Happy Birthday!

Before I start my post, I want to wish my FAVORITE (because he shares my birthday) Uncle Mark a Happy Happy Birthday!!!

I'm ONE! Can you believe it? My mom can't. She's a little sad about it really. Today mom says the bottle fairy is coming to take all my bottles. I'm getting a whole bunch of big girl sippy cups for my birthday....a couple of them even have princesses on them (that's because daddy says I'm a princess). Mom doesn't have my "stats" yet because my 1 year check-up isn't until next Wednesday. I sure hope I don't get too many shots!
I still only have 2 teeth...my bottom front. And I'm starting to wear 6-9 month clothes (mom's REALLY excited about that!).

Here are some of my favorites.....

Food: CHEESE!!! I will literally drop any other food I have for cheese. Oh, I like ANYTHING with cheese on it too.

Toy: My pacifier, sadly though mom and dad think I only need it at nap time and bed time. Although I do find pacifiers scattered in my room on occasion.

Parent: Now this may seem a little silly on my part, but I LOVE my Daddy! Whenever he comes home I get to him as fast as I can! I do however prefer my mom when I don't feel good or am tired.

Sleep: I am an awesome sleeper and prefer to just be put in my crib with my blanket and pacifier. But if someone is putting me to sleep, I want mom.

Oh, by the way...I am a HAPPY girl! I love to giggle and play and I think my big brothers and sister are the greatest people ever!

So here are my pictures from the last year...don't worry I only put one for each month.

Maija the day she was born.
December 2009 (1 month old)January 2009 (2 months old)
February 2009 (3 months)
In case you are wondering that is a fuzzy hat on her head.

March 2009 (4 months old)

April 2009 (5 months)May 2009 (6 months old)
June 2009 (7 months old)
July 2009 ( 8 months old)August (9 months)
September (10 months)
October (11 months)

And here I am, my 1 year-old pictures!! Aren't I just adorable!?!?

Thankful....

So far this week we have been Thankful for (by date)......

1st: Our Cousins! We called Stephen and Annie.

2nd: Music...we listened to MoTab....BEAUTIFUL!!!

3rd: Our MOM! They did nice things for me. KatieJo drew me a picture of a horse and Samuel opened my car door for me.

4th: Computers...we sang "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" and sent it to our Grandparents.

5th: Our Teeth! We brushed and flossed for good measure.

Inspiration

Chocolate on the Cranium's Wordful Wednesday this week is a tad bit more challenging for me. I have thought for over a week about who are the 10 people who I feel have influenced me the most. Of course the first people that popped into my head were my parents and other family members. Those are kind of a given, however Cocoa said not to use them. So the question is, besides those people who really did influence me?

There is a Science teacher that comes to mind. I took almost every class taught in High School. Mr. Borinski. I've talked about him in a previous Wordful Wednesday post (click HERE), however I LOVED his classes! He made me want to be better and he made me want to learn.

My best friend growing up was another big influence on my life. Melanie has always been there for me when I needed her, and she answered all the questions I ever had about the church and even stood strong when I chose to ridicule what she believed. She even flew from Utah to Colorado so she could be at my baptism. I only have one biological sister, but I consider Melanie a sister and I'm glad that she's been part of my life!

This one is a little bit silly, but when we had tv reception I LOVED to watch his show. Emeril is an inspiration to me because of his love for cooking. I spend a lot more time planning meals for our family than I care to admit. I try very hard to make the meals fun and exciting for my kids. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. However, Emeril made cooking a lot more fun for me!

My Great Aunt Ila...technically we aren't related, however that has NEVER stopped her from treating us like family. I love her more than I could ever show or tell her, and I have always felt unconditional love from her. How wonderful it is to have that! (I have blogged about her before as well. If you'd like to read more about her click HERE.)

Gerald Lund. Before I ever joined the Church I had read the entire Work and the Glory series. A little strange I know, but even though the characters are not real I learned a lot from these books.

Thomas S. Monson. From the day I joined the Church I have LOVED to hear him speak! He is an inspiring man, and I love the story that he retold A Christmas Dress for Ellen. He is a Wonderful Man!

Josh Groban...have you heard that boy (I say boy because he is younger than me) sing? HOLY COW! His music is wonderful and peaceful! (I'd put my husband in this spot because he has a beautiful voice, but since that's not allowed today I'll have to settle for Josh.)

Michael McLean...he writes just for me, I'm sure of it. His songs are always what I need to hear.

Elders (well they aren't Elders anymore) Wade Poulson and John Long. They are the missionaries who showed up at my door after I called them. They taught me the discussions, and we're just plain nice guys.

Sister Beck, I LOVED her talk that she gave at the General Relief Society Broadcast.

Publish Post

This is how we do it!

We're shaking things up this year in our house. In previous years we've made a Thankful Turkey see here for last year's Turkey. We will do a Thankful Turkey again this year, partially because I love doing it and partially because it is a great FHE right before Thanksgiving.This year though we're doing a "Thanksgiving Thankful Countdown". I ran across someone talking about it on their blog, and although I can't remember what blog, whoever it was got it from SugarDoodle. It's kind of like a Journal Jar with 26 slips of paper that you start on Nov. 1 and end on Thanksgiving. Each one has something they are (or should be) thankful for and an activity to go with it. For example...I am Thankful for my Family, I am Thankful for Pies (this one involves making a pie for someone....we exchanged it for brownies since it is a more kid friendly dessert...to make anyway), I am Thankful for Teachers, I am Thankful for our Car (this is my favorite because it says to go clean the car!), I am Thankful for the Scriptures, I am Thankful for my hands....etc.

I was really impressed by these because some are geared toward KatieJo and Samuel's age and some are geared toward Phillip although the others will have fun with them too...like the I am Thankful for my hands it says to do an Art project involving finger painting or drawing.

Last night KatieJo drew "I am Thankful for my Cousins" with the instructions to call one of your cousins. We killed 2 birds with one stone and called James & Aimees son Stephen (Samuel's choice) and daughter Anne (KatieJo's choice). We wish we would have had time to call more cousins, but we started a little late last night.

It's fun to see the kids get so excited about being Thankful!