Day 26 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 26:

I am thankful for our Christmas kick-off night!

We have been looking forward to tonight for a couple of weeks.

I love this night. I love how our traditions have evolved and that the kids look forward to each part of this night. I hope they never forget any of it.

I had the tree up and lights on and the cookies made by mid afternoon - I wised up a couple of years ago and started getting the most stress inducing parts of this night done before the fun!

While I worked there was a lot of this...

And dancing to Christmas music.

There is nothing I love more than watching each of the kids go through their box of ornaments. They really treasure them and love to talk about how we picked them out for each of them every year. This year one of them noted that our tree is going to have to get bigger to deal with 5 new ornaments every year! They are right.

Lauren has to hang all of hers up as high as she can now.

Tess was just in awe...like 3 year olds are...about the tree.

She asked if she could live in it.

I dont want to forget her at age 3. This is going to be a special Christmas for her.

Avery remembered really cute things about each of her ornaments.

precious.

After supper and decorating we settled in to watch ELF.

And took a half time break to decorate these!

I use Jordan's aunt Jean's amazing recipe.

I am getting better at them...but I'm still missing Jean's most secret ingredient...patience.

:)

Tori loved her first taste of Christmas cookies.

She actually tried to dig part of mine out of my mouth to get more!

And these lights will never cease to bring me to tears in memory of those who aren't here to celebrate with us. They bring about a longing for my own childhood and the ability to curl up on my dad's lap and stare at the tree.

And a wish that I could freeze time and live in this moment for a very long time.

1 Corinthians 11:2

'Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain

the traditions even as I delivered them to you.'

Want to see what adorable looks like?

Here it is...

Day 25 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 25:

I'm thankful for Jordan's family and family fun!

We have a lot of fun with Jordan's side of the family too.

I wont lie...with this group - there is little time for long discussions or leisurely meals!

But there is plenty of laughter and noise.

We had Thanksgiving at Cindy's tonight and headed up town for our town's Christmas kick-off!

There are trolley rides, cookies, hot cocoa, real reindeer, santa is available for pictures, the shops stay open and its just fun.

We waited and waited for the trolley.

Really, she is so old.

She did great even though it was getting pretty late.

She was so excited to see the horses pulling the trolley!

Yep, sweetie.

Crazy.

Finally! On the trolley!

SO excited!

I'm sad knowing that this is our last Christmas with a baby.

Sad, sad, sad.

She's the sweetest.

We don't 'do Santa'.

But 2 of the kids were wanting to go see him tonight.

So we went and I gotta say these pictures were so adorable.

She was tired and not about to let go of that thumb.

But Santa wanted a smile so he worked at getting her thumb out.

There you go!

It was a fun night and everyone crashed hard tonight.

Psalm 103:17

'But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children.'

Thankfulness

I completely stole this from here.

But it was so what's been on my heart...about why I want to be intentionally thankful.

About why I want to instill a spirit of gratitude in my children.

About why being thankful is important every single day not just in this season...

After I read it all I could think was...Amen.

And Thank you.

THANKFULNESS...

BONDS FAMILIES

STRENGTHENS FRIENDSHIPS

UNITES COMMUNITIES

THANKFULNESS IS THE...

DEFENSE AGAINST MATERIALISM

ENEMY OF ENTITLEMENT

CURE FOR SELF PITY

THANKFULNESS...

IS GIVEN BY THE SPIRIT

WAS MODELED BY THE SON

HONORS THE FATHER

THANKFULNESS...

IS BORN OUT OF HUMILITY

SUSTAINS FAITHFULNESS

IS A PRE-REQUISITE FOR JOY

LEADS TO GENEROSITY

THANKFULNESS IS...

A COMMAND FROM GOD

AN ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE

A CONDITION OF THE HEART

GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD

FOR HE IS GOOD

HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.

PSALM 107:1

Want to see what pure joy looks like?!

Here it is...

He's another one of my favorites.

Man, I love this kid!

Day 24 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Day 24:

I am thankful that I am surrounded by an amazing family both immediate and extended.

I would say that my family has always been close but after my dad died even the word 'family' took on new meaning. And we banded together. Not just my brothers and I but my cousins.

And it feels different than it used to.

And it means more to me than I will ever be able to express.

After the meal at my mom's today we took the kids and headed to the park for a game of kickball. The weather was fantastic!

There were tons of kids between all of my cousins. I tried to get pictures of everyone but I know I left a lot out and I didn't hardly any of the adults present.

But four of my favorite were these first four in no particular order!

My Avery

My Lauren

My Torrance...climbing on the bench all afternoon long.

My Contessa...girl...I cant even start.

And this one...can I just say...I love him more than breath itself?

He loves holidays. He loves traditions and he loves family.

Even mine.

My brother Jordan and Contessa are always quite the pair.

My niece Olivia. Stop. Just stop.

My nephew Joshua. I could try to explain the sweetness of his adorable voice but there are simply no words to describe it. Id do anything for him!

Some of the gang...Joshua, Joe, Micah, Olivia, Nick and Nate.

(Micha and Olivia both graduate this year!)

Nick, Jessica, Bethany, Micah, Lauren, Avery

Lauren and Jessica

Julia, Olivia, Avery

(someone please help me with my sunspot issue!)

I am so blessed.

And grateful beyond words.

Psalm 95:6-7a

'O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God...'

Day 23 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 23:

I'm thankful for holiday breaks with my kids.

We had a lot of fun running errands, playing and baking today.

And everyone got along!!!

They seem so sweet around the holidays don't they?! ;)

(And to keep it real, I'm sure I will be more than ready for them to head back to school on Monday...because likely by Friday the fighting will be driving me MAD!)

