Thanksgivings

This past year has brought a lot of changes for us. Some sad things, but a lot of really great things for which we are incredibly grateful. Kane's new school does a terrific job of getting the kids (and in turn our whole family) to think about the things that are truly important in life, to be aware of how incredibly fortunate we are, and to think outside ourselves and about others who are not so fortunate. We've developed a new dinner time routine of having Kane announce a Quaker query (sometimes they are from his school, sometimes he makes them up), followed by a collective moment of silence, sharing our thoughts about the query, and then Cam rounds it out with a Jewish blessing. Hey, it works for us.

Needless to say, we've all spent lots of time thinking about thankfulness. Plus, I've always been inspired by No Monsters in My Bed's monthly grateful lists (including Darcy's categories -- I'm stealing them!). It's so easy to focus on the things we don't like about our life -- things we want, but don't have. So for this Thanksgiving, we thought we'd share our lists of things for which we are thankful this year.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!!!

Arts 
* Orphie and the Book of Heroes at the Kennedy Center
* Finally discovering Homeland, but limiting our watching of it to viewing together. With Joel's travel schedule, that keeps the viewing to a reasonable number per week.
* Watching National Treasure movies with the kids and spurring on a real-life treasure hunt.
* Making time to actually read books myself. The kids apparently had never seen me read a book to myself and asked "are you reading that in your head? Just for yourself!?" Clearly, I need to read more.
* Finding the 3rd floor at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
* Spotify

Food
* Tin Box in Vieques
* Trader Joe's Iced Coffee (and a new Trader Joe's by our house)
* Green Hat Gin Rickeys
* Grilled pizza this summer
* Blue Apron making "home cooked" possible this school year!!!
* Sushi dinner with the kids at Kaz
* Thanksgiving dinner at Bourbon Steak

Places
* Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House with the kids
* DC Youth Poetry Slam competition with Kane
* Going up to the top of the Washington Monument
* Crystal Grottoes and Antietem Battlefield
* Driving to West Virginia for dinner, pretty much just to get a geocache in a new state, as suggested by Joel (unheard of!)
* Library of Congress with the kids
* Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

Things 
* A macbook
* My Herschel backpack
* Egyptian jewelry from Joel
* The close possibility of a new house! (fingers crossed!!!)

Etc. 
* An awesome new writing project opportunity for me -- stay tuned!
* Sort of figuring out how to use my DSLR camera
* Finding an amazing new school for Kane, and a new community and friends for our family
* Cam finally being "top dog" are her school, which has been a wonderful place and we are going to miss it very much next year
* Volunteering in the community with the kids
* Taking the kids back-to-school shopping at actual stores
* Family who go way, way out of their way to be present and helpful with our kids
* My brother, sister-in-law, and almost here new nephew! moving to DC
* Wrapping up an awesome year of blogging at A Feteful Life with my friend, Suzanne
* Finally finding a fabulous hairstylist!
* Boxing and our trainer
* Everyone getting a chance to say goodbye to our beloved Vegas in their own way
* Finally getting family photos, including Veg!
* Embracing hours of commuting each day with the kids to listen to audiobooks and discover favorite new places along the way
* The kids' gratitude jar
* New blog design

Vacation
* Going to Chicago by myself to meet by brand-new, adorable nephew, Alex
* A tropical vacation with Joel to the most laid-back destination
* An awesome family vacation to Jamaica in the most amazing "resort" ever
* Taking the kids to my family vacation destination (Beaver Island) and watching them fall in love with all of its random wonderfulness. And getting to stop in Chicago on the way back to visit my sister and family
* An overnight trip to NYC by myself 

The Kids' Lists:
Kane
* for mommy, and daddy and my teachers; for good food; for nice friends and good learning; for the whole world.

Cameron
* for G-d; friends; Zoe and Evey; daddys and mommys; yummy, delicious food that mommy makes; houses and moving; and that's all the things I need to say.

*photograph by Darcy Troutman Photography