Our Month of Thankfulness: Week 3

The third week of November was our first week with all of us healthy.  You may notice the thankful list seems especially long (as does this post).  I think all of us feeling better had a lot to do with that!

This week, our favorite toy store was having a special Princess Day.  We needed to do some Christmas shopping anyway, so we decided to go.  We made the mistake of mentioning it to the kids a couple days before (not really thinking of it as the completely monumental event that it was), and they could talk of nothing else for days.  Allie was constantly asking if it was princess day yet.

Before we left.  It has been cold here, so they wrapped up in matching scarves.  Allie's is to keep her warm, Ryan's is to represent the fire he breathes!

 See, part of the event was meeting Elsa & Anna.  Lucas and I mentioned it offhand - never even thinking that our children were confident they were meeting the REAL Elsa & Anna.  Had we spent even a second thinking about it from their point of view, we would not have talked about it so casually!   They were balls of excitement from the moment they woke up.  As you can probably tell from the pictures!  They were dressed and ready to go an hour early.  Since it was princess day, but Ryan did NOT want to dress up as a princess, he decided to be a dragon...because every princess needs a dragon.  It made me think of Fairy Tale Day at the Toy Store a while back...which also made us miss the Beauties - who would have totally met us at this event and loved it!

When we got to the store, we had to park in a neighboring parking lot and there was a line to get inside.  It was completely overwhelming.  It also turned out that the princesses there were young teenagers (I think potentially relatives of staff members).  The girls did a fantastic job, but they also seemed a bit overwhelmed and didn't quite sell it.  Allie confided to me in the bathroom later that she knew they weren't the real Elsa & Anna...and then whispered that the girl dressed as Elsa didn't even have any frozen powers.  They still carried celebrity status, however, and the kids enjoyed the opportunities to get their pictures with them.  I would call the day a success!

We are THANKFUL for:
Allie & Anna

  - Bumby (Bumble's nickname)

- Daddy's Pancakes (we did this family meeting on Saturday morning just after eating Daddy's pancakes for breakfast - he makes gluten free ones for me!)

- My Brother (Allie's)

- Daddy

- Coffee (Lucas' thankful...for how it changes me...for the better!)

- Allie (Ryan's)
Allie & Elsa

- tv/video games (I will confess that this is my least favorite thankful.  They have become obsessed lately with Lucas' Nintendo - specifically Mario and the Ninja Turtles games - and Mario Kart on the Wii.  I have to ration their time - through tv tokens they earn - and we have some battles throughout the week...specifically when Ryan tells me he has nothing to do if I don't let him play.  What?!  But there are moments we have a lot of fun together with it.  So I can be thankful for those...)

- Fun game nights (This week we played games together a lot - with a marathon game night on Friday where we played 3 different board games.  So.  Much.  Fun!).
Ryan with Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey - the first time we saw him, Ryan kind of wanted to talk to him, but chickened out at the last minute and we ducked down another aisle.  The second time he told Ryan his costume was awesome and asked for a high five - which Ryan shyly gave.  Finally, Ryan mentioned he wanted a picture with him, and we caught up with him again.  Shy but determined.  I love this little guy!

- Our Family

- Daddy's hard work (We got snow over the past week - which, combined with the salt, made my job so much more difficult...and physical...and exhausting.  I mopped so much, and even spent some time scrubbing floors on my hands and knees!  Now, we needed to clean at home to get ready for Thanksgiving guests, but it was the last thing I wanted to do when I got home.  Lucas' did the lion's share, and I was so thankful!)
They had a princess parade where Mickey and the princess all went around the perimeter of the store and any princesses in the crowd could join them.  Allie did - and loved it!  We offered to let Ryan, but he said no...and then told me later he wished he had gone...but he did get to sit on my shoulders and watch the parade from above the crowd.

- Nutra Rinse (I realize this makes no sense to most people, but this is the mop rinse aid that we use when the floors are covered with salt.  Granted, I didn't know about it for the first couple of bad days, and I was at my wits end mopping and re-mopping to try to get the floors to look nice!  Then I asked the other custodians - who are so used to just switching with the seasons without thinking that they forgot I wouldn't know - and it made a HUGE difference.  I have never been so thankful for a specific cleaning solution before!)

 - God

- The whole world (In case we accidentally forget something important...)
They also were demo-ing their educational toys, and the boy showing of these invited Ryan to get inside.  He wouldn't without Allie, so here are the both of them getting ready to race to see who gets out first!

- Evan (He's come up twice now, so you might be wondering who he is.  He is one of their classmates, and has become a best friend.  Apparently, he and Ryan have decided they are brothers and he is going to marry Allie someday!)

- My house (the colder it gets outside, and the cleaner it gets inside, the more thankful we are for the home we love!)
The whole gang (Minus Mulan).  Ryan, Anna, Olaf, Merida, Elsa, and Allie (who is just a teensy bit excited if you couldn't tell...).

At our family meeting, we talked about ways we can show our gratitude all the time - especially in the  next few days as we approach Thanksgiving.  I'm hopeful that we will be filled with an attitude of gratitude and excited to see in what ways it may come out in my children!