Thankful.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but my heart is still pondering its thanks.

I had a difficult time feeling thankful this week, but I definitely knew that it was a state that I needed to find myself in.

It is good to be reminded of the richness of God's favor and blessing in our lives. It is also good to remember His grace and salvation for sinners.

We had two full days of eating lots of food and entertaining toddlers. I was 5 pounds heavier and exhausted by the end of it all.

As I dwell on an attitude of thankfulness today, many things come to mind that I am grateful for.

-health for myself and family

-a warm house and good food to eat

-cars that run

-Aidan

-an understanding husband

-friends

-a bed to sleep in at night

-water to drink, wash clothes, and shower with

-a Godly heritage

- a good church to attend

-love: God's and others

I am thankful.

Honesty

Crystal nominated me to write 10 honest things about myself in her latest blog post.

So here I go!

1: I love to observe people and pay attention to the things they wear, the way they fix their hair, their makeup, their expressions, their personalities, and personal fitness.

2: I often have a problem comparing myself to those I observe.

3: I look at the clock and count down the hours until Seth comes home on a daily basis. I also count down to naptime and bedtime too. I should delight in the present more.

4: I don't spend nearly enough time in prayer or reading my Bible as I should. My excuses are good, but definitely not good enough.

5: I have an intense desire for good relationships/friendships with people.

6: I am sometimes very insecure about myself and my abilities to be a good wife, mother, and friend.

7: I don't like to hang up my clothes.

8: I obsess about the cleanliness and order of my house on a daily basis, but especially once a month when my hormones make me crazy.

9: I worry about money too often, but the Lord has been changing my heart and teaching me to rely on Him more, so that tendency is lessening greatly.

10: I wish I could be a professional ballerina.

I would tag people, but I honestly don't know who reads this blog, so I'll just say that if you read this, consider yourself tagged!

Funny Aidan Stories

Aidan has been doing some hilarious things lately and I wanted to write them down so I won't forget:

1: Setting out the changing mat, getting the wipes out, lying on the mat, and wiping himself.

2: Sitting in the exersaucer for 30 min. and playing (at 19 months!). Crazy child!

3:Putting his blanket on his head and walking around the house, bumping into things and laughing hysterically about it.

4:Always saying, "Library" when we drive by our local library.

5:Saying, "Ma-ma, bubbles!" and then taking my shampoo and conditioner out of the bathroom and hiding them. When I asked him where they were, he just gave me a blank look.

6:Hiding behind the wall as if playing peek-a-boo.

7: Singing along with music in the car.... "aahhhh, ahhh, ahhhh"

8: Saying, "didi, didi" and rocking back and forth when a song finishes or begins. We still have no clue what this means.

9:Helping me make the bed by picking up the pillows and saying, "thank you" when he hands them to me.

10: Going up to an antibacterial foam dispenser all by himself and getting some "bubbles" and rubbing his hands together.

11: Saying, "Mamen" at the end of prayer time.

12: Jabbering all the time in some weird language that totally only makes sense to him.

The most gorgeous day

This past Sunday was one of the most gorgeous days. The weather was perfect. Aidan slept in. We skipped church and had a leisurely breakfast (leftover pumpkin scones, fruit smoothies, and Starbucks breakfast blend). We took a walk after breakfast and Aidan played at the park. He was full of smiles and sweetness. We played in the leaves. When Aidan went down for his nap, Seth and I ate lunch and then sat outside and read the Bible together. Then we did some yard work. We finished the day with running some errands and eating dinner with Seth's family. It was wonderful!

What we've been up to lately

I feel like I am so behind on posting pictures of what activities we've been doing. Life has just been so busy!

A couple weeks ago, Aidan and his cousin Xan had a visit to Deanna Rose Farmstead. It was a gorgeous, but windy day.



Aidan experienced feeding the goats for the first time. He was a little apprehensive, but kept asking for more and more food. It was so sweet!



Riding the duck!



Xan and his turtle



Aidan loves to play with these shovels, but he is a little bit small for them still.

For Halloween, Aidan was a little monkey again. I found another cute costume and it was so cheap, that I just had to have it for him. He hated getting it on, but loved seeing himself in the mirror and was making monkey noises. He was such a good sport. We didn't do much trick or treating, but we did go to Chipotle for some free burritos.



Aidan and Daddy



Sitting in a sea of pumpkins



Aidan and Momma

We've had a busy fun-filled last few weeks. I am so excited for this holiday season!

