November 2014

This month I want to celebrate honest attempts at being thankful. 

With Thanksgiving being a central theme for November, sometimes listing what you’re thankful for can seem cliché, and I definitely fall in that line of thinking most of the time.  Deep in my core, I know I have so much to be grateful for – a great marriage, two amazing kids, a supportive extended family, Charlie has an incredible job, we have a nice house, more than enough reliable cars, a fridge full of food, friends who love me – and I could go on.  But unfortunately, this list turns into wanh-wanh-wanh most days and I operate out of a place where instead of thinking of my great marriage, I’m disappointed that I haven’t been on a date with Charlie since the night before Abby was born.  And I think about how one of my “amazing kids” is having a horrendous time cutting three teeth this month, and the other can be insanely obnoxious as he’s phasing out naps.  And my supportive extended family isn’t close enough and Charlie’s incredible job keeps him out of state half the time.  Our house is never big enough and our cars are never clean enough, and why is there no chocolate in the fridge? 

bundled up for a wagon ride to the Donut Palace

Lately I’ve been keenly aware though of how gross my attitude has been.  Part of me feels justified in feeling this way – I’m tired down to my bones and life feels hard right now – and I am supposed to have a genuinely thankful attitude on top of that?  But the other part of me – the part that knows better – knows that choosing to be thankful doesn’t always have to look like rainbows and glitter, but it can still be powerfully effective and set the atmosphere around me.  And I like to think that God receives feeble attempts at choosing to be thankful as honorable sacrifices, like Psalm 50:23 says.  And this month, as I’ve been focusing on being authentically grateful, I’ve been catching little moments where my heart pauses and declares – this – this is what I’m thankful for.  

Things like when Bruce and Abby giggle about holding hands with each other at the dinner table. 

Or when a friend chooses to come along with me while I shop for groceries at Wal-mart just because she wants to spend time with me. 

Times when Charlie and I smirk together over inside jokes.

Or when I get an email from a friend that’s so perfectly encouraging I find myself re-reading those words over and over again.  And over again.

And when Bruce is generous toward Abby without being prompted.

When people go out of their way to make things easier for me.

I'm thankful for opportunities to spend time with family with nothing on the agenda.

And when the weather is surprisingly beautiful. 

Times when I hear that reassuring Whisper that I’m not alone.

It’s these seemingly small things that keep me full and make me truly appreciate life.  So while it’s good to have my go-to list of things I’m thankful for - I’m going to try to dwell a little longer in these spontaneous pockets of gratitude. 

Other highlights of the month: 

Bruce is still keeping us on our toes – both physically and mentally.  Fall was cut short with, in my opinion, a too-early snowfall and colder temperatures – so it’s been a little challenging keeping our outdoorsman occupied indoors when it’s too cold to be running around outside.  We bundle up when we can, but the Little Girl (and honestly, this big girl) can only handle so much frigid before getting grumpy.  We’ve hit up Hobby Lobby though, and have a few on-going projects we’ve been working on. 

our snow pirate

By far the most entertaining of the projects has been the peg people and their little house.  Bruce and I have been spending Abby’s nap times painting these tiny people, and have started decorating their house, too.  It didn’t take any encouragement for Charlie to jump in the fun, and he has been having Bruce help him make tiny furniture for the house.  Bruce loves these miniatures, and maybe, Charlie and I have been enjoying them more. 

a pirate and Mike Mulligan

just a couple of pegs watching television...

Regardless of what he’s up to, you can almost always find Bruce donning pirate garb still.  He has an assortment of swords, a scabbard, a few bandana hats, a couple of hook hands, and just recently he added an eye patch and earring to the collection.  And the only way I was able to convince him to wear any of his new winter wardrobe was to tell him that “pirates wear stripes.” 

burying his treasure chest

"I only need on glove, mama, because my hook will keep my other hand warm!"

