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.