On Twitter there are all sorts of weird and wonderful trend hash tags, like #FF = Follow Fridays and so on.

I figured I’d adopt #TT (Thankful Thursday) for my blog. There really is so much to be thankful about. I am a big believer of gratitude and giving thanks.

I’m thankful for the most amazing family. We are so close and we have a bond that most people couldn’t understand. We have fun family traditions and at the end of the day, family is the most important thing to me. They will always come first and when things get tough, we are always there to either lean on each other or support each other.

 The Schneider Family (we didn’t wear Orange in a weird Family unity thing, we were supporting a sports team!)

My mom is the most incredible woman I know and even though we have bumped heads a lot over the years, as I get older, so does my appreciation. She is strong yet soft, kind yet firm and it doesn’t mater what is happening, if I need her, she is there. She has a passion for photography and her art and her eyes always light up when she shows my something she’s done. Her skills in the kitchen are legendary that she could put Nigella Lawson to shame. I am always amazed at how she can whip up a gourmet meal from almost nothing.

She signs off every text and email “Love your number 1 fan” … It puts a smile on my face every.single.time.

My mom is also a ninja. I’m convinced of it. She always knows when I’ve got myself into trouble, when I’m sad, when I need her before I’ve even seen her. I’ll get the phone call starting with “What’s wrong?/ What have you done?”

If one day I am just half the mother she is to me, my children will be blessed.

My dad is my hero. Cliché and corny, but true. He is such a fair man and believes in being just. He is such a softy, but his strength is incredible too. He is a man who has been surrounded by females… More specifically blonde females with brown eyes…My mom, sister and I, including Pinga (passed on) & Jadie our family Golden Retrievers.

Now that’s strength for putting up with all of us.

Nothing is ever too much and he has come to my rescue plenty of times. He has also been such a huge supporter – he would reschedule board meetings to be at my choir concerts, my hockey games and my school and university plays. He would fetch my friends and I from the parties and clubs (I used to be so embarrassed about my ridiculously early curfew, but today I am so grateful for the curfew and what it meant on so many levels!)

He is so kind and caring, he has the most infectious laugh and dances like he has rubber legs. When I was younger, I wanted to die of embarrassment if he went onto the dance floor, now I’m the one pulling him onto it.

My little sister Tandi is not so little any more. She is a young lady who is sometimes (most of the time) wiser than I am. The fact is, she will always be my little sister regardless of the three year age difference and the fact that she is taller than me. She is a completely special person with the biggest heart. She is so intelligent and levelheaded and thinks everything she does through properly and with such grace. She is just such a GOOD person who genuinely cares about everyone. I feel fiercely protective over her, even though I have never had to be. We can fight like cat and dog one minute, and be kind and generous to each other quite literally the next. Our fights are normally over who borrowed whose accessories and clothes without returning them. She picked up my mom’s incredible creativity – her artwork is amazing and her eye for detail is spot on…in art, in life. She has never experienced a broken heart and my wish for her is that she never will.

Bailey and Tandi