My Job

November 28 - I am thankful for my job, while there are the very obvious reasons to be thankful for a job like mine...flexible work schedule, ample vacation, work from home...the one that I am particularly thankful for on this Wednesday is the health insurance.  My Mom met with an adviser about health care and what it would cost for her family since both her and George are self employed and I have got to tell you the numbers are higher than a car payment a month.  Wow!

November 29 - I am thankful for naps.  Both girls are sleeping right now which is good because I don't think they would have made it too much longer breathing if they had not fallen asleep.  Austin likes to challenge me and I loathe spanking, primarily because I always feel terrible afterwards so I take the other side and do the timeouts and taking away of privileges (you know the list of stuff that is a COMPLETE joke to a 3 year old).  But I try...and try to take that approach, the other night I actually counted 30 timeouts before Joe got home. Today she was extra trying, maybe it was because she is getting over being sick or maybe it was because I had a home appraiser here today summing up the net worth of the largest purchase we have ever made in our lives to see if we qualify for the new mortgage rates we would like.  But whatever the reason I am glad she is sleeping now, perhaps the slate can be wiped clean when she wakes up.  And poor little Tyler is getting much faster at walking/running but doesn't look up much so just as her last bump on her forehead was about healed from the whack to the dinning room table she ran right smack into the corner of the wall.  Poor Crash...she is at least safe laying down.

I sent this picture to Tadd and he noticed that the funniest part about it was that it says Safety 1st behind what appears to be a feather weight boxer.  You can still see the scab healing under her bangs on the left hand side of her head.

Christmas is coming...

November 25 - I am thankful for our Christmas tree, first it is absolutely beautiful and second it always seems to bring people together and make them smile.  We put it up on Sunday with all the friends over which turned into complete hilarity watching Tadd and I fight over who's cooking what and how it's spiced, the girls un-decorated as fast as we could decorate the tree, the boys tore apart the garage to get out the tree stuff and then had to clean it to get everything back in...which made me smile.  Helen wrapped garland and then re wrapped garland when it wouldn't work, yep all in all a fantastic Sunday.

November 26 - I am thankful for Joe who picked up my favorite lunch from Mollica's and their lasagna to throw in the oven for dinner.  Surprisingly I didn't feel all that hot after drinking some beers and laughing until I almost passed out with everyone the day before.  Must have been something I ate. ;-)

November 27 - I am thankful for hot baths and baby Vapor rub.  Both girls don't feel so hot with runny noses and what not, of course I don't feel good either but Mom's aren't allowed to be sick.  So I have been keeping them going with the occasional cough drop and warm baths.  Not sure if it's like this in every one's house but cough drops are literally worth their weight in gold around here, you could get either girl to do back flips for them...perhaps it is because they are a cousin to candy.

Catching Up.

Holy Smokes I missed a few days.

November 20 - I am thankful for my love of animals.  I have been passing it down to the girls who love on animals every chance they get, Austin even walked Ty (our oldest 120 pound Akita) around the neighborhood the other day.  I always forget how big he is until you see him being escorted down a sidewalk by a three year old.

November 21 - I am thankful for the immense amount of information I can find using the Internet.  I managed to make a Turkey shaped veggie tray, a cheesecake, an apple pie, a cherry pie, a pumpkin pie and salted caramel turtles all through recipes that I found online.

November 22 - I am thankful for Thanksgiving, it is favorite holiday and we had such a blast sitting around laughing at one another and eating fantastic food at my Mom's house.

November 23 - I am thankful for Pay Day.  Even in the digital age where my check is deposited automatically and a plethora of bills are paid within seconds, there is still something magical about pay day and it will always make me excited.

November 24 - I am thankful for Small Business Saturday.  I could never imagine participating in Black Friday but Small Business Saturday I love.  The girls and I went to Manitou got a couple of new Christmas ornaments, ate at The Keg (one of my favorites), played at the penny arcade, got custard and topped it off with face painting.  I mean co'mon who doesn't love a day in the sun like that.

Groceries

November 17 - I am thankful for groceries.  I am thankful that at any point I can walk to our King Soopers and get fresh food to make for my family.

