30 Days of Thankfulness

I am not a baker. Period.  My mother can bake.  My grandmother can bake.  My great-grandmother was a dream of a baker.  It missed me and that's all I can say.  BUT, this time of year I LOVE to enjoy all of the flavors of fall.  I decided this year to try to bless some of the people who love on my kids every week by baking them pumpkin bread.  Luckily, my friend Jennifer gave me a FOOL PROOF recipe for pumpkin bread that is DELISH!

 That was round one of teacher pumpkin bread.  Did I mention that I've got a LOT of kids to love on??  We made another eight loves, wrapped them up in a bag with a little raffia, and we were good to go.  So easy and such an easy way to thank all of the people that serve our family.

Since I'm not a baker, this is the time of year that I try to remember to also bless my family with yummy homemade treats.  Today we have some friends over to play so I whipped out one of my kids favorite snacks (that they RARELY get)...homemade granola bars.

 I don't know what it is that makes these a granola bar because to me they are just a quarter step below a cookie. But however we have to justify eating them is just fine!

Round one is half way gone and I thought I should snap a picture before the kids tore through for seconds!  I'm so thankful to be able to share some yummy homemade treats with my friends and family this season!

30 DAYS OF THANKFULNESS Day 5

TOGETHERNESS!
We are currently visiting friends and family on a four day "Larsen Academy Fall Break" tour.   I am always overwhelmed by the sweetness that comes from extended family time.  Not necessarily kid sweetness (of course), but there is just a sweet renewing that comes when we have an extended time to getaway together.  It's a blessing to be free from the tug of life's everydayness to be able to focus on each other and the love God has blessed us with.

I wish I had a great picture of togetherness to post but I'm not using my own computer so you're out of luck today.

Here's to celebrating togetherness!

30 DAYS OF THANKFULNESS

Two days late...

But what else would you expect from me!

My desire for this holiday season is that my heart and the heart of my family would be focused more on God's provision and goodness to us.  So we are spending time at night remembering all that we are thankful for.  Here's where we've been putting all of our ideas.

That's our leftover Halloween ghost tree. (Thanks for the thanksgiving re-use idea, Heather!) Every night at dinner we take a leaf and write what we're thankful for.  It's been a great way for us to continue to develop hearts of gratitude.

So, to start my blogging 30 days of Thanksgiving, here's what I'm thankful for...

And there are enough of them to make up for two lost days. :)

(Don't be deceived, in the last picture Caleb wore John Patrick's pants ALL DAY. That was his Bible Study outfit today.  Nothing like a little Mommy humility! )