thankful 14 & 15

Whew this month is just flying by!

14. Family Home Evenings. We do a large FHE with all of my family and sometimes some friends. It is so nice to have a spiritual discussion with the people I'm closest to, and I love watching Addie learn too. Livy isn't quite there yet, haha, but it will come! PS Having a yummy dessert waiting isn't too bad either! ;)

15. Food. I know this one is a no brainer, but I sure am grateful to have a pantry/cabinets/2 refrigerators/3 freezers of food!!! I am so grateful Jarom has provided so well for us so that I can buy food in advance so that I can rely off of my stockpile for at least a month or so if necessary. This came in handy when I had my miscarriage in 2009 because I was in such a funk from it I didn't have the energy or desire to grocery shop. It also is counseled that we have food storage, so I need to get back on the ball of building my supply. MMM... Food. (Dinner was a big salad with fried chicken tenders, avocados, a yummy ranch dressing, cheese, garlic toast... etc. It was SO delicious!)

thankful 13

So this is a little thankful but after apple cider and milk were spilled across my kitchen, Clorox wipes are my favorite item of the day. I realize they aren't eco friendly but man they make my life so much easier! I buy them in bulk at Costco and use them to clean just about everything. I seriously should buy stock in the Clorox business because between wipes, bleach, bleach pens, and Clorox 2 I use something of theirs at least twice a day! PS. Lysol wipes suck as do Kirkland brand when it comes to stainless.

thankfuls 6-12

6. Church. I'm so grateful to have been raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I can't imagine how life would be without knowing of the restored Gospel and I'm thankful my parents had open hearts and minds when the elders came a knocking.

7. My home. As I cleaned house Monday I thought about how blessed I was to have a nice home. Many of you probably know I really hate the look of the outside of our house but as I cleaned I appreciated having a home with nice features. Plenty of room for us, in a wonderful neighborhood and school district. And its ours. Ugly on the outside, cute on the inside. :)

8. Gorgeous weather. We had sunny 70s here this week and it was perfection. We took advantage of it and the girls played at the playground for hours. So nice.

9. New friendships. I have a new friend, Evelyn who is married to one of Jarom's friends from growing up. They recently moved back from UT and we've become close friends. Wednesday was her birthday so our hubbies watched the kids while we spent a girls day out having a yummy breakfast at Another Broken Egg (bacado omelets and cinnamon rolls... yum!!) followed by an hour massage at the spa, time in the steam room, a pedicure, Target trip, then the guys grilled steaks and we ate them with salad, some yummy garlic parm rolls I made, and a cheesecake! Perfect day. I'm grateful for my sweet new friend and the joy and insight she adds to my life. I'm also thankful my hubby has his friend back to hang out with who set up the whole day since I've had my spa giftcard forever! :)

10. Bunco. A friend from church set up a bunco group last August and asked me to join. So once a month I get a GNO with yummy food and great company. All the gals are from my Ward and I've really enjoyed getting to know them better. I look forward to it every month and always have a blast! Jarom is sweet to be sure to be home that night on time so I can go and I'm grateful for that too! Sometimes a little girl time away makes for a better mommy and I'm always ready to give my babies a big squeeze when I get home.

11. Veterans. I've been blessed to be born and raised in this great country where I'm free to do as I choose. I'm thankful for the veterans that have fought for my freedom and are currently fighting for my freedom.

12. Eternal families. A friend's dad passed away this morning. I can only imagine how they must feel during this difficult time. I know they must find peace in knowing their family is eternal. I'm so grateful to be bound to my family and it gives me great comfort to know that death is not the end. I'm so very thankful for my forever family.

thankfuls

I'm going to try to post my thankfuls for the month of November.

1. My sweet girls. They drive me nuts but they also bring the most joy. They adore each other and I often spy them holding hands, hugging, kissing cheeks, or brushing each others' hair. It makes the times when they are pulling hair and screaming worth it!

2. My hubby. He is so easygoing and easy to please. He works so hard for us. He's my eternal mate, my forever best friend. I love him.

