Thankful

It's that time of year again to celebrate Thanksgiving. We hosted the Schulz family for the annual Living History Farms/Thanksgiving event. We had a great time with the Schulzes and I am truly  thankful for all of them. I did have an epiphany over the course of the weekend and I think it's due to the fact that you don't really realize how much someone else does for you until you try to do it yourself. Hosting guests is a ton of work. The house cleaning, laundry, meal planning, shopping, realizing you didn't get something and going back to the store, dishes, washing bedding, working full time, finding fridge space, encouraging Sam to not pee on the toilet seat, etc. etc. etc.

My epiphany was this: G.G. is a saint! I host Thanksgiving once a year with Chef Eric doing the majority of the cooking and I still feel like I ran an ultra marathon when it's all over. G.G. is constantly hosting people, doing all of the cooking, cleaning, and entertaining, and she seems to love it.

I have a very long thankful list, but today G.G.'s name is written with a glitter pen.

Love notes

Laura has been leaving notes like these around the house lately. I can't imagine loving her more.

Party Time

Sam had his first "friends party" today. We celebrated with a Planes theme party and the biggest hit was the airplane simulation. Each kid got in the "airplane position" on my legs while we blasted a box fan. Then the party goer went through a "cloud" and was hit in the face with a plateful of whipped cream. The pie in the face trick never gets old. I wish I had pictures, but my hands were full of whipped topping. 

Sam and Laura both had breakfast in bed this morning and I have a hunch this is going to turn into a birthday tradition. Who knew waffles in bed could be so thrilling?!

These are the moments I know I'm going to miss when they're grown and away. 

Four

He's four! Sam had a great birthday yesterday that included Eric being his special guest at preschool, going out for lunch with Eric, make your own pizza night, cupcakes, and a birthday gift treasure hunt! 

I will update with more pictures after his Planes party this weekend. He also requested breakfast in bed. Where did my baby go?!

Creativity

I feel like I was born to think out of the box especially when it comes to planning parties. Sometimes my ideas are hits and sometimes my ideas are complete disasters...We're in birthday party planning mode again at our house as Sam is nearing his fourth birthday. We're planning a Planes Party and I thought I'd take some pictures of him in the "airplane" position on the trampoline to have the actual sky in the background for the party invitations. At the last second I thought I'd have him wear his goggles to look like one of the Wright brothers. Well, this is what I got...

God love him!

Six

September:

The crisp autumn air, the crunch of leaves under my feet and the gorgeous sunsets always brings me back to the magical time when we brought home our Baby Laura. 

She's six now and seems to mature more and more everyday. She asks me about my day, is beginning to read and write, loves girl talk, & wears a sleep mask to bed at night! I love her to pieces!

First day of school

Laura is officially a kindergartener! She's three days in and says she loves it. In the past three days she has said the following things which tells me she's listening:

"Raise a quiet hand"

"I can earn an opportunity for a prize"

"Put your bubble in"

Enjoy the first day of school photo shoot!

Sam's a Schulz photographer. There's no doubt about that!