With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart

Today, I am grateful for...

a wonderful husband who I love so much and we got to have a great Thanksgiving dinner with at the Coast Guard station.

two beautiful children who make me laugh and smile all the time and always make me happy that I'm a mother.

 a great family of moms, dads, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and everyone else who support us and help to keep us going.

the knowledge of the gospel and of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for all of us.

the beautiful place that we live in and the good friends we have.

the amazing life that I get to live everyday.

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful

Dear Weather,
Thank you so much for finally deciding to be like fall!  With 95% of the trees being evergreens and the mild ocean front climate, I was starting to worry that we might not get a fall Thanksgiving.  Not to mention a cold Christmas!  So rain, clouds and 45 degrees, thank you for finally showing up.
Cold Weather Girl

Dear Coast Guard,
You have been very good to us, so I feel like I shouldn't complain.  But at the same time, why do you feel it necessary to take my husband away for entire weekends?  It's really not very fun.  Especially when I have to teach Sunday School and have no one to hold my baby.
Frustrated Substitute

Dear Noah,
I love you, but you're driving me crazy.  Can you please learn to sleep sometime soon?  I would be much obliged.
Tired Mommy

Dear Thanksgiving,
I'm excited to have you at my house this year!  Although it will be much smaller than usual, I am grateful for Brett's sister Jamie who will be coming to spend the holiday with us.  I'm also grateful for the opportunity to cook a whole meal (minus the turkey, that's Brett's specialty) this year.  Wish me luck!
Thankful Eater

Dear Self,
I'm proud of you!  You have finally discovered the secret to keeping the house clean on a regular basis!  Why did it take 25 years, a husband and 2 kids to figure it out?  At least you have.  Now if only I could figure out what the secret actually is so I could share it with everyone else...
Clean Freak (sort of...)

Random iPhone Pictures

I just uploaded my phone pictures to the computer, and although some of them are old, I think they are worth seeing.  So for your enjoyment, random pictures.

One of Kennedy's favorite things to do when I'm in the kitchen is wait around until the beater stops and then say, "I want that one!"  So, what can I do?  I give it to her.  She usually doesn't eat much of it, but she manages to make a huge mess in the process.

We went to a birthday party.  Noah definitely needed a hat.

Noah is taking big boy baths now, but before we put his bath away, Kennedy loved to play in it.  She gave Rosie baths in it, and she loved to sit in it herself.

I know this one is a little hard to see, but when Noah sleeps in his pack n play, he often squishes his face up against the mesh, and it looks hilarious.

One day I found Kennedy like this when I came in to get her from her "nap".  I have no idea how she got up there.  But as you can see, the contents of the entire dresser and the top of it ended up on the floor in the process.

Noah wearing his cute "My daddy's in the Coast Guard" shirt.

A hilarious potato that Kennedy made.  I smile every time I see it.

Kennedy looking very sophisticated despite the fact that she has no pants on.  She's watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse couch.  Can you guess what her favorite Playhouse Disney show is?

Halloween 2010

This year we celebrated Halloween by going to a trunk-or-treat and Halloween carnival at our church on Saturday night.  It was a lot of fun, and Kennedy in particular had a blast.  She dressed up as a ladybug this year.  Here's the costume as it should be.

Way cute.  And here's the really cute shot after she decided to start posing that I couldn't resist putting up here.



Unfortunately, it was chilly and slightly rainy on Saturday, so we had to add a little bit to her costume to make sure that she was warm enough.  It turned out pretty cute too though.

We volunteered to use our trunk to pass out candy.  Brett devised a system where he could keep his hand in the bottom of the candy bag and grab kids when they tried to pick a piece.  They had fun with that, and Kennedy would laugh hysterically when the kids got scared.  Noah was a trooper, staying out past his bedtime dressed in an outfit that was slightly tight and that he didn't like very much.



The carnival at the church had some fun games set up for the kids, but Kennedy's favorite was the cake walk.  It was actually just musical chairs and you won a cupcake just for playing, but Kennedy couldn't get enough.  She played 4 times (she only got a cupcake twice though) and was laughing so hard about running around in a circle and Brett throwing her into chairs.  We got rained out from passing out candy, so we went home earlier than expected, but the kids had a great time and we enjoyed watching them have so much fun.