Birthday Boy!

Jeff's 29th birthday is tomorrow, but I am a firm believer in celebrated throughout the week. Since we are leaving tonight for more festivities in Utah, we had German Sweet Chocolate cake (made from scratch) and Nachos for dinner. Both were requested by birthday boy himself, isn't he so easy to please.

Snow

We woke up to our first snow of the season this morning. The girls were so ecstatic that they played outside most of the morning in their pj's. I would have bundled them up, but ironically Kamryn left her coat on the bus yesterday and we couldn't find London's coat. I guess today I will be pulling out all of our winter clothing!

Last night, we had an awesome family night. Both girls were grouchy and tired and I didn't think they would sit still for a lesson. Instead we made some yummy cinnamon popcorn and watched the Nativity and Mr. Krueger's Christmas. Mr. Krueger's Christmas is a classic!


I had to include this picture of London and her beloved blankie! London is a lot like me in the fact that she gets addicted to things easily. London is way addicted to her blankie and she whines and whines until I give in and give it to her. Over Thanksgiving weekend, we accidentally left her blankie at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The whining was constant for the first few days, but now as I sweetly remind her where it is, she stops whining. I am thinking this is a good thing. I think that the blankie will be left at Grandma and Grandpa's house forever, that is, until I break down and give in...which is pretty likely.

Thanksgiving in a nutshell

I was planning on doing another "Today I am thankful for" entry, but didn't have the time. But, just so everyone knows that I am thankful for much more than just what I wrote.

Jeff was able to take a half day on Wednesday and came home to help me finish cleaning the house. That night we had Pizza and played games with his family till midnight. Wacky 6 is so addicting, but I think we played too much. My fingers still ache from shuffling the cards.



Thursday I spent most of the day cooking, but we still had some extra time to play more Wacky 6 and ride the 4-wheeler.

Our table setting looked adorable thanks to Kamryn and London. All of the crafts they made for the table really looked cute. I don't know if you can see, but those turkey napkin rings were make by the girls (with extra help from me, of course).

I guess this is a good sign that my turkey dinner turned out well.

Shopping on Black Friday is always an adventure. Grandpa stayed at home with the girls while Jeff and I shopped. We were able to get quite a few things for great prices, but nothing that I was really excited about. We were finished shopping by 8 in the morning and the rest of Friday and Saturday was a day full of rest and relaxation. Jeff was entertained by the wii and the girls were entertained by Grandparents and cousins. I was just grateful to not be doing anything.

Today I am thankful for...

That I was able to wake up early enough to be able to sit down with my family for breakfast.

And, read scriptures together.

And, say a family prayer together.

My husband kissed each of us good bye before he left for work.

His job makes him happy.

The girls entertained themselves while I cleaned part of the house.



That Pixie (the Leavitt's kitty) is still alive despite the girls smothering it to death.

More water stayed in the tub than outside the tub during their bath.

For phone calls from my friends.

For Emily coming over to help me can some apple pie filling.



Grocery shopping with two girls who were very well behaved.

The fact that I am ready to cook my first Thanksgiving dinner.

That Jeff's family is willing to drive to our house for Thanksgiving.

That board games are getting better and that they are actually really fun to play.

For the Internet which provides me with endless ideas for crafts and family nights.

For my girls creativity.

That this turkey only took an hour to make and that he looks really cute.

My girls getting the concept of being Thankful and voicing what we are thankful for.

My cutie nephew turned two this weekend. This is a dated photo, but the only one I could find after losing several of my pictures due to a computer problem.

Jamison is the son of Jamie and Malorie. Jamie is my husbands younger brother. Little J is the sweetest boy with the cutest smile ever. His giggle is contagious and he is just happy all of the time. Happy 2nd Birthday J! Sorry we couldn't make it to the party!

TGIF

First off, I have to give props to my friend Emily for this wonderful blog. She is a very talented digi-artist and not only does she create beautiful scrapbook pages, but she designs digitally as well. You can check out her stuff @ littledreamerdesigns.com. Saturday Emily is actually teaching a class on digital scrapbooking and I can't wait to attend. Hopefully someday I will be almost as good as she is.

Right now, Kamryn is at school and London is sleeping after a slightly traumatic incident. She came in crying after playing outside and told us that Tinkerbell (the Leavitt's cat) had scratched her. When I looked at her foot, it looked like the claw broke off inside her foot. Luckily, Jeff was at home during lunch and he broke out the tweezers while I had the fun job of holding my screaming child down while trying to comfort her. Jeff is a pro at getting out slivers and though this took much more time because she was so wiggly, he did finally remove it. We still aren't sure if it was the cats claw, but it was huge, hard and pointy. We gave London a "big" candy bar as a reward for being a tough girl and it was only when I opened it that she finally gave me a little smile. Just so you know, for those of you who think that giving a big candy bar to a 3 year old was wrong, it was a 3 musketeers, they have less fat and she only ate a few bites. Usually when London cries as much as she did, she gets really sleepy and therefore she should take an extra long nap. Poor girl!

After our case worker informed us that most birth parents are using the web to find adoptive families, I immediately knew that I'd need to start a blog. I was excited since I had thought of starting a blog a long time ago, but didn't think that people would enjoy reading what I wrote, but now I have a blog purpose. If I were considering placing a baby for adoption, I'd need to know what that family did on a daily basis. A "dear birth parent" letter wouldn't be enough for me. I'd need to know that my baby would have special moments with not just mom, but with dad EVERYDAY. I promise to be honest and diligent with this blog, so that whomever reads this gets to know the real us. (When I say diligent just remember that family is a priority in my life and my life is crazy busy most of the time.)

We are adoption ready now...yay. Too bad it took us over a year to get that way, but good things come to those who wait. We know that Heavenly Father had his hand in this and right now is our time to wait, not last year. Please pass the word along to all you know that we are waiting for our birth family and tell them to come check us out! Thanks!