Life and What I’m Thankful For (Days 1 through 5)

Life has gotten away from me over the past couple weeks.  I have no idea what I’ve been doing or where I’ve been.  I looked at the calendar last week and realized it was November already.  Where has the year gone? 

This is my favorite time of the year and I’m so excited to get all of my Christmas decorations put up.  Yes, I’m one of those people who completely forgets about fall and goes straight from Halloween to Christmas.

I wanted to spend November letting the WORLD know what I am thankful for.  I have some catching up to do…

November 1 – Today I am thankful for my husband.  Without him, I wouldn’t have a million other things to be thankful for in my life.

November 2 – Today I am thankful for Kelsie and Kyle.  They make me smile, laugh, cry, want to rip my hair out, but most of all, they make me proud to be their Mama. 

November 3 – Today I am thankful for patience and understanding.  I have been married to Dave for 11 years today and it takes LOTS of patience and LOTS of understanding to make a marriage work. 

November 4 – Today I’m thankful for my parents.   They have been married for 38 years and are a great example to my sisters and I of what a marriage should be.  I’m also thankful that they don’t mind driving 4 hours to watch their grandchildren so Dave and I could get a night away.

November 5 – Today I’m thankful for my husband’s paycheck.  Without that, I wouldn’t get to stay at home with the kids and volunteer at their school.

XOXOS

Yesterday was my 36th birthday!  Dave and the kids spoiled me rotten – gifts in the morning, dinner at a restaurant of my choice, a walk around my favorite store (without the kids in tow), gifts at night and chocolate cake!

One of my favorite parts of birthdays are the cards I receive.  I save all of my cards.  Call me a hoarder, I don’t care.  I love looking through cards sent to me from my grandmother’s who have passed away.  Even their handwriting makes me smile.  I recently received a thank you card from a friend and Kyle read it to me.  He didn’t understand the “XOXO” at the end.  Dave told him the X’s are for hugs and the O’s are for kisses.  After thinking about it for a few seconds, this was his response… “ I would put X’s for hugs, O’s for kisses and S’s for a little sexiness.”  Really?!  Where does he come up with this?!  He definitely has Dave’s sense of humor.

Here is how he signed my birthday card…

And, yes, my card was about dog farts.  Something I’ll look at years down the road and still laugh.

Football Finale

Last weekend was Kyle’s last flag football game.  He’s getting better and better each game.  He even scored another touchdown!

This pic isn’t the best, but Kyle is the one with the ball, running in for a touchdown!

Picture Day

Today was picture day at school.

It’s an awful picture!  Dave took my camera card on his trip so all I have is my cell phone.

Kyle decided he’d give himself a little haircut yesterday.  He’s NEVER cut his hair before!!  Why did he have to do it the night before pictures!!??

Single Parenting

Dave left me… to go fly fishing in Montana.  He left last Friday and won’t be back until tomorrow night.  He so needed the break.  He’s doing what he loves – fishing, drinking beer and hanging with the guys.  But, Mama needs a break!  This single parenting business is no joke.

Just a few reasons why I need my husband around… the toilets clog EVERYDAY and I don’t know how to properly unclog them (without getting nasty water all over the place), the kids gang up on me playing UNO, the hermit crabs may or may not be living, our trash bags are too big for our trash can and I don’t know what he does to make them fit (there is currently a random trash bag in our kitchen collecting trash), the dog barks almost all day thinking he hears him in the driveway, I don’t tell awesome bedtime stories, the lawn needs to be edged (per the HOA, in a lovely letter to us), the morning coffee run to Starbucks is too quiet.

Open House Night at School

Last week Kelsie and I attended Open House at school.  Kyle had a football game, so he and Dave couldn’t attend.  Kelsie and I were asked to be in the PTA fashion show.  We modeled the latest PTA Spirit Wear – Kelsie wore school sweat pants and I wore the yoga pants.  It’s not NY Fashion Week, but we needed to start somewhere!

After the fashion show, we went into Kelsie’s class.  The teacher had each child answer a few questions about themselves and type them up.  The answers were displayed on the bulletin board in a hallway for EVERYONE to see.  One of the questions was “Who are you most proud of?”.  Kelsie’s answer was… “My Mom because she is so busy, but manages to get everything done.”  I almost cried right there in the hall.  When I gave Kelsie and big hug and thanked her, she said “Well, I couldn’t think of anyone else.”  So proud.

Even though Kyle wasn’t with me, I  paid a visit to his class.  His teacher had each the children draw a picture of themselves and write a few things describing them.  Here’s Kyle’s work…

Kyle wants you to know that

1. He likes Star Wars

2. He’s nice

3. (he couldn’t read or remember what he wrote)

4. He’s single

Just in case anyone was wondering… yes, Kyle is single.

Katie’s Wedding Shower

My sister and I threw our baby sister a wedding shower last weekend.  She had a great turnout and got lots of awesome gifts!  And she still has one more shower to go!

A friend of an Aunt made the cake.  I found the design somewhere on Pinterest.  I got the cake banner, bride and groom from Etsy.

I found this beautiful, personalized cutting board from Pick Your Plum, a Groupon-like site. 

The white vase and “E” I found at TJ Maxx.  I spray painted the “E” navy blue, so that it would coordinate with the party.  I also spray painted a few yucky gold frames I had laying around.  I put the wedding subway art in one.  I found that idea on Just Drink A Coke.  It was pretty easy to make in PowerPoint.  You just need to download LOTS of different fonts.  I’m thinking about making a few more for the holidays.

I wanted Katie to have a personal note from each guest, so instead of a guest book, I decided to have everyone sign a cookbook.  I found a Bride & Groom cookbook at Williams Sonoma and had everyone write their “recipe for love” on any page in the book.  It was fun to go back and look at what everyone wrote. 

The bridal party, minus a few TN girls.