Thankful

Kids, a photo by Justin and Kelly Webb on Flickr.

I am one of those moms that is constantly telling her kids "be thankful for what you have, not mad about what you DON'T have. there are kids who don't have....blah blah blah" "you are lucky you are able to run and hear music and....blah blah." I am the mom that makes them stop to really take a good long look at the moon because I think it is so unbelievably awesome and because they should be so grateful to be able to actually see it. Yes. That is me. So naturally, I appreciate the Thanksgiving holiday...and I really appreciated the holiday this year.
- Thanksgiving morning...breakfast at the Opels (Flinn's family). There were about 6 other families there...good food, good friends, kids had a great time. Wonderful way to start the day.
- Thanksgiving morning run/walk. This year, Justin ran a 10k race and I did the 2 mile walk with Caleb & Sam and a bunch of our friends (Izzy was at Grandma's). The boys did great ....it helps to be walking along the lake w/ friends in beautiful weather though. I did have to carry Sam on my back for a good 10 minutes but it gave me a better work out (and I was able to walk faster to catch up to Flinn). :)
- Thanksgiving with my family....all of us together at my mom & dad's house is absolutely delightful. Super yummy meal and kids were very well behaved (boys played nicely all afternoon together)...so relaxing. Oh yeah, and Packers won. :) The boys also had sooo much fun learning a new board/dice game with Brayden & Grandma.
- Amy, my mom & I continued our tradition of shopping at 5am on Black Friday. Since most stores opened on Thanksgiving, it wasn't as crazy (and humorous), but we still had fun and we were all able to get a few good deals. I was happy to get a good start on my birthday/Christmas shopping.
- Another nice night at my parents house on Friday...more yummy food (Caleb declared it the "best dinner ever"), more board games, more relaxing.
- Saturday night we were invited over to friends house for dinner...1 other family was there, who we know and really like. Kids had such a great time. 8 kids, no fights...just alot of laughs. While the adults ate a wonderful meal, the kids made a haunted house for us. So cute. But anyway - it was such a great night for all of us. Caleb actually made such a nice little friend that night...Amelia. They both share a love for the Magic Tree House books...and Caleb must have told her that he was missing #29? (a Christmas one) b/c yesterday before dinner, Amelia was at our door with the book Caleb wanted in her hands. They hugged, they talked about how good the book was going to be and they waved good-bye...and then he immediately went to the table and wrote her a love note. yeah. If you are cute and enjoy Magic Tree House books, he's in love. I think it's adorable.
- So Caleb usually reads for about an hour every night ...last night he came downstairs at 9:30 and said he had read for 2 hours b/c "he just HAD to finish the Magic Tree House book" (that Amelia brought over)...he sounded all dreamy when he told us how good it was. I don't know why Justin & I were so tickled by this, but we were. I love that he loves books and I love that he's such a good little reader and I love that we have such thoughtful friends. Yes, I'm so grateful.