Danke

Today I am thankful for lots of things.

I am thankful that I took such a useful language in High School such as German

(note the title of the post)

I find myself using my Deutsch all the time… so much more useful than, say, Spanish.

And, such a beautiful language.

mmmm

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I am thankful for Jack’s incredible Thanksgiving outfit. Those pants. Wow.

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I am thankful for the fact that I am not in Ikea Hell (pardon the language) tonight like I was 3 nights ago.

It’s a long story.

Just know that it was like hell.

But, worse.

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I am thankful that I did not take clogging until I was 18 years old.

Sorry Kate.

Sorry Annie.

The recent surfacing of the old clogging video made me grateful for hanging up the old tappers when I was 13.

I’m just saying.

(Sorry to mock your dream, but, yes, Kate, I took this off the BYU clogging website. That may or may not be our distant cousin)

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I am thankful for the Johnson’s baby lotion bottle that keeps Jack occupied just long enough for me to get him dressed before he shimmies away from me.

I am thankful that we now have a second child in our home.

This MONSTER of a TV.

Days of Our Lives times 100!!

Oh, and I might be thankful for my 2:00 daily fix of Days.

Go on, judge me.

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I’m thankful for the movie Anchorman.

I watched it for like the 55^th time today.

I suppose it would be fair to say that I’m thankful for Will Ferrell, in general.

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I’m thankful for Jack’s thumb.

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I’m thankful for Kneader’s grilled cheese sandwiches.

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I’m thankful for my dreamy fireplace.

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I’m thankful for the 4 kinds of pie I tasted today.

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As I was thinking of particular things I was thankful for today, and the above came to mind, sure…it seemed a bit superficial.

A bit shallow.

However, the true reasoning is that it doesn’t take Thanksgiving for me to recognize all the incredible things I have to be grateful for.

Like…

Brett.

His hard work. His humor. His talents. His companionship.

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My sweet healthy, happy Jack.

Doctors that helped Jack be healthy.

Babies in jammies.

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My overwhelmingly amazing family.

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Living close to my overwhelimingly amazing family.

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Fave 5 Minutes on my cell phone to call and talk to my overwhelmingly amazing family.

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Staying home with Jack

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A wonderful home.

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Laughter.

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A life enriched every day by all of the amazing people in it.

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However, not a day goes by when I am not thankful for these things

So, this Thanksgiving I let myself be thankful for my soap opera, grilled cheese, and past clogging decisions, too.

Because if not today, then when?

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I truly love this holiday. Love the food. Love the long weekend. Love the family-ing.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Glückliches Erntedankfest!

(Happy Thanksgiving)

Oh, and thank you Google Images for never letting me down.

A Good One.

I'm feeling like this is a good week.

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* Post-Operation Check-Up with Jack's spinal surgeon went great.

He says that all is well with my sweet baby!

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* New Haircut! Phew, I made it!

I think it might be at least as cute as the pictures I put on my last post.

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* New CD.

Love when you get new tunes and like them!

Super mellow. Makes me want to go on a road trip.

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*It's my Grandpa Karl's birthday today!

I couldn't be happier to see him feeling and acting so good and to spend tonight celebrating with him.

Happy Birthday, Gramps!

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*Going out tomorrow night with the laaaadies to see New Moon for a special sneak peek that I think everyone gets to see.

Although I have not gone as far as getting a Twilight Mom membership,

I'm not even going to pretend that I'm above liking these books and being entertained by the movies.

I am.

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*Had a day at home with Jack today.

Played. Cleaned. Danced around the house.

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A good day.

A good week.

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Fine. Fine.

A phote of the hair.

Back to My Roots

(warning: this post is really important)

Today...

(and everyday for the past month)

it is an absolute miracle that I have not taken Brett's clippers to my mop for a nice buzz.

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I am not kidding.

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Not only am I a couple of weeks overdue for a cut.

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I've been rocking this do (or some version of it) for 2 years.

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For me, that's a long time. I get restless

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That and the fact that I have a severe phobia of my hair looking like John & Kate's Kate.

Barf.

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Thank the heavens up above...tomorrow is the day of my hair redemption...if I can wait that long.

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When you have short hair the only alternative to growing it out (not happening) is to go shorter.....dun dun dun.

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I want so bad to bust out a new, fresh, short do, but a little voice inside me says....beware....

remember 8th grade???

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Something about that voice, and the complex from an elementary douchebag accusing me of looking like a mushroom, give me a slight fear every time I get impulsive with my hair.

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But, at this point it's a new do...or bald.

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So, I returned to some old photos of my long history of short hair. Surely that would make me feel more confident in divorcing this hair-do at my appointment tomorrow.

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And now I present: Quite a History of Hair

Do enjoy.

If you can look past my cheeks, you will see the epitome of a Classic Mushroom.

