happy thanksgiving.

Turns out, Lorelei likes eating pumpkin pie even more than she likes making it (aka licking sugar off her fingers).

(she's signing "more" in that middle bottom pic!)

Hope you celebrated in all kinds of wonderful ways. I'm late on my weekly thankfulness post, but I'll get to it - thankful that I'm too full of good food to post it now. :) But I did want to say thanks to all of you who regularly stop by my little corner of the web; I'm grateful for your friendship, online and in the real world!

a grateful heart [part two]

Installment #2 of my "what I'm thankful for" series.

click image for MeganMatsuoka's shop and awesome print

Today, I'm thankful for...

November 9th: ...an unexpected lesson in kindness, aka the crabby receptionist at the tumbling gym we go to every Friday for showing me that I shouldn't be so judge-y when she tracked down my phone number to tell me I left my driver's license there.

10th: ...Netflix. Getting caught up on all the shows and movies I missed in Lorelei's first 9 months makes me feel like I have my sh*t together.

11th: ...the immeasurable sacrifices of others. Thank you, veterans.

12th: ...the residual effects of a day spent almost entirely by myself, window shopping and eating lunch as slowly as I wanted and not having to share any of my fries or worrying about the mess we were leaving behind.

13th: ...a mug of tea and a good book. Make that a beautiful mug you bought on your solo day out so that every time you use it you think about how great it was to have a day all to yourself.

14th: ...the woman at Hy-Vee who helped a very sad little boy find his "missing" mom. I hope someone will be looking out for Lorelei like that someday.

a grateful heart [part one]

I love seeing everybody's daily thankful posts in my Facebook feed, on Twitter, and even in blogland during the month of November. It's so nice to focus on gratitude for 30 whole days and makes me think I should probably be doing it year round! Posting about it every single day is a little much for me, but I've been collecting my moments of gratitude and I'll be sharing them once a week on Thursdays this month.

click for source

Today, I'm grateful...

1st ...to have an extended family that loves each other so much we are sad when we can't be together for holidays! So lucky not to have the deep-seated feuds others struggle with.

2nd ...for an extra pair of hands around the house when Jason is out of town for a conference. Thanks for making the trip during a busy time, Grandma Sara!

3rd ...to live within easy driving distance of enriching places and activities to help my curious toddler learn and grow.

4th ...to have a warm house to snuggle with my family in.

5th ...for a hidden stash of Halloween candy when the whining just gets a little too intense.

6th ...for new friends, and for old friends who keep calling you even though it's really hard to find time to connect (love you, Bethie!)

7th ...for the freedom to love and celebrate and worship and create and think in ways that many people in the world long for.

8th ...for surprises in the mail.