Day 14 (January 24, 2014)

Today I'm thankful for a promising conversation with our neighbor, Jason about our house.  I'm pretty sure our neighbors are going to be moving into our current home when we move this summer.   It is a little bitter sweet because I can't imagine this not being our house, but I'm so excited that it is going to be their house.  They are awesome people, and I know they will enjoy the house.  I'm also thankful that we wont have to list and show our house, and that we will be able to come back to it when we visit the Kean's.  I told Jason last night that they can move into and buy our house only if I can come hang out here for Halloween.  This is the BEST neighborhood for Halloween.  No picture of this one, but maybe I can add one in when the Kean's move in.

Day 13 (January 23, 2014)

BRRRRR...I'm thankful that today Anna and I could hibernate inside by our fireplace.  Today was another VERY cold day here in St. Louis, so I decided that a day inside with the fire "roaring" was the game plan.

Here's the fire "roaring"

Day 12 (January 22, 2014)

Today I'm thankful for big tractors!  They sure got the ball rolling on our house.  Today we officially broke ground on our new house.  The weather was actually decent (30's compared to teens and single digit temps) so Anna and I bundled up and were able to go to the lot before and after her nap to see things take shape.  The excavators John uses are awesome.  They really work hard and fast, and they are really good at what they do.  It was neat to watch them work for a little while today.  Our house is being built into our hill slightly, and that was neat to see them just clear out that section of trees, and overgrowth to dig out for our foundation there.

Here is the big tractor in action.  I can't imagine how long this would have taken back in the day when they didn't have these things.  I guess people didn't build homes quite as big then either.  Hmmm...just something to think about.

Day 11 (January 21, 2014)

Today I'm thankful for having the opportunity to stay home with my sweet baby girl.  It is so fun to know her so well, and to be able to be a part of all the new things she learns.  Today I gave her some freeze dried mangos for a snack, and she started saying mango.  Something about the way she said mango with her sweet little voice just made me smile.  This evening she also entertained herself for probably 15 straight minutes putting "bracelets" on and off her arms while sitting down.  It was wild, she doesn't do one activity that long very often, and definitely does not sit still that long hardly ever.  It was just so cute to watch her get so into an activity.   She is such a fun, sweet, smart, and cute little girl. I'm so blessed to be with her every day!

Here she is getting ready to eat dinner with her "bracelets"

Day 10 (January 20th, 2014)

Today I'm thankful for crappy TV, specifically The Bachelor.  I know that sounds a bit crazy, but I really get into The Bachelor/Bachelorette shows.  I think I mostly enjoy the ridiculous drama, and it is always interesting to see what happens in the end.  I also enjoy that it is "me" time while the show is on.  John is so awesome and lets me just chill out and lose brain cells while watching the ridiculousness.  He completely takes over bed and bath time with Anna, and it is awesome!  No pictures really necessary for this one.

Day 9 (January 19th, 2014)

Today I'm so thankful for my wonderful neighbors!  I LOVE our block.  Before our first night in this house, this block has reminded me of the neighborhood I grew up in.  Also know as "The Hood".  This is something I'm thankful for most days, but tonight we decided to do a fun experiment and had a house full of excited kiddos and moms.  We microwaved a bar of Ivory soap, an experiment I found on Pinterest.  It's just so fun to have a bunch of excited kiddos in the house, and to hang out with my neighbor friends.  Anna has such a good time with the rest of the kiddos as well, and it's fun to see them all interact.  I'm going to miss this neighborhood so much!

Here are the kiddos watching the soap in the microwave

Here they are playing with the finished product

Day 8 (January 18th, 2014)

Today I'm thankful for my nephews Kaleb and Grant.  We celebrated their 13th birthday today.  Their actual birthday is tomorrow.  I absolutely can not believe those two cuties are 13 years old already.  They are the reason I not so secretly anymore think having twins would be so neat.  They have been SO much fun to watch grow up.  They are my little buddies and I love being their Aunt.  We used to hang out quite a bit more than we have in the past couple years, but Anna has put a dent in my free time, and they are getting older and I'm getting less cool.  Even if we don't have as many weekends away I'm always going to have a VERY special place in my heart for those two little boys.  Love you little buddies!

Day 7 (January 17th, 2014)

Today I'm thankful for Anna's new babysitter, Tyler.  Tyler was referred to us by my cousin, Julie.  She is the best babysitter I could have imagined for Anna.  She LOVES kids which is very obvious, and Anna had a big smile and hug for her when she came in.  She's super easy going, and a very fun girl!  I'm so excited that Anna is going to get to spend a lot of her time away from Mommy and Daddy with Tyler.  I think she will learn a lot from Tyler, and I know they are going to have a ton of fun together!

Here is a screen shot of the sweet text Tyler sent us while we were out to dinner.  She obviously didn't have to do this, and we weren't a bit worried about her and Anna, but it was so nice to hear that all was well.
We are lucky to have her as our babysitter!

