{Thankful Thursday}

I'm thankful for the people in my life that make it better that make me laugh, help me see that brighter bigger picture, for those in my family my sisters all of them on both sides for the strength and love they give me, I'm thankful for the best in laws you could ever ask for. 

I'm thankful for friends both blog friends and friends I have and have had who have changed my life for the better, helped me see things in a new light, and who have helped me work through feelings and emotions that I've had and have for years .

Sometimes life is hard but thats why we are all here -- for each other. To help us all learn and grow. Where would we be without our friends, families, husbands, kids or whatever stage of life we are in we are lucky just to be born where we are.. have the experiences we are having and learning and growing from them and helping others to do the same. I'm thankful for all these experiences, people and friends that help make me who I am.

Thankful for my little people and the fun school spring concert that put on, they did a good job it was cute!

Thankful that my grandma who came to live with my parents right after Christmas was able to come and see her great grandchildren perform, at one point she leaned over and said to me "never in my life did I think I'd be here watching my great grandchildren" she never lived around us growing up so its really nice to have her close and get to really know her and develop a stronger relationship with her. Life you never know where it will take you young or old. My kids had 2 grandmas a grandpa and a great grandma come I'm pretty sure I never had that growing not once how lucky are my kids!

Thankful for this little guy and all his crazy hair this is untamed poker straight right straight out of his head hair .....

and the big boy tamed hair...so grown up! {thankful yes I am} I really can't get enough of him he is just the funnest little boy ever!

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I'm thankful for poems and stories that make me feel like I'm doing something right, or give me something to think about or change...I get called the mean mom sometimes around here for things like please do the dishes, please clean your room, pick up your clothes, you know the daily things.etc etc...

I love this poem because its what I'm trying to achieve in the end and I hope they know how much I love each one of them and when they are parents that they'll understand..... Hard to see that when your just a kid and hate cleaning up your room right or telling you to hurry every school morning of the year man I am so MEAN.....

To all you Mean Mom's.

Someday when my children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will
tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you
enough to ask where you were going, with whom,
and what time you would be home.

I loved you enough to be silent and let you
discover that your new best friend was a creep.

I loved you enough to make you go pay for the
bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk,
"I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it."

I loved you enough to stand over you for
two hours while you cleaned your room,
a job that should have taken 15 minutes.

I loved you enough to let you see anger,
disappointment, and tears in my eyes.
Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect.

I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the
penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.

But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say
NO when I knew you would hate me for it.

Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm
glad I won them, because in the end you won, too.
And someday when your children are old enough to
understand the logic that motivates parents, you
will tell them.

Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the
meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids
ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal,
eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a
Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you
can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was
different from what other kids had, too.

Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times.
You'd think we were convicts in a prison. She
had to know who our friends were, and what we were
doing with them. She insisted that if we said we
would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an
hour or less.

We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve
to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We
had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook,
vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and
all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie
awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time
we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had
eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really
tough!

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of
things other kids experienced. None of us have ever
been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's
property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all
her fault.

Now that we have left home, we are all educated,
honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean
parents just like Mom was.

I think that is what's wrong with the world today.
It just doesn't have enough mean moms!

{am I the only mean mom? pretty sure there are a few others out there!}

"Live your life as though there is a great joy to be experienced, an abundance of goodness in each person you come in contact with and the knowledge that you have enough inner wisdom to answer the mysteries that challenge you."

 Have a great weekend...