Give Thanks!

Hello! Happy Thanksgiving to all of my lovely readers! We are spending the day enjoying family time and storing energy for some all night shopping! Woot! We'd just like to share some of the things we are thankful for this year.

Mama- I'm thankful for my family. Each and every one of them. I have an amazing, supportive family (blood relation and in-laws). We are all so different but we all fit together perfectly. I'm especially thankful to my parents for allowing us to live with them this year while we save up and get some of our debt paid down. Though The Dude can get a little wild every now and then, his love and personality make up for it ten fold. Having our beautiful baby girl has made our family even more full of love and I can't remember what life was like without her. But I'm especially thankful for my husband, Brian. My life has been so full of love and laughter since I met him and I appreciate all that he does for us. He is truly my best friend and such an amazing father. I'm also thankful for my friends. I'm lucky to have been blessed with some pretty fantastic friends all over the country! We have some great friends that we miss bunches in Atlanta and California and we sure do miss our friends in Winston-Salem. We hope to get back up to West Virginia to see our friends there and hopefully meet some of our IG friends in the near future.

Dada: I, as well, am thankful for my family, both near and far. The ones I don't get to see too often in Georgia and Alabama and wherever else they may be scattered about. Maybe we don't see eye to eye on some things, but above all of that, we are family and whether we realize it or not, we all have an enormous impact on one another's lives. I am truly thankful for my in-laws, for accepting this random weird dude into their family to marry their baby girl and help raise their grandson. You've accepted me with open arms for years, and have now accepted welcomed us into your home. I'm thankful for Hayden, for allowing me to step in and help raise you and for treating me as if I were your real father. When I met you and your mom, I didn't get an instruction manual on how to raise a kid, but I'm certain you got one on how to raise a dad. You know all the right buttons to push, both good and bad. And the good far outweigh the bad. To my beautiful wife who never ceases to amaze me: you've twice given me the opportunity to be a dad. With the dude (though you did most of the hard work early on), and with the most perfect little darling girl. Just like you said, I can't remember what life was like before her, I can't imagine life without her. You are everything I ever hoped for in a wife; a soulmate, a best friend. I'm thankful for countless friends across the country, that, though I don't see you too often, or even talk to you that often, you're still in my thoughts daily. From different cities within GA, TN, AL, FL, NC, SC, WV, CA and plenty of others, I cherish each and every one of you, and can't wait for the next time I get to see all of you. And finally, I'm thankful, that despite the lack of employment across our country, I have been given an opportunity to work and provide for my family. Elizabeth carried the weight for too long, and now I am able to pay that favor back so that she can stay home with the kids and not stress about going to work everyday. True, sometimes I have stressful days/weeks, and sometimes I grumble about my job, but I love it, and am glad my hard work doesn't go unrecognized.

The Dude: Is thankful for his friends and family. But mostly he is thankful for all of his toys and electronics.  *Oh the simple mind of a child* :P

Magnolia: She told me she is thankful for Mama, Dada, Brother and her toys. She's also thankful for boobies and milk. :)


Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!! <3

PS You guys should go check out this giveaway over at AdaLouVintage's blog! It's for a gorgeous Inspiration Board by Soft Surroundings.

What is This Blog All About?

I'm having a hard time figuring out where to focus this blog.

In the past week my Magnolia seems to be growing and learning by leaps and bounds which makes me want to document everything! But I would still like to include my little crafty projects. So I guess it will continue to be a mash up of whatever the heck I feel like rambling about.

Magnolia: She's soooo close to crawling. Tonight I stacked her little stacking cups up high and kept letting her knock them down. She thought it was hilarious and kept getting so excited when I stacked them. I moved them just out of arms reach and she got up on all fours and rocked and rocked. She wanted to move forward so badly, but her body just wasn't working with her. I gave in and moved it closer so she could reach and feel like all of her hard work paid off. But now I see that she will be crawling very soon. She will be 9 months in 3 days and still isn't crawling. I get worried sometimes when I hear of my friend's little girl that is a few days shy of 10 months and is already walking!! But Magnolia is my baby. I know she's not behind and I know all babies develop at different times. I'm enjoying these last few days/weeks of her being immobile. I say immobile, but she still seems to be able to get around the living room. Scooting, rolling, twisting, turning. The child does not stop!

Sunday, the 13th, we had The Dude's birthday party at the YMCA pool. He had a great time and I got to meet Lydia, his crush from his classroom. It was mid afternoon, so we just had juice/water and cake. I snapped some pics and will try to get them up this weekend. The hubs and I happened to catch Mags clapping while we were at the pool. It was really sweet and special that we actually got to catch her do this for the first time together. I know B feels like he misses a lot from working so much, so I'm glad he got to see that. Tuesday, the 15th we went to Hayden's school PTA meeting where the 2-3rd graders were doing little performances. We caught Magnolia clapping a few times along with the audience so it's looking like she's getting pretty good at it. We say "Yaaaaayyyyy" and she'll clap...most of the time.

It also seems that she's really becoming aware of who's who this week. Especially with Dada (Brian) and Papa (my dad). I'll ask her where they are and she seems to look in their direction. She's been babbling a lot this week and the majority of it is dadadadadadada....dadadada. I contribute this to my talking to her all the time about him. I'm pretty sure that's her first word. But until we are positive I'm not quite ready to document that one. :)

We got some new lil fluffy additions to our family today, but maybe I'll save them for their very own post. :)

I have to be disciplined and blog these things. I told B I wanted a journal this week so I can log our days. I don't want to forget a thing! But if I can just get better about blogging, and as long as you guys/gals don't mind reading it maybe the interwebs will do?

Happy Thursday Y'all!! <3