Patio Set!

Our new patio set was brought home on Friday and I just assembled it today .. It's really not much .. But it's our first one, and I really like it! Derek is going to put the umbrella in for the final touch and then it'll be complete. I'm so excited, our first patio set!! 

Our Garden #2

This garden is totally new to us and we have no clue what's growing in the backyard .. So it's fun to find surprises like this as growing season progresses: chives!! We won't have to buy any for a while now, we've got about three chive plants flowering :) So neat! 

Our Garden

There may not be a whole lot to it .. But dang, it looks nice .. Waaaay better than it did before! :)

It's so nice to have a little garden to dress up! 

"Before" Pics

... Because you've got to start somewhere.

New Friends

Making new friends that could be true friends is such an awesome feeling. It's new and exciting and there's so much to learn about each other and usually so much laughing .. It's great. I'm so grateful for new friends! 

Free Samples!

We went to bring Austin to the bus stop this morning and this little goodie bag was hanging on our doorknob .. Samples!!! Love!!

I'm so grateful to finally live in a place that gets samples!!

Books

I absolutely adore reading. I always have, ever since I learned when I was three! I have an ever-growing collection of books (and a bunch of favorites that I have read over and over again!). It's so nice to tune out the world and get lost in a good book.

And my kids just LOVE to read, too. Beaming Mama here. They will always bring me books to read with them. And this happens ..

I am so grateful that my kids have grown up reading and have learned to love it. It's something we will all share together for many years! :)

Geese

(I had to google an image because as we've all learned .. When we try to photograph something on our phones that is off in the distance, the picture looks like tiny dots!)

We live in an area close to many forests, lakes, bogs and beaches, so we get to see a lot of wildlife .. Especially geese! They fly in formation every single evening, coming from the bog and heading in the direction of the beach. My kids get so excited to see them, and they especially love to hear them honking. 

In fact, my kids call the geese Honky Honks. How cute is that?!

I'm grateful for the geese. They're something I think I've taken for granted over the years .. Seeing the wonder and excitement on my kids' faces really reminds me to take pleasure in the little things in life. They're teaching me to be excited about lady bugs and ants and flowers and yup, Honky Honks! 

Backyard Visitors

(I know it's a crappy photo - bunnies are fast!! And the deck is junky too, scheduled to be redone this summer, yay!)

I feel like a four-year-old kid every time we get some wildlife visitors in our backyard .. It's so exciting! We have rabbit visitors almost every day, and different kinds of birds visit throughout every day. We like to leave carrots for the rabbits (we never get to see the rabbits eat them, but they always disappear!) and we fill our bird feeder every day. So far we've seen a wide variety of wild finches, beautiful mommy and daddy cardinals and a really cool bunch of black birds with blue heads!

Edit: we saw the bunny eating one of our carrots last night at supper time .. It's like we were all dining together:

I know I've said this a time or two before .. But I love having a backyard!! And I love our little animal visitors! 

Sidewalk Chalk

I'd bought this awesome box of crayons sidewalk chalk last summer .. And we were told by property management of the apartment building that we were not allowed to use it :( Boo.

This year, we have a long car-less driveway to decorate, and decorate we did! That is seriously the best sidewalk chalk I've ever had the joy of playing with! We all had so much fun :)

Church Bells

One of my absolute favorite things about our neighborhood is the church bells. Every day they ring at 12pm and 6pm, and then after mass and special events like school children visits, weddings and such. My kids love the "jingle bells" too .. They're so pleasant and cheerful.

I'm so grateful for those heart-warming bells! 

Dress Up

A friend of mine dropped off some clothes for Leanna .. Mostly shoes and boots, hats and mittens, but there was a LoT. At first I was like, thanks so much and uhhhhh what do I do with all this stuff?! But then my little Leanna showed me ..

We play dress up!! 

I'm grateful for the clothing, as we now have a good stock in store for Fall and Winter .. And more grateful for this silly moment :)

It's the little things

This morning I woke up to a little surprise: hubby had a coffee ready for me on my nightstand. 

It's a very small thing but it meant the world to me. So sweet :) Grateful!

Family Movie Night

We had one of those rare days where all four of us were home (with the exception of the 3 hours Austin was away for school!). The remaining three of us went and did our big load of groceries for the week and made it home in time to get Austin off the bus .. And spent the day playing and laughing (and napping!) together. With the exception of the standard children "push our parents' buttons" moments, it was a great day, followed by our favorite taco dinner and then a movie night! 

We all changed into our jammies and had an ice cream sundae and started the movie .. Where we all snuggled under a blanket on the couch and watched Turbo on netflix (that movie is SO cute!!). 

Can you tell it was my cheat night? ;)

It was so good to be home as a whole family :) So grateful for these rare occasions, they are so special to me! 

Chuck Norris Jokes

Chuck Norris jokes always make me burst out laughing .. Like stomach-hurting, asthma-attack-invoking kind of laughter. Derek and I used to occupy each other with Chuck Norris jokes on our looooooong bus rides to the midwife office when I was pregnant with Austin! 

This morning we had a few good laughs over coffee. Thanks Chuck! 

