So many blessings

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful! Minus, Marley waking up throwing up. She only did it once though and then she was just fine. Must have been something she ate...or something? We didn't go to the branch Thanksgiving because of it but we had a great time as a little family. Thankfully we had some yummy treats and lots of fun projects planned. The house was CLEAN! It's not now. Poot! The visiting clean never stays long. Oh well.

Marley watched a couple of movies bundled in blankets and the bucket in front of the couch, while Nate and I did stuff around the house. Cooking, cleaning (trying to keep the house clean as long as possible), sewing, eating. Nathan sorta missed out on turkey and stuffing and the whole Thanksgiving meal (not me, you know). But, thankfully we had some yummy alternatives.

For breakfast we had blueberry pancakes. Nathan used our last bag of frozen, hand picked (by us) wild blueberries. They were SO delicious! We also had hot coco! Mmmm. For lunch we had artichoke dip with french bread and black olive sandwiches. Our bellies were stuffed! Still that night we had BLT's. Those were so delicious too! We haven't had any of those meals in awhile and never in the same day so it was a memorable Thanksgiving still!

Marley didn't last on the couch. She was soon up and helping and dressing in princess clothes and dancing. Can't keep a princess down. She still moved the bucket around the house with her. She learned that by watching me do it for three months. But by the evening the bucket and Marley were in different parts of the house....and that's the way we like it.

Friday morning I met my friend, who is helping me sew, at her house around 6am and we went to the Soo and black Friday shopped JoAnn's together. It was fun! But, we did not think about the double line. One HUGE line for cutting and then a line for checking out. We got some excellent deals and it was fun to be together. So worth it.
 
After shopping Ranon (pronounced Run On, my friend) gave me a bundle of Thanksgiving leftovers for Nathan.  She said, "I know you don't like Thanksgiving food but here is some for Nathan." It was turkey and stuffing and gravy. She also included cranberry salad, enough for me and Marley and black pecan pie! Yum!

Throughout the weekend we continued to celebrate how thankful we are to be a family. We did everything together! We had yummy food, like, Chicken Tikka Masala. Mmmm! Chicken Enchiladas! And homemade deli sandwiches! Avocados are a bust at the store these days, poot! but still we can make some YUMMY sandwiches!

We also had pistachios and spice drops at our finger tips all weekend. You can always find spice drops at Grandpa Russon's so that was a fun family tradition to uphold and stir up warm feelings of family far away.

Nathan worked on the car. He is still trying different things to keep the engine light off. It keeps comin' on.  He has one more try and then we gotta take it in to a professional. We think this will be the key though. Fingers crossed. Marley and I cleaned out the car (my favorite thing to do) while Nathan worked under the hood.

Nathan also worked on the dryer. Yea, our dryer died about a month ago. He has replaced several parts in it so far and now he thinks it's the motor. Probably the most expensive part to replace. It's an old dryer though and we are SO grateful to have it. He is going to tinker with the motor and try to fix it til after Christmas. If he can't fix it, we'll order a new one.  In the meantime, we'll continue to take our wet clean clothes to the laundromat to dry them. We are so grateful to have one in town. Phew! It's a pain and inconvenient to transport and pay for it but we can dry several loads in an hour. Not bad.

We worked on Christmas presents for extended family. They may be a bust though...may have to resort to a back up gift. We'll see. But, that is what is frustrating about homemade gifts...for me anyway. They rarely turn out right for me. That's also why I like to avoid baking these days. By bother if nothing turns out right?

I am so grateful for Nathan. He is such a loving and caring husband. He loves to be with me and I love to be with him. I love being his wife! I am SO grateful for his job and the awesome experience he is getting for his career.

I am so grateful for Marley. She is so smart and helpful and friendly. I see her as an over achiever in every way.  And oh yes! She is a butthead sometimes...so she is also a very normal kid. She makes me so very happy to be a mother.

I am grateful that we are being blessed to grow our family. We are so excited to find out the sex of our little babe next Monday, the 5th! What do you think it is?

I really have SO much to be thankful for. Even things that I haven't felt thankful for...I DO! Like engine lights and broken dryers and a sick child. I have been able to see the blessings even in the unexpected and disheartening. I don't feel that it is anything I have really done to seek it, just being blessed. That is why I love this season. This year I have truly felt my heart soften and yearn for simplicity and fill with gratitude. Our lives don't need to be as complicated as we think or make them out to be. My life is simple right now. I am a wife and a mother and I love it! I have so many blessings!