100 101 Things to be Grateful For!

Thursday (the second half of the post):
6. At least a little good news for my very pregnant sister, Brooke—even if it’s not her baby yet. (Hurry up, baby!)
7. A sweet sister from church who loaned me her jacket—it was FREEZING for June!!
8. On that note, aside from one hot spell + visitors in April, we haven’t turned on our A/C yet this year.
9. Being brave and calling a stranger (service provider) for an appointment.
10. I’m going to the BEACH! (Just check out my Pinterest: clearly I’m inspired by this, even though it’s quite some time away.)

Friday

1. New plants in the garden! Yeah, I had to buy them, but, hey—tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to go along with our peas!
2. All the materials I need (hopefully) for two crafts now in my possession.
3. Getting started on one of those crafts—working hard (tune in to Wayward Girls Crafts Monday for the big reveal!)
4. Blogging with my sisters—it’s so fun to work with them and see what they’re up to!
5. Having Jaime on our “promotion team.” (Maybe you should switch careers to social media, Jai 😉
6. Getting stuff done, even when I have two kids with me.
7. Dinner at a Japanese steakhouse! Fun! I even caught a shrimp in my mouth! (Much luckier than the other lady at the table, who caught it with her glasses.
8. Reasonably well-behaved kids during said dinner (even though we forgot to bring anything for Rachel to eat!
9. $20 off said dinner—Ryan’s always scouring City Deals.
10. Being done with this dang project!
11. A friend who did it with me!

All right, to be honest, I kind of came to hate doing this. Like my friend Elisa said, it seemed to put on a lot of pressure to post daily, something which neither of us do—it became an obligation. It did take some stretching to think of things I hadn’t mentioned before.

However, it was nice to take a few minutes at the end of the day (or a day or two later) and think about all the good parts of the day—the things that I enjoyed most about the day and the things the adorable things that all my kids had done. Plus it’s helped filling in Rachel’s baby calendar (if I had a grateful list for today this would be on there: I have a list of everything I need to add to Rachel’s last month of her calendar! Now if only I could find one of the two special markers I’ve bought to write in there…)

But once when I’d really had enough during bedtime, I went in my room and tried to think of the gratefuls for the day. I think that’s a pretty good take away, don’t you?

What are you grateful for? Not taking on the challenge?

My 100 101!

