Giving Thanks

Audrey has been in Houston celebrating Thanksgiving with her Daddy, Nana, Papa, Auntie Moo and Uncle Rick  for the past few days.  She left on Tuesday and is finally coming home tomorrow, Sunday. Audrey has been so excited leading up to Thanksgiving.  She loves all of her family so much, especially her Auntie Moo.  They have such a special bond.  James sent me this picture of Auds getting a little mani/pedi from Amanda.  Must be nice, she is even buffing her toes!  :)

So as I've had these past few days to myself, I've gotten a lot done.  Caught up on The Real Housewives of Miami.  And Beverly Hills.  And Atlanta.  These ladies have some drama!  I even got my car cleaned out and organized, made and ordered our Christmas cards, sent one of my best friends a baby gift that I've been meaning to send out for the past month, I bought a new book and actually finished it in one day (well, y'all know that's usually how I read a book when I find one I love!),  AND I finally got around to framing and actually hanging some pictures that I've been meaning to do for awhile now.  (Um, and I hung the pics all by myself.  To quote one of the Real Housewives, HOLLA!)  I'll be really honest for a minute and admit that this has been one of the hardest parts of living on my own now.  James is an architect, with a very good eye for all things artistic.  So he would always hang the pictures in our homes.  (And I mean homes as those we've had throughout the years, not the many homes we've kept across the world.  Just in case you were confused.)  So I've had to learn how to use a tape measure, and a hammer, and find the right nails.  But I think I did a pretty good job and it was rewarding to do it on my own.

Here is my new FAVORITE thing in our house.  My friend Heather owns her own graphic design company, Design Roots (http://www.design-roots.net/) and she made this really beautiful print that I just adore.  It lists all of our "Family Values" that we try to follow in our house.  I hung it in Audrey's playroom and I can't wait to show it to her and talk about everything it says.  It's just a really nice reminder of the way I hope we live our lives and it's nice to have such a beautiful reminder posted on the wall, you know, so I can read it over and over again while Auds is in timeout and I've reached my limit. :)

Next I hung up Audrey's new school photo on the wall next to all of her other framed photos.  I'll be honest again.  I haven't hung up a new, framed photo of Auds since we moved in.  Almost two years ago.  But I finally hung up her new photo and I just couldn't stop staring at the first framed photo we had of her and the one of her now.  SERIOUSLY??!!  She has gone from this . . . .

To this.

 I know that every mother talks about how time flies, and the days are long but but the years are short, but really?  How are we about to reach Audrey's 4th birthday?  I can't believe what a big girl she is.  And then I got to thinking about how thankful I am for everything in our life.  No, we are not the "normal family", but I am thankful for where we are and where we are going to go.  :)