Thanksgiving

A bloggie friend of mine (I use the term friend lightly. She really does not even know I exist, but I LOVE her blog) wrote a post entitled
Why Everyday Begs to be Thanksgiving



And really, I could not agree more.
Sometimes I just look at my life and am just blown away with how much I am blessed.
I could make a carbon copy list of all the things I am thankful for, but I won't.
I don't need to.
We all know how much I love my family, how my kids keep me laughing day in and day out.
You have heard me say a million times how blessed I feel to have my kids with me at home and to have this home school adventure with them.
So this post will be a little different.
This past year has been amazing in so many ways.
We have had our share of laughter and wonderful hikes in my majestic mountains.
We have learned and grown and danced together.
We have welcomed our littlest Weaver to our home, what a breathtaking experience.
That little girl has planted herself right in the deepest part of all of our hearts in the 8 short months we've had her.
She is such a joy.
We have also had our share of blood, sweat and tears.
I have witnessed my share of toddler meltdowns and children hitting, pinching, pushing, biting and generally being mean to one another.
Those moments make the ones when they all build a tower that's taller than Doodle out of wooden blocks and then play with it together for hours, always rearranging the parts and pieces, that much sweeter.



I have had days when I can't wait for the moment when Mr Bird comes home so I can just get away for a few hours.
Who ever knew that an evening alone in a grocery store could feel like paradise.
Those hard days make the ones when we just can't leave the dinner table and stop talking and eating together all the better.
I have enjoyed a nice long hot shower just to be spit up on and have boogers wiped in my hair (by 2 different children) less that 10 minutes later.




I have spent hours sweeping and moping the miles of tile floor just to have an entire plate of dinner dumped on it along with 4 pairs of muddy shoes come in through the door before the floor is even completely dry.
We all have the good times and the bad times.
The laughter mingles with the tears.
The birth of a new baby mingled with the thought of those we love and have lost.
The moments of love that make your heart feel as though it could burst mixed with the moments of frustration that leave you shaking with anger.
We have our ups and our downs, everyone does.
And personally, I am thankful for every last moment, the good along with the bad.
Could we even appreciate the amazing moments life gives us if we did not have to go through the tough times as well?



Isn't it the bitter that makes the sweet that much more enjoyable.
And it's the same the other way around as well.
When we are going through a rough patch we can look back with love and gratitude for the happy times we've had.
Sometimes the memory of happy days literally gets us through until the hard parts are over.
“God gave us memories, that we might have June roses in the December of our lives.”
~ Thomas S Monson
So this season I celebrate it all.
The love, laughter and dancing along with the blood, sweat and tears.
There is beauty in every single day of the year.



Everyday Begs to be Thanksgiving.
May our eyes be opened to see just how sweet this life really is.
Through it all, God be praised!

In Every Way

Mr Bird has an entourage.
The very moment he walks in the door he has four little monsters nipping at his heals.
Of course we all know that dad is way cooler than mom, any day of the week.

After all, when was the last time mom took apart her bike and put on new components in the middle of the living room?
Or used a real tool for what it was intended for?
Or used the 12+ year old mission bike for things like grueling mountain bike trails?
Or even knew the first thing about mountain biking?

When Mr Bird goes on a bike ride he is so good to take the kids (the ones who can ride well) with him.
They worship him for that.
That is way more fun than learning math facts and practicing writing.
Why is that the dads get the fun part of parenthood?
I help them with chores and clean their bums and teach them boring stuff like how to read and how America came to be.
I make them clean up their messes and disciple them all day long.
With me they learn to fold laundry and vacuum the floor and to be nice.

With dad it's watching a movie or going on a bike ride or doggy piles on the floor or dancing to the music turned up too loud.
It's no wonder they want to be like him in every way.
You know what? I do too.
He's a pretty cool guy, sure do love him for the wonderful father he is.
I love that we all look forward to him coming home from work every night.
I love that he acts surprised when the kids try to jump out and scare him every. single. night.
I love that he always has a huge hug for all the kids and how he makes each of them feel so special.
I love how he leads our home in love and respect.
I love that he eats my attempts at healthy dinners even when they don't turn out so well.
I love that he loves me.
Plus he's always such an inspiration to me, I feel like he is always lifting me up, helping to make me a better mother and wife.
Call it the pregnancy hormones making this one so corny, but I seriously don't know what I'd ever do without my lover.
So Mr Bird, this day in November, I am oh so very thankful for YOU!

