Thankful Garland Craft

This has been by far one of my favorite holiday crafts to do with my daughters. It made the girls really ponder about what they are thankful for. Let me tell ya, they came up with many reasons to be thankful. Some were deep and most were pretty logical. It soon turned into a discussion about being thankful and why they were thankful for these things. A few examples of theirs were...

• their beds
• cars
• family
• our house
• shoes
• kindness
• food
• God
• God's house

Not only is it a great opportunity to get your child to open up and spend quality time with them, it also allows them to practice basic writing skills and spelling. Perfect for my four year old and seven year old. This will definitely be a traditional craft for the books now. 

What I Am Thankful For...

As I sat in my chair staring at the computer on my desk, I had no post ready for today. I didn't have a post saved in drafts or even thought of. Then it clicked, I will write a post about what I am thankful for. Of course I start to wonder if that is too cliche? I would sit here and type a post of what I personally am thankful for. Then it hit me, I recently had a reader tell me that my blog was horrible. That reader continued to tell me why and stated somewhere in the conversation that my blog had nothing to do with my children and was all about me. With that being said to me and as I sit here pondering about writing this post I choose to anyways.

What I Am Thankful For...

• God: Number one on my list that I am thankful for is God. I am a true believe that with God anything can be possible. I am also a believe if you do right in God's eyes he will do right for you. As some of you may already know my husband am I started out as a family at a young age. He was fresh out of Mechanic school and I was fresh out of High school. We didn't have much to start with but handed down furniture, an apartment and family. During those first few years I spent many times visiting our church during the week and speaking with one of the pastors. Today I look back in awe of all that God has blessed us with. My husband has a great job. I am now a stay at home mom. We no longer have to stress for money, food, etc. We now have nice furniture that we have purchased on our own. We are home owners and no longer living the apartment life. All because hard work and not losing faith in God. "Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths strait. Proverbs 3:5-6
• Technology: I am thankful for the inventions of today's technology. It has helped my family while my husband is gone for a week at a time for training. It has been useful to keep in touch with family who love out of state. The girls can see their cousins during face time and chat.
• My parents and in-laws: I am thankful to have my parents and In-laws live near by. I am thankful we are able to visit them for coffee and dinners without having to drive all day. 
• Medicine: I am thankful for today's medicine. As a chronic migraine sufferer sometimes the natural ways do not always help. I am thankful that today's medicine has helped my Aunt beat breast cancer. I am thankful medicine when my daughter Viv has an asthma attack. 
• My husband: What kind of wife would I be if I wasn't thankful for my amazing husband?! If it weren't for him I wouldn't be where I am today. I wouldn't have my perfect family. Not only is he my husband he is also my best friend. Okay enough of the lovely mushy stuff, ha ha!
• My 3 daughters: I never imagined having all girls, let alone three. But I am beyond thankful for them. They are the loves of my life and each one will always hold a special place in my heart. They have molded me into the mother and women I am today. 
• Blogging: lastly I am thankful for blogging. It has opened doors and opportunities. It is great therapy and I have meet some great women along the way. Some day I hope my blog continues to grow.

What are you Thankful for?

25TH Birthday & Thankful

Hello 25!

Today is my 25th birthday and all I can think about is everything I am thankful for. I woke up this morning to flowers awaiting in the kitchen along with a sweet note from my husband. After being married for almost 6 years, he has finally realized flowers are a way to my heart. There is something about the beauty of receiving flowers that I love. Flowers lift my spirits with their beauty and their aroma in the air. I made myself a cup of coffee while still gazing at my flowers. As I sip on my steaming hot coffee, I sit back and think of all that I am thankful for. I thankful for my family and friends to celebrate my birthday with. I am blessed to have a hard working husband who provides a roof over our heads, food in our fridge and clothing on our backs. I am more than thankful for our three beautiful daughters that God has blessed us with. Being their mother is the best feeling in the whole wide world. Of course the list goes on, with all seriousness.

 On the silly side what I am thankful for, would have to be a cup of coffee to wake my tired eyes up in the mornings and my wine at the end of a long day. Also good book to curl up with, even though I know I will fall asleep after a couple pages. My knitting which is a stress reliever for myself, along with me being able to create. With that being said, I am thankful for my 25th birthday!  

Thankful Tuesday

In our home we have been doing the 30 days of what we are thankful for.  I ask our daughters every day what they are thankful for and we write it on our chalkboard. I love the thought they put into their answer of what they are thankful for each day. A few things they are thankful for that we wrote down are ...