James 1:17

'Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.'

Day 22 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 22:

I'm thankful that my husband cleans out our sink drains.

Period.

And if you'd seen what came out of our sink tonight you would

fully understand why this deserves its own post.

Thank you, baby. You are my hero.

Psalm 51:7

'Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.'

Day 21 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 21:

I am thankful for little bitty girls in great big, big girl beds.

Sunday night Contessa finally got to sleep in her big girl bed!

The poor thing has been lopping off the end of her toddler bed for months.

She was sort of excited!

And extremely cute.

If I could bottle up her adorable 3 year oldness and sell it I'm pretty sure I'd make millions.

And possibly rule the world with the power of that bottle!

Sleep tight little one!

Exodus 33:14

'My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'

Day 20 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 20:

I'm thankful for a weekend away with my ten year old!

A number of weeks ago I asked Lauren if she wanted a 'friend birthday party' or a weekend away with just Jordan and me. I was only partially surprised when she chose the weekend with us! I truly felt honored that she chose us! Jordan and I both kept telling each other all week how excited we were...we were totally as excited as she was!

I really wanted to make the most of our time knowing full well that a weekend with just her could literally never happen again. sad.

We had a blast.

Starting off at Bass Pro - shopping and then bowling and eating at the Fish Bowl!

We would never do that if all the kids were with us. It was totally fun and probably my favorite part of the weekend.

Next we headed to Jordan Creek for some shopping and crowd watching and then we checked into our hotel.

It was all seemed so laid back and easy with only 1 child who happened to be 10!

It was just so fun to say, 'Ok, Lauren what do you want to do next...' And she would just throw something out and we automatically would say 'yes!'

The best part about a 10 year old is that we had a blast getting ready together and helping each other with hair and trying out a little make up on her but at the same time she was literally running around the room, giggling and asking if it was time to head to the restaurant for supper.

She wanted to go somewhere 'fancy'.

We had a long wait because we neglected to remember a reservation.

But it was still fun and Lauren just continued eating up her time with us.

After supper we did a little swimming, played a game and ate junk food and watched part of a movie. Lauren even got to drink pop! A big deal for a Dirks kid!

Then due to a hotel snafu we all snuggled into a king sized bed together and slept until after 9 this morning.

This smile didn't leave her face.

She was so very grateful and happy every minute of our time together.

I don't think we will forget this trip anytime soon.

I love her.

And freezing Lauren at the age of 10 would be a perfect age!

Big thank you's to the grandmas for dividing and conquering with the younger 4!

Ecclesiastes 11:9a

'You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your

heart give you joy in the days of your youth.'

Day 19 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 19:

I'm thankful for adorable little girls in matchy-match outfits having playdates!

Melanie and I got Charlee and Torrance together for a little playtime.

We didnt realize the girls had talked and coordinated outfits.

I'm sure these two are going to have tons of fun growing up together.

At this time however there is a lot of Tori bullying - and biting Charlee.

So sorry Charlee!

(I didnt realize my camera was set to no flash...the girls were very active during our photo session and all the pics but this one were incredibly blurry! ugh)

Proverbs 17:17

'A friend loves at all times...'

Day 18 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 18:

I am thankful for moments like the one in this photo...

Enough said.

1 John 4:21

'And this commandment we have from Him; whoever loves God must also love his brother.'

Day 17 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 17:

Today I am thankful that in our house Christmas started early.

The big girls and I decorated over the past 2 days for Christmas with the exception of the tree.

We will do that next Saturday night over hot cocoa, sugar cookies and christmas music.

And to all you scrooges...bah hum bug to you!

Just because you decorate for Christmas does not mean that you forget Thanksgiving.

We are still talking about what we are thankful and all of our blessings.

We are reading books about the first Thanksgiving and we are excited for turkey!

But, really, you cant have Thanksgiving if you didn't have Christmas.

We take one month or less to celebrate the birth of our King.

One month to sit in the dark and stare at Christmas lights and reflect on His sacrifice.

One month to watch our children gaze with childlike wonder.

One month to read stories specifically about His birth.

One month to sing songs proclaiming that wondrous morning.

One month to 'feel the spirit of Christmas'

And I think we should take longer than a month.

I've been more excited for this Christmas season than I have been for any since my dad passed away. And I know full well that Christmas with kids the ages of my kids needs to be treasured and taken full advantage of.

So, I decided that I am not going to waste it.

Nope, Im going to embrace it.

And the awesome guy who married me fully supports my decision.

Welcome Christmas, bring your cheer.

(The Grinch, 1966)

Luke 2:13-14

'And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!'

Day 16 - 30 Days of Thankfulness

Day 16:

I'm thankful for creative, silly kids!

My kids do not play with toys. There are days when this is really annoying.

And it of course makes the thousands of toys in our house rather pointless.

But it is good because it means they are creative and I love watching them enjoy countless art projects and come up with games and 'pretend' activities.

Tori disappeared today and came out of the bathroom with the hand towel on her head.

She crawled around like this for the longest time.

Just taking it off occasionally to giggle and make sure I was watching.

How does she even know that this is funny?

Then I walked into the girls' room after school and Lauren had set up a little photo shoot to test out her new camera.

How completely adorable is that?

They did this forever and each scene had different scenarios and

stories for who they were pretending to be as they came into Lauren's studio.

The first thing that came to mind was George's photo shoot with Kramer on Seinfeld...but once I had that image out of my head I was back to finding this one adorable.

And Sullivan came home with a list of numbers from 1-30. He cut them all out and then stuck them around the house. Then he made a map of where they were and had it all planned as a game for Jordan when he got home. How fun is that?

Job 37:5

'God thunders wondrously with his voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend.'