Thankfulness: Day 30

Today I am thankful the Buckeyes won…I mean it was neck and neck the entire game and let's just be honest.... a Buckeye loss, after 2 perfect seasons, AND to Michigan, would have made for a very ugly Saturday here.

Scott and Jack are still watching the game, they missed most of it due to Jack's basketball.  The game is recorded…don't worry but don't call or text Scott for awhile.  He doesn't know the outcome

Go Bucks!  I am told I should now be cheering for Auburn to beat Alabama in the next game!

Max, Tommy and Drew celebrating!  These were taken when Ohio State intercepted the ball to save the game in the last seconds.  Look at theTV screen and the poor Michigan QB just laying there..in shock. 

Thankfulness: Day 29

Today I am thankful for grace.  I am thankful that God gives grace to me every single day.  I want to be a better "grace giver" to my Love and our boys.  I tend to want things just SO…and I am not so great at the grace part when they aren't done the way I WANT….So I am working on grace.  I am not as good at it as I would like.  God never doubts me, and never turns me away from grace.

(This being said after I just about lost it over the state of our laundry room, with the lunch boxes all over the place, the basketball duffle bags, the socks, the shoes…the random messes.  Just being a real)

Thankfulness: Day 28

Today I am thankful for family and friends.  Sounds cliche I know, but it's true.  I am grateful that we have been blessed with such a wonderful family.  I am grateful for their health.  I am grateful for the relationships we have with them.  We are not a perfect family, but we are family. I am grateful for what that means.

I am thankful for the many friends we have all over the country.  One of the benefits of moving so much in early marriage are the friendships we have made and maintained along the way.  As I look at our Christmas card list, I feel blessed, it is long, and full of many states and zip codes.  There are so many people on there with whom we love deeply, we may not see them for years, but if we picked up the phone…it would be like time had stood still.  We don't take that for granted.

My heart is full this morning as I listen to our boys playing (happily at the moment), the parade on TV, the laundry humming…some of the Christmas decorations are up…the wind is blowing.  Feeling grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving….

With much love

Thankfulness: Day 27

Today I am thankful for being a Mom.  For having a front row seat at watching our boys eyes and hearts fill with joy.  We took Jack and Max on a "Surprise Ride" to "Disney on Ice" and it was Max's first sighting of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and friends in real life.  Oh MY GOODNESS…I really wish you could have ALL been there.  There is NOTHING like watching your children LIGHT up with JOY over something THEY love and adore so much.  It makes me want to cry thinking about it.  There is NOTHING in the world that fills me quite LIKE it.

Scott took most of these photos, they make my heart burst.   I am SO grateful that God gave us these boys….

Thankfulness: Day 26

Thankful that the boys have a long weekend off, I remember what it was like getting a break from school.  I am excited for them to have a respite from school.  They are such great kids.   I love them so much.

And I am excited to be Jack's Room Mom….that I get to be there for his Thanksgiving party.  We are playing turkey bowling of all things, with a REAL frozen turkey.  I remember my Mom being "Room Mom"…it's a big deal to Jack.  I feel blessed. 

Thankfulness: Day 25

I am grateful for our home, I love how cozy it is.  I love our house.  I love the feeling I have when I am home.  I love when we are all home.  I am so grateful to have this beautiful place to live.  It makes my heart happy.  

Thankfulness: Day 24

I am thankful for a weekend away.  It always goes by too quickly for me.  I am so grateful to be so in love with my husband.

I am grateful for my parents who are always so willing to come and care for our boys.  The boys are spoiled, the rules are broken, movies are watched, the heat is turned up really high, they eat out most meals, the oreos are all eaten…MOST of all our boys are happy.  I love this time they have with their grandparents.

 On the road…

 We stayed with our good friends the Townsley's look at their new addition they surprised us with…meet Daisy.  

 I so wanted this to come home with us, but it didn't.

 At the pre game tailgate…Brutus cupcakes

 Proof I tailgated…

 We found Brutus…Max's request.

 We sat in the Townsley's seats…front row.  Not bad.  This picture was not zoomed in.

 John Townsley came part way through the first half, home for Thanksgiving.  John was the ring bearer in our wedding.  He was 4 at the time…sweet boy all grown up.

Scott with the Townsley boys…Mike was his best friend at Ohio State.  Stuart is a Senior and John is a working man living in DC.

Thankfulness: Day 21, 22 and 23

Today I am thankful that I get a weekend away with my Love.  MY Ohio weekend…I look forward to it all year long.  Columbus here we come…and MAYBE the Buckeye game if it isn't TERRIBLY cold. 

