Our Family Thankfulness Tree

So, since the holiday season is upon us, I thought I'd share something that we've been doing as a family.

Way back in August, I knew that the temptation for getting the 'gimmie's' would be great, especially for the resident 5 year old. He's never met a present or a toy he hasn't wanted. I knew we wanted to really start instilling the idea of thankfulness and blessings into him this year, so I started plotting and planning on the best way to do this.

The answer was simple: The Thankfulness Tree

Every night, before bed, we sit down as a family & everyone thinks of one thing that they are thankful for on that day. Each person picks out a leaf or a bird (Jacob's personal favorite) & writes down what they are thankful for and signs it. I tape it to the tree (or around the tree).

The Thankfulness Tree has been a great tool for teaching Jacob the concepts of thankfulness, blessings, & being a blessing to others.

And, it's been great for me & E. It's so easy for adults to get caught up in the bolts & grime of everyday life and forget all the blessing that surround us. And, taking time to be intentional in giving thanks is a life skill that no one outgrows.


To make the Thankfulness Tree, I used some of my rudimentary art skills! I pulled out a large piece of poster board (being a homeschool mom who loves a good craft comes in handy!) and sat on my kitchen floor. I tree out a sketch of tree and then grabbed my paints. It took a couple of coats, but it ended up looking cute. I wish I had taken a pic!

Then I made templates for the leaves and the birds. I traced the templates on a couple of different colors of construction paper & cut them out.

Done.



We started the Tree on October 1st (we missed a few days here and there when life got weird on us) and we're continuing all the way up to the last day of November! We'll have spent two months learning about Thankfulness, remembering to be thankful, counting our blessing & blessing others.

Then, on December 1st, we'll move into Advent. I think it's a pretty darn good way to usher in the Advent season.

(disclaimer: please excuse the crappy picture quality. Sometimes the iPHONE takes great pictures & sometimes, it's not so great.)

Christmas This Year

There was quite a bit of this....

There was thankfully, only one instance of this... where he actually put his plan into total action

There was plenty of this

several hours were spent looking at this & not getting enough of it...

seeing secrets shared between two buddies

watching a little boy have 'his' Thomas come stay at his house for Christmas

.... and go out and greet him every night when Thomas, "woke up."

Thankful

For all that I do not deserve... for all that I have been blessed with.

Taking a couple of days to count my blessings one by one.

Remembering,

"A thankful heart is a happy heart..."

Happy Thanksgiving.

Let's See Here

Happy 4th of July all you Americans out there! ..... yes, I know that every single one of you is getting that message a day late. My bad.

It's been crazy busy around here. I swear at the beginning of every. single. month that the new month is not going to be as busy as the last & I totally lie to myself each and every time. It's such a drag. You'd think I'd have learned this about myself by now, but no. Le sigh. And this month is a particular whip, 2 birthdays to plan and my parents anniversary. Wowza. One of my best girlfriend's is turning 30 on 7/11 and we are going to sing her out of her 20's the night before at a karaoke joint. Fun huh? :-)

And then Jacob's 2nd birthday is at the end of the month. He's going to be 2. By golly heavens. Where did my baby go? ::sniffle:: ::sniffle:: Ok, I'm alright. His party is going to be a Thomas the Train themed party because my child has a crazy love for those trains, that dear sweet little boy.

So, factor in that mess, 4th of July, school (quaking in fear.....), oh and another birthday! Yowza, I have to buy a card for my younger cousin, L, her birthday on the 13th .... oh and another waaay little cousin at the back end of the month! The list just keeps going, Peeps! ..... and I know I'm forgetting something. I just know it. Drat.

I did that Friday. All day long. I KNEW that I was forgetting to do something. It was driving me ninny, I tell you! I finally remembered along about 5:35pm............. that I supposed to call Laura G. and let her know whether I was going to the Frisco RoughRiders Game with her and the Sisters or not. And did I mention that I was supposed to do this... oh, about NOON or so?! Sheesh.

The 4th of July Weekend was crazy busy, as I said before I went on that long ramble. My parents and I (and the little Dude) met up with my Aunt C and Uncle B at Red Robin, home of GREATEST ONION RINGS KNOWN TO MAN, not that I have a strong opinion on that subject at all, for dinner on Saturday night...... of course this was after the 2 hour dash through SAMS and Central Market and the sudden down pour that darn near required a lift from Noah and his paddle boat to get home.

