Thankful 23

I am thankful for food. I love a good meal, alone or by myself. Food gets a bad wrap these days. People get so caught up over it, myself included. I sometimes forget how lucky I am to even have what I have in my house. I know that food needs to be eaten in moderation and we need to eat healthy food but we were given food to not only sustain life but to add enjoyment to it. I am grateful that we have money to buy the food we need and some fun stuff. I am thankful for a little boy who asks what is in everything he puts in him mouth so it makes me even more conscious about what come into our house. I am thankful for food. I love it. It is an amazing part of life.

We ate outside on Saturday, it was a little cold. The kids had a lot of fun. They were also a lot less messy. Why? I have no idea.

Thankful 22

I am thankful for happiness, very thankful. I can not imagine my life with out happiness. This is one thing that is central in my life. Yesterday I stood at the top of the stairs and listened to the Joshes playing and laughing. It was so amazing. It brought a smile to my face and made me so happy and I wasn't even near them. I have a very small understanding of depression and how it just makes everything cloudy and grim. Having those bits of happiness can brighten the dullest day.

Here are the people that make me the happiest in all the world.

I am grateful for all the happiness that is in my life. I am thankful that I can see it and recognize it when it comes and enjoy it while it is here.

No idea why she is doing this supermodel pose but it is dang funny. She does it a lot.

Thankful 21

I am thankful for my education. I am by no means the smartest person in the world, but I do have some brains. I am grateful that I can read and write. That I know how to analyze, pretend to use deductive reasoning and all that fun stuff I am grateful that I can continue to learn. I am grateful to have a husband who knew that my education was important and a priority, even if I didn't go into a profession, that it would still benefit me as a mother and my kids. I am grateful for my education and all that it has and will give me and my family.

Thankful 20

Tonight I am thankful for our bedtime routine with our kids. It takes about 30 min. We go upstairs, change into jammies, brush teeth, play around and then sing and read. At first we would just read from the Friend, those scripture picture books or the family Book of Mormon. Now Josh tells the kids stories from the Bible and Book of Mormon. It was so fun to watch David and Goliath tonight and sing Jesus wants Me for a Sunbeam. It is such a fun bonding time for us (and hopefully the kids are learning something). The kids love it. They love the time they get to spend with dad. I mostly just stay in the background while they play and listen to the stories, I love seeing them so happy. I love this time we have together and the spirit it brings into our home. I am thankful that we have schedules that allow us to have this time to be a family with nothing but family to occupy that special time.

Thankful 19

Today I am thankful for M.O. I should take a belly picture, later. Anyway, I am way thankful for M.O. M.O. has been a real bonding expierence for the fam. Yesterday, Joshie was laying on my belly and M.O. kicked him in the head. He got so excited and laid on my belly and sang to M.O. for about 15 min, getting so excited with every kick and punch. Aloria mostly just pokes my belly and says 'squishe' (mostly that one) or 'M.O.!' She will poke or smack my belly every chance she gets, she thinks it is so funny. But sometimes, she will nicely pet my belly and say 'baby'!

The best part is watching my kids carry around their little doll babies. They wrap them in blankets, feed them with makeshift bottles and even change their diapers. They are so kind an gentle to their little babies. I know that there is a good chance having some problems when M.O. arrives, but I am doing what I can to prep my kids. They are just so fun to watch.

Then there is Josh, he has probably felt M.O. move the least but we have had some really good conversations about family. It is so much fun to watch him be a dad and after each kid, he has gotten to be an even better dad. It makes me excited to see how even more awesome he will be with M.O.

M.O., we are excited for you to come, even though you have gotten far less attention then your sibling did at your stage of the game. We are so excited to see what you look like and what gender you be. Don't worry, we will have a name for you too! we love you M.O., see you in 64 days!!

What is a Heartbreaker mom?

Aloria had Joshies Captain Heartbreaker pajamas from when he was her age. (She some how ran out of pj's last night.) I was calling her Captain Heartbreaker and Joshie asked me what a heartbreaker was. I tried to explain as best I could. That is a really hard thing to explain. He then asked me if Superman was a heartbreaker.

A: Yea, he is.
j: Why?
A: Lots of girls really like him but he only likes Lois.
j: What's a Wois?
A: Lois is Superman's girlfriend.
j: ohh...

A little while later he was playing with his Superman and some other toys. The other toys were holding up a bus or something. I hear Joshie say (as Superman) to a bear, 'get out of my way or I will break your heart! I'm a heartbreaker!'

Oh wow, I laughed for a long time. Eventually, he will get it. He is a great kid.

