Thankful Thursday

November is upon us and Thanksgiving is approaching. While I am very thankful for the typical things on a thanksgiving list like my family, my faith, shelter, so on and so forth... I want to use the Thursdays this month to share some things that I am thankful for that go beyond that list!

Today, I am thankful for our community! We live in one of the smaller suburbs in South Kansas City and we have so many wonderful resources that make living here perfect for our family.

For starters, I love the playground, water park, and walking trail that are literally just across the street. I'm so thankful that we're just a short walk away from all of that fun! 

The libraries, oh the libraries-- we love them, all of them! We utilize three different library systems, all that have multiple locations. The librarians are fantastic and the storytimes are so much fun. We regularly go to two each week! From playing fun instruments to playing with the parachute, my kids love it. And so do I!

Ms Kelly is the best! She always wears her Minion shirt so Belle appropriately refers to the entire library as the "minion library"!

Oh, and I'm thankful for craft time at both libraries each week because I am terrible about doing crafty things with my kids at home! 

• Our district has a wonderful Parents as Teachers program. Once a month, Ms. Marilyn comes to visit and my kids get so excited. She brings super fun activities and provides resources to me to foster learning and proper development. Every so often, there are family activities in the evening that we enjoy! 
• Also, our district has offers a free half day preschool two days a week, which is the preschool that Jackson attends. He loves school and it's a great way to get him (and me!) prepared for kindergarten next year.
• Okay, so this is my favorite and I don't want you to be jealous. Maybe you have a place like this near you! I am SO thankful for our Success By Six center. It's like a library system and you can check things out for two weeks at a time. But there are more than just books-- there are lots of toys and activities too. Like, cool things that my kids love to play with I'm so glad that I don't have to buy! We've checked out activities that teach matching, sorting, lacing and all sorts of learning things. But we also check out toys that are just plain fun! Play is a child's work! 

This week, we have a giant outer space puzzle.

And I picked these boards this week and the kids have already spent hours playing with them. The board is magnetic and the middle gear connects to a rotating base. You connect your gears and then switch the on button and watch the gears all turn! Plus, I was able to check out two so there is no sharing involved! :)

We are so fortunate and I am so thankful to live in a community that values children and offers such great resources! What do you love about your community??