I Am Thankful...Days 29 & 30

I can't even get the last 2 days on their own day. Good thing this 30 Days Of Thankful is over. I don't think I could have made it much longer. I'm not used to blogging daily. Pretty obvious huh?

Yesterday I was Thankful for the break that my husband gave me. I got to sneak away for a few hours to visit a friend and have dinner. It was so very nice. We hit Taco Tuesday at the bar. Tacos and Diet Pepsis. We are party animals! Lol..I would post the pic that we took, we take one every time we go out, but it's got bad 'flash face'. We look like cats in the dark.

Today I am Thankful that I did this project. It's good for me to stop and reflect on things. I get so caught up in the stresses of my life that I completely lose my mind sometimes. Now I have this to look back on and help me realize that life is good.

Which is why I'm posting this video/song. Again. :)

I ♥ it.

I Am Thankful...Day 28

Today I am Thankful for my littles and their endless imaginations.

We started a tradition today. It's called Elf On A Shelf. My little 5 are in heaven. Actually, it was pretty much a family affair this time. Madeline bought the Elf and the book this afternoon and we all sat down and watched the movie with popcorn and chocolate milk.

While we were on our 2nd round of the movie, (yes, it's that good) the doorbell rang. Annie and Lilah ran to see who could possibly be at the door at night. She opened the door to a white box. I kid you not, her exact words were:

'It's a package. A white box with letters on it, now isn't that weird?'

I almost laughed too hard. She asked me what it said on it. It said ' To: The S_______'s. Love: Santa.'

'MOM! OUR last name is THAT!' Lol..... 'Yes, Annie, it is' (she is so cute!)

They tore inside and ripped open the box.

I'm pretty sure our neighbors could hear the squeals of joy coming from all the of the girls, while Aaron, myself and the other 3 kids laughed. It was so wonderful to see such happiness and love on everyones face at once. A scene I so wished I had on film.

Anyway, THIS is who arrived this evening:

Meet Snowy Christmas Cookie Melt

She is our very own adopted Elf. Every year she will come after Thanksgiving and keep watch over all of the house during the day. At night, she flies back to the North Pole and reports to Santa how everyone in the S_____ family has been each day. I'm hoping it starts to instill a habit of more kindness and peace, and less arguing (mostly with the youngest 5) throughout our home YEAR ROUND. Really, it's all I want for Christmas. No fighting. Ever. Ha, right? I know. :/

The idea behind it is that once you take her/him out of the box and set her on the shelf, you must name her. Once she has her name, you can no longer touch her or she will lose her magic (at least, that's our adapted version of what us older kids got from the movie's intention. I can't imagine the arguing if 5 little girls had to share one Elf. No way. Better to keep the no touching or she'll lose her magic idea).

At night, after she's reported her day to Santa, she returns and lands in a different spot so that she can watch everyone from different areas of the house.

And this is the part that I love...Only a child would be this thrilled to love that a tiny 12" Elf is watching her every move.

It's magical.

Snowy Christmas Cookie Melt. Her name was decided by Annie and Lilah. The each liked a name so we put it together as one. And there was no arguing! It's starting already! ;)

Annable loves her 'beautiful blue eyes' and Lilah loves the 'red snowyflakes on her skirt'

In the morning the girls will wake up and have to look to see where she landed for the day. I almost can't wait to hear the laughter when they start their search.

It's like a tiny bit of Christmas morning every day until Christmas.

♥

I Am Thankful...Day 27

Today I am Thankful for the amazingly relaxing week we had. All the kids home, Aaron off for a few days and we had nothing to do and nowhere to go.

It.was.awesome.

I Am Thankful...Day 26

Today I am Thankful that I didn't totally forget my baby sisters birthday. It's today. I just NOW remembered. At 10:30pm. I suck. I even SAW her today. My HUSBAND even remembered and THANKFULLY told her Happy Birthday. I totally suck. This is what happens when you never look at a calendar and your kids had an entire week off school so you had no reason to even know what DAY it was, let alone date.

So, I'm super sorry and I really cannot believe I forgot. :( I've NEVER forgotten her birthday. But I am Thankful that I remembered before it was tomorrow.

*Happy Birthday sb*. I love you so much. And I'm sorry I forgot.

I Am Thankful...Day 24 & 25

Backed up again. I have a good excuse this time. Thanksgiving. Then Black Friday shopping. My first time ever. And it was fantastic! We hit Walmart and Target and got everything that we went there for. Even better? We decided to go to a newly built Walmart, quite off the beaten path and it was pretty dang empty. Well, for a Black Friday event from what I hear. In and out in 40 minutes. Including paying. Then Target. It was a bit crazier but we did it again. Everything we went to get (no more, amazingly) and outta there in less than an hour. The Black Friday Gods were sure on our side last night. I am not only Thankful for having a wonderful first experience, but I was also so Thankful that most everyone was in good spirits and not rude. Rudeness, especially when you KNOW it's going to be crazy, just irritates me. Go, be happy, hope for the best, have a good time and BE NICE. That's what we did. And it worked :)

Today, I am Thankful for my older kids. And all the babysitting that they do for us. Aaron and I were able to go out and get even more Christmas shopping done this afternoon thanks to them. Not only did we get to shop, we got to just 'hang out' together. Something we need to do more of. I LOVE our family and our babies but sometimes it sure is nice to be alone, doing regular stuff. Getting more shopping done, though was awesome.

This may be the first year ever that we are done shopping before Christmas Eve.

MAY BE.

I Am Thankful...Day 23

Today is a little thing. Today I am extremely grateful, I mean Thankful, for being able to do some of my Christmas shopping online. Not only is it easier, I save so much money with online deals/specials and coupon codes.

How did I ever shop before the internet?

I Am Thankful...Days 21 & 22

The past few days have been a blur. I've had photos to get edited, a house to clean, laundry to do, trying to get things gathered for Thanksgiving and start Christmas shopping.

I'm cheating tonight. I'm glumping my Thankfuls. It's been that kinda few days.

I am Thankful for the fact that all 5 of my Littles seem to understand that it's been busy and stressful lately. I am Thankful that they have gotten along so nicely for the past 2 days. Barely any arguing. It's made my life so.much.easier.

Thank you Littles. Mommy SO appreciates it.

♥