My new favorite counter top fixture:

Turkey Day Highlights

• Matt won the Toss Across tournament.
• Quin let me sleep in half an hour.
• My turkey turned out oh-so-yummy and so very juicy.  Even my turkey hater loved it!
• Dinner, in general, was a complete success! Go me!
• Pictionary made me laugh again and still continues to be my new favorite family game.
• The dishes are done, man! 
• The weather was a balmy 62 degrees. 
• We all had loads of fun and really enjoyed being together as a family today.

Hope your day was as turkey- and laughter-filled as mine was!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's what I'm thankful for today:

Random Moneys

Today, I'm so thankful for envelopes that come in the mail that have money in them.  Not Christmas money, but "just because" money. 

For some reason, we're in a tight spot financially at the moment (nothing we can't handle, though, right?) and the other day, we got a big Priority Mail envelope in the mail from my dad.  With money in it.  I thought it was Christmas money and thanked him accordingly, but he said it was "just because" money and to use it as we see fit.  I love that kind of money!

Thanks, Dad!!!! We needed that! :)

My New Favorite Family Game

For family night on Monday, we played Pictionary.  It was so funny to see the way our kids interpret different things.  The last "draw" of the night was an All Play, where both teams draw the same word and whoever guesses it first, wins.  The word was "saw".

This is Matt's interpretation:

And this is Natalie's:

I was on Natalie's team.  We lost.  But, we all had a very good tear-jerking, I'm-going-to-pee-my-pants laugh.  It was fun.  ;)

The Sun Shined A Little Brighter Yesterday

Today, I'm so thankful for my sweet boy, Andur.  I've called him my Sunshine since he was born.  He is such a good, good boy, and I forget that all to often.  He's so smart and has such a good heart and is going to grow up to be someone great someday, I just know it.  :)  (All mothers know that about their kids, right?)

Yesterday, I was really peeved about something and snapped at him for something.  His reply, in a calm voice, was "I'm not yelling at you, so you don't need to yell at me."  I've said that to him a time or two.  Then a few minutes later he just came up and gave me a hug.  I've done that to him, too, when it seemed like he needed one. 

This tells me two things:  He really does listen, especially when I'm not yelling at him, AND, I must not be such a bad of a mother after all if he's learned that from me.  Now I just need to remember it myself more often.

No pandemics at this house.

I don't know that we've ever had the flu.  If we did, we didn't know it.  We get a flu shot every year and have never regretted it.  I know there are those out there who are very "it gives you the flu!" and all, and whatever is what I say to that.  It has a DEAD virus, so your body can build up the immunities.  If you get sick after a shot it's because you already had it, OR, you know, just maybe it might even be something other than the flu.  **I'm not doing this to start a debate, so I'll just get on with it...**

Today, I'm very thankful for vaccines and immunizations and all that.  I'm very pro-health and modern ways in achieving it and think they (vaccines) were put on this earth for a reason.  More importantly, I'm super glad I can get them for my kids FOR FREE at the health clinic.  Love free.  Love it.

As a matter of fact, we're going right now to get Quin's H1N1 vaccine.  For free.  Love it.  ;)

Bless-edly, curse-ed thing, anyway!

*sigh* 

Today, at this very moment, I have to be thankful for the stupid pacifier that my littlest kid is so vehemently attached to.  He's upstairs fussing one minute, and all my second littlest kid has to do is plug it in and it's back to silence and bliss. 

Well, for a minute, anyway. 

Stupid thing.  ;)

No more hairs gone wild. *sniff*

I decided Quin needed his first haircut today.  I was more excited than not until I saw all his little hairs gone... then I was sad.  But, then I saw the "before" picture and was reminded why I did it in the first place. 

