A Month to be thankful

Each year in November I try to make it a point to focus each day on something that we are thankful for. Ideally we really should be doing this every day of every month but with the hustle and bustle of everything we don't always do that. So each day after homework was done we colored a feather and then wrote what we were thankful for. As of today this is what our turkey looks like. He is getting pretty full! only three day left. here is what we are thankful for( in case you cant read it in the picture):

1. Crafts: crafting is a big thing in our family and I personally do crafts as a nice stress release as well as them being fun

2. Pets: We don't have nearly the amount of pets we used to too but we love the few we have left. I am also thankful that they are all easy to take care of.

3. Brothers and sisters: The kids have said many times that they are thankful for each other. I know me and David are sure thankful for our sister and brother. They are the first friends we really have and are still.

4.Our house: We have had quiet a crazy last year and a half and are thankful that we have ended up in a house where we feel safe and comfortable.

5.Parents: the kids said they were thankful for me and David and all we do for them. We also are thankful for our parents. I love spending time with them.

6. Toys: the kids were very thankful to have toys to play with. David and I are thankful that we can provide toys for the kids to play with and be entertained.

7. Flowers: Payten decided that the flowers are very important and that they keep outside pretty.

8. Christmas: We are thankful for all aspects for Christmas. We are thankful for the true meaning of Christmas and also for the joy of giving presents to others.

9. Spending time with family: Family is a very important aspect of our lives and are fortunate to have some family close enough we can stop and spent time with them often.

10.Calendars: Payten said this one but I think I am the most thankful out of all of us in the family. My calendar is normally packed full and I am glad I have somewhere to write things down so I don't loose track of things going on.

11.The bible: we are might thankful for the great bible that we could read about Jesus and learn from him.

12.Good weather: We all have a different idea of what good weather is but me and kids like warm weather but David likes cold weather. I guess that makes at least one of us happy with the weather all year long.

13. Teachers: Payten and Wyatt are thankful for their teachers that teach them so much. They are such wonderful people who really have a passion for teaching young children. thank you!

14. T.V.: We probably spend too much time watching it but I am thankful for educational show I can put on for the kids that they can learn form instead of just watching crud. I am also thankful for the time me and David get to sit down and watch a show together after the kids go to bed. sometime it the only time I get with him all day.

15. Santa: can you guess who put this up their? while we go back and forth with the whole Santa thing I think it is nice for the kids to have an imagination and enjoy a little Christmas magic as long as they understand why we celebrate Christmas.

16.Our car/truck: while I think I am more thankful for my car as it has been reliable this year and the truck has had a rough time I am thankful that we are able to have vehicles and that most the time we have one to take David to work without me having to get the kids up at 4:30 to take him their.

17. Grandparents: My kids sure have some awesome grandparents. They love spending time with them and they sure spoil them. I couldn't ask for any better of grandparents for them. The kids love you to pieces!

18. America: we are thankful to live in America where we are free and  are thankful for all the military who keep it that way

19. God: we are thankful for god and all he has done for us. we pray to him and thank him regularly.

20.Our church: The last year has been interesting at our church but with a new year comes new blessings. we look forward to it all. we are thankful for all the friends we have made and also for having a place to go to worship our great god.

21. Food: we are thankful for the food we can put on our table each day. We often forget how many people go without simple because they don't have any other choice.

22. Running water: I cant imagine not having water readily available. it sure makes laundry, cleaning and cooking easier.

23.Electricity: I am a very cold person so I am very thankful for having heat in my house and being able to have lights so we can stay up past 3 in the afternoon these days.

24. Homework: Payten said this one and I wasn't surprised. She loves coming home and doing homework and I figure lets take advantage of it while she still likes it.

25. School: I am thankful that their are school that we can take our kids to to learn. I just don't have the patients to homeschool so I am thankful they can teach and I can just help work on it at home.

There is still three days left so our turkey will get three more feathers.

From our house to yours we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Operation Christmas Child

For many years our church has participated in a ministry called Operation Christmas Child. This ministry provides shoe boxes filled with small toys and personal items along with a story of Jesus to children around the world that otherwise would not receive anything for Christmas. Payten's children's group this year decided to host a packing party at the church for everyone to join together and pack these presents for the children. Payten and I found many things we donated and also asked grandma if she had anything she would like to donate. Once at the packing party Payten packed four different boxes for four different children. One for a 5 year old girl, one for a 15 year old boy, one for a 14 year old girl and a last one for a 2 year old girl. After packing each box we sat down and wrote a letter to the child describing herself and what she liked and what her family was like. We put our address on the letter so that if they wanted to they could write us. The experience was amazing and it felt good to know we were helping someone else. As we do not have a lot of money we were thrilled to be able to contribute without breaking the bank. We look forward to participating in the ministry for years to come and next year hope to be able to give more then we did this year.

