Ooops - Missed a few days...

November 22 - Today I am thankful for a precious Thank You card that I got in the mail from Monica.  Our mailbox was filled with less than good news that day and I was super happy to get her card and remind myself how small and magnificent the world is.

November 23 - Today I am thankful for the hoar frost.  I never really knew what it was until this weekend but holy smokes it might be one of the most beautiful things in the world.  Just a blanket of white everywhere.

November 24 - Today I am thankful for warm fires, it has been cold and snowy here and we have been enjoying a fire in the living room and one in the garage pretty much every night.

November 25 - Today I am thankful for my washer and dryer, I do a minimum of a load of laundry a day and could not even fathom if I had to do that all by hand.  I have ran three loads today alone and I still have a couple that I would like to do if I get time.

Cute pictures...

The above mentioned hoar frost.  The pictures don't do it justice either...it's just simply amazing.

Kuma and Austin are rarely not hanging out together.

 Here's the troops marching through the snow this afternoon.

 Look who's ears are starting to stand up!

Beer

November 20 - Today I am thankful for beer, things have been stressful around here but after a few beers at least Joe and I can laugh for a bit.

November 21 - Today I am thankful for homemade Play Doh.  I kept Austin out of school today because her cough kept her and I up last night, so I thought it would be best to keep her home especially since it's in the single digits outside and snowing.  The girls have been having a good time playing and what not but I decided to make a batch of homemade Play Doh....AKA bribery.  To get the playroom cleaned up.  Guess what, playroom is clean and the girls had fun with their play doh.

Weekend Thanks

November 17 - Today I am thankful for heavy duty cough drops.  I had a baby shower to go to on Saturday and since the inevitable cold is going around our family currently, I sounded like a jazz singer and it took everything in me to not cough all over everyone.  Oh and did I mention this was not a traditional baby shower, but rather High Tea at the Miramount Castle...so I was extremely thankful for the extra strength, numb your throat and kill your cough candies I was piling through.

November 18 - Today I am thankful for my Mom.  Like most people I am thankful for her as "just" my Mother but she also wears many hats for us.  Our only real babysitter around here, my confidant (one that I talk to everyday on the phone), accountant, real estate broker and last but certainly not least our tax preparer.  I realized how fortunate we were to have her on our side during the house buying process and could not imagine not having her here for the audit.  So not only am I thankful that she is MY Mom, but I am also thankful that her personality has made her be the jack of all trades that she currently is.  

November 19 - Today I am thankful for my patience.  While I may not be able to hold it together at all times, I have a generally calm personality...perhaps I started off with more craziness and have calmed down over the years.  This my friends is what I wish on my daughters...the ability to grow into calmness.  Currently Austin is in a full global melt down, in fact I think I just heard her puke on herself...didn't slow her down one bit.  Perhaps I was like this as a child, or maybe Joe was (I assure you both of our Mom's would have selective amnesia on this one...hell I don't want to remember it already)...but either way I am hoping that she learns how to harness that energy.

Honesty

November 16 -  Today (and everyday) I am thankful that we as a family are honest.  Going through this IRS audit and the numerous inquiries at the state level for our business I am glad to know that I can always look everyone in the eye.  If there is a wrong number it is simply a mistake and not something that was ever covered up or anything like that.  I can't imagine trying to fall asleep each night if I was always scared that I was going to get caught in a lie.

Cute picture for the day...Big Sister Austin "reading" to Goose, BD and of course Kuma. :-D

Laughter

November 15 - Today I am thankful for laughter...take for instance when logged into Joe's security cameras look what I saw today.  Joe takes Kuma to work about once a week which helps with his socialization skills while he is still little and not scary and truly heals people's hearts while they are in there.  So I asked Joe what he does while he is there...Joe said he lays on the floor and people step over him.  I laughed and he said, no I am serious he just lays there.  I took this snapshot of Joe's shop today to illustrate just that.  Now keep in mind currently inside the shop there are 4 patients, 3 employees and Joe.  Apparently Kuma is less than worried about people being around.

Sequoia

November 14 -  Today I am thankful for my Sequoia, while I know to most people it is just a car and to some it is a gas guzzling waste of money...to me it is safety.  Today while driving to pick up Austin from school a car was passing another car and happened to be in my lane.  I would never wish for a head on collision but I have to say, if there was anyway to walk away from the wreck the Sequoia gets me one step closer to doing just that.

Doubt

November 13 -  Today I am thankful for my doubt.  I believe my ability to questions things has made me a better person.  From when the girls are sick to foreign polices I love to read and question everything that I read.  Which explains why when Austin was first sick I spent a good hour looking up and listening to Croup coughs on the internet. ;-)

Pinterest

November 12 - Today I am thankful for Pinterest, and while it is probably more appropriate to be thankful for the technology that brings me Pinterest...it's easier to say simply one website.  I have long vented about the stresses that I feel having to come up with something to eat for my family every night...it's a hard job and one that I take seriously so having something like a pin board where I can go and just browse pictures really helps me a lot.  Take tonight for instance...I had several ideas as to what meat I would like to use and then I was able to search until I found something that looked good and used what I have on hand.

Wha-La...

