friday night thoughts: feeling kinda thankful.

hi everyone!

sorry for missing last week's friday night thoughts post, i was going on amazing roller coasters and the dumbo ride in florida. no big deal. pretty much the best vacation of my life! that is going to be a whole other post in itself. 

today, i've been feeling very thankful. thankful for many things.

i'm thankful for modern medicine, doctors, and for Priesthood blessings.

our little son liam woke up yesterday morning with a temperature of 103.8. when i felt his sweaty head and burning up little body, my heart just sunk. i felt so helpless. i had to call john to come home (he went to work at 5:00 AM), because we share a car and i had no other way to get liam to the doctor that early. i'm so thankful that john's work allowed him to leave work so we could take liam to be seen. liam had his ears checked for an ear infection, a chest x-ray for pnemonia, and a nose swab for the flu test. his ears were fine, the chest x-ray came back normal, but his flu test came back positive. he was prescribed tamiflu and ibuprofen, and lots and lots of snuggles. the last part has been the best part. for those of you that know liam personally, he is NOT a snuggler at all. his snuggly stage lasted for about two months after he was born, after that...nothing. zero. zilch. i look at other moms with babies that just want to snuggle all day long, and i can't help but envy them. but today? all liam wants to do is snuggle, and I'M LOVING IT. he grabs his blanket, lays down on the couch with me and we watch daniel tiger's neighborhood together. it's pure bliss for me. i'm relishing every single moment because i know that once the flu stops plaguing his little body, he'll be back to being his hilarious, active self. don't get me wrong, i cannot wait for liam to be healthy again, but for now i will enjoy his cuddles and love and warm cheeks for as long as i can. 

i'm thankful for books, my childhood, and my parents.

right now, i'm interchangeably reading two books. the first one is entitled "glitter and glue" by Kelly Corrigan, and the other is Thomas S. Monson's autobiography entitled "To the Rescue". both are fantastic, and help me continue to grow and expand my mind. reading the stories and experiences of our Thomas S. Monson's childhood and his life, and learning the struggles between Kelly and her mother help me to think back to my childhood, and my relationship with my mother. both have been fabulous. i was raised by my father and mother who have provided me with a life where all of my needs were met with much, much more. my mother has always been there for me, and has been a loving example of patience and being gentle. i can be pretty feisty and sassy at times, but my mother knows just how to calm me down in my times of need. i'm so eternally grateful for her and for my father for their love even when the times were difficult. middle school is a tough few years, people. thankfully, i pulled through that and am now a wife and mother hoping to be even half of the person my parents are. 

i really want to change my first name. my parents named me casandra, and i go by cassie. but for some reason, i've always wanted to change my name. i just have never felt like it suited me. i'd love to change my name to casey, or natalie, or morgan, or something along those lines. have you ever felt like you didn't quite fit your name? what would you change your name to?

i've recently taken in interest in learning about homeschooling. i went to public school from kindergarten through fifth grade, and all four years of high school (i did go to a private middle school which i horribly regret going to, except for the wonderful people i met there). i had wonderful elementary school teachers, some i still keep in touch with, and i had a wonderful high school experience. but recently, from hearing horrible stories of children in public schools being neglected, abused, and this whole common core business, it makes me want to take a step back and really think about what i want our children's education to consist of. does anyone want to shed any further light on this for me? have you home-schooled your children, if so or if not, what were your reasons and opinions for choosing what you did? i'm extremely interested in hearing what you have to say. 

i love me a good burger. we ate five guys burgers and fries on our layover in atlanta, and mmmmm...it was so finger licking good. the salty fries, and the perfectly cooked burger...makes me drool just thinking about it. but my skinny pineapple salsa tacos for dinner with oatmeal chocolate chip fudge bars for dessert will suffice. yum! {check out the receipe here- shout-out to skinnymom.com!}

i'd love to learn a second language. my top picks would be sign language and spanish. my hubby had the opportunity to serve an LDS mission to arizona where he had to learn spanish to communicate with many members there. i would love to be able to talk with him in another language, as well as anyone else that i could come in contact with. maybe a rosetta stone purchase is in the future? 

i'm so excited because my hubby is actually home on a friday night! normally, he has to work ridiculously crazy shifts on the weekends, but tonight he is all mine! until tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, sigh. i'm just going to savor the moments with him, and continue to improve our relationship with some rounds of Outburst and maybe an episode of Shark Tank. love that hubby of mine.

until next time, folks!