Happy Thanksgiving...

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving. We started with a special family home evening a few weeks ago where we introduced a little gratitude project - a poster where we record all the things we're grateful for. The inspiration came from an idea by Becky Higgins. The boys really enjoyed leaving little notes and thoughts on the board. It was really fun reading them to. We decided to celebrate thanksgiving this year because of a special talk given at General Conference. It is really true that -

"We have all experienced times when our focus is on what we lack rather than on our blessings. Said the Greek philosopher Epictetus, “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”"

Sometimes we can all focus a little too much on the things we don't have, I know I have. But right now focusing on by blessings has really filled me with a sense of gratitude.

So what better way to recognise our gratitude then with a thanksgiving dinner with family & friends. We had - Turkey, corn muffins, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, sausage meat & cranberry stuffing, maple carrots & parsnips, green beans, and Rootbeer- Yummy, yum, yum!

After dinner we sat together and watched 'Elf', our all time favourite Christmas movie. It's true that thanksgiving is a wonderful way to welcome the start of the Christmas season. We certainly all felt the spirit of thanks and of giving and those little happy stomach tingling feels which means Christmas is on the way. This is definitely a tradition that we will continue as a family we all had such a wonderful evening together.

Life returns to a new normal...

I'm so glad it's finished. I hated the mess and not seeing my husband for a week whilst he worked on this project for me, but it's mostly over now. There are a few things to tweek, but it is a functioning office again. I wish it looked a little prettier, but it is clean and tidy and everything has a home. It is so inspiring to have a clean & tidy place to work. And boy do I have a lot to do. See that basket in the corner? That's full of just half the Christmas projects I have set myself to do, never mind the business to run, the pictures to take and edit, and the other family chores. I not moaning, honestly, just grateful for a lovely space to work in.

Did I mention we've started our count down to Christmas? I am really looking forward to it this year. Each time I watch the Christmas TV commercials I get all excited. Despite what has been said about cruelty to animals, John Lewis have produced a lovely advert this year, it's my favourite, and I just love the music by Ellie Goulding.

Cozy Kid...

This week Nathaniel and I picked up a cute new hat, gloves & mitten set from Sainsburys. Don't you just love mittens? He chose them himself, he is into trains right now, so of course he chose the Thomas set. When we got home and tried them on properly he decided he didn't like them after-all. Typical. It's tough, my boy is just going to have to learn to like them especially as the weather has really turned cold this week and it's carnival tomorrow evening.

So this week is looking like it's going to be really busy - Monday - Carnival, Tuesday - Young Women's activity at church, Wednesday - Relief Society Activity at church, Thursday - Gym Induction (Yep, my wonderful Husband has paid for me to join the gym!), Friday - Night off (Hooray), Saturday - 2 x Photography Sessions. Not to mention - the office & loft makeover Jason has taken the week off for, and a whole bunch of appointments and activities for the boys. I'm apologising in advance if I don't get around to blogging much over the next week or so, but be prepared for a mammoth post when things settle down. I actually love being busy, my life feels so fulfilled and I'm actually really thankful.

I'll leave you with this weeks Mormon Message, I really love this one, and it ties in so well with a family home evening we had last Monday where we challenged the family to be more grateful for the blessings around us. Enjoy!

Thumbs up!

So my little man loves to do 'thumbs up' right now, Grandpa taught him how. He does it to say goodbye, when he's happy, or wants to show that he's buddies with you. He also does it when he breaks free of your hand in John Lewis and tears through the store at break neck speed whilst waving hello to everyone he passes - it's funny now, but so not funny at the time!

Yesterday I asked him if he wanted to have his picture taken, so he settled himself down, crossed his legs and adjusted his position for a couple of snaps. When we asked him for a smile, he suddenly got all moody, we see this face a lot around here at the moment.

This boy really is incredibly funny. The little things he does and says - yep all those jabbering sentences are suddenly starting to make sense. It's so much fun to watch him grow into a little man, I'm loving every minute of him.

My Wimpy Kids ...

Today, this arrived in the post!

Not due for general release until tomorrow, it arrived a day early!

My boys were cartwheeling with excitement!

Jarom & Tayler are huge 'Wimpy Kid' fans - they love these books and have gradually collected the whole set. This latest addition to the collection was their must have item. I was supposed to save it for Christmas, but couldn't resist giving it to them early.

I've read some of the books myself, and they are hilariously funny. I highly recommend the do-it-yourself diary, it's great for getting your children into journal writing.

So my lucky boys have this book to enjoy. Yes they've been fighting over it, and have to take turns, just like playing with the wii, I love that!

Jarom has almost finished, he's been reading non-stop whilst Tayler went out for his swimming lesson, Tayler will soon have it all to himself.

This week's to do's...

1. Taking pictures of our beautiful tree. It's almost the end of the autumn season and our little tree has lost most of it's leaves, but there were a few left in order to take a picture. We bought our tree two years ago when we had all the work done on the house, it's a Mountain Ash and the variety is call 'Joseph Rock'. So our little 'Joseph' has only grow a foot in the last two years, and the summer was hot so he didn't do too well, we had to water him a lot and felt like we were going to loose him on a few occasions. But he pulled through, and this Autumn we had the most beautiful display of deep red leaves - don't you just love Autumn.
2. The usual washing, ironing & house cleaning.
3. Visiting Teaching - Wednesday & Friday.
4. Organising the next YW personal progress night at church for the girls.
5. Making Christmas gifts for my sisters.
6. Writing the annual Christmas letter.
7. Buying more Christmas gifts.
8. Working on my photography business.

Sometimes I really wish I could clone myself, there's so much to do and seriously not enough time to do it in!

Halloween Weekend Recap...

(Left to Right & Top to Bottom)

1. The very hungry caterpillar waiting for guests to arrive.

2. We all love our halloween decorations. They have all been taken down now, and packed away in their box, ready for next year.

3. Cute little Peppa.

4. Really scary!

5. The most amazing pumpkin. This was made as a gift for our party by my good friend, thank you so much, we all loved it!

6. Trick or treat - one of them was a chocolate covered onion, but which one?

7. Our very own magic show! Wow, I've not laughed that hard for a long time. Uncle Timmy is amazing.

8. Hot toasted marshmallows & S'mores! Our favourite part of the Halloween party. Jason is so good to set it up for us.

9. Witchy Magician's assistant Kateos Far-ranty!

It was wonderful to be able to open our home to friends and family for our party. Everyone dressed up and really made an effort. We also had some really yummy treats to eat.

We always really enjoy our Autumn/Halloween celebration. It's so good to do it in our own way. Nothing scary and nothing gross, but everything family orientated and about making memories and having fun. Really looking forward to next year!