Thanksgiving 2012

I love Thanksgiving.  Love it!  Most people know that my most ideal meal ever is turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, and some good ol' pumpkin pie.  What can I say?  I LOVE comfort foods (it is one of the reasons that eating at The Cracker Barrel makes me so excited).

Obviously Thanksgiving is a lot about food and a lot about gratitude  I sure had enough food, and I have even more to be thankful for.  Today is a day we reflect on the blessings in our life and take a moment to step back and truly stop to say "thank you."

Today I am thankful for today.  Paul and I headed out to the East side of our state to visit his family.  I tend to be a nap Nazi and was having some anxiety about Evie's sleep schedule and whether or not she would be a complete disaster by the time church was over.  I also truly hate riding in the car with children for more than 45 minutes.  My kids are busy and most times I sit in angry jealousy of Paul who is busy driving while I am buckling and unbuckling to put in the pacifier, pick up the blankies, give the bottle, give the snacks, blah, blah, blah.  

Today, I am not thankful because our ride was easy breezy.  Nope, it was annoying and I was irritated, BUT I am beyond thankful that Evie took a quick little cat nap just long enough to make her last until church was done.  When we arrived, she woke up with a HUGE smile and was rested just enough to be happy, but not cranky.  Once we got into church I loved watching Belle run up to Paul's dad and give him the biggest hug.  She refused to go into nursery, until she saw her Bepa and gave him a big bear hug. 

After church we headed back to Paul's parents' house where Evie took a phenomenal nap (made this nap Nazi very happy)!  I also realized how easy Belle is and how quickly she is growing up.  She played so well, sat at the table so good with all of us during the "feast," and was quite low maintenance.  She played with her aunt and uncle, and loved on her Mema and Bepa.  Today was a great reminder to me that although the baby stage is cute and cuddly, it is hard work, and that it really is a few short years until children become fairly independent.  

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Today we celebrated Evie's 1st birthday with Paul's side of the family.  We sang happy birthday, opened gifts, and of course we watched as Evie has a good cupcake smash!  We also cheered today as we watched Evie take some real actual steps!  Recently, she has been taking a couple of steps and then falling to her knees, but today she moved and grooved right across the room!

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Don't mss with my cupcake.

After our amazing Thanksgiving meal, Paul and I headed to his grandma's new home.  Great Grandma LuLu (as Belle calls her) just moved here from San Francisco, and this past week she moved into her independent living apartment.  Tonight I spent a lot of one on one time with Mema.  We sat in her room talking about her thoughts about moving to Michigan (which she said is quite cold), and we talked about her brother, Bepa, her thoughts about this new place she lived, and laughed at the stories she was already telling about the people that lived there.  As I listened to her I wondered about her life. I wondered about everything she had been through and had seen in her 85+ years of life.  It made me think about all of the stories that the resident's must have that live there.  I don't spend a lot of time with elderly people, but my time with Mema tonight was so enjoyable, and so treasured.

On our way home tonight I soaked in the laughter of my girls in the backed seat, and Paul and I cracked up as Belle made sure to inform us that Evie just did a "juicy fart."  Love them.  

Overall, today was a day to be thankful, and we have so much to give thanks for.  I consider how much joy I had in watching my one year old start to walk, and then being able to have a great conversation with Mema who is in her late 80s.  I feel insanely blessed, and I am so thankful for the people I have in my life....young and old :-)  We have family on both sides of us that are involved, and that our girls LOVE to spend time with.  

Thanksgiving 2012 has been a blessing, and my heart is beyond full.