Grateful for Baby Backpacks

Gabrielle gave me her purple baby backpack when Polly was born, and that one piece of baby paraphernalia has been used more consistently and over a longer period of time than about anything else besides the crib. It's how I do grocery shopping, how I get dinner fixed when Cici is fussy, how we go on outings, how I take walks when I'm babysitting other kids... So I'm grateful for baby backpacks, grateful to Gabrielle for giving me hers, and grateful to Mama and Daddy who modeled the use of it originally!

Grateful for a Brother Who...

...appreciates those little sugar cake decorations as much as I do! Happy Birthday Month, Christian!!! I have adored you since the day you were born!

Grateful for a Sister Who...

...can make even jean-on-jean look great. She could probably even rock the look on 4 hours of sleep broken up into 45-minute increments and separated by hours of soothing a wakeful baby.

Grateful for Babies

I am so grateful that babies have been a part of my life for my entire life. I've seen some pretty cute ones in my day, but these two are at the top of that list. There is nothing like the squeezable sweetness of a chubby toddler.

Grateful for Parents

I am grateful for my beautiful mother (who can still fit into her wedding dress!) and my handsome father (who could probably still fit into that great 1970's tux of his!). I am grateful that my father wanted to find a woman who was smart, musical, hard-working, grounded in the gospel, strong, devoted to family, etc., etc. And I am grateful that my mother married a man who was (and still is!) fun-loving, hard-working, intelligent, faithful, consecrated, thoughtful, etc., etc. What a glorious day June 22nd will always be for our family.

Grateful for Sugar

This was Benjamin's birthday night, and there's a great close-up of a cute teddy-bear cake that I'll put up sometime. But for now, I'll just leave you to a mouth-watering contemplation of what little Gabrielle, Naomi, Benjamin, and Abraham are about to eat. Happy No-Sugar November, everyone! I'm grateful for December 1st, when No-Sugar November will end :).

Happy November!!!

In this month of gratitude, I am grateful for my family. All nine people in this picture, plus the four to follow in the ensuing years, plus the three-and-a-half to join me in my own nuclear family many years later, plus all of the in-laws and nieces and nephews that would take a much, much bigger log than the one here to be adequately pictured! I love you all!!!