Giving Thanks: The Spur of the Moment

This week, I've been really thinking about what I'm most thankful for, and I realized, again, that I am so thankful for spur of the moment things...things that don't take a lot of planning...little things that just happen or fall into place. Last week, Steve threw a rake in the back of the car, we both picked up the girls from daycare, and we headed to a local park to jump in the leaves. It wasn't planned and we weren't really dressed for it. If you look closely, Ellie is wearing a nightgown and a pair of dress shoes (which she calls tap dance shoes). It was "crazy day" at her daycare, and that's what she wanted to wear. But here's the important part...some of the very best moments just happen at the spur of the moment. Note: If you look closely in the picture above, Kate is trying to stuff the leaves into her pocket. She wanted to take them home with her. My sweet little girl is a hoarder, I'm afraid, and may one day be featured on a TLC documentary. Ha! Gotta love that girl!The next day, we decided that we needed a bigger pile of leaves. So we headed to my parents house, raked their front yard, and jumped in the leaves for over an hour. This time, the girls didn't get to have all the fun. They had to share the leaf pile with us!
Note: I'm sure that my butt did get off the ground a little more than pictured above (I mean, I was a cheerleader with a seriously mean toe touch back in the day). I think Steve just didn't capture me at the peak of my jump. Let's blame it on his photography skills (or lack thereof), shall we?



Look at those smiles. That's what I'm most thankful for!

And I'm also thankful that Steve has a job with great hours that allow him to be home with us more than a lot of other dads/husbands. I take it for granted that Steve will be home by 4:30 p.m. each day (and some days, when I'm home with two screaming, crying, cranky kids, it feels like 4:30 p.m. cannot come soon enough). But I know that there are many women who wait until much, much later in the evening to see their husbands. I take it for granted that Steve never travels for work and that he rarely gets called in late at night. Without his great work schedule, I know that a lot of the spur of the moment, fun things that we do just wouldn't happen. And so his schedule is definitely something that I am thankful for this year!

Giving Thanks: Heart Walk

Have I mentioned that Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays? It is the kick-off to the most wonderful time of the year. It makes me want to eat apple pie and curl up in a fuzzy blanket with a good book in front of a crackling fire. And I won't let the fact that I don't have a fireplace deter me from the warm and cozy feelings of the season. I love this time of year (and the turkey and the mashed potatoes and the corn and the rolls...Ha!) and I am reminded that I have so very much to be thankful for, even beyond the most basic and important things (like good health and a husband who works hard, and two sweet little girls, and food and shelter, and family and friends, and freedom and so much more). But you know what? There are other things, smaller and less important things, to give thanks for as well. For the next week, I'll share some of them with you and hopefully, together, we will all get into the true spirit of Thanksgiving!

This fall, for the second year in a row, my family participated in the local Heart Walk. We walked in honor of "Pappy Bill" (my dad), and obviously, I'm so thankful that my dad is doing well and still with us today. But I'm also thankful for the friends and family who supported us in this cause. I was truly shocked by how many people were willing to buy silhouettes or have their family photos taken for a donation to the American Heart Association. Together, we raised a whopping.......

Wait for it...






Are you ready???








$637! We surpassed our goal of $500, and we never could have done any of it without your help. I am so very thankful for your support of the American Heart Assocation and "Pappy Bill."

A special thanks to:

Judy and Steve
Judy and Ryan
Sommer and Jeremy
Cathy and Mike
Michele and Jason
Debi and Greg
Sara and Ed
Emily & Family
Kristin
Heidi and Adam
Sarah and Mike
Melissa and Steve
Stacey and Woody
Marcia and Dave
The Helfrick Parents :)
Lori and Wayne
Lena Bengston
Erin and Shane
Aunt Penny and Uncle Bradley
The Wise Family


I forgot my camera, but one of my friends took a picture with her phone! Once again, we wore our Penn State gear (Pappy Bill's favorite team). My whole team (except for a few slackers - i.e. my family) walked the whole 4-mile course. We only did the one mile course, but with two kids at naptime, that's about all we could handle!

Thanks, again, to everyone who supported this very important cause!

These are the days...

Remember that 10,000 Maniacs song called "These are Days?" I don't think I could ever forget it. I was in a sorority in college and I'm pretty sure that song was played at every rush party, bid night party, greek week, and mixer that I ever attended. Plus, my college roommate was IN LOVE with Natalie Merchant and she probably ruined the tape by playing it so much (yes...I just said tape. Let's not make a big deal of it, lest I start to feel old. And we all know that is not true). Back then, we danced and laughed and drank and felt carefree and fun. Can't you just hear it...

These are the days
You'll remember
Never before and never since, I promise.
(In case you can't "hear" it, youtube has you covered.)

