365 Gratitude Project- Day 47

Day 47: A gratitude at this level deserves it's own post...

I am grateful for the relationship between my husband and I, and the life we have created.



We celebrated our anniversary on this day so here is a look back at our wedding, a day that I will always be grateful for.

Us on our wonderful wedding day:

 

First seeing each other and some other photography fun while it was snowing:

 

Romantic poses in the snow that has made for beautiful framed memories around our house:

 

SNOWSHOEING fun before the ceremony:

 

More romantic time to play in the snow:

 

And time to take in those BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS while enjoying each other!

 

Back inside for the romantic, intimate, amazing ceremony:

 

Now the fun really begins! First Dance:

 

Yummy Cake:

 

All Smiles, and deep LOVE: (this photo is my favorite and brings back the rush of love and happiness I felt on that day)

Beautiful day. Beautiful start to a life together. I would do it all over again. Still, that was just one day. So what have we been up to since?

 

Hiking, traveling, snowmobiling, enjoying different experiences, and each other.

 

And Dating! Concerts, baseball games, ice skating, Christmas parties, dinners downtown.

 

Celebrating special events (weddings), life changes, and milestones: 

 

And of course.... having and enjoying kids!

 

All while finding time to fall in love all over again throughout the process:

 

Us and our life together now: 

 I am so grateful for this relationship and for the beautifully messy life we created. I wouldn't change a thing.

Wedding Location: Wild Basin Lodge
Wedding Photographer: Cheryl at Artist i Photography 
Top Right Couples Photo, Bottom "now" Family Photo, and Professional Family Photos scattered within the "having kids" collage: Andrea Flanagan Photography.
Beach Sunset Photos in the "finding time to fall in love" collage: Amy Gray Photography

365 Gratitude Project- Week 8

Day 48:

I am grateful that my son takes interest in things I do, and that he is independent and confident enough to jump right in and do it too.

Day 49:

I am grateful for this silly personality who always finds a way to make Mommy laugh. (he has always liked practicing fun yoga moves...)

 

Day 50:

I am grateful for my small family unit. The overall idea of family. The safety of family (thankfully I feel ours is a "safe place" when many people can't say the same). The unique love shared within the family. Everything about my little family. 

Bryce said today, "I love you Mommy, and baby Nathan the most…and Daddy the most too. Out of every person in this world, I love you and Nathan and Daddy the most!" 

His comment made me really grateful for this family. It's a simple, logical, "of course" kind of idea that you love your family the most, yet the comment still made me overwhelmingly grateful I have this comfort in my home and this safe family unit to love more than any other person in this world.

Day 51:

I am grateful for the one-on-one time I get to connect with Baby while Big Brother is in school. I appreciated all of that time I got with my oldest, and I'm so grateful I also get it with the youngest. 

Day 52:

I am grateful for dinner date nights downtown to reconnect a bit with my husband! (especially when the last few planned date nights/weekends had to be canceled because of sick kids)

Day 53:

I am so grateful for calm, quiet, relaxing, talk time with my son. I put the baby to nap, and went into my bedroom to take a quick deep breath "mommy time out" moment before going back down to play with Bryce. He soon came up, saw the ottoman piled with blankets and pillows, and decided to make a nice little bed for himself for "resting". For over an hour he stayed right there all comfy while I was all comfy in my bed, and we just talked about the world. It was truly one of the best moments of my life.

His comfy resting spot that he said, "Thanks Mommy, for putting these blankets here JUST FOR ME", and my view from my comfy spot on the bed. Peace.

Day 54:

I am grateful for the learning experiences with baking. I have never been a fan of baking, but it's fun to learn and experiment more now. I set up all of my different flours for gluten free baking, made up the dough wondering if the consistency was anywhere close to what it should be (who knows!), then I baked paleo blueberry muffins and gluten free sandwich bread. The muffins were a success, the bread a fail, but it's fun to learn at least. (Apparently this is what I do when I have to take time off running. Baking in place of running probably isn't the greatest idea I've ever had...)

 

365 Gratitude Project- Week 7

Day 41:

I am grateful that Daddy and Bryce can enjoy things together, like watching rocket launches. So. Cute. 

Day 42:

I am so grateful for modern conveniences...like the slow cooker which makes dinner time sooo much less stressful. 

Day 43:

I am grateful for the sweet innocence of a child. I think we can learn a lot from the way children look at the world. 

Day 44:

I am grateful for opportunities to work on cute projects with Bryce, and for opportunities for him to practice writing his name. (He got pretty confused making these monster Valentines for his class though, and kept saying it was Halloween because of the monsters...) 

Idea found here

Day 45:

I am grateful for all three of these boys' love in my life. The hands that warm my heart. My husband's and my two sons' hand prints for Valentine's Day. I love it. 

Day 46:

I am grateful for wonderful gifts sent/given to the boys from family. It's always sad to have so much of our family out of town, but they still find ways to make us and our boys feel loved! 

365 Gratitude Project- Week 6

 Grateful Week 6

Day 34: 

I am grateful for the silly things that only kids can figure out how to do, that make you say, "How in the world???".  My boys find things out that I didn't even know could happen. Although they are a pain to get back to normal (like somehow getting the TV picture to be on it's side), it's pretty funny at the time. It makes mundane daily life more interesting.

Day 35:

I am grateful for the cute conversations between these brothers.

