My Greatest Blessing

Every day I am thankful to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. It is my greatest blessing----I don't know where I would be without it and every other blessing I have been given stems from it. I am especially thankful for the knowledge that families can be together forever. Knowing this brings me peace and happiness.

Isaac Mitchell

Isaac with his cousin, Eleanor, at the Omaha Zoo

I got a couple of days behind on my thankful posts, but I think with this one I'm caught up.

I'm so thankful for Isaac. He keeps me busier now than he ever has, and there is never a dull moment with him around. I sure do love this little guy. He has a big imagination and an even bigger heart. Today he told me that Lightning McQueen is his best friend. I won't even try to compete with that, but maybe I could be tied with his dad for second place...

Tomorrow

I'm thankful that Maddie gets to rid herself of this cast tomorrow. Our little champ even figured out how to walk in her new leg (and climb on chairs, and climb on kitchen tables, and dive off of sofas head first, and bounce up and down on recliners...heaven help her and me).

Cousins

Today I am thankful that my children have had cousins to play with this past week. They don't get to see each other very often, but when they do it's always fun to see them together.

Giving Thanks

Today I am thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving with family. We are really enjoying having Gavin, Becky, Eleanor, and Katie here in Iowa with us. Every time we go somewhere, Isaac asks me "Does Ellie get to come back to our house with us?" He loves having her as his constant playmate. We have a lot to be thankful for... Including a whole pie per adult in the apartment. I like those odds. We ate apple, French Silk, Fresh strawberry, and pumpkin.

Happy Birthday "D"!

I am thankful everyday for my dad. Today is his birthday and I've planned for a week to post today about all the reasons why I'm thankful for him. Then, my younger sister beat me to it on her own blog and wrote a sticky sweet post about him that I won't even try to compete with (I knew I should have blogged early this morning...).

I will say that he has always been there for me to support me in everything I do. Even living a thousand miles from him, we still chat at least once a week. He is fun, witty, kindhearted, dedicated, and generous. His family is more important to him than anything else. I love you, Dad!

Thanksgiving Messgage

I'm thankful for this video that Ryan's dad emailed to me last night. It's worth 5 minutes of your time, I promise. After a long and exhausting day, it was an answer to my prayers. I hope you like it as much as I did.

Apartment Living

Today I'm thankful for our apartment. I have been known to daydream of a house of our own and complain about living in a small space (my husband can attest to it) . Today I thought of all the reasons why living in an apartment is so great. This is what I came up with:

• It only takes me a couple of hours to clean the entire apartment--bathrooms, floors, kitchen, and all.
• Because we share a washer and dryer with 11 other apartments, there are two washers and two dryers in the laundry room. Two loads at once means I get laundry done twice as fast.
• We pay very little to keep the place cool in the summer and practically nothing to keep it warm in the winter.
• I am convinced that, because my children share a room, they are better sleepers than they would have been if I had the space to separate them (and believe me, I would have separated them--remember my post about Isaac jumping in Maddie's crib? Enough said).
• There are six other families in our complex that we consider good friends. It is so nice to have so many people we can count on living so close, and I never have a problem finding help if I need anything from any of them.

My BFF

I am thankful to be married to my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Fireworks in December

Today I am thankful for nights out with the family.

Last night we went to a local tree-lighting ceremony with some friends. It was a crisp 45 degrees outside--but nothing some winter coats and hats couldn't take care of. There was a live band, eggnog, Santa, and even fireworks.

These are Special Times

Today, I am thankful for Christmas music.

Until this year, I was an avid believer that Christmas music should begin the day after Thanksgiving and end on Jan. 2nd.

Until this year.

I have been listening to Christmas music for the past week or so and it gets me so excited for the holiday season. I love this time of year! I get especially nostalgic when I listen to Celine Dion's Christmas album, These are Special Times. My sisters and I LOVED this CD growing up, and while I don't own any other Celine music, this one is a favorite. In fact, it was an approved cd on my mission so my mom sent me a copy of it and I ended up giving it away because it distracted me and made me think of home too much. Listening to it now just makes me happy.

