Day 10....Many Thanks...

It is 7pm, and I am already in bed. Yep, I am sick with a lovely sinus infection on my first day of work.   I get these often and they really do knock me down, but the excitement of my first day as a teacher was able to triumph how horrible I felt.
My thankfulness for today!
1. I am a "real" teacher!! Yahoo! I am no longer a substitute in a room longing for it to be my own, I actually have a real classroom!! Today was just an orientation day but it was still awesome!
2. There is a nurse practitioner at our school! How awesome is that! I was her first patient of the school year and hopefully these meds will kick in soon and I'll start feeling better!  Thankful that our school has a wellness center!
3. Thankful that with the new early schedule of getting kids to school, etc and out the door by 7am was a great success today!
4. Very grateful for the awesome smell of dinner simmering in my crock pot when I came home, sometimes it's just the little things in life!

No pictures today...maybe tomorrow!  As always, God is good!

Inspite of feeling crappy...Day 9 of Thanksgiving

Despite feeling crappy from allergies/sinus sickness, today has been a great day!
Tomorrow is my first "official" day as a teacher and I am ELATED!!!
Here are the things I am thankful for today:

1. I took a much needed nap today! Those are rare and usually like today I only took one because I am sick.
2. Landry was ACCIDENT FREE all day! Hallelujah!!!
3. Both children in bed by 8pm!!! Whoo hoo! Poor Landry is a hot mess when he comes home from pre-school and he literally cried/whined from the time he was picked up until his heavy little eyes closed.  Tomorrow starts our first day of daddy taking kids to school by 7am and mommy leaving for work by 7am! This also means, there is a bit of time for me and Josh to do what we need to do, which tonight is Josh getting caught up on work and I am going to bed to fight off this allergy stuff.
4.  We have an awesome car mechanic who has now fixed our a/c for FREE twice now. Seriously very very grateful!!

As I have been closing most blogs, I cant help but write it again because it is SO true, God is good!

My sweet boy who was not happy about me taking his picture when we got home from pre-school and frankly not happy about anything, even though he just had a donut for being accident free all day.

Thankful day 8

This will be short, fall allergies have kicked in, exhausted from adjusting to going back to work full time, juggling kiddos, and waking up to my little man while it's still dark out.  However, despite not feeling great and tired, I am thankful that I have been working in my classroom in getting it set up for the 4th graders that I will be meeting next week, and able to start my "dream" job!!

I am also thankful for God's peace and direction. Last night I thought his pre-school days were probably coming to an end, so after meeting a child care provider this morning so that we could have a back up, I was dreading my conversation with the director at his pre-school.  However, to my surprise which it really shouldn't be because God always provides and takes care of us, but yet I continue to doubt, the director (who by the way is an extremely awesome lady and am so thankful that I met her when Hadley attended school there, she is great) and I had a good talk about our future plans for Landry and that we both agree that we want him to stay at this school and that he's so young and just needs time to adjust.  So after talking through some things to help him with his potty training, she is going to give him until the end of September to see if he adjusts and can go without any accidents!  I am thankful for this, an answered to prayer for now.  Now we work with Landry and if you'd like to add him/us to your prayer list that would be fan-tab-u-lous, in that he will adjust, he will "get" the potty thing, and be able to stay at this awesome pre-school.

No pictures today, I left my house at 8:15 am and got home around 8:40 pm.  Thankful for this day of work and for the group of friends that we study the Bible with every week. God is good!

Day 7...Thankfulness

This will be a short one, been a crazy/stressful night, but still thankful.  Despite my sweet little guy having multiple accidents today, he was saying mini sentences to me tonight. Landry has been in speech therapy for the past year due to all of his ear problems/sickness, he started talking later than normal. So for him to say his mini sentences tonight, was music to my ears. :)  I am also thankful that despite the "unknown" if Landry can stay at his current pre-school since he's having so many accidents, some other options came up tonight, so God is good.  Even though tonight was a bit chaotic, and I had my "moments" of about ready to pull my hair out, I still had this sense of calmness over me and the reassurance that God has this.

Thankful for my kiddos, my hubby, and my nice comfortable bed that I am about to fall asleep in.