Shopping Cart Hugs

When your baby is sitting in the shopping cart and reaches out to you for a hug <3

New Backpack!

I get a lot of use out of my backpacks. I really do. I load tons of groceries into them, squish them into the tightest spots (my locker at work!) and use them until they've worn down to nothing. Case and point :

It probably doesn't bode well for me that I always buy the cheapest backpack I can find. So when the time came to replace this one .. I spent a little bit more on one in hopes that it'll stand up to the abuse I put it through! 

Grateful for my new one! It isn't embarrassing to walk around with and is quite big inside! Yay :)

Old Friends

I had an incredible night the other day when I had some friends from high school over for a walk down memory lane. We stocked up on treats, opened a bottle of wine, and opened up our yearbooks .. So. Much. Fun!!! We played old paper games like secret letter and MASH and talked about old times. It was a really fun night. Our stomaches were sore from laughing and so were our cheeks! 

I'm so grateful for nights like these. I'm even more grateful for friends like these! 

Powder Room

We lived with one bathroom for YEARS. One bathroom + two adults + two children = stress. It was a sucky deal. And the bathroom was tiny. There was just enough room to squeeze in a bathtub / shower combo and a sink and toilet. If ever there was more than one person in the bathroom, it was cramped. Heck, if there was only one person in there, it was cramped. There was never enough storage for all our bathroom needs. It was just not fun.

Now we have a second bathroom. It's just a powder room, with a throne and a sink with a mirror. But that's HUGE. If I'm using the bathroom upstairs and a kid needs to poop, they can use the other toilet without me having to rush to finish my business before the kid has an accident. If my husband needs to shave and I need to use the facilities, he can use one bathroom and I'll take the other. He shaves and keeps his shaving supplies in the powder room, which leaves so much storage space free in the main bathroom. 

It's such a luxury, having two bathrooms!! I don't know how we survived on only one for all those years! It is a little more to keep clean but that extra work is so worth it! Grateful! :)

My Bathtub

You know how much I adore a hot bath. Every night. It's my way of winding down and relaxing with a great book. 

This bathtub makes my night time tradition that much better. I never minded the tub back at the apartment, we were good friends .. But this tub is just so big and deep and awesome. It's so much roomier! And because of the way it dips in the back, I can sink in and rest my neck comfortably on the edge for a built-in pillow feel. It's the best way to read my book and unwind in the gorgeously hot waters. 

So grateful for the upgrade in my nighttime routine!

Stairs!

I know I've been posting about the house lately .. I can't help it, this place makes me so happy!

Today I'm grateful for stairs. My soft, fuzzy, comfortably carpeted stairs. 

Easter egg hunts used to be on the sucky side at the apartment. We really only had one space to hide eggs, and it was a pretty open room. Luckily our kids weren't ever old enough for us to need to be creative with our egg-hiding, so having a small and open apartment was convenient .. But now that the kids are older, it's more fun to be a bit trickier with where we (er, the Easter bunny) hides the eggs.

I always dreamed about having stairs to lead a trail of eggs from the kids' rooms downstairs .. And this year, that dream came true! The eggs looked so pretty in the stairway! 

It really is the little things in life :)

Open Kitchen

We live in a home that has a fantastic kitchen / dining room feature, where there is an open counter that can be used as a breakfast bar, that looks over the dining room. It's bright and beautiful and one of my favorite parts of the house. I can be busy in the kitchen but right there with our company! 

One thing I love about it is how the kids can play on the counter (the breakfast bar side!) while I'm making supper. That way they're keeping me company but out of harm's way (and my way!). It's a great feature of the house :)

Love my silly goofs! :)

Grateful for this opened-style kitchen for the ease of being able to make a meal without the kids being in my feet .. But still being there! :)

The Letter C

Today's post is brought to you by the letter C.

Crayons, coloring, coffee and crowns.

Love mornings like this! :)

Our Backyard #2

This weekend, our kids spent every free minute outside, playing in the backyard. They probably got more outdoor play time this Easter weekend than they did the entire time we lived in our apartment!

I can't tell you how many times my heart burst with happiness. Like, tears in my eyes and the whole nine yards. Corny stuff, but my reality. 

My favorite part of our house is the backyard. It's not the biggest yard you'd ever see, and the deck and yard itself both need a bunch of work .. But we have a deck. And a yard. And a garden. And a tree! Our kids have a space to run and climb and laugh and shout. 

Grateful, grateful, grateful! 

Playing with their cousins this Easter weekend!

Looking for ladybugs in the garden.

Chasing Uncle Sparky!

My Backyard

I have a backyard. Not a tiny little 8X4 balcony that overlooks a hospital and is surrounded by potheads, but a nice little backyard with a deck and a tree and some nice neighbors. 

My kids have an outdoor space to run free in. And they just love it. 

I'm so grateful.

Email

Today, I'm grateful for the almighty powers of email! I've been able to keep in touch with friends from our old place, sending them pictures and updates on our new lives in the new neighborhood. I love being about to chat with them and keep in contact. I do miss seeing them in person, but email is better than nothing! :)

Dairy Milk Cookie Dough Bar

Seriously, try it. You'll totally get why I'm grateful for it!

