44+ Givings of Thanks

Some of my friends and even other bloggers I know did 30 days of Thanksgiving and many would post on their blogs each day leading up to Thanksgiving one thing they are thankful for. I thought about joining in too and honestly I don't have a good reason why I didn't. I actually think it would be quite easy to think of 30 things to be grateful for and I think it is very therapeutic for one's soul as well. But really why stop at 30 things or even 30 days for that matter? Isn't it Oprah that turned people on to keeping a gratitude journal or something? Either way I think it is a wonderful practice to try to get into being grateful for even one thing a day and I have tried that now for a while. Some days it is more of struggle than others and actually yesterday morning was starting out as such.

We were first awoken, at I don't even know what time in the early hours, to Aubriel "trying" to quietly tell us that there was "snow ON the ground outside!" (the other day it snowed but she wanted it to stay on the ground). But her excitement kept her voice from staying very quite for long which resulted in Brody waking up at this very early hour. So being that it was a "day off" for both Dave and I we continued sleeping until we were next awoke by Gage and Aubriel screaming their whole way up the stairs to tell us that Brody dumped a whole box of cereal on the couch in the basement. This is when my first gratitude of the day came into play, when my husband got out of bed and went downstairs to clean it up! He quickly returned to bed to "try" to continue sleeping but not soon after laying back down Kain came in and said Brody had Dad's phone and he thinks he called someone! So Dave once again got out of bed to retrieve his phone and realized Brody most likely called my brother since that was the last person he had called and of course if you hit send enough times it will just redial. So Dave called my brother to confirm that Brody DID in fact call Brian, I suppose to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving or something. Luckily he called someone that also has 4 kids so I do not think it surprised them too much. I am sure if Brody would have called Dave's mom or something she would have been on the first flight here to make sure everything was okay. We were just happy it wasn't a call to the police or something.

So after now being awake David gave me a back rub in bed since it was my birthday and then we decided we should finally get up and get started on dinner. So before that we both got in the shower which may not have been the best idea with what Brody had been up to all morning. Half way through our shower one kid, I honestly don't even know which, popped their head in to inform us that Brody had pooped and removed his diaper. So we had them bring him to us and we just ended up throwing all 4 kids in the shower while David once again went to clean up any mess, this has got to be like the fourth time I expressed gratitude for the day for I would much rather shower kids than clean up poop.

So now that everyone was clean we started doing the same with the house. They actually weren't too bad with helping, the little ones seem to be more into it and not quite as helpful, go figure but I was grateful none the less times 4. Brody training to be a good husband, some day my daughter-in-law will love me!Aubriel pouting because it isn't her turn to vacuum yet, little does she know she will some day LOVE for a man to be doing this for her.

My parents showed up about noon and my mom and I ran out for last minute items for dinner (2 more things to add to the list). Jason and Jessica stopped by about 1 and visited for a while which is always so nice to have their company and catch up. Poor Jessica I don't think she gets a break from Aubriel the whole time she is here. We were so happy and grateful they could take time out of their busy day to visit with us (this must be about 11 things for those counting). David made a great snack spread for the afternoon while he smoked the turkey outside, so grateful for both of those.

My incredibly sweet children gave me an envelope for my birthday. They each took a turn drawing something on it... Kain wrote happy birthday with a football and goal posts on it, Gage drew a beautiful picture of our whole family (he loves to draw family pictures) and Aubriel made a moon and sun on it for me, they also included Brody's name on the envelope.

Inside was 3 dollar bills for my birthday. I thought I was going to cry, they are usually pretty good about saving any money they get and sharing it between them until they have saved up enough money to buy something so I knew this was a huge sacrifice on their part to give me any money at all. I think I am going to have to do a little math for this amount of gratitude, the beautiful picture times 3, the act of generosity times 3 and the incredible amount of love times 5! That easily brings me up to 22 but I am sure if I gave it any more thought I could add to the gratitude I have for each one of those little lives that touch mine each and every day!

My Mom then helped me get the rest of dinner ready. We ate around 5 and then spent the rest of the evening by the fire (I LOVE having fires) watching football. Dave's Dad called, we called my brother and his family (you could even multiply this one times 6 even though all of us didn't talk to everyone, it is still 6 times the love, right?), my Dad called Grandma and after the phone calls were all done catching up on every ones Thanksgiving plans we had dessert. They had a candle for me in a banana cream pie which I think Brody was more excited about than anyone and crawled across the table to help me blow it out. It was actually quite cute as every time he went to blow he would blow straight up and only his hair would move. The kids sang to me which was beautiful to hear all the little screaming excited voices again you have to multiply this one by 4. So what does that make it, 37 I think? So then Dave and I settled down to bed completely beat and last night of all nights the baby decided to make them self known and make some more room in my belly (I guess this one is gratitude at an in opportune time maybe?).

Brody did not seem to like the turkey and kept spitting it out on the floor.

So last night I thought about getting up before the rooster crows to head out for some deals but I opted to sleep instead which was SO much nicer. And after I got up I noticed many places still had awesome deals online that I was able to take advantage of. That is 2 more things right there! Then my sister-in-law Jen sent me a link with another great deal, that is another 1. When I woke up this morning though I vaguely remember the alarm going off very early since Dave of course had to go work the Black Friday craziness but I didn't remember anything after that until I woke up cold at 6:30 and realized he must have just left for work. That right there made me grateful for all the other mornings I wake up warm in bed next to my loving husband (I suppose I can just count that as one). But then at the exact same time there I laid cuddled up next to a little him anyway as I snuggled with Brody in bed. Which I suppose gives us hope and reason for all the bad stuff we have to deal with on a daily basis, because sometimes that bad stuff just makes the good stuff, even the simplest, seem that much sweeter. I think that brings me to a grand total of 44 if I count the fact that I am now in the next chapter of my life being 30!