Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Finishing it off...

November 28 - Today I am thankful for health...while I am sure any part of our lives can be viewed as a challenge pretty much anytime, I am thankful that we are healthy as a family.  We have had several friends lately with health issues and it will always make me appreciate what we have and don't have. :-)

November 29 - Fancy lunches - we went downtown today for lunch at The Famous.  It's a very nice restaurant and for lunch the meals are quite reasonable, we were able to enjoy ourselves with Tadd, my Mom and Marmee and Popa.  What a treat and a great thing to be thankful for.

November 30 - I've got to finish off my thankful November with a warm thank you to my family both immediate and extended.  I know the business and me looking for a job has put a lot of stress on our family and yet at the end of the day we have grown and hopefully will be better people for it.  I can't wait to see what December has in store for us, and no matter the adventure I am sure we will tackle it.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Holy smokes...

Holy smokes am I behind on the thankful updates!

November 21 - Fall break, I am so thankful for the breaks in the school year so we can all hang out as a family.  I love having everyone at home and school has definitely made me appreciate this more.

November 22 - Today I am thankful for airplanes, Carole and Murph flew in today and I cannot imagine how much different our lives would be if we couldn't just hop on a plane and visit each other in two short hours.  Of course that's not to say that the entire day is not consumed with travel and what not, but it's still pretty well perfect that they can come out.

November 23 - Date night~ish.  I am thankful for the folks keeping all of the kiddos at home while Joe and I ventured out to our friends house who was throwing a friends-thanksgiving get-together and then stopped by and had a drink just the two of us.  It was awesome and full of laughter as always, and the people that we were visiting are always in such great moods and we have such wonderful conversations.

November 24 - THANKSGIVING!!!!! My absolute favorite holiday!  I love Thanksgiving and this year was even more spectacular since my kiddos got to be with both sets of their grandparents...talk about a wonderful and thankful time!

November 25 -  Instead of participating in Black Friday, Joe shut down the shop for the day and we stayed home and made some smoked pork green chili, we tried to tame it down as much as possible but it still turned out pretty darn hot.  It was so much fun to have Marmee and Popa in town to watch the smoking process and play with the kiddos.

November 26 - Today I am thankful for Shop Small Saturday.  We ventured out to Manitou Springs to eat at The Keg and go Christmas ornament shopping as we do every year, only this time we accompanied by my parents, Carole, Murph and J's Mom Linda.  The kids had a blast and picked out some really cute ornaments.

November 27 - Sunday Sunday Funday!  We all hung out and made a big meal (almost like a second Thanksgiving one) and then watched the Broncos just barely get beat by the Chiefs.  I love hosting and am thankful to have people to host. :-D


I made the center piece again for my Mom's house and couldn't help but make one for our home too.

This little rascal likes to roll over to the DVD shelves and tear them apart.

Isn't that a cute turkey on that pumpkin pie?!?!

Down in Manitou there is an old penny arcade, one complete with these type of rides everywhere.  Jackson was in absolute heaven.


Austin is just about too big to ride on these (which is crazy to think about) - where has time gone?

Monday, November 21, 2016

The weekend

November 19 - Romantic comedies...well and Joe's willingness to sit through them on occasion.  I know they are predictable and I like action just as much as the next person but we watched a RomCom the other night and laughed so hard and it seems as though they always have happy endings.  I like that.  I can read the news to get the truly terrible endings but at the end of a day I would like to watch a warm fuzzy movie.

November 20 - Summer's birthday, boy is it fun to raise kids with Tadd around.  We celebrated Summer's birthday on Sunday, I just can't get over how old we are now.  We are responsible for little people.  Crazy to think about!

The little birthday girl herself!  See how red my face is?!?!?!  Carrying around kids and hanging out in a pizza place is apparently too hot for Crystal.


Friday, November 18, 2016

Catching up...

November 12 - I am thankful for my Kitchen Aid mixer, Joe got me one for my birthday and I haven't let the thing take a break yet.  I am baking and mixing up a storm and having so much fun doing it.

November 13 - Football parties, boy have these things changed over the years.  We went over to Tadd's house on Sunday to watch the games and there were as many kiddos as adults there.  They are still just as fun as ever, but a completely different dynamic.

November 14 - Family game time, we actually ended up playing games after the football party on Sunday but I figured that I could use it as my thankful on Monday also.  I love that the girls are starting to get that there is an actual strategy to games.  And it also happens to be Carri's birthday so we ran flowers and a cupcake over to wish her Happy Birthday.

November 15 - Meeting up for lunches, my Mom, Carri and the kiddos and I all try and meet up once a week for lunch.  Lately we have been going to Jason's Deli because they have a fabulous salad bar.  I love getting the cousins together once a week like that even if it's short and we are always missing Austin.

November 16 - Naked Wines, I am part of a wine club that basically buys the entire batch of wine from the wine makers ahead of time so they can afford to make it as smaller wineries and then sells the wines to us in the club.  I have yet to have a bad bottle of wine and since I am not good enough at picking wines on my own this gives me a great sampling of a lot of different kinds.

November 17 - Snow, glorious snow!  We had our first snow storm last night and while it wasn't much an inch or so, it sure made everything beautiful this morning.  Of course it's supposed to warm up again this weekend so Winter won't be around too long, but we'll take what we can get.  And also Little Miss Summer's birthday is today...so we ran over some balloons since the party isn't until this weekend but we wanted to see her on her birthday too.  Oh yeah and it was Grandparents day at Austin and Tyler's school so my Mom drove down and we all enjoyed a delicious (not even joking it really was good) turkey dinner at the school.