Landry and Myrtle running and laughing in the yard tonight

Sweet Hadley before school today

Finding Thankfulness on the Rough Days...Day 6

Days like today are the true test of being grateful and experiencing joy.  Today's been a tough one, but there are still many things that I am thankful for, I just had to look a bit harder.

1.  Hugs from my children - It is pretty neat that both of my children starting when Hadley was close to 2 and then Landry starting this as well, that when they see Josh and I hug they come over, stand between us and hold their arms up for us to pick them up and be apart of our hug as well. It melts my heart every time. Landry did that today when we hugged on the steps.  He gets this big grin across his face and will shake real hard and squeeze our necks tight and often always plants a big kiss on both of our cheeks! Love it!

2.  Coffee shops - I have a favorite coffee shop here in Athens - Donkey Coffee, it had become my second home while working on my Master's the past few years and it's usually where Josh and I end up on our dates.  It has such a comfortable vibe too it one that meets many different needs.  They have couches, comfy chairs, tables, board games, covered porch with tables/chairs, as well as outside seating.  It's a great place to study, hang out, and listen to music on the nights they have it.  I went there today to do some work and sat outside.  It was another beautiful day, nice breeze, not hot, and I loved sipping on my favorite drink - Vanilla Chai.  There is just something about drinking coffee, especially at a coffee shop.

I am bummed I forgot to take pictures today, but the one I posted explains my #1 reason of being thankful today.

Thankful to find joyful things on rough days!

Heres a picture that demonstrates the "hugs" Hadley started when mommy/daddy would hug she is 2 yrs. old  - June 2008

Glorious Day

I wish I could really put into words truly how just seeking joy in the areas that I am thankful for have already impacted me!  Today was an awesome day, friends, no family of ours asked us to venture to The Wild's with them today.  For those of you who are not from Ohio, The Wild's is a beautiful place that Jack Hannah has with animals such as giraffes, rhinos, etc. freely roam hundred's of acres.  You can ride an open air or enclosed bus for 2 1/2 hrs to see all of these animals. It was really incredible, some of the animals came right up to the bus, and the expressions on my children's faces were priceless!

These awesome people who are truly our family, as Landry calls them; Mr. Bill, Miss Ro Ro, and Miss Ra Ra, although now he can plainly say, Miss Cara had taken our kids to The Wild's just shy of a month ago while Josh and I were in Florida.  The neat thing was even though they were just a short time ago, their reactions seemed as it if was the first time seeing these animals!  I took a lot of pictures which you will see at the end.

There are so many things I am thankful for today and even though I'lm writing briefly about them, perhaps the pictures I will attach will be able to convey more of my gratefulness.

1. God's impeccable creation - As soon as you get off the exit to The Wild's, the beauty of rolling green hills and pastures, farm land, and back roads instantaneously appear.  Today happened to be a  gorgeous summer day, low 80's no humidity, bright sun, simply amazing.  As you get closer to the place, you are just surrounded by more hills and astounding views.  As we were on our tour I couldn't help but just think about God constantly.  The creativity He has not only in how green and lush the grass was or how beautiful the blue sky was, but also in how each animal looks different, and how each part of an animal has a purpose.  God didn't just throw together animals just because, He had a purpose.  I could've literally just sat on top of one of the many hills and stared out in the views all day.  I also couldn't help but think of how beautiful this place would be in the different seasons and how different each season would look.   There is just something about being in nature that brings a different closeness to our Creator.

2.  Ending the week spending time with people we love - People outside of your family who become your family is very rare, and thankfully, when our little guy was born, God brought this family into our lives.  I love how they have loved our kids as if they were their own, they make time to spend time with us, and we enjoy being together.  It was a fun day starting off early eating breakfast together, and then cramming all 7 of us into our highlander which says seats 7 but I think the car makers mean 7 children.  It made for some great laughs and real bonding time. :) 

3.  My daughter's sense of humor.  She seriously is a funny girl and she loves to make other's laugh. Sadly, sometimes I am so caught up in the busyness of life that I tend to not pay attention to when she is making me laugh, but today I didnt. I made the conscious effort to not have a schedule and just enjoy being with my kids.  So as you will see in the pictures, there is a picture of her and I in the bathroom and a picture of a toilet.  I was taking her to the bathroom when she said wouldnt it be funny to take a picture of this toilet? Then send it to daddy's phone? Normally I would say, let's go, hurry, that is silly and move on. But today I said that would be funny and I took out my phone, snapped a photo of the toilet and then took a picture of Hadley and I so we can remember this moment. I'll never forget her laugh, her look of I can't believe my mommy actually did this and how funny she thought it was to send this to her daddy's phone.

