I'm Just Sayin': I'm Grateful for Solo Roadtrips, Loud Music and a .

I went forth last weekend with various of my female relatives, leaving my husband home with the boys to stand for themselves. I loved not being the least bit apprehensive about them - knowing Chris had everything under restraint and they would experience a grand time together. On the two-and-a-half-hour drive home, as I was blaring Zeppelin at decibels I certainly wouldn't have subjected my sons to if they were in the car, I was thought about all that I was grateful for that weekend, namely: 1.

The power to blare Led Zeppelin (and anything else I wanted, which included Barenaked Ladies and, I am not at all embarrassed to say, Neil Diamond) as cheap as I wanted, without dread of popping tiny eardrums or making someone cry (especially my husband, with that final selection). But also 2. Spending quality time with my sisters, mother, aunts, and cousins, made easier when it's not divided with small ones needing something from Mommy. 3. The opulence of climbing in bed at night and not having to heat up, let alone get up, until I wanted to the following morning. (Because I was fighting a cold, this little treat was extra heavenly! 4. Enjoying 48 hours of not having to change a diaper/cut someone else's food/dress a wiggly boy/read the same book five times/sound like my mother. 5. The monitor of how it feels to lose my kids. Being a stay-at-home mom means I'm with them almost constantly. I know them dearly, but absence really does have the heart grow fonder. Little did I love that only as I was thought about thankfulness, so was the stay of my family. When I walked in the doorway I was greeted with the most exuberant hugs and kisses and smiles and "Ohhh Mommy we lost you!"'s (seriously, it was as if I'd returned from war), and when I rounded the corner into the living room I saw this:Our Thankful Tree. I'm thankful the playroom wasn't as messy as it commonly is when I took this picture. Our family's own Thankful Tree made by my three guys, thanks to the treble inspiration of my friends Amy and BJ's Thankful Tree tradition and the one Chris noticed outside the preschool room at church. I was already impressed that he'd taken both boys to church by himself that morning, but this sort of put him ended the top in my book. The boys had told Daddy all that they were grateful for, and he'd dutifully written each matter on a thumb and taped it to the tree. Chris said the first thing out of Kostyn's mouth was "God." The moment was "Jesus." The tertiary was "Daddy." Others that followed included "Cookies," "Grammy," "Evan," and "Vegetables." (That last one's a cheap ploy for Santa's approval, I'm sure. And, of course, "Mommy." Jesus got a higher branch. I think that's OK. We'll add more leaves to the corner in the following week or two, and so put them all in a bag marked "2010 Thankful Tree" to store away with other holiday decorations until next year. The design is to do a new tree each year, and to be capable to pore over the things we were grateful for in former years. Every time I glance up and see that paper tree on our wall I'm reminded of what I'm grateful for. As you might imagine, I don't even want to understand what's on the leaves.