Not a Box

This project was sent home with Austin one day for "homework". I thought it was an adorable project and luckily, since we are moving, we had lots of boxes to choose from! 

It made for a fun family activity that we all enjoyed. Austin made an Avengers House and Leanna made a house for her kitty cat. 

I'm grateful for this project as it made for a nice family morning! :)

Mini Manis!

Today I'm grateful for one of these mommy-daughter moments I've been dreaming about: mini manis!

This picture was taken after we'd each had our first coat of polish. Leanna just loved going through the colors to pick out her favorite: purple! She then finished it off with a coat of pink sparkles. SO Leanna, lol! I went with a gorgeous dark blue, one of my favorites. 

I'm excited to have many of these moments with my baby girl (to be fair, when Austin came home from school, he wanted his nails to be the same blue I had, but daddy wouldn't let me lol!). I know I'll have a lot of bonding memories with my little dude too. :)

Hubby #2

(Apparently, my Keurig needs a good wipe-down).

I woke up this morning feeling so sleepy and groggy and wishing that I could get back to bed and sleep for another four hours.

Buuuuut the kids were up and we had a gold medal hockey game to watch.

Walked into the kitchen and .. The hubs had pre-filled my k-cup with coffee grinds for me. All I had to do was close the lid and hit the button.

Best. Hubby. Ever. So grateful!

Perfect Bath Water

When you jump into a desperately needed hot bath after a very long, tiring, but wonderful day ... And the water is just.perfect.

Grateful.

Uncle Sparky

Kevin comes over every week to visit with us and the kids. I really look forward to his visits. He's great with the kids and they just love him too. We always have game night together and split dinner (he buys one week, we make the next). 

I'm very grateful that the kids have an uncle like him in their lives. We really do want to teach our kids about how important family is and he's a great show of it! :)

Coloring Books

Austin wasn't big on coloring (and still isn't!) but our Leanna absolutely adores it .. And I totally do, too. I've always been anxious to color with my kids and so I'm super glad I've got one who likes it as much as I do! 

So today I'm grateful for coloring books. I love the fun pictures and enjoy coming up with neat new ways to make colors pop. I'm not much of an artist but I sure do love to color! It's an affordable and fun way I get to bond with my baby girl :)

Cheap Diet Coke

I'd been craving diet coke for over a week and was never able to get any .. And this week, Derek went and got me a 12-pack for $1.99! Woot!! 

So I'm grateful for this diet coke. It's not name brand but it does the trick and cures my craving. Yaaaaaay diet coke!

I may have a problem lol! 

Rosey Cheeks!

I'm not a big fan of winter. Cuz .. With winter, comes snow. And wind chill warnings. And severe cold. Austin doesn't seem to hate it like I do, but he definitely doesn't seem to love it, either. 

But my girl just adores winter. Every single day, she asks to play in the snow. And as much as I dislike winter, I do NOT want to take that joy away from her.

And so, when I'm outside freezing my yin yang off, I'll remember how grateful I am for the sweetness of her smile and those beautiful rosey red cheeks. She just loves the snow and winter I will forever want her to keep that .. And her rosey cheeks! 

Father-Son Moments

I tucked my daughter into bed and went to say my good night to my boy .. And saw this. My goofy guys, kicking back and reading about Superman. 

It was a very sweet moment to walk in on, and I just loved it. Two best pals reading a book <3

Grateful for moments like this .. Because our kids are growing way too fast and we need to savor every.single.moment. 

Old Halloween Costumes

I have always kept old Halloween costumes to keep for days where we feel like dressing up .. And today, Austin's old puppy costume came in handy. Meet Leanna, our little puppy, enjoying some dog treats (Cheerios!) and a bowl of water. She then went on to play frisbee with us :)

Grateful for old Halloween costumes, for the fun they provide us with! 