19 months!

Aidan,

It is so hard to believe that you are already 19 months old. You are growing up so much every single day. Since you turned 18 months, you have been obtaining knowledge at such a fast pace and your vocabulary has really increased. Your vocab consists of: dog, duck, hallelujah, mama, dada, steph, keys, bottle, baby, snack, night night, Jesus, eyes, ears, nose, knock knock, hot, bubbles, bye bye, hi, ball, uh-oh, banana, love love, Elmo, beep, cheese, march, jump, bowl, book, snail, frog, roar, peas, pear, spoon, teeth, milk, ear, baa, moo, snake, (monkey noises), knee, egg, blankie, leaves, tree, wheee (slide), nods head for yes, Na-Na, pray, Aidan, grandpa, Maisie, poop, count: 123, library, Grammy, mouse, and more that I cannot recall at the moment. You love to repeat words that we say and you also love to mimic the things we do. You can identify the letter "A" and we are going to start working on the rest of the alphabet soon. You are still our little entertainer and love music, dancing, and playing instruments. You and Daddy have a special connection with music and you contentedly listened to the entire Coldplay album together the other night...you just danced and asked for "more" as soon as each song ended. You have become increasingly aware of things lately and it is so fun to watch you make new connections. For example, the other night I said to Seth, we need to thank Jesus, and you chimed in and said, "pray!" while reaching out your hands to us. Speaking of prayer, you love to pray at night and will stand still and hold our hands until we say "amen." You bow your head and seem to acknowledge the reverence of it all, but as soon as we are done, you collapse in a heap and say "nigh, nigh" so sweetly. You still love to sleep as long as you have your blankie. You sleep about 12-12.5 hours a night and nap a couple hours during the day. I am so glad that you are so great about going down for bed and that it has never been a fight. Aidan, you are my little buddy and I love how loving you are. You give kisses voluntarily and are becoming quite the cuddler. You are obsessed with "ma-ma" right now and you are always calling me when I leave the room. You like to be right near me at all times. Your favorite things to do right now: play with the car keys and put them in and out of the lock, watch Elmo and would watch it all day if I let you, carry your blankie around everywhere (I have started hiding it from you), color/draw (markers are your new obsession), and read books. You are doing so well with having Oakley around and have become such a help with him. You try to wipe his face when he spits up, you bring him toys (and take them away), you lie down with him on his play mat, give him kisses, hold his hand when you are in the double stroller, and say "boo" to him. I know you are going to be a wonderful big brother some day. You are also learning how to obey more and say "yes, Mommy" when I am talking to you. Aidan, there are so many things about you that make you uniquely you and I just can't describe how wonderful that is. You are such a strong personality and have such a will about you that makes life difficult sometimes, but I know you are going to be a powerful man of God some day and I want to foster that in you. I am so blessed to be your mother and I am so proud of you. I am grateful that the Lord has given you to me and allowed me the honor of caring for you these 19 months.

Love,

Momma

BBQ Chicken Pizza

One thing that we've been making about once a week is homemade bbq chicken pizza. I found a great recipe towards the end of the summer and you can either grill it or bake it in the oven.



This is the finished product-although this time I used mozzarella cheese when I actually prefer cheddar.

Here is the original recipe with my own personal modifications in parentheses:

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

2 tbls. vegetable oil (I use canola or extra virgin olive oil)

2 teaspoons sugar (I use honey or sucanat)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2-3 cups all purpose flour (I use a combination of whole wheat and all purpose)

Toppings:

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1/2 to 3/4 cup bbq sauce (I have yet to make homemade sauce for this pizza because I am in a hurry to get it together)

1/2 cup julienned green pepper (I actually chop up zucchini instead)

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (I use cheddar or whatever I have on hand at the time)

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. (I let this stand for about 5 min.) Add, the remaining ingredients, but only 2 cups of the flour. Stir in remaining flour to form a soft dough (I don't always measure this, but just keep adding flour until my dough is not sticking to the bowl anymore).

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. (I do this in my KitchenAid for like 6-7 min.).  Cover and let rise for 10 min. Roll out dough and transfer to a greased pizza pan.

Grill covered, over medium heat for 5 min. Remove and add toppings. Grill covered, 5-10 min. longer or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.

If you would rather bake in the oven, do the same as above at 400 degrees.

When you grill the pizza, it comes out pretty crispy, but baked in the oven it is a lot doughier and soft.