Day 6 (January 16, 2014)

Today I'm thankful for my vacuum cleaner.  Weird right?  When I was younger my Mom always tried to convince me that cleaning my room was a good idea because it would make me feel so much better when I was finished.  I can still hear her saying "Renee you will feel so good when you're finished".  Maybe not the best way to convince a kid to clean, because really it didn't make me feel good, it was just an inconvenience.  Fast forward to my current status, and I TOTALLY understand what my Mom was talking about.  I hate playing with Anna on the floor or walking through the house when it's not clean.  I'm thankful today for my vacuum because we finally got it back after what seemed like an eternity at the repair shop.  I think it was probably less than 2 weeks but it was the pits.  I supplemented with crawling through the house with the crevice tool on the shop vac, and borrowing my neighbors vacuum a couple times.

Here she is in all her glory sucking the dirt right up from my floors.  I feel SO GOOD now :)
Stanley on the other hand is confused why the evil beast is back.

Day 5 (January 15, 2014)

This post is a day late, but it is for obvious and good reasons not because I was lazy or forgot.  I haven't fallen off the path just yet.  Yesterday I was thankful for a family that I love dearly.  Michele, Jared, and baby Asher Tanz.  Asher was BORN yesterday, and I was able to be there helping his amazing parents through the labor and delivery process.  All I have to say is baby Asher is one lucky little boy, and Michele and Jared are so incredibly blessed to have baby Asher.  What an amazing experience it was to be able to help such a good friend of mine welcome her son into this world.

Here is what I have decided is my favorite picture of the day.  You can just see how much love is in this family.  Mommy and Daddy staring down at Asher, and Asher staring up at his Mommy and Daddy.  AMAZING!!!!

 
For a runner up, I really like this picture of Jared and I helping Michele labor.  Michele was so incredible through the entire process.

Day 4 (January 14, 2014)

Today I'm super thankful for my hubby.  He works his rear off to provide for our family, and he does a darn good job at it.  Today his hard work really paid off for all of us in a special way.  We closed on our construction loan to build our new house.  This is something that we have been working on for nearly a year, and I know John was very happy and proud to be at the point we are, and he should be.  With John's expertise and hard work we are going to have one kick butt house to raise our family in.  I can't wait for all the memories we are going to form there.

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of John from today to share, but the reason is kind of fitting for this post.  He's still working, and I didn't snap any pictures while we were closing on our loan.

Day 3 (Jan 13th, 2014)

Today I got a bit frustrated with Anna's short afternoon nap.  I was really hoping, maybe even expecting, her to take that coveted long afternoon nap when she transitioned to one nap.  That hasn't really been the case for us, but this isn't about complaining it is about being thankful.  I'm so incredibly thankful that Anna has gotten so easy to put to bed for naps or for the night.  We simply read a book, I beg for some brief cuddles then when she is finished with cuddling, she points to her bed and I lay her down, with her binki and blankie of course.  It's just so awesome knowing that she is so comfortable with our routine, and with her room and bed that she can just soothe her self right to sleep.  I know this routine is bound to change, and we will most likely go through some rough patches with sleep, but for now I really appreciate the simplicity of putting her to bed for naps and at night time.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the brief snuggles and the sweet kisses for my little princess girl!  Here she is sleeping soundly in her bed.  This is a screen shot from my iPhone while I was checking up on her.

Day 2 (Jan 12th 2014)

Today I'm thankful for family, and that Anna is blessed with so many people who love her dearly.  Tonight for dinner we had Grandma and Grandpa Muller, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Muller, Uncle Jo Jo, and our neighbor Sammy over for dinner.  We are so lucky to still have both John's Grandma and Grandpa in our lives.  It is so wonderful that they are able to come to our house for dinner and spend some time playing with Anna.  Good company and good food.  Tonights menu consisted of two Pioneer Woman recipes:  Chicken Pot Pie, and Bread Pudding!  YUM YUM!!!!!!!

Fall down, and get back up ;)

Maybe committing to a blog isn't really my thing.  My last published post was announcing that I was 12 weeks  pregnant with my now adorable almost 17 month old baby girl, Anna.  I still really enjoy reading blogs, and even think I could get the hang of blogging even though my first attempt was a complete flop.  Soooo...I'm going to start a 365 days of thanks type of blog right here where it all started.  I was inspired through this link http://www.upworthy.com/you-take-zillions-of-photos-with-your-cellphone-why-not-try-something-new-with-them which a friend of mine posted on Facebook.  I really didn't want this to be a New Year's Resolution.  I wanted to start it randomly.  I didn't want it to have specific rules or a timetable, but I do REALLY want to try hard to make a short  post each day about something I am thankful for.  I especially think it is going to be amazing to look back after a year of posts, and remember all the little things, and why they were important to me at that time.  I think that most of these future posts will be things that if they weren't documented in "real" time they would probably be lost in my memory.  So here it goes.  Wish me luck!

Today I'm thankful for the SUNSHINE!!!!  Last Sunday we were hit with the "polar vortex" and ended up with 10 -12 inches of snow.  The snow itself wouldn't have been so bad, but with it came subzero temperatures.  For someone who would rather never see the thermometer dip below 60 degrees our recent weather was a little scary.  

Anyway here is a quick iPhone picture of the bright sun shining through my neighbors big gum ball tree.