Thankful!

I am thankful for so many things so I thought I should voice them to remind myself of how blessed I am as well as my family also. 
I'm thankful for:
The Gospel. without it I think I would be lost and a basketcase.  I am grateful for the constant strength it gives me and for my Savior's love.
My Family, my Awesome Husband and two very Cute Boys.  They are my life and I couldn't make it through this life without them.  I Love them to pieces!  I'm also so grateful that we are working hard to be an Eternal Family and that we have the special blessing of being sealed together in the Temple.
All the rest of my Family, I just am grateful to have all of you and that we have the opportunity to be a Family Forever.  I Love My Parents and am Grateful for their examples in my life and for their constant love, support, sacrifices, and encouragement to be my best.
Being a Wife and Mother.  These are two of the things in life I have wanted the most and I am so blessed to be both.  I love being Nate's Wife and for what a good Man he is to me.  I love being called "Mom".  I like getting up every morning to big hugs and snuggles before it's off to a crazy day of getting ready for school and having a sidekick to help with all the errands and cleaning up the house.  I have to tell a small story.  Yesterday was Sunday of course.  So we made it to church but a bit late, which is never a good start.  But by the time it was time for Primary we were doing pretty good.  Corbin was having a bit of a hard time with the wiggles and I thought here we go again.  I took him out once and he seemed to calm down some but not completely.  It was his turn to help in sharing time and he got to tell something he was thankful for.  His responds"I love my Mom and Dad and my Brother too and I'm happy he likes to play with me because he is fun to play with."  Couldn't have asked for a better reminder than that that I have awesome Kids and we are a Happy Family!  Let's just say I was beaming!  Later Corbin's Teacher came to me and let me know he had earned the "Reverent" treat and that he did great all through class.  Boy, was I a proud Mom.  It only got better from there.  Corbin did his best to be kind and helpful all the way home sharing his treat with Aidan.  After we got home He and Aidan played school so cute and were getting along so good.  One of the comments they made to each other was just too funny and cute.  Corbin: " Aidan you are such a fun little brother."  Aidan(very energetically):"Yah, Brother"!  to cute.  I was in Heaven, my Kids loved each other and that's all that matttered.  Aidan was really good all day too and was so excited to get to take treats to Nursery.  He carried the treat bucket so carefully and wouldn't let anyone else touch it. 
Back to my list because I could talk about my Family forever.
I am grateful for good Friends.  I have only a few very close Friends but they are the best and I appreciate all they do for me. 
Good Neighbors, this goes along with friends but we are blessed to have had and still have some very good neighbors that have become good friends.  It's also helped that several of them have children the same ages as ours so they have also made some really good friends.
I am thankful for my Church calling even if I still don't feel that I do it well.  I am constantly learning new things from it.  I love the Primary Songs and often feel the spirit remind me that this is where I'm suppose to be and that it is also important for my Children to be there too, along with the rest of them. 
I am grateful for my health, our Home and having a safe place to raise my family, Nate having good jobs that provide for us.  I'm grateful he works so hard for us so I can stay home and raise our Kids.
I'm grateful for the Troops that are protecting our Country and for their families and all their sacrifices to help make America a safe place to raise our families.
Well my list can go on forever and probably looks like it has.  It was good to reflect on my blessings and realize I have so much to be happy for.  I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and hope you are all happy and well!

Let it SNOW!

So it wasn't the first offical snow of the season, but it was the first offical stick on the ground and stay for more than 10mins snow of the season.  We woke up Friday Morning to this and it was still coming down good.  So lets just say snow and excited Boys makes for a hard long Morning trying to get ready for School.  So when Corbin got home I let them Both go out and have at it.  They created a snowball fight with the family across the street, who were making a Snowman in their yard.  Corbin and Aidan were having such a great time I had a hard time making them come in.  But when the noses start running and their gloves are soaked all the way thru, I figure it's time to take a break and get warm.  They both made their own snowforts and then destroyed them for fun.  They attempted to make their own Snowman, but didn't stick to it enough to do much.  They mostly just ran around, threw snowballs at each other, and made little hills of snow to hide behind and then flatted them.  It was fun to see them having a blast and all their excitment over snow.  What silly Boys!

Cowboys and ...Batman?

Corbin was invited to a Cowboy Birthday party last week.  This is what he came home in.  Too Cute!  The Birthday Boy's Mom is obviously quiet creative if she came up with all of this for each Child.  I can't imagine all the work she went into.  Corbin also brought home a big bag full of Cowboy and Indian toys like a plastic gun, candy, handcuffs, magnetic games where you put a beard on the Cowboy, and tons of other stuff.  Let's just say we've had a lot of fun playing Cowboys all week.  Aidan stayed home with Mom and we played until nap time.  Nate had the day off since it was Veterans Day and so he stayed home with Aidan while he was napping and I went to pick up Corbin.  When we got back Aidan was barely a wake and he wanted to join in the fun of dress up.  So he insisted on being his favorite "Batman".  He didn't want to bother with having to put on his pants.  All I have to say is what a cute idea for a Birthday party and what cute Boys I have!  I love it when they get so excited about something like this.