Joshie Update

Joshua has been in a total helper mood lately, and I have been taking advantage of that. He is such a good helper and never wonders what he will get in return for his helping. He is also into telling 'jokes'. They are funny not because they make sense but because of the fact that they make sense to him. He is also so good with Aloria, they are such good friends. He is getting to be a really good sharer and even better, becoming aware of what she needs and takes care of it before I even pick up on it.

Here he is in his new 'apricot'. He wears this when he helps me make food. He is a good stirrer, pourer and getting better at measuring. He is very serious about his work. He is awesome, I love him so much.

This picture just cracks me up. He was showing us something important here and I got this picture. He looks like he is going to fall, but he didn't.

Little Aloria Update

Aloria is doing awesome. She has started to speak a lot. She is now learning words like pink, shoe, thank you, tub and tries to say anything that brother tells her to. She loves all things baby and girlie. She can not get enough of shoes. After a shower or bath, she gets dressed and goes straight to my sink for me to blow dry her hair and round brush her bangs. She loves to look at herself in the mirror after she gets dressed but only when her shoes are on. She loves shoes. She is so wonderful, I love being her mom.

This is one of our Thanksgiving decorations. Dad put a diaper on it and it is now Alorias baby. She is either hugging it or draging it around by its leg.

Thankful 18

I am thankful for good books. I love to read. I am picky about what I read. Not a big fan of fiction. I love things like biographies, parenting book and stuff like that. I love getting all snugglie and just reading for a long time. This does not happen as often as I wold like. I am thankful that my kids love to read as well. Aloria mostly looks through books to find babies, dogs and pretties. Joshie now likes to read to me. It is a lot of fun to sit and have him read to me. Usually Superman ends up in the story some how and lots of times there is a song. He is also getting good at recognizing his letters so he will point out the ones that he knows. Josh and I read together every night, and I love it. It give us lots to talk about besides or kids and his work. Reading is so fulfilling, especially when it is with people you love or something you love. I am thankful I can read and have access to good books.

Thankful 17

This is quite possibly the person that I am most thankful and grateful for. He is amazing. He is so wonderful to me. He does little thing like get ready for bed before me so that he can lay on my side to warm it up. He cleans up after dinner and changes diapers. He is very patient with me. He is just awesome. And best of all he loves me and thinks I am beautiful.

I love how he treats our kids. They love him so much. He play, reads, snuggles, tickles and loves to be with them. They prefer him over me, regardless of what he may tell you. Aloria calls for him all the time and Joshie will tell you that daddy is his favorite.

Nothing makes me happier than being with these guys. But I am so thankful that I have Josh. He really is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Thankful 16

I am thankful for showers. Short or long. There is something about getting out of the shower and being clean (for however long that may last) that is just so amazingly nice. I just feel better. I am thankful for showers.

Thankful 15

I am thankful for the adults only meetings at church. Today and yesterday we had stake conference (where several congregations meet together instead of separately). There is an adult session on Saturday night. It was so fun to go. I went by myself and Josh stayed home to watch the kids. It was nice to be able to sit there and listen and totally absorb the whole meeting. I also love the General Relief Society Broadcast for this very reason. Any parent who has taken any little child to church and tried to listen and get something out of it knows this feeling. It is really hard to get lots out of church while you are handling snacks, toys, keeping kids quiet, wandering the halls and so and so forth. I love the meetings where I can get lots out of them, get replenished for the weeks to come, until I get another chance to get filled again.

Here are my cute toots all ready for the general session of stake conference. I love Joshies bling. He looks so handsome in his Sunday clothes.

Aloria has some water on her little dress. She was so excited to put her tights on. After her bath, she ran to the hair dryer, she loves having her hair done. She cracks me up.

I would not trade my kids for decent Sundays. I love the fact that I get to be a mom and that I get to have these experience raising kids.

I am grateful for Sundays and meetings that I can escape and get rejuvenated spiritually. It helps me be a better person and a better mom. I can focus in the quite and assess things and check and make sure I am headed in the direction I want to be.

Thankful 14

(Again a day behind, sorry) I am thankful for games. I love to play games. There is nothing like having good friends and/or family around playing games, talking and just having a great time. Sometimes things can get out of hand but, that happens less often than the good times. I love the fact that little dumb games like Uno or Connect 4 can take hours to play and make great memories. I love games like Settlers of Catan that take a long time and you get to know the people you are with better and make good memories. (Also usually eat good food!) It has been especially fun to start playing games with Joshie. We got a killer deal on some games at Toys R Us and have been playing Memory, Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land with The Boy. Again, it brings us closer and we have tons of fun.

If you look closely, you will see that this is Ostler style Candy Land. Joshie liked it better with the superheros because you could make them do cool stuff when they moved, like flips and such. And then there were the sound effects. It made the game that much better.

