Wonderful, Thankful

It's Thanksgiving! We didn't eat turkey today but we will on Saturday! I took the opportunity to take Cecelia and Coletyn to see the movie Wonder that was just released! Since we weren't hustling and bustling today for the holiday, it was nice to take a step back and see what I am Thankful for!

Since summer, the kids and I have started reading chapter books at night. Before that, Cecelia may read a library book and Coletyn would pick a picture book. This teacher momma didn't really enjoy reading before bed. Gasp! But we of course did it anyways. I think I was just sick of reading the SAME books for almost 9 years. I got bored. When I realized that Coletyn was ready to listen to chapter books, I jumped on it and changed our nightly routine. Now every night, we get a good 30-40 minutes of a read aloud in. See what else we've read here! I love it. The kids love it too! I think I'd have to say it's my favorite part of the day! Getting lost in the setting of the book and learning the lessons together makes this teacher momma's heart burst. Some of life's greatest lessons can be taught through the pages of a great book.

Knowing the movie was coming out and also knowing that Cecelia hadn't read it yet, this teacher momma took the opportunity to cycle Wonder by R.J. Palacio it into our nightly read aloud. At the same time, the teachers in my school decided to capitalize on the movie coming out- teachers are good about jumping on stuff like that! Classrooms are reading the books and I put a t-shirt order together for the staff and students as we are going on a field trip to see the movie. I took advantage of that t-shirt order and got some swag for Cecelia and Coletyn as well!!

We finished the book a week ago and the kids have been chomping at the bit to see the movie. On Tuesday I told the kids I got tickets. They danced in their seats. My heart tickled yesterday when they watched the same 10 minutes Youtube video of the movie trailers for over an hour. Well, today we went!

She's getting better at her selfie skills!

It was what we expected. Wonderful!  We cried. We laughed. We just felt good! It was a highlight mom moment. After the meals are made, the kitchen is clean and the butts are wiped, there aren't a whole lot of "fun" parts of motherhood. THIS WAS ONE! An amazing one. This will fuel my momma tank for a while! When we got home, Cecelia went right to her classroom (corner of my kitchen with her chalkboard) where she had her students make precepts and create an art project. The rest of the night the kids compared the movie to the book and we discussed why the movie couldn't include all the other parts we loved from the book while Cecelia wore her astronaut helmet just like August!

I definitely had time today to stop and smell the roses and be thankful for moments like this.