Here's the before:

And here are some afters:

He just sat on Matt's lap and held all still, only trying to grab the clipper wire when it was in his face.  He started fussing towards the very end but overall did quite well! He's so handsome! ;)

Sense of Humor Required

Picture this:  It's 2:00 in the morning, my son comes in to tell me my daughter threw up, I'm cleaning puke out of the carpet - AGAIN - and this is what's going through my head:  How am I going to title this on my blog?

The mere thought of my blog made me laugh.  I don't think there are many people who would be thinking about that whilst scrubbing vomit out of the carpet and trying to control one's own stomach due to the smell.  That's when my mood changed from "WHY??" to "Huh...what can I be thankful for right now?", you know, trying to find the good in the situation.

Here's what I came up with:

• At least it's not chunky.
• At least it's not Papa John's again.**
• At least I'm not pregnant.**
• It's not that big of a pile.
• Man, oh, man, am I glad my dinner was an epic fail and she only took three bites!
• She's not sick, just has a sensitive stomach.
• Thank Goodness I have baking soda this time!**
• Thank Goodness for Divine intervention when it comes to situations like this, I never would've thought to use my dust pan for scooping (poor, poor dust pan) or a bowl of hot, dish-soapy water for cleaning.... I'd have just screamed at it until it cleaned itself up.
• Woohoo for rubber gloves!

She's all better, my house doesn't stink, and I slept good after all.  That's something to be grateful for, I'd say.

**So, I know I've posted about cleaning up puke at least two or three other times, but I'm tired and don't want to look for the posts for you to read.  Just know they all involved Papa John's pizza and no baking soda and I think I was pregnant for one or two of those lovely occassions.  Anyway.  I'm sure you love hearing about me cleaning up vomitrocious loveliness in the wee small hours of the morning.  I can't guarantee I won't do it again.... sorry.

Book Review: Storm Front, by Jim Butcher

Click here if you're interested, were reading it with me, or whatever.  ;)  Feel free to leave any comments on the subject, as well.  :)

Heaven blessed my potatoes last night

Last night, it was our turn to help provide dinner for our F.A.S.T. program.  There was us, and one other family.  They were going to provide beef brisket, buns, and half the drinks (they also brought pickles).  We were going to provide funeral potatoes, dessert, and the other half of the pop. 

I had all the ingredients ready, the oven pre-heated, and then I lost track of time.  I look back and think it was taken up by trying to get a certain baby to take a stinkin' nap.  Anywho, I was down to less than one hour to make FOUR batches of the potatoes, each requiring a cook time of 25-30 minutes, not including prep time.  Yikes, right? Right!

I was in a bit of a panic... so I called my MIL (it was her recipe, I had never made them before) and she suggested turning up the heat... I added another 25 degrees to her suggestion, and baked ALL FOUR batches at once, praying and praying the whole time for them to be cooked through, let alone edible. 

I was so ready for my night of humiliation to be over with.  When it was time for us to BE there, I checked them and HOLY POTATOES, BATMAN, they were cooked! And not only cooked, but bubbly, even! Woohoo! I was so relieved. 

And they were a big hit, too! I had two ladies threaten to hold my baby hostage until I gave them the recipe and two other people tell me how good they were.  So many people said the dinner combined was the best one, yet! I've said before that I don't claim greatness in the kitchen, but last night, I was more than happy to.  :)

Thanks, Karen, for your moral support and advice and for sharing the recipe!

That's what I'm thankful for today, my blessed potatoes.  ;)

Totally a repeat

The thing I'm thankful for today is something I seriously thank the Lord for every single day.  I did this last year, too, but I'm saying it again. 

Today, I'm thankful for my husband's job.  The job he lost before this one had, I think, 18 lay-offs the other day.  Yikes. 

Recently, there was a new addition added on to my husband's company building, creating more space for more work.  Well, the shop he was in hasn't been getting any work, which is why we are so glad he switched to a new area that has so much work, they'll be offering overtime.  In this wonderfully horrible economy, we feel so blessed to have a job.  It is worth every lay-off, all the school bills and every move we've had to make to get here. 

