thankful thursday

things i am thankful for this week:



**this sweet little gift that my kindergarten girl brought home from school yesterday. (first time all day long that i watered-up, and couldn't seem to stop the tears from flowing--i guess i'm not as hardcore as i thought.)


now i'm gonna have to obtain a copy of the kissing hand:

"Chester Raccoon doesn't want to go to school--he wants to stay home with his mother. She assures him that he'll love school--with its promise of new friends, new toys, and new books. Even better, she has a special secret that's been in the family for years--the Kissing Hand. This secret, she tells him, will make school seem as cozy as home. She takes her son's hand, spreads his tiny fingers into a fan and kisses his palm--smack dab in the middle: "Chester felt his mother's kiss rush from his hand, up his arm, and into his heart." Whenever he feels lonely at school, all he has to do is press his hand to his cheek to feel the warmth of his mother's kiss. Chester is so pleased with his Kissing Hand that he--in a genuinely touching moment--gives his mom a Kissing Hand, too, to comfort her when he is away."



does anybody suspect that an author would pen a book like this just to torture parents? (a good torture, but torture nonetheless....:)

**the chance we had to have "brother" hang at our house for a while and light up our lives.


as well as make a few quick phone calls:

**& the opportunity to pull this puzzle out for him to do, then realizing that it's superstar in the right hand corner is totally our MARTIN:

ohhhhh, MARTY.




speaking of puzzles..... AND cole-- THIS was him when barreling feet first through all of the millions (okay, hundreds) of puzzle pieces he dumped on the floor.

he is absolutely and completely a wild man:




(hims is so crazy.)

**this license plate we saw coming home from las vegas which made us slow down & back it up so that we could capture the essence.