Thankful Tree

When enduring trials you learn to be grateful for the little things. It's not about just enduring but enduring well. It's hard to find things to be grateful for on the more difficult days so you have to dig deep. In dealing with our renter there have been good and bad days. Some days I sail through and have lots to be grateful for. On days when we get bad news I have to look at the big picture and dig deep. I think about how Marshall and I have grown a lot closer. As a family we have grown a lot closer. My family has grown closer as they help us through. I've lost weight from all of the stress. I've learned a lot about being a landlord, renter laws and the court system. The list of blessings goes on. If I point out all of the blessings that have come from it then it makes enduring the trial easier.

We haven't kept up with all of our normal Thanksgiving family night traditions. We chose to forgo the Hallo-Turkey Challenge. To my surprise my kids took me up on my offer to buy their Halloween candy from them which meant no candy to make turkeys with. In the end they didn't mind not making them.

Sunday we took a second and made our thankful tree which looks more like a bush. I know I've been reflecting more on gratitude lately but I also want my kids to think about all they have to be grateful for. We are now ready for Thanksgiving.

16 Month Minis

The minis are officially done with binkies. We held onto them longer than our other kids. I finally got up the courage to take them away. They were only using them for naps and bed time. They cried the first few days but now they go right down without crying. I'm so glad we took them away. It was way easier than I thought it would be.

There was a box in the corner of Taggart's room. He loved sitting on it and he pushed Sienna off when she sat next to him. I got another box and they were both happy after that.

This is what happens when there is one and only one box.

You might feel bad for Sienna but she takes her fair share of bullying Taggart.

The minis loved looking at the fresh blanket of snow that we woke up to last week.

Taggart hated the box train and Sienna loved it.

They love music, dancing and playing the piano. If only I could teach them how to play Heart and Soul.

Christmas Lights

Marshall put up the Christmas lights on Saturday. It is so nice that he his willing and happy to do that. It made our kids so happy.

Some may think we are bad parents because we let the three oldest go on the roof. We carefully helped them climb up the ladder. The rule was they had to sit against the house until they were ready to go down. Then we carefully helped them down. They had fun seeing the view from up there and they were safe.

Kaden's Soccer

Kaden finished up fall soccer. He got excited when talking about soccer and he liked wearing his soccer clothes but actually playing soccer was another story. He didn't like it so much and just didn't really get it. He had a really good coach who made practices fun and tried to give each kid a chance to score but Kaden didn't care. He was the kid checking out the blades of grass, standing on the opposite side on the field from the ball, and sitting during the on the middle of the field during kick offs. He will continue with the same team and coach in the spring. I hope it goes better!

Turkey Trot '15

Dry Creek has a Turkey Trot every year and last year James took 2nd place. He wanted first so bad that he has been talking about it ever since. This last week he has been especially excited as he anticipated the race.

He practiced at recess and raced his friend Cohen (who took first last year) to get ready. Yesterday was the big day. James woke up at 5:00 because he was excited and nervous. The race was close and James and Cohen were neck and neck. Then Jackson (on the right side of the picture below) came out of nowhere and barely won. It was photo finish. No one knew the winner until looking at a few different pictures. James and Cohen were crying after the race but James was a good sport later. By the time he got home from school he was over it, thankfully.

Lynnlee ran a good race with the afternoon kindergartners. She wasn't in it to win it and she was happy everyone got a treat at the end for participating.

Donut Party

Good grades should be rewarded. We asked James and Lynnlee what a good reward would be and they said a donut party. So we went to Macey's for family night and celebrated their hard work. I always welcome a reason to celebrate with all of the craziness that is going on. We are still dealing with our renter and I like nights out to get my mind off of it.

Germs

Cold season hit our family hard this year and we aren't even to winter. The stomach flu hit in September and kicked off a whole slew of sicknesses. At least one of us has been to the doctor every week for the last six weeks. I guess it's to be expected when you have seven people sharing germs. They have it pretty good when they are sick.

Kaden is still happy and energetic when sick.

I'm hoping we have built up our immunity and will be able to enjoy good health through the holidays.

Pinners Conference

I attended Pinner's Conference with my mom and sisters. It's fun to see how far my sister Ali has come with her business, Craft Remedy. It first started out as a hobby but a year later she is on Studio 5 once a month and she taught two classes at Pinner's Conference. Her website has grown a lot too and gets close to 100,000 views a month! She's amazing!

Pinner's Conference was a lot of fun. We made child size bathrobes in Ali's class.

Cornbellys '15

The great thing about Cornbellys is that it is bigger and better every year. Since we didn't go anywhere for Fall break and Marshall is busier with his church calling I decided to get season passes. I'm so glad we did because we had really good weather and so it made it more enjoyable going a lot. There is so much to do there also that you can't do everything in one visit. The minis are at a good age too because I could take all of the kids by myself when Marshall couldn't go.

The theme this year was Minions.

The corn pit was even bigger. The minis weren't sure what to think at first but then they liked it. Marshall lost his wedding ring while playing in the corn with the minis. He told our kids and niece and nephew that whoever found it would get $5. My nephew Drew found it after only looking for a few minutes. The next week we went the workers were telling everyone to take their jewelry off before playing in the corn. Apparently three people that week had each lost their wedding rings.

The corn pit was very dusty and these two looked like ghosts afterward.

The season pass came with passes to ride the bull, rock climbing, mini golf, ride the zip line, mine for gems and shoot apple blasters. Marshall, Ali and Dan all rode the bull.

There was life size pool with soccer balls. So much fun!

Kaden spent a good amount of time sitting in this firetruck while we watched the high flying dog show.

The mini golf course was very unique. Each hold was short and sweet and was a good size for kids.