Giving Thanks

As we approach this Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the things I am thankful for. God has blessed us tremendously and I am grateful and humbled by his goodness.

I am thankful for Michael and Maggie and our little family. I can not even begin to scratch the surface of gratitude I have for being blessed with such a precious little girl. Maggie has brought so much love and joy into our lives. I just never knew it was possible to love someone so much. I am so blessed to be her mother and I think God every day for the privilege. I am also so very thankful for Michael. I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband and friend. I am thankful for his love for me and Maggie. He is a great daddy!

I am thankful for our families. We are both blessed to have such great families who love and support us and provide such great christian examples for us. It is my prayer that we can provide the kind of Christ-centered home for Maggie that our families provided for us. We love you all.

I am thankful for our friends. We have been blessed with many great friends - both old and new! We thank you for your friendship and for loving us just as we are!

I am thankful for our jobs. Especially in a time when so many are being let go from theirs. I am especially thankful that I have a job that I enjoy. And I pray that Michael will enjoy his new job as much as I do mine!

And above all I am thankful for our Lord, Jesus Christ without whom none of the above would be possible! I am thankful for his grace that surpasses all understanding and for his unending love for us, in spite of ourselves. I am proud to call him a savior and a friend. God is good. All the time.
Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

School Days

Maggie graduated to the toddler class this week at school. I must admit that I have been struggling with this transition since I got the notice from her school. When did our MagB become a Toddler? Yes, I realize that by standard definitions she is in fact a toddler. But to me she is still a little bittty baby. My little bitty baby. She's far too small to be taking a nap on a mat on the floor, and she's far too small to have to wear a uniform to school! But apparently some toddler, somewhere wore gang colors, or other inappropriate clothing, to day care one day making uniforms a necessity starting at 17 months. Whatever the cause I find it a little ridicaloo. But she does look so sweet don't you think? I just love the first picture. As I was snapping the pictures this morning (and fighting back tears looking at my grown-up girl) I would tell her to "Say Cheese" and she would say: "Sheese." I look at that picture and I can just see her saying "Sheese." So. Darn. Cute.

Today was the Turkey Feast Extravaganza at work. I am stuffed. In all honesty, I was stuffed by about 10 a.m. when we started snacking on Mexican Fudge and Artichoke Dip and Oreo Balls. It's the same thing every year - we just eat all day, until we are sick. We always have a ridiculus amount of food - and good food at that. Not a whole lotta work gets done on Turkey Feast Extravaganza day. Ahhh, and I get to do it all over again next week! I just love this time of year - starting with Thanksgiving and through New Years - it just seems that everyone perks up a little more during the holidays. Perhaps it's the knowledge that Santa is watching, or the festive holiday music playing everywhere. There's just something magical about the holidays.

That's all for now. Food coma setting in....

Trick or Treat

Maggie had her first trick or treating experience this Halloween. Here are some pics:

Here are some picks from Maggie's Fall Festival at school. She had so much fun just running around and playing. She LOVES to be outside.

Here she lays out all of the treasures (in this case, wood chips from the playground) she has collected while playing. She likes to collect things. When we go for a walk outside she will have her hands full of acorns and rocks and leaves and whatever else that catches her eye and she will carry them the entire way and when we get home she will put her newfound treasures in her toy shopping cart for safe keeping.

This was at the Fall Festival our neighboorhood had. It was unseasonable warm that day so we decide to forgo the costume for Mags. Here she is with daddy watching the critters.

And here is just random cuteness of our punkin with the pumpkins....

While we were at The Oaks this weekend for the game we celebrated Kate's mom's birthday on Saturday night at the Anderle homestead. Kate put Maggie at the piano and I snapped some photos of our budding musician. Now I don't want to brag, but I am quite certain that we may have a child prodigy on our hands. It would not be unusual as there are several talented musicians on Michael's side of the family. (Not to say that my side of the fam does not have any talents...they're just different talents :-)) Seriously, I was really taken by how she seemed to know just what to do. She did not bang on the keys like you would expect a small child to do (heck, I still do that!) but she had the whole one finger on the key thing down. She seemed to know what she was doing. Here are some pics:

And lastly, 'tis the season for tights! Hooray!!

Hope you all have a great weekend.

I Believe!

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Tag - I'm apparently it.

My sister Karrie blog-tagged me and I am supposed to write about 6 quirky (quirk, noun, a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism) things about myself and then tag 6 other bloggers. While I had to think long and hard (about 2 seconds) to come up with any quirks I possess, here goes:

1. I have a nervous habit of picking my eyelashes. No kidding - I am usually sporting at least one eyelash bald spot at all times.

2. I have to walk around the house every morning before I leave for work and say aloud as I check each socket: "Curling iron unplugged", "Iron unplugged" (whether I have used it or not that morning) to feel confident that the house will not burn down while I am away. (Nevermind the fact that both my curling iron and iron have auto shutoff features (a must-have in an OCD household)).

3. Along the same lines as #2 above, at least 3 of the 5 work days I have to turn around to go back and check that I have indeed closed the garage door - even though I know I have because I have audibly verbalized to Maggie "Garage door closed" as I watched it go down. (At 15 months, could Maggie already think her mom is a little loony? She might be right.)

4. I like corn as a whole, just not floating in my soup or hanging out in my rice as an individual kernal.

5. I prefer to write with a fine point Sharpie - perhaps this has something to do with my subconscious inner celebrity. I don't know.

6. According to my husband, I look at life through rose-colored glasses. Is this a bad thing?

7. Bonus quirk: I love to eat Macaroni and Cheese mixed with ketchup. Much yum. Try it.

So there it is - the stuff that makes me me. So now it's my turn to tag and I tag: (in no particular order)

Kylie
Jessica
Jenny
Dana
Kym
Maria
Riggins

Here are the rules: Link the person who tagged you. Mention rules on your blog. Tell about 6 quirks of yours. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same. Leave a comment to let them know.

Enjoy!

Taking it Outdoors

Could it be that Maggie - at a mere 15 months old - is already addicted to TV? Noggin to be exact. No matter where she is in the house, to just hear Moose A. Moose's voice sends her in a toddle-run to the TV where she will grasp the armoire shelf with both hands and look straight up into the screen soaking it all in. As a parent, I am not proud of this, and I realize I am responsible. So measures must be taken to show our MagB that there are indeed more fascinating things than Puzzle Time and other Noggin fare. In short, we need to get out more. So on Sunday afternoon we visited the Heard Museum in McKinney. We have lived in this area for almost 4 years and had yet to visit this hidden little treasure full of nature trails and wildlife and all things out-doorsey. Including dinosaurs. Yes, dinosaurs. Lifesize dinosaurs. One of the exhibits at the Heard Museum is Dinosaurs Alive - which consists of a dozen or so lifesize, animatronic dinos along one of the nature trails there. It was pretty neat, though we only got to the 2nd dinosaur before Mags had decided that she was not thrilled with the giant moving creatures and had seen enough. So we found some tamer trails and some smaller, less-threatening caged animals that she quite enjoyed seeing. These are all the pics I got from the afternoon as in true Lisa fashion I failed to charge the camera battery and ran out of juice about 30 minutes in. Someday I'll learn. Next outdoor adventure stop: The Dallas Arboretum.

Here is Mags and daddy walking along one of the trails.

An encounter with a dinosaur. Don't ask me what kind - a realtively small one.

Exploring a small cabin along the trial.

Here is Mags in the butterfly house. She loved it in here watching all the butterflies. This is the last shot before battery failure.

Hope you all have a great week!

A Sneak Peek...

Of what's to come on Halloween!


Have a ducky day!