Thankfulness ... Day 19

I am thankful that my girls can read music and help my son with his piano practice ... and I am thankful that when I have to help him instead, that my daughters never laugh at me.

The second part was me being sarcastic.

Thankfulness ... Day 18

Thankful that our sweet baby skipped her three-hour fuss session last night which is regularly scheduled between 7 pm-10 pm. Thanks for the break little girl!

Thankfulness ... Day 17

I am thankful for Benjamin ... baby number 4 ... a heart's desire fulfilled.

There are truly no words to describe how much joy this precious boy brings to our life each and every day. I am also thankful to God for reminding me (again) that His grace is perfect ... and so is His timing.

Thankfulness ... Day 16

I am thankful for my camera ...


... and friends who help with my little photo shoot (thanks Erika!)

Thankfulness ... Day 12, 13, 14, & 15

So I fell behind. Boy am I thankful this doesn't count as a grade ;)

I am going to bullet some things that I found myself grateful for in the past few days in no particular order or importance ... just my thoughts

• Church! I missed going to church these past few weeks and we made our first trip as a family of 7 this past Sunday. Everything went really well and we even made it to early service which meant leaving the house at 8:20 in the morning!

• Good nights with the baby! Cause I think I was taking those for granted until we actually had a bad one.
  

I mean a really bad one.

As in, she didn't actually fall into a restful sleep until about 6:00 AM. I told her I was very sorry for my lack of gratitude for her very peaceful evenings and I promised to never ever take them for granted again ;)

• The sunshine is here! After so many days of cold and wet we are so grateful for the sun! We plan on having some outside time this afternoon after a very productive morning.

• The vibration feature on the bassinet is working again!
  

What on earth did they do before the invention of the vibrating baby product for goodness sakes?

Thankfulness ... Day 11

I am thankful for all the wonderful meals that have been prepared and brought to our family these last few weeks! What an awesome blessing it has been :)

Thankfulness ... Day 10

The dog pooped on the rug.

Benjamin used/ate an entire tube of chapstick.

Hannah's sweater had a security tag on it, so we had to stop at Kohl's on the way to co-op this morning ... in the pouring rain ... when I was already running late.

Today, I am thankful for joy that comes from Jesus.

And a sense of humor ...

Thankfulness ... Day 9

When we brought Clara home from the hospital, there was quite a bit of kicking and scratching to get to her and smother love on her with great affection.

Seriously, I had to keep track of who held her and for how long because the kids were lined up and ready to argue their case for why it should be their turn next!

Benjamin mostly wanted to identify her "MOWWW!" (mouth), "EYE!" (eyes) and "NOOOOO!" (nose) by gouging her with his grubby index finger ... But of course it was done with great affection ;)

When I tucked Sam in that first night I will never forget his sweet face and these words that he spoke as his big brown eyes filled up with tears:

"Momma ... You know Momma, sometimes people cry when they are happy ... You know?"

(as tears spilled down his cheeks)

"And Momma ... I am real (sniff) happy ... and I just ... just ... I JUST LOVE BABY CLARA SO MUCH!"

(as he burst into tears)

I am thankful for this sweet little boy who has a gigantic heart that gets so full sometimes ... it makes him cry with joy.

A blessed baby sister just minutes old with her big brother ...
An old soul