Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for people who are better than me. The neighbor who holds their kid to a high moral standard, the mom who quietly and appropriately disciplines her child in public, the wife who bites her tongue at the right time. You people are everywhere and you inspire me daily. If you think I'm talking about you...I am.

I'm thankful for my Ankeny brat. Silly me thought she'd think the baby pigs were adorable. "It really stinks in here," says Kylee at the State Fair. Hmm...her aunt Tammy thought the same thing several years ago and even had her comment about how there should be air freshners in the barns posted in the 2 Cents Worth section of the paper. What can I say? Great minds think alike. :)

I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet Kael's teacher last night! I noticed that she had assigned Kael to a seat right in the front of the room- a sure sign that she "gets" him. We had intelligent conversation about his social goals that left me confident and excited about his upcoming school year.

I'm thankful for Kael's first sleepover. Yes, I'm about to say it for the 145,365th time...our neighbors are wonderful. Kael and his buddy had been planning a sleepover but of course hadn't gotten the official OK from either of the moms. As they shared their plan with us, I couldn't help but feeling a little anxious...was Kael ready for a sleepover? We decided the sleepover would be at our house and the boys were excited. Soon the whole neighborhood had caught wind of said sleepover. Little by little kids started gathering, their parents followed...and before we knew it we had an impromptu block party in our driveway. Their were stomp rockets, croquet, sparklers (down the street- not at our house. Maybe you remember this?), bikes, basketball games, scooters, strollers, football games, bubbles, dogs...awesome. The boys had full intentions of sleeping in the treehouse but as the darkness settled in, so did the bugs so they scooted off to Kael's room. What a milestone.

I'm thankful for the cooler weather and it has me thinking about fall. I LOVE football season. Well, if I'm being honest, I love eating taco dip and drinking Oktoberfest while watching football. Go Hawks!

I'm thankful for an old acquantiance (a gal who knew me before Kylee was born) who was out on a walk with her family tonight that happened upon our mini block party. "Kylee?" she said. She looked at me. "I totally just put that together! I LOVE Kylee! I had no idea she was yours!" Insert picture of me looking confused here. "Oh sorry," she rewound. "My husband and I were teaching in church the other day and we just fell in love with Kylee right away. So talkative- so helpful. She is just a joy to have around." My heart smiled and I think proud is not strong enough a word for what I felt. I'm also really thankful she took the time to stop and chat- she could have just kept on walking but took time out of her night to stop and share this story with me.

I'm thankful for my job. My babysitting kids came back yesterday and after a wonderful summer, I feel refreshed and ready to face the craziness with a light heart and a good sense of humor.

That said, I am really thankful for the kids I babysit and their families. I am going into my fifth year of babysitting the same family and every year I grow a little bit more attached to them. We haven't seen much of them all summer but when they came over yesterday, they all picked up right where they had left off at the end of May. A little taller, a little blonder, a little tanner...but their easy friendships didn't skip a beat. And for that, I couldn't be more thankful.

Kylee and her buddy on a walk to the park.