Mediterranean Langostino Pasta

Thanks

November 10 - Today I am thankful for being "the Mom" and my girls having a Mom and a Dad.  Both girls are sick and in a somewhat rare occasion they are both sick with two different things, which hopefully won't lead to switching the diseases.  Austin has what sounds like kennel cough and Tyler spent the evening throwing up on me.  I haven't had more than 10 minutes of sleep but nights like last night always make me think about kids around the world who don't have someone to tell them that it's ok when they are sick, now that truly breaks my heart.  And last night it was wonderful to have someone laying in bed that I could wake up and ask to go get the other kid and rescue her from the mess.

November 11 - Today I am thankful for the Veteran's that have served, are serving and will serve.  My life is amazing and I owe a great deal to those that stand ground so I can pursue my dreams.

Ty

November 9 - Today I am thankful for Ty, not only have we been through a lot in our 11 years but he makes me feel safe.  Take for instance today...there is a man on the loose in Black Forest after three home invasions, two people have died and one is injured.  It's a comforting feeling to be able to pull in the dogs, specifically Ty who will lay by my side and will alert me if he hears anything.  While I listen to the police scanner and wait for them to find him.

Fridays

November 8 - Today I am thankful that it is Friday.  Our society tends to make a big deal out of Fridays whether you like to or not...but for the first time in a long time Fridays mean that we don't have to rush to school and to the store and back to school.  So today I am thankful for a completely non rushed day, one that I think Austin who has been complaining about a headache all day truly needed.  I had forgotten about the impending sicknesses that were sure to happen by sending a kid to school, I suppose here we go...into winter/cold season.

Kuma

November 7 - Today I am thankful for Kuma, or perhaps I should say Kuma's breeding line.  I don't believe wholeheartedly in the old saying that there are no bad dogs only bad owners.  I believe that all animals are as susceptible as humans are for varying diseases including mental illness.  I think a dog just like a human can be taught bad traits or that they will learn to defend themselves if need be but also that sometimes there is a chemical imbalance that will cause aggression.  From what I have seen from Kuma, he has one of the most laid back and loving personalities I have ever seen in a puppy and I completely love that.

Here he is sitting with one of his girls just after his bath.  I have given him at least a bath a week since we got him and all he does is stand there in the water in the tub...no whining, no nothing.  Just a super good boy.

Hot Showers

November 6 - Today I am thankful for hot showers.  We hosted a poker tournament last night and while I totally won (YAY!) I managed to...hold on to your shorts for this one...stay up a little too late and drink about a beer too many.  So it came as no shock this morning when a two year old showed up at my bed side complaining of being "hungy" that I felt a bit groggy.  One long, hot shower later I am happy to report that I feel much better and am over $100 richer. Yahoo!

Voting & Goose

November 5 - Today I am thankful for the right and privilege to vote along with a two year that is well behaved enough to bring to the polls without worrying about what will happen.  We dropped Austin off at school and went down to vote for two sets of increased taxes.  While I am sure to lose at least one of those increases if not both, I love that I was able to choose Yes/For.

Radiant Heat

November 4 - Today I am thankful for our floors.  It's cold outside and I don't like to wear socks without shoes so I am immensely happy about the warmth of the house including the tile.

And a cute picture to throw in to - I love what happens when children go up with animals I believe that both sides learn so much from each other.  Like here's Tyler teaching Kuma how to write. :-D

Brother

November 3 - Today I am thankful for my brother, some how or another we have both become "foodies" so when he hit me up yesterday to invite us over to share in a 9 pound prime rib we jumped on it and will bring along scalloped potatoes and a salted caramel pumpkin cake.  I think the only people more excited than Tadd and I are the girls, they LOVE going over to Uncle Wells' house of course it doesn't hurt that he has a swing set. ;-)

November - Thanks

Wow, did the year fly by.  It's already November and I just remembered so I can start my 30 days of Thanks!  As I have always said, Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday so any way that I can showcase that, I am all in.

November 1 - Today I am thankful that I picked someone to have children with that wants to be an active Dad in their lives.  I know this is not true for many of my friends and I couldn't be happier with the way things are going with our family.  Look at this amazing father and his two daughters in the tent that he set up in their playroom.

November 2 - Today I am thankful that I did all of those years of volunteering at TESSA before becoming a Mom.  I posted the video below on my Facebook because I think a lot of parents forget how much we mean to our children even with our shortcomings.  I was very fortunate to meet a young lady that taught me all of this before I had kids of my own.  We were talking about things that scare us and an 8 year old little girl stated that the dark scared her.  I agreed that the dark scares me too and she went into a story that I will never forget.  Her mother was a drug addict who would prostitute for money, when her clients would come by the hotel room where they lived her Mom would always make her sit in the cupboard in the bathroom with the lights off until everything was done and then she would come and get her.  Here's the truly amazing part about children though, she didn't judge her mother or think less of her...she looked at her like a super hero, one that always showed up to turn the lights on and take her away from the scariness of the world.  That day I realized that no matter what I did, my kids would love me and through my weaknesses and faults all I had to do was be their light.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/31/the-video-every-mom-must-watch_n_4181007.html