Thankful Tree

A couple of weeks ago for Family Home Evening we made a Thankful Tree and hung it on our front door. I wish I would've taken a picture of it that first day to compare with the finished product. Every night after scriptures and prayer we would all take 2 leaves and write something we were thankful for so that we could fill the tree with leaves before Thanksgiving. Tonight we finished our tree and read all the leaves and all that we're grateful for. Some examples of what our family is grateful for: Games for our Wii (probably every one we own), our family-- and extended families, books, webkinz, shoes, job, Barbie, magic erasers, our house, schools, clothes, treats, and then Johnny and Maggie also added: scriptures, Jesus, Christmas, prayer, and church. This was a fun activity and it was fun to read all the different things we have to be grateful for, and I'm extremely grateful that my kids know what is really important and who we have to be grateful to for all the blessings we enjoy. We're trying to teach them the true meaning of Christmas this year after I asked Maggie one day what her favorite part of Christmas was and she answered, "getting presents". So, we're working on that, which is a whole blog entry another time! Anyway, I have so much to be grateful for and I never want to take for granted all the daily luxuries we enjoy-- especially being able to live in a house this year! Yeah! I love my garage, but I know that the first time it snows and I'm not going to have to scrape my windsheild-- I'm going to love it even more!! We feel so blessed, and one of our greatest blessings is our families. We're so happy to be near both our families this year and hopefully every year to come. Happy Thanksgiving, XOXO!

Happy Birthday, Johnny!

November 15, 2007

Johnny's 7th Birthday Events:

7:00 a.m. Wake up to decorations, eat breakfast, get ready for school

7:15 a.m. Mom and Dad let Johnny open one present to ease the wait time for Dad to get home from work

11:00 a.m. Mom takes cupcakes into class at school

11:30 a.m. Lunch with Mom at school, she was the biggest kid in the lunchroom!

2:45 p.m. Home from school! Time to play new TMNT game for the Wii!

5:30 p.m. Dad's home, time to open presents ...

5:45 p.m. New presents include: Reindeer Webkin & Target giftcard from Grandpa & Grandma Peterson & Tyra, new scooter with helmet & pads, Cube World man to add to collection, Scrabble Jr., Blackbear Webkin from Grandpa & Grandma Livingstone, and lots of treats from Micki & Spencer, yummy!

6:00 p.m. Dinner at Chuck E. Cheese with Spencer and Micki, lots of fun!!

8:00 p.m. Grandpa & Grandma Livingstone come for cake and ice cream

9:30 p.m. Bed time, what a great day!

I looked out the window and what did I see? Pt. 2

The first picture is the taken through my window, the rest off my back porch. It is so close! Yipee!!

So, here are pictures of our finished park. It is WONDERFUL!! They just barely finished putting in the wood chips on Friday so we haven't had a lot of time to spend there yet-- but I'm sure it won't take long before we are regular users. It's fun to see all the moms and kids congregate there around 4:00 p.m. each day. I'm hoping we'll be able to make some friends by frequenting this park and aren't we lucky that it's right outside our back door?!! Josie already looks out the windows and says, "Side" (outside or slide, haven't figured it out yet). So, invitations to all to come and play!!

Curly lox ...

We took these pictures of Maggie before church last week. We put rollers in her hair after her bath the night before and we were all surprised at how well the curls turned out! I was afraid that she wouldn't like sleeping in them so I used what I've heard my Mom say before, "it's like sleeping on lots of little pillows", and it worked! We used the rollers again this past week and before bed she said, "how many little pillows do I have on my head?" It sure turned out cute! Grandpa Livingstone thought she looked just like Annie, and we also heard she looked like Shirley Temple. She's happy because it sure beats curling her hair with a curling iron every day! (If you're wondering why Johnny is sucking his fingers, he's copying Josie, don't worry, it's not a regular habit-- thank goodness! He's just trying to be silly!)

Christmas already??

One of the things I missed while living in Tucson last year was waking up the day after Halloween to Christmas music. This morning I turned on my radio with anticipation, and there it was -- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen! Now I'm ready for the snow, my Christmas tree, and all the birthdays inbetween!