Day 60

Today, I am just thankful for being able to enjoy the day. You know those days when everything is just great and you're in a great mood for no particular reason? Today was one of those days. I had a wonderful day in the fifth grade class I'm observing (they got to watch salmon being dissected - very interesting), took Donovan out for ice cream, got to see my boss at the middle school for the last time before she starts her new job, and now both the boys are already asleep and it's not even 9:00! Not even the prospect of having to get up for my mid-term for Spanish at 5:30 in the morning can put me in a bad mood. Thank you, God, for reminding me that joy can be found in the everyday. What a great day it was, too!

Day 59

Today was another one of those uneventful days. Nothing really out of the ordinary, which makes it a little more difficult to find something that sticks out to be grateful for. I guess tonight I am grateful that it looks like I will be in bed before 11:00 tonight. That is a record for me and I am hoping that the kids cooperate and allow me to get a decent night's sleep tonight. At any rate, I will be getting a good hour or more than I typically do and for that I am very grateful.

Day 58

Today I am thankful for the snow and I'm thankful that it's gone. It was a nice surprise this morning to see the snow outside. Plus, Donovan thought it was really cool! But I don't like having to drive or be outside in the snow. So, even though it was pretty - I'm glad that it was all gone by this evening. Snow is always nice when it's temporary and I'm glad that was the case today. Now bring on Spring!

Day 57

Today I am grateful for the couple of hours I got to spend with my mom. It is not often we get to hang out just the two of us. Usually we have a kid, or three, and/or a husband, or two tagging along. Today I got to spend a wonderful time with just her and I. We had a wonderful lunch, and walked around the mall looking for shoes for the boys. It wasn't much time, but it's amazing how much you can talk about when you don't have little ones monopolizing the conversation. :) Thank you, mom for the wonderful day and I hope that we can do it again soon! Love you!

Day 56

Today, Alfredo and I were both on the road. I had to go to Yakima, and he was heading to Seattle and back. I am thankful that we both had safe travels. I never used to give it much thought, but now that I have kids sometimes the thought of being on the road really scares me. I know that horrible accidents happen all the time and I am terrified of leaving my kids without one or both of their parents. I am glad that God kept his hand over us and kept us both safe. Thank you, Lord, for protecting us both and allowing us safe journeys today.

Day 55

Today I am thankful for stuffed mushrooms. I have the most amazing and easy recipe for stuffed mushrooms. I don't know where I found it, but it has become a staple at family get-togethers. I decided to make some tonight to share with Alfredo and they were a-mazing. Like always. Here's to the simple pleasures in life and sharing them with the ones I love.

Day 54

Hmmm...well, it's not that today was a bad day, it was just kind of uneventful. Sometimes when days go like this it is hard to pick out something to be grateful for. I guess today I was able to get some homework done this evening. I'm grateful that everyone is in bed - even though Adelin is not too happy about it - and I have more time to get some more out of the way. I unexpectedly have a lot of things I need to get done this weekend, and am glad I was able to get some out of the way tonight. Hopefully the rest of the week goes as smoothly and I can get more accomplished tomorrow.

Day 53

Today I am thankful I have a warm place to get out of the weather. The wind has been whipping around pretty forcefully all day. It is wonderful that I am able to get indoors and out of the wind. I know that there are too many people who don't have a home of their own, and I am so grateful that my children and I have a place to get in out of the cold. Days like these I'm reminded that we may not have much, but we at least have all the things we need to be happy.

Day 52

Today I am thankful that my Teaching and Learning professor didn't assign any homework today. This semester I have much less time available to work on homework and it has been nice to come home and not have to worry about it. I generally don't get to work on my homework until after the kiddos go to bed, so I am very excited at the thought of getting to bed before midnight tonight. If I can be so lucky as to have them all sleep through the night, I should be able to have an incredible night's sleep. Here's to hoping!

Day 51

I seem to now perpetually be a day behind, but oh well. Yesterday I was lucky enough to spend a wonderful couple hours alone with my husband. I am so grateful that we have family who are willing and able to watch our kids for us. I know that they are in great hands and it is nice to be able to get out and spend some quality time with my hubby. Date nights are few and far between for us, so it was wonderful to be able to get out without the kids. Thanks Alfredo's family for watching the monkeys for a couple hours so we could get out!

Day 50

Again, I am a day behind, but am thankful for the family time we had last night. Alfredo decided to institute Sunday movie night and last night was our first one. It was so much fun to hang out with the family. We played on the Kinect, ate and watched a movie. Even though our internet was slow and the movie kept stopping, making a 2 hour movie take about 3 1/2 hours, it was still a lot of fun and I am looking forward to many more movie nights with the family!

