The Brooks Family: 2013

Thankful #22:
I'm thankful for the tradtions Clay and I have created for our little family, seasonal or not. I love piling the kids in the car, handing out hot chocolate, and driving around looking at Christmas lights. Our favorite house is on Brookwood Drive, and we always drive by it multiple times in December. It's so much fun to take all the kids to see Santa every year (even though I may have to put one of them on the payroll to keep going without complaint). I enjoy taking all our kids to the Christmas Eve candle light service at our church. Doing so just gets us in the appropriate frame of mind for Christmas Day. I also love going out to eat every Sunday afternoon with both of our families. Yes, we require a huge table and good service, but it's worth it!

Thankful #23:
I'm thankful for good volunteers. The last two years I have been blessed with multiple parents who are faithful in coming to me every week and doing whatever copying, laminating, cutting, and little book making (always a beast of a project) that I need. There are few words that can appropriately express my gratittude for them. These ladies' dedication to our class allows me to spend so many more free hours at home with my kids instead of staying late at work to fight with the copier or staying up late at home to cut out another laminated game. Parent volunteers are amazing.

Thankful #24:

I'm grateful for the North Georgia State Fair. I have been going to it almost every fall since I was a baby. I love how it smells, the fabulous people watching, the boiled peanuts, and the funnel cakes.

Thankful #25:
I'm thankful for my cousins, Jenna and Jessica. When they were very little, I baby-sat them almost every Friday night. We did a lot of hair (lots of French braids and big bangs---children of the 80s), played a lot of dress up, and played with a lot of dolls. I consider them my fabulous preparation for my sweet girl.

Thankful #26:

I'm grateful for www.teacherspayteachers.com. Yes, I can make most everything on there for my class, but when you are a full time teacher and a mom of four, you will happily pay someone else $3.00 for a super cute, common core aligned, kindergarten packet on decomposing. :)

Thankful #27:

I'm thankful that all my boys like to bake with me. It's no secret that I don't like to cook, but I'm always up for baking a cake, cookies, or cobbler. When any of my kids are in a bad mood, I can always count on breaking out the goods to make a pound cake or chocolate chip cookies to make them smile. My kitchen and my kids may be covered in batter by the end, but the change in their mood is completely worth it! When Keaton had to write about what he was thankful for this year, he wrote, "cake and ham." That's my boy!

Thankful #28:

I'm grateful for generic diapers. Yes, that's a bit random, but I'm so grateful all four of my kids could wear them without any sensitivities. If you take our four kids and times three years of diapers for each...well, that's a lot of diapers and a lot of money, and I'm so grateful that I could significantly reduce the cost thanks to Wal-Mart with McLain and Target with the last threebabies. By the way, right now Target is carrying Christmas diapers. Super cute and cheap! :) And no, cloth diapers were never an option this busy mama was ever going to consider.

Thankful #29:

I'm really, truly thankful for pictures. They help me remember the details of memories when they start to get fuzzy, and they help document all the crazy antics of my herd. I'm extrememly grateful for media, like Facebook, that allows me to share them with family and friends whenever I want, which yes is almost every day. :) One day, I'll get super organized and put them all in beautifil albums, but until then, my labled picture boxes and computer files will have to do!