I Am Thankful For My Keychain Hooks

Having run several errands today, I was reminded again how much I love these keychain hook thingies. To fully appreciate how much these things have changed my daily routine you need to know that my keys were always lost before I started using them.  I would come in the house and set them down with the grocery bags, or on a table, or counter, who knows where.  Then when I needed to use them again I had to retrace my steps from the last time I went out.  One year Rob even got me one of those keychains that beeps when you press a button on a remote because I was losing them so often.

When I was out shopping I would usually just throw them in the diaper bag, only to be standing next to my car with a cart full of groceries, cranky kids, or my patient husband (he was just pretending though, I know he was thinking, “Why can’t you keep track of those things?”) digging and taking out a dozen things before finding the keys at the bottom of the bag.

I tried one of these keychain things, and now before I walk into the house or into the store I attach the keys directly to the front zipper on my diaper bag or purse (I have one on both of the bags I use most).   And now I can always find them and even unlock the van door while I’m still walking towards it. Wow: No scavenger hunts or digging. What a simple time saver and sanity saver it has turned out to be!

I Am Thankful For A Husband Doing Laundry

Rob just started a load of laundry without making any comment about it. No “where are all my pants?” or “Whoa, that’s a big pile of clothes!” He just went in, turned on the machine, put what he needs for the week in the washing machine, and whistled as he walked away. Yes, he really was whistling.  I’m so lucky to have such an awesome guy.

I Am Thankful For My Carpet Cleaner

About six months ago I told Rob what I wanted most was a steam cleaner. We went and picked one out and it has already paid for itself by far. Having a house that is completely carpeted, it has come in handy so many times mostly with potty related accidents.  Today, I used it not only for a potty accident, but also for a sparkling juice accident.  When I was getting something out of our food storage in the office, something tipped, there was a domino effect and several things came crashing down. One of them being a bottle of sparkling white grapejuice. It then started oozing and squirting white grape juice everywhere. This just about gave me a mental break down (only an emotional one this time) because our office floor was covered in clutter, so I left a trail of juice not only along the carpet, but on countless miscellaneous items as well. I am still in a bad mood over it, and am writing this against my will, because Rob says I have to write something and stick with my goal. So, there ya go. I’m thankful for our steam cleaner.

I Am Thankful I’m a Full Time Mom

Today Sabrina woke up with a tummy ache and so we’ve been taking it easy this morning.  I am so glad that I am able to stay home and take care of her. I like being available if the kids need me to bring something they forgot at school.  I love being in their classrooms to help out. I love seeing the little girls play together and being here to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (just peanut butter for Emma, just jelly for Hannah, pb & j for Hunter and Sabrina). I’ve heard people say “you’re so lucky you can stay home.” But as every stay at home mom knows, it’s not always about if you can, it’s about making it work.  Of course there are exceptions. I have friends that work part time, or are single parents and have to work an outside job in addition to their mothering responsibilities. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to walk in their shoes.

I like to describe myself as a full time mom because there are still “career” related duties: deadlines, an overflowing “Inbox,” unexpected problems to solve, employee sibling squabbles, heavy lifting, customers friends and family with needs, monotony… But there are no scheduled breaks, limited adult conversation and/or interaction,  little verbal appreciation (and most of it is forced, “Will you try again asking nicely?”), and not many chances to see the work you’ve completed, stay completed. In spite of the craziness and sometimes stressfulness, I still feel lucky to be a full time Mom to these four beautiful babies.

I Am Thankful For Hunter

Hunter, my first born.  He is a super boy and the best big brother ever.  It can be difficult to take his picture though.  He is so good at keeping a straight face, that whenever I catch him in a smile, I feel a personal victory.  Hunter would love to go to Space Camp this summer, and still thinks that engineering for NASA would be the best job in the world. Hunter has a head for numbers and is so fast at doing problems in his head that he leaves me in the dust. He is now working towards being in the school honors orchestra.  They audition soon and the best players will get to play at Disneyland or California Adventure.  Our district honors orchestra is the only elementary band that has been invited to play there, so it’s a huge accomplishment.

Today I went to Hunter’s class and graded papers for a while.  I loved being able to listen in on how the classroom runs and since I sat quietly doing my own thing in the back, it was win-win: I got to be in class, and he wasn’t embarrassed by my me being there (I think). I love you Hunter Bear!

This may be the last picture we took of Hunter’s bike.  It was stolen from the school a while back and he found a used one on craigslist.com to replace it.

At the circus with Emma and friend Kate

Bumper bugs in A Bug’s Land

Hunter likes to make things for the girls on their birthday.  This is a chair for Emma’s American girl doll.

Hunter in character as an orphan boy at Lights on Broadway (He’s also ticked because he was the “only one” that didn’t have a Nintendo DS to play backstage. Mean Mom 🙁 )

This is Hunter’s favorite place to be – On the computer with a reflection of the monitor in his glasses.

I Am Thankful For Emma

Emma is eight years old going on sixteen and I just love her.  I love her energy and the joy she has for life.  She is a caring girl that experiences everything completely. So when she’s sad, she’s very sad; when she’s excited, she’s very excited; and when she’s happy, she’s very happy. She is a blessing to our family with her sense of humor and her sweet nature.  Emma has the heart of a dancer, or maybe actress, or maybe cheerleader, or maybe veterinarian, or maybe dolphin trainer.  We’ll see, there are just so many possibilities.

Following are photos of her progress with braces.  She did little complaining for a seven year old dealing with discomfort, extra brushing and a list of restricted foods. Now that they’re off, she still has to wear the retainers all the time (except for when she eats) and I’ve been proud of how responsible she has been with them and how she keeps them clean. So without further ado…

Before – June 2007

During

Today with retainers

Today without retainers