It is Thanksgiving evening. My stomach is full. My heart is full. How does one manage to thank everyone and everything that they are thankful for? I only made it through my family and even that, somehow, doesn't seem like enough.

President Hinckley said, "Walk with gratitude in your hearts, my dear friends. Be thankful for the wonderful blessings which are yours. Be grateful for the tremendous opportunities that you have. Be thankful to your parents, who care so very much about you and who have worked so very hard to provide for you. Let them know that you are grateful. Say thank you to your mother and your father. Say thank you to your friends. Say thank you to your teachers. Express appreciation to everyone who does you a favor or assists you in any way. Thank the Lord for His goodness to you."

Perhaps if I walk with more gratitude in my heart and express it more readily each day, I won't feel, at the end of Thanksgiving day, like I haven't said enough, or shown enough, or that I've forgotten someone important.

So, to anyone out there that has been a part of my life, I thank you for making it more wonderful. That, my dear friends is what I am most thankful for this year. The tremendous support that I feel from family and friends is what keeps me going each day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you C.S. Lewis for this quote. It is exactly what I was thinking ...

"In friendship, we think we have chosen our peers. In reality, a few years difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, strictly speaking, there are no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples 'ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you' can truly say to every group of Christian friends 'you have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.'" -C.S. Lewis

And who wouldn’t be grateful for …

…brothers? Dave, Dan, and Stephen, I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seats for this, I didn’t forget you. I love you all, even if you do tease me a bit too much.

Dear Becca

You need to move to Utah. We miss you.

Love,

Your favorite sister

Dear Rachel

You should send me that picture from our girl's night on Friday. Making caramel corn and watching "Pride and Prejudice" was just what the doctor ordered after a long, hard week.  Thanks for coming up and joining Sara and I. Good times were had by all.

Love,

Your favorite sister.

Dear Rachel

You should send me that picture from our girl's night on Friday. Making caramel corn and watching "Pride and Prejudice" was just what the doctor ordered after a long, hard week.  Thanks for coming up and joining Sara and I. Good times were had by all.

Love,

Your favorite sister.

Gratitude continued ...

Aren't sisters fabulous? Sara is here this weekend. Love it. We have fun together. If you can't tell.

Gratitude Part 2

Daddy. He is always there to offer words of wisdom and to show his love. He loves and adores my mother, of which I am eternally grateful. I love my dad and all that he does for me. Thanks for your phone call this week, Dad!

Gratitude

This past week has been tough for many reasons. Some I’ve shared, some I haven’t. Those things that have made life tough have caused for much reflection on my part. I found myself looking for things I am grateful for so that I could keep my chin up. The hymn, "Count Your Many Blessings" played in my mind. I often repeated to myself, "This is my dream. This is my dream. This is my dream!" And daily I became increasingly aware and grateful for the support system that I have been blessed with. In honor of the season, I have to express my gratitude and one post isn’t going to be nearly enough. We’ll start with a couple, but stay tuned. There is lots of gratitude headed this way!

This handsome, wonderful, loving, patient man. I love this man. He keeps me going. He keeps me sane. He dries my tears and helps me laugh. Love. Love. Love. Him.

 

My mother. I am reminded of a song from an old, believe it or not, chipmunk movie.

Hard to remember,
Summer or winter,
When she hasn't been there for me...
A friend and companion,
I can always depend on,
My mother, that's who I need...

If I can learn to my half the mother that my mom is, I will be doing pretty good.

Brainstorming.

