Thanks...

Wow, Thanksgiving is tomorrow already?! Where does the time go?

I used to always think of Thanksgiving as the start of Christmas, the gateway to the holiday season. Now, though? Now, I am trying to be more thankful, more aware of the blessings in my life...and what would those blessings be, you ask? (just pretend for the sake of argument that you asked) This is my beautiful baby girl's second Thanksgiving with us. We have wonderful family who love us and who we enjoy spending time with. I have a stable job and I love what I do. My husband has a stable job, and his back has been holding out lately. We are able to enjoy nice family vacations, as well as an extended weekend trip (no dear child along this time) in a few weeks. We have a nice home, a gorgeous new car, and all of the toys we could really want. My mom watches Callie every day, giving us great relief knowing that she is in great hands while we are working. My brothers adore my daughter, and my daughter adores them! Our families are close by and we can see them very often. My mother-in-law takes great care of us, feeding us all every night practically. I am thankful for my game-playing family that loves to get together as often as we can and just be crazy & silly. Our church family is so loving and supportive, we have developed great friendships that I pray last for eternity. Callie has little friends in the nursery that she will get to grow up right alongside of, learning from, teaching, fighting with and loving--the fighting part was in full force this weekend, as she spied Paige sitting on Momma's lap, which started an all-out squealfest until I cleared the infringing party from her position on my legs and placed Callie there instead! Oh, and did I mention, my most wonderful blessings--a child who loves me so much that she doesn't always want to share me with the world just yet and a husband who loves me despite my shortcomings and tries to encourage me when I am down!

Life is good and God is great!!

What are you thankful for? Take this time to realize the blessings in your life and give thanks for them. We can so often get caught up in the bad things happening to us and around us that we fail to realize how blessed we are.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Where has the time gone?

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is only two weeks from tomorrow! I don't even have all of my Halloween decorations put away (they are assembled in a "nice" pile in the kitchen, awaiting packing & transport back to the basement). I also need to get rid of the pumpkins and mums outside--anyone want any mums? I won't be planting them, but I sure do hate to just get rid of them. I am so excited to do my Christmas decorations in two weeks! If you have never seen my house at Christmas time, it looks like a Snowbuddy factory exploded in my living room...not sure how the village is going to work this year with a toddler running around, though.

I am very much looking forward to Black Friday shopping--yes, I am one of those people, lol! Even my mom, who never thought she would do it after her years of working at Wal-Mart, enjoys it. The deals are great, but for me, mom & Pam, it is more about the "tradition", the fun of doing it together. And my poor, dear husband asked me, "you're taking Callie with you, right?"...*sigh* He is such an innocent and naive soul, but I love him dearly! Thank goodness for back-up babysitters--Casey, you're the best!!

There just seems to be so much to do for the next two months--Thanksgiving dinner at church this Saturday, travel to Springfield for two days of firm CPE next week, practice for the Christmas program at church the following weekend, two days of tax school that next week, work one day, then Thanksgiving & shopping, more play practice, Christmas with visiting family on the 5th, cookie exchange with family on the 6th, play practice on the 8th, some sort of vacation for Buddy and I the 9th through the 13th, holiday party on the 15th, Christmas program on the 16th and the 20th, and then Christmas!! Whew...I think I need a nap! Hmmm...I am sitting at work all alone right now...maybe I will just lock the door and catch some ZZZZ's....g'night all!

Slacking already!

Okay, so I am already slacking off at this blogging "thing", lol!

If I can figure out how to post video, I have got to post a video up here for you to check out. My daughter is, ready for this?...freaked out when people blow a bubble with bubble gum! Yep, you read that right, she about jumps out of your arms if you are holding her and attempt to blow a bubble. It is the weirdest, and funniest, thing I have ever heard of a child being freaked out by! I really think we should enter it into America's Funniest Videos or something...I mean, have you ever heard of such a thing?!

So, last night, Callie and I were asked to participate in the Christmas program at our church. After I got off the phone, I looked at Callie and asked her, "Are you ready to make your theatrical debut?", to which she enthusiastically shook her head yes, as if she understood me. Then, when I informed her she was going to be an angel, the sweet, precious, adorable child gave quite a devilish little giggle. I suspect she will be an angel in costume only, with an attitude that will be quite un-angelic! Oh, Lord, please pray for those in charge of this thing, because they may need it, especially since her nursery cohorts in crime are also slated to be angels (Paige, Gavin and Callie?--oh, my!). What were these poor, innocent ladies thinking?!

Speaking of costumes, here is a pic of Callie from Halloween this year...

There's no place like home...or, at least, Grandma Ginny's house, in this case.

She isn't too into this trick-or-treating thing yet, the smile was not there by the end of the night! But we ended up at Grandma & Grandpa's house, so it was all good, lol!