Now, with the beauty of Pandora, I can streamline Christmas music through my computer to my heart's content. This year, Michael Buble's holiday album is becoming a fast favorite.

Bring on the holidays!

Sticky Face

Today I am thankful for this little spunky girl, sticky face and all.

The other day Maddie saw a picture of Santa for the first time and exclaimed, "Mira! Jesus!" (Look! Jesus!)

I think the facial hair throws her off a little, because she said it again yesterday when she saw Santa in the mall.

Here's a short clip of Maddie trying to get around in her cast. She seems determined to walk with it, but as you will see, can't exactly balance for more than a split second on it.

Friends Indeed

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I have been thinking a lot about all of the blessings in my life. I had ambitions of blogging about a different blessing each day during the month of November, but that never came to fruition--starting on the 18th of the month is better than never starting at all, right? Well today I am thankful for wonderful friends. All my life I have been blessed with great friends. Friends who are loyal, trustworthy, uplifting, and just fun to be around. Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you are one of them.

Most recently I have felt an outpouring of love from friends. As I have mentioned before, the first half of this pregnancy has been challenging for me. Many friends have been there for me with encouraging words, phone calls, shoulders to cry on, ears to complain to, offers to baby sit my children, invites to activities, play dates, lunch dates, and even meals for my family (seriously, you know you have amazing friends when they bring you dinner BEFORE you give birth). I count them as some of my greatest blessings.

Ultrasound

I had my 20-week ultrasound this afternoon. We opted not to find out the gender of the baby, so it will be another 20 weeks or so before it's known whether a little bambino or a little bambina will join the family. Our little peanut was being somewhat uncooperative, so I'm not sure if the technician would have been able to tell us the gender if we had wanted her to. :-)

My bet is on a boy; Isaac, on the other hand, keeps talking about wanting another baby sister. We'd be thrilled with either one.

Profile

View of the baby with their spine up and their face down.

The best news of the day was that the doctor said everything looks great and the baby seems to be growing and developing right on track. We can't wait for this new addition to join our family next spring.

Broken

Our little daredevil broke her leg this morning after slipping on a book while at the doctor's office for a well-baby check-up. Only she would break a bone in the doctor's office. She took it like a champ, and if all goes well, she'll be cast-free in 3 weeks.

Trip to Wisconsin

This weekend we took a short trip northeast to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Ryan will be spending a month there next year and we thought it would be fun to check out the hospital and the town where he will be living for 4 weeks. Plus, it's a potential residency spot after he graduates, so there's a chance we could live there for 3 years. It is a small town right along the Mississippi River. While it was hard to imagine myself settling there long term with my family, I think it would be a great place for us to spend 3 years. We'll see if that happens.

La Crosse Children's Museum

Racing boats down the Mississippi.

The trains were his favorite part of the museum.

Maddie found a hand puppet and snuggled right up to it.

Isaac with the farm animals.

This is the closest he'll get to having a dog as long as he lives under my roof...

Shopping for onions and milk at the grocery store.

Playing with the dump trucks.

Driving the fire truck.

She can never get too much of her own reflection. :)

The Hotel Swimming Pool

Our hotel had a kiddie pool with slides and fountains for the kids. They LOVED it and probably swallowed a gallon of water each.

I think she had gone down the slide 30 times before Isaac warmed up to the idea. He ended up loving it almost as much as she did.

Here Ryan is telling her at least 10 times to sit down--there was only one time when she didn't listen and tried to cowabunga dive down the slide.

All tuckered out after swimming.

Here are a couple of videos of the kids at the pool. The first word out of Maddie's mouth after going down the slide and immediately trying to wriggle out of our arms was either "down!" or "more!"--both so she could climb right back up the steps and go again. These videos are especially for you, Corey, since you never seem to tire of the cheesy clips.