Sorry I totally dropped these thankful posts but I was too busy enjoying my blessings. Here's a quick wrap up to finish out the month (the month that's come and gone already):
I'm grateful for our home! I was trying not to do any of the things I did last year but since it's a different house I thought this one could slide. We have a great neighborhood. The trees are mature and beautiful and give shade and color. The homes are older with full front porches that have swings and rocking chairs, bright front doors and matching shutters. There's a little lake across the street with geese and shade trees line the streets. I love the feel of our quaint, peaceful little neighborhood! Our home has fit our needs and then some. The space is a little more than I need actually but it's nice. We have a large living room and bedroom and a convenient playroom that I love. In Vegas we were squishing everything into our three-bedroom condo, getting creative with storage space, and squeezing to fit two people in the kitchen. Here there is room to breathe or run around like a maniac, whatever your preference. Our yard has been such a great little place for the kids and a relaxing retreat for us. We're just really quite comfortable here and hope to stay for some time yet.
I'm grateful for this handsome man! He took last Wednesday off to help me clean and work on projects to get everything ready for our company and Thanksgiving guests and then he was patient with me through the weekend with all our silly insanity.
This picture reminds me of the seperate (but equal) roles mothers and fathers have. I can chase the kids around all day, work around the house, teach them, read to them, sing to them etc etc but this, this stuff right here, I can't do. Daddy's are official wrestle buddies and piggy-backers at our house. Jamie may be older than me in years but physically I'm an old foggie. I could tell it was going to be rainy this week. My knees told me so.
I'm grateful for brothers! So I did a sister shout out already so I thought it only fair that I recognized the males in my life. After all, I've grown up surrounded by boys. I have four brothers, Jamie comes from a family with four boys and I have two lil' boys and seven nephews (only one niece). But my brothers are worthy of some post space. My brothers are really brilliant and talented. It was both a blessing and a curse growing up. They set a high standard and teachers were generally pleased to have another Cannon in their class when I arrived. I'm not a Cannon boy though and not just because of the obvious gender difference. My brothers excel academically, they play musical instruments, they sing, they can fix anything (and improve it) they were involved in sports, they aced the SAT, they got into BYU and received scholarships and awards, they build amazing things, they're cultured, they can write, they are clever and funny, they speak 3 different languages, they are awesome photographers, they are well read, they serve faithfully in the church, they are great husbands and fathers, they became (or are becoming) a rocket scientist, a doctor, a dentist, an accountant and a professor. Yeah, hard act to follow right? But I am grateful for their example, their humor, their goodness, their talent, and their support. Because even though I feel like I missed most those genes, I'm humbled to be surrounded by such greatness.
I'm grateful for Nature's bounty! Okay I'm not that into carrots particularly but holy cow, look at those monsters! Andrew's smiling because we called them "big fat caterpillars" from his favorite book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. But I really love fruit. It was so nice of Heavenly Father to make something so good for us taste so yummy! True I love them even more in pies and ice cream and coated in caramel and sugar and such but nature has a pretty good thing going with that fruit business.
I'm grateful for a piano! I took piano lessons for years and really enjoy playing but have gotten a little rusty over the years because I didn't have a piano to practice regularly. It was one of those "one day" things on my wish list. But a friend of ours had a piano they wanted us to babysit. I don't have any piano babysitting experience but I try to give it attention and clean up after it. It's so great to have a piano in the house! The kids all like it too, but Weston has taken a special interest in it and will sit for long periods (for a three-year-old) playing at it and concentrating. I love his interest in music. I'm not sure how long this baby will stay but it sounds like we will have some good quality bonding time here. Now I just wish I had my old music so I can play some Christmas music! I'll have to look into buying some and hope my hands remember how to do this.