After dinner we dropped my father at the house and my mother and I made our merry way to Addison, hoping to catch some of the KaboomTown fireworks...... and I must now share with you a story on my child. The boy did not like the pretty lights in the sky. Mind you, we were so far back you couldn't hear the noise at all- it was just the lights exploding in the sky that put a twist in the child's pampers.

We got out of the car (to get a better look) and the boy started to try and climb up my shoulders and behind my back- he reminded me of a freaked out cat. Mom and I finally gave up after a few minutes and Mom said, "Let's just go back to the car." People, I am telling you, no sooner had the words crossed the threshold of her lips than Jacob flipped around to face the fireworks, waved and said, "Bye-Bye, See you." and was VERY happy to be carried to the car. I laughed my tail off.

Sometimes he makes me laugh without even trying. And I love that.

Anywhoo. Enough rambling for now. See yall on the flip side.
Peace Out.

It's 2 Days Later

.... and I'm still recovering.

The New Andrews Sisters and their Fabulous Dolly, Dixie rode in the parade & performed at the Memorial Day Picnic in beautiful, historic downtown Granbury this past Monday. If you are wondering why that matters to you and my blog- I am one of those gals.

(p.s.- I'm not one of the ones who sings.)

And, after more than an hour or two in the 900 degree sun (and reapplying sunscreen thank you very much), in a halter top- I have a sun burn. Yea!

Anyway- it was fun. And I think there are another 1 or 2 gigs on the schedule this month. :-)

In the mean time- there's laundry to do. And my classes restarted. Excellent. And I better get a move on- Jacob will be home from his dad's in T-minus ...... uh..... well, math isn't really my strong point today (or any day).

Today's blogpost:
Rambling? Yes
Informative? Maybe
Funny? You be the judge

L8r!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of The Year!!!!!!

I love Christmas time.



I absolutely ADORE this time of year. It's magical. The whole world just seems to take on a different tone. The warmth of good feelings and cheer seep into everyday things- totally making up for the fact that it's stinkin' freezing outside. :-) I love going to the malls and seeing the Christmas decorations up- the snowflakes, the Christmas trees. (Ok, the parking lots have been known to bring out certain Grinch-like behavior from your intrepid blogger, but that's besides the point.)

And the Christmas music! Around these parts, every year, one station magically gets taken over by Christmas music. The Good, the Bad and the Heinous! It's wonderful! Of course, I've been known the listen to Christmas music in July.

And then, there's the movies! Ahh, the movies. No Christmas is complete without the full list of Christmas movies. A Charlie Brown Christmas, Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Muppet's Christmas Carol, Frosty & the beloved clay-mations; Rudolph, Santa Clause Is Coming to Town & others.

And Family- I think Christmas is my favorite holiday because it's the one time the my entire family is guaranteed to be under the same roof. It's loud, wild and crazy. This year there will be 9 kids running around my mom and dad's house. Add that to the 10 or 11 adults and it makes for quite a group of rowdies. And I love it. No, I look forward to it with a longing that I can't quite explain. I simply adore my family & to have them all together is my absolute favorite present each and every year.

And then, of course, there's the whole reason we have a thing called Christmas.

There's Jesus.

Ah, yes. Him.

So often forgotten. But of so much importance.

This has been a very hard, very crazy, very emotionally draining and challenging year for me. I'm very grateful to be standing at the end of it. Very grateful to be leaning against my Savior.

We get to enjoy all these wonderful Christmas traditions because a baby was born in a stable in Bethlehem. We get to celebrate his birth because of his death. Because he was the sinless Son of God. And He paid our sin debts. That's one heck of an eternal Christmas present... I take back what I said earlier- this is my absolute, all-time favorite present each and every year.

...... my family runs a close second, though! :-)

Merry Christmas!

The Costume He Kinda Wore Twice, But Not On Halloween

Jacob was supposed to be the Cuddly Lion this year.....

He was more like, the Cowardly Lion....

And he didn't wear his costume... come back to tomorrow for pictures of what Jacob did wear.