an attitude {of gratitude} ~ week 3

This week I am very thankful for time spent reading with the girls. A few of our favorite books that we have enjoyed in the last week are Fancy Nancy Poet Extraordinaire!, A Bad Case of Stripes and Little Women. I highly recommend the book The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado. Especially if you're in the mood to get all choked up by a story, so much so that your seven year old has to finish the last few pages.
 It's the best and most relaxing way to end the day. Even when someone decides it's funny to place an ear of indian corn under the arms of their sleeping sister. She has the best laugh (the mischievous one smiling in the back of the photo). Another thing I'm thankful for.


I'm also thankful for two new foods I tried this week, edamame and bibimbop (the one that is served hot!). I didn't make up either one of those names, and they are both delicious. Thank you so much for lunch, honey!

I am thankful for my new infinity scarf. So soft and warm and the color of sugar plums. I love it!!

I'm thankful for the girls teachers at school.

 I'm thankful for living room theatrics.


I'm so thankful that Alyssa enjoyed a great birthday. As the girls get older, I always worry that they will lose some of the child-like excitement over cupcakes and birthday songs and decorating the living room for the occasion. Not Alyssa! :-) She kept referring to it as her "Birthday Week" because there were multiple mini~celebrations. Last weekend we celebrated with my parents, then the day of her birthday we had a special dinner at home just as a family, then Tuesday was her birthday treat day at school, and Wednesday was her treat day at church... It was special for her to be celebrated in so many ways, and I am grateful for all the family and friends who went out of their way to send sweet birthday wishes! Thank you!!

I'm thankful for Miss Jessica, one of Alyssa's teachers at church who saw me struggling to carry all the teaching materials for my class and the cupcakes for her class, so she lightened the load taking all the cupcakes.

I'm thankful that the girls were able to stay for open gym on Friday. This is something they had been asking to do all Fall, and every week we had some kind of activity going on that prevented me from being able to say yes. Later in the weekend their coach told me how excited and happy they had been to stay late in the gym.


I'm thankful for the sounds in our home. Earlier today while I was making brunch Dave was talking to his sister on the phone, I overheard Emma reading a book, Rebekah was simultaneously singing a duck song and "reading" a book about dinosaurs, and Alyssa was in the bathroom speaking with an English accent while carefully watching her facial expressions in the mirror. I had water running in the sink and the oven was making the whirring noise it makes when set on "convection bake." I think football was on TV too. Although no single one of those things was very loud, put together it was noisy, and I had a terrible headache. It occurred to me how sweet all these unrelated noises were and how much it sounds like home.

Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18