Today I'm Thankful

 

Today I'm thankful. I'm pissed about my car, but more than anything, I'm thankful. I'm thankful for the amazing day we had up until this moment. I'm thankful for the mama bear power that kicked in and gave me strength to kick out my door. I was able to help my children exit the vehicle calmly. I'm thankful for my medical training, as I was able to fully assess my family and determined who needed looked at further. I'm thankful for my brute of a dog. I often joke that I had no idea he would be this big and solid. And I didn't, but today I'm thankful he is. He came out of the accident completely unharmed, calm, his usual happy self. He even helped to shield the child he shared a seat with.

I'm thankful we're all okay. I'm thankful we walked away with minimal bumps and bruises. I'm thankful that our lives are able to function with only one vehicle for our family, which means our daily lives won't be affected by the accident until things are sorted out. I'm thankful for the strangers who stopped, who made sure everyone involved in the accident was okay, and those same strangers who waited around to give statements. They were kind, they were caring, and they helped take care of my children during those moments. 

I'm thankful for my vehicle. It did its job and kept us safe. I wish I had taken a moment to kiss my car for keeping us all intact.

Above all else, I'm thankful for our people. We have many and we are lucky. Lucky for the friends who whisked a couple of us away today to lounge in a pool. Lucky for all of the texts, phone calls, and well wishes sent our way. I'm constantly reminded how amazing and big our village is. I am thankful to have so many thoughtful, caring, and loving people in our lives. Yesterday could have ended so differently than it did. That hasn't slipped passed me for a moment today. But I also know enough to be grateful for everything we have in our lives. 

The Last Friday of Summer

Today was the day. The last day I'll have a good majority of the bigs until next summer (or until the next school break that I'm actually in town). Some of those are the littles who are becoming bigs. I really won't dwell on it, or have a chace to, until after Labor Day. I'm sure at that point you'll be getting a sob story about missing faces I've seen everyday for the last ____ amount of years. It's coming, but today was not that day. Today was a celebration. Another summer done. Another summer of memories, growth, changes, laughter, tears (although very few), challenges, and FUN. Honestly, this was probably one of my most favorite summers ever. It was a summer to be thankful that I've created a small, close, loving, supportive, and kind community with my daycare kids and their families. 

So, we ended it on an epic note. We had whipped cream pie fights, followed by a water balloon fight, followed by the sprinkler, followed by mud slides. It was the perfect way to end the summer!

The dog caught wind of what was happening outside and begged to come out too. He was in heaven with a whipped cream backyard!

Everyone else was throwing water balloons. I looked in the corner of the yard to see these two (pictured below) with pie tins eating the whipped cream!

My backyard is a mess and smells slightly like rotting milk. The dog threw up from eating all of the whipped cream all over the backyard. There's new mud holes that weren't there this morning. There's a morning of laughter that I'll keep with me until we do the same thing next summer, when everyone is another year old, challenges will get bigger, and I'll be back doing what I do.