Project 366: Week 47

   

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we stayed here for Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle in Illinois thought it’d be a good idea to bring my grandmother down here, as it was the first big holiday since my grandpa passed away earlier this year. Along with them, all of my brothers and sister were here, which doesn’t happen very often. We’re all grown, three married and have two families to celebrate with, and live spread out, so it was really  nice to all be together for a holiday.

Before school was out, Ava’s class had a Thanksgiving feast. I went to help them and caught a few pics!

Her Indian name was “Laughing Maiden”.  

We used this opportunity of all being together to grab some pictures.

An attempt at taking a picture of these three cousins was not very successful!

My brothers, sister, and me

 

Us with our parents

And with our spouses and children

And with my grandmother

We are blessed!!!

Ava played harder than any kid I’ve ever seen this day. She didn’t stop for hours. By the end of the day, she was dirty, tired and looked like one of the orphans from Annie!

And this boy?! Melts me!

We had a fun day and have so much to be thankful for! I’m looking forward to moving into the Christmas season! It’s my favorite time of year!

Celebrating six years

Six years.

Six years of being married to my best friend.

Six years of laughs, happiness, and more love than I ever imagined possible

Six years that feel like they passed in the blink of an eye.

Here’s to so many more!

Thankful

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1

On this Thanksgiving Eve, I wanted to just take a moment to share some of the things I am thankful for in my life. I don’t know that there is enough time in the day to list ALL of the things that I have to be thankful for. It amazes me at the things we have and the ways we’ve been blessed. I believe that EVERYTHING we have, everything that is ours, is from the Lord.

I am thankful for our Lord, who loves me, gives me hope, and is my source of strength. His abundance and goodness overflows, and because of Him, I have these MANY things for which I am thankful.

I am thankful for this man: my best friend, my confidante, my partner, and my love. Because of him, my days are filled with happiness and love. I’m so thankful that on Sunday we will be celebrating six years of marriage. I pray we have so, so many more.

I am thankful for this girl who made me a mom. Life with her is more fun, more adventurous, more lively, and more exciting! Words cannot do justice to convey just how much joy she brings to my life.

I am thankful for my precious son. His life began in such a scary way and for a few hours, we didn’t know what the outcome would be. His life is so precious to us and I can’t imagine not having him here. His belly laugh is my favorite sound and his big grin is my favorite sight.

I am thankful for our families. We have so much support from our families and so many people don’t have that. We are surrounded by love and I don’t take that for granted.

I am so very thankful for our jobs. In such hard times, we are both SO blessed with good, stable jobs; jobs that provide us health insurance, security, and so many other things.

I am thankful for our house, which I often say we have outgrown, which means I’m thankful for the so many things we have, but that we don’t need.

I am thankful for friends. I’m thankful that there are people in this world who CHOOSE to be in my life and allow me to be in theirs. My friends mean so much to me and I know that these special people are blessings sent by God.

I am thankful for the life we are able to provide for our kids. I pray we can teach them how very blessed they are and how to share their blessings with those who are less fortunate.

I was reminded again this week of the wonderful way the Lord provides for us. The blessings flow always and I’m so humbled and so grateful that He pours blessings out on us. We are so undeserving of his faithful gifts, and just praise His name for the many, many gifts.

I pray that each of you is blessed immeasurably this holiday season and throughout the next year.

Growing up too fast

Can we talk a minute about how this kid is growing beyond belief? She is just blossoming beyond comprehension. I wish I could take the time to take a mental picture and keep every little detail of her life in my mind. It’s sad that I can look back at my blog and see things I’ve written about her, that have already slipped my mind. I’m SO SO grateful for this record of her life and thought I’d document a few things about her and funny things she says.

She is wanting to listen to Christmas music and her favorite song this year is Mister Merry Gentlemen (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen).

She is OBSESSED with My Little Ponies. OB.Sessed.

Over this past weekend, she wanted me to buy her a Barbie iPad app. She said “Mommy, if you buy me this Barbie game I’ll be your best friend!” ha!



