Thanksgiving 2012. It doesn't seem possible that it is Thanksgiving. I feel like we just got done celebrating birthdays at our house...and they all fall in the summer!
We have a lot to be thankful for, we all know that. What has become increasingly obvious to me in the past few weeks is the beauty and vulnerability in honesty and how thankful we should be for that. Honesty breads growth and happiness, though sometimes it can be a painful process along the way. I could write paragraphs about how great life is, how wonderful it is to have two beautiful and healthy kids, how I am blessed beyond measure to have the husband I have. I could write for days about the joy I can find in our kids shared laughter and secret moments of "best friendship" they can share. There is no doubt I am proud to see them walk hand in hand when they enter buildings, or when Harper is trying to master something Charli fears may be too much for him! But, what fills my heart with an indescribable amount of thankfulness is the bubble of safety I can surround myself with, and allow myself to be honest with myself and my friends about reality. We often joke that most people feel the same way we do, they just don't want to admit some of the things we do for fear of appearing to not have it all together.
We are pretty open books, and because of that we grow daily in our ability to juggle it all: working full time, parenting full time, being a full time wife, friend, daughter, and sister. It is not always easy. It is not always fun. It is always 'something' and it will continue to be this roller coaster until something changes, and when that day comes we will be shattered. I am thankful for this reality.
So, during this week of Thanksgiving while I am forever thankful for my family and my priceless children...I am thankful for the friendships that have been fostered in some pretty special people I am lucky enough to share time with daily. If everyone could spend 5 minutes being honest about "life" in general...we could probably all figure it out, together!
Last weekend the kids and I made our own star colors. They were so fun to make that the kids are apprehensive to actually use them...they want them to stay this way!
sorry for anyone who was not expecting this site today! Chad got his deer last weekend, and the kids were so excited for and with him! They cannot wait to go with him and hunt in the future!
These two could spend entire days making art! I cannot keep up with art supplies and space to showcase their work. We love this wall...but do have a hard time taking down to put new up! The left half belongs to Charli and the right half belongs to Harper!
we got to spend some time with cousin Braxton over the weekend and we decided to rope him into our art time. Each kiddo got to paint their canvas anyway they wanted to, and when it dried we peeled off some masking tape to discover the initial of their first name! I can't wait to get these hung on their "art" wall this week!
They each had four colors of paint...Charli mixed them all up to make her own color, which turned out to be pretty neat! I will have to post some after pictures once they are hung up!
It took a while for Braxton to not think we were crazy, but eventually he started to enjoy driving his brush on the tape and his turned out great! I would have liked to keep his, we share the same initial...so I felt like that would be legit!
painting must have been our theme word of the day Saturday! We painted our bread before making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Mixing a little food coloring and milk makes a great little experiment -- pop it in the toaster and you have individual pieces of edible art! It was fun, and I wanted to paint my own...but they told me it was a project for them. How rude.
We hope you have a great thanksgiving and can find a quiet moment to realize all the amazing things you have to be thankful...that fall a little outside of the typical list! The weather will be beautiful in our neck of the woods...a little sunshine on holidays just adds to the magic!
