Thankfulness

This last month in November several people posted on facebook everyday something that they were thankful for. I would have liked to do that, in fact posted a couple of days the things I was thankful for, but because of the demands of school and life, was not able to post something everyday. I thought I'd make my thankful list right now~

• a merciful God that loves me unconditionally
• my husband, Brian, who is my best friend and my greatest cheerleader
• my three sons, Tyler, Samuel, and Joshua, although they may not be perfect, they are perfect for our family
• my perfect daughter-in-law, Rachel Katherine
• my mom and dad
• my brothers and sisters
• my church and my church family
• friends, in all shapes and sizes
• best friends
• laughter & tears
• struggles & victories
• surprises
• and strong coffee

There are so many things to be thankful for, as I reflect, so many come to mind, too many to list. 

As our family came together this year, my sister, Krista, has an exchange student from Germany, he was so excited to have his first official Thanksgiving (probably his first and could be his last) that he took photos of all the food, and we forgot to take family photos, which is usually the time that I like to take one for our family Christmas card, oh well, we now have to wait until Tyler and Rachel are back home to do that. But here are some of the bountiful feast that fed our stomachs. 

Krista worked hard on all the yummy desserts

It may not be a Martha Stewart Table but it was yummy!

Homecoming in Snohomish

 This is a blog entry that I was working on in November, however, nursing school comes first and there was a lot of studying going on, but now I am done with school for the rest of the year, so between holiday celebrations, shopping, parties, family time, and getting ready for 3rd quarter I will be able to blog. Yeah! 

This entry is about my youngest son, Joshua.

Homecoming in Snohomish is HUGE! Snohomish is steeped in traditions and Homecoming is no exception. Both Tyler and Sam went to Lake Stevens schools, but when we moved across the lake it put us in a different school district-Snohomish.  Boys were growing, and getting ready for college, mom was going to have to get back in the work force to help with college expenses, Josh was going to have to attend the local school.  And that meant Snohomish for us. Josh started at Cascade View in 5th grade, and then Centennial Middle School, and now is a Junior at Snohomish High School.  He has a group of great friends.  

One of the things that SHS is known for is their school's spirit, and in fact have been voted "most school spirit" in western Washington. Josh and his friends take this very seriously, and have made many trips to the thrift store in search for "spirit gear" to wear for Spirit Week at school and or course to dress all crazy for the football games.

At the game

One of the events at homecoming, is the homecoming dance.  I can't believe how much things have changed since I went to school. Asking your date to the dance is quite an event! This year Josh and his buddy Greg, dressed up and staged a scene to ask out their dates.  Greg has a cow costume, and Josh dressed as cheese, and let it be known for the girls at lunch to come out to where they were.  They were holding signs that asked their potential dates. Katy said yes to Greg, and Inga was a yes for Josh.

The asking...

Inga and Joshua Snohomish Homecoming 2011

The actual date of going to homecoming is no longer just dinner and the dance, no it's dinner, dance, and then some other destination.  Many groups rent party limos, go to dinner, the dance or skip the dance and just go to fun places in downtown Seattle. Josh's group went first to get pictures done, then dinner at Anthony's Woodfire Grill, then to the dance, and then ended up at a place called Sky High, a gym with several trampolines.  They then ended up in the ER because one of the girls got hurt on the trampolines, she's fine, nothing major, but that was a long night for Josh. All in all he and his friends had a great time and I know he looks forward to more dances and dates with Inga.