Lately

+ Snuggling this little one. And you know that feeling when you've had a long day and you're just about to climb into bed and it just sounds so wonderful and you're so excited to feel that pillow under your head and drift off to sleep? Me too. And it's amazing! So different from the "I can't bare the thought of going to bed because it is just the beginning of the next 8 hours of torture, though I do so love this tiny little baby..." feeling I've had for many parts of the last 10 years!  Isaac and I are up twice a night and for a Brough 5 month old, that is pretty spectacular :) (For a long time it felt like all I could talk about was how tired I was, and now whenever I'm giving an update on 'how's life' all I can say is how wonderful it is to be sleeping so much better!)

+ Laughing at the Christmas-every-day feeling at our house as deliveries are made and packages are opened. Even with pretty small Christmas lists, with 5 little ones plus normal household purchases to keep things running, the Fedex/UPS/USPS/Lee's/All of the above deliverers are pretty constant visitors at our house. (And there's something so fun about getting the packages and opening them up to see what surprise we've picked out that has arrived  like  "oh! Porter's play dough tools - he's going to love those!"

+ Figuring out health insurance. We've been on five different health insurance plans this year --Bonobos' company plan, COBRA, LostMyName's company plan, a temporary plan for Jordan and Isaac when we missed adding Isaac to our real plan, an individual plan, a new individual plan for 2017, and now maybe back to a LostMyName plan for 2017 after all? Whoosh. This stuff makes me a little crazy.

+ Pizzelle making. This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions and this year was the first time all three older kids could help, and really help even. And all the kids are such sweet treat deliverers - I would be so happy at the cuteness of them at our door (even if I am their mom... :)

+ Not doing anything at all about our basement. We finally had a contractor come over and talk through our plans and such (early in November) but then life has just kind of moved along... when this all first happened (in September) Jordan talked to a friend about doing some work for us and he said he'd be busy for the next month -- which was much too long for us, we thought. Three months later and life just goes right along, even with a semi-torn up basement (and half painted kitchen too!). Soon though hopefully we'll really start making progress -- I think I realized that for anything to get better, it would first have to get worse and that has been overwhelming enough not to start!

+ Looking forward to Christmas break! Somehow our school mornings have been a little crazy lately and I think all the kids (and me too, for sure!) are looking forward to a break even just from the busyness of getting out the door on time. And it will just fun to play and read and wrap presents and whatever else we come up with. We're enjoying all the little Christmas activities though. This morning I took the little boys to see Owen's kindergarten 'gingerbread man' performance and it was very sweet. Tonight we're going to see the school's holiday movie the kids all helped make. And tomorrow I get to help with Landon's class party and I'm excited for that too.

still thankful

So, apparently I'm not ready to get back to a writing every day habit, even for a month of Thanksgiving. But that's okay, I'm still thankful :) 

Here are some little things I'm thankful for today --

+ Today is the first day in about 2 weeks that all three kids have been at school after we've all taken turns with a few different rounds of sickness.  Porter and I are still sniffling, but everyone seems to be recovering. 

+ I'm thankful for the extra time I've gotten to spend with these kiddos as they've each taken turns with their sick days! Especially on the days when nobody was too miserable but just resting/recovering at home.

+ Yesterday was a recovery day for Ellie, and she and Owen had such fun when he got home from school. They were playing together in such a fun way and they got so excited about their plan of  going to the store to pick out a christmas decoration that I even stretched and packed up all 4 little ones for a trip to the dollar store before nap times. Through the morning, Ellie was playing so happily with Porter that I even had a chance to start on Landon's blanket (his birthday present several months late...)!

+ I'm thankful for this beautiful, warm November weather we've had!

+ I'm thankful for a fun chance to help Jordan with a project for work last night. He had to get something up for a conference he's helping with and the designer hadn't had a chance to finish designing the pages, so I got to help and it was just fun. :)

+ I'm thankful for a good afternoon nap for little Isaac (poor little-bit-sick guy!) right now. 

+ I'm thankful for the chance to do homework and reading time with Owen this afternoon. I've not been super awesome about homework with him. As a kindergartener, he needs one-on-one help with homework time so if we don't do it before the older kids get home, it doesn't happen. But when it does, it's (almost) always just so fun. (Sometimes there are lots of "it's time to focus" reminders when the silly-bug comes)

+ I'm thankful for sweet Landon. He debated about taking a recovery day off today or going to school, and ended up going to school. (He was most excited to be feeling better so he could hold Isaac again!) Before he left,  he left me a 'scavenger hunt' of notes all around the front room -- "I love you Mom!" and hearts and piranhas   :)

I'm thankful for April!

