Thankful

'Tis the season for thinking of what you're thankful for. Well, where do you begin? I guess there are so many things to be thankful for. Isn't that what you're supposed to say? The thing is, there really are many different things to be thankful for.

Family
Where do you even begin when you think about family? There's the kids, J, my mom and dad, the rest of my family, in-laws...so many people that mean so much in many different ways. Family is definitely something to be thankful for.
Friends
How would we get along without friends? When I think about my friends, I think about the different groups of friends there are: high school friends, college friends, work friends, new friends, childhood friends, J's friends (which in turn are my friends now)...lots of people to be thankful for there.
Faith
Funny how these all ended up being words that start with the letter "F..." I am thankful that I have my faith. Faith gets you through a lot. If you haven't experienced that piece of it yet, just you wait...you never know when your faith will save you (or someone you love), test you, or give you joy. Faith is...it!
Of course there are so many other things to be thankful for, but these three are probably the most important things in my life. What are you thankful for during this holiday season...or all the time?

Have you ever wondered?

Have you ever wondered how some blogs become what they are? I don't ever think that this blog will become anything more than just our family blog, but what if it does? There are some blogs I read that are incredible. There is so much more to them than just writing and pictures. There is advice, there are recipes, there are comments from more than one person. I wonder, "How did it get to be like that?" Not that that's what I'm going for...
Then I wonder where they get the time to blog all the time. I think about the time that I have to blog and it's usually Sunday nights, like today, when I should be in bed, but here I sit, writing away. I would love to be able to post every day or every other day. Do I have enough to write about? Maybe, but maybe not. I think that there are people who write because they want to remember every single thing there is to remember about their kids or their day. I'm not sure that's what my blog will be. I think it will take some time to morph into whatever it will be.
All of this thinking comes from my digital literacy class, the one that got me to get into my family blogging, and some reflection Candance asked us to do. She asked us what our purpose would be for our digital writing project. At that point I thought it would be to collect family memories so I can remember and our kids can remember various things that happened in their lives. As I think about it further, I wonder if the blog will lend itself to more than that. I suppose that's all up to me, though, isn't it?! We will see...

Swimming Smilebox

Tonight I tried a Smilebox for the first time. It was really easy to use and a fun way to organize pictures, rather than posting all of them on here. I love to share my pictures with all of you and this is an easy way to do it!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My Birthday

So my birthday was in November and we did the "normal" thing for my birthday. Cossettas is the usual place so we went there for dinner. The kids loved the pasta which is a good thing, because lately they've been so picky about eating anything other than spaghetti for a pasta noodle. We're turning a corner! Who knew that eating would be difficult at times for 3 year olds. I guess I could have predicted that, but...

It was a great night with family! I couldn't have asked for anything more. We missed out on going to Cafe Latte, but maybe we can go another time soon. I'm craving the chocolate chocolate cake!!!

Trying a video

So I'm trying to upload my first video of the kids. This one is A trying to say "yogurt," which she continues to say, "M-yogurt." Not sure why...but I think it's too cute!

One Last Day at the Cabin

We were lucky enough to go to the cabin today! What a beautiful day to be up there. The sun was out and all of (or most of) the leaves were off the trees. It was a great fall day. We did a lot of raking, which will hopefully help out my dad. The kids loved that, as jumping in leaves has become one of their new favorite things to do. Although it's not the greatest of help, nothing beats the look on their face when they start back by a tree and say, "On your mark. Get set. Go!" A does more of a skid when she enters the pile, while C goes full force jumping into the pile. We've had many fun days of jumping in leaves this fall, and today was definitely a bonus one at the cabin.

We love playing with Daddy! Look at this tall stick I found!
Look how high it goes!

And although the Gophers were playing today, we had to wear our Duck shirts in honor of Gayle and Jeff. Thanks for the shirts! Go Ducks! Or as Charlie said, "Go Donald Duck!"

Halloween

Well, Halloween has come and gone. It's an ok holiday-not my favorite. The kids had a great time, I think! We had a few families over from our neighborhood to have dinner, then go trick-or-treating together. We had jack-o-lantern shaped pizza. We also had carmel apples and cookies. Good for energy while being outside with the kiddos!

Our kids had a great time getting their jack-o-lantern buckets filled to the top with candy. They were so darn cute as a kitty and a puppy! They loved having their faces painted with whiskers and spots. They thought it was pretty neat. There was lots of running and some meltdowns along the way, but it was a good night all the way around. The minute C found out that we were on our way home, his attitude changed and he was all about saying goodbye to everyone! He gave lots of high fives on our way home.
The funny part about the age that the kids are at, is that they didn't even ask for a piece of candy the next day! So, that means that J and I are left with lots and lots of candy! I think I need to get some of it out of the house. Until next Halloween!