Thanktitude

Today we are grateful for:

Dad: A wife that can cook- When we were first married I tried making my mom's famous potato soup to impress my new husband. The recipe was written assuming the "cook" actually knew something about cooking. So I followed it and tossed the butter and flour right into the soup after the potatoes had boiled. You couldn't tell the potatoes from the flour chunks and my dear husband smiled, said it was like dumplings and ate it. I've learned a few things since then that have probably saved both our marriage and our lives.

Mom: My little companion- Andrew and I have lots of bonding time with Emma and Weston off at school all day. He is a good little companion. When we run errands people tell me all the time how well-behaved he is. A friend stole him for a playdate today and the mom suggested I use the chance to go shopping alone. Actually, I enjoy outings with Andrew. I used the time to eat and work on the computer because those are things I feel guilty doing while he's home pleading at my knee for me to read him a book or fix his block tower. I adore my little buddy and I'm glad to have his company. He's a sweet boy and wonderful entertainment.

Emma: Grandma and Grandpa- I try not to talk with Emma about our upcoming (Dec) trip to Vegas because I know she'll stop sleeping at night, her mind racing with excitement.

Weston: School- yup, things are going much better for my boy

Andrew: Chips- He ate a fish taco, enough black beans to get me off his back and then he slid the tortilla chips in front of his plate and went to town. It's always dangerous to have dinners that go with chips because we have the hardest time convincing Andrew that the chips are the side not the main dish.

Blessed

Today we are grateful for:

Dad: Dentists- They give him work and fix our mouths

Mom: Laurels- I'm the Laurel Advisor in our ward and love working with these girls.

Emma: Kisses

Weston: Our House

Andrew: Hugs

Grateful

Today we are Grateful for:

Dad: onions

Mom: My Misto

Emma: Nana & Pop

Weston: Halloween

Andrew: Daddy

Thank You Very Much

Just because I hate to do a post without a picture. But these boys look grateful.

I counted my grateful posts and apparently I'm still missing one. We said something everyday but I fell too far behind I guess (six days into this, that's not a good start). So here ya go...

Today we are grateful for:

Dad: People who give prayers- Jamie has a calling calling. He has to call people up all the time for appointments and prayers and is amazed how hard it is to get a hold of people. So for those who answer and say yes, thank you.

Mom: Bread- I seriously love carbs of all shapes and sizes. I'm a pasta and bread gal. I finally got the Best Bites breadsticks recipe down and can't get enough. It's a good thing they take some time to make so I don't gain 20 pounds making them every day. Yum!

Emma: Prophets- Yes my little top student has to come up with the top answer. But for sure, we thank thee for a prophet.

Weston- Recycling- Emma's tactic is to pick the most important things where I think Weston's is to pick the first thing he sees when I ask him. His prayers are always about pillows and blankets and such.

Andrew- Ants "see that cute cute little ant"

Give Thanks

I think I finally found the visual I've been looking for for our daily thanks activity. I tried a paper chain and leaves on the wall but I'm liking this year's version.

I pulled out a Mason jar, filled it with acorns we've collected on our walks, gathered some branches from the yard, and prettied it up with stuff I had.

Then I found some foam leaves with sticky backs. Conveniently enough there are five colors so each family member has a color. We write down what we're grateful for that day and stick it on our tree. Low maintenance, cheap, easy, and good decoration. I think this one may stick. And I like the analogy I can use to talk about how empty and sad our tree looked before we started thinking of our blessings. Our tree may 'runneth over."

Our "leaves" today:

Dad: Primary workers- "It's tough and important"

Mom: Primary president- I swear I wrote mine before Jamie told me his. Our primary president was released today. Now there's a woman who magnified her calling. She really had things organized and served with so much love and watchcare. Even though we've been in the ward a relatively short time I got a little teary when they announced it. The new president is a friend I visit teach. Her husband's in the YM presidency and her baby has a serious heart condition so I know this was no easy call to extend but doubtlessly inspired and she will be amazing.

Emma: Rascal- She still talks about my mom's dog all the time and will try to act as happy to see the humans as the dog when we go home for Christmas. Please mom, keep Rascal alive until she can cope.

Weston: Leaves

Andrew: "Ghosteses"- Hopefully Halloween will be out of his mind soon.

In All Things Give Thanks

11/5- Today we are grateful for:

Dad: Temples- Jamie went with the youth from our ward on a temple trip. He rode with one of the dad's and a bunch of 12-yr-old girls. Now he knows the Beehives better than his YW leader wife.

Mom: Good students- Just had parent-teacher conferences this week. Weston's teacher, although she said he was still "devious" on the playground, said he was very smart, is the top reader and getting happy faces. Emma's teacher said she wishes she had a classroom full of Emmas and that Emma is the top reader and very bright. It's such a blessing to have my kids do well and be independent learners. Whenever Emma has a hard time with her math homework it gets ugly when I try to help (and uglier if I don't) so to preserve our relationship I'm glad they get things easily and do most their homework on their own (that's the sensitive teacher side of me coming out). By the way, where do you think Emma gets her love of reading and writing and disdain for math?

Emma: Mommy

Weston: Lights

Andrew: Spiders "Because they're really scawy and they eat people"

Halloween do-over

My Halloween pics aren't showing up on their post so here they are. They're in the same order if you want to match them to the text in the post, although it should be pretty obvious