This is my kitchen. Well, sort of. This is my kitchen previous owner-style. Unlike him, we actually have a kitchen table and a high chair and tons of crumbs on the floor. Focus on the cabinets and the knobs. Those look the same today and they become more and more yucky to me by the day. I already have plans for painting the walls, at least some of them. Assuming life goes as planned, that will be our home improvement project for February. I have picked out the fabric that I want to use to make valances for the window and the sliding door. That will be ... some day. If you could see all the sewing projects I have in the queue you would know why the timing for that one is so vague. Anyway, back to the cabinets. Totally replacing them is out of the question, for obvious reasons, the biggest ... they are in great shape. It would be wasteful ... even if we did have the money. Soooo ... refinish? Paint? Replacing the knobs is a definitely a must. Antiqued brass, pewter, nickel, antiqued nickel, black? I'm really just thinking "out loud". If you are still reading at this point, thanks for bearing with me. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures that I really like. What attracts me the most to these two pictures is the two tone/three tone aspect of the cabinets and cupboards.

Love how the island is the rich dark color to contrast the white everywhere else.

I would never do green on my cupboards, but I love it here, especially since there are three different shades (drawers, wall, and above the stove) Green, white, and cherry (is that cherry). That combination makes me happy. Maybe I will do green ...

The only thing these kitchens don't have enough of is red. There will definitely be a healthy amount of red in my kitchen. Did you know red supposedly increases appetites? Apparently I need more, based on the way William eats.

Oh yeah, I am also thinking of putting up some wainscotting or beadboard on the far wall, the one without any windows or cupboards. Would that look weird on just one wall?

My kids and their viruses ...

If you want to know what the past week has been like around here read up on adenovirus, bronchiolitis, and croup. Add to that equation a three-year-old that is perfectly healthy, but can't leave the house because his sister is sick.

Oh, and the Celine Dion concert that I got tickets for back in May was postponed until February. On a Sunday. It was supposed to be this Friday.

It has been a great week.

And yes, I would like some cheese with my "whine". Thanks for asking.

All Aboard the Potty Train!

First, may I say thank you for all the wonderful words of wisdom you shared? Support is such a fabulous thing in life, isn't it?

And now back to potty training. We did it! Tuesday, the day I wrote the last post, William stayed dry ALL day! Yippee! Wednesday and Thursday we had a couple of accidents, but no "I don't understand this" accidents, more like "I have way too much to do to bother with the potty" accidents. Any parent or preschool teacher would agree that there is a difference.

May I now attribute our success to Glenn Latham? Well, I just did. He is a fabulous man who I wish I had had the opportunity to meet. I am so grateful that he wrote a handful of books so his legacy can continue. Those books made me a better teacher and are now helping me to be a better mom. Bit by bit. I still have a long way to go.

Moral of the story: William is potty trained!

(enter clever title here)

Shabby Apple rejected me. So disappointing. Alas. I'll get over it.

In the meantime I am cheering up with a bit of free retail therapy. I am making a custom cover photo book on Snapfish and I'm putting it on Oprah's tab. Thanks, Oprah! Check it out, here.

I have talked about potty training here and here. So many of the lovely mommies that read those offered fabulous advice and support.

Let's continue our discussion shall we.

Saturday was the big day here in our house. Potty training day. William did fabulously in the morning. We started out with a bare bottom and he went right in the potty. No problems. Then I added underwear. Two accidents later he got the hang of that as well.

Naptime came. We put a diaper on him because he still wakes up really wet from his naps. (edited to add that we made sure William went potty before his nap today and he woke up dry!)

After naptime, we went back to underwear. He had two or three accidents. Right before bed, when Brandon had him stripped down, he ran to the potty.

Now here we are on Tuesday. Since the success of Saturday morning William has yet to make it to the potty when he is clothed. If we let him go bare bottomed he is 100%. He has never had an accident that way. As much as I would like to let him run around letting it all hang out, I hear that it isn't socially accepted these days.

So, wise readers that you are, here is my question:

Does that mean that he isn't quite ready yet or this just a brief barrier that we need to make it past? If you think we should keep at it, how would you do that? Bring on the advice. I'm ready for it.

Shabby Apple Contest

Shabby Apple is a site with cute and modest dresses. I lust after them. I daresay, I may even covet them. Check out the line for little girls, too. Covet. Covet. Covet.

Right now they are having a contest. I could be the lucky winner of the lovely outfit pictured below. Check out the details here.

