Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent a wonderful thanksgiving feasting with Omi, Uncle Jay, Linda, Madison, and Josh - the kids loved it!  I'm pretty sure everyone was well entertained, to say the least :)  At dinner, when we asked who would like to say grace, Olivia volunteered... she smiled, looked at everyone holding hands, and literally, she said "Grace"... ha ha!

Each night before bed, George and Olivia say their prayer, after which we thank God for all our blessings of the day.  The last two weeks, the list has almost always started with one purple polka dot (Olivia) and dump trucks (George).  Then we generally get into names of family and friends we see often, names of their friends at school, Peach-lo and Reflux (stuffed dogs), the van, the beach, and almost every part of their day... I know we're ready for bed when they start looking around and thanking God for "a fan, a drawer, a door, etc..."  :) 

The part I love is that they are thankful for every, single, part of their day.  Everything!  Whether it's something we do, or someone we see, every day... or something new and special... they are thankful for it. 

Thinking back to the early days, when the thankfulness that overwhelmed me was for every day that my children were alive... I'm reminded not to take things for granted.  Between knowing that feeling so deeply, and watching all three of my children every day, I am incredibly thankful quite often :)  

I've never done this before, but I want to share another blog.  While I'm not really sure how to measure thankfulness, a lot of this blog hit home.  It's from a mother of a special needs child, and I have to say, when I read this is makes me smile at all the things my Samuel has accomplished, things he was not guaranteed.  It also makes me hold my breath just a little thinking about the future... but I can rest easy, luckily there's someone else in charge, and I am thankful for His grace and His plan (even though I may not always understand it) every day.

Olivia and George spent some time preparing their own feast last week...

 Caught in the act of cooking in the living room :)

 George doesn't mind, he continues the lesson...

 Here Olivia, you try...

 ... just like this!

 Thirty minutes later this is where I caught them... cooking in their "car,"

but this time they each have their own spatulas :)