Although Abby stands by the back glass door begging to go outside a lot of the time, she can be easily distracted by a book or two, or twelve.  She’ll even bring a book over to you, and then slowly back up to sit down in your lap.  Lately she’s been crazy about gorillas.  It’s funny how kids latch on to different things.  I would have never guessed that it would be gorillas for Abby.  But any book we have that has a gorilla in it is a favorite of hers, and as soon as we get to the gorilla picture, she points at it, smiles, and thumps her chest.  Too cute.  Other favorite books include Moo, Baa, La La La! by Sandra Boynton, any touch-and-feel book, and any vocabulary picture book.  She also loves looking at the iPad, or the “television book” as Bruce calls it, to look at pictures of adorable dogs.  She’s terrified of barking dogs, but loves them nevertheless. 

She still gets excited when airplanes fly overhead, and is an expert at finding and pointing out the moon.  Still no words, but she’s getting better with her babble and imitating sounds, and will kind of moo when she she’s a picture of a cow.  

 

She loves to share things with people, but you have to be careful because sometimes she just wants to show you what she has and will freak out if you take whatever it is, and other times she wants to intentionally tease you with what she has and will offer it to you but snatch it away before you can reach her hand.  It’s funny how innate some behaviors are…

 

Unfortunately, Abby has discovered the trashcan this month.  It’s a battle to keep her from putting non-trash inside, but equally challenging to keep her from removing trash to carry around as treasure.   So far I don’t think we’ve lost anything important.  That I know of.  Yet. 

 

And yes, she’s still always attached to my hair.

It’s really fun that the kids have things that they’re interested in, but one of the hardest parts about parenting these days is that neither kid can really play unsupervised, but they’re both constantly going in opposite directions.  Or, they both are interested in the same exact thing at the same exact time, which never resolves itself nicely…  The one thing that has brought them peacefully together was the discovery of Puss in Boots.  There’s a short little movie on Netflix that stars Puss in Boots and they both are mesmerized by it.   It’s a guaranteed way I can get something done and know they won’t move for fifteen minutes.  Hallelujah.

We've tried to enjoy as much park time as possible before Winter comes to stay!

 

 

 

watching a train

And what's left of garden time, too!

Bruce and Charlie went to on OU basketball game!

Bruce wasn't too thrilled about the cheerleaders...

but he loved the mascot!

and even got his face painted!

Charlie is in the middle of his busy travel season, so he’s had to be gone for a lot of the month.  It was so nice to be able to get away for a few days to Texas for the Thanksgiving holiday.  The weather was beautiful and we were able to squeeze in a lot of fun and family time while we were down. 

We went on lots of walks, saw so many deer and cactus groves, and even stumbled across a small stream with crystal clear, still-warm water. 

Bruce’s favorite spot this trip though was the place with the “pirate bridges” in the resort’s Oriental Gardens.  We spent several hours across several days tromping back and forth across these bridges playing the “sink or float” game with rocks, pine needles, and the like.

 

Back at the house we were able to catch up a bit with family.  No cousins were around this time, but Bruce and Abby got to know their Uncle Russell and Aunt Lydia, and Uncle Eric a bit more, and thankfully no one held grudges against them for all the behaviors that accompany Littles. 

We had a great Thanksgiving meal together, and then we all went to Marble Falls’ Walkway of Lights to welcome the beginning of the Christmas season.  The lighted decorations were a lot of fun to look at, and Bruce and Abby (and me by default) got to sit on Santa’s lap.  Abby cried the whole time, and Bruce told Santa he wanted a kitty for Christmas. 

 

One of our favorite parts about spending Thanksgiving with my family is the annual pilgrimage to Johnson City the day after Thanksgiving for the fireworks and lighting of the courthouse.  Love that little town.  I was so happy that Abby wasn’t scared of the fireworks, and she smiled through (almost) the whole show.  With Abby needing to get back home for bedtime, we weren’t able to go on a hayride after the fireworks, but it was still a fantastic time! 

Before we knew it, it was time to make the trek back to Oklahoma today.  It’s not too bad of a drive, but still makes for a long day!  Even though we’re excited about getting ready for Christmas, I think we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to set up the tree…