Day 49

Yesterday I am thankful I was able to hang out with my dear friend Sarah for a couple of hours on her birthday. I met her when I was pregnant with Donovan when I got a job at the store where she worked. I always had so much fun when I worked with her and we would often get in trouble for talking too much. Haha. She has remained a great friend over the years and is so wonderful with my kids. I am grateful that I have her as a friend, and hope that we can remain friends for many more years. Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Sarah! And that you find some darker sunglasses soon.

Day 48

Today I am thankful for the fact that it is Friday, and I have a three day weekend to look forward to. I love so much being in school and not working retail anymore. Money is tight, yes, but I'm working on getting us on a budget. Besides, the joy of having three day weekends off with my family more than makes up for the lack of money. Hooray for Friday!

Days 46 and 47

I totally forgot to post for yesterday, so I will say that I am grateful I had the opportunity to present a lesson to the fifth grade class I am observing in. It was a really simple lesson on base words, and the kids in the class are so sweet that it went wonderfully. I am so thankful that I have to opportunity to get some experience and feed back from the teacher.

On a more serious note, I am especially grateful that my dad is home and doing well. I didn't find out until after the fact, but he was in the emergency room this morning because he had been having chest pains. He has had some pretty serious problems with his heart in the past, and so they ran all sorts of tests and tried to figure out what the problem was. Luckily, nothing seems to be wrong with him or his heart and I am so incredibly happy that once again my family has come out pretty much ok. It is so scary when something like this happens and if you know my family, you know that we have had more than enough health scares the past few years. Our time together is fleeting and we really never know what could happen to end it. I am so grateful that God has blessed us with more years together and I'm glad that Dad is doing ok. I love you, Dad. And you need to stop scaring everybody like that.

Day 45

Today being Valentine's Day, I am happy that I found my Valentine. It's funny, because in the years we have been together, I don't think we've actually celebrated on Valentine's Day. Since Alfredo works in a restaurant, he is generally working today. It is probably the busiest day of the year for restaurants, so I usually don't get to see much of him for this holiday. But, it's really ok. I know that I found the love of my life and I don't need to have a special day set aside to recognize that. I am so grateful and blessed to have finally found my Prince Charming and that is more important than any one day out of the year can be.

Day 44

Sometimes my days are so uneventful that it is difficult to find something that stands out to be thankful for. However, that in itself is something to be thankful about. I don't mind that most of my days are the same routine, in fact, it is kind of nice. I don't need excitement everyday. On the contrary, I feel that most of the time boring is good. When my days are the same that means that I am secure and nothing is going wrong. The same-old thing everyday is something not to take for granted. It's nice to have a routine, and to be able to go about that routine without any bumps or unexpected detours. So, I guess today, I am thankful for the ordinary days I get to spend with my family. They won't all be like this so I need to appreciate them while I can.

Day 43

As I am finishing up my Spanish homework, with 20 minutes to spare, I am extremely grateful for my husband. Porque el puede hablar espanol y yo necesite mucha ayuda este noche. Gracias mi amor. I couldn't have done it tonight without you!

Day 42

Before I sit down to work on homework, I figured I would make a quick entry to say what I am thankful for today. Today, being a wonderfully lazy Saturday, I would say I am thankful for the weekends. Now that I am in school and not working in retail I am LOVING having the weekends off. They are doubly nice now that Alfredo also has the weekends off. Being able to stay in my pajamas half the day, making french toast for breakfast, hanging out with the family makes for a great day! I'm enjoying the weekend and am grateful for the time we get to relax together as a family.

Day 41

Well, today was pretty low-key. I guess for today I will say that I am thankful that I finally figured out a way for the boys to go to sleep fairly quickly. Usually I would send them both to bed and since their beds are within 3 feet of each other, they would proceed to spend the next hour or two playing and jumping on the beds and sometimes fighting. Instead, I send Giovanni to bed and have Donovan lay down on my bed. No horsing around, and they're usually both asleep within a half an hour. Wonderful. Now if I can just get everyone to sleep the entire night, I'll be all set!

