Day# 24

Today I am thankful that I am having my first of two Thanksgiving dinners.  Having a big, split family does have it's perks!  I've always had two celebrations of the holidays, it's just a part of life.  My mom, stepdad, brother, nieces, myself and Brody got together today and ate ourselves into a coma.  I'm most thankful that my son said the blessing for the family's meal.  He is so sweet and sincere sometimes I just want to cry.  So many things to be thankful for, my life sure hasn't turned out like I had planned it but I am really appreciating and understanding the things God has blessed my family & I with, be it what I asked for or not.

Day# 23

Today I am thankful for Brody's cousin Tizer spending the night with us Saturday night.  The boys are 2.5 years apart and they are so funny to be around when they are playing.  They come up with the funniest ideas and I love to hear them talk to each other when they don't think I can hear.  They fight like siblings but love each other very much.  I love having Tizer or Cabela spend the night and I can pile all the kids up in the bed and especially love to see them all in the morning when they wake up and realize they are here with us.  Tizer calls Brody "Brod" and it's so sweet.  "Come on Brod!  Let's go pway in your wroom Brod"  and of course Brody as the older and wiser cousin "Now Tizer, I am the adult and you will do what I say!"  This morning they were helicopter pilots flying through the jungle trying to kill the big T-rex that was running wild.  All the chopper noises, along with the screaming, stomping T-rex, it was quite entertaining! 
I remember years ago talking with my sister-in-law (aka: my sister/bff) about having our babies and it's really come full circle for us both.  We have our babies, who love each other, who we see several times a week, it's great and I couldn't ask for more!  I love those babies like they were my own and so glad the cousins get to grow up close in age and close in heart.  It's truly one of those life long dreams that have come true for me and I am completely blessed and thankful for that.

Day# 22

Today I am thankful that my middle niece Molly came over to spend the night with us.  I haven't seen her since summer and she is always a pleasure to have stay with us.  She is thirteen, sweet, quiet, loves to write and loves music.  She loves her cousin Brody, although she was pretty sick of him by the time Saturday rolled around.  We watched Hotel Transylvania Friday night and went to the mall and Barnes & Noble shopping on Saturday.  She helped me volunteer at the craft table at Brody's school for their annual holiday fundraising fair.  She's a very thoughtful and caring young lady.  I know she takes a back seat to her older sister sometimes but she deserves her own time to shine and I have every faith in her that she will.  It's pretty cool that I turn up Ed Sheeran and we both start belting out the songs, never missing a word.  She maybe a One Direction "fangirl" but she will always be my little Molly Squally.

Day# 21

Today I am thankful that the grocery store near my house started selling Christmas trees. We had to stop by to get something for a food drive at Brody's school & he was grouchy and that made me grouchy but we pulled in & saw the trees lined up & simultaneously yelled "Christmas trees!"  We stuck our faces as close as we could to the trees so we could smell that wonderful scent of fresh cut Christmas glory and after that we weren't so grumpy! I am so ready for Christmas, I'd bypass Thanksgiving completely if it weren't for the food!! 'Tis the season!

Day #20

Today I am thankful to go through my son's school folder and see all the things that he has accomplished in school.  Today I opened up his folder and saw this picture of a "zuw".....

 

And this picture of a "zipr", a "zgizag" and a "zebur"!

 

 

His teacher has told me that she teaches the children to 'write what they hear' and he's pretty much got that down!  This all just makes me smile!  I can't wait to show him one day when he is all grown up, hopefully he will appreciate that I saved this for him, along with everything else he's ever made a mark on since he was born! :)

 

 

 

 



Day #19

Today I am thankful for the cooking and eating of food!  I am thankful that so many of my fond family memories are centered around food and fellowship.  I grew up surrounded by women (and a few men) who loved to cook and knew how to very well.  I was always in the kitchen helping when I could, working in the garden after school (which was actually more like punishment at the time), canning vegetables, watching my Granny made apple butter and strawberry jam and helping her snap beans ALL summer long.  When I would stay with my father on the weekends he would cook these huge breakfast meals, that seemed to take hours to cook before we could sit down and eat.  He always took me out to dinner for my birthday, and that was always a treat!  My mom, Aunt, and Granny always cooked huge, wonderful meals.
I have always loved to cook, to watch these women cook, to learn how to make food taste extra good when you cooked it.  We didn't have cable growing up but I loved watching Yan Can Cook and Cookin' Cheap on PBS.  I love Asian cuisine and loved that Yan would always end his show with "If Yan can cook, so can You!!"  Makes me giggle just thinking about it.
When I was in high school we attended college day at Radford University and it had all the packets of info about all the different colleges and I saw one for a culinary institute in Baltimore.  I was shocked!  You could go to college for that!  I thought to myself how easy and fun would that be, I already know how to cook! I applied and was accepted into that school.  But I never went.  Fell in love with a boy or something like that.
In more recent years, I spent my evening meals and holidays with my husbands Grandmother.  Living with her for a while, I helped with the evening meals, which were usually four courses and some of the best home cooking there was.  I helped her with every holiday meal, she taught me how to set a formal dinner table, and how to make the best chicken and dumplings & bread pudding known to man.  This time of year is especially hard for me, missing her and the all the preparation that we did for the family for the holidays. 
I have had Brody on the counter tops beside me cooking since he hold himself up.  I've taught him how to measure for recipes and crack eggs without getting in shells, he loves to help me cook.  Sometimes I will pretend like I am on a cooking show, while I explain everything that I am doing in detail to him.  I am thankful for all the time in my life spent in the kitchen, with the people I love, cooking delicious, loving meals for my family, with family, through the generations of my family. 

