Thankful thinking part II

11. I'm always thankful for those nights when I get a full nights sleep! I'm tempted to buy this for one or more of my children. We still struggle with Madison mostly on the weekends going to sleep. If she is not on her routine we pay for it and are up trying to talk her into going to sleep. She says she's afraid but can't pin point what she is afraid of. If we are nice and talk softly to her it is always worse, when we yell she goes to sleep quicker. I'm still hoping this will pass! One night, Lilly woke up with a fever and came into our room and then another Jack with the pukes! I think I fell asleep at 9:45 one night because I was so tired!

12. Lexi said Mom I'm so excited it's almost Valentine's day. I said no it's not, she said it says on the calendar. I laughed out loud, it was Veteran's Day! Close Lex!! Esp grateful for my freedom in light of the Paris attacks. As I was reading the scriptures today, I feel a hastening that the destruction in Revelations are coming quicker and quicker. 

13. I'm thankful for talents. All of the kids entered the Reflection's contest. Yes, I make them. The girls LOVE to do it, Maddy entered 4 times and placed 1st in Literature. Lexi entered 2 times and placed 1st in 3D. Jack said "see mom, I never win" I told him winning isn't the point. But that never comes across to Jack, winning is everything! Loved Jack's speedy turtle. The theme was "let your imagination fly" He made a turtle and painted it. 

The wrote "A turtle is fast, a turtle is slow, a turtle can be fast, all it has to do is grow. I imagine turtles can run, skip, and hike. A turtle can also beat the rabbit in a race. My turtle's name is speedy. 

Lexi's polka dot dinosaur - she goes on to the next level. I need to write her essay when I get it back! It was so cute. 

14. I'm grateful for the sunshine. We had snow today and it's cold outside but for a couple hours the sun shone and brightened the day. Jack said "it's not that cold" I bed to differ, 36' at 4pm is cold! We are 13 days away from Cancun. Getting excited but sad to leave my kids also. 

15. I'm always grateful and thankful for not cooking dinner! Applebee's for the win. Used the kids Reflection certificates on the way to Disney on Ice. 

We loved Tangled. The horse was skating on ice (2 people in it) and then Flynn and Rapunzel swung from long hair. They also had lanterns that light up the sky. Jack claimed he was "too cool" for the show but really we all loved and enjoyed it.

16. I'm thankful for Jack. He has had quite the expensive week. When he got sick, he woke up and threw up on his bed and all over the floor. I wasn't quite chipper at 12:30am and told him to go back to bed. He sat in the corner not sure what to do or go. He ended up downstairs on the couch and spent the night going back and forth to the bathroom. 

The next day, I purchased a carpet cleaner. If I had had my carpets cleaned, it would have been that and then some and even saying I had to clean his carpets twice because the smell was still there. Last Wednesday, I noticed LOTS and I mean LOTS of iTunes charges. I asked Mike about it when he got home from Scouts. He didn't know anything. Digging deeper we noticed the charges were consistent with Jack's use on the iPad. He was playing Clash of Clans and buying gems at $19.99 a pop. All in all $372 charges! Passwords have been changed (they are automatically saved--sometimes it bites you in the butt) and he is grounded from all electronics for 2 weeks and is paying us back with hours of work. Saturday, he worked so hard. Today he said, Mom I only have 5 more days til I get to play electronics again. I said Try a week! The night we discovered the charges (he said he had no idea he was using real money) he put his cash on my bed with this note. 

17. Hope I'm not jinxing myself but today I'm thankful the fevers, the pukes and the sniffles are gone. 

18. I'm thankful for Mike! Not just today but every day. He has been stressing/working/thinking non stop about work and the project goes live @9pm tonight. He completes me and then some! It's the little things that he does that make life that much easier: honey do's (did I mention I got him to hang the outside Christmas lights Saturday--with just a little arm twisting), helping with homework and reading (the little girls can almost always get him to read Fancy Nancy and The Tickle Book), working on goals, (his goal is to run 600 miles this year--he's still working on it and getting close), he never complains about his calling~ Scout's is a high priority, he almost always does the dinner dishes and then everything in between.

19. I'm thankful for nap time! Sometimes, I think we all need to cry ourselves to sleep on the kitchen floor just because! 

20. I'm thankful for PAY day! Mike works hard to make sure we have a pay check to keep us going. When we were talking to Jack about the charges he charged and comparing it to real life, the kids were so surprised that things cost money. Lexi didn't know that we pay for a house every month! Jack spent as much money on itunes as an xBox 1 that he is always asking for.