I can't express enough how thankful I am for this job.  :)

Write-Away Contest

My post before this one was my entry to this contest.  If you're good at writing, don't join so I can win! LOL Or join, whatever.  But if you win, I get your prize.  :)  (hee hee!)

I have a few wrenches if you need to borrow one.

I'd like to think of myself as the kind of person that's grateful for her trials. 

I was thinking about this yesterday and wondered, "Am I really grateful for them?" It's easier said than done, really.  Sure, hindsight is a wonderfully safe place to be grateful for one's lessons through adversity, but what about when you're actually in the process of "learning"? Whenever my life starts to make sense and seems reasonably steady, I know it's only the calm before the storm.  My dad once told me that if you're comfortable, you're not learning.  My automatic reaction to this "calm" is to cringe.  Then, I kneel.  Please, oh, please let it be an easy one, I plead.  I am a very firm believer in the scriptures that tell us the Lord will never give us more than we can handle, but one can't help but be a little hesitant when a load is so graciously given.  Someone I once knew gave a wonderful perspective on this subject:  She said when the Lord gives us a trial, instead of asking "Why me?" we should say, "Thanks for the compliment!"  I had never thought of it that way until then. 

Trials are like wrenches thrown into the bicycle spokes of life, causing one to sometimes crash and land right on one's face.  We have two choices when this happens:  We can either take the wrench and huck it as far away from us as possible, all the while cursing it and calling it every name in the book, then abandon our bike never to ride again, or, we can use this tool to improve our bike, get up and keep riding.  Then, we can add the tool to the rest of our tools for future bike improvement and other building purposes, such as the building of strength and character.    

I, like everyone else in this world, have had my fair share of lessons in adversity, but there's one in particular that I've struggled with for many years. For a very long time I would pray for it to just go away, never having my prayers answered. Then one day it occurred to me, I was given this trial for a reason. Not only could I handle it, but I needed it. It has taught me so much about myself and what I'm capable of and has actually brought me much happiness. It still continues to be a trial, but it's one I've learned to use to my benefit.

Today, I can truly say I'm grateful for trials and lessons in adversity.  I'm grateful for these opportunities to learn and grow and become stronger in many ways.  I'm grateful the Lord knows what I'm made of and what I can handle and for all the many "compliments" He has given me. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to kneeling.  ;)

Struggling

I've been reading the book, Storm Front, and I just have to say, it's no page-turner. This guy keeps making sorry attempts at being sarcastically funny... he definitely overdoes it in that area, like he's trying too hard to make his character witty or some sort of smart-you-know-what. This author is way too obsessed with sex. He somehow manages to keep it mostly clean, but sure does talk about it a lot. I'm really not into the whole magic and wizardry thing, so this book is just so rediculously fake to me. I know it's not supposed to be real, and maybe I'm being too negatively judgemental, but this book just isn't doing it for me. I'm going to make an attempt to finish reading it, because I'm the one who started this whole thing, but I'm not going to be reading the next one in line. Thanks for the suggestion, R, but please don't take it personally when I do a little book-bashing with this one. ;)

Don't get yer panties in a bunch!

Last year, when I (and some other people, I think) mentioned listening to Christmas music in November, some people started having baby cows about it, spouting things like "What about Thanksgiving?" and that sort of thing...

I just want to state, for the record, that I am all for Thanksgiving.  I love it, in fact! Nothing says "family" like Thanksgiving, am I right? I'm so excited for it this year! I'm a little sad we'll be spending it alone, but at least I'll have my litte family and it will rock the barn, anyhow!

Today, I want to say how thankful I am for this wonderful holiday and for the memories that go right along with it.  Waking up at my Granny's house and smelling a combination of turkey and blueberry muffins was the greatest! The laughter of cousins running through the house, the games of pool, the piano being plunked away on, the walks out to see the horses, the fighting over the plastic fruit, the din of the parade on the TV in the background... it just doesn't get any better than that, folks!