Day# 18

I am thankful for all the ordinary items I use on a given day that make my life easier & make me happy & healthy.  Yes, I could most likely survive without these items, unhappily, but I wouldn't die. But could you imagine if you did not have these at all?  I am thankful for whomever invented the following items:

1. Toothpaste/brush
2. Razor
3. Deodorant
4. Q-tips (I might die without these)
5. Toilet paper
6. Chapstick (specifically Burt's bees peppermint)
7. Eating utensils
8. Pam cooking spray
9. Scissors
10. Vacuum
11. Gum
12. Debit card
13. Nail clippers

Thank you to the inventors of these items, I appreciate them every day!

Days # 15-17

I hate to lump a few days of thanks together, but the Beasley home was stricken with the stomach flu and life pretty much stops as you know it when that occurs.  I have not seen my son so sick in his life yet and I was in tears as he was sick repeatedly for 24 hours.  It started Friday morning after I had already left for work and being that it is the busiest time for me at work, I was unable to leave so first and foremost I am thankful to my mom and step-dad for taking care of him when I couldn't.  He was still very sick after work, late into Friday night.  Of course, once he finally passed out, I was unable to sleep afraid he would get sick in his sleep and choke.  Saturday we laid around all day catching up on sleep, washing blankets & pillows.  We didn't leave the house all weekend until this evening to go to the grocery store.  The past few days it was hard to find things to be thankful for, watching my normally cheerful, playful little boy turn into a pale, puny lump of meat & bones.  But in retrospect, I am thankful for being forced to stay at home and relax, I was able to catch up on a few movies.  I am also thankful for all the phone calls & messages from people checking on Brody & I, sending prayers and asking if we needed anything.  It's always nice to know that I have such a good support system within my friends and family.  I am very thankful that he has started to eat again this evening and seems to be feeling better.  Now lets just hope I don't get it!  I won't be able to find any thanks in that!

Day #14

Today I am grateful for this time of year, with the upcoming holidays, visiting family, decorating,  eating, snow, a new year of endless possibilities. Starting September through New Years, this is my favorite time of year. Slightly a long stretch but September kicks off fall with lots of family birthdays, into October & I just love Halloween,  next Thanksgiving full of great food & family, into Christmas! I love being a mother & an aunt during this time of year. I embrace every holiday with decorations & fun activities.  It is my busiest time of the year at work & it includes long, stressful hours but somehow I manage to keep the holiday spirit within & share that with Brody. He is at the most exciting age for Christmas & we are super excited to see Santa, get our tree, make Christmas gifts, watch movies & watch it snow. I love the hustle & bustle of the season & equally enjoy the cold, crisp winter nights where the sky is so clear & cold. I love living in Virginia where the summers are hot, the fall is gorgeous with colors & winter is snowy & magical. I am so thankful for my family & friends I will be spending these times with making memories & remembering holidays past and totally indulging in looking through my sons eyes & discovering all the magic of Christmas all over again!

Day #13

Today I am thankful for my friends. I have THE best friends ever! I have super close friends who know what I feel way deep down, who know my secrets, who have seen me cry, who have prayed with me, who no matter what I can text or call when I need to. I have a far away friend who I met at one of the worse times of our lives, discovering our first born babies had clubfeet. Whom we have bonded & share a deep admiration & love despite the 2,000+ miles between us. I have new friends that make me laugh & inspire me.  I have friends who I only see occasionally but we can pick up right where we left off last. I have old friends from school that I can keep up thanks to social networking.  I have friends I have made through my sons school.  I have friends of all backgrounds, religions,  shapes, colors & sizes.  I have friends who know way too much about me and others that only know what little I share. But each of my friends hold a special place in my heart, I love them ALL, my life would not be the same with out each of these special people in my life, no matter how big or little the role they play.  I have truly been blessed with some of the most spectacular friendships during this life & I am so deeply thankful for that!!