Our Thankful Tree

One of my favorite blogs, 71 Toes, showed a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving with kids. DJ and I think it's very important to teach Taylor to be thankful for everything she has and realize that some families are not as fortunate as we are. I know she is still a little young to really understand the meaning of Thanksgiving but DJ and I don't think it's too early to start.

So this year we started a new tradition for November. A lot of people blog about things they are thankful for all November long but we wanted Taylor to be a big part of it so I followed Shawni's lead and we made a Thankful Tree.

We started with this . . .

Taylor cut out most of the leaves. . .

I just love how hard she is concentrating. Don't mind the bed head and pj's though. I had told her the night before that we'd be working on a craft the next day. Crafting is one of her favorite things so she begged me to let her start it at 7am!

While we waited for the paint on the trunk to dry she colored . . .

She decided the Thankful Tree was so neat that she wanted to make ones for her teachers too. . .

So we practiced her letter and word writing.

 Just look how cute her writing is!

Cutting the leaves took most of the morning so we took a break from our craft and finished up some other things around the house. After dinner we sat at the table with DJ and wrote out everything we are Thankful for. I have an envelope in the kitchen and everyday we are adding a few leaves at a time. Taylor was having so much fun that she wanted to make a leaf for everything: cups, coffee cups, plates etc. Everyday we will add a few more leaves and by Thanksgiving it should be fully covered! (this picture was taken the first night so there have been a lot more leaves added. We also decided hanging it with tape wasn't the best idea)

I love that we can teach Taylor to be Thankful for everything life has provided her thus far and everything it will provide for her. This is a tradition I think we will keep forever and hopefully in a few years we are able to do this with more little ones.

Time to give thanks...

Everyone always says Thanksgiving is the time to be thankful. But how many of us really think of Thanksgiving as more than a day of great food, family and football? I think a lot of people have lost sight of the real meaning of Thanksgiving (just as many have lost sight of Christmas). So this year I am going to do something different. I want to show thanks to all those that have deeply touched me in the past year.

I am more than thankful to have a healthy, beautiful, growing baby girl, Taylor. She means the world to me. And even though I am still waking up with her at night (sometimes 3-4 times), picking up all her messes, and trying to teach her that food belongs in her belly or on her plate - not fed to the dogs or on the floor, I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything. She brings so much joy to my life it's incredible. I lvoe every minute I get with her, even if at times I seem grumpy.

Before I go on, I have to comment on how crazy this little girl is. saturday evening she ate an entire large SlimJim stick all by herself!! She is such a stinker!

 I am also thankful to have DJ. He is such a great guy and means everything to me. I love him so much and I am sure he doesn't understand how much I appreciate everything he does for me. We have been through so much and he has been my rock the whole time. DJ, you are wonderful!

I am thankful for my family. I love my parents for always listening to me, for supporting me even if they don't agree with my decision and raising me to be the person I am today. I am thankful for my sister, Kara, for being my best friend. It's not until you are older do you fully understand why God gave you a sister. You make me laugh and you are there for me when I need someone to talk to. To my brothers for always trying to make me stronger. Everytime I know I am being too emotional I always think of Joel and whisper to myself, "I need you to woman up right now Ann". That simple line means so much to me. I wish we were as close now as we used to be but I will always cherish our late night talks in middle school. I love you guys with all my heart!

I am thankful for DJ's family. They have been with us through thick and thin and have always supported us. I am thankful to have Carrie who has treated me like one of her own kids, who has helped so much by watching Taylor for us. I am thankful his family has been kind enough to take all three of us into their home and make us feel welcome. I feel like they have adopted me and I don't know what I would do without them. I love you all. (Jess & Preston not pictured - I couldn't find one! Oops!)

And last but not least I am thankful for the following: to be employed, my good health, and the rest of my family and friends and those close to me. I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving and remembers to give thanks to everything they are thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thankful

I'm a little behind on posting this. But for Thanksgiving we had many things to be thankful for. This Thanksgiving I was thankful to have an amazing boyfriend and a beautiful, healthy baby. I learned over the weekend that there is not a more rewarding feeling than seeing your baby smile at you or know that you can stop her tears. It's nice when other people are able to calm her down but nothing is more rewarding than someone handing your baby back to you and suddenly all her cries stop. I love the feeling. My grandma told me this weekend that if your baby smiles at you, they're telling you that you are a good mom. I hope that's true because in this house we get a lot of smiles.

Last night DJ and I were given another thing to be thankful for. We just earned enough grocery points to get 30 cents off every gallon at the Safeway gas station. We put gas in both our cars since they were both empty using our points. It came to about $1.33/gallon. Total for 2 full tanks of gas we only paid $31! How amazing! We won't have to buy gas for a while now!

Today Taylor is 8 weeks old - she'll be 2 months old next Monday. I can't believe how fast time is going by. It's a little sad. I feel like I'll blink and she'll be standing in front of me with her hands on her hips throwing around an attitude and talking back. :) Ha Ha. Let's just hope that never happens. But for now she is a tiny little girl that loves dancing, has found that she has a voice and can make noise and loves sleeping with her daddy.