Day 40

I just got done reading my sister Amanda's blog post about her ob checkup today. She is 19 weeks pregnant and has been keeping everyone posted with her progress via FB and her blog. I am so excited for her and her husband as they get ready to welcome their first baby into the world. I am grateful that I get to witness them make this incredible journey, and I'm grateful that I can give her advice (and hand-me-downs) when she needs or wants it. I'm a little bummed that she doesn't live closer, but I'm thankful that we are close enough that we get to visit every couple of months or so. I am proud to call her my sister and I know that she is going to make an amazing mom. This baby is lucky to have her for a mommy and we are all blessed to have her in our lives. I love you Amanda, and can't wait to meet your little bundle of joy!

Day 39

Today I am thankful for the faith of a little child. I am blessed that Donovan is reaching the age where he is expanding his faith and knowledge in Jesus. I may not have always walked the straight and narrow, but I am hoping to be an example to my children and I love that Donovan is growing in his excitement of learning about God and the Bible. Even though it was a scary situation, Donovan and I prayed for my Uncle Ted last night after learning that he was in the hospital. Then Donovan insisted we pray for him too - and then his brother and sister (they've all been dealing with colds this past week). I prayed that God reach down and touch him and make him feel better. Today when he woke up he informed me that Jesus touched his hand and now he was all better. Later this afternoon I got to tell Donovan that the uncle we prayed for last night was better and would be able to go home from the hospital. He was so excited and I am so happy he got to feel the joy of having an answered prayer. I hope that I can continue to watch him grow in his relationship with God and that he grows up knowing that if we continue to have the faith of a child, nothing is impossible through Him.

Day 38

Well, the past two days I have slept through my alarm. So, I am thankful that I still woke up in time both days to get up and get ready and only be a couple minutes late getting to where I needed to go. Here's to hoping my babies let me sleep tonight so we don't make it 3 for 3 tomorrow.

Day 37

Today I had to run to the grocery store and Donovan decided to come with me. I am grateful for the time I got to spend with him one-on-one. I can't believe how fast he is growing and I am cherishing the moments I get to spend with him now while he still thinks I am "the sweetest girl in the world," as he told me this morning. :) I love my precious Donovan and can't believe my little baby is becoming a boy right before my eyes. I am really grateful for the hour or so we got to have together just the two of us, and that he still has to hold my hand when we are walking through the parking lot. I was telling him today much he is growing and that soon he will be a big boy, even bigger than me. That day is not too far off - until then I am going to do my best to savor every moment I have with him and remember how lucky I am to have such a wonderful boy.

Day 36

Being sick, it is a little more difficult to find something to be thankful for. However, I am grateful that I am not more sick than I am. I am lucky that it is not anything worse than the cold we seem to be passing around in our family. I may not be the happiest today, and am grumpier than usual, but I know that in a day or two I will be back to normal. And for that, I am grateful.

Day 35

Today Alfredo replaced the struts on my car, and I am so thankful that I have a husband who knows his way around a toolbox. Not only have we saved so much money because he has been able to do the majority of car work, but I don't have to worry about car mechanics taking advantage of my ignorance. I am so impressed with his abilities and cannot begin to say how grateful I am to be married to someone who can fix our cars. I am impressed and amazed at his knowledge. Thank you Alfredo for being my own personal mechanic. You are wonderful!

Day 34

Today, I got to spend part of the afternoon in a 5th grade classroom. For my Teaching & Learning class, we have to spend 30 hours in a classroom observing a teacher, and I have been lucky enough to be invited to observe in a 5th grade classroom. Even though 5th grade is a little older than what I originally wanted to teach, being in this classroom is starting to change my mind. These kids are the sweetest kids and even though they can be a bit rambunctious, they are so much fun and have been so welcoming to me. I am thankful for the opportunity I have been given to sit in on their classroom and have thoroughly enjoyed my time so far. I'm already bummed thinking about when my time will be up. But for now, I am just going to enjoy it!

Day 33

Again, I forgot to post yesterday. With the way the day was going, I'm surprised I remembered how to find my way back home. Still, I am thankful that I made it through the day, and that I have enough motivation and time to recover from the two tests that I did not prepare for yesterday. I have not stayed on top of everything this semester, and now I am playing a major game of catch-up. However, with the two tests I took on Thursday, I am basically working with a clean slate. So, I am thankful that I am in a position to recover and finish strong and not let those two tests drop my grades.

Day 32

Today I am thankful for wonderful, beautiful coffee. I have been running on fumes the past couple of days. Kids up at all hours of the night, staying up late doing homework, and if it wasn't for my coffee I would be falling asleep in the middle of the day. I don't have the luxury of taking naps anymore, and so I am grateful for my cool coffee cup that I get to fill with coffee to help me through the day. Thank Lord for putting coffee on this earth to keep me awake.