Day 22: helpers

 I'm grateful for my little helpers. They love to copy and do what Mckay and I do. Sometimes they are actually helpful. Friday is homemade pizza night. I usually just make one big pizza for us to share, but since Halloween when I let the boys make their own personal pizzas, they now expect to make their own every time. It hadn't occurred to them before Halloween that they were allowed to touch the dough. Tonight, when I told the boys I was going to start making the dough for pizza, Connor starting chanting "make pizza, make pizza, make pizza" as he cleared the dishes off the table. 

You gotta have a clear space to assemble the pizzas! Connor is becoming quite helpful and I love that he saw this "need" without me saying anything about it. 

It should be noted that Connor is without clothes in the above picture because he was "helping" me clean the bathroom and poured Comet powder all over the bathtub and his clothes. He's not always so helpful.

They make the dough pretty much on their own. I tell Dallin how many scoops of each thing and Connor stirs.

I'm so thankful for my helpful boys.

Day 21: peace

I'm thankful for peaceful, quiet moments.

Even if they're brought by watching Curious George on Netflix.

Day 20: cameras

I am thankful for cameras. I really enjoy looking through old pictures, remembering the events and emotions surrounding the picture.
Without a camera, I wouldn't be able to look back and see newborn Dallin:

He still makes that same face when he's really sad.

I wouldn't be able to see "Oxygen Dallin:"

or newborn Connor:

or Dallin's first Christmas:

or any of the thousands of memories we've made that pictures help us remember.

With each pregnancy and child I've had, I'm losing more and more of my mind memory. Pictures remind me of the fun things we've done, of the little moments I would've forgotten. A friend from college recently sent me some pictures she had of when Mckay and I first started dating. (Shout out to Kathryn!) We had gone up to Salt Lake to see Temple Square.

That was a really fun day. I was beginning to really like that guy.

And man, I wish I still had those jeans. They fit me so well.

I'm grateful for videos that capture the simple everyday moments, the funny things my kids do: like Connor playing the piano and singing or Dallin trying to jump to reach the ceiling and declaring "I can't reach!"

I'm grateful for cameras.

Day 19: pancakes

Pancakes have always been one of my favorite breakfast foods, but I never would have guessed how often I'd end up making them or much I'd appreciate them.

It took 2 long years for Dallin to start eating solid foods. Feeding problems are common with Williams Syndrome. Dallin was in occupational and physical therapy, we'd seen many specialists, we tried EVERYTHING to get Dallin to eat something other than milk, but he would refuse or gag on anything we gave him. It was a really frustrating, difficult time. One day, right before his second birthday, he took a bite of a chocolate chip cookie and it suddenly clicked for him. He was chewing and swallowing and eating! Slowly, he started adding more foods into his diet. It was a miracle. The problem was that he would eat a food a few times but his interest would wane quickly. I can't tell you how many times I stocked up on pretzel sticks or cheese puffs or frozen peas (which I greatly dislike) only to have him stop eating them.

When Dallin was about 2 1/2 years old, just before Connor was born, we discovered that he liked pancakes. And he kept liking pancakes. And he still likes pancakes now.

In a conversation I had with Mckay a few months ago, it came up that Dallin has had a homemade pancake made by me practically every day for 2 years straight. (I make them about once a week and freeze the extras to use the rest of the week.) When Mckay discovered this, he put his arm around me and sweetly said, "You work so hard." I appreciated the recognition of the work I do every day. And yet, all I could think was how amazing it would be if the only "hard" thing I had to do was make homemade pancakes for this child. With all the medical concerns we've faced (and continue to face) and the struggles with speech and walking, the struggles I'm reminded of at least 3 times daily are his feeding issues. After years of watching Dallin not eat and then discovering how he loved pancakes, I was overjoyed to know I could make something for my son that he would consistently eat. Dallin is still picky and selective with what he'll eat, but he'll always eat pancakes. Sometimes I dislike lugging out our pancake griddle and washing it, but that's a small price to pay for how well he eats them and how happy it makes him.

We've come a long way from the early days of small pancake bites in a highchair. Now, he sits at the table, uses a fork and puts his dishes in the sink when he's done.

I like making pancakes with Dallin. It's one of the few moments I get where I feel like he's just a regular 4 year old kid. He helps me scoop the ingredients into the bowl. He stirs the batter. Often, he'll eat two or three pancakes. I'm thankful for pancakes and I'm glad I get to make them with Dallin every week.

Day 18: Mckay

My post the other day about marriage hardly scraped the surface of how grateful I am for Mckay, so I thought I should devote a whole post just to him. He does soooooo much more than turning pages.

We've been married for 5 years, but I've known Mckay for 9 years. Even as a young 17 year old college freshman, I was impressed by what an outstanding person Mckay was. Sure, he did his fair share of playing Halo all night and sleeping through a class, but he was different from the other boys at college. He had his head on straight and knew what he wanted from life. Education was (and still is) a big priority for him. At the same time, family is a bigger priority, and I'm glad we have that in common. 

