8 is great!

I can hardly believe it…

She is really 8!!

(Sniff..)

Lynnie, you are more than excited to be 8, and you should be!  What a great time in your life (what a great time in ours!!).  There are so many great things that lie before you, and we are excited and so thankful to be able to share in them with you.

As I went through all 468 pictures we took, of just you (and some with me), today, I kept saying prayers of thanks..

I am thankful for your spunky and silly personality..

I also cried, like, a lot.

For the obedient spirit you are.

For how many times you say um and like in one sentence.

For the love you show your sisters.

For how you want to sleep with them EVERY night.

That you are always making me laugh!

That you know just when I need a hug.

I am thankful to have been able to watch the transformation in you this last year, to see just what 8 does to a little girl like you.  To see you learn and understand so many things.  To see the excitement in your eyes when you learn something new, to see the satisfaction when you understand a new concept.

 

You are my helper.

(You also have your sloppy moments…  but we get over them!)

You care about every ones feelings, you are such a good friend!

Your excitement for everything that happens in life makes us that much more excited.

I look back, and remember the days before your birth as we were preparing for your arrival.  We were so excited (and a little sacred!), we couldn’t wait to meet you.  When I watched your little body enter this world, I had never been so thankful.  You have changed our lives. 

You made me a mother.

I am so thankful to be able to hold you in my arms everyday, kiss your sweet face, and hug and squeeze you until you beg me to stop.

   

We can’t wait to see what else 8 has in store for you.

I love you Lynnie-lou!

Love mom.

One buck Wednesday!

As usual, on Wednesdays, there are some fun deals at Jessica Sprague..
Just a couple of those are:
Elle’s Studio Christmas Gift Tags…

These are so fun!  I usually make my own every year, stamping and punching, coloring sometimes too..
These guys are already all dolled-up for you.  They come in three different colors, different sentiments too.  I layered mine with a scalloped center piece.
Another beautiful product available for one buck today are Christmas card templates from In the Making Design.  She has used her “Frostbite” papers to make these lovely cards.
I LOVE Linda’s stuff.. it is always so gorgeous!
  There are five to choose from, all for one dollar!
With a bunch of fun sales coming up, don’t forget the one at Jessica Sprague, going through December.  20% off most products, not to mention a bonus with $20 purchase.
Ohhh!!  AND the FREE class!

Day 23.

I am thankful for the kinda-sorta “blizzard” we had for a second today.  I am thankful for the excitement and fun it brought.

They (the meteorologists) sure talked up a big storm, and we were excited!  But, it wasn’t as big as we’d hoped for…  it did pile-up outside the door.

I think there were some people praying that it would putter out.  We were praying to get snowed in, for the power to go out, have to live off of our food storage, use the lanterns and flashlights for a night (or two), cook dinner on our camp stove, sleep underneath mounds of blankets snuggled closely to each other to keep warm.. 

You know, an “adventure”.

We had fun while it lasted…

After dinner, as I sat down to finish Lynn’s birthday shirt, Merrill came in my craft room, looked out the window, rubbed his hands together, and said to the girls, “Let’s go out and run in it!”

We were all down.

Soon, everyone had on snow gear, and we were out in it. 

We made a few snow angels, chased each other and even had a couple of tackles and white-washes.

After that, it was inside for hot baths, hot cocoa & homemade doughnuts, and snuggling while we watched a movie.

What a great day!

Maybe the next storm will pan out the way WE want it to (sigh..).

November 23rd..

Day 22.

I am sitting here, debating if I should take a shot of NyQuil (‘cause I really want some good zzzs tonight) and thinking about Merrill’s last words to me, before he went downstairs to our comfy, warm, and oh so good smelling bed (because today was also sheet washin’ day around here as well as “clean house Monday”.. and while I am at it, while I am in parenthesis, let me just say that having 3 sick kiddos home on clean house Monday, makes for the cleaning to take 3 times as long.).  He looked at me and said, “Were you going for the Marilla Cuthbert look today?”

And as I looked back at him, with that little smirk on his face, I knew what I was thankful for today.

We really didn’t have an activity, per se, for FHE tonight.  It kind of just happened.  As I was playing with the girls, teasing and chasing, it suddenly turned into a wrestling match with mom.  A wrestling match where they were burying me with pillows and blankets and beanbags..  and their bodies.  When I would take one of them under the pile with me as a victim or hostage (whichever what you look at it), a plea for help would go out amid giggles to the sisters left on the outside, and then to dad. 

(He is good at rescuing.) 

We laughed, and laughed, and laughed.  I was thankful that there really wasn’t an activity planned, that we can just be together and the fun happens.

At the end of this day, I am thankful for my messy, Marilla Cuthbert-like hair.

(I bet you are so sad there isn’t picture proof, huh?)

November 22nd..

This week’s challenge at I {heart} faces is “paper”.
I had many ideas, this was just the one I was able to try out..

As usual, there are more awesome submissions there.
Go, see!

November 21st..

Spent part of our day together in a favorite room of the house, listening to music and watching the girls dance.