Enjoy!

A Wish Your Heart Makes

Have you ever seen Fantasmic, the nightly fireworks show at Disneyland?

In this show Mickey comes out and creates a magical world with everybody’s favorite characters. Peter Pan. Winnie the Pooh. Belle. Ariel. Snow White. Cinderella. Prince Charming. You get the idea.

Then the bad guys come. Let’s be honest, would it be a Disney show without bad guys?

Ursula and crew do their worst.

After you are convinced that this is the end of all things Mickey, the Mouse takes center stage all decked out in a snazzy tuxedo. With all the power his squeaky voice can muster he says, “You may think you’re so powerful, well, this is my dream!”

With the flick of his wand the bad guys are conquered and we celebrate the return of all of our favorite characters as they sing a cheesy, happy, feel good song, sung in true Disney fashion.

That is totally my life. Totally. Completely. My life.

I have created my own little magical world. It is complete with Prince Charming and two adorable offspring. We have a warm cozy place to call our own. I have worked both my dream jobs; as a teacher, and now a stay at home mom. Our house is filled with laughter and giggles. It is everything I have ever wanted.

Except well, the bad guys. Oh, the bad guys.

Dirty diapers. Baby weight. Guilt. Frustration. Patience, or rather, lack thereof.

Temper tantrums. Temper tantrums in public. Strangers disapproving looks that just scream, “Why can’t you keep that child under control?”

Potty training.

Feelings that I will never be clean enough, cute enough, creative enough, smart enough, brave enough, classy enough. So why try?

Regrets.

This is where our story differs, Mickey and I, because I don’t have a magic wand. I can’t will the bad guys away with one flick of my wrist, never to be seen again. I fight these bad guys daily, hourly, to the minute.

So I take charge. I step up. I throw on a flirty dress from Shabby Apple that reminds me I can be cute! I put on some hot boots that will kick some bad guy booty. A soft pink bracelet will remind me that I can be patient and a sassy diaper bag declares that my kids are my greatest accessory. In this I can remind myself every day, every hour, even every minute that this is my dream!

And I plan on living happily ever after.

(cue cheesy, happy, feel good song here)

The Countdown is On!

Remove one feather every day from now until Thanksgiving, easy enough! Thanks to Marie from Make and Takes for this idea. William was a little distraught when I suggested he throw the removed feather away. So I let him put them in a wire pumpkin we keep on the kitchen table. Hmmm ... do you think I should tell him we plan on eating a turkey?

Dear Mr. President,

I didn't vote for you yesterday, but I did pray for you.

I prayed that as you bring your promised change you won't compromise the values and morals which our country was founded on, for without those we are nothing.

I prayed that the love for your family that you so readily show when the cameras are watching carries on into the walls of your home and into the decisions you make.

I prayed for your health and your strength.

I prayed that you might be a role model to young men everywhere, that you might inspire them to do good and to be better.

I prayed that God might continually bless America because in these tumultuous times we are going to need it.

So, Mr. President-elect. Last night I couldn't give you my vote, but I did give you my prayers.

May that make all the difference.

Sincerely,

A Mother

Take the Quiz here!

It was kind of hard to take this quiz objectively since I have read the books, but it is still fun. Give it a try!

Curious?

I don't know if I mentioned that my cute sister-in-law is getting married this December. Well, now I have. Anyway, if you love weddings as much as I do you can check Toodles for updates on the wedding planning!

William-ese

I had some family over for dinner last night. It was a grand time. With the elections coming up we naturally got to talking about politics. Who doesn't these days?

Cory: William, who are you going to vote for? John McCain or Barack Obama?
William: Barack Obama.

Hmmm ... he was a bit outnumbered on that one.

Several minutes later we were all focusing on William, trying to get him to eat dinner. Nothing new there. Anyway, we were having roast. William thinks all meat is bacon.

Cory: William, where does bacon come from?
William: Barack Obama.

Oh dear.