Our Gratitude Project 2010

Our gratitude project was a huge success!  Each day in November, every one of our family members contributed the things they were most thankful for.  It was a great thing to do together--once I got over trying to make it look 'pretty' and just let the kids have fun with it anyway.  We had a great time talking over dinner each night about what we were going to put on the 'gratitude' board that day.  Three of my greatest blessings are smiling up at me in this picture from this afternoon playtime!

I'm thinking we'll have to do this, or something like it, every year.  I love the snapshot that it gives into our family life right now--how Emmy is learning to write and her awesome artwork, what Ethan is into playing with, what Zeke is learning about in school--as a I'm already looking forward to seeing how it looks different next year. 

Notes to self: fine tip markers would be better, one thankful thing a day will help with making room for all the great pictures, think about different color markers for each family member.

Thanks, Becky Higgins, for this great idea!!!

Gracious Hosts & Great Friends

So we wouldn't be 'alone' on Thanksgiving Day, Keely's mom invited us over to celebrate the holiday with their family and share in their delicious bounty.  Thank you so much, Mike and Laurie, for opening your home and hearts to us--it made our Thanksgiving Day special!

Thankful

We celebrated Thanksgiving early with the Miller clan and my folks in Fresno this past Saturday.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the food, the company and the family togetherness. 

MOPS Craft

This is my completed craft from MOPS this last Thursday.  I did it in about 5 minutes.  I'm not sure where our Creative Activities Leader got the materials, but she had printed out bible verses on pretty backgrounds and had us use stick glue to adhere our choice of scrapbook paper to a tile, then seal it all together with mod-podge.  It can act as a trivet or a decoration--totally easy and cool.  I did one of these last Spring with a big 'M' and pretty stickers that usually sits in this spot, but it's nice to have a little 'Thankfulness' verse front and center this time of year.

Ethan turns 2!

My little guy is already 2 years old!  We celebrated his Veteran's Day birthday with a little family lunch and ice cream sandwich get-together.  I couldn't get a good picture of Ethan that day to save my life, but I felt I should post something to at least commemorate the event! 

"Bubbles" is one of Ethan's words--and Kayla knows it's one of his favorite things to play because he asks her for it all the time!  One of the many perfect for him gifts Ethan got this year! 

Ethan also scored 3 foam swords--and there have been some epic battles around here ever since.  That kid hits hard--he'll take us all out!

Love the face he's making in this picture as he's doing his best 'elephant' sound!

Gratitude Project

Got this awesome idea off of Becky Higgins' Blog. 

It's a family project to remind us about all the things that we have to be grateful for during this Thanksgiving season.  We talked about what gratitude means as a family, and now each night over dinner, we all decide what what couple things we are most thankful for that day and write/draw it on the board. 

I used chipboard letters out of my scrapbook supplies and a 20x30 poster board from Staples.  I had the poster sized clip frame (from Ikea years ago) that I'm using to hang it up.  I just put some patterned scrapbook paper as a background to make up the difference between the frame and the poster board.  The glass is actually in front of the background holding it in and the posterboard is poster putty'd to the front of the glass.  We're using sharpies to write on it.

Already, I love the cat picture Emmy drew last night and the bottle that we know Ethan is so totally thankful for is on there.  Zeke's first thing was Family--but he only drew 3 people next to it--who is he thankful for?  I'm excited to see how this turns out... and if we continue to do it annually, how it will change as our kids grow!  I'll post our completed version after Thanksgiving! =)

Having Fun on the Swings

The weather has been beautiful and unusually warm for this time of year, and we are trying to take full advantage of the time to be outside.  These videos are from a couple days ago when the kids were having a great time with each other, swinging and laughing together. 

I had to capture the moment
to remember the sounds of my favorite little people-

-and to share it with you!



The sounds of my kids squeals of delight and unabashed laughter
always puts a smile on my face. 

Hopefully it does for you, too!

Halloween 2010

Here are some pictures from Trunk or Treat last weekend.  We let this be our primary costume time with the kiddos this Halloween--Darth Vader, Thumbelina Barbie and our little Monkey Man got PLENTY of treats and they had a great time (well, Ethan did once he eventually got used to his costume and realized that it was all about the candy!). 

Josh & Janean Woods held their 2nd annual costume party on Saturday night for Josh's birthday.  Last year, Brian and I went as John McCain and Sarah Palin.  This year, on the heels of seeing the musical Wicked this past summer, Brian and I chose to be Scarecrow and Elphaba.  It's not easy being green--or getting it off, for that matter!  I ran out of warm water in the shower trying to scrub it all off!