Thanksgiving.

   It's Thanksgiving! WooHoo!! I love this time of year. I love reminding myself of all the good things in my life. I have done my fare share of whining but how can I whine on Thanksgiving when I can fill a notebook with things I am thankful for.
1. My family. I love them so very much. They are such great people and they make me laugh. I am so proud of them. My hubby is such a good man. He really takes care of us and works so hard and he loves me so very much. My kids. What can I say, I just think they are good stuff! <3
2. My best friend and her family. I love her so much and I got to spend most of the day with her, cooking and chatting. I love her family and she loves mine. That's pretty special to me :o)
3. A special little surprise, I got to see my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. It has been a long time and I always have a good time with them.
4. My hubby grilled a wonderful turkey. Oh, I am so thankful for grilled turkey.
5. The kids were so good today. Everyone got along and there was no fighting, even when the Dolphins lost.
6. Home made chocolate chip cookies. Apples with Nutella.
7. Realizing I'm OK, even though I gained back those 30lbs I lost. It's not the end of the world.
8. Making my little apartment my home.
9. Painting a scratched, hand-me-down dining table that I love so much.
10. The surface that I do my push-ups on every day is getting closer and closer to the floor. Pretty soon I will actually be doing them on the floor, again. I started with the wall then the bathroom counter now the lower bar on my foot board.
11. You. I'm thankful for those of you who take a minute to read my blog. It really means a lot to me. Thank you <3
   I could go on and on but I will leave it at 11.

11/11/11

   I woke up this morning with the sun streaming through the window, my true love with his arm around me and joy in my heart. Today is truly a beautiful day. It's a day to enjoy. I feel like a flower shining brightly in the sun.
   This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!!!

His Gifts to Me

It was this time last year when I was getting into the spirit of thanksgiving. I do this every year and I tell myself to remember to be thankful through out the year. That flies out the window by the time New Years has passed. Last year was different. I started writing things down when they popped in my head and left facebook status up dates about things I was thankful for.
   Not long after starting this a friend gave me a book about this very subject, a coincidence, I don't think so. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. This is a book about her life and how she struggled and how God taught her to see the gifts in life. What I liked about it was I didn't feel like I was being lectured.
   Anyway, I started making more of an effort to write things down when they happen. I have a note pad app on my phone that I list my gifts, blessings an moments. I was blown away when I read through them the other day. I had forgotten many of them and was so thankful as I was reading through that I had written/typed them down. They are truly gifts from God and I felt like the wealthiest woman in the world when I was reading them.

Making this place our own.

   I have been living in a small apartment for almost 2 1/2 years. I really don't mind living here, it's just small for a family of 6. No garage, no linen closet, small kitchen... and so on. I have talked myself out of buying things to decorate this place because I didn't want to really make it our home. I would think "If I save this money then I could use it for a down payment on a new place." No pictures on the wall, no real personal touches. Beige walls, beige carpet, beige blinds and curtains and brown furniture. Everything is blah. Boring. Cramped.
   After looking at houses on line and figuring out how much we would need for a down payment I realized that we are going to be in this apartment longer then expected. I went through the stages; denial, depression... then finally acceptance.
   There are things I can't control. Jacob needs an office, music equipment space, kids need homeschool space. We need craft space (yes, that is a need) and storage for linens and things :o) There are things I can control. I started with the biggest thing in need of a home in our apartment; Jacob's drums. I looked up at all the bare walls and thought that we could hang shelves and store the drums over the living room chairs.

   Well, putting up that shelf inspired me to look all around the apartment for wall storage solutions elsewhere. I ended up hanging shelves over my bedroom door, over the bathroom door, over my bed and I hung 4 shelves in the dining room. I'm also going to hang a shelf over my sewing storage area. Right now it looks like a pile that's going to fall over soon. (Thank you, Beth, for organizing that area for me :o)

No, that is not where Jacob's guitar case is going. This space is for bed linens.

I think this is going to be a place for Jacob's hats. He has a million!

Oh, I should point out that this was originally Jacob's idea, I just didn't want to put holes in the walls if we weren't going to stay.

I've been busy

 ( I know many of you have already seen most of these pictures but I wanted to add them to my blog :o)
   I bought a new sewing machine and I have been busy sewing some outfits for Paris.

This is just fabric and a tank top. Very easy to put together.

The skirt is from Jacob's sweater. I just put in some elastic and "Poof" she has a skirt. 

This dress was made with bandanas and a tank top. This is Paris' favorite. All I did was sew the bandanas together, cut out a circle and attach it to a tank top. E-z p-z!

I made this top from a dress that my friend, Beth, gave me. The dress belonged to her daughter but she was tired of ironing it (lots of little ruffles, very annoying) so she thought I would like it for scrap fabric. I like it paired with the black and white gingham. I think she needs something under it, though, like a fitted t-shirt.

I love everything about these pants from the fabric to the shape. I ran the elastic only in the back rather then all the way around the waist. I'm very happy with these. They look so good on Paris. The next time I use this pattern I will lengthen the pant legs.

   
I am so happy with this skirt. I stayed up until 3 in the morning working on it. For a week or two I had several different yards of fabric laying around the house, draped over everything waiting for it to tell me what it wanted to become:o) Finally the fabric spoke and said it wanted to become a skirt and wanted these three fabrics paired together.

Today Is Special, Just Because

   I went to Doris' Italian Market with Jakey and Paris today. We bought white egg plant, summer squash, garlic, cauliflower and apples. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with everything yet but I know I wanted fresh veggies tonight.
   I think the fresh veggies and apples has put Paris in a good mood. She set the table with a tablecloth, cloth napkins and in the center of the table is a white milk glass bowl with the apples apples. She also put out the dishes and silverware. The table looks really nice and I love that she wants to make today special just because it's today and she wants it to be special.

   My kids are always fighting and bickering with each other. I tell them to go outside to play and they complain. All they want to do is play video games. Well, video games have been banned in my house, for at least 10 days.
   My kids are ALWAYS attacking and wrestling each other. They walk around the house full of energy but don't want to go outside to play. If one child is walking past another child, one will pounce on the other starting a wrestling match. They sit at the door or on the steps, when I kick them out, waiting and asking, "Can we come in yet?" Letting me know they are really unhappy.
   I started thinking "Why not have them run and do the things I used to do in gym class?" I started with the older boys running around the apartment building a couple times. Today they ran around the whole complex twice!! For Paris and Jakey, I had them stretching and we walked around the complex a couple times. The best part is running and stretching is free!!!
   I can already see a difference in attitude. I explained that they will be happy I had them be active as kids. It will be easier for them to be active when they are older and hopefully have more energy.
   I can't hide the fact that I'm way over weight. My belly hangs, my thighs rub, my arms wave and my cheeks (both sets) bounce. I have always been a low energy person. I don't want that for my kids, I'm so thankful that they are high energy, I just need to direct them into the right direction so they can get it out, focus more and stop attacking each other!! Maybe in the process I can loose a little bit of this weight I've packed on.