4.  My sleeping son who NEVER falls asleep in the car or anywhere away from his bed - This kid has been waking up before the sun rise for the past few weeks and not taking naps, so he's been completely worn out.  Today after our adventure, you could tell he wanted to sleep in the car but was just too excited.  So we went into the restaurant and as he was taking bites of his food his eyes would start to close, then ever so gently he laid his head back on his chair, food in hand, and he was out for the next few hours.  He was moved from his chair to cuddle up with his Miss Ro Ro, then carried out to the car, and he didn't even move, pretty stinkin' precious!  And to top it off, when I put him to bed a few hours later, no screaming, crying, he went right to sleep.  Also during the past few weeks if I put him to bed he started this crying, screaming fits for what seemed like hours..so tonight was a success!

So thankful for this day, spending it with people I love, spending it in God's beautiful creation.

Looking at the mommy/baby rhino

Our bathroom pose - you can see the laughter of joy in Hadley's face- love

The famous toilet that brought tons of laughter and probably had the other people think we were crazy!

There are just some moments you wish you could pause

Final Friday...Day 4

Today was my "last" friday before I begin working full time.  I am very excited that it is and that I will be doing what I love to do, which is teaching.
This week has been both exhausting, challenging, yet insightful and enjoyable all at the same time.  Both of my kids have had a  hard time adjusting to getting back into school, and as you read yesterday, Landry's first time ever going to a school.  There have been many, many tears from my children's meltdowns and a few shed from this momma as well.  However, despite all of these challenges, God provided me with so many opportunities to spend some much needed time with my girl friends. The awesome thing was it wasn't just through texting/phone calls but a few of which I was able to hang out in person! Score!!! That doesnt happen often; sadly due to the busyness of life, children, distance, work, etc.  It has been neat to reflect how God has used each friend I talked to this week to help me achieve this thing called JOY...

Thankful today for..

1.  Coffee and chatting with Brittany.  I decided to hit up a few yard sales after dropping Landry off and ended up picking up a few baby things for Brittany which is always so fun and she asked if I'd drop by.  It was a great few hours of just hanging out. One thing that I love about Brit is that when you walk into her house you immediatley feel like your home.  She can go about her things she has to do whether it's cooking, cleaning, laundry, feeding her baby, etc. and we still just talk.  I love that she doesnt feel like she has to make her house look like a magazine cover in order for someone to come over.  It was also so awesome to hold her baby and have her fall asleep on me too. Precious!

2.  Evening walks - My absolute favorite time of the day is around sunset.  There is a slight coolness in the air, the sun is not blazing hot, and everything just seems peaceful.  The whole fam including our puppy Myrtle went for a walk.  The start of our walk was interesting with Landry refusing to walk and crying, but it ended up being a peaceful one.  One of the things I like when we walk are talking with neighbors in our neighborhood that we dont usually see/talk to.  Tonight we talked with a family for awhile and all because we both had dogs and I had this student in the class I interned for last year.  On our walk home my favorite scenery was Hadley riding her scooter and Landry on Josh's shoulders.  So glad I took a picture as you will see below!

3.  Talks with my hubby - Moments alone with my hubby are very rare these days.  I am glad we are back on a routine and the kids are getting to bed earlier so that it is easier to make time.  It seems even after the kids are in bed, the hubs has to go back to work, or I am doing things I didnt get done during the day.  However, tonight we actually got to hang out and just talk.  I am so blessed to have the husband that I have, he is amazing, loving, and so dedicated to our family.  I love how he is so involved in my and the kids lives, as I always say, he's a rock star!

God is good and I am blessed with so many things!