Thankful Thursday

Four more weeks until Thanksgiving!  I have so much to be thankful for...


I'm thankful that I have the internet, email, this blog, and Facebook so that I can stay connected to all the people that mean so much to me.  (Thanks, Tori, for the idea!)  I just wish all my friends had a blog!  I love reading blogs and keeping in touch with friends.  I'm thankful that I've found a few friends here that I click with.  It's hard when you don't know people in a new town, but having a playgroup has allowed Gavin and me to meet many people and make new friends. And you know that feeling you get when you meet someone and it just 'clicks'?  Like you were meant to be friends?  I love that feeling!  I'm thankful for Annisa, my TS sponsor.  She's an amazing leader that has inspired me and encouraged me when things were tough after moving to Arkansas.  I love what I do and I love this company, but it was hard when we first moved here and she wouldn't let me give up.  And, thanks to her encouragement, the parties are getting booked and I'm building my own team.  Thank you, Annisa!  And lastly, I'm thankful that I don't have to cook dinner tonight!  A celebration dinner for my hubby for completing his Dale Carnegie course last night.  :) 


Take a minute and share your gratitude!  What do you have to be thankful for?

Talking with a Toddler

Gavin:  What's in your belly, mom?
Me:  There's nothing in my belly.  What are you talking about?
Gavin:  Yes there is.  It's a ball.  
Me:  {Realizing he's remembering when I hid the ball under my shirt while we were playing earlier...}  Oh, is that right?
Gavin:  Yeah, two balls.  See....one, two!  


I'll let you imagine what he was pointing to and counting.  Way to make Mommy proud, Gav!

Wordless Wednesday

Sugar Cookies

Taking photographs to document our lives is so important to me, and almost like a therapy.  When I haven't taken many pictures, I feel out of sorts.  The problem is, Jarrod and I don't share this love.  So, it's usually me behind the camera.  If I ask him to take pictures for me, he will...but usually not as many as I would have taken!  Thank goodness for my self-timer.  One of my favorite blogs is My Sweet Chaos.  I love how she uses her self-timer and doesn't care if someone's head is cut off or the pic isn't centered.  Her photos are beautiful.  She inspires me to use my timer more and capture things Gavin and I do together.

After pumpkin carving, Gav and I made sugar cookie cut-outs.  I set up the timer to take 10 continuous photos and kept a few of my faves.

 

 Of course, eating them was Gavin's favorite part!

Pumpkin Carving!

To me, one of the best parts of fall is pumpkin carving.  I loooove carving pumpkins!  Jarrod will not put his hand inside the pumpkin, so it's my job to gut them.  Why I love sticking my hand in all that nasty junk I have no idea, but I do.  So I was super excited to carve our pumpkins yesterday and look forward to when Gavin is old enough to help us even more.

First, Daddy cut off the tops for me.  I was a bit disappointed in our pumpkins this year.  One was rotting before we even got around to carving them, so we were down to two.  Then, he cut the top off the first one, and it was so gross inside.  Brown, gooey, slimy...  Not the normal pumpkin guts.  Even I wouldn't put my hand in that one.  So, we were now left with just one pumpkin.  Fingers crossed it turned out ok for carving....

 And this is what was inside!  A little strange with the vines, but still perfect for gutting!

 Gavin, though interested, didn't want to put his hand inside.  But, this is the same kid that makes me wash his hands as soon as he's done eating because he doesn't like being sticky or messy, so I didn't really expect him to.  

 My Bug and pumpkin guts....I couldn't be happier!

 I wanted Gavin involved a bit, so I was putting the seeds on the table and asked him to scoop them into the bowl for me.

 Once the pumpkin was gutted, I got paint set up for Gavin to paint a little pumpkin, and Jarrod started poking holes for my template.  While at Hobby Lobby a month or so ago, Gavin saw Cars templates and wanted them.  I let him pick out the one he wanted me to carve, and of course, he picked the hardest one.  But, I won't lie, I secretly wanted to do the Mater one anyway.  :)

 Soon, both boys lost interest and went off to do their own thing while I finished carving the pumpkin!  Here's the finished project!

There he is, Mater!  You know, like Tow Mater, without the Tow!