The Weeks' week's blessings...

   In hopes of posting and sharing more (and more often...) I am going to attempt to share my personal and our family (as a whole) thanks and blessings of the prior week. This "idea" is in no way my own, yet it comes from one of my Favorite Blogs, in which the author, Kari Patterson shares her "Week’s end with thanks". 
   And, although the idea of sharing our Thanks and Blessings is not my own, all of our Thanks, of course, will be my own, as well Brian's, Jackson's and Maggie's. We have so much to be thankful for on a weekly, daily, hourly basis... yet, I find that we don't share them enough.
  So... here's our 1st "Weeks' Week's Thanks" (did you catch all that?)...
1. Snuggles with Munchkins, even if sick... sometimes it's worth the day long snuggles.

2. Same day pediatrician appointments
3. "unknown-strange rash" on Maggie's wrist turning out to be intense eczema due to her drooling when sucking her thumb
4. Robot-Jackson and Robot-Maggie, talking in the BEST Robot Voices ever!
5. Car Carts at the Grocery Store. Happy Munchkins = Happy Mama. (although, is it just me, or does it take some serious muscle to push those things? Apologies to all of those I have bumped rammed into... it was an accident, I promise. I have very little control of those car carts, but they save me every time I take both kiddos to the grocery store for more than one item!).

6. Robots running out of batteries, and getting to tickle give said Robots new life batteries
7. Giggles... non-stop giggles, even when trying not to giggle
8. Jack and Maggie playing Robots together
9. Maggie to Jack, "I wuv oooo, Dack. Ooo my favowites color." 

10. Jack to Maggie, "I love you, Maggs. You're just such a cute little girl. Come and give me a hug."
 
11. Grandparents
12. Grandparents/Mom and Dad/Nana and Papa (aka Brian parents) moving closer, being closer, helping closer
13. Amazing (above said) Grandparents picking Jackson and Maggie up on Saturday morning, returning them home Sunday afternoon 
14. Sleep... lots and lots of sleep to finally (!!!) get over a nasty bug (accomplished due to #13)
15. Sewing
16. Jackson jumping up and down as I'm sewing and trying to keep up with the needle bobbing up and down
17. Teaching Jackson how to sew (on a mini sewing machine... he's a natural, and loves it!)

18. Playing dollhouse with Maggie, me being the "big girl", Maggie being the "mama"
19. Buster panting hard from playing fetch with Brian in the backyard 
20. Our family, even with a rough week behind us of all being sick, mounds of laundry, and dealing with all that goes along with munchkins having the flu... I love them more than words can describe.

21. This amazing man that brings me happiness every day! 

22. Sunshine Days

 (Maggie swinging on the "big girl swings" at Jack's school!)
23. Jackson getting a big bed (thanks Kara!!! We love love love you!!!)
23. Being back home at First United Methodist Church
24. Making Valentine's with Jack and Maggie
25. MOPS, friends from MOPS, support from MOPS and the goodness ahead 
I promise not each week will have such a long list... but, we do have so much to be thankful for! And, of course, that includes each of you!
Hope you all have a fabulous week! xoxo

 

Thankful and Blessed don't even describe it!

No promises...

I have finally come to terms with the fact that having two small children, I cannot make any promises of how often the blog will be updated (yes... me writing typing this, is much more for me, than anyone else). :)

No matter how hard I try... I can't seem to keep up with our blog... so, no more promises from me, as I seem to set myself up, feel guilty (over something as silly as not keeping our family blog updated, that I'm fairly sure approximately 2.5 people actually read), stress over writing on the blog, and then end up with mile long posts due to not updating in so long.

I can promise that I will continue posting updates. But, no deadline promises, anymore!

(as I'm pretty certain, those were just for me... and, clearly it wasn't working...).

Here's what we've been up to... (ok, really what we were up to around Christmas time)...

Hope you all (2.5 peeps) enjoy!!! :)

(ps. I am going to attempt to blog my progress, through the book "Organized Simplicity" ~ if you have read it (please be patient with me), and if you haven't, you should check it out... if you feel that your home is not only unorganized, but lacking the feeling you would love it to convey). If this is something that I do indeed have time to do (that is, document my hopeful progress, it will be on a separate tag, so that those who have no interest, can skip it all together!).



Jackson's AWESOME "Parking Garage" that Jackson and Mama built... ALL BY THEMSELVES!

(yes, I think I was a bit more proud than Jackson! :) It was a two evening process... first the painting of the cardboard, then the actual construction... And, it was so much fun!)

 Cousin Love!
(this was actually taken towards the end of Summer, 2011! ~ But, it's such a great picture! It was the first Duck Game of the Season, and all of the cousins were ready to cheer on our Favorite Team!!!!

