T is for Thanksgiving (I didn't really think that through)

I thought we would skip to the letter T last week for Thanksgiving, but I soon realized that Gracie is smarter than I give her credit for sometimes and she quickly noticed that Thanksgiving doesn't start with the T sound. I had to try and give her a shortened version of the "th" lesson (a lesson that I usually give to kindergartners in January), but she was fine with the excuse that "sometimes letters don't follow the rules either":) We didn't even get to half of the things I had planned, but we just went with it and had fun!

OK, insert my "history buff" listens- to- nothing- but- talk- radio-husband story. Apparently, there is some speculation that the "public-school" version of the history of Thanksgiving may not be the actual story about the first Thanksgiving. If you go to google and type in "The true story of Thanksgiving", you will get all kinds of different views and opinions. I , however, still believe that the Pilgrims and Indians came together to feast and give thanks to God for the bountiful harvest (and until I can decipher for myself the language used in the Mayflower Compact, that is what I will believe). No matter what the true story is, we talked about how important it is to give thanks back to God for all he has given to us, not just on Thanksgiving but all year round. (I also promised Chuck that I will do more research so that when they are old enough to really understand and appreciate the history I will make sure they are learning the right things!)

These were a BIG hit, and we could do so many different things with them!! We sorted by color and size, made patterns, and their favorite was using the tongs to try and pick them up and transfer, so fun!

One day the girls sat for 45 minutes and just cut pieces of paper and glued them to each other....fascinating:)

Last time we went over to play at Allison's house, Mrs. Sandie sent us home with two bags of candy corn and candy pumpkins (Thank you Sandie, BTW-I will pay you back for that). I was trying to figure out what we could do with them besides eat them, and we decided to use them for this number 8 project.

and.............were done:)

Giving Thanks

I know, most people are in full-swing Christmas mode, but I want to take a minute to just give thanks. I L-O-V-E Thanksgiving (and I REFUSE to decorate for Christmas until the day after)!! Every year around this time my heart just bursts with thankfulness for all that the Lord has given us in the past year! I am so blessed to have an amazing husband, 2 healthy children, a warm home, a car to drive, wonderful friends and family, the opportunity to stay at home and raise my kids, and the list could go on and on. I, just like everyone else (hopefully), struggle with the "I want" vs. the "I really need". I need a bigger house, I need a bigger car, I need this, I need that.......do I really need these things......nope. My goal this season is to be content. I have everything I need because the Lord is faithful and he provides, and anything else the He wants to give me is just icing on the cake (as Sandie would say:) I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope you were able to give thanks for all of your blessings this year!

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget

that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,

but to live by them.

~John Kennedy

*we spent Thanksgiving Day in Dallas and I didn't get any pictures, but on Saturday we had an "at home" Thanksgiving and I still didn't get any pictures because I was busy cooking:)It was an awesome day, and the house smelled soooo yummy! I got to cook while listening to the sound of my kids running around the house and my hubby playing video games in between chasing them around the house.........Bliss!!

"As we pause to thank Him for the blessings of the past year,
we must not forget to thank Him for the lessons we have learned through our difficult times.
We are not to be thankful for just the pleasant, easy things, but ALL things."
~Millie Stamm

Happy Birthday Muffins

We did our annual "birthday muffins" on Wednesday with Allie for her birthday:) I think she is going to be just like her daddy, meaning she would be fine if we didn't make a big deal about her birthday (NOT going to happen)!

(Gracie, on the other hand, is going to be like me and make sure we recognize the whole month of February as her "birthday month", HA!)

**as you can see, I am a little behind on my posts. I have lots more pictures to come from Thanksgiving and school. Better late than never!

Happy (fake) Birthday Allie!

We celebrated Allie's "fake" 2nd birthday this weekend with our families (Gracie said it was a "fake" birthday party since her birthday isn't actually until Wednesday)....hmmmmmm....jealous much?? We had a BLAST!

It was a very colorful, rainbow themed party!

the mystery cake.......

I didn't even practice and it came out PERFECT! Whew!

 We are so blessed to live so close to our families so that we can get together and celebrate!! Thanks to everyone who came and made the day special for Allie!