To My Family, To God, and to the Universe,

My deepest thanks for today.  Thank you girls for sleeping in an extra hour this morning.  A) I needed it.  B) You needed it.  C) We especially needed it after Sara crawled into bed with me at 3 am and we were both so disoriented, that together, we rolled out of the bed.

Thank you girls for gobbling up the waffles and strawberries I made for breakfast. Thank you for mistaking the syrup for hair mousse.  Putting you both in the tub at 9:30 am mixed up our routine just enough that everyone had a genuinely good time.  You didn’t even make a gigantic mess with the bubbles!

Thank you Sara for enjoying our first craft out of your KidsBusyBox.  It was a big deal for me to spend $32 on preschooler crafts.  You ask for a new craft or game every single day, and I am SO out of ideas.  You worked on the spider web hesitantly, but when we finished and hung it up, your eyes lit up.  I think we’ve found a creative outlet for you that will solve your endless case of the bunchies.

Thank you Kelly for finally coloring in your Care Bear coloring book while Sara and I glued yarn.  Thank you for enjoying my endless reading of “Raindrop Plop” while Sara finished her project.  Thank you for just being you.  You go with the flow no matter what we end up doing.  Every moment with you is like that second you realize you’ve solved the Rubik’s Cube.  Seriously, it’s that good.

Thank you girls for the good moods you held onto for an ENTIRE DAY.  Not one meltdown.  Not one tantrum.  I don’t think either of you even whined.  Thank you Sara for LISTENING ALL DAY!!!  Every single small thing I asked of you, you did!  Would you please put on your socks Sara?  YES!  Would you please grab your coat?  YES!  AND THEN YOU PUT IT ON!  It was like someone gave you a listening drug with an all day half-life.  This may never happen again in this house, but to have this kind of peace for one day…priceless.

Thank you for playing quietly at the Carpet Store!  I had an entire conversation with a salesman!  You didn’t run around like banshees, screaming “I WANT TO GO HOME!  WHERE IS THE BATHROOM!  I’M HUNGRY! KELLY HAS DIARRHEA!”  Nope, you didn’t.  One salesman on this planet thinks I have it together.  Just the one, but really, it’s enough for me.

Thank you Universe for not lifting the price of carpet the one day I dared to measure my living room.  As desperately as we need to burn the carpet we have, I haven’t had the guts to dream of new carpet.  Today, because the air felt lucky, I ventured into a carpet store.  Stain free carpet might be in my future.  I get giggly inside just thinking about it.

Thank you girls for eating huge lunches and then taking real naps.  REAL NAPS.  Not 50 minute snoozes after an hour of battle.  TWO WHOLE HOURS.  Not only did I dig through the morning mess, but I mopped the floor and sorted the laundry.  THAT NEVER HAPPENS.  Thank you Sara for waking up and saying, “You mopped the floor!  I love that floor!  Thank you Mommy!”  Thank you God for that, but at that point, you were just showing off.

Thank you God for giving us our late afternoon trip to the mall.  In America this year, many families don’t have a few extra bucks to spend on a couple of cookies and trips on the quarter rides.  Sometimes I wonder if Mall Security will ever ask me to leave considering I never actually walk inside the stores.  Like ever.  Well, except for Sara to check off another public bathroom on her “Global Bathroom Tour” list.  But mostly, thank you God for giving me the energy to play out the entire day without the oppressive exhaustion that has plagued me for too many months to count.  Today, all day…I felt so very, very good…a wonderful blessing.

Thank you Universe for finally keeping the big kids off of the little kids’ playground at the mall.  I think we all know how rarely that happens.  The girls just played and played without being run over by anyone.  Our stars were all in a line today.  The 10 year old boys are wildly playing tag on that playground right now, I’m sure…but we’re safely home.  So thank you.

Thank you family for enjoying the cranberry chicken and sticky rice I made for dinner.  Thank you for eating all the broccoli.  Thank you Daddy for commenting on how clean the house looks and how good the dinner tasted.  I’ve died and gone to stay at home Mommy heaven.

Today was maybe just an average day, but to me, it was perfect in every way.  Thank you God for Greg’s new job and the way he walked in the door tonight just beaming.  Thank you for the way he’s playing with the girls on the floor right now.  Everyone is healthy.  Everyone has full bellies.  Everyone is content.

And to everyone reading my silly little blog, I wish these blessings upon all of you this Thanksgiving season.