November 18 - I am thankful for Peyton Manning who has given Coloradans some real hope for a great season...Go Broncos!

November 19 - I am thankful for my new camera, I went to Joe's work today and took some pictures of his crew and some medicine and I have to say that camera takes some truly bad ass photos.

And my Mom came and grabbed the girls so I could take the pictures for Joe...look what they came back with!

Oh yeah and Joe took some videos of Tyler's swim lessons this morning.

Here she is practicing her "starfish" which is the ability to just float on your back.  I am singing the ABC's in her ear to distract her.

And here she is doing "eyes under" which means that I raise her up out of the water and then basically push her head and body under water and up through the hula hoop.

Pilgrims And Indians

Per Charles' request...Anne mentioned that he was concerned that Austin and Tyler did not have the Pilgrim and Indian dolls that he and his sisters made and that perhaps he could send them some of theirs.  Well instead Anne sent me the link to the dolls and we made them here.  The girls LOVED every bit of it and I made a version of Bang Bang Shrimp from Bonefish Grill with a peanut twist so everyone was happy. :-)

Mini-Crystal working away at her paintings.

Mini-Joe eating her apples (which happen to be her new favorite food, perhaps because she can want it, say it and then receive it...must be refreshing to her).

Joe helping show Tyler how to paint on the paper and not in her mouth.

Ol' Long Boob and her sidekick when she was done painting.

We painted for hours...Austin thought it was awesome.

And our finished troops.  Shortly after this picture was taken our living room looked like the battle at Wounded Knee with arms and headdresses everywhere.  At least they were cute for a moment. :-)

 

Shelley

November 16 - I am thankful for Shelley, she is my Spin instructor and is just about solely responsible for my workout this morning.  The great thing about Spinning with Shelley is that I know if I show up to the gym at 5:30 AM, crawl my half asleep butt up on the bike she takes over from there.  The room is dark the music is loud and she is hootin' and hollarin' like she's been up for hours.  Needless to say it is one of my favorite workouts and I have her to thank for it.

Laughter

November 15 - I am thankful for laughter.  Let me paint you a picture of what happened last night while I was cooking dinner.

The girls were painting their Indian and Pilgrim dolls (pictures when I get them all put together now that they are dry) and Joe was taking pictures of them doing said painting.  When he snapped one picture apparently of my chest and laughed and said well that one was just of Mom's boobs but the rest were of the girls doing their artwork.  At this point Austin asked "What are boobs?".  Keep in mind I am standing in the kitchen but allowing Joe and Adam to field the question themselves just to see where we go with this.  Joe fumbles around for a bit about the fact that women have them and men don't and then Adam throws in and they feed babies...so everyone talks about the fact that both girls were breastfed and this seems to suffice as an explanation for Austin.  Then she stops and asks...so Mom has boobs right?  Everyone says yes.  She cocks her head to one side and says yeah but why are they so long?  Laughter ensued.  Ahhh yes just the adjective that I would like my breasts to be called....long. :-)

The Garden of the Gods

November 14 - I am thankful for the Garden of the Gods, today the girls and I stopped by Jimmy Johns picked up a sandwich and went for a picnic and a hike through there.  It was nice to be outside and as long as the sun is shining I never really get cold here, so when a flabbergasted women stopped us and asked if I was cold (it was 50 degrees out today and I am in running pants and a short sleeved shirt) I laughed and said not only am a native but I'm carrying this - pointed to my backpack with Tyler in it.  Needless to say I was sweating my mascara off while everyone else was bundled up.  :-)

Schedule

November 13 - I am thankful for our schedule, not only that it is relaxed but that it is ever changing.  I like the variance everyday it keeps me on my toes. :-)

Thankful Weekend

November 10 - I am thankful that I enjoy cooking and I have quite a crew of people that will stop by for a hot meal.

November 11 - I am thankful for my brother who stopped by while the girls and I were hanging out and the boys were snowboarding.  We made homemade egg noodles for the chicken soup I made and laughed until we almost passed out.

November 12 - I am thankful for our veteran's who have sacrificed so my family can enjoy freedoms that in some countries are just a dream.