Crazy Hair Day

My boy had a rough night last night (as you can tell from the bags under his eyes!) and really wasn't very cooperative this morning when I tried to work his hair into something bonkers for his school's Crazy Hair Day. The hair style didn't last long, but it lasted juuuuust long enough to get this pouty photo!

So today I'm grateful for crazy hair day, for this funny photo that I'll always treasure! 

My Kids #1

Another post I'm labeling with a number because there will likely be hundreds of these.

Every single minute of my life, I'm grateful for my kids. They are just my absolute joy. They can cheer me up when I'm in the darkest of moods, give the sweetest hugs and are the silliest people I've ever known. 

So today, and every day, I'm grateful for my kids. I can't describe how much I love them or how happy they make me .. But I do, and they do! 

I'll bet you can't look at that picture without cracking a grin! :)

Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

We've been having this lunch a lot throughout winter. It is so warm and tasty, especially on those really cold winter days. I just love to dip my grilled cheese on the soup, yum!!

So today I'm grateful for grilled cheese with tomato soup. It's a cheap and filling meal, and body-warming on cold winter days. 

Blanket Forts

We had an extremely rare day last week: all four of us were home. For an entire day. 

Aside from Austin battling a bad cough thanks to a nasty cold, it was an amazing day.

And we made blanket forts!! I remember making them as a kid. Oh, how I loved playing in my fort, pretending I was in my own little world, just me and my books and toys. 

Our kids adored them too. It was tough to get a good picture because they were so excited! 

So today, I'm grateful for blanket forts, for bringing back some great childhood memories that I was able to pass on to my kids! 

Price Matching

So this week was my first attempt at price-matching to get more for our few bucks. 

It was a lot of work. I sat down and went through each flyer, marking down the item I wanted, the size in grams / servings, and the price. I circled the item in the flyer so it was easy to find, and moved onto the next. I had a chart worked out and a nice pile of flyers ready to go.

Off we went.

We went to Walmart and went through each aisle, making sure to grab the exact items that were featured in the flyers. And we stocked up! Then I organized all the items according to which flyer they were in, and went to the checkout. I was so nervous because I'd never price-matched before, and what if the cashier hated me?!

He didn't. You could tell he was a bit annoyed, but he was okay.

I haven't worked out the exact amount we saved yet, but I know it was easily between $30-$40!!! And savings aside, on the money we did spend, we got so much more than we would have at our regular grocery store. And we had money leftover to save!! 

I was SO excited (and still am!!) about how much we were able to buy, and how little we had to spend. Our cupboards have not looked this full in months.

Price-matching is a lot of work, not only because of the homework involved and the long checkout process, but also since we don't have a car, it means doing one medium load of groceries and lugging them home by bus, then going back another day for another medium load and lugging it all home. But in the end, the work is SO worth it.

We weren't able to price match our meats and produce yet, as the Walmart closest to us is not a superstore with those sections, but when we move to the new house, our nearest Walmart and RCSS will, and we will save even more!! 

So today (and pretty much every day for the rest of my life!) I am grateful for price-matching. If not for it, we would have paid a lot more for our groceries and would have come home with a lot less, and still struggled to pull meals together throughout the week. Thank you, stores that price match! And thank you friends for teaching me how! :)

Christina #1

I titled this post #1 because like my hubby's, there will be plenty of reasons why I'm grateful for my best friend Christina. 

Today, I'm so grateful to her for generously giving us one big box of k-cups!! After I swore them off because they're so expensive!! And they're amazing!

She got two boxes of 36 k-cup samplers and she passed one on to me. The k-cups are flavored lattes and already come with the milk and sugar, so it saves on coffeemate. And they are SO good. 

So today, I'm beyond grateful to Christina for gifting us with k-cups of yummy lattes. She could have kept them all for herself, but she have one to us, which was just awesome. She's a great friend!

Cars in the Bathtub

As is my tradition, tonight I took a bath before bed. My kids had their baths earlier and Austin forgot to put his toys away. These cars were on the side of the tub. My heart swelled as big as it could get when I saw them.

