Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

15. Sunny days with blue skies and clouds. 14. College Friends.

13. My favorite sister in law. The one who had a marathon freezer cooking session with me this past weekend.

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

12. My brother- rock climber extraordinaire and all around good guy.

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

11. My husband. He is the perfect man for me. He is not perfect. Just perfect for me. I once read a saying that basically said "what if marriage is more about refining you, than making you happy?". It was worded better than that, but the meaning really stuck with me. I love that thought.

Today's society puts so many ideas into women's heads about what marriage should look like. It is hard work. It's rarely (if ever) flowers, expensive jewelry, and hot steamy "you- know -what" day and night (hey, this is a family blog-ha ha). A good marriage takes refining of your character over time as you grow with the other person. I hate being refined. Thankfully God and Tim know that I have potential to grow and be better and they won't allow me to stay at "average" or "status quo". I can be so much more (through Christ who gives me strength)! This could probably be another discussion/blog post all on it's own!

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

10. That today is over. Yes. I AM thankful for that.

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

9. The beach. My absolute favorite place on earth.

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

8. Fried food. Yes, I know it's bad for you. But how can something so bad taste SO good? Funnel cake in the fryer and mozzarella cheese sticks on deck.

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

7. That my father in law still loves me (I think) even after I used HIS cell phone to call him from another room in HIS house to tell him that I needed a refill on my water...and it cost him $1 because that's the kind of plan he has on his phone. Ooops. :)

Tim, Tyler, and my wonderful father in law!

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

5. Ice cold diet Coke.

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

4. That there was only one perfect person that ever lived on this earth and it's not me.

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

3. Three boys who crawl into our bed in the morning without waking me up (not all at the same time). Or, three boys who play quietly and let me sleep in. :)

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

2. Pizza (especially Pizza Hut stuffed crust Supreme pizza) Words cannot convey how thankful I am for pizza. :)

Thirty Things I'm Thankful For

1. Grandparents that are involved and totally invested in my boys lives.

I couldn't ask for better grandparents for them. For that, I am truly thankful!

Isaiah

There's a reason we call him "monkey boy"!

A beautiful fall evening

You really need to click on the picture to get the full effect. Ahhh. Isn't that better?

Harvest Swap

I participated in another swap hosted by sisters, Monica and Carrie. The theme this time was "Harvest" and it was a lot of fun because fall is one of my favorite seasons.

I was paired with Ginger who sent me this great box of goodies! I couldn't have picked out anything better for myself! It was just perfect!! We also found out that we have a lot of things in common, which was neat. This is what was in the box that I packed for her. Unfortunately the mug did not survive the trip, so I hope to remedy that soon! It was funny the similarities between our boxes (books, mulled cider candles, dishtowels).

All in all, a very fun experience!

Fun with Lochlyn

On Friday night, we had the pleasure of having Lochlyn spend the night at our house while Matthew and Lynden went camping with their youth group. We had a healthy supper of popcorn chicken, Cheetos, and hot pretzels.

Lochlyn arrested Tyler while Ethan took his socks off.

Cousins and best of friends.

On Saturday, Matthew and Lynden came to pick up Lochlyn. We talked them all into staying for a lunch of potato soup, salad, and blueberry muffins. When they were getting ready to leave, the boys had some fun playing in the leaves.


Yes, it is November it Ohio. I have kids wearing shorts and running around in their bare feet.

Caramel Apples

On Friday night, Tiffanie came over after the boys were in bed and we made caramel apples. I hadn't made them for a long time, and had forgotten how easy it was. The only problem we had was that our apples stuck to the waxed paper.

We used two kinds of apples, one red and one green. The green and their tartness made for much better caramel apples in our opinion. My personal creation. Caramel apple with chocolate and Heath toffee chips. Mmmm.

Fall Colors

Yesterday we took a drive down to Amish country to see the fall colors. Some of the trees had already lost their leaves, but it wasn't a bad show! The only downside to our trip was when Isaiah threw up McDonald's on the way home. It looked like he hadn't even chewed his fries. (You can thank me later for that visual). We got him and his seat cleaned up as best we could, but some clean clothes on, and headed down the road only to have him throw up three more times. I think it was brought on by being in the back seat and going up and down all those hills. He was fine and running around as soon as we got home.

Tim and I have found out that we both really like taking pictures. These are my pictures, maybe he'll share the ones he took on his blog.