Awesome Kids

Today's topic on Oprah:

Happiness

The many factors that affect happiness: money, marriage, children, etc. This episode including discussions on how to find happiness, how to get more of it in your life, the happiest places to live, etc. During this discussion a psychologist tells Oprah that having children often thwarts people's happiness {at least for a period of time}. He goes on to explain that this is largely due to the fact that it now costs an average of $250k to raise a child.

Upon hearing this Hannah quickly does the math and says "Holy moly, is it really going to cost that much to raise us!?!"

To which I reply, "Yes, you guys are expensive! Maybe we better get rid of a couple of you."

About this time, Mia chimes in, "Mom, you have AWESOME kids! Don't get rid of us!"

"You are right, I guess I'll keep you all!"

The Bobby Pin

Meet my new arch nemesis:

the bobby pin.

Why you ask would such a simple, unassuming hair gadget be such the bane of my existence? It seems that Sophie, Hannah, Mia & Bella have all taken to using these in their hair - every day. We use them to pin our bangs back, to pin various pieces of hair back and sometimes, I think, just to stick them in our hair for fun.

Here is the problem, they end up EVERYWHERE except back from whence they came. Mostly they seem to end up sticking out of the carpet. That's fun. Fun to be walking across and nearly impale yourself on a bobby pin and walk not even 6 more feet and do it again. But my personal favorite is vacuuming, which now feels somewhat like vacuuming a land mine. Bobby pins randomly shooting out of the vacuum at warp speed, hitting various body parts and even the dogs! I now need full body armor to get this chore done and if the dogs weren't afraid of the vacuum before, you should see them run now!

So, here I find myself making a ridiculous statement:

"if I find one more bobby pin laying around, you are all cut off from their use indefinitely!"

This song is 'singing' to me...

When we go through trials in our life we look to many different outlets to get ourselves through the difficult time. In addition to talking with people and reading helpful and/or inspirational material; sometimes we listen: to the advice of a friend or family member or perhaps the words of a beautifully written song. A song that is so stunningly appropriate for this time in our lives-it speaks volumes to me. Enjoy!

Thankfulness in December

WOW! As I often do, I fell off the map for a weeks. I didn't even finish my "thankful series" so, even though it's not the same, I'm going to take a moment and list those things that would have completed the list.

1. Our home - a wonderful life is lived in this home

2. Our Families - we are fortunate to a have large extended families and that kind of love is irreplacable.

3. Wyoming - it's a gorgeous state to be able to call home!

4. Holidays - I love holidays and all the joy they bring!

5. Traveling - near or far, I love being able to get out there and see the world.

6. The Internet - how lucky are we to live in a day and age where we have this phenomenal resource at our fingertips.

7. Facebook - maybe a little cheesy but, I have reconnected with so many old friends that I truly am thankful for it!

8. Food, Clothing, Water - it's easy to look around and see those less fortunate, those that are struggling and everyday I am thankful that we can provide these basics for ourselves and our children.

9. Washing Machine & Dryer - although laundry is the bain of my existence, I can't imagine life without these modern day machines.

10. Knowledge - knowledge is power and I love that I always have the ability to further my own knowledge of any thing, at any time.

11. The Learning Tree Preschool - after 9 wonderful years, we are closing our doors. It's been a great run Amy, full of memories that I wouldn't trade for anything!

12. Jennifer - I've been lucky in my life to have many great friends. And then along came you; a friend that was immediately more than just that. You are like a sister to me and I feel blessed that we found each other!

13. My husband - he's my best friend and the only person I would want to walk through this life with.

14. LOVE

Right now we got our perfect Christmas tree. Or that's what our dogs think. They run under the tree if they are sleepy, in trouble, or hiding from something. We got our nativity set set up. Which took Hannah and I forever to figure out we had Joseph as the Shepard and the Shepard as Joseph. I bet if he still was alive, he wouldn't be happy with us!

Yesterday, we went to help set up with the parade of lights and ended up leaving earlier than we had planed. Hannah had a peanut reaction. Before that we helped guard the traffic. We argued with people who thought that they could drive right through, and that's what some of them did! Most of them were teens and when we told them, they looked like they were going to try and back over us. Then the peanut reaction took place. We drove home really fast and when we got home, we could not see because of all of the mud on our faces!

Cheese & Crackers

Mia is home sick today and here is how she is spending her time:



spelling "SPICER" with easy cheese.

"You have to see this mom, even the dogs love it!"
{I'm sure they do!}

Today I am thankful for...

JEN

Sister, friend & styling guru! You are like
the 'wocket in my pocket' that I don't want
anyone to know about!
I love you and your brilliance! xoxo