i'm thankful for: family

yep, i did totally make sure this one fell on thanksgiving day. basically, isn't it part of the idea of the whole day?  so yes, today i am proclaiming to the world my thankfulness for the family i spend day in and day out living with.  yes, i also hereby state that YES i am still living at home.  so there.
i am thankful for my parents, who have supported me through all the years of schooling, financially supporting me for college round one and supporting my decision to go back for college 2.0 when the idea was brought forth.  they drove me to countless sports events, band practices, competitions, dance classes, piano lessons and more.  they "forced" me to stick with things when my friends backed out, teaching me that when i made a commitment to something, i needed to follow through with it (insert 8th grade musical the music man here) and if i wanted something badly enough (want... not need) i needed to save up for it myself and learn the value of a dollar (as well as the importance of an emergency savings account).  i've learned responsibility through them, by ways of car payments and keeping up with events and commitments.  i've luckily been able to save money by still remaining at home, and that one day when i am finally able to get out on my own, i know i will be ready thanks to the examples and teachings i've had each and every day.
i'm thankful for friday night joann's trips with my mom, two wppi vegas trips with my dad & numerous photography conversations (i still don't have a darkroom though....), and countless lunch trips out with the two of them before i went back to school.
i'm also thankful for sunday afternoons of dvr clearing, where we all (siblings included) watch shows together.  the big bang theory is a house hold staple, so yes, i'm thankful for that too.
and cats... as clearly show in our most recent family photo... from 2009...  i think we need to deal with updating that soon.
basically, my goal was to find the most recent "portrait" of just me with each of my siblings... and while aileen & joshua are more recent... i think this is possibly THE last one before joshua came to be.  well, at least that i could find in the one book i looked through.
markham has always been the oldest, and i admire the talents he has discovered over the years through his drawing & animation practices.  HOPEFULLY i can will sway him to finally draw me a blog header while he is home on break next month... obviously so i can show off his talents here and not for my own visually appealing gains.  then i can clearly say i was one of his clients before he hit it big...  because when he gets his job at pixar, i know he will sneak me for behind the scenes of toy story 47, and will introduce me to his good friend tim allen.  wishful thinking, but hey, anything can happen.
joshua, as i will tell anyone, i didn't want... and he also chipped my front tooth... and he ruined my perfect life of being the youngest, spoiled child (later to be totally ruined by sibling number 4) anyways, he has come to be an entertaining individual to have around, and is always fun to joke around with.  for all the ruining of my life he did as an infant, i am thankful for the younger brother that i have ended up with.  i can't wait to see where his staging career takes him over the years, and i would really appreciate it if he got a job on tour with fall out boy.  seriously kid... make it happen.  i need some meet & greet hook ups!
aileen is finally useful.  i will be the first to admit that she and i didn't really mesh for awhile a few years ago.  but now that we wear the same size shirts, i like her a lot more.  she's finally come to terms with being my life size barbie doll that i can dress up and take pictures of (seriously... life size barbie was NEVER as tall or the same size clothes as i was.  ugh)  our latest self entertainment comes in the form of creating stupid bitstrips comings of the two of us, doing nearly impossible things... maybe a blog post on those later... but now that she is driving(ish), applying for college and what not, i am glad for the relationship we have begun to form.  although, with her desire for science... i don't know how useful she will be in my future.  she better pull something amazing.
granted, my siblings and i aren't the more "serious" bunch, i am thankful for each of them in their own way.  i know that i am basically stuck with them for quite some time now, so i guess i will stop trying to pass off as being adopted.  apparently aileen looks more like me than i think she should.  i'm glad for the moments we've shared, both good and bad, and guess i will appreciate them.  but this is about all the mushy appreciation i can handle.  it's starting to get too sappy up in here.
and if you didn't understand earlier...
i am also thankful for cats.  even grumpy gills elroy & fatty mc fatterson mushu.
and maybe sir stinks a lot buzz cat.
joshua's cat smells like feet though.  watch out.