Moisturizer

My apologies .. I know the whole purpose of my blog is to be grateful for one thing every day, and I haven't been posting daily. I'm working crazy hours this weekend, and trying to pack and clean and prepare for our move in between shifts (six days to go!!!!). My posts probably won't be every single day this week, but I'll definitely try!

Today I'm grateful for moisturizer. My skin can get suuuuuper dry, especially in the winter time (like, alligator-skin dry!) .. So I'm thankful for this stuff for giving life to my skin and for protecting it. My face always feels better once I've gotten creamed! :)

Test-Driving Tubs

Decided to stretch out in my dream tub after I finished cleaning it today at the new house. Realized that I need to get a bath pillow but hot damn, was it ever comfy in there! Just over a week to go before it's officially "mine!"

Grateful for this trial run .. I'm so thankful for where I'm coming from and where I'm going! 

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers

I had a story behind this post, but after all the heavy-duty cleaning and packing (and injuries inquired because of said heavy-duty-ness) today, I'm exhausted and will make this short but sweet.

I am so grateful for these magic erasers, as they made a very difficult job today just a little bit easier. Total lifesavers. I have always loved them in the past, but never as much as I did today.

Thank you, little miracle sponges!

Ikea

I went to the new ikea this weekend (well, new to me, but it really was only considered "new" when it renovated and opened what, two years ago?).

I can't get over how many cool and affordable decor options they have there. Like, mind = blown. I'd been stressing for a whole about the kinds of things I'd want at the new house to make it "us"! And I found a lot of answers there. Slowly but surely, we'll get one piece at a time to make our house look terrific.

Our first purchase was a new play table for our kids, since the one we have is falling apart and getting too tiny for them! We didn't get the one pictured above (but we did get them to try it out!). I'll be assembling it in the new house as a

Special treat for the kids .. I can't wait to see them play at it.

Thanks, ikea .. You got my inner interior decorator a-blazin and my newly frugalness all excited :)

Insoles

I am required by Home Depot to wear steel toe shoes when I work. Now, when I first got the job, I hadn't been working for four months and had little money to spare on shoes, so I got the cheapest pair I could find.

Hubby warned me to get a better pair of shoes. I didn't listen.

Hubby warned me to get a good set of insoles. I didn't listen.

I can be incredibly stupid in my life where I need to learn things the hard way.

A couple of months into my new job, my legs started to get crampy towards the end of my shifts. Nothing horribly painful, but definitely uncomfortable. I pushed my way through it and kept doing yoga stretches through my shifts.

Then a couple of months later, the leg cramps were intensifying and my lower back was starting to get achy. Significantly so.

Fast forward to this week. My leg cramping and lower back pains had escalated to the point where I was almost paralyzed with pain at the end of every shift. I could barely walk (but as all hard workers and mamas do, I pushed my way through it). 

This time, I listened to hubby when he (rightfully) gave me poop and told me to buy insoles.

I didn't know what the heck I was looking for, but I knew Dr Scholls was a good brand so I targeted them in the store and made my pick. Clearance for $11.47. Score.

I've only worn them for one shift and let me tell you .. Did they ever help. Like, in a holy cow kinda way. 

I can't even tell you how incredible it was to be able to walk comfortably out of the store at the end of my shift without pain. Heaven!

Thank you, dear insoles .. I am grateful for your shock-absorbing goodness that protects my bones from the concrete floors of the warehouse. My body is grateful. 

Dollarama

Derek and I really want to set the kids' rooms up nicely in the new home in hopes that the transition is made a bit easier for them. We want to fill their rooms with posters and decor of things they love, like princesses and purple and hockey and superheroes! 

I'd been stressing a bit about this because as we can all figure out, decor can be quite costly. 

Well, I had to go to Dollarama the other day for envelopes and a new notebook, and I walked through the store to kill time while waiting for M&M Meats to open, and I came across a whole bunch of affordable decor for the kids! I was able to pick up a hockey flag and some superhero and princess foam stickers for their walls. It wasn't much but it'll mean the world to them when they see them up in their rooms!

So today I'm grateful to Dollarama for giving me affordable decor that'll give me priceless smiles when the kids see them! 

March Break

Today (and every day this week!) I'm grateful for March break. We got to sleep in every day (NO ALARMS!), spent lots of quality time together, and had all-around cheerful kids. It's also extremely rare that all four of us are together for even one day in a month - this week, we got three days together!! It was amazing.

So I'm incredibly grateful for this March break. I got to see my son SO much and we all got to spend lots of time together as a family. It's been wonderful! :)

Packing = Learning

We were packing (seems that's all we do these days, lol!) and decided to turn it into a learning lesson.

What better way to label boxes than with the ABC's! Learning opportunities are everywhere :)

Grateful for these little moments!

Wish Chips

.. Cuz everyone knows these chips are way better than the plain circle ones :)

I ate a bunch of these growing up (didn't we all!) and always made a wish on them .. The wishes didn't usually come true, but they were still fun to eat!