Gratitude Project

Last night, I decided we needed to spread some gratitude and came up with the following idea...

I made a poster that simply says "We are grateful for..." and each of us (well, not J) will add something to it every day this month. With Thanksgiving around the corner, I thought this was a good activity. This time of year seems to become somewhat of a "selfish" time for Andrew, as he prepares to be showered with gifts for Hanukkah, his bday and Christmas. We tend to hear a lot of, "we should get that" or "I want that" or "I need that for my birthday".

Hence...an attitude for gratitude seemed to be just thing we needed around here...

So...my goal is to bring this activity into the blog, by writing each day what we are thankful for...

Day 1 - yesterday 10.2.10

Andrew is thankful for his playdate with Natalie

Amy is thankful for Jenna (Natalie's mom) who had Andrew over all day since there was no school and I had to work. She even took them bowling!!!

Day 2 - 10.3.10

Andrew is thankful for transformers

Amy is thankful for my hair - see Sara's blog and you'll know why - Sara is a good friend of my friend Lisa and I have been inspired through her blog.

Derek hasn't gotten the gratitude bug yet, but hopefully he'll have some things to add to our poster soon. I will add something every day and will ask Andrew too also, but I'm ok if he doesn't want to participate every day. I think gratitude is still a hard concept for an ALMOST 6 year old to understand.

THANKS in advance for following our attitude for gratitude posts....I encourage you to try the same project...and let me know how it goes!

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FALL in love with these cute boyz...

We made our annual voyage out to the Fall Festival at Cox Farms last weekend and as always, it did not disappoint. The greatest part about this year's visit, was that we were joined by my sister and her family, as well as my parents. As always, the cousins all had a BLAST together (even though I don't have ANY pics of the 4 of them together...or ANY with Nanny & Papa and the kids!!!)

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Check it off the list...

Two years ago, the kids and I (yes, you did the math right, Jacob was 6 weeks old and enjoyed the show from the sling!) joined my sis and her girls for a performance at Wolf Trap. In trying to prepare Andrew for our day, I told him many times we were going to see a puppet show with his cousins...when we got there, my sis informed me that indeed, it was not a puppet show, but some guy named Steve Songs. Somehow I had looked at the schedule wrong, and thought we were going to a puppet show...so much for preparation! Well...from that morning, we were hooked! We came home and downloaded music, searched for future performances and joined his fan club!

Last summer brought Steve Songs back to Wolf Trap...and we were once again in the audience! This time with nanny joining us :) After the show, Andrew and I decided that daddy would have really enjoyed it.

One of the activities on our list for this summer was to see Steve Songs and to bring daddy! It was a Marvelous Day filled with smiles, laughter, singing dancing...and of course, lots of heat & sweat!!! Those of you who are familiar with Wolf Trap's Theatre-in-the Woods, know it is HOT HOT HOT back there!!! Luckily, the threat of rain seemed to have kept some people at home, so at least we weren't packed in there, like we have been in previous years! We left with SS new CD and have already been jammin out to it!

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a trip back in time...

so...yes, it has been almost 3 weeks since the banocy/ward clan came to visit us...and i'm JUST getting to this post...shame on me :)

since i'm so delayed in posting, i'll direct you to my sister-in-law jodi's blog, where you can read a more detailed posting of their visit...as far as this story goes, you're just getting pics and a few words...otherwise i'll never catch up on these blog entries...

trip to the zoo...

cute bathtime pics...to laugh at for years to come...


picnic on the mall...

andrew and amelia enjoying the room to roam

hmmm...you think anyone would notice if i took a chip?


stop it daddy!!!

the banocy boyz

hangin out with the gebhards...

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on the hunt....

we may be jewish, but we do enjoy a good easter egg hunt! every year we attend one at andrew's friend carter's house. the eggs are hidden throughout their huge yard...and there is coffee, donuts and cookies galore...what more could a jew ask for on a sunday morning :)

fyi...andrew's "basket" is his kansas backpack!

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pics a plenty

we were able to snag my mom's camera cord and download photos to derek's computer. when we get home i will download them onto my computer and i'll post the whole album for you. for now, here are a few of my favorites.

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so little time

this morning, after derek left for work, i decided to get up and have some time to myself. even though my eyes burned, i thought it would be nice to start of the day with a little "me" time, before my time would be captured by the little ones. i headed downstairs around 6:40am, brewed some coffee and then couldn't decide what to do first. i told myself this WAS NOT the time to do things around the house...this was time for ME. my head immediately filled with a million things i could do...catch up on emails, enjoy my coffee on the deck with a good book, veg out on the couch watching oprah on tivo...you get the point....mindless "me" things! well, i can't believe it is now 7:15 and any minute now i could be surrounded with the sweet sound of "mommy" cries...and i really didn't do much in the past 35 minutes. i did NOT stick to my original idea of "me" time...the first thing i did while the coffee brewed, was the laundry! that was the only "house" thing i did though :) i checked a few emails, logged in to the addicting world of facebook, read comments on my blog, and now i'm typing this entry...that's about it! is it woman-nature to always have a list of 100 things we could be doing? why are we wired this way? why can we not just enjoy 30 minutes of "me" time? i wonder...if a man woke up 30 minutes early...what would he do with his time? in this house...the man would probably pour a bowl of cereal and veg out in front of espn, watching replays from games he watched the night before. not that there's anything wrong with that?!?!
ok...i have now blown the final minutes of "me" time. it's time to head upstairs and start getting ready for the day ahead. TGIF!!!

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bless you

no...i did not just hear you sneeze! it is the jewish new year and whether you are jewish or not, if you are reading this blog, i want to say thank you! i am such a blessed person! while it may seem that i bitch a lot about everyday things and crying kids, i do honestly know that i am truly blessed. so tonight, on rosh hashannah, i am thankful for the following...
* a fantastic husband who loves me and our children
* a husband who does the dishes (even after a long day at work!)
* a husband who does laundry
* a husband who i know (or at least i think i know) would do anything for me
* 2 amazing children
* andrew - our incredibly smart and talented almost 4 year old son
* andrew - who makes me laugh at least 10 times a day
* andrew -who makes me thankful for laughter and sweet innocence
* jacob -our smiley and giggly almost 4 month old
* my mom and dad who are such fantastic parents & grandparents
* my sister and her family who now live closer :)
* my husband's family for accepting me into the family almost 7 years ago now!!!
* my amazing "mommy friends"...you know who you are :) life just wouldn't be the same without you!
* the money i earn to help support our family
* a flexible job
* a beautiful home
* food on the table at every meal...and snacks in between
* kornfeld girls weekend...staci, lisa and judy - i love you!

ok...honestly...there are SO many more things, and this is just the beginning of what could be a very long list...but alas, i must go to bed! please, before you do anything else, think of at least one thing to be thankful for today...and if it's a person, let them know how much you appreciate and love them.
remember..."the happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have."
happy new year to all my jewish peeps and good night to all!

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