Thankful

(Warning: non-professional, unrelated photos included.)

I am thankful for my husband.

My family was lucky enough to be invited to my big brother's house yesterday for Thanksgiving. It wasn't that long of a trip, only 1 1/2 hours, but it was well worth the drive.

I am so thankful for the ability to bear children.

Growing up, my Dad would pile 3 crazy, wiggly, and prone to fighting in small places kids into our van and we would drive the 5 1/2 hours to Grandma's house. Yes, over the river and through the woods, lots and lots of woods.

I am thankful for my children.

I wish with all that I could wish with that I could do the same with my children, maybe next year we'll make the trip. Grandma and Grandpa would more then welcome me and my large-ish family, but I think that my 2 boys would just drive them up the wall. The week of Thanksgiving is the first week of hunting season in West Virginia, and there are lots and lots of hunters that drive all the way out to our family property for good game. So, the prospect of hiking and playing outside is greatly diminished. And the thought of 4+ kids in a 600-700 square foot living space is just scary at times.

I am thankful for my family.

Back to yesterday.

I am thankful for the love that we share.

My brother put on quite a spread, and I was very happy to be his wingman for the day. And, I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the sweet potato casserole he whipped up. I think I might actually be able to make and eat sweet potatoes now. The texture of them gets me, yuck. But, his were delicious!

I am thankful for curiosity.

I put together a little craft for the kids to work on, and of course Oma was right in the middle of it all with me. We made placemats, I got the idea from this tutorial for woven placemats, I really liked the finished size of these. However, I didn't find any large construction paper at JoAnn's, so I went with a pad of watercolor paper that was the same size. Wouldn't you know that my kids didn't even want to do it?? So, me and my niece & nephews cranked some out. They quite enjoyed it, as did I.

I am thankful for holiday and projects with the kids.

As this is a time to be thankful for the things in our lives, I am of course thankful for quite a lot. My family, my faith, our health, our home, our talents, and of course our love are just a very few of the things I am thankful for. Some of my most favorite pastimes of the season are crafting with the family, making handmade gifts, and of course baking more cookies/cakes/treats than I should make even in an entire year. I look forward to doing all of this all over again in the next few weeks. Hopefully I can get my living room painted and done before the Christmas decorating really gets rolling though... we shall see.

I am thankful that I live in a land of plenty.

I hope you all have an amazing holiday season!