Advent

Let me put out here a public THANK YOU to my husband and mom.  Eleven months ago was a busy and exciting time at our house.  On December 27th I bought a new Christmas tree at an after Christmas sale, and I put it up.  On December 28th, I gave birth to our wonderful baby boy.  For the past eleven months I have heard about how I left 2 Christmas trees to be taken down and put away, along with all the other Christmas decorations.  My mom and husband tackle the task with zeal and had it all taken care of before I was released from the hospital.  THANK YOU.  Along with that, they even helped me to prepare for this year!  

Today marks the beginning of Advent.  The season of lights and preparing for the birth of Christ.

To celebrate the season, I have a Christmas count down calendar.  But for even more fun I wanted to start a new tradition, and I knew this last year.  Mom and Eric, individually wrapped up the Christmas books as they put them away!  I know they thought it was the morphine talking, but they also know how I love to plan things out ridiculously far in advance.

So this year, I was very grateful to pull out the books to start off our Advent season, and they were already wrapped!  Each day, now through Christmas we will unwrap a "new" book to read and to prepare for the coming of the Lord.  I felt a load lifted from me as I found the books to already be wrapped!

On another note, I have publicly acknowledged my gratitude for their help last year.  This year is pay back, as I have 2 trees to put up, with three small "helpers" and to take down with three small "helpers", or also known as by myself.  Can we be done with the ribbing?  At least you two had each other and me to blame.

I am thankful that I can see

When we moved in, our great room had one ceiling fan fixture.  The room is approximately 17ft. by 22ft. and one light source just didn't cut it.  We now have lights!  We moved the original fan to one side of the room and put a second one on the opposite side.  Then we had 4 can lights put in, on each side, controlled separately.  Creating two distinct spaces within the same room.  That put us at 10 lights!  But we weren't done!  We also put 3 smaller can lights above the breakfast bar area.  The room now has 13 lights, and possibly thirteen switches --I'm not sure.

North side

South Side

hmmmm.... I know I turned this picture...these are the bar lights, on the ceiling.

Not quite done, we added two lights in the garage as well, and they also make a huge difference!  Now I can actually sort through things and see what I am doing!

We added a security light to the backyard as well.  And let me add, as I say we, I do mean we, Eric did most of the cutting for the can lights and hooked up the ceiling fans. I helped wrangle kids at Home Depot and during the installation --and for anyone who has attempted to do that, or herd cats, know what I am talking about. We did have someone who knew what he was doing, run the wiring and connect it all safely and correctly!  THANKS TYSON!

Thankful for the opportunity to own our own home.

As a side note...I fear this may mean that we'll be able to actually see the dust, and it may be expected that I dust more often.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We truly do feel blessed, even if we are far from family and many friends.

Even if we're not having the traditional turkey and too much meal, we are blessed with food on our table.

When the vehicles give me a headache, I am grateful that typically they are minor, fixable and we can afford to fix them.

I am grateful that when I am handed lemons, I really do know how to make lemonade and that I have friends to share a glass with.  (and this sentence reminds me of my nasty Midwest habit of ending a sentence with a preposition, I am forever thankful for the wonderful education I received in Iowa, even the bad habits I'm left with).

As we celebrate today, near and far, know that wherever life is at this moment, you are loved, and that makes you very blessed; and I am grateful that I (and my family) am loved.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful for

I am thankful for children who care for each other and can't stand to be apart from each other!

Thankful that she is confident and does her own thing and loves life!

For their Bonnie and Clyde routine that keeps me on my toes.