3. Heaters. After being out in the nasty wet weather it felt so good to come home into a warm house.

4. Addie's preschool. When Trevor her best friend moved we went through a hard spell with Addie. I wasn't able to find her a school that felt like a good fit and inspiration led me to call a school I had called before and upon touring I knew it was where she belonged. Addie has made 3 new little girlfriends who are all within a month of her in age which was important to me since she is an older 3 and she now has friends to play with. I'm thankful I finally convinced the kids' moms that I'm not evil being LDS and we now all go to the playground every pretty day after school for a few hours. Addie still asks for Trevor all the time but at least her rough patch seems to be behind us. She LOVES school and her teachers are too cute!!

5. Good health. We've been hit by allergies and I've lost my voice again. I look toward to feeling great again soon and having the girls back to normal!

Makes me grin

Addie barely touched her lunch today even though it was one of her favorite's... chick fil a. So all afternoon I've been telling her to eat more chicken nuggets so we can go upstairs to play and to get the Halloween decorations out of the attic and she says to me, all exasperated but with a slight turn of her little mouth...

"Mom... I ate about 65!!!" (in reality she ate 1.)

Sigh. Did I mention 65 and 66 are her favorite numbers lately?

My poorly neglected blog and a quick update on my girls

Why has blogging become so hard for me?? The thing is I have at least 10 posts typed and ready for pictures, but I can't seem to sort through the darn pictures, edit them, upload them to photobucket, and get them posted.

When I actually have time to do so something always goes wrong... ie tonight my internet is literally slower than molasses. I tried to upload a picture without editing, and it seriously took 10 minutes to get to 25% before I just exited it. At least I have all of Livy's months typed and ready. But seriously between either Livy waking up early from sleeps, Addie or Livy needing something, someone wanting to come see our house, or me just being busy being a mom of two, I don't have a second to spare. I realized I used to blog during Addie's naps, but she quit naps when Livy arrived and I can only force a nap on Sunday when she's up super early.

Sorry to be so whiny but I HATE being behind! I'm gonna have to get a babysitter for 2 days straight to get caught up! LOL!

In the meantime, I suppose I'll keep typing up milestones before I forget them and saving them to my ever growing list of drafts! :)

PS. Livy turned 11 months yesterday and has been paci free for a week. She's standing up from the ground without assistance and climbs stairs like a pro much too quickly! Her favorite pastimes are pulling toys out of the toy box until she can't reach anymore or getting into my jewelry box. If no one is watching and someone has left the bathroom open, she darts for the toilet and plays in the water... NASTY! When that becomes old she pulls the toilet paper off the roll if no one has caught her yet. She is into EVERYTHING and has 10 words now. She loves to talk on the phone but mostly just says "hi" over and over with the occasional "bye". Livy weighs 17.6 lbs (20th percentile). Livy hated the sand and ocean this year, but loved the pool and being tossed in the air while we were in the pool. Finally the last day of the beach she warmed up to the sand and crawled everywhere.

Addie is a money driven gal. You can get her to do almost anything with the offer of earning money. She saved her money for 2 months to buy a 19" horse she named "Racey". She has been really into these little mini Barbie's target has in the checkout lane and has saved enough money to buy 2 so far, and she's now saving for another one. Addie is a huge helper, makes her bed everyday without being asked, puts her clothes in the hamper, wipes her own bum finally, buckles her own seat belt, and has gotten pretty good with her number and letter recognition. She LOVES to help me clean. She's memorizing books and loves to sing primary songs. Her favorite is "I love to see the temple". She HATES to wake up early for church, is extremely jealous of Livy's nursings because she wants to cuddle with me, so after Livy nurses usually Addie gets to have some one on one cuddle time. I'm trying to get Addie excited for her new twin bed we'll be putting her in this week instead of the toddler bed, but she's not having it, even despite all the pink I'm offering her. Livy's more than outgrown the bassinet portion of the pack and play and so Addie's bed has to go back to the crib. She really is a sweet little girl, even if she is SUPER opinionated and bossy at times. I wonder where she gets that from??? ;) Addie weighs 27.8 lbs when stuffed to the brim. I think that placed her in 3rd percentile?

Night y'all!

Nummy!

Papa gave Livy a lemon at longhorn  to watch her make a face but she surprised us all and loved it! In fact she got really upset when I took it away from her.  Stinker!