1. Rain—don’t have to water the garden! (Borrowed from my friend Elisa, who’s also participating!)
2. My garden (okay, my sugar snap peas) is growing.
3. Ryan just cut both yards and they look very neat.
4. Hayden’s drawings—today he drew me an awesome cow 😀 .
5. Getting things done with the rest of the Executive Committee of my writers’ group.
6. Chopped!
7. Chatting with my sister, which I missed today.
8. Contact lenses and glasses.
9. Already having my pineapple CUPside-down CAKES, done and posted on Wayward Girls’ Crafts for this week!
10. Sleeping in! (relatively)
11. Naps, even if in theory only.
12. Rachel kicking with delight!
13. Checking things off my to do list (like this post!).
14. Putting the kids to bed early-ish.
15. That Rebecca’s hair will grow. (See last picture.)
16. Potty training! (And being done!)
17. Finishing off the cookies we made last night—no more temptation.
18. Left overs and Ryan reheating them.
19. Tuna salad sandwiches with celery, making me think of my mom.
20. Hayden including his sisters in playing with his blocks. And his blogs. But more about that next week.
21. I actually do like Rebecca’s bangs. Love, even!
22. Rachel getting more and more courageous at walking.
23. Hayden riding bikes with the neighbor boys. (Can I tell you how cute I think this is?!)
24. Neighbors we trust (and love).
25. The DVR (sad but true).
26. Forgiving myself/not pushing myself (all the way) into burnout.
27. Hayden’s creative buildings with blocks.
28. Cool new software available free for my site.
29. Not having to go grocery shopping.
30. Getting everyone out of pajamas, away from screens, and spending time together.
31. A new “smile chart” for encouraging good behaviors, mostly for Hayden
32. Yoga when I just don’t feel like aerobics.
33. WEBSITE BACKUPS!!! (Nothing to do with #8 above.)
34. Tech support at Bluehost.
35. Rebecca’s favorite movie and her imagination play with Monsters Inc.
36. Not having to clip Rebecca’s hair back.
37. Online “chatting” with “old” friends 😉 and jokes about “punctuation” 😉
38. Writing something totally fun!
39. An editing job I really feel good about!
40. Sending something to critique partners.
41. Aunt Jasmine!
42. Fun times with friends
43. Homemade pizza (made by my friend)
44. Our friend who takes Hayden out for fun
45. Homemade cookies (made by Hayden and ^ friend)
46. Rachel’s excitedly tackling her daddy
47. Rachel’s favorite (only?) word: HeyDAH! (Hayden; Hi, Dad; Hi there; Here it is)
48. For the first time in 43 months, I am neither pregnant nor nursing!
49. Ryan doesn’t work on Fridays
50. My aerobics show
51. Our freedoms.
52. Those who have sacrificed (and are now sacrificing) to preserve those freedoms.
53. A day off!
54. Rachel going from hands and feet to just feet without support.
55. Craft store sales.
56. Ambitious art projects (I’m so NOT that, but I’m ready to try now!)
57. More exciting (and delicious) projects coming up for Wayward Girls’ Crafts
58. One (and only one) fun find at garage sales/thrift stores over the weekend.
59. Lining up the first teacher for the first class for my writer’s group!
60. Ryan putting Rachel to bed.
61. Finally, May-worthy weather!
62. Time at the park (even if we all got a little sunburned)
63. Takeout for dinner
64. Lining up more teachers for my writers group
65. Homemade doughnuts
66. Going to bed early! Seriously couldn’t keep my eyes open after 10:30 last night.
67. Rebecca’s imaginary toys at the park (which she told her daddy all about at dinner)
68. New friends for Hayden at the park.
69. Rachel said “Hi, Dada” three times this morning!
70. Man—just a great day!
71. Ryan taking my frustrations
72. Rachel’s first ride in a car shopping cart.
73. A place to run off to
74. A fairly good grocery shopping trip
75. A good day at eating
76. Cleaning up, even if it needs more work done!
77. A baby who wakes up happy.
78. Getting up early. (And it’s a rare day when I can say that—either that I’ve done it or that I’m grateful.)
79. Finishing the smile chart: Hayden did earn the helmet and the bell. Still have to tally up Rebecca’s.
80. A baby who eats well. Usually.
81. Growing kids!
82. Hand-me-downs from cousins.
83. Finding new clothes I forgot the kids had.
84. A night out with the ladies from church
85. Chocolate chips. In moderation.
86. At least a little good news for my very pregnant sister, Brooke—even if it’s not her baby yet. (Hurry up, baby!)
87. A sweet sister from church who loaned me her jacket—it was FREEZING for June!!
88. On that note, aside from one hot spell + visitors in April, we haven’t turned on our A/C yet this year.
89. Being brave and calling a stranger (service provider) for an appointment.
90. I’m going to the BEACH! (Just check out my Pinterest: clearly I’m inspired by this, even though it’s quite some time away.)
91. New plants in the garden! Yeah, I had to buy them, but, hey—tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to go along with our peas!
92. All the materials I need (hopefully) for two crafts now in my possession.
93. Getting started on one of those crafts—working hard (tune in to Wayward Girls Crafts Monday for the big reveal!)
94. Blogging with my sisters—it’s so fun to work with them and see what they’re up to!
95. Having Jaime on our “promotion team.” (Maybe you should switch careers to social media, Jai 😉
96. Getting stuff done, even when I have two kids with me.
97. Dinner at a Japanese steakhouse! Fun! I even caught a shrimp in my mouth! (Much luckier than the other lady at the table, who caught it with her glasses.
98. Reasonably well-behaved kids during said dinner (even though we forgot to bring anything for Rachel to eat!
99. $20 off said dinner—Ryan’s always scouring City Deals.
100. Being done with this dang project!
101. A friend who did it with me!