 Here she is picking out toys for her 14 year old girl. they could pick one bigger toy and two small toys along with a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, washcloth, Kleenex, stuffed animal, small notebook, pencil, crayons or colored pencils, gloves, hair ties and a small bag of candy.

 Here Payten is writing her letter to her 14 year old girl. She wrote her name, what she liked to do, what country, state and city she lived in, her favorite color, food and drink, who was I her family and what pets she had and her address in case they wanted to write her.

 Here she is writing her letter to her 2 year old girl. as you can see her box was full.

This was the last box she did. It was for the two year old girl. In this box was all the usual things she put in all her boxes but also a ball and a baby doll which she was so excited to put in there.

Fun halloween traditions start

Halloween this year was like most other years...busy. After picking Payten up from school we hurried to get the kids dressed in their costumes and headed to Uptown to trick or treat with Aunt Heather and all the cousins. It was so nice as the weather wasn't too cold so the kids were not miserable. After stopping at home for a quick bite to eat we went over to our church for a Harvest party and trunk or treating. They played games, went on a hay ride, trunk or treated and finally got way too much candy. Once all the game options had been exhausted we went to go trick or treat at grandma and papas house. The kids had a blast and we were all tired after a long day so we went home late and went to bed.  In case you are wondering what payten is doing in the first pic, she is playing a life size version of angry birds that the guys at church came up with. it was soo cool! defiantly the hit at the party, payten played like four times.

 
 

halloween is here!

the last week had been so busy that I was not able to pull out the laptop so I could post a new post. this last weekend we took advantage of a bunch of fun fall activities that started on Friday with a fall carnival at the community center. The kids got to play games, go through a maze and do the hay ride. We then got up early Saturday and headed out for more fun. David and Wyatt headed to hockey and the girls and I headed to badger mountain. The local YMCA hosts a healthy festival where kids and families hike up Badger mountain and got cool little prizes along the way. Despite what I had expected, Payten hiked all the way up and then back down the mountain. I was so proud of her for making it all the way up as it is about 3 miles I believe. Allyxis had it easy! she was on moms back the whole time. Needless to say mom was a little sore the next day from having extra weight on her back. Once down from hiking, the boys joined us and we played games and had a snack. Later that night we went to a little local diner where they were having trunk or treating and games for the kids. The kids had so much fun but by the end of the night everyone was tired and ready for bed.

a Couple of weeks ago the kids participated in their schools jog-a-thon to raise money for their school. Being their first year in school we were not sure what to expect but the day came and they both did great. I was able to volunteer for keeping tally for runners so I got to see how they did and also got a chance to take a couple of pictures.

 

 

last but never least today Payten and Wyatt's kindergarten classes went on their first field trip to the pumpkin patch at the Country Mercantile. I was grateful to have the opportunity to volunteer and spend some time with the kids. Once we got to where we were going the kids got to climb a hay pyramid followed by taking a hay ride to get pumpkins. I was assigned four kids from Payten's class to keep track of. All the kids in the class seem to get along very well which was impressive to me as I can remember my days in school.  After all the kids had picked out pumpkins and they had all been labeled we headed back to go to the barn to pet some farm animals. The pigs in the barn seemed to be a favorite with cows being a close second. Following the barn the kids found their way through the hay maze and then to the covered area for cookies and "pumpkin juice" aka orange tang. Class pictures were last on the list before the kids headed back to the yellow stretch limo. the pictures I took turned out real cute and Payten had a blast. I didn't see much of Wyatt on the field trip as his class was not with Payten's class most the time. I did manage to get a couple of pictures of him when they were all together for a bit.

 

Fall is here!

With fall in full swing now, we say bring on all the pumpkins and activities we can get. The air has gotten cool and crisp. Payten finished off her baseball season at the beginning of the month just in time. her last game was a bit cool but we bundled up and tried to stay warm as we went into the cool night.