Slightly flared and rounded on the sides, with a subtle dome on top.

Tempting.

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This is a bit of a "throw your hair in the air like you just don't care" kind of version of the Mushroom Cut.

Tousled tresses have never looked finer.

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Now this shot serves 2 purposes.

It gives all of you trying to achieve this cut a better look at the side. It's got that stacked, climb your way to the head of the mushroom kind of effect.

I don't vividly recall having steps cut into my hair. Vanilla Ice must have had more of an impact than I thought.

The second purpose of this photo is the other short hair option present in the background.

Thank you, mother.

Thank you.

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I know I've paid homage to the whippee in previous blogs. This is a great styling option when you want to dress things up...say for your 1st grade school picture.

All you need is a little hairspray and a great brush technique, and wallah! Whippee!

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Now we get to an unfortunate time of life. Adolescence.

I kept a more sleek 'shroom during these days.

Tamed down the sides.

Parted down the middle.

A timeless look, really.

Just like my green overalls.

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I have no idea what happened to the bottom half of this picture.

(I do have some dignity)

I'll let you visualize it.

End of 8th grade.

Really small cheeks.

Dashing smile.

Over sized MRJH student council golf shirt.

But that's not important, really.

Let's get to the hair.

This is the year I was introduced to bleach.

I really took hair to a new level here.

In fact, I recall taking a picture from a magazine to the salon to achieve this look.

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Wonder if it was this one:

I really don't know how I could ever fear a haircut.

What, with a hair past like mine?

I'm a shoe-in for a great do!

Wish me luck!

five

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So, the other night, Jack and I were having a playful evening rolling and giggling around the house. I took our playfulness to a higher level and Jack found himself on my shoulders gallivanting around the house. I suddenly felt that egg cracking on the head sensation and galloped straight to a mirror where I found Jack with the HUGEST smile peeking out from over my head.

Oh, and a oozing puddle of spit up.

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Disgusting? To say the least.

Utterly captivated by him still? Absolutely.

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Spit up and all, this kid is dreamy.

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And he's 5 months old today.

Has it possibly been 5 months, already? Really? 5?

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How glad am I that it is not last month at this time? Remember that little surgery that marked Jack's four month birthday?

Well, Jack's fourth month lent itself to nothing but speedy healing, lots of smiles, lots of growth, and lots of relief! This sweet boy laughs and smiles and is so content with life.

I'd say that about 92% of the time, he finds me hilarious.

The other 8% might already be embarrassed of me. Whatever.

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These cheeks are more than I can bare.

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We spent Jack's monthly birthday today visiting the park with Annie and her boys.

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The weather was lovely. Love it.

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.. Hank and Max ripping it up on the slide.

Heavenly Jack

These 2 are destined to be best friends.

Annie watched Jack while I scoped out the playground for future obstacle courses.

(for Annie and I, of course)

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I could hardly contain Jack's excitement with this slide.

The carnage from rolling down the hill. I think Annie is in a neck brace now. I, for one, had perfect form.

I'm sure my rolling down the hill was not one of those times Jack was embarrassed of me.

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Thanks Griffins for a usual great time!

I particularly enjoyed explaining to Hank why he could pee outside and why his mom and I would be arrested if we did.

Can I just say how much I LOVE living by my sisters and their kids?

Nothing better.

Halloween Rewind

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This was last year.

***Our announcement to my family that baby Jack was on his way came in the form of a stork pumpkin, carved by who else?

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My McGuiver.

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Let's be honest, the guy's incredible.

(might I add that he pulled this out of his hat in approximately 5 minutes)

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This is this year.

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Both rather exciting, really.

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But, I'd take this anyday over a pumpkin.

Here are a few highlights from the past few days of festivities:

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PUMPKIN CARVING WITH THE GRIFFIN FAMILY:

Halloween Eve

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Although, I think it might have been rigged....Hank won the carving contest.

Annie's pumpkin wasn't all that impressive.

Randy was sure a happy carver.

Brett was all buisness.

We talked my mom into carving a pumpkin.

She worked really hard, as you can see from her "concentration face."

Her arm still hurts apparently.

Final Product (top to bottom, left to right)

Mom, Randy/Hank, Mine (yes I'm an art teacher), Brett

Brett #2, Annie, No one will claim the ghost.

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GRANDMA JOANNE'S:

Halloween Day

Jack with his BEAUTIFUL cousin, Lucy.

The Rats:

Max (minus his monkey costume), Lucy, Jack, Isabel, Hank (totally in character!)

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HALLOWEEN NIGHT

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Of course, it wouldn't be Halloween without a napless, grouchy baby.

Jack wasn't feeling it early in the evening.

But snapped out of it before the night was over.

So lucky to live by all 4 grandparents.

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Hope you all had the

HAPPIEST HALLOWEEN

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I really do like this silly holiday.