Story Hour and so much more!

I love it when, without prompting, Molly decides to "read" to Cayden! She does it quite often lately, whenever they are together. They are Best Buds, these two!
Molly tells a good tale...
Cayden can't take his eyes off the book!
Molly really builds up the suspense!
It's serious now!
Then she always kisses him because he is "such a good listener"!

I just love his little feet... want to just eat them or as I heard someone say on tv~~ Dunk them in my coffee!!
Big news here too... look who is wearing some BIG BOY underwear! He is trying really hard!

Molly enjoys spending time with Mya too!
Mya loves the attention!
Only 22 days till Christmas! AND only 6 days till I see my Colorado Lesjaks!

Holiday Cheer...

Cayden and Papa playing blocks ... turning them into roads!
Smiling cheeks!
A happy boy!
Cayden takes Mya for a stroll... she likes it! Really they didn't move~
Tree is up...
My countdown has begun!
Only 24 more days to Christmas!

30 Days of Thanks~ #30~ Blessings!

Watch out... This blog just might be SAPPY!

All because two people fell in love, got married, had four children, married off 3 children, and TA~DA...

We are BLESSED.

5 times over!

Sarah Rose

Molly Carolyn

Townsend Cayden

Mya Brynn

and... Layla Lynn
We are lucky~ I am Thankful for my blessings, every last one of them!

30 days of Thanks~ #29 ~ Flip camera!

I am THANKFUL for the Flip video camera I receive from my children last Christmas. I took my Flip to Colorado when Layla was born and I left it there so Tegan and Kelley could video tape the baby for a while~ until I return to Colorado next week!

Check out the latest video... Layla went to her first day of home daycare while her Mommy and Daddy went to work! She is the sweetest little thing.... Click HERE! See for yourself how darling is really is!!

30 Days of Thanks~ #28 ~ the ELF on the SHELF!

Do you know of the book: the ELF on the SHELF? We do! I am THANKFUL for the innocent hearts and minds of children ~ especially during the holiday season!

The tradition is that a little pixie elf comes to your house on the Friday after Thanksgiving. She stays till Christmas Eve. Her mission or job is simple... she is there to be Santa's eyes and ears, to watch over the children and then go home to the North Pole and REPORT to Santa if they have been GOOD or BAD!

Cayden has just meet his little elf, her name is ALICE! Here he is posing on the shelf with his new little friend!

Sarah and Molly have had the same little elf visit for a couple of years now. They call her ABBY! ABBY moves from spot to spot every night... she surprises the girls each morning, as they look around for her! Sarah has made a "deal" with ABBY. If she is high on a shelf, the girls may not touch her, but, if she is low, where they can reach her, they may hold her and love on her a bit that day! Sarah and Molly are always a little sad on Christmas Eve, when they realize ABBY will be heading home to Santa! But for now, they are happy to report to me, that ABBY is at their house right NOW!

They show me how she sits so nicely on the shelf!
Here are some snazzy little elves...
just look at our ears!
Remember...
the little pixie elves will be WATCHING and LISTENING to every thing you say and do...

You better be good, for goodness sake!

30 Days of Thanks~ #27 Piano Sharing!

The story goes like this...
As a child, I wanted to play the piano so bad. One of the nuns at my school offered to give me free lesson since my desire was so strong! The lessons only lasted a couple of months because I had no piano at home to practice on and we all know Practice Makes Perfect. You have to practice something to really learn it! As an adult, one of David's Aunts gave me her old piano because I showed great interest in it when she first purchased it used, many years early. I took lessons for a year and enjoyed playing at my own pace! Years went by. My own kids had lessons, they grew up and left home. Soon the piano just sat here. I tried to give it to each one of my children. No one had room. It was a big, upright grand, and over 100 years old. A real beauty! I felt so bad that it just sat here in my home. So I contacted a site called FREE~CYLE. com and many, many people posted notes as to why they NEEDED my piano! I choose a lucky winner and 4 men and a truck showed up at my door to claim their new treasure!

Fast forward about 8 years. Beckie decides she would love to have a piano now. She would like the girls to have lessons. She looks online. She visits FREE~CYLE.com and finds one. She posts why she would love to own it! She tells them of her daughters, Sarah and Molly. She waits, and checks the site everyday for comments, hoping she gets a response!
Beckie wins! 3 guys ~ Dave, Danny and Cyle go and pick it up and deliver it to her house on a Saturday. On Monday, Sarah had her first piano lesson! What goes around ~ comes around!
I am THANKFUL for people who can see the value of "giving" something away.
This piano will be loved in this home.
As the men loaded the piano, I am told, a neighbor came out with cookies for the Sarah, Molly and Cayden! They sat in the driveway and colored pictures with Beckie as the guys worked to load the piano into Cyle's truck! Even the neighbor was pleased to see the piano go to a good home!

30 Days of Thanks~ #26 A Boy and his Papa!

Cayden...
He loves his trucks and cars. Imagine his delight when Papa took him out to his wood shop and gave him some scraps of wood and some sawdust!
Cayden filled all his trucks...
Papa helped too!
So fun...
Cayden made a ramp with the wood! Trucks "zoomed" up and down!

Papa kept checking on Cayden and suppling him with more "dirt"!
Then Papa would go back to work on the entertainment center doors he was making!
Cayden made "roads"!
He showed Meme what Papa was building!
Here's Dave finishing the doors for the bottom front of the cabinet!
Boys and Men with toys~ I love them both! What fun to have a use for all that sawdust!

I am THANKFUL for the Friday after Thanksgiving, where you can spend the whole day in your jammies (which I did) while your husband is kept busy!