Mom and Dad came last night, surprised Jack a day early on his birthday.  Our boys are not one bit sad to see us go, in fact they were hoping we would be out of here by 5:00 am.  There is a certain thing called work and meetings that Scott had to work around. :)

We leave at noon…cannot WAIT!  This counts as 3 days of thankfulness for me.  It could count for the entire month in reality. 

 2008

 2009 (baby Max in my cute tummy)

 2011 (Max's first trip to the Shoe was on our weekend..nursing babies get to come along)

2012

Thankfulness: Day 20

Today I am thankful for 11 years ago at 8:30 am when a 9 lb 11 oz baby boy entered this world.  We named him Jack Michael…after his Uncle.  He was an answer to prayer.  He has been such a blessing to all of us.  He completed our family in only the way he could.  

We love you Jack!

Thankfulness: Day 19

Today I am thankful for my Grandma Lu.  I feel SO blessed to be able to pick up the phone and call her, to be able to write to her, to learn from her wisdom.  She is SO wise, and so calm, and so centered on what REALLY matters in life.  She is a beautiful person.

I called her this morning, for no reason, just to hear her voice and hung up in tears.  How did I get so blessed?  She told me she has prayer group today at 11:00 and she may put my phone call up on the "JOY" list there.  It made her morning, little does she know it made my day.  She always has stuff on her calendar, never seems to stop.

When we were little and growing up she lived on a farm.  It was BY FAR our favorite place to visit.  She had kittens everywhere, tractors, hay rides, horses…it was just a wonder to go there and explore.  She had a BIG drawer in her bathroom by the tub that was FILLED with toys.  It was always SO much fun to see what was in the drawer.

She would come to visit us with her craft bag, that was blue tapestry I believe and in it…always were bags of M & M's for each one of us.  Such a highlight as a kid.

So blessed.  I am so proud she is my Grandma, she loves our family so well and pays attention to the details of each and every one of our boys.  She knows their loves, she knows their activities…amazing. I love that she cares so much.  I am blessed by the legacy of faith that she has given to our family.  No greater gift than that.

Love you Grandma!

Thankfulness: Day 18

Today I am thankful for my friend Ruth.  I met Ruth 1.5  years ago on the baseball fields when her son Josh was on Jack's team.  At the time she was going through breast cancer treatments.  She told me she did "drop off" childcare in her home if I ever was interested.  I wasn't at the time, and I didn't know her at all.  As I got to know her through sitting in the stands I learned what a GEM of a person she is, the heart in her is made of gold I believe. I also found out she goes to our church, and "drop off" childcare wasn't 20 kids running around her house.

Fast forward to last fall, I was busy with pictures and thought I would try her out for a morning.  9-11:30.  Just to see how Max would do…when I got there he didn't want to come home.  So I tried it again the next week, Ruth asked if she could get him to nap could he stay all day.  I informed her "he will never nap for you, he hardly naps for me"…I got a text early afternoon that he was sound asleep on her family room floor on a sleeping bag.  HOW DID SHE DO THAT?

Long story short "Mrs. Ruth" has become one of Max's very favorite people.  He LOVES to go to her house, he asks nearly daily, if he can go.  And she has been such a blessing to me.  She has seen me at my worst, she has come over at 4 am to help me with drains after surgery, she has loved on and loved on and loved on our Max.

I am so thankful for her…and for the impact she has on Max's life and mine.

Party Pictures

Had to post a few before I crash for the night…these parties wear this Mama out…in a good way.  I think my FAVORITE part of these is Jack's SMILE.  He is BEAMING in nearly every single one.  This is WHY we do the things we do…all for those smiles.  All for our children to feel extra special for their birthdays…

This is it…enjoy

Thankfulness: Day 17

Today I am thankful for boys.  I truly LOVE being a boy Mom.  I am sitting in my kitchen waiting for an 11th birthday party to begin.  There is a laser tag course set up in our backyard, there is LOTS of camo (I may even be wearing cute camo shoes myself), and guns, glow sticks and inside there is birthday cake, pizza, pop, maybe even a camo garland I whipped up to add a slight bit of girly decor.

I will post pictures later, but as I wait for the party begin I am thankful.  I am thankful to be a Mom.  What a gift.  Let the party begin.

Thankfulness: Day 16

Today I am thankful for my big brother Mike.  I am thankful for so much about him.  Only 12 months apart did NOT make it easy for my parents, especially my Mom.  But being that close in age has brought SO much blessing.

 "sharing breakfast in VA"

 "Playing at Grandma Lu's farm"

 First day of preschool.  

Fishing this summer at the cabin.