 

This last weekend we defiantly got into the fall spirit. The kids did not have school Friday so we headed out after Allyxis's speech therapy to the apple orchard. my best friend and her kids along with us loaded into their big van and went apple picking. I was surprised at how much fun the kids had picking. It didn't take long to get a bunch of apples with all them picking. Each family ended up with about 16 pounds of apples.

 

Following apple picking we headed to grandma's house to pick pumpkins out of her garden. Mom had a big garden this summer and pumpkins were a big part of it. I was very surprised at how many we actually got. each kid got at least one pumpkin to take home along with a couple of squash. Our porch now fits the fall theme. Thanks mom!

 

Saturday was Fall Fest in the park. although the weather wasn't the nicest we(me and Sam) took the kids out and let them play some games and do the cake walk. It rained on us a little but the we didn't mind. The kids won some little prized at the games and payten won the cake walk twice while we were there so we brought home some cookies and cupcakes. following that we dropped the boys off to be watch for a bit and all us girls headed to the women's expo. We got a lot of little freebies and took pictures in a few photo booths. We had a lot of fun!

After a couple of busy days we had yet another busy day of fall activities. My brothers birthday was Sunday so we went to mom and dads house to celebrate. The kids and Cody painted pumpkins before it got dark then headed inside to have chili and cornbread. Cody opened presents and we all had cake. While we cleaned up dinner and got all the presents ready the kids and guys got to watch The Croods. I think we all had fun and w were so glad that we were able to take Wyatt with us to be part of all the family activities.

How time flies

the view from our private cabana

 

 

 

Oh my how time sure flies by when we are busy. So since I haven't been very faithful about keeping my blog updated lately I will do one big post to get all of you caught up. to start off with two weeks after we got back from vacation at the beach I went to Silverwood with my parents and sisters family. The weekend we went the kids were at their dads and David had to work so it was just me going along with them. My sister reserved a private cabana at the water park and we had a blast. it was defiantly nice to have a place saved for us and not have to worry about people being in our stuff. Most of Saturday was spent at the water park followed by a couple of hours at the amusement park then a great family dinner. Me and the parents stayed at a hotel overnight and went back to the park the next day with a good family friend and his little family. Annie and I were buddies that day and I like to think she had a good time.

Addy and me waiting for lunch

me and mom. We had so much fun!!!

 

The next week after going to silverwood the kids started school. we were lucky enough to have Wyatt for the first day of school. The kids had parent teacher interviews at the beginning of the week where they got to meet their teacher and see the classroom then they started school on Friday. After Wyatt's interview on Thursday we brought him home with us and in the morning I took both of them to school. for all of you who did not know Wyatt is attending Jefferson Elementary where payten is attending. They are in separate classrooms next door to each other but are in the same reading group and get to see each other at recess and lunch. I think it is good for them to get to see each other often. back to the first day of school, we loaded up the car and headed to school Friday. I took lots of pictures of the day so we can all remember it(of course). Our two babies are in kindergarten!

 

 

 

 

 

 

payten has been playing baseball for the last month and is loving it. She is a little slow but she has never played baseball before so I think she is doing great picking it up. Papa and grandma have been able to come to most of her games which she couldn't be happier about. Baseball is almost over, she has two more games to go then the season will be over. Once baseball is over she will be starting gymnastics along with Allyxis. Along with that Wyatt will be starting hockey again in a couple of weeks. The kids keep me plenty busy:)

 

 Last week we celebrated our first year together and to celebrate David planned out a whole night on Saturday without me helping plan it. He even picked out what I was to wear and got all dressed up himself. He looked so handsome in his dress clothes! first he took me out to a winery for a little wine tasting then out to olive garden for dinner. David doesn't care for pasta so we never go their which is why it was such a surprise to get to eat there. He even enjoyed the food he ate (yes I will never forget that he said that).  then we went home, watched a movie and cuddled. It felt great to have a night just for us so we could reconnect.

The view from our seats at the winery while we enjoyed our wine

 

Look how handsome my man looks all dressed up! I think I have only seen him like this a couple of times. we need to do this more often!!!

 

Yesterday was the last day of our no kids weekend so we thought we would make the most of it. David slept in while I went to church and served in the nursery. it has been a while since I served in the nursery at church and it really felt good and was lots of fun. I defiantly have a heart for kids. Following church we loaded up our handguns and the 22LR and headed to the range. We were their for a good 2 hours. David was impressed with me and how well I shot. We got to work breaking in our new guns and I found I love David's 1911. We also found a left handed bolt action rifle for me for a really good price. once it is off holding at the store it is mine. yay!!