And I believed those words. That these were certainly the days. The best days. The ones I would never forget. It's true, of course, that they were great days and that I remember many of them (longingly, especially on those days when I'm up to my ears in screaming kids or when a certain little "potty trained" girl has pooped in her pants for the second time in one day). But that's another story.

This story is about The Days...the ones that we will never forget. What I have learned (in the time that technology moved from tapes, to CDs, to downloadable tunes) is that we do forget The Days. And while it is okay that I have forgotten some of those bid night parties or the names of every girl pictured in my sorority composite, it is NOT okay for me to forget these days.

I want to remember every moment of my girls' childhoods. I want to remember how sweet they look when they're sleeping, how they believe that a kiss really can heal everything, how they love to play hopscotch, and how they fight over who gets Mommy to put them to bed at night. To me, These. Are. Days...to remember.

And I'm sad, because I know that I will forget. Years from now (when my kids are telling me I'm so old because I remember those ancient days when we downloaded music from I Tunes), I will forget the way that Ellie said "Finkles" instead of Sprinkles and "Farkles" instead of Sparkles. I may not remember how excited and cute she looked when she showed me her new, sparkly shoes and said, "Look at my farklies, Mama." I probably won't remember that Kate walked around the house with her binoculars (which she called noculars), searcing for flies or bugs or the elusive "Walmarch" butterfly.

I wonder if I'll remember how it feels to hold a tiny little hand (Ellie is a great hand-holder and I love the way she grips my hand so tight). Will I remember the day that Kate pretended to put on make-up and said, "The secret to make-up, mama, is not to overdo it. I learned that from Max and Ruby."? Will I remember the time that I walked up the stairs to find a potty training Kate, sitting on the big potty with her pull-up on her head and the sweet, innocent way she giggled and said, "Look at my hat, mama."

I suspect that I will forget much of this, just as I have already forgotten so many things from their babyhoods. It's bittersweet, because I know how important it is to hold on to these precious memories. These Are The Days...and I want to remember.

Two Little Monkeys...

It's Friday, and what better time to get a little crazy, right? I remember a few (just a few) wild and crazy Fridays back in the day. So in honor of our former wild weekends, let's get a little crazy, break a few rules, act like monkeys. Sound good?



P.S. This is as wild as it gets in our household these days...not sure what that says about my life!

It Takes All Kinds of Folks...

It's early November, and I'm already thinking about Christmas cards. Of course, I haven't designed any yet, but I have a million catchy phrases running through my head and I've been trying to imagine the perfect photos to put on my card. I want something quirky and fun...something different and interesting. Don't get me wrong - I love the beautiful cards with a great family photo on them and I may go that direction myself. But ideally, I want something wild, crazy, and cool this year. If only I could figure out what. Ha! But when I do, I will be heading directly to Shutterfly.

I always get my cards at Shutterfly. Well, once I went to Walmart, but for some reason my sweet red headed girl had a greenish tint to her skin. So now I just avoid the alien Christmas theme (not the quirky, cool idea I was going for) and head straight to Shutterfly. Their cards are beautiful, the colors are good (which is so important to a photographer), and they have designs for all kinds of folks. See?

For the Traditional Folks...
(I think this card is so classy and elegant - love it)

The Funky, Cool, Modern Folks...
(I want to hang out with the cool people in this card. Nevermind that I can't snowboard.)
For the Indecisive Folks
(I count myself in this category...with so many pictures to share, how can you choose just one?)
And the Long Winded Folks...
(Yes, I believe I may fit in that category as well)

No matter what kind of "Folk" you are, Shutterfly has a holiday card for you. I promise. Check out all the photo cards online.

And while you're there, order yourself a calendar or two. I get some every year and I love to switch the calendar each month and see who's coming up next. These make awesome, personal gifts, and you all know how I feel about personal gifts. Very important, people...so get personal this year!

Okay...I'm off to brainstorm some more fabulous, funky cool Christmas Card sayings. You should be doing the same!

Note: This is a compensated post. Shutterfly is giving me some free cards, just for telling you how fabulous they are. I love free cards, but I promise you that I would never endorse their products if I didn't already know and love their products. You can trust Shutterfly. I do (and did, even before they offered me free cards)!

Sneak Peak of Baby K

I've been reading about newborn photography and every professional photographer in the world (okay, that's a bit of an exageration, but you get the point) says that if you photograph a baby in the first ten days, they should be sleepy and flexible and willing to curl up in any pose imaginable. Ha! Those photographers have not met sweet baby Kayaunna, as she would surely give them a run for their money. She has a mind of her own and a strong little personality already...at only nine days old. I love it. She's much like her mama in that way...she should have been a red head! So I decided that she should take the lead and I would just photograph her...being her. It turned out perfect, don't you think?




Katie - I'm finished with the photos. I'll burn a CD and drop it off later this week. Thanks, again, for letting me take over your dining room and spend some time with your precious girl. It was fun to hang out and to hold a tiny, squeaky little baby again!