Bryce: "Nathan Nu, how did you get in that closet?" ("Nathan Nu" is a name Bryce gave to him very soon after he was born. It stuck and now that's just his nickname).
"Really Nathan, how did you do that?"
Nathan looked right at big brother and said directly, "Ah Da!"
Bryce: "Ohhhhh, I seeee, you used your "ah da" powers to open the door. Good job!"
Nathan shook his head yes and smiled. 
I love it! "Ah da powers"! Of course! Ha!

Day 36:

To be completely honest, I didn't take one photo on this day. It was actually a pretty rough day.  I suppose that's the point of this project though, to find and focus on the things I can be grateful for, even in the middle of a bad day. I did see a few things in the day that I realized, even in the middle of it all, that I am grateful for (mostly medical world things, and of course sweet words from my husband and son), but no photos were taken. SO, for today, I just put this collage together of many other moments that make me grateful for ANY day, even the bad days.

Day 37: 

I am grateful for the moments I get to just sit back and listen to my son tell stories while playing with toys (especially when he doesn't think I'm listening or watching). I love soaking in these moments because listening to him talk and play is such a nice sound in the house, and it's something I will miss greatly when he gets older!

 

Day 38: 

I am grateful for smiles. 

LOOK AT THOSE TEETH!

Day 39:

I am grateful for sticky hand prints on the floor. Look closely...yep, the light came in just right to show a sticky hand print on the wood floor (which is also very scratched up). I thought this was so cute for some reason, even when it actually just means I need to clean the floors.  

Day 40:

I am grateful for the kids' bedtime....
Nothing sweet about this one. I'm honestly just grateful for the quiet time after they are down to bed.

365 Gratitude Project- Week 5

Grateful Week 5

Day 27:

I am grateful for texts from an amazing friend who I can share whatever I am feeling, without ever feeling judged, and hear back nothing but support and encouragement. Sometimes that support is calling me out, telling me I'm wrong and that I need to change. Sometimes it's just listening and validating. Sometimes it's holding on to reminders/experiences/previous conversations to bring up again at the perfect time when I need that encouragement most. This morning I was venting my concerns and how discouraged I am about being sick, which is putting me behind in training for my half marathon goal. The response in the screenshot below was that reminder, as well as the encouragement I needed today.

Now I actually have to believe it, but that's a different blog topic altogether... 

Day 28:

I am grateful for the ease of making coffee in the morning with the Keurig. I'm barely functioning in the morning on a good day, and functioning even less when I'm sick and exhausted. And, I'm grateful for nice large coffee mugs.... (I'm seriously supposed to be cutting caffeine out of my diet....tomorrow....)

Day 29:

I am grateful for the opportunities my son gives me to teach or reinforce life lessons now, when the situations are so small, and when he's still so young.

I walked into the playroom to find Bryce had knocked everything off the shelves, just for fun, just to make a mess. Why? Why does he want to be destructive sometimes? I seriously did not need this extra work today. I could have cleaned it pretty quickly, yet I decided to take the tougher, longer, (and more work for me) route. I can't help but think it's worth it to stand firm and give myself more work now, to be able to reinforce a lesson to Bryce (and hope standing firm now will make things easier and stick more later when the situations are more serious).

All I said was, "Oh my gosh, it looks like you have a mess to clean up."

His response, "but spaceship....I mean airplane was..."

"No, sweetie, spaceship did not knock this stuff off the shelf. Airplane did not knock this stuff off the shelf. Bryce did. And now Bryce gets to pick it all back up, clean up the mess HE made and take responsibility for his actions." (we did have a nice talk about "responsibility" later).

There was some complaining, crying, asking for teamwork, and trying whatever he could to get out of it for a long time at first. So much that I began to completely doubt my decision and if he could even get it done, thinking, oh no...what now??
But, he did it! After some encouragement, he finished the job, which admittedly was a pretty big job for a 4 year old. 

The best part? He always processes things aloud as they are happening, so I was listening from the other room and overheard him say during his cleaning, "Oh. My. Gosh. It takes a LOOONNGGG time to clean things up when I knock everything off the shelves."
Yes, yes it does. (lesson learned, or at the very least a lesson seed planted??)
He's such a good kid.

Day 30:

 I am grateful for homemade chicken noodle soup! This was my best batch yet!

The base recipe I used was here. I like the slow cooker recipes because it's easy to toss in and then I smell it all day. I changed it quite a bit and couldn't tell you exactly what I did differently, and I try to use fresh herbs when I can, but I like this recipe to begin, and it turned out very yummy this time!

 

  Day 31:

I am grateful for new cookbooks, especially ones with amazing layouts and photos! Seriously, EVERY cookbook should use photos for the table of contents. I learned something new about myself as well. Apparently, I enjoy reading cookbooks cover to cover when I first get them.
Although I haven't tasted the recipes yet, so can't give anywhere close to a full review, at first glance (and cover to cover read through), I already love this cookbook.

Amazon link for the book Make Ahead Paleo if you are interested.

 

 Day 32:

I am grateful for my son's brilliant blue eyes. It warms my heart that he may keep that little piece of me.
(and because I couldn't go the whole week without including at least one photo of one of the boys....)

Day 33:

I am grateful for a husband who dives right into home projects when I mention something I'd like. Yesterday I mentioned I wanted a corner bench in the playroom with a space for storage for toy bins underneath so I could get rid of the ugly bookshelf there. I gave him my idea, he went in the garage to grab wood, said, "would this work?", then started sketching out the ideas. Then today, Daddy and Bryce have already started building it!
I guess I now need to decide what color to paint it... and learn how to sew the cushion that will go on the top....

This is one piece. They will make another just like it to create a whole corner piece, do final touches, and then I will paint it and figure out how to make a cushion for the top. It's so simple, yet I love it!