Happy Thanksgiving!!!

On November 1st I made a decision to try and  list daily at least one thing I was thankful for. I am sure my facebook friends got tired of my "Today I am thankful for" posts but my by listing them daily on facebook it held me accountable to continue my gratitude journal.  Twenty-four days later I can tell you it was one of the best things that I have ever done.

What I learned was that by focusing on what I was thankful for, I realized how much that I had.  I realized how blessed that I am.  Some days I was tired and frustrated.  On those days I didn't feel like being thankful for anything but I would try and it would change by entire outlook for the day.  Now today on Thanksgiving I have printed off my list of blessings and put them in a jar that sits on the cabinet in our dining room.  Doing this project made this Thanksgiving even more special! Focusing on counting my gifts gave me a sense of peace.  When you focus on all of your blessings and you are aware of all the moments that you are given, you feel God's glory.  It is a practice I plan to try and continue in a journal.  My inspiration for this project came from Ann Voskamp and her book, One Thousand Gifts.  You can read more about it at  www.onethousandgifts.com
 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

He

He is 17 months old.
He weighs 28 lbs.
He wears size 18-24 months clothing and size 6 shoe.
He is a good eater, his favorites right now or still anything with cheese, peaches, peas and carrots, and he recently started liking dried cranberries and golden raisins.

He says "no" and "yeah" or "yes" pretty well now.

He still loves to run and climb and can get drawers opened now.  He especially loves to open the drawers in the fridge.

He loves to climb up on Kyle's bed and lay next to him when Kyle is doing homework.
He still loves his sticker books.
He likes to watch the Wiggles and dance to them.

He is starting to get his own little opinion about things.  I think we have officially entered the toddler years.
We are looking forward to the upcoming Holiday season with this little guy.  Should be lots of fun!

Halloween

This year we celebrated Halloween at the Lake of Three Fires the weekend prior to Halloween.  They had a special night for trick or treating at the campground.  We had a great time and took the camper out for the last time this year.  We hope to go back again next year.    Only next year we hope to have things better planned.  It was a lot to do to get camp set up, watch Kaleb, fix supper, trick or treat and get both video and pictures of it all.  Hopefully better planning on our part will happen next year.  Saturday afternoon we took Kaleb down the haunted trail.  They toned it down for the little kids.  I am not one for haunted houses or trails but I thought it was amazing and a lot of hard work had obviously went into it.

Then it was time for trick or treating.  Kaleb was excited to get dressed in his cow costume and walk around to see everyone at the campground.  It rained some but we didn't let it dampen our fun.  Gramma and Aunt Krystal came out to trick or treat with us.  Lots of the campers got into the spirit by dressing up in costume also.  It was quite a celebration.  Kaleb figured out what we were doing and by the time we got back to our camp he was wanting to help hand out treats to the other kids.

Preparations were lacking on my part, which is not unusual.  I have told everyone that I want us to dress up with Kaleb so he doesn't feel as if he is trick or treating on his own.  The most I did this year was a witch's hat and a Halloween t-shirt.  Kyle and Kenton were not as enthusiastic to participate this year.  Maybe next year.

Both Friday and Saturday night there were hayrides on wagons pulled by horses.  Friday night Kaleb and I

went on the open wagon.  It was so peaceful and beautiful, yet spooky.  Kaleb chattered the entire ride.

I had no idea what he was saying.    

Kaleb and I didn't sleep at the lake with the boys either night.  Our camper is not that big and we doubted that anyone would get any sleep if we stayed.

   

A few night before the actual Halloween Kenton carved a pumpkin for Kaleb.  We grew our own again in the garden this year.  Kaleb was very interested in what was inside the pumpkin.

 He especially liked it when we put the candle inside.

It ended up being a beautiful Halloween for us.  And yes, Kyle was around, he just doesn't enjoy getting his picture taken as much as he used to.  I think it has to do with those teenage years.

Happy Halloween From the Johnson House

Hoping everyone has a safe and happy Halloween.  We celebrated Halloween last weekend at the lake.  We had a wonderful time.  I will post more about it later this week.

Feeling Blessed with the Season

Lately I have been feeling so blessed for so many reasons.

I love the beautiful fall weather that we have been having. We have been outside a lot enjoying it.
We spent the weekend at home playing outdoors with the pumpkins from the garden and raking leaves.
Kaleb enjoyed carrying around little handfuls of leaves.

Saturday morning I had the opportunity to take some family pictures for some wonderful friends ours.  The weather was beautiful and they are beautiful, very photogenic people.  I loved the images I captured.  I swear I could have stayed outside taking photographs all day.

Jessica was home for the weekend with her new boyfriend, who is a very handsome and kind young man.
We were so excited to have them here. I still have a hard time believing I have a daughter in college.

Kenton spent the weekend running the combine. Something all farmers look forward to each year.

We had my parents and Kenton's mother up for supper Saturday night.  Good food and family make for good times. Dad is feeling better after his surgery. He is now able to get out and about and do a little more and work some on the farm again.

Kyle continues to be healthy. He seems happy and content, busy with football on the brain most of the time.

I am looking forward to camping at the lake soon, thinking sitting around a camp fire with a cup of hot cocoa sounds so relaxing.

We are looking forward to celebrating Halloween with little Kaleb.  We got his costume.  He was scared to put it on at first but he is warming up to it.  I have been reading about Halloween to him and got out his little pumpkin and talking to him about "trick or treating".

I got some fall planting done this past weekend also. OK, well it was only about half a dozen irises but still felt the excitement of what they will become next Spring!

Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful time of year and feeling the blessings that come with it.

He

He is now 16 months old.
He weighs 26 lbs.
He still wears a size 6 shoe.
He can say several words, most recently he tries to say "color".
He hates going to the doctor and screams as soon as we go back to the room.  I don't know why because he hasn't had too many traumatic events involving doctors.  Not near as much as Kyle anyway, who never screamed like Kaleb does.  Jessica might have though.  That has been so long it is hard to remember.
He is a good eater and likes to graze most of the day as well as have his meals.
He is still very busy.  The more tired he gets, the more busy he gets.
He likes to sort things and move them back and forth.
He still doesn't sleep well at night.
He loves to ride his rocking horse.  He gets off and gives it a kiss when the galloping sound stops.

He loves to color and do his sticker books.  We had to buy more stickers since last month.

He even holds his crayons correctly.

He likes to play with Kyle's old stash of little cars and trucks. 
He has gotten to ride in the combine with both Kenton and Kody.  Since then he has been playing with one of Kenton's toy combines and the John Deere tractor that Gramps gave him.
He occasionally tries to give the cats a little kick to get out of the way.  I guess that he has seen me do it a time or two.
He pretends to talk on the phone.
He likes pumpkins.
We have his Halloween costume picked out.

The other night the sun was setting and the moon was already out.  I showed him the moon and he seemed very interested in it as he kept pointing to it.

He is enjoying the beautiful weather as we all are!

Figuring Life Out - One Thousand Gifts

I st arted reading the book, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp this weekend.  So far I am loving it.  I really was inspired by the You Tube video promoting the book and wanted to share it here.  Watch it and I hope you all go out and enjoy this beautiful Sunday.  I am so thankful to have such a beautiful day at home with my boys!  Live in the moment and enjoy!