1 - My family. This blog (and the five people who read it) know about the struggles, heartache, and loss my family has gone through this year. Without each other... well, let's just say I'm happy to have such a wonderful, loving family that includes my parents, husband, Lily, aunts, uncles, cousins, and my in-laws too - Doug's parents, sister, nephew, and so on.
2 - Lily - I know she's included in #1 but she's such a fun little person and has definitely help our family in our darkest days this year. Plus, every day is a new day with her. Prime example - we were getting groceries tonight and she started singing a new song. It took me forever to figure out what it was because she'll mix up all the songs she knows. I realized, after many random lines, that it was the Monkey Jumping On the Bed song (or whatever it's called) after she kept saying "and one fell off... monkey fell down... and one fell off...random words... bumped his head!"
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| Just a few days old! |
3 - Beautiful sunsets like the one tonight. Some days you need those simple reminders that life can be beautiful.
4 - I'm thankful that I live close to my parents. We can easily go out to dinner, like we did tonight, just to visit and talk.
5 - For our house. In today's economy, we are lucky that we have a roof over our heads. It may take a lot to run between the up keep of the house, mortgage, and everything else that it takes to own a house, but we're luckier than a lot of people. Even when I complain about cleaning and how long it takes me to find things - that just means we can afford things and that we have money.
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| Our house on move in day. Not much has changed in the front, other than the addition of one flower bed on the left. |
6 - Our jobs. We may have trouble with them from time to time, not to mention stress (we're both teachers), but we are lucky to have jobs that allow us to afford items such as our house, our cars, clothing, shoes, and food. We both see people every day in our jobs that aren't as fortunate (or their kids anyway).
7 - Each other! I don't know what I'd do without Doug helping around the house, being there for me and for Lily. We've been together for 9 years and we've seen our ups and downs in more than one way, but we're still together!
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| Our 2nd anniversary on a bridge over the river. |
8 - Friends. We have definitely seen a lot of friends change as we've graduated college, moved, and gotten married. We don't even stay in contact with some of our "friends" which is really sad. However, we have some really close friends we can still count on!
9 - Doug's parents. His mom recently made four scarves - 2 for Lily, 2 for me, and they are beautiful. Lily and I both enjoyed them very much and we continued to talk about Grandma (her name for Doug's mom) for a while. Lily is very lucky to have two sets of grandparents!
10 - I'm going simple on this one - I'm happy for Fridays. I look forward to them every week.
11 - I'll join the bandwagon on this one too - I'm thankful for all of our Veterans. They do jobs I couldn't even imagine doing, in places that can be extremely horrible. I have a few Vets in our family - both my grandparents and Doug's grandpa. We have some of his personal belongings from World War II and will eventually get around to framing them. I'd love to frame a few items from my grandpas too.
12 - I'm thankful for family time. We had a great time last night with friends and family and today is a day all about family time with the three of us! Doug has some things this morning but Lily and I plan on hanging out, going to town, and checking out some dogs. We may even go get a new couch later on, or at least see what specials they have going on. Our couch is 8 years old and is slightly broken and has seen better days! Although it's a good brand (Lay-Z-Boy), it needs replaced.
13 - Simple gatherings. I got together with one of my best friends and a few of her good friends today to go shopping at a local charity event. It used to be a lot about Christmas and I wish it still was, but I did find a few cute gifts. Doug stayed home with Lily so I could enjoy my time a little better. It's nice to be able to do that!
14 - My Aunt Sally (and the rest of her clan). I got an email from her today and she asked if I wanted to come over for dinner. She just moved here from out of state and we have definitely been enjoying it but when we get together, it's normally with my parents and sometimes more family. However, tonight my parents were busy and so Lily and I went over there and then Doug met us after coaching was done. We were able to hang out and visit for awhile. Lily was a little let down at the fact that she couldn't trick or treat, which is what she did the last time she was there, but she enjoyed it! On their last visit to their old home, they brought back some puzzles for Lily.
15 - Simple pleasures. Today they came in a few forms but I'll enjoy what I can get! I have a fish tank in my classroom and some of my fish had a few babies. I saw maybe 2, and some of my students saw them too, but for some silly reason, I love seeing my fish thrive enough to produce babies. I know they are just platys, nothing fancy, but it's still fun. I think they've since been eaten. I can't find my little net for babies, so we'll see what I can come up with because there are a few more pregnant fish. Another simple pleasure - smaller classes. For some reason today I had maybe 20% of my class gone (5 or 6 kids out of 25) and it makes such a huge difference! Some of the kids are louder, but some are my really good kids. It truly shows how nice it is to have smaller classes. I can help the students with all aspects of the assignment and walk around to watch everyone.
16 - I'm thankful for Lily. The 16th is always a hard day for my family. It's been 6 months now since we lost my brother and it was a tough day. So, I'm thankful for Lily who helps us get through all of this.
17 - Insurance. I have crazy poison ivy (the first time EVER) and so I ran to our local clinic and got some meds. Luckily it was a cheap visit because my $25 copay and $4 prescriptions! Woo hoo! Here's to hoping it works quickly!
18 - Fridays. 'Nough said.
19 - New furniture! Last weekend we bought a couch. It's been years in the making and super necessary seeing as how our couch has been broken for years. The recliners don't always work (one's broken and goes crooked) but we've put it against the wall and postponed buying a couch while other things have been in the way - you know, the house, Lily, a new (for me) car, grad school, buying a new HVAC, house remodels... all that stuff.
20 - Family time. We didn't have anything else planned for today and I got a lot of Lily time in! Doug went off to play rugby with his guy friends and I stayed around with Lily. We played Play-Doh, built a fort with the new couch and pillows, took a bath, and had some good cuddle time!
21 - A warm place to call home. The weather is getting cold but our heater is working and we can pay for our heat bills. It's also nice to have a house we're making a home. This weekend's newest arrival has made us want to decorate our room. Yes, we've lived there for 4 years but sometimes I just haven't felt like doing much. And sometimes it just takes some motivation in the form of a giant, gray sectional!
22 - Breaks from school! I enjoy teaching but it's nice to know I have time off. Call it a benefit of the job considering the pay isn't wonderful. I had a conversation with some of my students of how little teachers get paid and they were super surprised at it. So I'll enjoy my time off and try not to spend too much time thinking about the next 4 weeks until my semester is done. Or the Art Show I have in a week... which means a lot of work for me to Monday (if I don't go in this break and do stuff!).
23 - I know I've used her already but I am so thankful for Lily. She makes our family complete and she is a complete blast! She does amazingly well wherever we go, has a great sense of humor, and is so freakin' smart! I love that little 2 1/2 year old! Yes, she's officially 2 1/2, which means we need to pull out the bear and take a pic to show how far we've come since she was born! I think I did it when she was 2, so about every 6 months is what I'm doing now with the bear pics (instead of every month like the first 12).
24 - Thanksgiving Day. I'm thankful for good food, good cooks in my family, and family time. I can't wait until it's time to go see the family and enjoy some delicious food!!!
Too funny about Lily singing the Monkey's on the Bed song! Madison listens to the radio too much in the car and was randomly singing Katy Perry's Tonight Tonight song while trying to go to sleep the other night :) She knows words to songs she shouldn't :)
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