Grateful Friday

I just love being around these two.  They have their own sibling language it seems (or at least I don't know what they're talking about 25% of the time).  They laugh a lot--often at something one of them is showing the other one on their phone) and are excited to see each other and just quietly look out for each other.  I'm grateful to have them.

I'm grateful for their brother too.  Braeden called me the other morning while I was taking my walk.  It was nice to have him along for my walk.  We talked about all the things and a few times in the conversation, I thought, "This kid is smart."

I'm grateful my mom bought a new scanner and has undertaken the project of scanning photos and putting them on Family Search.  She sent us this photo of my dad:

I love it because I can remember it.  Those horses are Betty and Billy and they were these gentle and super strong giants.  My dad entered them in a pulling contest at the fair and it was exciting for me as a little girl.

I also love if you zoom in, my uncle Demar is one of the guys standing at the fence and I love the look of joy on his face as he is watching his little brother.

My mom found out you can't put pictures of people kissing on Family Search.  So she took this racy picture down.

It is a picture of my great-grandparents.  He died long before I was born, but she was my Grandma with the Brown Eyes.  She would tell me to take care of her brown eyes and I firmly believed that I had brown eyes because of her.  She was a storyteller and had a sparkling personality.  I like to think of her in heaven surrounded by people she loves.  I hope she and my great grandpa are kissing.

I'm grateful for families and history.

I'm also grateful for Nola.  She came over again yesterday like any good neighbor for another flooring consult and now I actually do know what I'm going to decide.  No duct tape involved.

That's a good feeling.

I'm grateful for my job.  I miss it.  I know that teachers are supposed to relish summer and having a break but I'm just ready to go back.

Maybe it's because the school year was cut short, I don't know.

I was at the school yesterday, dropping some stuff off and picking some stuff up and talking to a fifth grade teacher about magnets.  I truly love that place.

I'm grateful my kids are back to work.  They both are back at the theater and it makes them happy.  We are dipping our toes in going back to normal.  Kind of normal.  Not really normal, but closer.