Grateful 4

This Day, These People and This Life!

We started the day off in a GREAT way (and as far as I am concerned this will become CZ tradition!).

We participated in the San Jose Turkey Trot (a fundraiser for local food banks) and both of the Ls (together with the Xu brother and sister) ran their first race ever.

We had such a blast and even the weather god was kind to us and held back his rain drops until the kids had finished their races.

Great line-up, oldest to youngest :)

I LOVE my four awesome kids!!!

L  and Fifi ready to start their race (Aiden and Lulu were in the same age group and were already racing)

READY, SET ...

GOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Tadahhhhh .... 4 Gold Medal Winner!

GREAT job guys! 

We are so proud you all finished your races!!!

Lulu LOVES her big brother Aiden and he took such good care of her during the race (never left her side!)

... then came the rain but nothing could bother us anymore. We had a BLAST!!!

Back at home we went right to work ... the little people in the play room and every other room and mama and papa in the kitchen.

Knock-knock ...

Who is it?

MEEEEE!!!

I knew there was one of my kiddos missing!

Now the gang was complete!

The ALWAYS stylish aunty Judy

Our beloved aunty Michelle (love the hair ... keep it straight!!!)

My two chinese sisters :)

I LOVE these girls!!!

I am so thankful that I have these two special girls and their families in my/our life!

Their kids are like mine, their homes feel like home to us and our home is always your home!

Thank you for being such a big part of our lives!!!

Thankful for plenty of food to go around and share (good or bad :)

The VERY talkative little table. They just were in a different world ... or maybe even planet.
Aiden sat with us, he complained that Fifi and Lulu were too stinky (they had sprayed Perfume on each other , enough for 5 of them. Uncle Bin may have had a few sprays too. Boy they STANK :)

Thankful for a table full of family/friends, good food and lots of love and appreciation for each other.

Oh yeah, thankful for Dorkie too.

Look at him, doesn't he just look like the dorkiest Dork you have ever seen?

You should have seen him race across the play ground with toilet paper hanging out of his MOUTH.

He is such a DORK!!!

And thankful for impromptu sleep-overs.
All three are out cold and snoring already.
I am so thankful to see these three little souls together, all snuggled up, warm and cozy, peaceful and happy!

Yes indeed, there was and is lots to be thankful for!

This year had started so extra crappy for us.
I thought we'd never be happy again.
This gray place I was in for quite some time after we had lost this little person to be was taking complete control of my body and mind.
Thankfully my wonderful husband, my lovely girls and my dear friends all helped me to come to terms with the happenings and to accept that there are things in life we can not change.

Now, 10 months later we are in a great place again.
We have had a wonderful year, full with lots of trips, hikes and treats. Things we should not have done if you ask our accountant (we don't have one) but things that needed to be done in order for us to be good and happy again.

I now know that my family is just perfect the way it is.
We are complete.
Slowly I am able to sell the strollers and the crib, baby toys and itty clothes.

New adventures await us, things we could not do with the girls because they were too young or too small.
Hiking, skiing, skating ... we are mobile and there is a whole world waiting to be discovered by the Ls (and us again).

So today I am truly grateful for all that has happened to us this year.
Everything happens for a reason and sometimes it takes 10 months or more to see the reason.

I am so grateful for all of our wonderful friends and our families.

I am grateful for the best sister one can have. The one who cares so much for her little nieces and never fails to call me, every, single week.

I am grateful for my mom and all the wisdom she shares with me. I still can't cook or bake like she does and probably never will but it's good to know that I can always call and ask for her advise!

I am grateful for my baby brother and for the wonderful Jupiter girl in his life, who makes him so happy and is such a sweet and amazingly beautiful girl. He is a VERY lucky man!

I am grateful for my Omi and for her health and I must make a promise to phone her more often!!!!
The same goes for Great-Grandma Agnes. We love her so much and we should keep in touch much more than we do.

I am grateful for so many other friends, my hiking guru Sun Inn and our inspiring conversations,
our FGM and family whom we miss soooo much, meine liebste Anke und familie, aunty Carrie of course, the Pattnies and so many more.

I am grateful for my family.
My amazing husband!
The one who will do anything and everything to make his girls happy.
He is so outnumbered here at home and "hardly has a say" but he is also the most loved Papa and husband there is!
We are so very grateful for everything and all you do for us.
All the sacrifices and the hard work.

It is such a pleasure and honor for me to be at home with the girls. To raise them and care for them, to be with them 24/7.

I want to soak up every second God gives me with these little girls of mine becuae I love them more than life itself.

I never knew how big my heart was until I became the mother of these two amazing, little people.

I'd do anything and everything for them.

I am so grateful for you and all your love that you show us every, single day.

You are the one to come home after 14 hours of hard work and still brings his Ls to bed.
You are the one to make sure I take my Migraine meds when I feel one of these awful things coming one.
You were the one picking me up from the bathroom floor, when I was sobbing uncontrollably, after realizing that I would not be the mama of three.
You were the one holding my hand in the waiting room, waiting for the worst procedure I had ever had to go through.
You were the one holding me all night when the tears would not/could not stop.
You were the one taking us all to the beach just to get away and to take a breath ... start all over.
You are the one who tells us EVERY day that he loves us, even if we don't answer back.
You are the one the Ls go crazy about when you come home.
You are the one who always, always has time for each of us and always makes us feel so special.

A long year (and it's not even over yet) and so much to be thankful and grateful for.
I hope that everyone near and close to us is just as lucky and can be grateful for so many wonderful things as well.


Happy Thanksgiving!
... and tomorrow, fuer die Mama, ein post ueber die FAST selbstgemachten Thueringer Kloese :)