Thanksgiving

When thinking of the upcoming hustle and bustle of the holidays, how fast they rolled around, how fast they will be behind us, I thought how easy it is to just get lost in that- the hustle and bustle and how fast you can let memories get by you.  We each have sooooo much to be thankful for EVERY day, not just on Thanksgiving Day.  I am guilty at being "more thankful" maybe this time of year.  I have made it a point to do better. Be better. Be a better Mom, a better wife, a better employee, a better daughter/granddaughter, a better sister, a better aunt, a better friend, a better Christian, a  better cousin, a better niece, a better in law, a better stranger to those in need.  I just want to be better. I don't think I'm bad at these, just not the best I could be.   My clinic/company lost 2 people we had gotten really close to. They are both on my shutterfly share sites, but I think of them often and how in a very short time they touched my life.  Sara, sweet sweet God Loving, God fearing, God serving Sara.  My heart breaks daily for those beautiful babies and her partner, love of her life, best friend, husband, she left behind.  We must rejoice in that she is with her angel and with her savior, but how I wanted a miracle for her. How I wanted her to get to raise her boys, they are so innocent, so young. Too young to lose their mommy.     Mr T was blessed to live a longer life. He made it until his mid 50s but he still had so much life left to give, a bucket list to live.    

 I was just thinking how much we take fore granted  I know at one time there was a FB quote being posted "What if all you had today was what you thanked God for yesterday?"    What a eye opener, face slapper. How true. It is sooo easy to get caught up in work, home, kids, family, bills, grocery store trips, ball practices, ball games, homework, to forget WHY we do these things, HOW we do these things and from WHOM we are able.   Don't let your bucket list be left not completed. You don't have to wait until an MD tells you are going home with Hospice to do those extraordinary things.  Don't forget to Savor all those small moments in life that mean so much. Don't forget to help those less fortunate. Don't forget to tell those you love, how much before they are gone, you don't have to do that over their death bed or at their funeral service either.  Don't forget to give thanks, not just "Turkey Day", Thanksgiving Thursday, but EVERY day!

Pioneers Here

pioneer

pi·o·neer

NOUN

pi·o·neers

plural

1. inventor or innovator: a person or group that is the first to do something or that leads in developing something new

2. first person to explore territory: a person who is one of the first from another country or region to explore or settle a new area

Pioneer Day @ Pre School Story Time was a success!!!! It did get a little stressful the night before for me trying to find "the right" outfit.....  I had "the right" outfit in my mind, just had to find all the pieces!  I don't usually wait until the last minute for that reason- I don't need or want that extra stress!!!! I like to plan, I like to have things done and ready! 

Well I just knew I would find  lil cabby hats and suspenders at Goodwill. Wow, was I wrong!  I searched that store and searched that store, I asked the employees. No such luck!  I did come out with 2 semi pioneer hats for $0.99 so that helped my feelings some! 

I stopped by the Dollar Tree, Dollar General, still empty handed.  I finally just decided they would wear their overalls and be done with it.  I hate Walmart! (Hate is a strong word, but its close to that! 30 check out lines, 2 lines open.. Ugh!!!!)  I gave up and went to Walmart, i was almost 100% sure they would at least have suspenders in the men's department. They did.  The hats I found: one was dark navy, one was a khaki/green color. The suspenders at walmart:  some were black, some were grey, some navy, some khaki.  Hmmm, I could do same colors????   I lucked out with this after all and came out super cheap, which is even more perfect for things like this! White shirts @ home CHECK   Khaki/Navy Pants @ home  CHECK   Khaki/Navy socks @ home  CHECK  Shoes to wear @ home CHECk 

Here's my pioneer boys put together with "the right" outfit:

Turned out almost as well as I had in my mind!!!!!!  

They really enjoyed learning about Pioneers.  It was good for them to hear that everything doesn't come from Walmart!!!!  They have a little farming background/knowledge but they learned alot about Cow's Milk and Butter.....Brae (age 2) would tell everyone "look me a Pine Deer" ....      They passed around jars, quilts, yarn, patches from old clothing.  Then These Pioneer Boys made BUTTER!!!!!!!  No churning involved, it is preschoolers after all! I can just imagine the hurt fingers with that...  We did the shaky kind!  Each pioneer took a turn shaking the butter in a jar, then at the end they enjoyed their own butter on a cracker!    

