Family

I'm grateful that my girls like to be with me. It's funny how they will follow me from room to room sometimes. They don't even want my attention all the time, they just want to be where I am. I also love how they try to do what I'm doing.

I'm grateful that Ray really does try to make me happy. It means a lot that he thinks about me and what I want.

Food

I'm grateful for good food. I'm grateful that Ray will eat what I like sometimes, even if he doesn't like it so well. I'm also grateful that the girls generally like what I like to eat. (Can you tell I really enjoyed dinner?)

I'm grateful my girls play together so well and that they can entertain themselves. I love to hear them laughing together while they play.

I'm grateful that Ruby is very willing to take a nap or go to bed when she is tired. At nap time today she walked back to her room and stood by the crib until I got there to put her in, then she curled right up to go to sleep.

Twins

This morning I babysat a little girl about the same age as my girls. I am very grateful I only have twins and not triplets. It is nearly impossible to hold three of them at once. It also surprised me how much more attention it took with three. I am glad I only have two.

I am grateful I was able to visit with one of my friends for an hour or so. It was nice to have some adult conversation.

I am grateful the girls took a good, long nap this afternoon.

I am grateful Ray clears the snow off the sidewalks so I don't have to.

Accomplishments

I finally made myself enough room to exercise and then actually exercised. It felt great and made the rest of my day go so much better. I also took the time to practice piano. I don't know how long it's been since I actually practiced, but I'm sure it was pre-kids. It was nice to be improving again. I'm very grateful that my children are at an age where they can entertain themselves for extended periods of time. I'm grateful they feel well enough to play. It's nice to have time to accomplish things again.

I'm grateful that Ray gets the girls ready for bed every night. It gives me a few minutes to write in my journal and blog.

Laundry

I'm grateful for clothing (esp. on cold days). I'm also grateful that most of the clothing in our house is currently clean and folded (and much of it is even put away!).

Piano

I am so grateful I have a piano. I use my piano as a calming mechanism. If I am frustrated or upset I can sit down and play and soon feel calmer. I also love that my girls love the piano. I hope they continue to want to play. Right now we usually play trios, if I start to play they both join me.

I am grateful that my children and I are getting better at communicating with each other. While they still don't talk well, they are getting better at pointing and other things that let me know what they want or need. It is making things easier in many ways.

I am grateful that Ray helps me with the grocery shopping. It's much, much easier than trying to take two girls by myself.

Relaxing

I'm very much enjoying going to church at the same time as my husband. It is so much easier to get two babies in and out of the car, in and out of buildings, etc, with help. It is especially nice since we have morning church now so I have less time to get everyone ready. Having help getting diapers changed and babies dressed is wonderful.

I'm grateful I had very little to do this afternoon so I was able to relax and read a little bit. Ray was around all day so the girls split their time between following me and following him. It's nice to get a little break sometimes.

Visiting

First, I am very grateful the roads were clear and the weather was perfect for traveling, since we were on the road today.

I'm grateful we were able to spend the day with Ray's cousin and her family. It was such a nice day. Our girls and her girls all got along quite well. It was nice to get out of the house and have someone to visit with.

I'm glad to be home, safe, with a nice, soft bed to crawl into.

New things

I love to figure out new things. Today I started playing around with a photo and figured out how to edit it, change the background, and a few other things. It was a lot of fun to try new things and make it work.

I'm grateful that I am able to talk to my family so much.

A Thank You

Today we got a thank you card from our neighbor across the street. She is an older woman, I believe a widow, I have never met her and Ray has only talked to her once. Ray has been clearing the snow from her sidewalk, along with the rest of the sidewalk the whole stretch of the block (he made himself a snowplow blade for his four-wheeler and I think he just likes to play with it). So she sent us a thank you. It meant a lot. None of the other neighbors have said anything about it. She figured out who was doing it and went to the trouble of writing and mailing a thank you. It really lifted my day. I learned from this that I need to be more vocal about the things I am grateful for and let other people know when I appreciate them.

I'm grateful that Ray lets the girls "help" with his projects, even when it slows him down. They get so excited about helping Daddy and it gives me a little break.