Mr. Handsome playing the game with us. He was very kind in letting me cheat so that Joshie could win or at least be close to the winner. He is such a great dad. The best part is the last few games, we did nothing to 'fix' the game and all went well.I am grateful for games. For something that can bring us closer to the people we love and make such great memories.

Corn on the Cookie

Here is one of our fun little Thanksgiving treats. Thanks for the link Mindy.

Grocery Smarts Codes

Sorry, I should have posted this with the other post.

• So. Nevada (g89ccb)
• ALL-IN-ONE: So. Nevada
• Arizona (g85r01)
• So. Californai (g92ro1)
• Utah (g84rcm)
• Idaho (g83ro1)
• Eastern Washington (g99ro1)

Thankful 13

I am thankful for good days. These last few days have been a little rough, I have been really tired, more than usual and not in the best of moods. This afternoon I remembered a good day that we had a few days ago and then it made me think 'I can make another day like that'. And so I did. It was great.

I love good days when they happen. It gives hope to the next day and I sleep better. I love how my kids are and how they wake up excited for the next day. Good days help get through the bad ones. I am thankful that I have had more good days than bad.

Thankful 12

(I know this post is a day late, don't worry, I will do 2 today)

Today I am thankful for coupons. This may seem like a weird thing to be thankful for but I really am. They have saved us a TON of money, a ton. And the best part is that I get to not shop at Wal*Mart and that is really nice. My favorite site is Grocery Smarts. It puts each weekly add down with a coupon and tells you if it is a better/same/worse deal than Wal*Mart. I have gone a few times to see if the list was really right and I did save more at the other stores than I would have at Wal*Mart. (I am not totally anti Wal*Mart, but I like the atmosphere in other stores better, and the produce)

I was really skeptical at first because coupons seem to be mostly for junk food. But as I got going, I realized that a lot of healthy foods, fruits, vegetables and meat go on sale too. Even if some of what I need isn't on sale, I can still get them because of how much I save on everything else. The other awesome part is that it helps us stock up on soap, toothpaste, cleaners, toilet paper and anything else like that you can buy in a grocery store.

It takes me about an hour to get everything ready to go. That includes making a menu for the week, making my list and getting all my coupons. I go to one store and call it good. Some people go to more than that but I am not up for that.

Ok, so I totally sound like a salesman but seriously, we spend less than $75 a week and get to stock up on what we need food and non food wise, so that if we have to miss a week or 2, no big deal. It is awesome. I kind of look at it like my job, I quit teaching and so now I am really a moocher. It is important to me to save money where I can so when we can use that money for other stuff that we probably don't need but is fun to buy anyway.

Since we started this a year ago, we have cut our grocery bill by almost 60%. No more trips to the store 10 times a week and no real stress over what to eat each day. We can eat better because we are more planed and prepared. I love being able to show my husband how much I saved, it's kind of like a game. I am grateful for all the stress that these coupons have taken out of my life.

MyPhone

Aloria showing Grandma where she would put her iphone if she had one. ;) Gotta love her gangster pant leg.

She is actually quite angry in this picture for me taking pictures of her while she was on the phone. She is so funny.

Joshie was practicing fighting bad guys. Later he practiced it on a tree in our back yard, poor tree. We then had the conversation about how trees are living things, I hope it stuck.

Thankful 11

I am beyond grateful for Joshes job. He works at the Kozmary Center for Pain Management. It is a really good job. Josh enjoys going to work and enjoys what he does and the people he works with. He has room to learn and grow. Having such a good job right now is great but those perks are even better. Why do I love his job? For all those reasons above and that he works 4 10's and gets 3 day weekends every week. He comes home tired but happy. I am grateful that he found a job that supports us well enough that I can stay home (even though I try and convince him several times a week that it is take your children to work day). Also, because he is totally outgoing at work and talks and jokes around all the time. That just makes me laugh thinking about it but it is a really good thing because it means he is comfortable there. Don't get me wrong, there are some not so great things about his job, but they are far out weighed by the good one. I am very very thankful for the job that Josh has and for all the opportunities it give him and our family.

Thankful 10

I am thankful for my crock pot. This may seem random but I really am. It saves my life several times a week. We make oatmeal in it for breakfast and lots of yummy dinners. It helps out a ton now since I don't have lots of energy in the evening to make dinner. I love the way it makes the house smell so yummy. I love that I can cook chicken in it over night and have a ton the next morning to use in meals through out the week all ready seasoned and shredded. It is easy to clean and take care of, it is amazing. We have 2, a big one and a small one. If you don't have one, you should get one. They make life great!