Down By the Banks to the Death!

Last night my entire crew sat around the living room in a circle while we played "Down By the Banks of the Hankey Pankey."  This was the chosen family home evening activity for the week.  Can you imagine a 14, 12, and 10 year old duking it out with a 7 and 5 year old for the chance to be crowned the Hankey Pankey champ?  It was an epic battle!

But the final shootout came down to the 7 year old versus the 5 year old.  Their eyes were focused and their muscles tense and there was no letting down and they warred for the crown.   And  -- after much turmoil -- our 5 year old came out on top.  It was pretty wild!  There was much cheering and whooping (and maybe a bit of disappointed pouting too).  Who would have guessed that a room full of eight fairly normal people could get so involved in a silly, playground game.

It is nights like this that I am most thankful for the incomparable family I've been blessed with.

This week we've had some things come up that have had me thinking about my children.  I feel incredibly lucky to have been blessed with each of these sweethearts.  There is nothing in the world either Josh or I could have done to deserve such an incredible group of youngsters, and yet here they are banging in and out of the front door, singing songs along with the radio in the car, whining over one more page of homework, turning up their nose at dinner, joking with each other until they are laughing so hard they can't even talk and all else that comes with an eight person tromp through home life.  They are lively and creative and funny and energetic and kind (mostly) and intelligent and I just love them to bits.  I learn more from them than I can ever hope to teach them, but I am so so so grateful that the eight of us (Josh included, of course) get to meander through life together.  

Now, none of us is perfect and we have our share of moments of sadness and anger and frustration and quirkiness and tempers and everything in between.  However, I love that as we come together, most of the moments are good.  Most of the moments are full of smiles.  There is more laughter than crying in our daily life and we do work to help each other when we can (although we also have moments where we shove each other down...but not very many).  

I just adore these people.  They are the very best of what this world has to offer (at least if you ask me).

I'm forever and ever thankful that I have each and every one of them.

My sweethearts.