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Check out this parenting online magazine's holiday guide. Scroll down until you see something you recognize.

Today I am thankful

Today I am thankful for the many friends I have.

I am blessed beyond measure by the people who are in my life. I appreciate their kindness, their honesty, their humor and their encouragement. Many friendships grow and fade and some never reach their full potential. I think that is nature human cycle. But some friendships survive and thrive through distance, time and differing opinions. I am thankful for those friendships that have been tested and deepened for it. I am thankful for those friendships that are comfortable. I am thankful for those friendships that are just beginning.

Today I am thankful

Today I am thankful for a wonderful place to work. I have great co-workers, bosses and friends at my job. I feel blessed by the camaraderie and flexibility of co-workers and the supportive spirit that resides there. We have some silly days and some somber days. We have moments when we are asked the ridiculous and we have moments when we are humbled by others appreciation.

I have said many times in the last seven years that this has to be one of the best placed I can imagine working.

Thank you to all of you who make me look forward to going to work each day.

Today I am thankful

Today I am thankful for a healthy* girl who likes to cuddle.

updated 6:57am
*I don't believe in jinxes, but I do believe I spoke too soon! Not so sure healthy is an accurate description at this point.

Today I am thankful

Today I am thankful for this man that I love with all my heart. God blessed me richly when He brought Josh into my life. He loves me as I am, but doesn't let me settle. He makes me laugh when I have a hard time finding laughter in my world. He lets me cry when it brings healing. He takes care of me and encourages me to take care of myself emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. He is my bookend.

Today I am thankful

Before I tell you what I am thankful for today, I want you to observe this picture.

Go ahead, blow it up and look at it.
Drink it in.
Digest all the colors and textures.

That, my friends, is the fashion of independence.

Now, today I am thankful for a husband who uses some of his talents to bring joy to others and unite turkeys in flocks.

Today I am thankful

For two girls who really do play nicely together.


And enjoy matching each other. Even in multiple mismatched layers of pajamas.

Today I am thankful

Today I am thankful for fellow Christians who care enough about God to spend time studying His word. I am thankful for those same Christians who care enough about me to hold me accountable and share their struggles with me.

I am blessed.

Today I am thankful

I am thankful for a six year old daughter who is tenderhearted enough to want to make a card for her friend.

I am thankful for said six year old daughter enjoying using her crafting skills to draw, cut, color, sprinkle, bead and glue said card, singing the whole time.

I am mostly thankful for said six year old daughter laughing until tears rolled down her face when she realized that said card was actually "glued" with a hotel complimentary bottle of lotion.

So much for reading like a second grader. :)

Jasmine Moran Children's Museum

Friday was Parent/Teacher Conference so Brenna didn't have school. (We got a glowing review of our girl. She is a great reader and helpful student. We are very proud of her!) My friend, Kari, and I had been talking about going to the Museum for quite some time so decided to take advantage of B being available to go. (sounds like she has a calendar she keeps)

We had a fantastic time. This is an amazing museum and I really recommend it, even with the drive. The kids had a great time and even after being there over 3 hours, there was still more to see. We decided to save the rest for a second trip. Here are some pictures of our day.

A real cockpit for the kids to play in. At this point we had a really annoying tweener who wanted to help the kids. He spoke as though he were a ventriloquist with a puppet, but minus the puppet. Oh, the puppet was supposed to be a parrot. He was rather annoying and we were thankful to ditch him over by the dinosaur dig.

We spent a fair amount of time fixing this car. They each took turns putting on tires and mufflers and checking the oil.

Giant bubbles. Look at Brenna's face.

The favorite: The fire station. It even had a giant slide to come down. There was a fireman's pole as well, but it was only opened at certain times. My guess is they have volunteers who help catch the children as they plummet to the earth. Sorry we missed that.

The giant maze was fun. Kari and I were up high and could see where they were at all times, but we continued to yell down to them to stick together. In hind sight, we should have let them run wherever they wanted since there was no one else there. They had fun, but I think they just crawled under the wall to get to the end. Either that or they are just amazing at mazes.

I just liked this photograph. An example of a perfect Oklahoma day. Blue skies, crisp air, and wind to blow you to Kansas!!

These are only a few pictures. This really is a great museum. I would recommend NOT going during the end of the school year when class trips are going on. I think part of what made it great is that we were not competing for everything.

Much anticipated SCHOOL PICTURES!

I mentioned previously that this was going to be stellar year for school pictures. Well, see for yourself.
I don't know about you, but aside from the near black eye, ginormous looking feet and busy background, I think this is about one of the cutest pictures ever. In fact, I dare say, had I not mentioned those other things you wouldn't have even seen them because of her adorable smile and ornery expression. Sorry I brought it up.

And then there is this. I just want to freeze this child.
The only thing I would change about this picture is for her precious freckles to show up.
And for her infectious giggle to be heard.
I believe I will smile at this picture when I am a hundred years old.

What more can I say?

Other than I KNOW I should have put this on before my kids Halloween pictures. My justification is that they have COUNTLESS Halloween's left. How many times will I have the chance to meet and have a conversation with a celebrity. I think since she has been in Southern Living, People magazine and on the Bonnie Hunt show, she is more than a local celebrity.

Halloween catch up

Another Halloween success.

