Facts About My Family

Everyone on Facebook has been posting things about themselves that you probably don't know. I have really enjoyed reading all of them. It is fun to see how different everyone is, and how alike we are in other ways. On our family page, we have started posting facts about other people in our family. I think I enjoy these posts even more! Here are some facts about my family. 

Elliot Holloway:

1. He's very OCD. if you give him square waffles a few days in a row, he will not eat a round waffle the next. Also, he won't eat any pieces that look different from the rest. This includes quesadillas with cheese poking out. He will not eat a piece with any cheese showing. 
2. His favorite color changes depending in who his favorite person is that day and their favorite color. 
3. He is very private. No one is allowed near the bathroom when he is peeing. But he will run around the house naked, pretending his wiener is a fire hose.
4. He doesn't like to be called anything but Elliot, but his Gagas can call him Bubby. 
5. He wants to be an "inja turtle" when he grows up.
6. He is obsessed with my hair. He can't fall asleep without it. He likes to run his fingers through it, stab it in his ear, or feather his eyes with it. And he has a super sense about when I put it in a hair tie. He immediately starts chanting, "want your hair like a square, hair like a square."
7. He would stay outside 24/7 if he could, but refuses to pee outside. 
8. He loves to make up words, and a lot of them sound like very bad words. 
9. He hates having dirty, sticky, Or greasy fingers. I have to wipe his hands with wet wipes at least two or three times sting every meal. 
10. He's very sweet and tenderhearted, and tells me he loves me a million times a day. He pretends like his brother is so annoying, but if you ask him who his best friend, he immediately says, "Ethan."
11. He loves it when I sing "Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty" to him while he falls asleep. He will purr like a kitten while I scratch or pet his back. 

Ethan Holloway

1. His nickname is Zazz, Zazzy, or Zazzers. This is what he answers to the most.
2. His favorite books are Go Dog Go and Where's My Truck. He will listen to me read these over and over and over. And over.
3. He LOVES Peppa Pig, and cries for it the whole time Elliot watches anything else.
4. He ADORES Elliot and copies everything he does. If Elliot gets hurt, Ethan acts like he has the same owie.
5. He will eat almost anything you give him, unless he sees that Elliot won't. 
6. When I'm putting him to bed, he HAS to stretch out the elastic band in my pants with his foot. I move his foot at least ten times before he quits. 
7. He hurt his toe six months ago, but still relives the pain multiple times a day. 
8. He's a clown and loves to make people laugh. 
9. He loves cats and loves to meow. 
10. He wants this baby to be a "GOAL!" Not a boy.
11. He thinks it is absolutely hysterical if you smell his feet and pretend they stink to high heaven. It never gets old to him. 

Josh Holloway

1. His favorite movie of all time is Conan the Barbarian.
2. His most prized materialistic possession is his '99 Dodge Dakota Bellringer. Don't ask him who he would pick if it was between me and that truck. Just kidding. He'd pick the truck. Joking Joking.
3. He loves all things sports, but his favorite sport is basketball. His favorite players are Dwight Howard for       basketball and Peyton Manning for football. I asked him if he would love me more if I actually liked sports, but he said no because my choice in teams would probably turn him off. 
4. He would absolutely love it if Elliot grew up to be a basketball player and Ethan a Professional (fake) wrestler.
5. His favorite color is blue. But really, have you met a guy whose favorite color wasn't blue or green?
6. His favorite foods are tacos or boiled peanuts. 
7. He makes the best gosh darn salsa this here side of the Mississippi.
8. I think he is more excited about the boys being into the Ninja Turtles than they are. He's a sucker. He can't take Elliot to Walmart without coming home with a new ninja turtle toy. 
9. When he was younger, he wanted ten kids. 
10. He could take on one of the Duck Dynasty guys in a beard contest, and his beard is the first thing that attracted me to him. 

Thanksgiving

I am sure you have seen all the "I'm thankful for..." posts people have been posting on facebook. Every year at Thanksgiving, people start with these posts on November 1st until Thanksgiving day. It may sound like a weird thing to be thankful for, but I posted that I am thankful Josh and I started our life together with nothing really. I mean, we have a lot of junk, but not a lot of assets. I am thankful for this because I feel like it helps us to be more thankful for the things we do have, especially each other, and for the things we do acquire.

As a former insurance sales person, I saw a lot of different situations. One situation that always bugged me were the kids that got brand new, expensive cars for their 16th birthday. It didn't bother me when parents got their kids cars, but there were certain kids that never learned to appreciate anything. These were the same kids that "refused" to do the journals for a 10% discount on the insurance. I don't understand that. If your parents are giving you a car, isn't the least you can do is a little journal?!? These were usually the same kids that didn't think it was a big deal when they totaled the cars. They'd just get a new one. The kids that had to work for the car, or start with a beater, seemed a little more thankful. I am not saying this was always the case, just a big percentage.

I have found myself not being as thankful as I should be lately. Maybe it wasn't as much a lack of thankfulness as it was a loss of perspective. Everyone should know by now that I hate bugs, and have been having a hard time adjusting to that part of life in Tennessee. It has gotten to the point where I was thinking, "what in the world was I thinking. I wish I could just go back to freezing my butt off." I know we would not be happy in Alaska. I WASN'T happy in Alaska. I lost my perspective. Look at this gorgeous state I live in, full of sunshine! And a beautiful, spacious house for my children to run in that my mother-in-law has so graciously allowed us to occupy!

My mom posted a photo this morning of the first house we lived in when we moved to Alaska. Talk about an eye-opener! It was a 96 square foot room. We had a wood stove for heat, a camping stove to cook on, and a bucket with a hanging sheet around it for a bathroom. We didn't have running water for over a year. The first shower we had was a bag that we filled with water and sat in the sun for HOURS, and then hung from a nail so we could stand under it. Some people would gasp at the thought, and believe me, I don't want to have to live that way again. However, we had everything we needed. We had heat, food, and shelter from the snow. We survived, and are definitely stronger for it. At least I know that if we ever had to, I could do this again.

I got to hear Miss Kay, from Duck Dynasty, speak a few months ago. Someone asked her how she feels about her sons now living in these huge houses. She said that she always tells them that they have to remember where they came from, and that if they ever forget, she hopes it all gets taken away. That sounds harsh, but it's just like my favorite Veggie Tales says, "A thankful heart is a happy heart, that's why I say thanks every day!" We don't have to want to go back to where we came from, but we should be thankful for everything we have been blessed with now.