                          

   

Trick or Teet

Yes I know,  I did not spell "treat " correctly...
I take the lil guys to our Library for Preschool Story Time on Mondays.  It's free. It's fun. It's learning. It is just awesome. I am so glad our Library does this in conjunction with the Imagination Library.
They try to stick with the theme or holiday by the month and by the county school schedule. It is just trying to gear the lil ones minds into getting ready for school and to increase their love for reading.   I really enjoy doing this with my boys. They look forward to going, they look forward to the craft, the book(s) and to seeing their new friends they are making. I love the "mommy time" with other mommies. We have laughed that sometimes the crafts seem more for the mommies, but it's a fun thing all around  Things like this is what I was missing working 5 full days.  I must add once more and thank my company for allowing me this time with my children, it goes all too fast and they are only little for a very short time!  I plan on returning  to 5 full days once they are in school full time.....  For those that are thinking "wow must be nice"  I have always worked 40+ hours, I have worked night shifts, I have worked weekend shifts.  Now I work 3 days, 10-12 hour shifts, so I am still a full time Clinician and Full time Mom/Wife!   Just saying....

Ok, so a few months ago they gave us the calendar for the library events. It's gonna be great! It is retired teachers of the community and they are swapping up days, events, etc.  Well Next week is Pioneer Day to lead us into Thanksgiving.  We get to dress up as pioneer boys (and girls but just boys for me) so we started planning this and talking about their little Halloween Party and that they could wear their costumes. I didn't really have any cutesy ideas this year.  Until they are big enough to want to be completely different,  I have tried to kind of keep them in the same theme....    Same way with birthdays, until they beg and fuss differently we will do this together. And i Swore I would not! But, just easier right now!

             ****Here are a few of the past costumes we have done in the same theme*****

2010 

Fireman in his firetruck with his firedog!!!  

2011

Cookie Monster and his Chocolate Chip Cookie! Gots to have milk! Me like milk!!!!!!  

                                               

So back to my story I was trying to tell, haha!  So I was trying to explain to Cays ( age 3) what a Pioneer boy is. Glad he will learn soon!  And then I told him we had to start thinking about his costume for Halloween. Out of nowhere he said " Ill just be a farmer, Brae Brae can be a moo moo so I can feed him some hay".  I cracked up! Great idea! Cays is our country kid no doubt! He loves all things outdoors, all things Co-Op, all things tractor, farm, boots, etc.    They have been excited for months anytime we talked about it! I dug in the closet to see what all we had already, what we needed for Farmer Boy. whoop whoop had it all!!!!!

So we put him all together, he loved it and was THE cutest Farmer ever..  What was even funnier, he is learning colors, shapes, numbers. Me and his Uncy Matt started colors of tractors, and he started saying   "I be a FARM ALL" when someone would ask!!!!!!!   So then  we 'ran it by" Brae Brae  (age 2) and he gave us a "mooooo" as a go ahead!  Mommy got on ebay and found his........

 Well, rewind about 4 years. The clinic I worked at then was dressing up for Halloween and I was around 6-8 months preggo for the first time! I felt like a big ol cow!   I joked that this is what I should be!  (I had it for several years, my college classmates all dressed up one year and I already had it for that, my brother and his now wife dressed the parts one year)   So I was a cow, and my utters were sticking out right on my pregnant belly! so funny! My boss was a farmer. Our patients loved it and laughed so hard all day.


So I decided that while the kids would enjoy it, think it was fun, actually want to be seen with mommy and daddy we would dress up with them. My hubby decked out in his overalls, and I drug the adult cow costume out of the attic! This was the funniest thing the boys had seen in awhile. They LOVED that we dressed up to trick or treat with them! I was very glad we did, because we both know in a few more short years they will not think anything about us is cool or fun!   We didn't have the video camera rolling fast enough for them pulling on my utters, asking what they were, us explaining that's where milk comes from, that's where baby calves drink when they are little and I swear the farmer tried to milk me and then my baby calf ALMOST put his mouth on one to get a drink !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!        So that's where the Trick or Teet came from!!!!!

Here are a few pics of the guys on my farm this  year:

(when I preview it shows a duplicate of fireman/dog, and I can NOT delete it, sorry. I dont like it being in an odd spot either!!!)