A Blog Hop and Thankful - Day 26

My friend Beckie is co-hosting a blog hop and a giveaway! So in order to be a part of this amazing giveaway, I am blogging about it!

First I am supposed to answer one of 4 questions. So I chose to answer this one:

* What is one holiday tradition that you treasure that you hope to pass down to your children?

A fun holiday tradition is our advent calendar. This particular calendar has been around since I was a little girl and it has been brought out every year since it was given to me by my grandmother. She was a very crafty lady (Beckie would be inspired by her!) and she hand made this calendar. It is a big felt Christmas tree, sewn onto a large piece of burlap fabric. It has 24 snaps sewn onto it and 24 ornaments to snap to the tree. All hand made. Sadly, my sweet grandma developed rheumatoid arthritis in her early 40s and as it progressed, she was unable to keep doing intricate crafty things. She has since passed away but this calendar is a treasure in our family. Now my kids enjoy it!

So there you have it! Now check out this sweet item below! This is the giveaway! Go check it out and follow their directions and maybe you will win it! But if you do you have to give it to me because I'm the one who told you about it! Just kidding. Not really. No seriously! Go check it out!

I am participating in Infarrantly Creative and Tatertots and Jello’s Blog Hop for a chance to win a Mint Cleaner. It is the revolutionary machine that cleans your hard floor surfaces for you.

Click here to join the blog hop and a chance to win!

The Mint Cleaner is available at the following places:

Amazon

The Mint Cleaner

HSN

Bed, Bath & Beyond

Thankful - Day...?

Wow. Where did I go? I bombed this challenge of being thankful every day of the month of November. I started strong, then...

So I'll fill you in a few things I'm thankful for in the past week.

I'm thankful -

I was able to get in a quick 3 mile run and a workout at the gym

To be getting to know a new friend while 3 of us hiked at Thunderbird Park

That the 5 of us as a family went on a run/bike ride around our neighborhood

For our church and the 20 year anniversary celebration

For my sweet friend Amie who is now out of beauty school and working in a salon and continues to do my hair at a significant discount and she is SO GOOD at what she does

For friends who invited us over to their house for dinner

And for another friend who generously kept all 3 of my kids today so that I could work for 6 hours

And tomorrow is Thanksgiving. How will you -

?

Thankful - Day 17

I'm thankful that yesterday, since we had people over for dinner, our house was still clean from that. So after I got home from Bible study, I was able to play with the kids outside then play Super Mario Bros. with Casey while Emily napped and never felt guilty for not cleaning something!

It was also fun to receive a little Thanksgiving care package in the mail today from my dad and step-mom. Movies for the kids and a fun Thanksgiving card for each one and an early birthday card for Tripp. It's always fun to get stuff in the mail that isn't bills or junk mail!

Thankful - Days 15 & 16

Yesterday I'm thankful that I got all the laundry done. That's boring, but I can't come up with anything better. It was a long day and I'm just glad it's over!

Today, I'm thankful for our new neighbors! They bought the house across the cul-de-sac from us. They haven't officially moved in because they are still trying to sell their house in Colorado. But this week they are in town and we are having them over for dinner. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better! Here's to new neighbors! How well do you know yours? If not very well, I encourage you to get to know them. Use the upcoming holidays as an excuse to stop by with some baked goodies!

Thankful - Day 14

Today I'm thankful that our calendar for this day was completely blank.

I was looking forward to spending a lazy day as a family.

But Tripp was invited to the Nascar races today with some friends and I was glad he was able to go. He's been working so hard lately, taking every side job that comes his way. I've been away 2 weekends in the past month (my half marathon in Vancouver and more recently, my trip to CA to visit my dad & step-mom).

So the kids and I had a good day. I was able to go for a 6 miler this morning before Tripp left. Then we did craft projects. I did laundry. We went for a walk up to Walgreen's and got a Redbox movie. I set up our iPod Touch that has been sitting in its box since August.

So I'm just thankful for a nice relaxing day and that my husband got to do something fun!

Giveaways in the Midst of Thankfulness!