I can't wait to have a house full for Thanksgiving again! I only hope my kids and grandkids have the same awesome memories I've been so blessed with.

Happy Thanksgiving next week, all! Until then, I'm so listening to my Christmas music.  ;)

It's beginning to (sound) a lot like Christmas!

Last year, we found a local radio station that played Christmas all season long, starting sometime in November....

It's started again!!! I'm currently listening to the Osmond's version of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"!

Woohoo!

That's what I'm thankful for today!  ;)

We'll miss you!

Today, I want to say a quick goodbye to Matt's cousin, Blaine.  He's been in Gillette since August and has come over a few times and even went to South Dakota with us a couple months ago.  (He bravely took my two oldest and their cousin on a little sight-seeing tour at Mt. Rushmore all by his lonesome - poor guy.)

Blaine is the one on the right in both pictures, these are the only ones I had of him...

Anyway, I'm thankful today for the opportunity we all had to spend some time with him and get to know him.  We're sad to see him go but so very glad he can be with his family again.  (Thanks for sharing him with us, Angie!)

(And, if you're reading this, Blaine, Matt still thinks he won, but we'll always know otherwise.)  ;)

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

My wonderful, sweet husband did something wonderful for me today... (sorry, Rosa, had to do it... LOL)

So, I know it's dark, except for the one picture that has a greenish hue (we have a rebellious streetlight in front of our house and it was actually lit while I took that picture), but this is our pretty house with our pretty Christmas lights on it.  We put them up now because we don't want to do it in the snow.  I say "we" like it's both of us up on the roof/ladder... lol... but, really, I just stand on the ground giving plenty of moral support.

So, that's what I'm thankful for today, my Matt putting up Christmas lights for me.

Next year, we'll have more............ ;)             (Right, honey?)

You've got a friend... well, I do, anyway.

Today I'm thankful for my best friend, Rosa!  :)

She and I have been very good friends since we were both pregnant with our first babies and she has stuck by me through everything we've both been through and I love her for that.  Some things we have in common, and some things we don't, but I always look forward to talking to her and getting caught up on everything that's going on in our lives.

So, Rosa, if you're reading this, this is for you:

Thank you for always being there!

Smallish brag moment

So, seriously? What could be better than going to Parent/Teacher Conferences and finding out both of your kids are the top readers in the class?? Again!!

That's what I'm thankful for today:  that I don't have to talk to my kids' teachers about behavior problems or have them in special classes because they're behind, or dread report cards or the like.  I truly do not mean to offend those who have to deal with these things, we all certainly have our trials, right? I'm definitely no exception.  This just doesn't happen to be one of them, and for that, I am grateful. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences were a joy last night, to say the least.  Natalie's teacher want to put her in a special program for her reading because she's at the end of the year goal for 2nd grade (she's in 1st), and Andur's already in that special group.  He reads 124 words a minute, and the goal for now is 44 words a minute.  The end of the year goal is 83 words a minute.  Suh-weet.

More than this, I'm grateful my kids have excellent teachers and an excellent, well-funded school to be able to cater to their intellectual needs. 

Have I made you gag enough for one day? ;) Ok, I'm done.

What do you get when you cross a blond and a cranky, teething baby?

Missing eggs.

This morning, wait... rewind... yesterday, I told my husband he could have the rest of the milk for his egg nog mixture because we'd just have eggs and toast for breakfast in the morning instead of our usual bowl of cereal. 

So, it's the day of grocery-getting, and we have no milk.  No worries.  After waking up late (my "alarm clock" let me sleep in a little), and hurrying through a feeding and getting kids dressed, I rush to make breakfast.  I go to get the eggs, and.... they're gone.  I could have sworn I had some left... So I frantically start listing other things we could have (peanut butter and jelly, toast) all of which was turned down by my kids.  I look in the cabinet under the counter and find my oatmeal.  That will have to do, whether they liked it or not.  When I pulled it out to set it on the counter, I saw them.  My eggs.  Somewhere in the morning's goings on, I pulled them out to make them without even knowing it. 

