30 Days of Thanks-- Day 30

Today, Day 30, I am thankful for my husband.  I am always thankful for my family, but my husband has definitely become my best friend!  He is one of the most thoughtful people that I know and he is the best thing to come home to at the end of the day.  He is the reason that I get through the tough days and the hug that I look forward to at the end of my day.  Today I had school, and got home around 4, and had to leave at 5 to babysit.  Not only did I have his full attention for that hour, but he made me an early dinner and ate it with me, since I have strict food guidelines to follow.

 

He definitely was made for me.  I know it sounds corny, but I really like the song that says 

"when God made you, he must have been thinking about me."

30 Days of Thanks-- Days 28 & 29

 Today, Day 28, I am thankful that I am one semester closer to being finished my Masters.  We have finished one course for this semester, and I have one class left of my other course (but all of my projects are finished early and turned in).  I also called to register for my ONE LAST COURSE for the Spring!!!  After May, I will be finished with my Masters!!!  Wooo hoo!!!

Today, Day 29, I am thankful for a garage.  I know, it's a silly thing to write as one of the things I'm thankful for, but I am so thankful that we have a garage for my morning commutes.  Everyone knows that I am not a morning person, so it's such a relief knowing my car is in the garage and I don't have to scrape ice off of it like I had to do when I was living at home or at college.  It's the little things :-)

**Sorry for the lack of pictures lately.  Blogger said that I have reached my maximum uploads for the year :-(**

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 27

Today, Day 27, I am thankful that Jason always cooks chicken for me.  I find the process absolutely disgusting when it is raw, so he does the hard work.  Tonight, he had class, so I had to make my own chicken, complete with thawing it out from the freezer.  (Talk about gross!!)  It turned out fine, but I made some extra pieces for Jas to have when he got home from class.  Just made me a little extra grateful that he cooks the chicken around here!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 26

Today, Day 26, I am thankful that my Aunt Lee Lee is a hairdresser.  I can't explain how awesome it is to be able to get your hair cut when it's convenient and enjoy the conversations while you're there.  I didn't get my own hair cut, but Jason did today, and it was really nice to squeeze it in before our grad class tonight!  It was even more amazing when it was time to get our hair done for the wedding-- she understood me completely and was able to do exactly what I wanted!!  She's the best!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 25

 

Today, Day 25, I am thankful for impromptu family meals.  We went to church this morning and were asked if we wanted to go to lunch with a bunch of people from my Dad's side of the family.  Since we weren't planning on doing much other than hitting up the grocery store, we stopped at Parma with the rest of the family who was coming.  It was a much appreciated surprise and it was great to catch up with them, since it seems that too much time goes by between visits!  I'm definitely grateful for all sides of my family, both on my side, and Jason's side!!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 24

Today, Day 24, I am thankful for family traditions.  For as long as I can remember, we have been going to Aunt Lee Lee's house after Thanksgiving to make and decorate Gingerbread houses.  The girls do houses and the boys do trains, and we cover them in every candy imaginable.

Of course, since Aunt Lee Lee is so creative and always goes above and beyond, the gingerbread houses now come on elaborate cardboard stands that you put together, and the day also includes make-your-own pizza and snacks while we work.

While our houses never look quite the way we imagined, and sometimes the house won't stay together without a ton of icing holding it together, it's the family bonding time that is the best part!  It has been awesome getting together as a family and doing this, but it's gotten more and more fun as we've grown older.  Her hard work definitely does not go unnoticed!

30 Days of Thanks-- Days 22 & 23

Today, Day 22, I am thankful for my family.  It has been an entirely hectic day, and I can hardly stand up straight because my back hurts so much, but I wouldn't have been able to pull off my First Thanksgiving without help from my parents and mother-in-law.  We ended up rearranging the entire house, dining room table went to the kitchen, kitchen table and a folding table went to the dining room, but it went great, even if my Mom did clog my sink with potato peels and we had to wash dishes in the bathroom sink ;-)  This was our first major holiday missing our favorite little girl, so it was really important to be together.  She was on our minds of course all day, and it was a struggle to make it through the day, but we will take one day at a time.  Holidays make you realize just how important and irreplaceable your family really is!!

Today, Day 23, I am thankful for my Mom.  While my husband, Dad, and father-in-law worked for almost 5 hours unclogging the kitchen sink, she helped me clean and organize almost my entire house.  She even helped me clean up the kitchen once the guys were done using the machine that got crap (literally) all over the place as they cleaned the clog out of the pipe 25 feet away.  Then, my Dad and husband hung another shelf for me in my pantry, so I was able to move some of the food around.  She helped me organize not only the pantry, but every other cabinet in my kitchen, and the all over the house!  Cleaning is one of my least favorite things to do, but I had to have gotten my love of organizing from somewhere, so it was gret to have a second person there with me.  We threw away lots and lots of stuff :-)

Also, last week, when I wrote about the Eagles game, she even went to the grocery store and packed our lunches for the week since we ere gone all day.

