Being Thankful.

The Boy in return challenged me to name some of the things for which I am thankful so in no particular order . .

I'm thankful for my family. David makes me laugh, makes me want to pull out my hair, understands my need for COLD, pushes my buttons, brings me chocolate and Dr. Pepper and loves me despite my many annoying traits (organized chaos, always hot, need to take pictures at all occasions). I love him a fat ton. The Boy is the best thing that ever happened to me and while he, too, can push my buttons? I love him with every square inch of my heart. He brings me joy, he makes my heart smile. And each time I want to pull out my hair I remember there will be a time when he doesn't want to hang out with me. I'm thankful I have been given the privilege of being his mom. Jethro is awesome and I so love him more.

I'm thankful for my parents, who are always there when I need them. Who take joy in The Boy and have him over for sleepovers or Early Release Days or random Wednesdays I have to work late. Who bring me a coke every Sunday morning to make my morning's go smoother. They are awesome and I love them, too.

My brothers (and their wives) - because I know that right this minute if I called and needed them they would help. Except Matthew might make a fuss about it but deep down I know he loves me, too. And I'm crazy thankful for them giving me awesome nephews. Tyler and Kaleb make life even more fun and I can't wait for the day they call over to Auntie Shan and Uncle Dave and ask for a sleepover. We are So There.

I'm incredibly blessed and thankful that we had a family vacation to the beach with awesome friends. It was a wonderful week of relaxing and laughing and fun. I look back over the pictures and see how carefree that week was and I'm thankful we had the chance to do it. I've always loved the beach and it's my Happy Place. Makes it even more awesome to go to your Happy Place with friends that are like family.

I'm thankful for my job. While I don't know what the next week, month, year holds? I am doing something I Love and I'm thankful that Monday through Friday I am able to do it. I am thankful for the families I am allowed to work with and help. I'm thankful that some days I do make a difference.

I'm thankful for coworkers who've become friends. I'm thankful that I laugh each day. I'm thankful for Friday lunches and long trips with Paternity Test Tuesdays. Listening ears when I need to vent. Help when you need to phone a friend. I'm thankful that some coworker friends have become like family.

I'm thankful for cars that have heat and air & run each day. I'm thankful for a house, my bed with my favorite covers. For the dog that alerts me when something is amiss (but not for the same dog when she gets in the trash and shreds it all over the house *ahem*). I'm thankful for my red chair. And the freezer full of rice socks that help me make it through the night.

I'm thankful for books to read to get lost in a story - and I'm thankful Dee Henderson wrote a new book. I'm thankful for my Kindle on which I can read the awesome books. And for the awesome apps like Words with Friends and Diner Dash which allow me to pass the time and detox from a rough day.

I'm thankful for my camera and the gift of being able to take pictures. While I sometimes wish it was in the plans for me to do it More or even as a side job, I take joy in knowing that I have managed to snap many memories over the past 8+ years. I love looking through the drive and seeing the images captured.

I am thankful for my kids at church. For the now 3rd Graders that were in our first class and the kids we have now. For the joys I have each Wednesday night in Awana. For the group of kids that faithfully come on Sundays to sing in the musical. I'm thankful that they love and accept me even though I'm far from perfect.


I'm thankful Christmas. It's my most favorite holiday in the world. I put the tree up the first week of November and enjoy it for two straight months. The hymns and songs at this time of year are The Best. I cannot imagine what it was like that first Christmas many years ago. How Mary felt knowing that her son was here to save the world. I'm thankful for traditions and magic and hope and love.

I'm thankful for miracles. For the fact that I am here but even more recently for the fact that my friend's daughter was Healed. I'm thankful for community - for knowing that sometimes it is bigger than you can imagine.

I'm thankful for chocolate and for Mojo's that makes good chocolate. I'm thankful for Dr. Pepper and fountain cokes. I'm thankful for water with Propel. And Moe's burritos. And Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. Amen.