• Our home
• Cousins
• Jesus
• Mom and Dad
• Grandmas and Grandpas
• Our food
• Their toy room
• Sisters

I am personally thankful for Evalyn's kindergarten teacher. I was blessed to be able to help her class yesterday morning for "pilgrim day". As I observed her teachers techniques with the children, I was simply amazed. Along with the amount of energy that she has; I have no idea how she can do it. Later that evening we had Evalyn's conferences for school. She is doing great academically and socially. It feels wonderful knowing you daughter comes home excited about school because of her teacher. Us parents need to be thankful when we are blessed with an amazing teacher for our children. I truly believe it takes a a special person to be a teacher.

A few other things I am thankful for are..

• My family; I would be lost without them.
• My daughters; they are the light of my life.
• My husband; I wouldn't be where I'm at today without him.
• Food; even though I hate grocery shopping.
• Coffee; it's my jump start to the day.
• Cloth diapers; they have saved us money and the earth.
• Knitting; it is my way of non-stressing.

My grocery trip Sunday. This is what our grocery cart looks like. I am mostly a health freak.

Watching our local Santa parade in bed Saturday morning.

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What are you thankful for today?

It's Raining Leaves!

It's raining leaves, as my three year old daughter calls it! As October fades away the leaves are now falling off the trees. As I have become an adult, enjoying the color of  leaves changing doesn't seem to last long! Before I know it, it's raining leaves and the trees are becoming bare. As a parent, I feel I can get caught in our hectic schedule's easily. Therefore this year I made sure we were more involved as a family and enjoyed the fall season. Of course, trying to make it last as long as possible.

Our lovely backyard. Well part!

Thursday we hit in the high 70 degree temperatures. We took advantage and enjoyed a nice walk. That's not normal for Michigan. We were then quickly reminded that it's the end of October with high of 49 degrees the next day, eek! Although, us Michiganders are not surprised. We joke that our weather can change in a snap of a finger. 

With our sudden change in temperature, we started off our chilly Saturday making pumpkin shaped rice krispie treats. As I mentioned in previous posts, we love baking in the kitchen. 

Picture does not do justice. 

Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients

6 cups of rice krispie cereal

1 10 0z. bag of the big marshmallows. You may use 4 cups of small marshmallows too!

3 Tablespoons of butter.

A pumpkin cookie cutter.

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a pan, add marshmallows and slowly melt.

2. In a separate bowl ad the rice krispies and the marshmallow mix together and stir. 

3.Put into any size pan you choose, I usually use a 13x9

4. I use wax paper to evenly flatten out the treats, then start cutting them out with the pumpkin cookie cutter!

Have a blessed weekend!!

Angels Were Watching Over!

Angels were definitely watching over Helen late Saturday morning! Helen is our youngest daughter. One of I'm sure many mothers worst nightmares happened to me! Our Saturday morning started out normal, and turned in an instant! Helen happened to have a very short fall resulting in hitting her forehead hard on our t.v. entertainment center. Her fall was less than twelve inches; a foot! I happened to be just in the hallway, when my oldest daughters yells to me, "Helen hurt herself really bad!!" As I ran into the living room literally only seconds, She laying there crying this not so normal cry. All of a sudden she went unconscious for a couple seconds, turned pale and started bleeding from her nose! I started in a panic speaking loudly, saying her name; of course I'm already crying. I called 911 and kept holding her and talking to her to keep her awake as her eyes kept trying to roll back. My husband was at work, therefore I called my parents whom live down the road. they arrived quickly as did the ambulance. Once they arrived she started to become a little more alert. They ended up bringing  her to Helen Devos Children's Hospital. After they checked her out, I have to thank God and her guardian angels! Somehow she has no injuries, not even a concussion. We are all so thankful she's okay! We were assured by the Dr. and nurses that babies bounce back from fall under a certain feet pretty fast. They also said we were lucky she hit her head where the strongest bone is. before  we knew it were able to go home and take it easy. Therefore the evening turned into a pizza and family movie night. That was totally okay with me. She is doing great now!

Playing After her accident, and doing well. 

  I couldn't thank the people I talked to on dispatch when you call 911 for being so understanding when your a panicking parent! A big thanks to our service people, and lucky to have such an amazing children's hospital here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Of course, thanks to our neighbors and everyone's thoughts and prayers! lastly, A huge thanks to my other two daughters for being so brave through the whole events. of course I sat down with them and made sure they knew!

  I had to tell myself I am not a horrible parent; accidents do happen. accidents can happen in a blink of an eye, which they truly can. I will admit I am a lot more panicky now, who wouldn't be though!

To end the weekend it was pretty rainy, so we did a lot of coloring and indoor activities! And or course, family time!

Today Michigan had some weird weather, and storms.