She is scared of a lot right now. She wakes up many times in the middle of the night and makes her way to our room. She is scared of things they do at school (fire drills, visits from firemen), things at home, and people. I hope she outgrows it soon. I hate her missing out on things because she is fearful.
I’m so impressed with how much her drawing skills have progressed since August.

August

Now

 

This is a picture she drew of herself and a classmate. They got married and she said she catches him every day and that she loves him “very, very much”. Oy. Not ready for this!

 

When she doesn't like something I say or do, she always tells me she is going to tell my mommy on me. Go right ahead, sister. :)

 

This kid is so full life, so spunky. She keeps us on her toes and can be a very stubborn, sassy child. But she can also be the sweetest, kindest little soul. I’m so proud of her and all she accomplishes. I ask her all the time how she has gotten so big and she says “I just did!” and shrugs. Then I ask her if she can stay little forever and says no! Precious girl. You are loved beyond words!!!!

Ava’s first dance recital

Last summer, we enrolled Ava in a weeklong dance class to see how she would like it. She really enjoyed it and we were impressed with the school, so we enrolled her in classes.

Like most dance studios, we are not allowed to view their classes. Most studios allow a viewing in the fall to see the progress made. Our school decided to have a small recital to show off what the kids have learned. There will be a MUCH bigger one next spring, complete with fancy costumes, but this was a great introduction for Ava.

We had a conversation the morning of about her dance “recical” as she called it. It went like this:

Poor girl was worried about not being able to wear panties under her tights. Fortunately she didn’t make too big a stink about it which surprises me!

This baby girl looks SO grown up to me. Seriously. I cannot get over how grown she is looking. Kills.Me.

Once we got to the auditorium, Ava wasn’t sure what to think. She is in this stage where so many things scare here. She seemed ok at first, but as it got closer to time for her performance, you could see the fear building. She also told me she was nervous about the men in black who were there to record the performance. :)

When she was called for her ballet dance, she went over and was crying. The owner’s husband who was emceeing, talked to her and whatever he said, it worked and she went backstage with her class. She did great performing!

I was so proud of Ava for not letting her fear stand in her way and trying something new. I hope that helped her overcome some of her fears! I can’t wait for more recitals in the future!!!

Project 366: Week 46

   

The Proof is in the Pin Linkup

I am linking up with Life Sweet Life to show you two successful pins from Pinterest!

The first you’ve seen a glimpse of – the backdrop I made for Reed’s birthday party.

I found the original pin on this website. It was seriously easy. Just get colored table cloths, thread them on a string, and hang it up! It’s possible to make this as wide or as skinny as you’d like. We had enough to really spread it out, but our space was small and this is how it ended up. I thought it added a really nice touch! With so many color combos, you could do this for so many things! 

The second thing I pinned wasn’t really a how to, but more of an information pin. I pinned 20 iOS tips, tricks, and secrets, and I found something on here ALL parents will love!!!! Seriously, I’ve been wanting this since I started using an iphone and then again with my ipad. There is now a way to LOCK the device to prevent your child from exiting the app they are in!!!! And it’s SO easy!

This can be done through what is called Guided Access. Go to Settings>General>Accessibility>Guided Access. Then you will be at this screen. Swipe this to on. Then you will need to set a passcode.

Once you have opened an app, click your home button 3 times in a row. Once you have done so, you will see this.  

Like it says, draw a circle (or really a rectangle) around the part of the screen you want to show. Hit start and it will ask you for your passcode two times. At this point, it will lock it. When you are ready to unlock, just hit the home button three times again and enter your passcode when prompted. If you put a passcode in wrong, or can’t get out of it, you can shut your phone done by holding the power button and home button down at the same time until it switches off. I love this feature and only wish it’d been around years ago! Hope you find it useful!!!

A while back, I also posted a review of recipes I’ve tested from pinterest. You can find that post here.

Thanks for coming to check my pins out. I hope you find them useful!!