16 little things to be thankful for

With Thanksgiving tomorrow I can't help but think of all the things I am thankful for. There really is so much. Aside from the typical "I'm thankful for God, family, friends, health etc." I have come up with 16 little things I am thankful for. While they are little things it can make a big difference in my day. And why 16. There is no reason other than it was a soccer number. So here they are in no particular order.
1) Brody will look up at me, say "walk" and grab my hand to hold on to.
2) My husband calls me "HOTNESS", Brody calls me "hotness"
3) I miss teaching. It means I was doing something I truly enjoyed doing.
4) Brody loves dancing. It gives me an excuse and a reason to dance.
5) Reading Books with Brody
6) New Underwear
7) Fantasy Football - It makes for interesting conversations and it keeps Brad thinking about stuff other than work.
8) "Hard Economic Times" - It makes me thankful for all we have knowing that we are safe in God's hands.
9) Apolo - our easy going Russian Tortoise. We can neglect her for months at a time and she doesn't treat us any differently.
10) Brad's Jeep - Brody's favorite ride especially as he listens to Santana.
11) Bouncy Chair - Colt loves it and is in it most of the day.
12) Books - Brody loves to read books with his mommy and daddy.
13) Colt's smiles
14) Our house with great neighbors.
15) Brody can clearly say "I love you!"
16) Date nights at home with MY hotness!

Fix It!

Brody is such a handy little helper around our house. He loves to sweep, vacuum, dust, and fix things. We are trying our best to encourage him so that he will continue to do this as he gets older. Sometimes it does take a lot of patience because the dirt I sweep end up usually ends up on the bottom of Brody's socks. One of his favorite things to do is help Daddy especially when he is out in the garage. Our next big item for Brody will likely be a work bench. But in the mean time we have decided to be resourceful and have made a screwdriver for Brody. Well, I guess I can't say "we" because the only part I had in it was leaving the house with Brody so Brad could work on making one. This is the final product. I must say that I am very impressed with the quality of this little screwdriver. (Unfortunately the picture isn't very high quality) Brody LOVES it and walks around the house fixing things.

3 months

I vividly remember when Brody turned 3 months and I told myself "Ok, I think I can do this mom thing." It seemed like he was settling into a good routine and I was getting better at knowing Brody. And now that Colt is 3 months I feel like I can say "I can handle two kids." Colt seems to be settled into his new life and Brody is now used to him being around. It's not to say that we aren't busy, because our days just seem to fly by and I still have tons on my to do list. But I'm learning to enjoy these moments with the boys. They are already going by way too fast for me.

Colt is such a sweet little boy. He is smiling at us, cooing and loves to watch Brody. It will be fun to watch him as he continues to grow.

Yesterday, we met his cousin Gunner for the first time. Gunner is exactly one month older than Colt. He looks and acts so much older. Gunner is already rolling over and holding his head up really well. It's interesting to see the difference but I know it won't be too long before they are chasing each other around.

A Productive Day

We had one of those very rare days where we had absolutely nothing planned. No one was coming over and we had no where to go. It was very nice. It was especially nice because I had an extra hand to help with the boys for the entire day. So, what did we do on this day. It started with a morning of raking leaves. Brad was determined to get a start on this project since it was an unusually sunny and dry day in Seattle. Fortunately he had his little helper.

Brody loved helping his daddy and loved exploring every section of our yard. It's so fun watching him get dirty and climb up the hills. He is such a boy!

After the morning of raking leaves the boys had lunch and then Brody was ready for his nap. While the boys were napping Brad worked on some other random house projects. I would like to say I was productive but really was far from getting anything significant done. When the boys woke up from their nap Brody joined Brad in the garage while I took care of Colt. When I went to check in on them they were about to go on a Jeep ride. This was specifically requested by Brody. He was very upset when it was over.

Our next task was to cut Brody's hair. So we took out our buzzer and gave Brody his buzz cut.

We finished off our day by spending time just playing with our boys. Colt is a little harder to "play" with but we had fun with Brody. Brad put him on his back and ran around the house for quite a while. Brody LOVED this and was about to throw a tantrum when it was all over. I stepped in and said "Brody, can YOU carry your friends on YOUR back." His face lit up and he ran into the other room and started to carry his teddy bear and Mickey Mouse on his back. Thank goodness for distraction techniques. It was a somewhat productive, relaxing and fun day for our family. We are hoping to find more days like this.

Stuffed Animals

I have tried my best to get pictures of the boys every single month. It helps that we have a picture frame where we need to put pictures in. So far I have been pretty good about it, usually missing by only a few days. I have also started taking pictures of the boys on the same blue chair. Someone recently told me about taking a picture next to a favorite stuffed animal, so I have started to do that as well. We are using sock monkey with the boys (although Colt's first "animal" picture was with a different monkey). Anyways, the other day I was taking Brody's 19 month picture and gave him the sock monkey so he could sit next to it. Of course, Brody would not let sock monkey just sit there he had to hug it and swing it around. I managed to get a few pictures. Later in the day I wanted to retake pictures of Brody by himself, but Brody insisted on having his monkey with him. Not only did he insist on his monkey being with him but he wanted all of his animal friends with him. Now we have a cute picture of all of Brody's animal friends. :)