Oh and no one in our house can start working on a snowboard without Tyler and Austin being all over it.  Here is Tyler helping put a set of binding on Joe's new snowboard.

Friends

November 9 - I am thankful for friends.  Specifically in this case Adam, he moved back to Colorado from Indiana and has been hanging out with Joe most days.  It's been fun to watch Joe have a good friend back in town and be able to do things with just him rather than us girls.

Driving

November 8 - I am thankful that my girls are becoming/already are such great passengers in the car.  Today me and the girls drove to Woodland Park to have lunch with George for his birthday, they do so fantastic in the car now...listening to music or in Tyler's case dosing off, I just love it.

Papa the birthday boy with his fancy Mexican hat.

Austin of course had to try it on, I mean who wouldn't want to wear this bad dog around.

Tyler was convinced that the hat was attacking Papa and didn't like that one bit.

In other news look who is getting so much better already at swimming. :-D

The 70's

November 7 - I am thankful for a sunny 70 degree day that made my heart beam with pride when I asked Austin if she would like to go for a walk today and followed it up with would you rather ride in the stroller or walk on your own?  She responded with "walk on my own to get some exercise". :-)

Voting

November 6 - I am thankful for the right to vote and while our country, state and community may be divided on our representatives and our issues...I know how fortunate I am to live in a country that still wants my opinion.  On a side note I am also thankful that starting tonight we can get out of the political commercials.  Holy smokes, this year being a "deciding" state has made our airwaves a mess. Whew! Just about out of the woods.

Weekend of Thanks.

November 3 - I am thankful for teaching or perhaps allowing Austin to just become a good big sister, I am not sure if it is ideals that we are instilling in her or something that she would have been on her own but either way she is becoming a truly fantastic big sister.  Obviously I have always taken great pride in being a good big sister so this makes me extremely proud to watch her.  Take for instance when we were in the car wash and it was extremely loud inside the car and Austin was calming Tyler down who was crying due to noise.  I think one of the many things I want both of them to do on a daily basis is step out of what is "happening to them" and look at what is going on "around them".  It if far easier to walk through life if you don't believe that you are but a passenger on this great ride.

November 4 - I am thankful for the first trip up the mountain with Joe, reminding me how much we adore each other and share our passion for snowboarding.  And thankful for my parents who took a turn at Grandparents of the year and took 4 of the grand kids and one little boy that was just staying at Amanda's house to the zoo all by themselves.

The spider web at the zoo.

Papa and the kids checking out the lions.

The dinosaur egg that apparently Tyler would not get in.

Poor little Tyler couldn't keep up with the big kids but spent all day trying.

Papa and his grand kids hanging out on the dolphin.

The kids measuring their wing span.

We stopped to look at the sunset on the way home from snowboarding and had someone snap this picture.  OMG do I love Colorado.

November 5 - I am thankful for a dentist that has quick hands and smiles a lot.  Austin had her first cavity much to my disappointment...so we went in to get it filled today.  They were going to use Nitrous Oxide to calm her down but the tank was empty so instead Joe plopped her down on his lap and told the dentist just show her each thing, and explain what they do while you use them and she should be fine.  And she completely was, got it drilled out and filled while sitting on Joe's lap.  I was super proud of her.

30 Days of Thanks

So all across my Facebook are status' of things that people are thankful for in the month of November.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - I suppose it could help that we are normally on a Mexican beach for the holiday but even without that I LOVE spending time with family and Thanksgiving allows for that.  So I have decided to take the 30 Days of Thanks and put it on my blog.

November 1 - I am thankful for a competent family.  My Mom is a real estate broker and is currently helping my brother shop for houses.  I cannot imagine shopping for something that is such a big deal and not being able to utilize someone that I trust with my life.

November 2 - I am thankful for late mornings.  Joe left for work late this morning which allowed the whole house to get a slower than normal start.  He recently hired several new people and moved around some schedules to allow him to take off Sundays, Mondays, Fridays and most Saturdays.  He still goes in most days and works some but he definitely has a much more relaxed schedule now.  Pretty much this is the light at the end of the tunnel that I was hoping for when we opened this business. :-)