Quin's been doing a reinactment of his early months these past few days, I'm guessing it's due to the little lumps under his gums where his canines will be.  Nice.  I still have a headache this morning from yesterday's whining, and my mind must've been elsewhere this morning.  Needless to say, we had the highly sought after eggs and toast for breakfast. 

Well, I WAS going to go to the bank today...

...but I can't. 

Happy Veteran's Day!

(That's what I'm thankful for, today.)

(Oh, and paydays.)

Once upon a time, in Port Orchard, WA...

...we were driving down the road and something under our car broke and started dragging.  Long story short, we had to find a phone to call for help, witnessed trailor trash muscle man unload dump-found weights from his truck but not offer us help, use some hispanic family's bathroom while two little girls were showering right next to the toilet, scrounge up money for food at a nearby gas station, and wait and wait and wait with a three year old and a two year old for help to finally arrive.  Good times.  And it was way hot out.  That just added to the fun.

Anywho, these very same parts have been making a lot of noise as of late, and, double-checking with our mechanic-friend neighbor to make sure they were what we thought, were replaced at a fraction of what we thought it would cost us.  (I love being married to a man who can do this for us and save us a LOT of money!)

The thing I'm grateful for today is this:  Upon inspection of said parts, our mechanic-friend neighbor said he's surprised they didn't go out/break on us, that's how bad they were.  I strongly feel we owe this blessing to tithing.  I'm so grateful we didn't have to relive our previous experience, although, trashy weight lifters, hispanic bathrooms, and hard-to-find help probably wouldn't have added to the fun this time.  All the same, I'm glad we were spared that oh-so-grand experience again.

Join us!

Only one person had a recommendation for something to read together, so that's what we're doing. It's called Storm Front by Jim Butcher, a novel from the Dresden Files.


Sounds interesting! Check it out! If you want to join us, please do!

True Confessions

Today, I'm thankful for honesty.  It is absolutely one of my most favorite character attributes in a person.  I despise dishonesty with a passion, especially the slight dishonesty that covers one's hide for doing something they're not proud of.  True blue honesty is attractive on anyone, even if it's coming from my son saying this:

"I like when I sometimes get annoying, like when I bother you and Daddy."

Love it!

Seriously, if this dress makes me look fat, TELL ME.  One doesn't have to be rude to be honest.  I think being honest shows great confidence in oneself and definitely shows strength of character.  There.  I'm done.  ;)

Sunday's Thankfulness

I don't usually get on the computer on Sundays, and yesterday was no exception. 

So, today, I'll post what I was thankful for yesterday.

Yesterday, I was thankful for my nursery calling.  I love love love it in there and wouldn't want it any other way.  Well, maybe I could be the Leader, but that's ok.  I'll stick with just being in there.  :)

Today I'm thankful for...

... DATE NIGHT!!!

We won the lottery!!!

Well, not the lottery, but a lottery nonetheless.  And it was still just as exciting.  Well... almost.

Last night, it was our turn to win the lottery at our F.A.S.T. program.  Our kids were so excited!! They've been bummed all the times we didn't win.  What they didn't know but we did, was that the whole thing was rigged.  We, as parents, actually signed up for which night we would win because the following week would be our turn to bring dinner. 

You're wondering what we won, aren't you? Too bad if you weren't, I'm going to show you, anyway.  (ha ha)

This is the whole package.

There's a fleece baby blanket, a large fleece blanket, a digital scrapbooking book w/CD, a digital camera, bendy sticks for kids, a retro style Sorry! game, a photo album, a scarecrow decoration, a lantern, a multi-tool utensil set, a baby toy, an I Spy puzzle,...

