Thankful Heart - Day 26

Today I am thankful for son and daddy time. I had a meeting last night and I came home to a very excited little boy. He happily told me that he sat in his "seat" in "daddy's tractor" while they "moved the hay" and made a "mess".

Interpretation: Lil Hoff sat in the buddy seat in Farmboy's tractor while Farmboy moved round bales out of the way to knock down a old wooden corral.

This morning I took this video. He is still pretty happy.

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Thankful Heart - Day 25

Today I am thankful for my job.

Here are the reasons why:

I can put my family on my wallpaper and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I can blog while working and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I show up when I want to and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I can look at Facebook and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I can shop while working and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I can leave when I want to (with permission) and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I only work 4 days a week and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I have three weeks vacation and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I have a fridge that I can stock with whatever food I want to and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I can wear whatever I want to and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I can generally say whatever I want to to customers and not have to answer to anyone about it.
If Lil Hoff gets sick I can stay home and not have to answer to anyone about it.
If it snows I can stay home and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I can have packages delivered here and not have to answer to anyone about it.
I can leave and run errands and not have to answer to anyone about it.

So while I can do MOST of that without have to answer to anyone, I do care about my job. Working for my family is important to me and being the best I can reflects on them and on our reputation which I hold very high.  I also love working with my family (most of the time).

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Thankful Heart - Day 24

Today I am thankful for Family and Thanksgiving. My mom has her Thanksgiving the Sunday before Thanksgiving to give our bellies time to digest before we gorge into more turkey. Really the main reason is that way we can all be together, but the other is true too.

We usually sit around and each say what we are thankful for each year, but since there are so many of us, mom said this year each family could delegate someone on behalf of the whole family.

I naturally was the spokes person for our family. I can't wait until Lil Hoff can talk on command.

I also am thankful of this family picture. It is really good of my family. Besides Lil Hoff's shiner.

 

I also was on dessert duty which is always nerve wracking for my family. The only thing worse would be main dish duty and being the only main dish. But I had success! I made a apple pie and a pumpkin cheesecake. The apple pie was gone and I only had a couple of pieces of the pumpkin cheesecake left. 

I am also thankful the heirlooms. The dish the pumpkin was in is a ceramic dish my Grandma made and gave it to my mom who has passed it on to me. I love being able to put a pie in it and think of my grandma and think if she was here with us today what she would be saying or if she would be proud of all of us.  

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Thankful Heart - Day 23

I Love, LOve, LOVe, LOVE a parade. Not like I love fall, or a candle , or even like I love Farmboy. Like if I can't sleep, get up and get ready as soon as possible, grinning ear to ear, nothing can burst my bubble, LOVE a parade. Not just any parade but our local Christmas Parade. The town rallies together and comes to a stop since the main two roads in our town is the parade route.

Here it comes...I am giddy with excitement.

Someone who shares my excitement!

It was a tad bit chilly, but when you are the one bursting with joy you can't be tamed down by the cold.

Lil Hoff doesn't share his momma's thrill of a parade, or maybe he does and that is why he wanted to keep running out into the street. You just cant' keep us down.  

So today I am thankful for a the local parade. I'm thankful for the chamber that puts it on each year, I'm thankful to hang out with my family while watching it, and I'm thankful for traditions, AND I'm thankful for the people that braved the wind and cold so we had something to watch.  

 

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Thankful Heart - Day 22

I am thankful for my bed and all things cuddly in it.

Other reasons I am thankful for my bed:

* It is king size so I have all the room that I need
* There is nothing better than clean sheets on a made bed
* At about 7:00 I start counting down till I can get into bed ( I will let you figure out if I mean AM or PM)
* We have patio doors in our bedroom and I love to lay in my bed and watch it rain
* My bedroom is my sanctuary (it includes a massive jet bath)
* It is where I get Sunday afternoon naps (or at least try to get)
* I have had many good phone calls on this bed (cause I shut myself in my bedroom and lock the door)
* Lil Hoff has gotten in the habit of waking up while I am still getting ready and he likes to lay in my bed and watch Mickey Mouse and he pats the spot next to him and goes "Sit momma, sit"
* On the weekends we (Lil Hoff and I ) cuddle up under the covers until we feel like getting up
* I can relax and read before bed
* I get as many hours of good sleep as I can
* When I make my bed my whole world seems brighter and cleaner!
* Our bedroom set was one of the first big purchases that Farmboy and I made when we got married. In fact in our old house it all wouldn't fit in the bedroom so we just shoved pieces together and you had a path you could walk and that was it.
* When there is a chill in the air, you wrap yourself up in the blankets and burrow down for the night.

I just really like my bed (maybe it's because I'm sleep deprived and I wish I could spend more time with my bed).

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Thankful Heart - Day 21

Today I am thankful for the nurse I become when my baby gets hurt.