I'm thankful that Kleenex put lotion in the tissues so I don't rub my nose raw. And that there are products that help tame my hair from being an out-of-control-nest. And vanilla-scented sanitizer.

And for a Heavenly Father, His Son and the empty tomb that third day.

Thirty Days of Thankful - The Rest.

I have tried my hardest to blog each day. In a perfect world? I would have posts like these typed ahead of time and scheduled to post. But let's all be honest here - I'm a procrastinator! I thrive on last minute! There are a billion other things I need and want to do! I admit I chose playing on the Kindle instead! I'm always at the last minute with things - well, except for putting up the Christmas tree . . .

So I'm lumping together a bunch of thankful for the remainder of the month because I'm awesome like that. And because this is the last of my extra free time before getting back to the grind after the holiday . . . 

After inquiring the things The Boy is most thankful for? I give you Thirty Days of Thankful - The Rest. 

Day 13 - Legos. They are the single greatest invention in The Boy's Life. He thinks they are awesome except when he tries to play with them because then they break. He thinks he might want to have a Lego birthday party next year . . .

Day 14 - The DS. Santa really got it right when he brought the 3DS last year! Favorite game is currently Monster Jam but The Boy has high hopes for a WipeOut game this Christmas! When his nose is not stuck in a book or racing on the Kindle, he has the DS in hand. And he has chronicled all the things he is thankful for using his DS camera!

Day 15 - Lego Ninjago. By far the best show next to Annoying Orange, WipeOut and the Turtle Man, The Boy was on the edge of his seat for the Epic Battle. On this year's Christmas list are several Ninjago sets! It will be no surprise that the red ninja is our favorite.

Day 16 - Shooting in tournaments. The Boy was able to participate in the Kid's Appreciation Night at The Shop and had a blast. He shot well for having not shot a bow in 23497 years a good while. Even won a door prize!

Day 17 - Double Thankful! Part one is Hunting - The Boy went out with Dave this morning to hunt and while they only killed time and a wasp? A good time was had and plans are already in the making for the next trip. And then part two was Jeremy's birthday party at Oxbow where The Boy touched a plethora of snakes and even a tortoise. He is thinking that Oxbow might be a good birthday party choice, but I'm fairly certain this is only so because the birthday boy gets to briefly wear a snake around their neck!

Day 18 - The Boy is thankful for the Ice Rink. It's one of his favorite things to do whenever he gets the chance to head downtown to ice skate. I admire his ability to skate because I feel like even if I had a walker? I'd still fall down!

Day 19 - Jack & Annie Books. Magic Tree House books are a go-to for The Boy this year as he works to soar through AR points. There is a Braves game on the line if he gets to 200. And a Lego when he gets half-way. So far his favorite book has been Afternoon on the Amazon.

Day 20  - Annoying Orange. Yeah please let the record reflect I'm certainly not that thankful for this but every kid has that one annoying thing they enjoy that pushes their parents over the edge. For some it's Barney (thank you Jesus it wasn't for us) others it's Elmo (been there, done that). And remember those stinkin Teletubbies? Yeah. Now it's Annoying Orange the dumbest show on the planet. He's thankful for it, loves their Gangnam style parody and looks forward to new episodes.

Day 21 -  Kaleb. The Boy got to spend the day at BigMama's and Kaleb was there as well. The Boy states every time I go to BigMama's I mostly see him and sometimes and I get to play with him. It's about to be his birthday in December. He normally plays with his toys or sleeps. And I love him.

Day 22 - Thanksgiving - The Boy says Every Thanksgiving somebody in your family has a Thanksgiving party and you can go there and eat turkey. The Boy had a blast this Thanksgiving when he went hunting with Daddy *and* they got a deer! Then we all had a fun time and good food at Auntie Amber & Uncle Matthew's. The day was rounded out with playing with the neighbors & spending the night in the living room while watching Wipe-Out. The best part was that the entire house was asleep by 9:30!

