This Thanksgiving we were thankful for many things.
But mostly...
urgent care.
This is Jack on Thanksgiving day...
Strep throat.
And Jared...the day after Thanksgiving.
He is really enjoying the aircast he must wear for 6weeks. A Jared that can't play soccer is a VERY unhappy Jared.
Colten also ended up with strep, but he is fine now.
Jack is home sick AGAIN with strep, and now a sinus infection to go along with it.
Honestly I can't remember my kids ever being this sick....I blame the COLD.
Jack had to do a timeline project for school. It's such fun looking at the age progression in photos. I can't believe he was so little not so long ago... 
I was really proud that he pulled out some of my scrap supplies to work on his project...It turned out really cute. He even used some doodlebug stickers to spell out "Jack Benjamin Blaise" across the bottom....Thank goodness SOMEONE is getting some use out of the supplies.
This beautiful tree is making me happy.
As is this beautiful boy
who runs down stairs in the morning to turn it on.
First thing.
The tree is never off if Oley is around ;)
And half of the tinytreeforest on my very large mantel...
love it.
even though now when I'm out in stores I think I need every little tree I see. It's sort of like when we were searching for pink and orange things for Gabby's wedding. I still think I need to buy everything I find pink and orange...how many years later?!?
Before all the sickness,
I was going to write about a few different things.
One was about our upcoming move. (I'll save that for another post)
The other was about this town I live in.
I'll just shorten the version I had in my head.
If you know me, then it's no secret that I really dislike it here. I mean we move a lot, so I'm fairly use to different places and different people, and that's one of the things I love about moving. This town however is just emotionally exhausting. Everyone is in a rush, No one seems to care about anyone, except themselves.I have left the grocery store on more than one occasion in tears, because it's so frustrating.I honestly would become so angry and frustrated that I'd cry about my grocery shopping experience. How sad is THAT?!?
I finally decided that this was just unacceptable. I was allowing the people here to impact the way I felt and that wasn't ok with me. I was matching their unkindness with my frustrated unkindness and it was making it all much worse. I decided to look at the people here as though they all were just having a really bad day. Like something was weighing on each of them. We watched a video at my church back in Greenville about something similar, being able to put on special glasses that allow you see into each person that you meets life, to see their struggles. I can't see their struggles but it's enough to know everyone has them, and it helps me to ignore their behavior, and to focus on my own. It's our own struggles and losses that enable us to be the people we are, and to be a comfort for others. It's sometimes hard...and I sometimes think that most of these people have no struggles, they're just crabby and mean, but some probably do...and they're the ones that might appreciate a smile, or a kind word.
So, now when I go to the grocery store here...
I take a deep breath, and say "a kinder gentler me"....
and I go in..
and you know what?
My day isn't' ruined now when I come out.
so apparently it's going to be our first white Christmas in a long time.
