Disconnect

I love my phone as much as the next person. Most nights, I've been doing these daily posts while David and I are watching TV after the kids have gone to bed. I'm also known to read email, send a text and play Candy Crush. Last night, I did none of those things. I just laid next to my husband in bed and held his hand while we watched Sons of Anarchy. I forgot all about my phone, my blog and my thankful posts.

So to make up for forgetting to post yesterday, I'm doing it now. Yesterday, I'm grateful that I can disconnect from my phone and the computer for awhile and not even think twice about it.

Marriage

David was out of town last night. I got to do the whole single parent thing. It's awfully hard and I don't know how people do it. It made me even more thankful for David, for my marriage.

I'm grateful I have such a good partner on this journey through life. He makes everything easier. 

Liking Each Other

Most of the time, my kids get along pretty well. The disagreements are minimal which I'm grateful for.

Noah has this thing. If he lays on you, he'll fall asleep. I think this goes back to Kangaroo Care at the NICU. They have him lay on your chest skin to skin, so, he can hear your heartbeat and voice. On Sunday, David and I were watching TV. Noah climbed up on him. David rubbed his head for 2 minutes and the kid was out like a light.

Last night, the kids were watching Finding Bigfoot. Noah was scared, so he snuggled with Emily. Out like a light.

And doesn't Emily look cute in her glasses? She wears them like once every 3 months. She couldn't read the small facts they had about Bigfoot on the TV, so she got them out. She looks so grown up in that picture.

I'm thankful my kids like each other (most the time).

Yellow Belt

Ben had his belt promotion last week. I love that taekwondo rewards kids every 3 months or so with getting a new belt. It's a big deal and provides them incentive to keep going. Our friends have been taking karate here for a few years, so we knew what to expect. We knew he'd have to kick a board! He was so nervous when I told him, but I wanted him to be prepared and not freak out.

He was all ready to go.

When we got there, the teacher told him to warm up. Ben decided to meditate.

The did some warm ups together.


Then, each group of belt color had to get up and perform a 8 step karate thingy.

Then, they had to demonstrate some defense skills with a partner. Sometimes Ben can be the comic relief in class.



Then came kicking the board. There were 3 other boys who were white belts there that night. Two of them were twice Ben's height and weight. All 3 of them went before Ben and had a hard time breaking the board. Well, maybe not hard, but it took 2-3 tries to get it. Ben was so nervous. But, he got up there and did this:

His reaction was so awesome. I'm so glad he broke it on the first try. You could see the amazement in his face. Even the audience was shocked. Nobody expected little 50 pound Ben to get up there and break it on the first try.

Finally, Ben got his yellow belt and trophy.


Here's the whole group that got promoted that night.

We are so proud of him and even more, he's proud of himself.

Bissell

This may sound silly, but at the top of every wedding or baby registry should be a Bissell steam cleaner. I see people wanting fancy dinner plates or a diaper genie and I laugh. You don't need those things. You need a Bissell. Ours has saved us so many times.  

A few months, Ben puked up chili in the middle of the night. It was in the carpet and soaked in his mattress. Bissell to the rescue. Our dog once peed on the kids bed. This week was tough for us.  Our dog Rocko got diarrhea in the middle of the night. Twice. Then, he puked.  All of it on our carpet.  Try getting dog diarrhea out of the carpet at 2 in the morning without a steam cleaner.  And if you don't have a lot of carpet in your house, it'll still come in handy for mattresses or car upholstery. The other day at school Noah climbed in the trunk area of the van while we waited for Ben and Emily. Then he told me he pooped a little in his pants. I checked when we got out of the car and saw a smear on his butt. Weird. Then, I was loading groceries in my car the other day and saw an identical smear in my van. Nice. I smelled it just to be sure. Yep, poop. 

Seriously, three times this week we've said thank goodness for our Bissell!

Recipes

I remember as a kid my Mom would make homemade sauce and meatballs. She learned the recipe from my Nana. As soon as my Mom pulled the meatballs out of the fryer and put them on a paper towel to cool, the whole family passed through the kitchen and snagged a meatball. 

I learned the recipe from my Mom and my kids do the same thing I did as a kid. 

One day, they'll learn these recipes and their kids will be snagging meatballs. I'm thankful for meatballs and the memories they create. 

Friends

I'm thankful for our good family friends.  We had our dinner and drinks at their house tonight. I'm grateful we have such great friends, and I love that our girls are besties