This year the girls finally decided on being Word Girl and Captain Huggy Face. I would like to say there is nothing like laboring over the costume of some obscure cartoon superhero and her sidekick, only to have the girls change their minds about fourteen times as to which even more obscure character they wanted to be. But once it was all said and done, they loved their costumes, even if everyone said something like "Oh, look it is a super muffled cough!" I made costumes for Josh and I this year as well, but it wasn't meant to be for us to make our debut as Dr. Two Brains and Granny Mae. Perhaps next year. Perhaps not.




We trick or treated numerous times and got WAY more candy than any one family should. We ended up going to Storybook Forest again this year and then giving away (or selling, as Brenna said) our collected candy. It was a great kick off to Fall!!

The latest outfit

Maybe it is because she is the youngest. (of 2, can you imagine how weak I'd be if I had 6?)...

Maybe it is because it is the week of Halloween...

Maybe it is because my plate is full these days and I am choosing my battles carefully...

Maybe it is because I am getting older and more relaxed everyday...

Maybe it is because I would wear this if I could...

Maybe it is because of the joy on her face as she spins...





Whatever the reason, this is what I allowed Piper to wear today.

Yeah, it is the joy. No doubt.
and maybe a little bit of envy. ;)

Tuesday morning, Brenna told me she wanted her hair like a little girl in her class. I asked her how said girls wears her hair and B said she has lots of ponytail braids with little barrettes at the ends.

Now, allow me to pause my story here to remind you that I made the commitment to allow my girls to be who they are, even if it causes embarrassment to me (on a small scale). OK, back to the story...

I was really hesistant to fulfill this request because I didn't want any children in her class to say something that would hurt her feelings. I tried to explain why her friend, who has what Brenna calls a dark face, wore the braids and why most 'peach face' girls don't wear braids. Textures and oils meant nothing to her. Since I couldn't come up with an real explanation (other than I didn't want her to get hurt by other kids), I braided my baby's hair in seven braids with all different color barrettes at the bottom.

She walked into school with head high and her braids swinging.




She had a really great day. And her joy was a reminding smack in my face of her innocence. Shame on me for projecting and fearing.

"J"

"O"

"Y"

If this doesn't break your heart, nothing will

All because she didn't want a pony tail in her hair.

Anybody else tired of looking at those goofy lips?
Anybody else feel so busy they haven't taken the time to do the unnecessary things?

If so, I am right there with you. Here I am squeezing in a moment of un-necessity, for the good-very good.

Piper picked her outfit, felt cute and wanted a photo shoot with Minnie Mouse.
Brenna had other plans.

Looking cute, getting situated

See Brenna sneaking in there?

Don't be decieved by Piper's grin at this point. Reality had not yet set in...

And there it is.
Reality.
Apparently I AM the kind of mother who takes pictures of her children hitting.

Brenna has officially comendeered the photoshoot.

Somehow, Piper rallies and attempts to reclaim her position of total queen.

The smile of sweet victory.

"Now, where were we?"

And I leave you with this...

A week of "bold"

Bold lips

Grandma sent these in the mail.

Poor Brenna couldn't hold onto them because she has no teeth!!

Piper immediately bit the middle of hers so there was no place for her to hold them.

I figured I could just switch Brenna's and Piper's since Brenna has no use for the part to bite onto anyway.

...because I'm cool like this.

Bold Outfits

Yet again, my statement of letting the girls dress themselves came back to haunt me.

I refused to let her wear this Sunday night, but had no valid argument when she
wanted to wear it to Ms. Heather's house.

She said she was "Rainbow Piper". Who can say no to that?

Bren felt left out on the picture taking. I think she did a pretty good job on this outfit.

Bold Play

At BK Sunday night Piper intercepted some Wii play with her face.
She didn't even tell Josh or I about it, just went about her business playing.
Once we got home she decided she needed some medical attention...

No injury a little Cars band-aid can't fix!
She had a little TLC Left Eye look going on for a while. In fact, she had that look going on until 8:30 this morning when I was reminded that it is picture day at Sonshine School.
Nice.

I wonder if the big patch of irritated skin will show up perfectly in the pictures.

I wonder how her teachers would feel about putting a little concealer on her.

I wonder if we should start making up a good story now for why Piper has a black eye and Brenna has no teeth in the Fall 2009 picture.

Our first driveway casualty

Saturday we were all working the garage. The girls were riding all our bike type vehicles - we have several for various stages. The ones they love the most is the three wheeled scooter and the three wheeled motorcycle (that have have literally had since Brenna's first birthday). Both girls can maneuver these pretty well and they take turns racing them around the cars.

Back to the garage cleaning.
Josh loaded up some charitable donations and was headed to Goodwill and the bank (unrelated errands, by the way) with Brenna. Piper and I planned to stay home to work on other stuff. Josh backs the van up about 1 foot hears the sound of cracking-grinding-breaking-smashing plastic. He pulls back forward about a foot while I investigate, only discover the beloved three wheeled scooter; now it is about a 2 1/2 wheeled scooter.


Brenna is instantly heart broken and wants it to be anyone else's fault.
When they get back from errands she grabs the scooter and asks me to fix it. When I tell her I can't, she decides to test me. After dragging this thing one leg pump at at time down the driveway and back, she comes back to inform me that it is better than ever
because NOW it has BRAKES!!!

The scooter is in the garbage.