Not that I think I can magically fix everything but there is some instinct in me that comes out when Lil Hoff gets hurt. Like last night  when he got this shiner. He was sitting in the recliner with Farmboy and he decided to climb down and just as soon as he was on the footstool it gave way and down he went right into the fireplace. (I am also thankful for tough little boys) He instantly started crying and it swelled up and turned blue and as I am trying to get him to take BooBoo Bear and hold it to his face to make it better, it seemed like just having me around him makes the whole situation better. I would then hold BooBoo Bear up to my face and say "oh he makes me feel better" and Farmboy would laugh but the Lil Hoff would hold it up to his eye. (BooBoo Bear has a ice pack in his belly)

So while I feel like we have had our fair share of falls, scrapes, and bruises, I am sure more is to come and I hope to always be confident in the nurse that I can be for him.

The next morning he is still being a trooper. When he would rub his eye or roll on that side of his face he would say "it hurts momma".  I can only imagine.

He was up at 4:30 this morning, so he got a little cat nap on the way to the babysitters this morning.

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Thankful Heart - Day 20

Today I am thankful for a good 2 year check up.

Lil Hoff is 35 3/4 inches tall which is in the 97 percentile and weighs 36.8 lbs which is in the 99 percentile. Both the nurse and doctor commented on how active he is and that he must eat well. We got two shots but had no reactions and this morning he wanted both his band aids off.

And after a two and a half hour nap he was ready for juice and to play.

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Thankful Heart - Day 19

Today I am thankful for my community. I love living in a small town where you can not go anywhere without running into someone you know. I love the feel I get when someone says "Aren't you Mike's daughter" or "Are you married to Melvin's boy?". I love that our town rallies around the local football team or the solider that comes back from war. We still have parades that everyone comes out to see and cheer loudly when the High School band marches by. You can track children back to their parents and grandparents and you still have respect for the "well to do" families in town. Men on a daily basis call me "hon" or "darlin" and give that old man friendly wink. People smile and wave to you on the street and hold doors open when you trailing behind them. Church is still important on Sunday mornings and you get to the restaurants as quick as you can to beat the other churches that get out at noon. I love that teachers that I had in school are teachers that my nieces and nephews have now. I also love that you know the owner of a store, and the president of the bank, and the mailman. I just love having a hometown where both Farmboy and I were raised and where we will raise Lil Hoff.

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Thankful Heart - Day 18

I AM NOT A BAKER. Oh I feel so much better getting that off my chest. I love to cook, I collect cookbooks, I love to try new recipes, and I love to have my family sit around the dinner table. Personally that is how I show my family I love them, to get their bellies good and full. BUT I despise baking. I think it is a waste of time and making cookies is the worse! It always takes more than one bowel (what is up with that) and then once you get it all mixed up and on the pans you're still not done, you have to babysit them while they cook in the oven. THEN my husband has them all ate in 1.2 days. There is nothing about baking that I like. Which is so sad for Farmboy cause he grew up in a house where his mother baked all the time. Even now she always has cookies, or pies, or a bar of some sort to munch on and at home he has store bought.

If you remember from one of my post not to long ago, it spoke of getting into the Christmas spirit and it must have hit me hard because while I was at the store yesterday I bought some Hershey kisses to make peanut butter blossoms (one of Farmboy's favorite) and last night we had a family baking night.

I set Farmboy and Lil Hoff to work unwrapping all the kisses while I mixed the dough up. (once again having to use two bowels. I hate doing dishes worse than baking)

I just love Lil Hoff's face in this photo. Say what??

We had to remind Lil Hoff that he couldn't eat the kisses....a lot

Then I let him eat off the beater. First time and he was hooked.

He cleaned it off. "Here Momma!"

And then he got to help daddy put the kisses on the cookies. Totally a family effort.

Today I am thankful for this time we got to spend together.

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Thankful Day - Day 17

Boy was today wind!! When we arrived at church one of our members was carrying a piece that had blew off of the roof across the parking lot. After we left and was on our way to my mother in law's house for lunch we got a call that their electricity was out and wondered if it was ok for them to come to our house and after taking a mental picture of my house I said "Sure!"

But boy we were surprised when we pulled into our driveway and this was waiting for us.

The wind had blown this tree right over in our front yard.

It came within feet of hitting Farmboy's truck.

But boy am I thankful that it was that tree and not the huge maple right next to our house.

I also am thankful for the impromptu lunch that I had at my lunch and the laughter that filled my house after while watching Lil Hoff put on his best tricks for his audience.

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Thankful Heart - Day 16

I know there is always a big ruckus over Christmas taking over Thanksgiving. With black Friday starting earlier and earlier and already the shelves at the stores bearing Christmas lights, and wrapping paper, and bows all mixed in with your turkey and dressing. AND while I am not one to already have my tree up and more than likely it will be two days before Christmas before I have any lights up I do like the feeling in the air that comes with Christmas and these.

