Thankful

A crafty mom I am not. But, I have a craft-loving 5 year old, so every now and then I manage to get my act together and do something "not boring" (meaning something outside of 'just' coloring) for her. I have seen the idea for a 'thankful tree' on Pinterest for many years now, and knew that I finally had a kid old enough to appreciate the activity and to fully participate in reflecting on things she is thankful for. So, after school today I surprised my crafter with the activity and she was over the moon. I was blown away by the depth of her responses. At first, we focused on thinking of four things we were especially thankful for.

Jillian is thankful for:

Top to bottom: God, warm clothes, light, and Adrienne (tear in my eye over this one)

Adrienne is thankful for:

Princess Sofia and a cozy bed (pretty sure she heard Jillian rattle that one off in the car as we were talking about this, but props to her for retaining the idea). 

After Jillian's original four, she requested to do more. We ended up with thankful "leaves" for teachers, cat (when I reminded her that we don't have one, she said she is thankful for Grammy's cat, Urban), Dad, a bed, friends, and "someone who takes care of me that starts with an 'M'"--that's me!

Our thankful tree

In case you were wondering, Mom and Dad also participated. Jillian nearly knocked Matt over as he came through the door excited to tell him about this activity. She was bursting with curiosity about what he would write on his leaves. 

Love seeing that sweet 5 year old penmanship mixed in with the grown up writing.