So Thankful - November 30

I've written on this blog before about Game On! and the changes that it has helped me to make in my life over the last year.  I started it with the thought that I would be supporting a friend and I'm ending this year committed to continuing to take part for as long as I can.  I've made great friends with women (and a few men) who are living all over the country...and all over the world.  I was lucky enough to meet up with a few of them for coffee not too long ago and it was amazing to me how close I feel to these women though I had never met some of them face to face.  We are all in this journey together supporting each other, suggesting ways to get through the day, teasing a bit and sending 'good vibes'.  Though we live miles apart, we exercise together, chug water together, eat together and make healthy decisions together every day.  

THIS - is from an email that I sent a friend earlier this week:  This past year I went on a mission to get "healthy".  And that is truly why I did what I did.  I looked at my life - and my beautiful daughters - and the fact that I truly wanted to be able to keep up with them.  I wanted to be healthy for them.  I wanted to be able to hop up off the floor and run after them - to be able to dance with them - to be someone they could look up to and feel good about looking upon - someone who could teach them to live a healthy life.  I really didn't care too horribly much about what I looked like - I just wanted to feel good, wanted to have energy, wanted to be a healthier version of myself.  And, I'll be damned...it worked!  By mid-summer, I was feeling amazing!  I looked FANTASTIC and felt even better!  I was winning "Game On" every round and was inspiring other people around me to get healthy - and even already inspiring my daughters to want to eat healthier and to get their exercise.  

Game On! truly helped me to become a healthier version of myself and a better role model for my children.   A happy side effect is that I lost weight and look pretty great.  

Game On! certainly didn't do this FOR me.  I put in a lot of hard work over the last year but the competition and the people taking part in the competition absolutely helped me to get where I am right now.  For that?  I am very thankful!  

So Thankful - November 29

Today I'm thankful for MOMS Club!  I just got home from a MOMS Club Board Meeting so this group of ladies is on  my mind right now.  When Chris and I made the decision that I would "stay home" with the girls, I was terrified.  I was worried about myself - getting bored and lost and stagnant.  I was even more worried about B and how she would grow socially being stuck home with just ME to interact with.  I started taking her as a baby to ecfe classes and to the public library's baby storyhour (I STILL love baby storyhour...Miss Julie at our library is the BEST!).  It was at storyhour that I overheard my now good friend Claudette conversing with another Mom.  I stuck my nose in and said, "wait a minute...what are you talking about?" Claudette was a fantastic ambassador for the Brooklyn Park MOMS Club.  She told me all about it and I was hooked before I was even a member.  Because of this group of 30-35 stay-at-home or semi-stay-at-home MOMS, I can honestly say that my children are being raised by a village (well - because of them AND my amazing family...but I think I've already been down THAT particular road on this blog).  We've been a part of playgroups, we've had dozens and dozens of park playdates, we've done community service projects together (as seen in the above photo taken at "Feed My Starving Children" - who DOESN'T look great in a hairnet?), we've celebrated and we've supported each other both in happy times and challenging times.  Some of my best friends have come out of this group.  It is a great group of women and I am so thankful for them.

So Thankful - November 27

Today - is Tuesday.  On Tuesday mornings, I take Emily to speech.  Her speech starts at 9:15 am and the "free" preschool and the ECSE class start at 9:30.  This means that every Tuesday morning, I sit in the waiting area at this wonderful facility and watch parents who absolutely cannot afford to enroll their children in preschool drop off their kids.  And then I watch amazing teachers and paras meet busses to roll, carry, or lead special needs children to their classroom.  Every Tuesday I watch MY child grab her speech teacher's hand with a giant smile and literally skip her way down the hallway.  Happy, healthy, secure - - the biggest problem in her little world is an inability to articulate a hard "K" sound.  I am so very lucky.

