Dear Lord....

I pray thanks for another beautiful day in your creation. I pray thanks for a cold, blustery fall day - a day that we were able to spend together, inside. I pray thanks for the clothes on our backs, the food in our bellies and the roof over our heads. I pray thanks for the "extra" blessings we receive every day - games of checkers, playing on the computer, fires in a fireplace, a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I pray thanks for warm pajamas, comfy beds and security. I pray thanks for choosing me to be the mother of these 3 sweet little boys. I pray thanks for sending me Brian when I was at my lowest point in life and I pray thanks for 7 wonderful years with him. I pray thanks for friends and family that love us and the love we share as a family.

I pray that you be with the people who need you most tonight, Lord - the people who have no food or shelter or warmth. I pray you lift them up, close to you and show them the way. I pray you find your way into the hearts of my family members that don't know you - please keep them close to you and show them your way. I pray that our government makes the best choice for our automakers and its employees.

Lord - I pray thanks for my life!

In your name,

Amen.

The trouble with being almost 8 months old.

My poor boy's face :( He's teething (well, he's been teething for MONTHS) and the drool is just over the top. There's so much of it that it's chapped his cheeks a bit. I'm constantly wiping his face with a soft cloth and I even put lotion on it - doesn't seem to be helping too much. We have ZERO teeth to show for all of this, too.

See the little red mark under the eye there? He's just mastered sitting up - he still falls occasionally, but he does it gracefully. There's very little "thudding" anymore, where he just falls backward and cracks his melon. He's now trying to get into the crawling position from a sitting position. His feet get caught though and he usually falls face first. Unfortunately, it was the exersaucer that he fell face first into this time. I was certain he'd have a black eye this morning - fortunately, I was wrong.

Teething, learning to crawl, etc. - it's tough being almost 8 months old :)

Monday...blah..blah..blah

It's funny - I always wake with the best of intentions on Mondays. Most of the time, I fall short of my expectations because, well, it's Monday and I didn't really want the weekend to end, so I'm fighting it.

But, I can't fall short this week - I have far too much to do. Pray for me, people. I need drive and in a bad, bad way.

I have 3 UBER cute Advent calendars to finish, so I can send 2 of them to my SIL and my sister before next week - December 1st, is next week...ACK!?!?

I have to plan my MOPS Christmas party.

I have to finish my Christmas shopping - Christmas shopping AFTER Thanksgiving is less than an enjoyable experience for me. It must get done NOW.

I have a mountain of laundry to attack. Ick.

Here's to a productive week for y'all, too :)

Baby Leg Warmer give away!

Henry will be crawling soon (pardon me while I sob) - the boy needs some extra padding on his knees. We have a pair of Baby Legs, but we could use more! I've entered to win and so can you! Click below to enter for 20 pairs of Baby Leg Warmers - SO, SO cute!!

Win 20 Pairs of Baby Leg Warmers from babySNAZZ!

Wordless Wednesday

The view from our patio in Switzerland.

Our family day trip!

This past Friday, my little crew headed to Frankenmuth, MI to Bronner's - the world's largest Christmas store. It was a nasty, rainy day - PERFECT for a trip to this store. It's one of my favorite places. If you're not in the Christmas spirit after walking through this store, there's a problem. It's open 361 days out of the year - we only go in November/early December because I have no interest in being in the Christmas spirit in June...lol Here are a few shots from our day!





Henry was mesmerized by the lights :)










My yummy baby boy and handsome husband :)


Jake :)


Will :)


Jake listening to a message from Santa


Me and the Hankster in my fabulous Mei Tai from www.meitaibaby.com


Proof that Henry actually smiles :) He doesn't like the flash on the camera - I can get him to smile, but as soon as he sees the flash, he gets the blank look again. I had to hold the camera off to the side, so he couldn't see it.

We had a really nice time up there - Frankenmuth is such a sweet, quaint little town!

Wordless Wednesday

Tips on Tuesday!

Head over to Sandra's and check out her groovy Tips on Tuesday! Her tips would have been fabulous for me over the weekend, when the crud I had was at its worst.

The only tip I have this week - winter gear for children!

Have your children put their hats, scarves and gloves in the arm of their coats when they take that stuff off - that way, they'll know where it is when it's time to put the gear back on again! That trick has saved my 6 year old SO much time and it's saved me quite a few headaches!

Family time

My big boy doesn't have school Friday and my husband is also off, so we're heading here! I simply cannot wait!

We've gone every year we've lived here - it's a magical place. I like to take our Christmas card photo there, too and now that Henry is here, I'm super excited to do that!

I always spend far too much money, too, but I can't help it. It's a great place. If you're ever up here in MI, you should make it a point to stop by this place. Give yourself a few hours, too :)

Ick.

We woke up to this this morning:



The boys were jumping for joy. Me...not so much. This statement is not too strong: I hate snow. Actually, I'm really not a fan of winter. Why I asked to move back to Michigan is beyond me. WHY, WHY, WHY did I not ask to go to Florida?! Our general area got about 7 ft of snow last year - the thought of that happening this year makes my stomach turn.

My big boy did look cute bundled up in his coat, scarf, hat and gloves this morning :)

Trick or treat!

God came through yet again this Halloween - it was a balmy 67 degrees at ToT time! I remember as a child, having to bundle up under a coat when I went ToT and no one even saw my costume. How much fun is that?




There never seems to be a definite start and stop time to ToT here. We ate dinner early, so the boys would be ready to head out around 6 p.m. They were dressed and ready to go at 5:45 and I got Henry ready soon after that. I got the pictures taken and the big boys were itching to get movin' - the sugar was calling their names!



They were out for about an hour - Henry started crying about 5 minutes before they got home. He was out like a light by 7:45, but the big boys still had quite a bit of energy left. I had set up camp in the driveway, with our pumpkins lit and handed out candy there (our front porch is hidden behind some trees - it's VERY secluded and I would have been lonely ;) They ditched their costumes and handed out candy for me and rode their bikes in between trick or treaters. A firetruck came down our street and handed out candy to the kids - I looked out my bedroom window after putting Henry down and noticed my boys running into the street and firemen throwing candy to them - they LOVED it!



We had candy left over (we ran out last year!), so I split it up between the 2 big boys and we forced them into bed. It was a great night!