Thanksgiving

I'm finding it very hard to believe that it's this time of year already, but Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and Christmas is just a month after that. Walk into any store, and there are already endless aisles of decorations on display, turkeys are on sale, Christmas carols over the intercom and both the parking lot and checkout lanes are packed full. 'Tis the season!

As a kid, this was the time of year that I would sit down and make a massive list of all the toys that I didn't have, and just couldn't live without. Now, as an adult, I'm making a massive list of all the things I am thankful that I do have, and couldn't live without... and it isn't a list of "things...." It's basically a list of people, or to sum it up... Family.

I am so unbelievably blessed that it's not even fair to the rest of the world.

I am thankful to be so surrounded by people that love me. Some people rarely hear "I love you," but I don't go a single day without hearing it and seeing it. My mom makes it a point to tell me she loves me every time she gets off the phone with me (and you can ask Steve, we talk often). Kade tells me every day he's here. I hear it from Steve all the time. Aaron even has his own way of showing it (poking my leftover baby belly and jiggling my arm fat is teenager for "I love you" right)? And baby Owen, I can't even explain... And I can't possibly list every way I am shown... But I have the best parents in the world, and Steve is an absolutely amazing human being.

I am thankful for my new extended family - Steve and Aaron, his parents, his brothers and sisters and their families, his older kids.... They've all welcomed Kaden and I in to their family with such big open arms, that we feel like we've been family all along. I truly am blessed.

Of course I am thankful for my extended family, too... I could sit and make a list of each family member and the things they've done for me... but it would be massive, and I don't want to leave anyone out... plus, I'm not allowed to mention Aunt Cindy in any of my blogs (My dad is right, I don't hold anything back)... But I am certainly blessed with my family, they have all been there for me in their own ways.

Maybe it's leftover pregnancy/postpartum hormones, but I sit here teary eyed at how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. =)