Early Thankful Thursday

Last week I did it late, why not early this week?

1.) I am thankful for my m-i-l's thoughtfulness.
2.) I am thankful for my f-i-l's encouraging words.
3.) I am thankful that I only have to babysit three times this week and today is my last day.
4.) I am thankful that God is patient with me when I am not patient with myself.
5.) I am thankful for a nice, warm house when it's so cold outside.

Gracie Faces

*If you double click the bottom picture you can see those bottom two pearly whites. :D

Belated Thankful Thursday

I have to tell you, something is wrong with me! I sat at MOPS yesterday as we were discussing ways to be thankful even when we don't want to be. I told all of the girls that in the blogging world we do this thing called Thankful Thursday where you mention something, if not more than one something, that you are thankful for on Thursday. As I was telling the moms this, I was telling myself in my head, "Don't forget to do that tomorrow." So, it's tomorrow and I am posting my Thankful Thursday. Duh!

1.) I am thankful that while we had MOPS yesterday, a group of Russian women had their first MOPS meeting too! (Maybe not at exactly the same time, but same day.)

2.) I am thankful that there are other moms that are in the same boat as I am and that makes for good camaraderie.

3.) I am thankful that my children have the opportunity to know all four of their grandparents and even two of their great-grandparents.

4.) I am thankful for a husband who is willing to say, "Weren't you planning on attending ____?" When I didn't want to bug him about going to it so I never said anything in the first place.

5.) I am thankful that some dreams that I've been having problems with for years are finally taking on a new light.

Let's Play Catch Up!

When I was out of town Chris was working with the girls down in the basement. Libby was looking at all of the interesting "stuff" we have and she found herself a keeper. She put on this Snoopy watch and said, "Look at my watch, daddy." He told her that he was pretty sure that it was his watch (and it was, many eons ago) and looked at him and said, "Well, it's mine now!"

Gracie in her cage. She was smiling for me originally, but the flash made her give me the "what the" look.

The other day I put a movie on for the girls and they were enraptured!

Last, but not least, here is a picture of Grace in the red dress that I wore for my first Christmas.

Here is a Libby-funny to leave you with:

"After you finish twirling can you go super duper fast?" As I am taking a windy road towards town.

I'm a Thief!

Ok, I couldn't help but steal this off Angie's blog. Too cute (and true!) not to pass around.

If you give a mom a muffin, She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind hershe has to plan for supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook('101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger'). The cookbook is setting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old's diaper. While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. And chances are... If she has a cup of coffee, Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.~author unknown

Hot Off the Presses

Gracie just took her first two steps all by herself!

You Would Have Thought...

That I had nothing to post about. Not true. I just don't have the time to post about it. I actually had an absolutely AWESOME time this weekend at the Hearts at Home conference with my dear friend Jamie. We met up with some of the girls that went to her church in Cedar Falls and headed on northward.

Before we left though, we got to experience something absolutely awesome! The church Jamie used to attend had World Vision set up an AIDS Village in their auditorium. Very cool! You wore an i-pod and headphones and you walked through the life of an AIDS orphan (yes, all four stories were true stories). By the end of learning about their journey you end up in the clinic waiting to see if you have AIDS or not, some of the kids did, some did not. I don't know the three other kid's stories, but Immanuel did not have AIDS and I couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief that this child was safe from the disease and that someone did "take his card" so that he could be schooled and fed instead of living in the banana tree orchard by his mother's grave trying to eke out a living on his own. (His story took place from age three when his mother died to age six when his older brother took him to the clinic for his cough.) It was very visual and very hands-on and I have felt the desire to take on one of these children for quite some time and always come up with some excuse. I couldn't do the excuse thing after having experienced that. I mean, seriously, I can find somewhere in my budget full of the "cushy" lifestyle to spare $35 a month. So, I adopted John Baptist from Uganda.

The actual conference was a blessing to my soul and I utterly enjoyed getting to know Jamie's girlfriends. I felt like part of the group from the get-go and never once felt like a third wheel. It made me want to move to Cedar Falls so that I could get to know the girls better. :) Saturday night we skipped the Mom's Night Out and just hung out. It helped the others to be able to get caught up and helped me get to know them rather than just "crash their room". We ended up spending an hour and a half at Goodwill. We went all the way to Rochester, Minnesota and spent our time at Goodwill. Wow! Aren't we goofy? My mother-in-law will absolutely love that though. That's what she would have ended up doing too. :)

I was glad for the workshops I chose and hope that I will be able to take what I learned and apply it here at home for the betterment of my family and myself. It will take a lot of hard work (which I think I'm allergic to), but I think that I can become a better me if I will just take the time and effort to do that work. I have been feeling the need for an accountability partner and I think that Hearts at Home strengthened that desire. I have a few girls that I want to reach out to and possibly go in this direction, but I still have a lot of praying to do about the whole thing. Anyway, hopefully, by this time next year, Chris will be saying that he's seen such a change in me that he is sending me back again. Kevin Leman will be the keynote speaker next year, so that would be very nifty indeed!

Pricklies

The other day Libby came in the bathroom while I was shaving and said, "Oh, are you getting rid of your pricklies?" I told her I was and she informed me that daddy doesn't get rid of his leg pricklies, only his face pricklies.

Yesterday morning Libby started rubbing her legs and said (to no one imparticular) "I need to get rid of my pricklies."

Hmmm...I think she'll have to wait a good nine to ten years before she can do that. :)

Thankful Thursday

I haven't done a "Thankful Thursday" post in a l-o-n-g time, but I think that I really need to start doing them more often. I just need to count my blessings so here goes.

1.) That I am headed off for to Hearts at Home tomorrow for a "girl's weekend".
2.) That I ran into a friend from my 5am workouts tonight. We got to catch up with each other after not getting to see each other for a few months. I miss my workout buddies.
3.) That Libby got to go to her first Awana's meeting tonight. She had fun and now we get to start working on her book.
4.) That I have a WONDERFUL hubby who is willing to clear his schedule and watch the girls while I am gone two weekends in a row.
5.) That when I hit a deer tonight it was only the hind legs so the deer was able to get up and run away and my van has NO damage...especially since I left my cell phone at home.

Election Post

I haven't had a lot to say about the whole election process. I did think it was going to be closer than it was. I was wrong. None the less, I am disheartened at our choice for president, BUT I trust my God has a plan so my world isn't going to come crashing down. I read this post on Angie's blog and really like it, so I stole it to share with my reader's. :) Have a good one!

One Word Wednesday

GRACE!

Multiple Choice Question

A.) Chicken
B.) Green Beans
C.) Cheez-Its
D.) Oreos

Yep, Grace chose D too. The first three were lined up right in front of her and the last was as far from her as I could put it. She reached right over the rest for those yummy chocolate cookies with the creme filling. :)

Halloween Pictures

Here are all of the halloween pictures Chris got when he took the girls trick-or-treating.

Wait a minute, what do you mean you can't see anything.

Oh, wait, that's because he didn't get any.

His fault? No, not at all. Libby just chose NOT to go trick-or-treating. Yeah, I thought she would have a good time (it was GREAT weather for it) going up and down our street and checking out her loot. Not so much! Daddy asked her more than once and she told him that she would rather play with legos. When I got home on Saturday and asked why she didn't go trick-or-treating, she started to cry and said she wanted to go "right now". Too late Sweet Pea. Oh well. I guess it's a good thing I didn't spend a whole lot ($0 for Libby and $2 for Grace) on her costume.