Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I countdown to Thanksgiving like a lot of people countdown to Christmas.  All the food you get to eat and all the leftovers, scrambling to search through the black Friday ads and make a Christmas list, and then black Friday shopping has always been a tradition.  The past several years I haven't been doing any black Friday shopping because I didn't really need anything from those deals for anyone.  I'm sure as Addie & Graham get older we'll be doing those early morning trips.

Even being my favorite holiday, I do the same thing I forget each holiday.  I forget to take pictures.  It's sad.  I'm making it my goal each holiday moving forward to capture one family photo and one photo of the kids.

We're also planning to bring out the Elf on a Shelf but I haven't decided how much I want to put into it.  I think Addie is still too young to get it completely so I don't want to waste any good ideas just yet.  I think we'll wait until next weekend to start it and we'll keep it simple by moving him around the house.  No crazy shenanigans just yet.  We did bust out the Christmas tree and Graham is mesmerized!

I love this picture.  He stared at the tree for nearly 30 minutes.  That's a record!  Such a nice weekend, I did a lot of shopping but still have about half to go.  How was your Thanksgiving?  Score any good deals?

-stephanie

Thanksgiving Week

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  Thanksgiving week is just 3 days away and I'm salivating over all of the yummy foods.  But it's important to remember to be thankful this week.

We went to visit Rick's brother Nick's grave site recently.  I was lucky enough to have my camera handy and caught a few pictures of her laying a rose on his marker.

Nick was killed in action on May 8, 2005 in Iraq.  It's one of the things I'm most upset about with Addie.  She never had a chance to meet him.

He was an amazing person, always smiling, positive and upbeat and I know she would have loved him and he would have loved her.

Nick was killed in action on May 8, 2005 and forever changed all of our lives.  We make sure to show her pictures of her uncle Nick and tell her who he is.

Being Thanksgiving week, it's really important for us to remember Nick and be thankful for what he did. 

I'm also thankful for my beautiful baby girl who I'm so in love with and can't wait to spend the day with her.

What are you thankful for?

-stephanie

Toddle Along Tuesday: Thanksgiving Edition

Thursday is a huge day for me.  It's my favorite holiday.  Thanksgiving.  I can't really tell you why either.  It's just got that feeling about it.  I get to see family that I only see on holidays.  I think I love it because it reminds me of a time when I was younger and saw my cousins on a weekly basis and how much I miss seeing them more often.  It reminds me of my grandmother making a full Thanksgiving spread and gorging myself to the point of nausea.  It reminds me of playing football after all the eating until late in the day.  And then, packing up the car to do round two at my great grandmothers house.  

It's about being Thankful. Thankful for all the time I had to spend with my family when I was younger.  Thankful that I still have wonderful memories of my grandparents who have been gone for several years now.  It makes me stop to the think about what I have now, not what I used to have or what I want to have in the future.  But what I have in my life now.  The house that I can't wait to get out of us as soon as possible because I feel the walls are closing in on me, today is quaint.  The husband that oftentimes gets on my nerves, today is the person who will do anything I ask (with little pushing).  The baby girl who still will not sleep a solid 8 hours, is the miracle baby I one time thought I'd never have.  

So today, I'm thankful for everything God has given me.  That's what Thanksgiving is about, being Thankful.  I'll save the wishes for Christmas!