Giving Thanks

As a child, spending holidays with my cousins was something special. When we were very young, they played with us- they took the video camera and recorded us creating plays and they taught us how to play pool. Even when our cousin Brian told us to go play in traffic, he'd spend the next few hours tossing us in the air, making us giggle. We so looked up to all of them. They taught us what was cool- things like Michael Jackson and crepe paper flowers were cool to us because they thought they were cool. They all went to college and so we wanted to go to college too. 

As we got older, our cousins had kids of their own and we so looked forward to helping with the babies. My sisters and I would fight over who would get to feed the babies. We'd play house with toddlers. Soon we were teaching the kids how to play pool. 

Now that we have kids of our own, the holidays are even more amazing. I can't tell you how amazing it is to see those little ones all grown up and helping with our kids. I may be biased, but I think they're amazing people! We had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving at my cousin Kate's house. I have so many memories of spending time with her kids there when they were young. Now they're in high school and college. 

The weather was beautiful- mid 60's. So, we ate outside like the Pilgrims and Native Americans. Pax got to meet everyone and loved all the snuggles, especially the ones from the "baby whisperer" Gavin. Penny had a blast playing with Joseph, Grace and Rhyan- she sat with the big girls by the fire pit and talked their ears off. And Porter, well, he had the best day ever. The older boys played basketball with him. Liam helped him shoot 3-pointers and daddy helped him dunk. They let him wrestle with them. And, Stephen let him play his guitar. Top that off with some snuggles from his Godmother and it was the recipe for the perfect Thanksgiving. 

We are thankful for so many things this year. For family, especially the new babies who have joined our family over the past year. We're thankful for FaceTime, which allows us to feel close to the Thompson family, who had an amazing Thanksgiving in California. We're thankful for friendships and for Porter's Peeps. We're thankful for the roof over our heads, the food on our plates and the clothes we wear. We're thankful for devoted teachers and support staff. We're thankful for doctors and their teams. We're thankful for so many things!

We're thankful!