Milestone! At least I think it is!

Corbin has learned to tie his shoes.  Yeah!  I know all kids figure it out sooner or later, but it's been a big accomplishment for Corbin.  He is an interesting little guy when it comes to these kind of things.  Corbin is fearless or at least we thought so.  He develops these weird fears about things like riding his bike without training wheels and tying his shoes, etc.  When he finally tries hard he gets it fairly easily, it's the getting him to want to try.  Now when it comes to sports or things he really wants to do he just does it without fear or anything.  So we have been practicing the shoe tying thing since just a bit before school started and when he gets frustrated which has been quiet a bit we lay off a little and try again later.  Just the other day I was helping him and he just did it.  He was so excited and has been doing great since.  Way to go, Corbin!

Happy Halloween!

Scary and Happy Jack-o-Lanterns!  I helped the Boys carve the top pumpkins the night before we visited our families for the weekend.  They both had their own idea's about what they wanted and I tried hard to get it just right!  The bottom two they carved with their Dad and one of Matt's Nieces(I know I'm dumb and I should remember her name...and as soon as someone tells me I'll remember it.) the night before Halloween at their traditional family Halloween Party.  They were so nice to invite our family to join them this year.  The Boys had a lot of fun and Corbin pretty much carved his by himself...again they designed their own.  Thanks again to the Seager Family for letting us crash your party it was a lot of fun and we're glad to have you as such good friends.  Also thanks Grandma Haws for supplying us with pumpkins from your garden yet again....it's way fun to go pick our pumpkins from the patch.

We went home for Halloween Weekend and were able to spend time with all our Families!  Here the Boys are playing with some of their Cousins while we are raking leaves at Grandma "Grapes"(Great Grandma Packer).  They had a blast running through and throwing leaves all over.  They were pretty good little helpers too.   And yes, on Nates side of the family we have all grandsons and no granddaughters, so far.....

Here we are all dressed for Halloweening!  Yes, Nate and I dressed up too.  We realized we hadn't dressed up since before our Kids were born, like 5-6 years ago.  So we decided in the spirit of things we would join in and of course at the request of Aidan.  He insisted I be a Witch and Nate was suppose to be Frankenstien, but this is all we could find for a good wig  so we nicknamed him "Big Daddy".  It was fun and we got a lot of laughs.  I have to say though my little Soldier and Batman, which they both picked all by themselves were the very cutest of all!  Here we are with our Cousins again at one of the trunkertreats we went to.  By the end of the night we were able to spend time with all of our Cousins and Family on both sides and it was a ton of fun for all.

One little worn out tricker-treater.  Aidan took a short snooze inbetween Trunker-treats and the little drive from one Grandparents to the others.  He was so excited to be Batman and tried on his costume often before the big day.  He and Corbin both had a great time and it was fun too watch them be so excited and having a blast.   While out to see family I was able to take the Boys and meet up with my good friend Janae and her Kids.  We all had fun, but I think the kids ruled the rouste on this one, since we didn't get much catching up done but a lot of chasing kids instead.  It was still fun and I'm glad we got to see each other. We finished the weekend off by attending the Baby Blessing of my Niece Abbie, she is Jerry and Katie's new baby Girl and we had a lot of fun seeing all our family there too.  Then we took the long drive home to start a new week.

Soccer...Go #2!

Corbin decided to take a break from Tumbling and try out Soccer for awhile.  It is Indoor Soccer and that has thrown Corbin for a loop.  Every practice and game he asks when he gets to play outside.  We can't seem to convince him that is too cold to play outside until next Spring.  He is doing great and as with all sports he loves it!  We've enjoyed watching him grow, learn and develop new skill as he has been playing.  We still have to work on paying attention to what's happening in the game but what 5 year old doesn't have that problem?  He is a good little Kicker and has a lot of good hard kicks each game.  His enthusiasum matched with his excitement make it all the more fun to watch.  Since they don't keep score we really don't know who wins.....but so far Corbin's team usually has the most goals scored, but we don't focus on that.  We just encourage Corbin to do his best and have fun.  If you have never watched a indoor soccer game played by 5-6yr. olds you have to go see it....it's hilarous especially since there is no boundries and very few penities.  Lets just say lots of caous!  It's a lot of fun and laughs!