Thankful Thursday

My heart overflows with thankfulness for so many reasons...

Let me catch you up on the past 2 weeks.

Most mornings I wake up to hearing little feet coming down the stairs. A couple minutes later Ethan walks into our room with his green blanket dragging behind him - ready to start the day. I miss my kids when they sleep. Is that weird? I just love them so much and feel so thankful to be their mommy. Most days I still can't believe they are mine. I am so blessed. They bring so much joy to my life and make me smile and laugh so much. Being a mom is just the best gift ever. Being a wife is pretty great too :)

Here are two adorable pictures of Gracelyn I took the other day. I just thought she looked beyond cute and had to snap a few pics. Could this girl be any prettier? She's adorable from the front and back ♥

I don't have any new ones of Ethan just yet - he is a bit harder to photograph these days. I promise to post some cute ones soon :)

I'm also thankful for friendship. In the past few years I have really met some amazing Godly women who I really love and cherish. I've never had tons of close, good girlfriends in my life but these past few years have been filled with many and I'm so thankful for good friends. One of my very best friends Brooke turned 30 last month and we went out to celebrate at PF Changs. Yum! Here's a pic of all of us who went and celebrated ♥ It was such a fun night full of joy and laughter...and cake....and starbucks too ♥

I'm so thankful for a wonderful husband who I love and can't wait to see each day when he gets home from work. I'm thankful he is such a hard worker and provides for us. His business was just on the news this past week as their company is growing and it's so exciting. In a economy where so many companies are not doing well, God has given his company favor and I'm excited for 2011 - it's gonna be a good year! If you haven't seen Jer's 2 seconds of fame - check it out! He is so handsome ♥

I'm thankful for family. We are surrounded by amazing family on all sides and that is such a blessing to me. So many do not have family or healthy relationships with them so I'm very grateful to have so many we love and adore. We went to Bair Lake for Thanksgiving with the Petke's and it was so nice to see everyone. Sadly we ended up leaving very late at night due to Gracelyn having a rough night and not sleeping. Our time was cut short but we knew it was best for us to be home.

I'm thankful for my Christmas tree :) I love, love, love Christmas time and our tree is so pretty! I'm so excited for all the fun festivities this month brings and I'm really looking forward to watching my kids enjoy Christmas more this year. I think they will both have fun opening presents and getting new toys and clothes. I can't wait! Here's a pic of our tree (although it's missing lots of ornaments due to the kids taking them off, breaking them, etc) but I still think it's beautiful! Here's a picture of my adorable ornament from last year - thanks to my sweet mother in law who buys us a fun ornament each year! I love them and they are so sentimental for me.

So...a friend of mine commented on some photos of mine and jokingly asked when I was taking her kids pictures for their Christmas card. I told her I would love too - although I'm totally not a professional and am self taught for the most part - but also free :) She was really excited and so was I. I felt a little nervous only because I wanted her to be happy with the photo and seeing as I don't totally know what I'm doing I was a bit anxious. She had this super cute idea of dressing her kids up to portray the manger scene. Her oldest son was a shepherd, middle son was Joseph and then her daughter as Mary...and then a baby doll for baby Jesus :) I suggested to take the pics by a barn with some hay to add to the look. Oh my word - the photo turned out AMAZING! I thought they turned out nice once looking at them when I got home but once I edited the photo - wow - the picture is absolutely priceless. It captures such a sweet story. I will share the photo with you soon but I want to wait until she sends out her Christmas cards first so I don't spoil it for anyone who may receive one. Can't wait to show you this photo!

I'm thankful for health. Sometimes you forget how blessed you are to be healthy when you are feeling crummy. I woke up this morning with horrible stomach pains. I forsure thought I was going to throw up - I haven't felt that bad in probably a decade. I came out of our room and laid on the couch for 2 hours - just waiting to run to the bathroom - but never did. Jer woke up around 7:15 and I told him I was feeling really icky. He stayed home from work today because I knew there was no way I could take care of the kids. I started feeling much better by 9ish though. Thank you Jesus. I was praying and so was Jer. Then around 1ish Jer started having the same stomach issues. We are pretty confident we got sick from chinese food last night. That's the only thing we can think of - we know it's not the flu. We are both feeling much better tonight. Not 100% but close to it. I'm just so thankful that other than minor sicknesses here and there we have healthy bodies. So many people do not.

I'm so thankful to God for so many amazing blessings in my life.

Stay Blessed,
Momma Keri ♥