7 Thankful Takes

In the spirit of the now over Thanksgiving, and in an attempt to stem the tide of Christmas insanity just one more day, I bring you seven "quickish" takes of thanks.

1.

First I have to start with my husband. 

On any given day, I'm pretty darn thankful for this guy. He keeps me sane, provides for us, gets up approximately 80 times at night with the kids, and is all-around not too shabby. Sure... we have our fights, but usually he'll just concede that I'm right and we move on. ;-) But on Thanksgiving, this man single-handedly prepared two turkeys, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, brussels sprouts, mac n' cheese, and a pumpkin cheesecake. And it was all delicious. #keeper

2.

Next would have to be the kids. There are many days I'm not sure what I'm doing. I lose my temper so often. And sometimes I just down right stink at being a mom. But you know what, they love me and forgive me constantly. They've taught me so much. I'm also very grateful for their health. Damian is doing so well right now, and Clare is full of energy and spunk. They will inevitably send me to my grave, but I love them for it all the same!

3.

Keeping it in the family, I would have to say that having such a supportive extended family is at the top of my Thankful List. My family provided our lovely new table first used for Thanksgiving. Nate's family generously drove to Charleston to celebrate Thanksgiving with us because Nate had so little time off of work. Combined they've never turned down our request for help--from looking after the kids to offering advice to moving us in and out of homes. They've also been known to provide us with meals at foreign places commonly known as "restaurants." I believe Nate and I used to travel there much more often in our pre-kid days, but that's such a distant memory now... I know we probably don't say it enough, but we are very grateful to be surrounded by such love.

4.

Leaving the family, but not far from it, I'm thankful for my friends--both new and old. My old friends have seen me at my best and worst and yet still call me their friend. They're loyal, loving, and brilliant. And as for the new friends, they've made the move to a new city a little bit easier and a lot less scary. I don't know how I have all these wonderful people around me, but I'm not going to ask questions ;-)

5.

On a lighter note, it's no secret that I love my city. Walking around downtown, driving over one of the bridges, enjoying the warm weather, the beach... all these things are a blessing to me.

6. 

An understatement, but I'm thankful that all my necessities are met. Never do I go without food, running water, clothing, warmth. I have a bed to sleep in, a shower to bathe in, and a stove to cook my food. Hell, I can grow a garden for "fun." It's hard in America to not take those things for granted, but in comparison to most of the world, I live like a queen. If only I would remember that more often and not always want more...

7. 

Last, and certainly not least, I'm thankful for God's faithfulness. I'm not deserving, but I guess that's the point. He is the reason for all the things listed above and I try to live my life as a thank you to Him, although I fail so often. 

Hope you all had a wonderful and yummy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Table

Thanksgiving will be here in approximately 5 minutes. I'm not sure how that happened, but despite my excitement, I feel... less than ready. Perhaps this is because we're hosting Thanksgiving for the first time so I actually have to do something other than show up and eat.

I should probably stop here and clarify something (on the off-chance Nate is reading this, which he is not, but I like to pretend.) I'm not doing anything for this Thanksgiving either. Nate, aka Husband of the Year, is cooking the Thanksgiving feast. I have no clue how I lucked out with this guy who likes to cook. He loves to cook, I love to eat. Basically we're perfect together.

And while he excels at dishing out elaborate and tasty meals, I'm not too shabby at (watch out, here comes humility) everything else that hosting entails. So while he's food prepping, I'll be cleaning and decorating... We're Martha Stewart when we combine forces. (Ignore the fact that I've left out who will be watching the children. They're almost 4 and 1--totally fine to be left unsupervised.)

I don't exactly have an entire warehouse stocked full of turkey decor, which is fine by me.... Never been a huge lover of turkey decor.

However, I do have a brand new, beautiful, handmade by my dad dining room table that only deserves to be covered in a Thanksgiving inspired "table scape." (Yep, the sarcasm runs strong in this post...)

ANYWAY....

I thought I would share some of my Pinterest inspirations with you, that way we can all laugh together later when I show you what my actual table turns out to be. Dream big Mary Helen, dream big.

{Inspiration 1}

For when I take my new table outside. Just look at those succulents! 

::source::

{Inspiration 2}

Subtle fall decor... Casually strewn apples, over sized basket. Burlap (classic.) It's like we just got home from apple picking and are sitting down to supper. 

::source::

{Inspiration 3}

For the inner child in all of us... or just Damian and Clare. 

::source::

{Inspiration 4}

Ok I just love this one... Neutrals, metallics, pumpkins... roses... be still my heart. be still.

::source::

I'll let you know what my final project ends up looking like (hint: see first picture in post...)

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

A few months later....

Well hello there! Nope, we aren't dead... It's been awhile hasn't it? Why not catch up with a few quick takes from the past few months. Perhaps this will start me blogging again... perhaps... (But let's not get ahead of ourselves.)

1.

 Since we last talked, Clare turned one! How is my baby not a baby anymore?! We had a "sweets" themed party for our "Sweet Cheeks," and I think it turned out really well. However, in typical second child-ness, I never took pictures of any of the decorations or food until after it was all said and done. Oh well... It was fun, and she had a BLAST opening presents. Once she got the hang of it, she was tearing through them. Makes me excited for Christmas!

2. 

Nate and I celebrated our 5th anniversary.  Two cities, two kids, and one house later-- I still love that guy more and more. *awww* I know, I know. How sweet. We celebrated by having a weekend to ourselves (and all our college friends) at our 5th college reunion. Not necessarily romantic, but a whole lot of fun! I must say I felt naked not having a kid touching me 24/7, but... I got used to it ;-)

3.

We then had Halloween. You may have seen on Instagram that the kids dressed up as a pumpkin (Clare) and a ghost (Damian.) Both costumes were chosen by Damian. I told him that next year Clare was going to have an opinion so not to get used to this level of control. The night before Halloween, Nate's office hosted a huge trick or treat party (Candy Land themed--so cute) so the kids were prepped and trained for the official Night of Candy. They clearly aren't related to me because the candy has very rarely been asked about or thought of... meaning I *have to* eat all of it.

 4.

Clare is walking and destroying everything she can touch. She climbs on everything and gets into everything. She loves to "help." Slowly, slowly I know my hair will be gray by the time we are out of this phase.
 As far as having two kids go, I love it. But it's busy.

Thankfully these two love each other 90% of the time. The other 10%? Well.... we just don't need to go there.

5.
We've been doing stuff around the house. Mostly painting and boring things like cleaning/fixing windows. My few fall decorations have my heart so ready to decorate for Christmas. Is it Advent yet?

6.
This past weekend, we went to Atlanta (and froze.)  Damian needed to have some procedures done to check on his liver's status. Thankfully, everything came back stable, and the doctors are remaining hopeful that he will have at least a few more years with his liver. Being in a children's hospital is always such a draining experience. We were there almost all day and the little man couldn't eat the entire time, but he was such a champ. I was cranky after an hour of not eating so I don't know how he does it. He makes me so proud with how brave he can be even when I know he's scared. #gushing

7.
And one last picture....

So how have y'all been?! Good? Ready for Thanksgiving??