So thankful

Yesterday I got an email from our Women's Enrichment Director at church and it had a quote in it that said,

If all you had today were the things you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have today?

Whoa, that is heavy, isn't it? It really made me think. I am an overall pretty grateful person. It's something my mom and dad really stressed when I was growing up, and I am pretty aware of my blessings. Sometimes though, life gets crazy and I can complain. And you know what? I really don't have anything to complain about! Broken dishwasher? Well, I have dishes to wash and food that we ate on the dishes, as well as hot water to wash them in. A husband or kids that don't do exactly what I want them to when I want them to? Well, I have a healthy, great husband and children. So, I'm going to try not to complain as much as possible. If I do, I'm going to try to turn it into a thanks to God for whatever is getting on my nerves. Because all in all, nothing should get on my nerves.

I hope you all have a wonderful and full of thanks Thanksgiving! I'm thankful to be spending it with the cute Indian and pretty Turkey above!

new things

I have always been a person who gets excited about things pretty easily. D. teases me that I have too many "favorites", and he's probably right. But, here are a few new things that are making me happy today.

These two books came in the mail yesterday! I love books, and I can't wait to make things from both of these books.

This is a seasonal flavor which only comes out around Christmas. I had this in my coffee this morning. It's so good, and definitely a fave.

And last, but certainly not least, here are my new creations! I finished my first two knitted hats! I am so proud of them even though they are just little things. I'm now on to bigger and harder knitting! (yeah, right) I also finally got a free hour to scrap and got to do a layout for the Scrap Whispers challenge. I love how it turned out, but I can't share it till the layouts are shown on the site.

So none of these things are very big things, but they are bringing me happiness right now! What's making your day brighter right now?

the rear view

So much of the time as a mom I feel like I'm looking in the rear view mirror of life. Thinking about the kids when they were younger, and missing those days sometimes. At times I'm scared to look ahead because the future is uncertain and the world is so scary. I can only wonder what it will be like when my children are in middle school and high school. I am constantly reminding myself to live in the moment. But, I also look in the rear view mirror of my car way more than I did before children. I have been known to appear as a drunk driver, swerving as I try to find Mallory a book or Aubrey a car. I have absolutely loved listening to them jabber as babies in the back seat, Aubrey's running commentary about every truck on the road, and now Mallory's talking about whatever comes to her mind - most notably baby deer. Here are two pictures I have seen when I've looked in the rear view mirror in the past two weeks. And for the record, I didn't put the Nerf dart on Aubrey's head. He did that himself and D. and I just laughed and laughed when he fell asleep with it on his head.