Day 23 - Diary of a Wimpy Kid - It's the best time ever since there is a new Wimpy Kid book! And bonus? UPS brought it to our doorstep Wednesday night! The Boy could be found curled up with the book when not speeding in a race on the Kindle Fire. Tonight before bed as he read he told me I can't believe I am already half-way finished with this book!

Day 24 - Mommy - Most of the time I spend time with you and all the time you take care of me. You watch TV with me. I love you because you love me too And then I melt into a puddle of love. He's Awesome.

Day 25 - My Uncles  (and Aunties!)- They are wild and I'm pretty sure you don't like that. Sometimes they just get so wild you get on to me for it (me: is it that you wanted to point that out? or maybe you could just tell us why is it you are thankful) - They are wild and most of the time I go to their houses they throw the football with me. And I call them Auntie because Matthew taught me who to do it. And I love them.

Day 26 - Grandparents - I get to spend the night with them some nights. 

Papa: he plays cards with me some nights when I spend the night. BigMama: because I mostly help her and sometimes she helps me and she makes me cheeseburger macaroni. 

Granny: I barely get to see her and I hate that. We get to go camping with her and when I go to the lake every morning I get up and go to her camper and I always sit with Papa Ronnie and watch TV

Day 27 - Tyler -Cousins are awesome. The Boy says: Every time I see him he likes to throw the ball with me or wrestles with me. I also try to hold him but he won't sit on my lap. That's all.

Day 28 - Daddy - He takes me to the Archery Shop and he's also the music teacher at my school. And he watches Wipeout and Call of the Wildman with me. And I love him.

Day 29 - Friends - I'm thankful for my friends and they are Alex, Jaxon, Aidan, Riley, Garrett, Jeremy, Tripp, Owen, Max, Nathyn, Landon. Jaxon first moved to Texas and then he moved to Tennessee. If I could have one thing for Christmas I would go visit him. Alex goes on vacations and stuff with me. The only thing that stunk about our Six Flags trip this year was it rained. Aidan use to go to school with me and he came to church but then he moved schools in 2nd grade but now in 3rd grade he came back to church. At my birthday this year I hope that Jeremy, Garrett, Riley and Landon can sleepover.

Day 30 - God - He created the earth. Hey did He write the Bible? Oh wait no Moses wrote Genesis. We go to church to worship Him and learn about Him. My favorite verse is For the God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son - that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 

And there you have it - The Boy's Thankful Thirty. He challenged me to list the things I'm thankful for as well. They can be found HERE 

Thirty Days of Thankful Day 12

I remember about five years ago every waking moment we didn't have Something going on we were watching Cars. I can still, without hesitation, quote the entire opening along with pretty much oh who are we kidding THE ENTIRE MOVIE. And now? At age 8? I have a feeling Avengers is stepping in to take over. We saw Avengers in the theater. The Boy got the movie for Halloween. And now we've watched it about 5 times. Today after our 234839472 viewing The Boy informed me his Thankful Thing of the Day? Is Avengers.

I love Avengers when I saw the movie they had a lot of funny parts. The hard part about it is they are not real. I have an Avenger lego and the ones I have are Hawk Eye, Iron Man, Loki and Captain America. My favorite part is well I have two of them. My first one is when Captain America is like There's only one God and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that. Also when he is like alright put the people in the subway and the police man asked why should I take orders from you then he started fighting aliens and the policeman went like Alright I need people in the subway. Hilarious. I just wish they were real. 

Thirty Days of Thankflu Day 11

Every Sunday we try to go to Chill. And Wednesdays in the summer. I love to go with my friends. I usually go with Alex. I always get the orange blast and I put white chocolate sauce and marshmallow sauce on it. I like to write on the chalk board when I'm done eating.

Thirty Days of Thankful Day Ten

Some days you just can't be bothered for a lengthy thankful thing. Today I got this brief response from The Boy:

Georgia Football.They're good. I like Georgia because my family does. Most of the games they have won - they've only lost one which was against SC (groan). Go Dawgs.

