I'm Blessed

It's Monday

and I'm writing along with Gretchen's

I'm Blessed blog party today.

You know and I know that I'm blessed in myriad ways,

but I'm only going to point out a few today.

~We had our homeschool group's kick-off picnic yesterday.

Though the day started off rainy, it cleared just in time for the picnic,

complete with bouncy tent and football games, "Capture the Flag", and general socializing by all of those 

un-socialized homeschooled kids.

~Even though I made sure in the 30 minutes prior to our departure from home that my entire family wished for me to die a slow and painful death,

we were all able to shake it off and

they willingly admitted knowing me at the picnic,

calling me "Mom" and "Dear." (That last one would be Dennis...just to be clear.)

See, what they could have called me was

"Crazy Angry Lady Who Seems to Think That Yelling and Eventually Crying are Good Motivators to GET YOUR SHOES ON AND GET IN THE VAN!!!!"

But that would have been too much to fit on my name tag.

~I got to visit with friends--some whom I've not seen for months, eat a meal that I didn't have to prepare,

and learned of some new blog readers!

(I'm always excited to find out who reads this blog.)

~I was blessed to see big brothers stoop to tie shoes for little brothers.

~I watched Ivy run around barefoot in that delightful way she has of strutting/running with her belly forward and her arms swinging out to the sides.  She basically had the run of the park, and knew that there were several loving older girls who would catch her at the bottom of the slide, help her onto the merry go round, or scoop her up if needed.

~I saw Isaiah laugh. Openly.  More than once. 

Though my energy was completely depleted by the time we got home last night, it was a good day.

Click over to Gretchen's blog and play along

and leave a comment here, too, if you'd like!