Thankful.....

...it's what I am. I know I'm blessed and not everyone has it as easy as I do.  I get very aggravated with myself when I seem to forget about everything I have and start to complain about little things. I've been through a lot and so has my husband. I'm very thankful for where we are now and that we have each other. I'm thankful that our daughter has it so good and she's loved by so many people.  I'm thankful for my family and how supportive they are.  I'm thankful for the unconditional love that my daughter shows me (and that my dog shows me).  I'm thankful for a lot even though I don't show it as much as I should.  I don't only reflect on my Thankfulness at this time of year with the holidays but it seems like it's more apparent that people are thankful during this season.  I often think about how Thankful I am when I'm folding laundry and I can hear Ivy in her room saying her ABC's.  I could go on forever about this but I'll get to the few things I want to put in this post.

I'm very thankful that we get to send Ivy to Open Door Preschool. They really enforce creativity and expressing their individual personalities. Ivy is exposed to all races and religions at this school...something I wish I was exposed too at a much younger age. They had a Thanksgiving program where all the parents got to come see them sing some songs and eat lunch. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! Henry's Mom made all the kids the sweetest little aprons to wear and the kids had painted some turkeys on a pair of socks for an art project earlier in the month.

And kids are funny. I'm not sure exactly what some of them are doing in these pictures...but they make me smile.

Brigid when she realized her Dad was there....

...Eli is all up on Henry's back...

...and Hazel doing her own little dance.

This is the best picture I could get of them doing their song...Hazel and Gisele were seriously singing out!

When the kids were released to go eat most of them didn't want to cooperate with me taking pictures so I eventually gave up.  I did manage to get a few cute ones though.  And Ivy was very proud of the Turkey she made.  I must have took about 14 pictures of it because she kept looking at the ones I took and saying they weren't good.  So I finally convinced her that Daddy could make it look good on the computer.

Hazel...still singing

This is probably Brigid's "Oh no you didn't!" look

We had our Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year.  I enjoyed hosting it...but I had been sick since Sunday and wasn't on the mend yet so I was rather tired and had no voice.  It was a small crowd this year.  Uncle Keith and his family weren't there and Uncle David and his family weren't there so we were short 8 people.  And my brother's chair was also empty...so that put us down 9.  My Uncle Nate did manage to make it up from Jacksonville though and we were all excited about that.

And although my brother wasn't there I still tried to keep positive.  I was on the verge of tears pretty much the entire day but I tried hard to put on a happy face....not because I had too, but because I wanted too.  I knew if I broke down then Mom would break down and then GG and then Jeanna....and well you know, that doesn't really make for a great Thanksgiving.  So I focused on the fact that I am thankful to have my brother and that we are so close.  I'm thankful that he has the will and strength to serve our country.  I'm thankful that he has remained safe so far....and you know what happened???  My cell phone rang...there was only 4 numbers on the screen and my stomach jumped to my throat....it was him. He called me on Thanksgiving.  I struggled to make my voice work so I could tell him I loved him and I miss him.  He said that he seriously only had 2 minutes to talk but he wanted to tell me the same...he loves me, he misses me, and he wanted to check on me.  It was 1 minute and 26 seconds before it go cut off.  But it was the best 1 minute and 26 seconds of the day.  I heard his voice and I could breathe easier.  It was before anyone was at my house so I cried a little but it was a happy cry, a cry of relief.  Then I picked my head up and walked back in the kitchen to help Chris cook.

The two people that I'm most thankful for....my hubby and baby girl of course.  I don't know what I would do without them.  My rocks.  They keep me grounded and they keep my spirits up.  They're fun and they love me even when I'm unlovable.

I'm thankful for this spread of food we had....we're a casserole family, can you tell?  Oh, and I forgot to make the English peas...oops.

We ate outside on the back porch because it was so nice outside.  It was actually kinda hot out in the sun but Ivy didn't let that stop her from running around like a mad woman with Uncle Nate and P.  She even got Jeanna's sister, Allie to play baseball with her.

This kid is so cool it hurts.

Uncle Nate taught her how to roll around on the balls and I think she said "You's a silly boy!" about 100 times...

...but she caught on pretty good....Pollack is in the background haulin' and it cracks me up.

Oh, yeah - P was loving this!

And then Ivy got a boo boo and wanted to show it off...kinda gives a whole new meaning to the Thanksgiving bird, huh?

So after the big lunch, dessert, and running around in the back yard Ivy was tired.  She asked Uncle Nate to put her Sleeping Beauty movie on for her and then she instructed him to lay down.  She gave him one of her blankets and he actually fell asleep....and was snoring...yep, he even woke himself up snoring.

The day after Thanksgiving Mom and Uncle Nate came back over to have some pumpkin pie with us.  And Ivy was all about Uncle Nate again.  And Ivy wouldn't watch "The Grinch" or let us read her the book because she said he's a monster.  I tried to explain that he's not really monster and she would probably like the movie and the book but she had convinced herself otherwise and I won't make her watch something if she thinks it's scary.  But after we had our pie and Uncle Nate sat on the couch she went and got her "Grinch" book and took it to him.  I was shocked.  She sat with him and he read the entire thing to her.  She couldn't pull her eyes off of it.  I tried to narrow this down to one picture right here but I couldn't.  I love all three of them.  Oh, she still won't watch the movie though but she does ask me to read the book every night.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!