So there is this giveaway that I just found out about, and I would REALLY love to win! It's for a GPS watch. I ran my half marathon with my friend's and it was so awesome to have all that info on my wrist. I found one on Amazon.com, the Garmin Forerunner 305 for $140. Yikes. But over here at this blog, she is giving a GPS watch away!! Go check it out, it's pretty awesome!

Here is another giveaway I just found out about! What a great way to try out some new running items!

Thankful - Day 13

I am SO thankful for gorgeous days like these, where we get to feed the ducks and have a picnic. I'm so in love with my family and beyond grateful to God for them!

Ryan had fun chasing the pigeons (or, as we like to call them, "flying rats")

Lucy wanted her some nice little duckies too!

Emily was also fond of chasing pigeons!

This big brown duck was our favorite. He was so pretty!

Thankful - Day 12

Today I'm thankful for my friend Jessica giving me her library culture pass to the Phoenix Children's Museum! Emily and I had a "mommy/daughter" date and it was so much fun! I tried to invite another mom and her kids but it didn't work out. I'm so glad it didn't because this gave me a chance to give Emily my undivided attention. It made me realize that I need to do these kind of "dates" with each of our kids, more often. I wish I had more pictures, but my camera battery died a half hour into our visit :-(

I love this "angel bathtub"

Here we are in the book loft

Grocery shopping! I just can't get enough of that!

Emily loved the kitchen

Working a puzzle

Her favorite place was this play area for littler kids where you can't wear your shoes inside. She also loved the craft room where she painted a huge castle for like 15 minutes! We also made a silly turkey. If you are in the Phoenix area, I highly recommend this place. But make sure to get a culture pass from the library otherwise it's $11 a person to get in.

Thankful - Days 10 & 11

I am day behind so let's play catch up!

Yesterday I went to Bible study. I go to Women in the Word at Desert View Church. It is an amazing group of women and I have learned so much! I've been attending ever since we moved back to Phoenix. This is my 4th year there! This year we are studying Genesis and I am loving every bit of it! So, all that to say, I'm thankful for my Bible study!

For today, being Veteran's Day, is it cheesy to say that I'm thankful for our Veterans? This morning we went out to one of the Surprise fire stations where our friend headed up a free pancake breakfast for all the Veterans and anyone else who wanted to come show the Veterans some love! We had fun doing that and supporting firefighter charities as well. Check out this link and you can see my boys waving their flags in the background! Ryan is wearing a gray t-shirt and Casey is wearing a plaid flannel jacket.

Thankful - Day 9

It was 11pm. I was yanked from my sweet dreams by a LOUD crash in the laundry room (that shares a wall with our room). It sounded like a car crashed into our house. Tripp didn't hear a thing (brings me back to the many nights I was woken to the sound of one of our crying babes while Tripp peacefully slept, not hearing a thing...). So I woke him up and told him to go check it out. He was annoyed. I was right on his heels and as I peeked over his shoulder, this is what we saw:

That is a set of cabinets that were hung above the desk on the wall on the right. THEY FELL OFF THE WALL!!

Here is where they used to hang:

I'm thankful for all the laundry and junk on the desk because it protected it (it is antique and it belonged to my grandmother)

This is most damage done to the desk:

The antique chair was not so lucky. Can you see where it cracked?

Thankfully, the only damage done to my washer/dryer was this dent in the dryer:

The cabinets are trashed though

So, the biggest thing I'm thankful for in this situation is that it happened when everyone was asleep. If one our kids had been standing there when it fell... I just praise God that no one was hurt.

Thankful - Day 8

I'm so thankful to be home, safe and sound, with my family again! It was nice to be away from my from "mommy responsibilities" for a couple of days but I'm glad to be back :-)

Thankful - Day 7

I'm thankful that God is so faithful and for true story movies that remind me of this.

Whenever I'm asked to describe who God is to me in one word, that word is always "faithful".

Go watch the movie "Faith Like Potatoes".

Thankful - Day 6

I am thankful for how much I was spoiled today.