That boy is just wonderful. My special little boy. I'm grateful every second of the day for him (and his sister and daddy, too!). He's my little man with a heart of gold, and I love everything about him.

So today, I'm grateful for cars in the bathtub, for giving me this time to reflect on how much my Austin means to me :)

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Homemade whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes are so yummy. It's a family favorite at the breakfast table, and it's a good way to sneak in some healthy nutrients into our diets!

But all the healthy aside, they're delicious and very homey. I'm grateful for them because they are quick to make and they disappear even quicker off the kids' plates .. Okay, and the grown-ups' plates too!

And did I mention the delicious?! Cuz yeah, there's that, too!

Freshly Cleaned Socks

This may not be a big deal to most people, but in this house, clean socks are a fantastic thing .. Like, as big as birthday gifts kind of thing. 

Why, do you ask? Laundry in this building is flipping expensive. So everything kind of gets thrown into one huge wash (like, the undergarment essentials and important articles of clothing from every person in the house) and jumbled together without having a designated "delicates / whites / colors / socks / towels" wash.

So yeah, when I finally single those socks out and give them a good hot water wash cycle, my socks (and therefore, my feet!) are very happy :) 

Grateful for hot water-washed socks for their extreme cleanliness and softness :)

Sleeping Sweetness

I try to nap when Leanna does cuz, well, I heart sleep .. And she won't be in our bedroom for long because she'll have her own in the new house, so I won't catch many moments like this ...

I walked into our bedroom to join in the fun of nap time and saw this cuteness. Our little girl, cuddling with her favorite bear in the whole wide world, and a good book.

Grateful for these moments <3

Mocha Swirl Coffee

Pretty well every day of my life, I'm grateful for coffee. It goes without saying. Well, maybe I do say it .. To my coffee .. ;)

Today, I'm especially grateful for this coffee: 

Derek and I got it on our date night last week, as we'd never seen it before in stores and coffee was on our grocery list. We used to adore Coffeemate Mocha creamer and it isn't sold here anymore (insert unhappy face) so we were intrigued when we found this coffee.

At first I wasn't 100% sold on it because I found it was a bit strong .. I prefer a lighter coffee. But after a couple of days, I realized how much I loved it. It has that bold coffee flavor with a dark chocolate undertone that is just wonderful. 

And it's coffee, so, win!

It is so much easier to get out of bed, knowing that this coffee awaits me (although, side note, we won't be able to buy it much because buying grinds for our reusable k-cup is WAY cheaper than buying pre-packaged k-cups, especially considering how much coffee is consumed in our house .. Insert crying unhappy face here).

So I'm enjoying my yummy coffee and am grateful for it being part of this morning :)

Wintery View from my Balcony

A winter storm blew in yesterday and overnight, giving me this view from my balcony this morning.

Our winter has been SO cold this year, and not overly snowy .. So getting a fresh lot of white snow to cover the black / brown / slushy gross snow was a real treat ... And it looks so pretty on those evergreen trees :)

When we move, I sure am going to miss this view. This is our balcony door overlooking the hospital. It's been our only main window for more than six years and I wanted to capture this moment on camera to always remember.

So today, I'm grateful for this Wintery view from our balcony window. It's pretty, and potentially one of the last ones I'll get to see out of this window!

New Shower Liner

For a while now, we've been meaning to get a new shower liner. Our shower curtain was just .. Dead. It was dark, the pattern was tired to me since we'd had it for years, and the bottom was stained.

On our date night this week, Derek and I picked up a souvenir - a new $3 shower liner (What! I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on a fancy liner, since we're moving into a place with a standalone shower and a liner won't be needed!).

It really is such a simple change in the bathroom but it really seemed to brighten the small space and give it a cleaner look.

So today, I'm grateful for this $3 tiny bathroom makeover. It'll make the last two months in this bathroom that much brighter :)