Being thankful...

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving with family and friends. This was the first year that our family celebrated Thanksgiving alone, just the seven of us. While we missed being with our extended family, there were pluses to staying home this year as well, such as taking a nice long walk while the turkey was cooking and not traveling in the cold weather with a baby and 4 other kids packed like sardines in our Honda minivan.

Anna (11) and Greta (5 1/2) spent most of Thanksgiving morning coloring and making homemade decorations for the house and table.  I love the creativity that flows from Anna.  Greta seems to be following in big sister's footsteps, too...

Anna's list of what The Crumley Family is thankful for...

God, Diversity, Birthday, Love, Courage, Peace, Plants, Hope, Life, Warm Bed, Animals, Loving Family, Faith, A House, Friends, Free Will

A simple reminder... this should be our mantra every day of the year...

She also decided to translate "Thanksgiving" into 5 different languages... Italian, German, Spanish, Romanian and French.

A native American girl holds slips of paper of what we're thankful for.  We had fun with this.  Luke was thankful for warm milk and John Michael's scribbles indicated he was thankful for EVERYthing.

Finally, she made placecards for the dinner table, which we decorated nicely with candles, gold chargers and glass plates.  It was a Thanksgiving to remember. 

Finally, we gave thanks that John Michael came home from the hospital at 8 days old on Thanksgiving Day 2007.  That was the best Thanksgiving gift ever.  Our Thanksgiving baby is now 3 and starting preschool this week.  I can't believe it!!!

Peace and Blessings... from our home to yours...