Giving Thanks

When I take a good look around me, I am truly humbled and grateful for the life I lead.
I am so grateful to have 4 beautiful, healthy, happy kids.
I think about how many children in the world are starving and cold, with nothing to drink but filthy water and I realize once again just how blessed we really are.
I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband that not only is glad I can be a stay at home mom, but supports me in that desire 100%.
I am so blessed to live in a country with so many freedoms, especially the freedom to school my children at home. I truly count this as one of my dearest blessings.
I love having my kids here with me, playing with each other and building deep and lasting bonds during these precious few years I've been given to be their mother.
I am so grateful for a sturdy and strong home to keep us warm with all the snow and wind and storms blowing all around us.
We don't live in a mansion. Sometimes it's hard to look at others' homes and not think, "I need this or I really wish our house had that."
But in the end, I really love our home and I know that most of the people in the world don't even have this much.
As I was driving through my town just the other day I passed a neighborhood with tiny, dilapidated homes that were visibly inhabited. I could not help but be grateful for the lovely home Mr Bird and I have made together.
When my parents-in-law went on a mission to South Africa a few years ago they showed us photos of these huge cities filled with millions of people. The houses in these cities were one or two room shacks whose walls were made from corrugated cardboard.
Ya, you heard me, cardboard. Millions of them.
Is that even comprehensible?
Do we even realize how many millions means?
It makes the times I pass my neighbors huge homes and sigh make me seem a little greedy and selfish.
You want to know another cure for not being truly content with what we have been blessed with?
Read The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Holy cow, they had almost nothing, yet they were so happy and considered themselves very blessed.
I am so glad to know that happiness does not come from the things we own, but from how much we treasure the people in our lives.
This season, more than ever I am so grateful for my Savior,
My Beautiful Savior.
I feel His love around me. I feel His peace, even if the world seems so uncertain and scary, I have been blessed to know that He is near, ever so near.
I feel His spirit whispering to me how I can be better.
He takes my hand and shows me how to be a better mother, a better wife, a better me.
And He does it with gentleness and love and mercy and not with harsh judgments or looks of scorn.
He make me what He wants me to be, and that person is infinitely better than I ever thought I could be all on my own.
I know all of these things seem to be the cookie cutter answers.
I'm thankful for my family, my home and my Savior.
Cookie cutter.
Everyone says these things.
But you know what? These things should be the answers.
These things should be the center of our lives. And so with a heart full of gratitude for my merciful and kind Father in Heaven I join with the millions of others this wonderful holiday season and thank Him for these things that I hold dearest to my heart;
My Family, My Home and My Savior!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. May it find you cozy and happy near the ones you love!

Old Habits Die Hard

Have you ever thought about what creatures of habit we humans are?

Everyday our morning routine is the same.

It works to give the kids consistency.

They know exactly what is expected of them and they don't have to question it everyday.

They just know what comes next.

When, for some reason or another, our routine is thrown off I can feel the difference.

The kids fight more, Dubs is super grumpy and the whole day just seems off balance.

The holidays are no exception.

Every year for Thanksgiving it is just known that Laura brings the best stuffing in the world. Sharla and Mr Bird have to tell tooty jokes and laugh just like they were kids again. Mike brings the yummiest home made pumpkin pie, I have to do the green beans, Lisa has to bring the banana creme pie with home made whipped creme that she over whips and almost turns into butter and the turkey has to be huge and dry.

We all have to eat it with big smiles on our faces pretending it is the best turkey ever.

And it really is because we are all surrounded by our favorite people in the world, no matter if it nearly chokes us with every bite.

We are not thinking about the turkey.

We are too busy laughing and talking and keeping little fingers out of the candy dish.

So what happens if this routine is thrown off?

What happens if half of your most favorite people in the world are not there?

No stuffing, no jokes, no bone dry turkey.

OK, there was stuffing, but it was not Laura's stuffing.

I'm sure the stuffing was good, great even, but I would not know. I could not even take one bite of it.

Every time I saw the big bowl of seasoned brown goodness it seemed to mock me. It seemed to say, "Sorry, Laura is not here this year, I will have to do."

So I did what any rational person would do.

I avoided all stuffing all together.

What was I supposed to do when the usually dry turkey turned out to be succulent and moist?

Again, I did what any rational person would do. I took one decadent bite and tried really hard to swallow my tears because I knew my dear sweet mother in law will never be back with her dried out turkey, ever again.

I cried a little (OK, a lot) and thought of how if I'd have only known last year would have been her last Thanksgiving with us I'd have never left her side for a moment. How I would have remembered to bring the camera so I could take a million pictures of her to look at for the rest of the Thanksgivings I have left. How I'd have gathered my kids around her and we would have just all sat together in a little clump loving each other and smelling her. How I would have memorized what she was wearing and what she smelled like and what we talked about that day.

I'd rather eat a million of her dried out turkeys than live my whole life with deliciously basted birds without her to talk to and joke with.

I took some comfort in knowing that Laura and her stuffing and Sharla and her jokes would be back next year.

But spending Thanksgiving without my angel mother in law, who was more like a real mother to me than my own mother has ever been, left me off balance.

I have been trying really hard to thank Heavenly Father for the time I got to share with her and to not be bitter about Him taking her so soon.

She was His, after all.

I truly am grateful for the relationship we had, how many people can say they love their mother-in-law more than their own mother?

I am thankful for the life lessons she taught me.

I am thankful for what she taught me about being a good mom and wife.

In some ways I feel like that was not really Thanksgiving, no, not really.

Sure, it was a nice party, but surly, the real Thanksgiving will be back someday.

Then again, maybe it won't.

Then what?

How long does it take to make new holiday habits?

Part of me thinks it's going to be really hard to get used to moist turkey.