Name them one by one

Giving Thanks
(Forgive me, yesterday was crazy. And so I cheat.)

Starting in 2001, I began a Thankful list in the opening pages of my journal. At first I was adding to it often, but lately it's become my Thanksgiving tradition. It's fun to read through, because it's easy to tell what phase of my life is happening based on the happy parts of that phase.

Today I added items 241-265.

Before I added to my thankful list, I read my scriptures. I read in the Book of Mormon about a man named Amaleki, son of Abinadom. His writings in the book are short, and we don't learn much about him. But he bears his testimony and in it he says this "I shall exhort...all men to come unto God, the Holy One of Israel, and believe in...all things that are good; for there is nothing which is good save it comes from the Lord."



And I thought - that's it. That's the bottom line. I'm grateful for so many things, but in the end I am most grateful to know that it is the Lord who blesses me with them.

Here are a few items from my thankful list to finish off my 15 days.
14. Chocolate chip cookies
26. Packing for a trip
32. Clean sheets
41. Parents who are still in love
47. Checking the caller I.D. and seeing people called for me
63. The smell of oil paints
71. A sincere kiss
78. The clear night sky when it's cold
98. Missionary letters
103. Nieces and Nephews
113. Trampolines
147. The Messiah
149. Jeremy. A million times Jeremy
168. Knowing families are forever
179. Naps with a newborn
188. Creating, being creative
205. Frankies crazy, "evil genius" laugh
228. Laughing until I cry
246. Jeremy's smile lines around his eyes
255. Playing video games with Jerm
260. Hope

Name them one by one

Giving Thanks:

Jeremy loves to laugh. He makes me laugh. He's helped me learn that even the hard things in life can have humor found in them, and that it's better to giggle then pout about it. I love watching him with Frankie, when he redirects a trauma and gets Frankie laughing instead.

I ran across these pictures on a recent upload, and I laughed until I had tears in my eyes.

I'm grateful for the healing power of laughter, and that I have a husband who has helped me heal many times.

Name them one by one

Giving Thanks:

I'm thankful for

The Simple Things

This is Halloween, (etc.)

Introducing the spookiest bat that ever spooked.

Although I much prefer the smiley bat.

If anyone told Frankie he was a good bat, or a cute bat, he would instantly say "No! I'm a spooky bat!" So apparently I lost that battle. The original costume plan included a little hat with bat ears, but it was pulling teeth to get him to try on the cape and wings when I was making the costume, I figured covering is his head was pushing our luck.

Frankie got to go Trick or Treating with his cousins.

A bat in the night!

He really loved the treat collecting, but we had a hard time keeping him focused. He was just as excited about the decorations as the candy. It was all pretty magical for him this year.

*****

In other news of random cuteness, on a recent morning Frankie hauled all his stuff from his bed downstairs and we found him laying on the floor in the living room like this. Jeremy woke up to him running up and down the stairs about 3 times, but I slept right through it.

And here's the story of Frankie's potty training. Exactly 2 weeks after I posted the picture on the blog, Frankie was sitting eating lunch and announced he needed to go potty. Afterwards I asked if he wanted a pull-up in case he wanted to go again. He said "no, the ones in the drawer with my socks." Those would be his underwear. He's been wearing them ever since, and has only had 3 accidents. End of story. Not bad, eh?

He's doing better now, but for the first bit he never wanted to put his pants back on. So we saw a lot of this

and this

running around the house.

I can't believe I have a little man. Not only am I not changing diapers, but he sprouted about an inch literally overnight. And all of the sudden his face looks more mature. I can imagine what he's going to look like all grown up. It's kind of trippy - but at least I know he'll be handsome. I love my kid.