thanks

today I am thankful for:

*our (shared) washer and drier. High capacity front loaders with a pleasant tune announcing the cycle is done. As I folded freshly dried towels I smiled and was grateful for how easy laundry is in this country.

*my baby who falls asleep nursing and looks so peaceful

*homemade pizza

*Christmas oranges

*a visit with Melanie

*new clothes! (Melanie passed on a bunch of lovely clothes to me, what a gift)

*SUNSHINE - it felt to me like Christmas morning as the sun streamed in through our big (and very dirty) front windows today. We soaked it up on a walk and at the park today

*storytime interjections - we went to our local kids bookshop for storytime today. Emilie who reads at the twice weekly storytime is delightful and really enjoys kids. Good thing. Today Eva jumped in at a pause in the story and explained what she would do with the animals in the story who now had no place to stay cozy out of the rain.

"I would take them to my house and they could live in my mitten (a reference to a previous story about animals in a mitten)..."

the other parents and nannies smile at this cute girl...

"or I would take them into my bed and under my blankets that would be cozy..."

more smiles all around and a bit of laughter, Emilie takes a breath to continue reading...

"but not the moose. I wouldn't let him in my bed. He could stay on my carpet..."

all out laughter, Emilie prepares, once again to continue...

"I wouldn't want him in my bed because (here she pauses and does her look that says 'you know what I'm talking about') ...ANTLERS... (she says antlers long and drawn out, her eyebrows raise up and down a couple of times, emphasizing her point) they would (she pauses again, and begins poking herself in her side) ...POKE (poke comes out as two syllables, again, for emphasis)

tonnes of laughter. I crawl forward and quietly encourage her to listen to the rest of the story the Emilie needs to start reading now.

*the pitter patter of Elijah's feet as he comes out of his room to find me in the morning, the cute words that follow and the snuggles.

*preparations for advent. Mom and dad gave us a couple new books and an advent calender. I look forward to celebrating the season with the kids this year as they are even more aware of the story.

*my dishwasher - did you know I have one. I can't remember if I told you. Lance's folks contributed toward a portable (full-size) dishwasher as a housewarming gift. Oh yeah, of course you know I have one, I just told you about the detergent I made! Anyways I need to go load and run it.

So that's all for tonight.

Aimee