Thankful Thursday

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.--1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I am so thankful today for so many things. For health, as so many struggle with sickness & worry about what might be next. For family, as disfunctional as mine can be at times I am glad to have one living parent and many others in my life that mean so much to me. For shelter, as so many are losing homes due to various circumstances I am thankful to have a roof over my head today. For a job, with unemployment high I am blessed to be working at the same company for over 10 years.

Take time this week to consider all of the things you are thankful for, list them out if you have to and pause to ponder this- if you have at least $20 to your name you are doing better than at least 80% of the world's population.

Bye, Bye Crib...Hello Big Girl Bed

Maddy officially moved from her crib to a 'big girl bed' last weekend. She has loved it! There are still times when she isn't sure if she should get out on her own, but she's slowly learning that it's ok. It's a little sad seeing our girl grow up, but we know part of the process. She has been potty trained for a couple of months now & this was her big incentive while we were potty training.

Fall Leaf Fun

It's was a cold & rainy October here so we we're able to get the leaves up until this past weekend which means everything was dried out & not much of the beautiful colors were left. Fall is usually my favorite time of year in our neighborhood because of the mature trees & the gorgeous colors we tend to get. I have fond memories of raking leaves at my mom's house & jumping in the big pile so that's something I love to let Maddy do too. Here are a few fun photos from this weekend.

Trying her hand raking

Enjoying the fruits of her labor

Even Samson loves helping with the leaves

Photo Catch up

Here are some fun photos from last month..........


Maddy, Briana, her mom & I met up at an apple orchard. They had a fun apple crate maze & a few other neat things to play with:

Here's Maddy cutting a rug at a wedding last month:


Photo opp with cousin Izzy & uncle Scott:

Pumpkin Fest 2009:

And now it's November

Seriously, what has happened to fall this year? Between work & bad weather I haven't really been able to enjoy it at all which is a huge downer since this is my favortite time of year.


I was out of town for our 2nd Forever Family Day last Wednesday but we did celebrate a little early by going out for dinner to our local Chinese restaurant. The owner loves Maddy & spoils her rotten. This time Maddy walked out with a large laffy taffy, a 'N m N' Cookie (as she calls it) and a frosted pumpkin bar.


It didn't have the camera with, but here are some professional photos we had taken a month or so ago as a family-