 Sweet Maggie Girl...

This is what happens (above photo) when little girls don't go to bed when they're supposed to... and then have to get up early to take their big brother to school.

They fall asleep in their beds while their Mama is doing laundry, just minutes after getting home from taking Big Brother to school! :)

(it was so sweet to find her all nestled in her bed with all of her "babies", that she had been playing with, surrounding her!).

 One Cute Daddy,

With Two Cute Munchkins!

 I know, Valentine's Day is upon us... 

and I feel like am still catching up from Christmas....

I'm thinking, at this rate,

all of the Christmas stuff in the garage that 

still needs to be organized, labeled, and (some) donated,

will just be there waiting for me next Christmas!

 Jackson having fun at the Disney Store (in December!) when we went on a special Mommy-Jackson date. We went Christmas shopping, and he had so much fun!

He was so sweet in picking out "Holly", the bear from Build a Bear, that he chose for Maggie for Christmas.

He washed, cleaned, brushed Holly. 

And, then picked out the perfect Christmas dress, with shoes and a bonnet for Holly to wear!

 Cute guy!

His feet were hurting, when we finally left the mall...

he told me, "Mama, you shop for sooo long. I can't shop for so long. 

You make my feet hurt!".

Ha, for most who know me, feel the same!!! :)

Making Christmas Decorations...

Adorable "Pinecone Trees"

 ... Maggie made one too!

 Here is Jack's beautiful ornament hanging on the tree!

 Maggie's looked beautiful too!

Maggie, caught wearing the "Birthday Crown".

It was worn (for a very short period of time, not even long enough to capture a photo)

by Papa as we celebrated his birthday a few days prior to Christmas!

Such a Silly Girl!

Two Tired Boys!

 Christmas is Exhausting!!! Especially when it includes a new Buzz Lightyear, and the BEST (boy) Cousin in the whole world!!!
We love you, Chris and miss you lots!!!

More Cousin Love!!!

Jack and Maggie LOVED having their cousins, Michelle, Chris and Ashley to play with them, and all of their new goodies!

Ashley teaching Maggie how to use her cell phone (????).

Oh Goodness, it's starting early!!! :)

We had such a wonderful Christmas, spent with Family. We loved having everyone at our home this year, and it meant so much to us to have Family with us, as we celebrated such an amazing day!
(We have so many more Christmas photos to share, but I'm afraid at this rate, it'll be Christmas 2012 before I finish posting everything from Christmas 2011! :p)....

Big Hugs and Love from each of us!

xoxo

Pumpkin Patch F.U.N.!!!

This year we joined Jackson's preschool class, and headed to a GREAT (new to us!) pumpkin patch, Lakeview Farms. 

It was so much fun! 

We were so happy that Brian was able to take the morning off from work, and Maggie also was invited to come along! 

Both kiddos (along with Brian and I) had a blast!

We'll definitely be heading back to this great Pumpkin Patch next year!

We still need to carve our pumpkins (hopefully tonight)! 

And, then we'll be set for a fun Halloween.

A silly Tiger, and sweet Ladybug will be our kiddos 

in place of Jackson and Maggie on Halloween!

(pictures to come!)

Enjoy your Halloween, and all of the goodies that come along with it!

LET'S GO FIND SOME PUMPKINS!!!!!

J and one of his good friends on the boat... ready for some pumpkin fun!

Riding on a boat to the pumpkin field... there were a lot of "spooky things" to come...

A "shark" came out of the water... so close to our boat that we were on!

(p.s. this was probably J's favorite part of the entire pumpkin patch trip!)

We're almost there... we see lots of GREAT pumpkins ready to be found!

Mommy and Jackson are off to find the perfect sized pumpkins!

This one looks just about perfect!

Two cuties having so much fun!

Hey Cute Guy!

Jackson's Preschool Class!

What a cute Pumpkin, Daddy found!

Jackson having so much fun RUNNING through the maze!

Maggie also having fun running through the maze!

She found Mommy!!!!

Cutie!

Had such a great time with her big brother's friends!!!

Sometimes things are just a little overwhelming (hence the tears)... thank goodness the tears didn't last long, and our smiley boy was back!

3 BIG Pumpkins!

Jackson & his two best buddies from preschool!

We got to ride a boat to the pumpkins, and a TRAIN back!

(yes, it was J's dream Pumpkin Patch)

Here are the 3 amigos again!

Look how big Jackson is! 

We think he's definitely grown A LOT since last year!

 

Maggie TOO!!!!

We had so much fun at the Pumpkin Patch this year. It was GREAT to see Jackson having so much fun with all of his friends from school, and always making sure Maggie was right along with them!

Can't wait until next year... we'll have 2 preschool pumpkin patch trips to make!