My Sweet Baby

I am so grateful that I was blessed with a 'good' baby. Some babies are so challenging (I've had a couple of those) and some are so easy (thankfully, in my case, Heavenly Father has sent me a few of those, too). Naomi is definitely on the easier end. It has been a great blessing. One of the best things is her nighttime sleeping -- for several weeks now she has consistently slept 8-10 hours a night. It makes my life so much happier.

She is also very quick to smile. Today she had her six month checkup and immunizations. She has had serious vomiting following her rota virus immunization before and today was a repeat of that, but she was still smiling and laughing. Her smiles can completely change the mood in our house. All of her siblings adore her. They love being the one to make her smile and laugh. She is a great blessing to all of us.

Google

I am very grateful for the internet and the tons of information that is available on it. It is so easy to search for things and find answers to questions. It is also such a great way to keep in touch with people and keep up with current events. I don't watch TV and we don't get the newspaper, so the internet is my main source for news. I love that it is available to me anytime I need it.

I'm grateful my husband is handy and can fix things around the house. It's so nice to have someone here when I need something fixed rather than having to pay someone else. It's also very good because he keeps the house in good shape all the time.

Cleanliness

I'm very grateful that Ruby seems to be over whatever she had. She was a much happier baby today. Because of that I was able to get a few things done around the house. It is much nicer when my house is clean. While I don't necessarily enjoy cleaning it, I do enjoy the results.

Chairs

Christmas was continued today, another gift came for the girls. They each got a little chair from their grandma. I am very excited about these chairs. Ruby spent most of the afternoon sitting in hers. Cora was in and out. Ruby hasn't been feeling well and having a comfortable place for her to sit means she doesn't need me to hold her constantly. I was very grateful for that today.

I am grateful I was able to have a long, uninterrupted conversation with Lil. I love to talk to my sisters.

Family

I'm so glad to have Roy here --even if it is a short visit. We have had so much fun with him. I'm so excited that he will be so close to us for the next few months. Hopefully we'll see quite a bit of him. I miss my family, so I really enjoy every opportunity to spend time with any (and all) of them.

I'm also glad that our move to a new church building (same ward, but different building -- the church is growing here) went really smoothly (I thought). It was a bit crazy, especially since it was also the annual primary move (all the kids moving to new classes, that is), but everyone was well prepared. All of my kids handled really well. (Jon did comment, with surprise, that all of the same people were at our new church. He's way too used to moving.)

I have loved this vacation. School resumes in the morning and I shall enjoy what that offers, but I will miss the lazy days of holiday. We have had so much fun, even if we didn't get to half the projects I had planned. It was exactly what we all needed.

Switching wards

Today we switched from the college branch to a family ward. I'm very grateful for the branch and the time I was able to spend with it. I've made some wonderful friends there and I will miss them. Not that we're going anywhere, but I won't see them as often. They are wonderful people and have all made positive impacts on my life.

I'm also grateful for our new ward and the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. It is time for us to try something new, I'm excited.

Clair's books

Today I neglected many things I should have been doing and read Clair's latest book. I loved it, just as I have loved all his books. I love to read and have been trying to get to this book for some time. Today I decided everything else I needed to do could wait. It was great to get lost in a story and almost forget about everything else. I guess I was needing a break and I'm glad I took one.

I'm grateful my girls mostly entertained themselves while I was reading.

Humor

Lil and I were discussing many tongue in cheek things that we could be thankful for (like a lack of self-discipline: no worries about becoming anorexic). It made me laugh and reminded me that I am truly grateful for humor. Laughter makes the world so much more bearable at the tough times and so much more enjoyable in the good times. I love to laugh and the more I do it, the better I feel.

Taking a Walk

Today was beautiful. The girls and I were able to take a walk. It was such a nice change from the terrible cold we've had. The girls are always wanting to go outside so they enjoyed it and I love to walk.

I'm grateful the girls let me take a short nap this afternoon.

I'm very grateful that Ray sorted through all our potatoes and threw out the rotten ones. I really didn't want to, so I appreciated that he did.

Boxes

I'm grateful that Ray didn't have to go to work today so he could sleep in and not wake up the girls.

I'm grateful my girls can entertain themselves just by sitting in a diaper box. The two of them are sitting in their boxes right now, happy as can be. They don't have any toys, just the boxes they are sitting in. I think it's funny and it makes things much easier on me. The girls regularly ask to sit in the boxes now. It's great.