We had a blast at Uncle Wesley & Auntie Amanda's to watch the game tonight. Football is always better with family and friends! 

Happy Saturday - be safe - make good choices ~ Shan.

Thirty Days of Thankful Day Nine

Each afternoon when I ask The Boy about his Thankful Thing of the Day, he always takes a minute to ponder. Today was no different. On the ride home I went ahead and asked if he knew what he wanted to talk about and he said he was Still Thinking. And then we pull in the driveway and he doesn't hestiate as he stresses how thankful he is for The Turtle Man.

 I was him for Halloween this year. He lives in KY and he catches animals, which he calls critters. He has a dog named Lolly. Sometimes I call my dog lolly because I like him. The funniest episode was the one where he goes to the carnival. My favorite critter he catches is racoons. 

There is a lot to be thankful for - and tonight? It's Live Action and critter hunting. Be safe and make good choices ~ we're off to watch some Call of the Wild Man! ~ Shan.

Thirty Days of Thankful Day Eight

I love Wipeout. It is a funny show but not as funny as Annoying Orange. It gives me something to do every weekend night. I have the video game for the Wii. John Henson is the one that jokes around. They have big balls that are funny They have four rounds. And that is all. Goodnight. And big balls. 

Thirty Days of Thankful - Day Seven

Without hesitation The Boy said that his Thankful Thing for Today is Awana! Here's what he had to say: I get an extra day to go to church. It's the reason my fav day of the week is Wednesday. I get to see my church friends an extra day of the week. I love game time. My favorite game is Steal the Bacon.

From what I hear, Steal the Bacon is No Joke. Me the mom? I'm thankful for friendships at church. I'm thankful for table leaders and game time leaders. For volunteers. For a curriculum that encourages my child to learn more about the Bible. 

And I'm super thankful for Wednesday Night Supper before Awana - because cooking after working all day is never fun. And the food is always crazy good.

Thirty Days of Thankful Day Six

It's election day! Due to the fear of long lines, The Boy was unable to attend with us parentals today - we chose to go during school hours in an attempt to beat the crowd. Dave, despite having to leave and come back for a forgotten wallet (we are not shocked as he forgets his keys IN HIS TRUCK so why wouldn't he forget his wallet?!) managed to get in and out in time to do some of his back loop duty at school. And I, despite a chatty woman in line behind me discussing how much longer the lines would be if we came at 5 instead of coming in the morning and a poll worker going all Citizens Arrest on a ringing cell phone saying it's the FEDERAL law people not her law, made it in and out in 25 minutes without hurting anyone. And now we wait on election results that I won't see until I get up to go to the bathroom at like 3 a.m. Ahem. But on to The Boy's Thankful of the Day:

I am thankful for the Presidential Election because it gives somebody a chance to be president for four years. The president has duties - ha ha ha duties that is SO funny. He makes the laws for our country and stuff. I'm voting for Obama because he'll get an extra four years of being president. 

Quite the change from four years ago when The Boy had this to share about 'boating': Obama likes to race and McCain likes to dance. So Obama is going to have his best day and he will win. And Lightning McQueen will win the race so he will beat Obama. And McCain will lose, too.

 And now we shall tune in to check out the local elections! Happy Tuesday friends. Be safe and make good choices ~ Shan.

Thirty Days of Thankful Day FIVE

I'm thankful for Peter because then I got to have one last pet because one of them died which I don't want to talk about. I get to get him out with the net sometimes since we have to clean his tank. And last time I tried to get him out he tried to stay in the net. Sometimes I wish we could bring him along with me but we can't because DUH he lives in water. The days we feed him are Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The end.