...some finger paints, a doodle pad, and this fabulous basket.  (I love baskets, or anything you can put things in... organization rocks!)

It was pretty cool to win this stuff.  Our kids were fighting over it within seconds of winning, that was fun.  So, not next week (Parent/Teacher Conferences) but the week after, we get to join the other "winners" and bring dinner for 70+ people.  They provide the $75 Walmart gift card per winning family and everything, so that's nice.  Yay for winning stuff! 

Do my "Thanksgiving Post" on my blog - check!

Today, I racked my brain for all of two minutes trying to think of something I'm thankful for.  My mind has been oh-so-cluttered this week with things needing to be done.  I am a huuuuge fan of organization and getting things done that need to be done, but having to remember those things just annoys me to pieces. 

So, the thing I'm thankful for today is "To Do Lists".  I am the queen of "To Do Lists".  At this very moment, I have five lists floating around my house somewhere.  Ok, they're not floating, I know exactly where they are.  Wait, make that six lists.  There's my immediate list that I made up this morning on my kitchen counter awaiting for the next item to be crossed off.  There's the list in my purse of things I still need to get/do before Christmas/Andur's bday.  There's the list on my fridge of things still needing to be done in the yard before the snow hits again.  There's the list on my desk of "Things to do eventually" (yes, I really do have a list that says that... and it's a long one, too).  There's my perma-list of chores I do on a daily basis that's actually on the bottom of my meal plan calendar, also on the fridge.  And, there's the random things I wrote down on the back of a piece of paper on my desk that doesn't make any sense anymore so I ignore it.  Told you.  Queen. 

Anywho, back to my list of things to do... I can cross this thing off, now.  ;)

Now my baby won't have to go naked!

Due to living in a smallish town, we have limited resources when it comes to shopping.  I'm not much of a shopper, anyway, so this isn't usually a problem.  But now that I have a baby and I sold everything baby that I had the month before I got pregnant, I don't have any baby clothes for when said baby gets older. 

Well, that used to be the case. 

Today I'm thankful for the two boxes of sizes 12-18 month clothes my MIL found (for about $.20 per item, I might add) and is sending me today.  I've been able to buy some summer clothes for next year on clearance, but Quin will be needing clothes for winter in probably a month or less, as he's growing out of his 6-9 month size clothes.

So, that's what I'm thankful for today, clothes for the babin.  (Not to mention all the clothes she's provided over the years for my other two kidlins.)  Thanks, K!

Den Mother

I got pulled aside two Sundays ago during church by a member of the Bishopric.  This can only mean one of two things:  a new calling or time to give a talk. 

This time, it was a new calling. 

I'm going to be the Den Mother for the Wolves in Cub Scouts!

Actually, my first reaction was "as long as you don't take me out of the nursery, I'll do it."

I was a little apprehensive, but a little excited, too.  I've never done anything with the scouting program and the only thing I remember from my brother doing it was the word "webloes" and something in his book-thingy telling one how to tie a tie (I still don't remember how, though).

Andur will be turning eight in a month so I'll get to do it with him, which I'm so excited for because it'll make for better one-on-one time for us. 

Yay! (Wish me luck!)

Day 4 of Thankful Thinking

At this very moment, I'm thankful for quiet.  Moments when one can sit and do nothing or do anything one wants are so very precious.  (Moments otherwise known as "nappy time for da babin".)

Poor, poor Woodstock

This morning when I came downstairs to start my laundry, I saw this:

My sweet, imaginitive, tortuous children... gotta love them.

I woke up this morning...

Today I'm thankful to be alive.

I think I often take that for granted, being able to wake up each morning. It seems like a cheesy thing to be thankful for, but really, I'm so thankful for that. I think it's because of the dream I had last night...

