway… so Christmas is on its way and the other day I asked Maya is she wanted to write a Christmas list to Santa and she promptly told me NO, I ask why and she said “b/c I’ll be happy with whatever Santa brings me.” So I thought that was nice, at least she won’t be disappointment when she doesn’t get the thing she really wants. Lehna on the other hand has written a very nice Christmas letter, she wants 6 things, 2 of which are ponies, 1 dog, 1 kitten, a guitar, and another American Girl Doll… hum don’t know if that’s going to work out for her… but that’s her list.

I need to see if we can get them to see Santa before this holiday season is gone. I don’t know how Nikolai will do with Santa, probably be afraid. But I know that Maya and Lehna would be fine and since Lehna is the only child to have seen Santa that maybe it might be nice to take them. I’m almost thinking that Lehna is out of the Santa age so maybe it would be nice to take her before she decides she doesn’t want to believe any more. But no promises.