How did I get so lucky??

 and

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 21

Today, Day 21, I am thankful for the new siblings I gained when we got married.  Ethan has been here since last night, and it's been great having him around today to keep me company while Jason had school and poker.  We were able to play Wii and just have a relaxing day, and it was a lot of fun :-)

Looking forward to Thanksgiving with everyone tomorrow!!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 20

Today, Day 20, I am thankful for my new teammates at school.  Today between the hours of 12:30-8:30, we had 22 conferences booked.  You would think we would get tired of each other by the end of the conferences,  but that definitely wasn't the case.  Everyone on my team was prepared and knowledgeable and they kept the conferences going.... and there was even some laughing in there :-)  So today, I am thankful for a functioning, supportive team at school!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 19

Today, Day 19, I am thankful for the bond between my Dad and my husband.  Ever since I've been able to remember, my Dad has played this baseball card game called APBA on Monday nights.  Once a spot opened up, Jason took the open team and started playing.  They are in a big league, so they hardly ever play each other, but tonight they did.  While I was downstairs in the basement doing Jillian, I loved listening to them talking and carrying on while playing their game.

While it was just something simple that they were playing, it just reminded me that I am so lucky that they get along so well.  I couldn't imagine if they didn't get along so well, since I am a huge family person and we spend a lot of time with my family.  I'm loving it!!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 18

Today, Day 18, I am thankful for my sisters help with prepping some things for Thanksgiving this week.  I get overwhelmed easily, and while I wouldn't say I'm stressed yet, it was awesome to get some of the things for Thanksgiving out of the way.  We made:

Chex Mix

Candied Almonds and Pecans

Acorns

I made the acorns last year and they were a big hit, so I knew I had to make them again.  Three things to cross off the list!!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 17

Today, Day 17, I am thankful for unexpected time with my husband.  I wasn't expecting to see him today, and he wasn't needed at the cabin to rake leaves, so I got to see him!  I babysat this morning but he was able to go to a birthday party with me this afternoon for one of the cute little boys I babysit.  After that, he ran errands with me.... YES, I did just say that he ran errands with me!  What a treat!!!  While we were running errands I convinced him to buy the new video game he has been eyeing up for a few days, so he was a happy camper!  Pair that with dinner and now an entire night to play the game and that leaves tons of time to catch up for me and to plan out the meals for the week and everything I need for Thanksgiving!  Great night!!!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 16

Today, Day 16, I am thankful for the people that I work with.  As I mentioned before, my students have been helping sort clothing during our homeroom time, but two awesome people in my building organized a clothing drive that EASILY helped over 50 families alone tonight.  As my kids spend lots and lots of time organizing, folding and boxing countless bags of clothing, I had a negative thought in the back of my mind that wondered if people would show up who needed the clothes... hoping that all the sorting wasn't for nothing.  Well it definitely wasn't!  The stream of people in and out of the cafeteria were endless and I'm not kidding when I say people took home MULTIPLE garbage bags full of clothes for their families.  Nothing could have made my happier!  I was also really grateful to see that teachers gave up their Friday evening to help with the event.  Even our Principal came and help, and even provided pizza, since we all worked over dinner.  I couldn't ask for a better group of co-workers!  So proud to be a Lion!!

30 Days of Thanks-- Part 15

Today, Day 15, I am thankful for all the hard work my family and my husband have put into our house.  It's crazy to think we have been here for a year and a half, but the changes are incredible.  If you haven't seen it lately, check out our house website:

http://jasonandmalerieshouse.weebly.com/

We have even made more upgrades since then that I will work on taking pictures of over Thanksgiving break!

30 Days of Thanks-- Day 14

Today, Day 14, I am thankful for my warm, cozy house with warm, fuzzy blankets.  It has been getting really cold outside and coming home to my house and also curling up with my favorite blankets.  I swear I should buy stock in Kohls because I own so many of their warm fuzzy blankets.  These are my favorite:

I just can't get enough of them :-) 

30 Days of Thanks-- Part 13

Today, Day 13, I am thankful for my job.  If you haven't been updated lately, I was moved teams at school this year, and I am now on a learning support/co-teaching team.  While the thought of change terrified me (shocker, I know) I was ready for the challenge.  This year has brought out some new sides of me that I didn't know existed.  I have learned new amounts of patience, but I have also learned how I have SO many cool kids this year.

For example, my homeroom kids have given up every homeroom period for the last three weeks to help sort clothing for the clothing drive that my school is hosting this upcoming weekend.  The kids get nothing in return, but they have given countless hours up to help students who will benefit from the clothing drive, and they honestly get disappointed when we don't help sort if I have a meeting or something.

My job is definitely frustrating at times and it's not the most rewarding job by any means, but the students make it totally worth it!

Eagles Game Pictures

This was the first Eagles game that I attended that I had my new camera, so I thought I'd share the highlights from the game.  Believe me, this is absolutely cut down from the 300 pictures I took from the day.

Enjoy!!