November 18 - Our backyard.  It is a magical place in every season, full of adventure and mystery. We just got back in from a "hike" around the yard and I loved watching the kids explore the snow.

Jackson must have had a bad dream so when he woke up crying Joe went in to get him so he wouldn't wake up the girls and he fell asleep on the couch with us.  Love sleeping babies!

The girls trying to learn some more strategy while playing Connect Four with Joe.

And then cooking with Dad...do you see that even Jackson get a knife...it was a big day.

All to make this Jagger Schnitzel (basically fried pork) sandwich on my homemade buns.

Anne and Peter sent Jackson his birthday present early since their household is getting ready to expand...just look at the excitement in these pictures.




First trip out in the snow this year...kind of a puny snow storm but we'll take it.

The birthday girl and her balloons!

I know it's blurry but here's Hunter helping to cook too the other day.  She rocks her head back and forth when ever you ask her if she's got her chewy (which is what we call her pacifier).  Hence the blurry head.


Friday, November 11, 2016

And keeping up with the Thanks.

November 10 - I am thankful for my sense of humor. I had an interview with a company yesterday at 2PM, so when Joe got home a little bit early (thank you for that) I decided to head out and be about 20-25 minutes early...you know what they say about those worms?  So as I am driving to the interview listening to music, feeling truly able to conquer the world.  I get a call from my recruiter that asked where I was because my interview actually started at 1PM and I was now 20 minutes late.  Shaking my head.  Turns out that they changed the schedule and I didn't get notified. :-(  So now I get to be super late and apologetic (even though my recruiter took the brunt of it over the phone, it wasn't his face that was sitting in the board room).  I thought about letting it get me down but instead I apologized and then laughed A LOT and made them laugh and honestly thought that I nailed the interview - until I went to bed last night, thought too much about it and looking back can't remember if I answered the technical questions right or not.  Dangit.  Nothing says hire me and pay me too much money like ignorance in your field. LOL

November 11 - My sick kiddos.  I am thankful not that my kiddos are sick but that they need me and I am here.  All four of them have a cold and when I got home from my interview yesterday I could hear the crying through the door, it would be an adjustment if I went into work everyday...I bet there would be times that the cloak of guilt would be nearly too heavy to stand under, but my career and my family need me.  And the things that the kiddos would learn from Joe would be amazing.  But for today - right now - this cold - I am here and able to kiss them and make them soup. ;-)


Wednesday, November 9, 2016

30 days of Thanks.

I debated on skipping the 30 days of thanks today (since I am already late) and just starting it tomorrow when I am in a slightly better mood but then I thought what a better way to get in a better mood than to write out things that I am thankful for.

November 1 - A random head hunter completely made my day, and not necessarily because I'll get a job by knowing this person but rather talking to him on the phone actually made me feel valuable in my career path again.  I had been feeling down lately, in fact I actually went on an interview the other day for a job that I was woefully over qualified for and had 6, count them - 6 references that worked for the company and yet they decided to pass on pushing me through to a second interview.  It still makes me shake my head.

November 2 - My sister/friend/near soul mate J.  She has been going through some medical things lately both with herself and her father and with each instance it reminds how much friendship like any relationship takes a part of your heart and soul.

November 3 - My friend Kelley.  We have been friends for what seems like a lifetime and a blink of the eye at the same time, she is constantly gifting me some kind of clothing or something that she doesn't use anymore and with each item and each time I wear it I can't help but smile.

November 4 - Our home, I know that is may be cliche to say but I love our home.  With me still looking for a job and attempting to not drive myself crazy I pretty much clean the house top to bottom each day (I believe that being a person that likes control at least this is one thing that I can control right now), so everyday as I walk over vacuum lines I am reminded to just breath and remember that all of this could change in the blink of an eye.

November 5 - The TV Show The Voice, not only do I like to watch people sing (perhaps because I cannot hold a tune) but also because the kiddos will sit around on occasion with me and watch what we call "singing", even Jackson will dance and hum along to these people so openly and persistently pursuing their dreams.

November 6 -  Football Sundays - I love watching football and I love making game day food, both of these things make me very happy on Sundays.  Even Jackson will gobble up my wings with just some milk and stopping to let me know that they are "spidey".

November 7 - I am going to slip the right to vote in here because I have two others for the next two days (and Joe dropped our ballots off this day).  I watched several videos (all of which made me cry) about the long lines of people at Susan B Anthony's grave, all waiting to pay their respects to a woman who came before us and sacrificed so much for something that we all have now.

November 8 - I am thankful for Papa (or as most call him George) not only does he make my Mom happy but he loves the grand kids and all of us so much.  He's climbing an uphill battle right now but I hope he knows that if he gets tired we are all behind him to help out.

November 9 - Today I am thankful for Marmee (or Carole), she divides her time up between so many pieces of her life I can't imagine how she has any left for herself.  I know I speak for a large majority out there that is so grateful that she does, our kids and ourselves are better people for having her in our lives and having her spend time with us.

This little girl has been trying more and more foods lately, apparently this particular raspberry must have bitten her back. ;-)


We should all be so lucky to have a big brother loves us the  way this guy loves his sister.  He doesn't really understand anything about personal space but I don't think Hunter minds. :-D