Thirty Days of Thankful Day FOUR

Today I am thankful for Fan Day because it is one of my two favorite days at church (and so is Fall Festival). There was a bean bag toss with college football teams which where Georgia Tech, Alabama, Auburn and last but not least GEORGIA.There some people dressed up like they were football players and Jeremy invited his whole team. I got to see Shane there because he was on Jeremy's team. And I played football with Jeremy and Gregory. Fan Day is Awe-some

Thirty Days of Thankful DAY THREE

I'm thankful for the Fall Festival at my school because I got to invite Alex and I saw most of my friends there. There was also jump-jumps (inflatables) and a football thing. And my class did a golf thing. I also got to eat a Chick-fil-a sandwich - next time we go out to eat let's go to Chick-fil-a and can I have a chicken sandwich? It was soooo gooood. And one of the best parts was when I was in one of the jump-jumps and I pretended I was on Wipe-Out.

Thirty Days of Thankful Day TWO

Today I am thankful for two things - our new Smart Board and Blue Pops. 

I like the Smart Board because instead of using the erasers that are old and don't work when we try to erase our board we can actually just do it on the big board. We also get to watch movies in our room.

I like Blue Pop because sometimes it gets us out of doing work. It makes your tongue blue but when I eat it it makes my whole face blue. When I go to blue pops I get to see most of my friends.

Thirty Days of Thankful Day One

It's November, which means I need to get my Christmas tree up (this weekend, friends - you knew it was coming!). But it also means it's time for Thirty Days of Thankful (also known as the one time I blog something every day no matter how crazy it gets!)

The Boy starts us off today with his thanks for Greek Day at school.

Today I am thankful for the Greek Day because we got to sing to almost every class in the school. We also got to sing to my 2nd grade teacher and my 1st grade teacher. We only sang to one second grade class. My favorite part of today was getting to sing the Greek Song. Oh and I made a Greek Kabob with grapes.

As part of his homework tonight, The Boy had to write down 5 Facts he remembers about The Greeks:

Greece is across from Italy. They made democracy like representative and direct. There are three kinds of columns like Corinthian, Doric and Ionic. They had the first Olympics. Chariots are like wheelchairs. Women could not vote.

And there you have it - We Give Thanks for Greeks!

Be safe and make good choices & we'll see you again tomorrow! ~ Shan.

Thirty Days of Thankful: Day Thirty

Today I am thankful for Lightning McQueen. He is my favorite race car and that is why my favorite number is 95. I am his biggest fan.

Thirty Days of Thankful: Day Twenty-Nine

Getting to play with the Patricks. And I don't really have anything else to say.

Thirty Days of Thankful: Day Twenty-Eight

Today I am thankful for God & Jesus. They are part of the Bible. We always learn about them at church. And they are the most important people on earth. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and He rose again so all our sins would be gone if we just believe in Him. And then you will not perish and will have eternal life.

.
(Photo of Jesus drawn by The Boy in 2009)

Thirty Days of Thankful: Day Twenty-Seven

Today I am thankful for my family. We love each other. I am thankful I am in my family because my family loves me. I am the only kid and I don't have to fight over anything but I'm like a guinea pig and need a playmate. I don't have anybody to argue with. I get to have all my toys to myself. I'm the only child in the family so I'm the favorite. I do wish sometimes I had a brother or sister but that is never going to happen. We are actually a family of six because we have a dog and 2 guinea pigs. I love my family.

Thirty Days of Thankful: Day Twenty-Six

Today I am thankful for my cousins. They are both cute and plus THEY'RE MY COUSINS.

Tyler is so cute. He's my cousin. I especially make him half of both - make him cry and make him laugh. How do I do that people?!

Kaleb I don't know much about because he's not born yet so I have to wait until he's born and then I can tell you facts.

I love my cousins as long as the Pacific Ocean - and that is like one of the biggest oceans in the world.

Thirty Days of Thankful: Day Twenty-Five

Today I am thankful for my Guinea Pigs!

Meet Luci May (left) and Lola Ann (right) The Boy's early Christmas present! He's crazy excited about them!