the happiest christmas song

{{ wordless wednesday }}

tomorrow is thanksgiving and then friday we'll be in christmas mode! it's been really hard to put it off this year (pinterest, why don't you let me enjoy november first?) but i'm thankful that it's only two more days away! so today i thought i'd share the happiest christmas song. plus, the video is adorable :)

happy thanksgiving to you and your family. remember to give thanks to the One who deserves all our praise. we all have so much to be thankful for in Him! 

linked with:

the paper mama

parenting by dummies

project alicia

jenni from the blog

bree: his honey and her mommy

live and love outloud

fresh mommy

5 minutes for mom 

sarah halstead

love bug

 seven clown circus

currently

besides scaring the poop out of my daughter, i am currently.... 

LOVING: that as i'm typing this i am wearing a heavy sweater, jeans, and thick knit socks and it's comfortable! yay yay yay fall fall fall la la la...next weekend we're going apple and pumpkin picking! my favorite ever! LOVING fall!!! (sorry for all the exclamation points hehe)

READING: shut the door by amanda marquit. she wrote it when she was only 16! i'm only a few pages in but it's pretty good so far. the inner jacket says "Lilliana and Vivian are two teenage sisters struggling to carve out their own identities as young adults, taking risks and undergoing disturbing transformations that go unchallenged by their emotionally absent parents. Beatrice and Harry's marriage is disintegrating and it no longer provides the safe harbor their daughters so desperately need...This evocative family portrait reveals just what happens when our support systems fall away and we become emotionally disconnected from the ones we love the most." i don't know about you, but other people's dysfunction - real or not - has always been a source of entertainment for me. whether it be in books or on tv shows like intervention or hoarders. maybe that makes me nuts haha i don't know. either way, i'm liking this book!

WATCHING: dexter season 6. season 7 started last night and i forgot how behind i was! i'm almost finished with this season so hopefully i can watch the first episode of season 7 tonight.

THINKING ABOUT: what i said last month about going back to work. i think i do want to go back, but i'm still thinking about how. i could go back full time, part time, 9-5, night shift, weekends, work from home...there are so many options. and just today i had a great idea for a business that doesn't exist in our area right now. i'm really excited about the possibility, and it combines several of my passions into one job. and i likely won't have to work full time! bonus hehe. but anyway...i'm thinking about this new adventure i might take and if/how i can make it work. on a related note...still thinking about if/when we're going to move out of my parents' house. right now the current plan is to wait until after the holidays and start the new year in a new home. we'll see!

ANTICIPATING: halloween! i can't wait to take norah trick-or-treating!! she has a few costumes to choose from so i'm not sure what she's going to be until about ten minutes before we go out. last year she was a squirrel. ha! we didn't go trick or treating though. mark had to work, and she was only 9 months old so i didn't really see the point. now she knows what candy is (ugh) so this year should be pretty great for her :)

LISTENING TO: david crowder band. lately in the car all i want to listen to is worship music and david crowder is my current choice (hillsong united is usually number one). my favorite songs of theirs are "glory of it all" and "how he loves us." if you haven't heard them already i highly recommend checking them out! 

WORKING ON: growing this blog some more! i've got a few new features in mind that i'd like to try out in the coming months. i've said it before - i would love for this blog to be my job, so i'm working on it as much as i can and trying to make it the best it can be! but even if i never make a dime, i still consider this blog my creative baby so i still want to make it wonderful. 

WISHING: that norah would stay asleep! i can hear her stirring in her crib and it is much too soon for her to be waking up from her nap. mama has things to do! 

5 years younger than us...

we do not eat healthy 100% of the time and i'm ok with that. norah loves her fruit and veggies and she's fine eating whole grains and lean meats/cheeses. yes, she has cookies and ice cream sometimes. yes, i think THAT IS OK. she's a kid! but to survive solely on junk food and sweets? that is NOT.

check out this video:

this is SCARY.
even though we eat fairly healthy most of the time i know we can probably do better. but it's not just about diet, though that does play a part in it. 
a huge problem with this generation is the lack of movement. working in a preschool, it was overwhelmingly obvious which kids' parents brought them outside (and often) and which just sat them in front of a T.V. or put a video game controller in their hands for entertainment.
just like sweets, we do T.V. sometimes. usually for a little bit everyday, maybe 1/2 hour or so depending on the day. but not ALL day. and norah is too young for video games but it's another thing we will not be introducing to her for a long long time. i try to take her outside as often as possible. and if it's rainy or too hot/too cold, we go to the library. (who am i kidding, we go there almost everyday anyway ;) . we also frequent the park and on special trips we go to the zoo or the aquarium. as she gets older i look forward to enrolling her into soccer/swimming/gymnastics/etc.
and when i was a kid?? i was outside all day, every day. my mom kicked us out in the morning and we had to be home when the street lights came on (thanks mom!). i definitely watched T.V. too but it was way less important to us then. now as a school-aged child you might be ostracized for NOT having a nintendo DS or a giant flat screen T.V. at home (something like this happened at my PRESCHOOL). the focus is not on imagination and play, it's on who has the coolest "stuff."
the content on this website [designedtomove.org] is fantastic and i really hope you take the time to read through it. it really made me think, and i know it will make you do the same.
let's give our kids 5 more years!

"i like it!"

this is the new phrase being constantly uttered in our house. norah tried a salt and vinegar chip the other day, proclaimed, "I LIKE IT!" and now every time she tries anything, she says "i like it!" again. i love how much more expressive she gets as she grows a little older each day. she is speaking in sentences and is able to communicate her wants, needs, and OPINIONS pretty clearly. this age is so much fun!
right now, the constant repetition of this phrase is the cutest thing ever. but ask me again in a week, i might not feel the same way ;)