I really like these and Christmas music. Today I am particularly thankful for both.

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Thankful Heart - Day 15

Today was a good day, not only was it Friday (which is always good) but it was pay day (cha-ching) and Farmboy texted me at 4:30 and said he was already off work (yahoo!!!) so all that is the makings of a delightful family fun night.

We had big plans for the night, those plans were to pick up the items for our Operation Shoebox. It is a program that our church sponsors that they hand out shoe boxes and we fill them up with goodies and then they get shipped over seas for children to open. I look forward to doing it everywhere.

The part I don't look forward to is the actually shopping with Farmboy and Lil Hoff and I really don't know which one is worse. We walk into Walmart and I am in the lead with my mission in focus, Farmboy is glaring at me and everyone around for simply breathing his air, and Lil Hoff is so excited to grab everything that he is busting open with joy. This should be fun, right?!?! It was for me and Lil Hoff, I just marched on and left Farmboy to corral Lil Hoff and I went on my merry way with joyous Christmas carols dancing around in my head.

After we got home, Lil Hoff and I packed the boxes and after he tried his best to hang on to everything and I kept prying it out of his hands and placing it back in the box, they were finished. The best part about the whole experience is that together Lil Hoff and I prayed over the boxes and for the children that were going to receive them and at the end Lil Hoff said ever so softly "amen". Today I am thankful for the opportunity to do this ministry and share it with my son.

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Thankful Heart - Day 14

 Today I am

Thankful for him 

Period.

(And that we have survived two years! Happy Birthday Lil Hoff)

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Thankful Heart - Day 13

Today I am thankful that even though Farmboy likes to act tough and likes to think he rules the roost, deep down he will do anything for me.

Today I had some dental work done and was feeling pretty out of it afterwards and stayed in bed most of the day (my mom had Lil Hoff for the day) so when Farmboy came home for lunch he asked if I had ate yet and I said no. I then tested the waters and said that I was really craving a grilled cheese sandwhich and spaghetti - o's. He just looked at me and rolled his eyes so I figured all hope was gone, but pretty soon he came back with this tray with my grilled cheese sandwhich and spaghetti - o's. He really is a keeper.

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Thankful Heart - Day 12

Today I am thankful for the little reminders that tell me how proud my parents are of me.

I recently finished up a year of being President of our local Optimist chapter and it is NOT easy being optimistic when your Optimist Club President. It was hard. There were several meetings where I walked away ready to quit feeling like I am not making a difference at all. But through it all my mom was there cheering me on, giving me suggestions and letting me know that I am doing a good job and that I am making a difference and that I only had a few months more.

The other night she surprised me with this little token to always remember where I come from :)

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Thankful Heart - Day 11

First off I am so thankful that Lil Hoff slept better last night than he has for the last 5 nights. We are giving him his breathing treatments and it has opened up his little lungs and his coughs are more productive and he isn't coughing all night long! Which means I am getting sleep as well. So I am thankful for medicine that makes me little boy feel better.

But what I have pictures of that I am thankful for is that I got a call from Farmboy saying he was already at home and would be happy to start supper for me if I wanted him to. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?" Of course I would love for you to start supper. You have to realize that I can probably count on my hand (and maybe toes) how often Farmboy has been home before me. So this was just a shock to my system. I got home to him in the kitchen and the casserole in the oven. It was just heavenly.

And then as a nice added bonus Lil Hoff kept asking me to open his pouches that have his puzzle pieces in them and I kept hesitating because it was going to make a mess but after his cute little face kept asking I finally gave in and I am so glad I did. He would grab a puzzle and the pouch that goes with that puzzle and come put them together next to me on the couch. I think watching Lil Hoff figure something out and seeing that light bulb go off in his little head is by far the best thing about being his momma.

(and if you wondering what the pouches are they are just the pencil zipper pouches, I read about another mom that had used them to keep her kids puzzles organized and who doesn't like to be organized???)

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Thankful Heart - Day 9

Today was such a full day!! We celebrated the second birthday of Lil Hoff. I can't believe it is already time. But I was so busy getting ready for the party that I haven't really had time to think about how big my baby is getting or how fast time is flying. 

My heart is so full as I write this. I have such a amazing family. We all gather for a party and laugh and celebrate. When I say family I'm not only talking about parents and siblings but also friends.Lil Hoff has so many people that love him and that want to be there for him. I had my mom with me for most the afternoon getting ready for the party while my mother in law was watching Lil Hoff. Then after all the festivities were over all the dear sweet women in my life cleaned up ad got everything loaded up. It was amazing! My best friend even volunteered to be the photographer for me. 

So while I would call Lil Hoff's party a success it is only because of all the people that helped that I can. 

This was after the party and Lil Hoff is really excited that 'Mick' got to come home with us!

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