Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today is a day we sit around the table with our loved one’s and give thanks for all the blessings in our lives. Whether you are traveling or staying close to home I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

As most days I am thankful for my family but today it’s a little more then just that. I posted yesterday about someone close to our family that was in need of prayers. I am very heartbroken that she did not make it and passed away. She was an amazing person, always had a smile on her face, she treated everyone as if they were her family, with open arms and love. I am so incredibly sad for her passing and for her family. I said a silent prayer for the family last night that God surround her loved one’s in peace and comfort during this difficult time in their lives.

So on this day of thanks I am incredible thankful and blessed to be surrounded by one’s that I love. My family. I have three healthy children and a husband that loves me and loves our children. He works hard to provide for us and is putting himself through school to follow his dream and provide a better future for our children. For him to sacrifice his time and days off for our children is amazing and for that I am grateful for such a man that is willing to do that. 

I have two parents that love me and my family. They love playing with the kids and miss them tremendously. I have two sisters who also love us. And even though we aren’t close to them anymore we still get to talk often (thank you skype!).

Our life is simple but it is one that is filled with love and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Always tell the one’s you love that they are loved!

Today has been a hard day. I received some devastating news early this morning and the day has been filled with a lot of tears. I feel guilty planning Thanksgiving with my family tomorrow while so many people I know and love are hurting. 

I know Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks but tomorrow I will also be dedicating it to someone special, even though we weren’t family (yet), she never treated us with anything but open arms, love and as if we were family. 

Through the tears and sadness today I have realized that time is short and never guaranteed. So today I am thankful for time.

The time that I spend cuddling with my kids. Like right now I sit here typing this with my baby girl laying on my lap.
The few minutes before I go to bed that I sneak into my kids rooms and watch them sleep
Special days that I get to spend some quality one on one time with each child
Those few minutes before the kids wake up when I just sit and drink my coffee, it’s a great time to reflect on the days passed.

Play time! Love play time with the kids, whether it be barbies, legos or coloring. Just watching their faces light up makes my heart swell.

The rare times my children fall asleep in my arms or on me. Even better I am having one of those moments right now since my daughter just fell asleep on me.

The time that I do have on this earth, each and every minute I feel blessed to be here and able to experience it all!

This post is dedicated to Lisa, I love you and you have been in my prayers all day. I am thankful for the time we were able to spend together, even though it wasn’t a lot I know that you are an amazing person that touched everyone you have met. I am praying for a miracle right now for you.

Welcome to day 2 in the Week of Thanksgiving. 

It’s kind of late(ish) and I’m tired (it’s not even 8pm and I am tired, what is wrong with me) and my brain doesn’t seem to be functioning well enough to come up with my own prompt so I will be using one of Andreas. I chose “a picture that means a lot to you (and why)”.

As soon as I read this I knew what picture I was going to use which is really saying something. If you don’t know me let me introduce my self briefly. 

Hi, I am Shana and I am a photography addict. I currently have over….wait, let me confirm this number…. holy shit I have over 74,000 pictures stored on my computer and that number grows on average of 5,000 a month. And these are just pictures of my family and things I find during every day life.

Wow okay looking at those numbers it makes it look like I may have a problem. Heh oh well. I love photography so who cares. Back to the point of this post. The photo that means a lot to me.

This was my Grandfather riding a Harley for the first time in his life. It was on his bucket list of things to do and my parents arranged for one of his dreams to come true. He passed away a few days after I captured this photo. 

Every time I look at this picture it brings a flood of emotions. Sadness and ache but most of all love. I loved my Grandpa and I know he loved his family with all his heart. I am beyond thankful that my children were able to know him. My oldest who is seven got to know him the most since the other two are still a bit young and my oldest still misses him. He will randomly mention something they did together or something about him that happened years ago. I can pull up a photograph of him when he was a mere twenty years old and my son has no hesitation is saying “hey that’s Zaydee”. It immediately melts my heart. 

I miss him a lot sometimes. I’m not sure if that feeling will ever go away but over time it has become easier to talk about him and not instantly break out into tears. I am thankful that he lived such a long beautiful life and that for 28 years of that life I am thankful that he was such an amazing Grandpa to me.

The picture above is one that will forever hold a place in my heart and I am thankful I was able to be a part of that memorable day and that I captured that day in photographs for generations to look back on such a happy day.

This week Andrea over at Lil Kid Things is doing a special meme for this week, A Week of Thanksgiving. 

Here is a little tidbit explaining more:

“This post is part of {a week of thanksgiving}, the week long series dedicated to giving thanks. Topics can be anything from the super-serious to light-hearted and fun. If you wish to join in, feel free to use my thanksgiving writing prompts or freestyle. Then just link up your post each day and read another one or two. This is going to be good.”

Today is the perfect day to be starting this week of thanksgiving. Today is my daughters birthday and what a better way to start off a week of giving thanks then with my daughter. 

I have always wanted a daughter. I knew when I was little that I wanted to be a mommy and that I wanted a little girl, a princess to play dress up with, do her hair, play barbies, have tea parties with and to have one of those mother daughter relationships that everyone wished they had with their mother. 

Five years ago my baby girl was born.

Five years ago our family turned from three into four.

This little bundle of joy has continued to bring joy into our lives and hearts every day with her smiles, hugs, kisses and beautiful personality. 

I am thankful to be called her mother. 

I am thankful she is a healthy little girl. 

I am thankful for her over pouring of love for her family. 

I am thankful for her bubbly personality, her passion for learning and her sensitive nature. 

I am thankful for her!

Happy fifth birthday my little Mantha Pantha, I love you with all my heart my baby girl.

If you’d like to participate in a Week of Thanksgiving head on over to Lil Kid Things to link up.