TToT: Week 20

I so missed being in the Ten Things of Thankful Hop last week and am glad to be back! And with that, I will jump right in!

1. I am thankful that the PBA still enjoy watching the holiday Charlie Brown DVDs with us...beginning with Halloween (which we watched this week...it's never too early!)

2. And not only do they want to watch them with us (all together as a family, I mean), I am thankful that THEY ask US to watch them together…we don’t even have to initiate the family time.

3 & 4. I am thankful for a Fall Break. True, I am not giving them the two weeks that the public schools in the area get, but I think we will be thankful (#4) when we have a three week Christmas Break (December 11-January 2, thank you very much).

5. I am thankful on said Fall Break that we are doing a little bit of camping. We are not pros by any stretch (because honestly how often have you heard me mention that we are camping?) but it’s still fun.

6. And I am thankful that we are camping with friends who are more experienced campers (albeit, campers from Colorado, so Indiana is probably a little bit of a let-down but still…our benefit either way).

7. I am thankful for my 10yo and his tender heart. We just finished reading The Diary of Ann Frank today and he *sobbed* at the end. Spoiler alert if you haven't read the book: He had NO idea that she died in a concentration camp. Bless him...

8. I am thankful that SOMETHING appears to be sinking in and the PBA may be finally embracing the whole “life-long learner” thing I have been trying to instill for oh, say, 4 years now (ok, probably more than that if we’re honest): this week, my 12yo was reading his history book and paused in his reading, came out to the living room to ask me if it would be ok if he took a break from the book to look up more information on Tiananmen Square. He wanted to know more than the book was giving him. “Oh sure, that’s fine.” I calmly said, but on the inside, I was doing the Happy Dance. I looked something like Elaine, because I can’t dance. Here’s a visual just in case you don’t know to whom I am referring:

And yes, my dancing skills are that poor that even in my own mind I look like Elaine.

9. I am thankful for the “Catch and Release” program we have going here at the PBA (Yes, we catch the bugs in the house and we release them outside...unless of course no one is around and I am the one who finds the bug, then it is "RIP, Mr. Bug! You should not have come into my house!")

Since I know you were dying to know, I believe this is a Grass Spider

10. I am thankful that no one is judging me right now for the giant Indy-hairball which is attached to the spider in the jar. (Yes, I'm making assumptions here, so if you ARE juding me, Peanut Gallery, keep the comments on the DL please.)

Bonus: I am thankful that this creepy thing is no longer in my house (though undoubtedly his army of friends is still roaming about) and has been released into “the wild” which is my back yard. And yes, I fully-realize the potential irony in this statement, since I was excited to go camping…in a place where there are spiders and other creepy-crawlies. But this spider, in particular, breeched our agreement. The one in which I don’t bother the bugs as long as they maintain their boundaries (stay outside). But once they cross the threshold of our house, it is GAME ON. If I am out in nature, however, I will (usually) choose to let them live.

Now hop on over to Lizzi’s blog and catch up on all the other thankfulness lists this week (there are lots of fabulous co-hosts, BTW but there were just too many for me to include...plus Lizzi was the one who started it all, so I'll give her the props)!

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