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A few weeks ago I was in Alabama visiting family. My grandmother and I were watching The Office. (She hates my shows, she prefers NCIS) Of course Michael Scott came on the screen. 
I am thankful for my husband, who works so damn hard, not only to provide for our family but to protect our country.
I am thankful for my son, who (even on his worst day) is the very best part of my life.
I am thankful for my grandmother, who raised me. I am thankful that she is recovering well from her surgery.
I am thankful that my sister has found a wonderful guy to marry.
I am thankful for my aunt who has always gone out of her way to make sure that my sister and I are happy.
I am thankful for my in-laws, who are wonderful people and fabulous grand- and great-grand parents.
I am thankful for my blog buddies, who always leave comments that brighten my day.
Making this list has helped me to see how truly blessed that I am. I love you all!
Go to ABCs and 123s to check out other Thanksgiving posts!
Thanksgiving is almost here! I wanted to host this Thanksgiving post round up so that we can all get some last minute ideas. So if you have posts with Thanksgiving or Fall related decor, crafts, kid's crafts, or recipes, link up below!
Pumpkin activities and crafts
*Tomorrow I will be hosting a link-up for all Fall/Thanksgiving themed posts. You can link up recipes, crafts, and any other Fall or Thanksgiving related posts that you want! So please come back tomorrow!
Also, my sister is hosting a giveaway for a Rolled Canvas Print on her site This is Me; Consequently. It's easy to enter, and it doesn't have many entries yet so you have a great chance of winning! Please check it out!
He made this Indian corn craft after we read Blue's Thanksgiving Feast.
I'm a little turkey,
My name is Ted.
Here are my feathers
Here is my head
Gobble, gobble, gobble,
Is what I say,
Quick! Run! It's Thanksgiving Day!
Oriental Trading had these photo books for about $16/dozen. The cover is made of canvas, so you can personalize them any way that you want! I decided to use one of them to make an ABC book for Jackson. I painted the outside and then used Picnik to put the words on each picture. Every page has a picture of him doing something related to that letter.
We only have one week to go until Thanksgiving! I can hardly believe it. Time just seems to pass so quickly these days.
Since we have been married, Jason and I have always had Thanksgiving dinner at our own house. We never live close enough and Jason never gets enough time off to go home for Thanksgiving, and honestly, that is just fine with me. We have so much family that Christmas is always so hectic because we have to spend time at so many different places. So I like having one big holiday that we can just relax and enjoy. Plus I love having a reason to cook a big meal :) And it is fun when we are able to have our friends over.
But our Thanksgivings havent always been so traditional. The year before we were married, Jason was still in Chicago after boot camp, so my sister and I drove up there to visit him during our Thanksgiving break. We had Thanksgiving dinner in a pizzeria. The year before that, Jason and I were in Amsterdam visiting some friends. We spent Thanksgiving night watching Harry Potter (with Dutch subtitles, a week before it came out in America! ha) and ate dinner at a KFC. It was the closest we could come to a turkey dinner!
What are your best Thanksgiving memories or traditions?
As I mentioned earlier this week, Jackson loves to cheer for himself. Here he is stacking his rings and then patting himself :)
He has also gotten much faster and less wobbly at this whole walking thing!
One thing I have wanted to make for Jackson for awhile is a quiet book. This is what I have so far. I haven't done the cover yet but these 6 pages are done. I will probably add more a little later. I got some ideas from Handmade by Jill (her quiet book is much cuter!). I found some of the felt animals on clearance at Hobby Lobby and I used cookie cutters to trace the others.
From left to right: velcro the leaves on the tree, a Christmas tree with red pompoms for ornaments (sensory), flowers that snap on (color matching), open the flaps for the dog house, lift the flap on the barn, zip/unzip the tent.
Looking for more homemade toddler gift ideas? Check out my post about ABC Bean Bags.
...of reasons I hate doctors.
Jackson and I have been in Alabama visiting my family for the last few weeks. While we were there, my grandmother (Nanny) had knee replacement surgery. She is doing well and was moved to the rehabilitation center today.
I would still be there with her, but we had to come home because Jackson has speech therapy. They insisted that if he didn't have an appointment for three weeks that they would take him out of the system and make us start over with the referrals and evaluations (which took about a month last time). So we made an appointment for today (and 6 more throughout November) and drove 5 hours back to Georgia yesterday afternoon.
This morning we got up, got ready, and drove the 45 minutes to our therapists office only to be told that Jackson no longer had an appointment there. Our speech therapist QUIT 2 weeks ago and was supposed to call and tell us that, but she obviously DIDN'T. They don't have a new therapist yet, but when they do, they'll call and let us schedule new appointments.
I was so mad when the receptionist told me this that I almost cried because I was trying to keep from screaming at her. I kept telling myself that it wasn't her fault that the therapist hadn't done her job, but really? It kind of was. I mean, when someone quits, you can't expect them to care that much about what they are leaving behind. Shouldn't someone from the practice have called the patients just in case?
She said she was sorry that she "inconvenienced" me, but it was a bit more than that (even though I know she couldn't have known all of the story). If it wasn't for this appointment that they insisted was so damn important, I would have been able to spend a few more days with Nanny while she was in the hospital.
I am so pissed right now that I could just scream!
I am making a few handmade Christmas gifts for Jackson that I want to share with you. The first one that I did are Alphabet Bean Bags which I have seen people use for many activities in Tot School. These were super easy to make! All you need are some scraps of fabric, iron-on letters, and beans or rice. 
Join us all in humiliating the crap out of yourself every Thursday by sharing some completely tasteless, wholly unclassy, "how many readers can I estrange THIS week??" TMI story about your life. Or hell, about someone else's!
And here he is in his Auburn gear for the annual Tailgate Breakfast at our church!
Of course Nanny was in her Auburn gear too!
The WINNER of the BookSwim giveaway is