A few conversations from our house in the 24 hours or so --

from Porter to Jordan
You love me, and Owen, and Ellie... and Landon and Isaac...
And you love Mom!
And you love April!

at dinnertime yesterday

from Porter, out of the blue, and a little sadly -
Remember April's gone?

from Owen,
I know! I ran downstairs to tell her something and I forgot she wasn't here anymore!

from Porter today
I can stay home with April... oh actually... hm. :(

We got to have April here a lot this Fall and it was just so great. When I went to find a picture, I was surprised to remember all the great adventures the kids especially got to have with her -- camping and hiking, Lagoon and Aggie ice cream and bike riding... Besides being such a great help and fun adventurer, it was just so fun to have her here just to talk to and visit and be together. We will miss her now that she's back home!

a good busy day

Our kitchen wall today

We had a bunch of little things on the calendar yesterday and after a couple of rougher nights (which 3 years ago would have been hooray! nights :) I woke up in the morning feeling a bit overwhelmed with the day ahead - lots of little places to be plus suddenly all of the started/unfinished projects at home felt like a bit much.

But it turned out to be just a nice happy day. I came home from the first round of activities in the morning and April had washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, tidied the house, and left neatly folded piles of clean Isaac laundry on my bed.

We had kids and friends in and out throughout the day and it was just happy and lively and fun.

Jordan gave me some sweet motivation in my paint-choosing angst and  helped get things moving by painting all my sample colors all around our kitchen (!) after the kids went to bed.

And then off to bed and I was just surprised how smoothly and happily the day went :)

friends

just playing together

I'm thankful for good friends for my kiddos. And for all the times they love to play just with each other too.

for kindness and goodness and faith

"Enthusiasm is a form of social courage" --

Last night was pretty crazy! Jordan and I stayed up past midnight waiting for the election results (which is crazy by itself, since we don't even stay up that late for New Years). And then of course, the election results!

We finally went to bed before the final call was made, and I checked in to see the official news when I woke up to feed Isaac. (And then, since it was 4 a.m. and I'd been up super late already, my overtired mind grouped together all the election news with the worst headlines of the week and pretty soon I was feeling not just scared to fall back to sleep but pretty anxious about the whole fate of the world!)

But I woke up this morning singing a song I haven't heard or sung since Young Women's, on repeat in my mind -- I walk by faith.

And as I checked my favorite blogs and instagram feeds, I found such great charity, kindness, compassion,  optimism and hope. 

So, I'm thankful today for faith and for so many good people in the world and their examples to me. 

(And here's one more cheerful article from before the election. )

November + Thanksgiving #1-8

  

(From Isaac's baby blessing day - oh! he was a sweet tiny little bundle just a few months ago!)

Sometimes in November, I've tried to write each day here about something I'm thankful for.  And as we got closer to the end of October, I thought that would be a great way to help myself get back in the habit of writing every day... But, here we are on November 8th... It's tricky to find a long enough stretch of focused time to write while the kids are all happy/asleep! But, even with a late start I'm going to give it a try. :)

So, for the first 8 days of November -- 

1. I'm thankful for Jordan. I'm thankful for his incredible love and devotion for me and for our family.  We took turns juggling a happy/hungry/wiggly/sleepy Isaac and a missing-naptime Porter through Stake Conference on Sunday and I was just all filled up with love for this good man who is also such a good Dad. 

2. I'm thankful to be a mom. I'm so happy that I get to spend my days with these kiddos. Sometimes I'm happy to go pick up pizza in the evening just for the few minutes of quiet all by myself. But I sure do love these little ones. 

3. I'm thankful for Landon. Yesterday he was assigned the lesson for family home evening. He spent a good little part of the afternoon with Ellie and Owen planning a very silly little show that they all completely loved being a part of. I love his good heart. 

4. I'm thankful for Ellie. On Sunday morning, we had a little extra time with a later than usual Stake Conference. Ellie made blueberry muffins with Owen and Porter as her little helpers. (And I know from experience this takes a good deal of patience!)

5. I'm thankful for Owen. He's learning to read and I have been loving helping him through 'Green eggs and Ham' a little at a time this past week. 

6. I'm thankful for Porter. When Jordan gave the kids blessings for back to school, Porter wanted one to. The one thing I remember was a blessing for Porter to learn to play with his toys. Which seemed a little surprising, but over the last few weeks it has really been wonderful to watch him really learn to play and pretend. 

7. I'm thankful for Isaac. Oh this little baby, I sure love him! Owen loves to play with him and he'll count how many 'happy sounds' Isaac makes. His goal is to get to one thousand and I think he's at about 300. He's growing and learning and we all just love him so. 

8.  I'm thankful for families! This year all of the visiting teaching lessons have been about families, and it has just been kind of fun to visit each month with friends and celebrate families and be reminded of how I can help and strengthen and have joy in my own little family.