Giving Thanks

 

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home on Thursday, and were thankful for a low key day of relaxing, as we had just returned to SC after several days of traveling.  Daddy assumed his annual role of Thanksgiving Day chef and prepared our yummy turkey, which Leah named "Turkey Head".  This was kind of funny, as Luke has been asking us for the past few days, "Are we eating Turkey Head again?" and I always had to pause to consider what he was asking before I realized that he meant left-overs.

 

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in the morning, and the children entertained themselves by playing with homemade pumpkin play dough:

 

 

In the afternoon, we heard that there had been a sighting of the Magic Turkey in our neighborhood, and Daddy took Luke and Leah on a walk to follow those infamous turkey tracks.  Lassos in hand, our little turkey hunters tried to catch the elusive feathered character, but once again, he got away.  True to annual tradition, the Magic Turkey left presents behind for both children and provided a great mid-day distraction/activity:

 

 

I have so much to be thankful for this year, and give thanks for sweet moments where my children still seem so little.  They are growing up so quickly, so when I glimpse even a brief instant where they are full of childhood innocence, I pause.  Last week, we were at our neighborhood playground, and Luke was playing with his construction vehicles.  It reminded me of a much younger version of my son, and I wanted to freeze this moment in time:

 

Leah insisted on taking her "baby alligator" to Luke's school last week, and he clickedy-clacked down the hallways of the elementary school, eliciting smiles from many of the teachers and students.  We are thankful for such a welcoming place, where we were able to visit and participate in Luke's kindergarten Thanksgiving celebration:

 

We volunteered in the classroom to help the kindergarteners make turkey cookies and stayed for story time and lunch.  Once again, Leah made herself right at home in the class: 

 

 

 

Luke and Leah were also especially thankful for an unexpected snowfall earlier this week.  We returned home on Wednesday morning after 7+ hours in the car to see big, fat snowflakes falling at our house.  All three children ran into our backyard, squealing with glee, as they burned off some pent-up energy and tried to catch snowflakes on their tongues.  The snow disappeared within a half hour, but it was a magical moment for these southern kids.  Note: We heard on the news that this was a record snowfall for this date in November in Greenville, SC, with a whopping total of .1 inches (narrowly beating the past record of "trace" set in 1954!). 

 

 We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving week, and are very blessed indeed!