30 Days of Thankful: Week 1

The Project:

This year I am joining in with Cathy Zielske's yearly project and capturing 30 things I am grateful for, one each day for the month of November.   I am also linking up with her first Gratitude Friday.  It goes without saying that I am thankful for my family, friends, faith, etc. and that I am thankful every day of the year.  My hope is that this will capture small moments of gratitude during this month, which is especially geared toward remembering to be thankful.

The Plan:

I have decided to use Cathy's Thirty Days of Thankful Layered Templates No. 02, because they are designs to be 6X4 and can easily be developed in a standard photo size and slipped into my Project Life Album.  I am debating between doing that and using a green S.E.I. preservation album to make a mini.  I was actually more inspired by the 6X6 sized templates but then decided that for practicality and ease I really should stick to 6X4 so it's more likely I'll actually do something with these when November is over.

My plan is to do a trial print at Costco, but due to previous experiences with them, I think I'll probably end up sending these off to Persnickety Prints.  Costco is okay for every day prints but Cathy's templates have a nice white border, and I want it to be even on each side. I've found that when I try printing digital elements on my photos and send them to Costco they aren't aligned properly.  I haven't actually used Persnickety before but have heard really good things about them.

The Photos + Words, Week 1:

Going to at least one FELD production each fall has become a tradition for my family ever since I joined their local blogger promotion team.  We've seen ice, stage, and the circus - each has been a fantastic experience!  My daughter has wonderful memories of seeing all her favorite Disney characters and this year we took the little guy for the first time. 

Day 2 coincided with our dating anniversary, it's been 19 years together and over 13 years of marriage.  I am truly blessed to have found my soul mate so early in life and to have the benefit of his love and support every day!

Last Sunday we had our much postponed photo session with a local photographer and friend.  The weather has been finicky around here and we finally had a nice sunny day.  It's been a real challenge to capture a good portrait quality photo of the little guy.  He is SO busy ALL the time!  I can't get him to stand still and smile at the same time.  I was thankful to have the opportunity to call in professional back up.  We had our session and I'll pop in one of the photos into this template when our photo CD arrives, I can't wait!  I'm excited to get it, I saw the previews on her camera and she got some great ones.

We are having to wash LB's crib sheet and pajamas every day.  I often find him wet when he gets up and again after nap.  He's discovered how to unzip his sleeper and it's been a frustrating time for me every since.  I can't get him to leave it alone, and you know what I mean by "it", don't you?  Other moms of little boys tell me this shall pass, and as far as I am concerned it can't go by fast enough!

As the second load was going in on Day 4 and I was grumbling about it, I remembered how awful it was when we had to use the laundry mat for awhile when subletting in Berkeley and then use coin operated community laundry facilities at our second apartment in CA.  Instantly I was a lot more thankful to have our own washer and dryer!

I've begun dabbling into art journaling, it's just a freeing form of expression for me and who doesn't love to get a little messy?  I was prepping some pages with gesso when LB became very interested in what I was doing.  He wanted to paint too, and even though the thought of the mess and hassle passed through my mind I decided to let him give it a try.  I was surprised by how neatly he painted, and love his first little painting.  He has been such a physical child that most of my friends have been cautioning me that he probably won't be into all the art projects I did when E was little.  This gave me hope that he might slow down to cut & paste with me once in awhile.  I love to share my interests with my kids.

We eat out way too much and one reason why is that we're just tired of eating the same old thing over and over.  In an effort to mix things up we made a French Toast Casserole from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays.  It's good and makes a big dish so for a family of four, like us, I'd cut the recipe in half.  We're already planning what kind of fruit to mix in the next time we make it.

Yesterday, I went to help E with her daily Math Links homework sheet and the way they have the kids counting up to figure out change completely threw me for a loop.  I am glad we've got Mr. Math Guy aka Brad to come to the rescue and figure things out.  I'm equally if not more glad he'll be around to help her as math gets harder and harder.  Math has never been my strong suit.

Reflection:

And there you go, as quick as that, I have a week of moments to be thankful for.  It's been great having Cathy's handy templates to use.  I'm so glad I got those.  They definitely streamline being able to put together my daily page.  I was tempted to fiddle with things and change the font color or maybe even drop in a solid color for the background.  Then I decided to just let myself be thankful for resources and time savers.  Keeping everything basic makes this doable so I have more time to go enjoy doing the things and being with the people I have to be thankful for.  Not complicating things is a good thing as we approach the holiday season, don't you think?