I was in Rapid City with my family having an extremely boring time and talking my kids out of buying too many buckets at the dollar store when we decided to go home. So, we're driving and come to this majorly huge hill that goes straight down on the other side. Well, of course, our truck tires can't grip the road and we end up falling and landing upside down. In my dream, I imagined what would happen if I was about to die and I knew it... I remember telling my family over and over again how much I loved them... then I woke up. Weird, I know, but I've been hearing and reading a lot about death lately, and how sometimes it's so sudden, you don't have a chance to say goodbye, let alone register that it's actually happened.

I keep a notebook for each of my kids telling them things I want them to know and how much I love them and things they've done that I'm proud of. While I was pregnant with Quin, I was so afraid of having the same problems I had with my pregnancy with Natalie that I was almost tempted to write in them sort of a goodbye letter in case the doctors weren't able to save my life this time. I'm not afraid of death, I just don't want to do it until I'm nice and old and my kids are all grown up.

Anyway, so today, I'm thankful to be alive. I've been exercising lately and eating better (mostly) so I can live longer (hopefully) and I'm trying to do things to keep my mind sharp to avoid any hereditary dementia or whatever. I love this body and mind I've been given and, darn it, I'm going to start taking better care of them. :)

Let's get this party started... or something like that...

I'm doing this on my other blog, too, so we can hopefully get a few people doing this.

If you'd like to read the same book with a group of people and then discuss it, please leave in the comment section 2 or 3 books of your choice. I will then narrow it down to, oh, say 5 that sound good to me and we can vote on the best one and, you know, read it.

Sound good?

Thankfully sleeping well.

Today I'm so thankful for how excellently and quickly Quin adjusted to the time change. I was worried it would mean a LOT of too-early mornings, and Sunday morning was, but today was normal. Yay! Who would've thought he'd be such an easy-going baby? (I certainly hoped it, that's for sure.)

I was thinking yesterday how I post a lot of things about Quin lately, and not enough of my other kids (at least it seems that way to me) so I wanted to say something I'm grateful for about my other kids. Well, I'm grateful for them, in general, but lately they've been scoring an "awesome" on the obedience scale. We actually bought handcuffs to use at Walmart because we didn't know how else to get across to them that how they were acting there was not ok. Yesterday, though, we realized we hadn't needed them in a very long time so we gave them the handcuffs to play with as a reward, so to speak. This morning, several stuffed animals were convicted felons and were needing arrests of all sorts. (It was quite comical to see Natalie's Betty Boop dolls handcuffed to each other around the waist because their arms were way to small.)

So, that's what I'm thankful for on this day after a very good night's sleep. ;)

Traditioooon, tradition! Tra-di-tion! Thankful day #1

Last year during the month of November, I did a post every day stating something I'm thankful for.  I want to do the same this year, so here's my first thankful post.  :)

Today, I'm thankful for a wonderful, fun, safe Halloween! We went out last night right before 6pm and got home right about 7:30pm and had conquered several blocks and quite a few cul de sacs.  Living in a neighborhood called Sleepy Hollow definitely has its perks when it comes to Halloween... we so scored!! Um, I mean, it was so much fun!!! Woohoo! Fun! (candy!) I'm so glad our very good friends were able to join us, I think that made the night even better.  As for Quin, he so rocked.  He didn't make one single fuss during the whole trip.  I kept checking on him because I thought he fell asleep.  This was him right after we got home:

He's just so cute! I swear I'm not biased.  You know you think so, too, admit it.  ;)  I didn't get any other pics because 1) I forgot the camera (surprise, surprise) and 2) dude, we were busy scoring! I wish I brought it, though, there was a huge owl in a tree when we first started.  I've never seen one other than at the zoo so it was pretty cool.

(And I'm not advertising for Sentsy... that was a treat my friend got at one of the doors and gave to me... it's orange zest and nutmeg or something, very yum.)

Oh, and the weather was so so great! We had mid-high 50's all day and still had "warmth" for our "fun"-filled evening.  (candy)

I hope you all had a fun and happy Halloween!

(candy!!)