Karen and I got up at 5:15am to be in line for the Nordstrom's Trend show. It was all about make-up and facial care trends. Philosophy, Lancome, Clinique, Bobby Brown, Laura Mercier, Clarins, Kate Somerville, Chantecaille, Le Mer. I'd never heard of half of these places before today! It was quite a site. People everywhere, make-up chairs lining all the walkways, loud music. I was truly out of my element. After the show, Karen and I had appointments at Lancome and got pretty made up faces. Then we met Dad for lunch. After that we power shopped! I haven't shopped like that in YEARS!

Now, I'm exhausted.

Don't you feel bad for me? ;-)

Thankful - Day 5

Today I flew to CA to visit my dad and step-mom, Karen. Even though I miss my family I'm thankful for a little getaway. Tripp is home with the kids. He works tomorrow so I'm thankful that my in-laws will keep the kids for us all day and overnight. I'm thankful to be treated to a yummy dinner at Stanford's at the Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek. My steak cobb salad was delish! I'm enjoying some grown up time with Dad and Karen :-) Tomorrow morning Karen and I will head to Nordstrom's for their Fall Trends Show. Not sure what this entails! I'll share the details tomorrow!

Thankful - Day 4

Today I had no motivation to exercise. I thought about going to the gym, but Tripp wasn't home to stay with Emily and even though there is childcare at the gym, Emily doesn't like going. But I was trying to motivate myself to do something.

How was I motivating myself, you may wonder? By baking (and eating) chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, drinking coffee and checking email/FB. Yeah, I need help. Then my phone rang and it was my neighbor, Faith. She asked if I wanted to run with her around the park in our neighborhood. There it was! The motivation I needed! So, with Emily in the jogging stroller and her son, Jacob on his scooter, we headed to the park. Jacob played at the park while Faith and I ran (with Emily in the stroller, it is HARD WORD!). We did 3.2 miles in 28 minutes (or so, I forgot to stop my watch right away).

So today, I'm thankful for my sweet neighbor, Faith who motivated me out of the house, to run, and enjoy this gorgeous (albeit warm) day!

Please keep Faith and her family in your prayers as they have to find a new place to live by mid-December. I am so sad that they have to move, not only do our kids love to play together, I will miss having Faith as a neighbor.

Here is the only picture I have of Faith, she is on the left in the pink top

30 Days of Thankfulness - Day 3...

My friend Julie is doing 30 days of thankfulness over at her blog so I thought I would do the same. This being the month of November and Thanksgiving just around the corner and all! So since I'm a little late getting it started, we'll call it 27 days of thankfulness :-)

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband.

Why, you may ask?

Last night after a really annoying trip to the grocery store with all 3 kids, I came home and realized that I had forgotten to stop by Pommie & Granddad's house to get some Zupa that Pommie had made for Ryan (she knows the way to our first born's heart is through his stomach!). So I asked Tripp to run over and get it. He obliged with no complaints

Then later, I remembered we had a RedBox movie that if not returned by 9pm, we would be charged for another day. So he again, ran out to return the movie, again no complaints.

Then this morning I had Bible Study and I knew I needed to get gas because the light was on. Bible study is 18 miles away so I wasn't going to make it if I didn't fill 'er up. When I got in the van this morning, and glanced at the dash board, it revealed a gas gauge that read 'full'! My husband is so wonderful. He got me gas last night probably while he was out running one my errands.

He is wonderful. He takes care of me.

**Just a side note to say that I still have a wonderful husband who takes care of me... But I'm losin' it. I was sitting at a signal today and noticed the price of gas at the station on the corner. I thought, "gee gas sure is more than it was yesterday when I got gas." Yep. I got my own gas yesterday afternoon, at Safeway, to be exact, before going in to the bank. I am really losin' it...

Halloween!

The kids had a fun Halloween! Casey was a cowboy, Ryan was a vampire and Emily was Ariel from Little Mermaid. We first went to visit Tripp at the fire station then headed to our friends' house for pizza and trick or treating.

This is Casey's class pet, Chief. He is the Superstar kid of the week so he gets to have Chief all week!

Emily is singing like Ariel, "Ahh ahh ahh...ahh ahh ahh"

My sweets!

Tripp's crew wore these pink shirts in honor of breast cancer awareness month

Traditional pix on the fire truck

Can't figure out why blogger won't let me delete one of these pix of Casey, so here he is - twice