And then I go "home" to Alexandria to see my family and I watch in awe as my incredible, 7 year old  nephew throws a perfect spiral or a tough slapshot.  And I realize how quickly things can change both for the better AND for the worse.  If we were living solely by statistics, he would NOT have outlived the cancer that invaded his body when he was 4 years old.  But he did.  And he is amazing.  IT is amazing.

Today I am thankful for the good health of my family!

So Thankful - November 25

It turned cold here in Minnesota.  So cold.  So fast.  Thanksgiving morning, I went out to my van in my pajamas, barefoot...by noon, the snow was flying and it was 25 degrees.  Luckily, Chris and Britta put up the Christmas lights BEFORE it turned so brutally cold though we neglected to turn them ON until after Thanksgiving (anything else is a bit obnoxious, right?).  Anyway - THIS is a photo of my warm, cozy little house tonight.  I definitely did not see us still living in this little townhome with two kids, a cat and a couple of turtles.  We were SUPPOSED to be in a 4 bedroom with a big backyard by now.  But - we've definitely made the best of our situation and are living quite happily in our cozy little house. We have good neighbors sharing our driveway, a beautiful 3 year old remodel job on the interior ... it is warm and safe and ours.

Tonight - I am thankful for the comfortable, safe, WARM roof over our heads!

So Thankful - November 24

This is Maynerd.  We brought him home from an adoption day...in a cardboard box...when he was a kitten.  He is the most awesome cat I've ever met.  He is gregarious and playful, patient and gentle.  He was our very first "child" and yet adapted to the addition of our human kids as if he knew all along that his place in the hierarchy would someday be usurped.  When the girls were tiny, they would quite literally haul him around the house by his neck, an ear or a back leg and he never once scratched or bit and rarely even let out a yelp - instead, just looked at us with his gentle eyes as if to say, "do you see?  do you SEE the humiliation I put up with to be a member of this family?"  the girls have grown up a bit and now he curls up, purring in Britta's lap when she's watching cartoons and sneaks into Emily's bed when you're reading her a story.  He does tricks and manages to win over many self proclaimed "cat haters" who visit.  I am thankful that we have such an awesome, awesome pet as part of our family.

So Thankful - November 23

THIS is my messy, messy but very full cupboard!  I feel very blessed to live in a country where clean water and good food is plentiful, available and relatively inexpensive.  I feel blessed that while we have definitely experienced periods of "want" in our family, we have never experienced an empty cupboard.  In fact - when January rolls around, the shows have been less plentiful and the checking account is getting a little skinny...THAT is usually when we eat the best!  'cause THAT is when I dig into the depths of the cupboard and start getting creative instead of just making "the usual".
I'm thankful for good food.  I'm thankful that both Chris and I are good cooks.  And since I like to eat?  I'm thankful for food in general!

So Thankful - November 22

Today - I am thankful for naps!  Yup!  It's true!  Maybe a little bit of a strange thing to be thankful for, but there you have it!

I took this photo a couple of days ago when Em randomly fell asleep in the rocking chair all on her own.  She had apparently been helping Daddy & B put up the Christmas lights outside...she disappeared for a while and this is how we found her.  Good for her!  :)  Both my girls gave up their naps REALLY early.  We haven't had a 'nap time' at our house in at least 18 months.  Which is a very sad thing.  But every now and again --- the little one still falls asleep for a snooze.  She is always in a better mood come bedtime if she's had a solid rest in the afternoon.

One of the greatest blessings of the Thanksgiving celebration is always the annual naptime.  Everyone crashes - the whole house is basically a big crash-zone.  This year, I wanted my little one to take a real nap (which she doesn't normally do anymore) so I took her upstairs and laid down with her and we had the NICEST snuggle and nap.  There is nothing quite like falling asleep with a little person breathing on your cheek.  I started feeling guilty about missing out on kitchen clean-up or whatever so I went downstairs to find out that everyone was crashed in varying states of playing quietly, watching football...so I lay down on the floor by my Dad and we were both snoring in no time.  It was blissful!