I am thankful for the kind of brother he was to me when I was little, he didn't let me get away with much of anything. He called me out on everything.  He was tough and wanted me to be tough.  He didn't appreciate my constant tears.  But yet he was always understanding to me.  Just when I thought we would never get along, we would be best friends.  Every family vacation he and I would bond and play together non stop.  When my first boyfriend broke up with me his response was "hey do you want me to go beat him up"…umm no.  But I loved his protection of me.

I was always so proud to be his little sister at school.  He was such a talented athlete and always such a good friend to so many that I LOVED telling people he was mine.  He was never too cool for me in high school, perhaps in elementary, but after that NEVER.

I loved his reactions to the different boys I dated, and I dated quite a few and quite a few that he was NOT happy about.  He let me know. He had an opinion on EVERY SINGLE ONE!  And he wasn't very good about "faking" that he liked the ones that he didn't.  I KNEW if I didn't date someone that passed his standards he would tell me.   Some of his guidelines I was given for a husband came during  a LONG drive home from my freshman year of college where he and my "then" boyfriend loaded the car up of my dorm stuff.  90 degrees outside, 4 flights of stairs and this is how it looked  10 boxes for Mike= 1 plastic bag for "the boyfriend", 4 pieces of furniture for Mike = 1 6 pack of coke classic carried by the old "BF" and so on…and a dinner out where Mike paid for ALL of us and not by choice.  Hence the 3 hour drive home was a lecture to me about boys, dating and marriage.

Some of Mike's guidelines for marriage
1. He opens doors
2. He ALWAYS pays for stuff.
3. He is LOYAL to his team, whether they win or lose, STICKS with his team.
4. He is ALWAYS respectful to you.  NO excuses.
5. He is NOT a pretty boy.

I love his heart, he has one of the biggest hearts around.  He would give someone the shirt of his back without any thought.  He is just that kind of guy.  After I was home with baby Max, 5 days in the hospital, 2 blood transfusions later…he came down for a day, my Mom had left, Scott really needed to get to a meeting…and so Mike drove down here to take care of me and help me with Max, took a day off of work to take care of his baby sister and her baby.  What a guy huh?

Today he is driving his oldest son Charlie, down to Ames so that I can meet him there and Charlie can come to Jack's birthday party that's tomorrow.  What a guy huh?  That's a long drive, and tomorrow we will meet him part way back with Charlie after the party.  When I thought it was too complicated to make it all work, he just offered to drive farther.  He is SO good to his family, and always has been so good to me.  I am so thankful for you Mike.  I love you.

Thankfulness: Day 15

I love clean.  I mean I really LOVE order, clean, organization….I love it to a fault I think sometimes.  I crave it, I find rest in it.  Weird I know, but very true.  I sleep better when things are clean.  No joke.

For those of you that have read the "5 Love Languages" books, I have determined there is a 6th Love Language.  I am calling it the "Act of Organization and Cleaning".  I honestly feel so LOVED when my Love, or our boys, clean something, or organize something.  It obviously doesn't mean the same when I have to harp on them, or get frustrated to the point they do it just to keep me happy.  But when they clean something ON their own, AND do it well,  it makes my heart smile.

When my Dad comes to take care of the boys, with my Mom, typically he "surprises" me with cleaning my car (I mean REALLY cleaning it, think Mister Car Wash) and filling it with gas.  I LOVE that, it makes me feel so loved.

Scott cleaned the garage this week, AND changed light bulbs without my even pointing them out…and the house is clean at this moment AND I got my car washed yesterday too.  So today I am thankful for a clean house, a clean garage and a clean car.  

Thankfulness: Day 14

Thankful for the honor Drew received yesterday at the Des Moines Optimist club luncheon.  He was elected by his teachers and staff at school to receive this award.  Each Junior High in Des Moines nominates a boy and a girl, one of each from Jr High and one of each from High School.  Drew was chosen from Des Moines Christian, as the Jr high boy.

We received the following note from the school counselor a couple of weeks ago,

Each year several of the area Optimists clubs sponsor a youth appreciation luncheon and ask area schools to nominate 2 JH and 2 SH students to represent their student body.  I always ask our teachers for their nominees.  This year Daniel Hawley, Abby Hart, Greta Larson and Drew Shisler are our nominees.  These are students are are friendly, helpful and concerned about their school, community and others.

The 4 kids from DMCS, were taken to a special lunch yesterday hosted by Optimist International.  Scott attended as well as some other parents. He snapped pictures, shocking I know.

The plaque the kids are holding in this picture says

"In recognition of upholding the dignity of youth, for showing sincere devotion to the welfare of others and for generous and unselfish contributions to society,

 Drew Shisler

 is hereby commended on behalf of the Optimists Clubs of the Des Moines metro area. "

Proud of Drew, the kind of young man he is becoming.  What a fun honor.