Mckay is a great teacher. He knows just what to say to describe the most complex processes in terms that anyone can understand. His graduate studies in chemical engineering are obviously out of the realm of what I learned in college, but when he explains his research to me, it makes sense (for the most part). He tutors in math and has helped hundreds of people understand it better. When I took Calculus in college, Mckay was a big help to me when I was stuck on a homework problem. He has a way with words. In fact, Mckay proposed to me by writing a book for me.

Not only does he love to learn, but he encourages learning in others and makes it fun. At any time he's always reading at least one book among a variety of topics, though classic literature is his favorite. I can already see our sons following their Dad's example because they love books too. Mckay is a life-long learner. As an old man, he will still be learning new things and teaching them to me.

Mckay is a great Dad. He can talk our kids into doing almost anything. When I say something, the kids start to whine and cry, but when Mckay says it, they listen and hop right to it. He can calm the kids down better than I can. He knows just what to say to comfort them. At church on Sundays, I play the organ so Mckay spends more than half the meeting taking care of the kids by himself. And the kids behave! They are relatively reverent and quiet. And it's not that we were blessed with quiet, angel children. They've certainly had outbursts at times, but Mckay has taught them how to sit reverently and they do a pretty good job at it. I love looking down from the organ and seeing Mckay holding both boys on his lap while they fold their arms for prayer.

I've had the same long, straight hairstyle for 12 years. Mckay is not afraid to try out new hairstyles...

 

...or facial hair styles.

He knows how to have fun.

Mckay is really good at landscaping/yard work. Everything he does turns out to look amazing. This summer, he put up a fence in our back yard, and put in a brick paver patio in our front yard. (I promise I'll post pictures of those sometime...) Yes, Mckay did it, we didn't pay someone else to do it. (I put a lot of work into these projects too, but this post isn't about tooting my own horn.) I wanted to start a garden this year. My thought was to just dig holes in the ground and plant seeds, but Mckay is the one who built planter boxes for my garden and then built a retaining wall around it. He doesn't do projects halfway, he goes all out. Even if he has to get dirty in the process.

I don't know where I would be without Mckay. I doubt that I'd be in Indiana and I am loving it here. I am so thankful for Mckay. I'm thankful for the great example he is to our children, our extended family and the youth in our community. I'm glad that I get to spend the rest of forever with him.

Day 17: our house

I am thankful for our house.

(I think I need to take an updated picture. Our yard looks much better now, 2 years later.)

 A big thunderstorm came through our city today, and there were tornados nearby. We didn't get hit too hard at our house, but we were a little nervous for a bit. We had just gotten home from church/choir practice and finished eating some lunch. It was getting pretty windy outside. And then it started raining hard and we could see lightning. And then it got REALLY windy and I could barely see out of our windows. It almost reminded me of the time there was a small tornado by our house in St. Louis. When the sirens came on, Mckay and I looked at each other and we knew it was time to run for the shelter of our bathroom. Having no basement here, the bathroom is our safest choice. We've recently put together some 72 hour emergency kits, so I knew right where the flashlights and other important things were. I reluctantly grabbed the sleeping Connor from his bed and met Dallin and Mckay in the bathtub. Dallin was confused about what we were doing and was a little nervous. (Remember, he's good at sensing people's emotions.) I very calmly told him that there was a big storm outside with lots of rain and wind, so we were being extra careful and hanging out in the bathroom for a while because it was safe in there. Mckay told him that as long as we were all together we would be fine.

The rain and wind left almost as quickly as it had come. And we left the bathroom after 10 minutes. The sun was already coming out and there was no visible damage outside, no fallen trees. Other places in town were not so lucky. A Middle School had the walls blown off the gymnasium. The Elementary School where Dallin attends preschool (which is right next door to that Middle School) has some roof damage and broken windows. As a result, school is cancelled tomorrow. The Subaru Plant (which provides a large chunk of the jobs here) had some damage and has cancelled some shifts for Monday. Some nearby roads (like 2-3 miles away) are closed because of debris. Many of our friends were without power for some time.

This is a picture that a local man took from downtown today. This was about 5 miles from our house.

I am very grateful that we did not get any damage to our house. I'm grateful that we have a wonderful home to shelter us and keep us safe.

 Some cities a few hours away sustained a lot more damage and homes were destroyed. I can't imagine how difficult that would be. Beyond the obvious difficulty of not having your house to live in anymore, I would be devastated to loose everything inside our house.

I love the home that we've built here. I'm so grateful that we get to live in it. I'm grateful that we were protected during the storm yesterday.

Day 16: marriage

I played the piano for a wedding at our church today. Mckay came too and he helped me keep my music organized while playing and he turned pages for me. As I listened during the wedding ceremony, I thought about how wonderful marriage is. It would be really hard to go through life alone. I'm glad that we have spouses, family and friends by our side. I happen to have a particularly great spouse. I love that I get to live with my best friend and see him anytime I want to. We make a great team. The wedding today got a late start, so I was playing prelude music for a lot longer than expected. Mckay was always right there when I finished a song, turning instantly to a new song. He did all the thinking for me so all I had to do was play.

I'm thankful for marriage. I'm thankful that I chose a wonderful guy to be married to.