Recently in Grateful Friday Category

As the countdown to Thanksgiving starts (how many days left to do all that baking?) I've been thinking a lot about the topic of being grateful and giving thanks for all the things I have in my life. Then I heard this and it put it all into focus for me:

And that's one of the reasons I started doing Grateful Friday. Times are good. Times are bad. But if we can take just one moment out of each week to list the things we're grateful for at that moment, then we can actively work towards our own happiness. And isn't that all anyone really wants anyway? To be happy?

That being said, here are the things for which I'm grateful this week:

- The general good health of our families.

- Being able to spend two more months with Sindri after he was diagnosed with cancer. I wish it could have been longer, but I'm happy to have been able to spend some time with him and pamper him a little. I have friends who had to put their dogs to sleep immediately after they were diagnosed. In a way, we were lucky.

- Pulling off my mom's surprise 50th birthday party last weekend. My brother and sister and I have been planning it for a couple of months and we were SURE she would find out about it beforehand. You have to know that my mom is the one who still secretly unwraps her gifts under the Christmas tree to see what she's getting. She then secretly wraps them up again and acts surprised Christmas morning. We had to hide our presents to her every year. She's a hard one to fool. This time, though, I think we did it. We gathered about 40 family members, even distant ones, in a room and surprised her when she walked in the door. I know she was surprised because she turned bright red and couldn't speak for a few minutes. The biggest surprise, though, was seeing all three of her kids together. We flew my brother down to Atlanta and then we all went straight to the party on Sunday. My mom had no idea I was in town, much less Rob. It was having all of us together again and I think that meant more than the party itself.

- The fact that Bill has a job that makes him happy, and allows me to stay home with the kids during the day. There are times when I jokingly complain about being a frazzled mommy, but in truth I do realize how lucky I am to be able to spend each day with the girls and see each and every little milestone and funny thing they do.

- Blackberry jam. Mmmmm.

- The fact that Maddie likes pumpkin pie/muffins/cake just like I do. She thinks it's great to point it out every time. "We're like each other!" It's great for me because she'll each pumpkin muffins all day long -- a wonderful thing when your 4 year old refuses to eat any vegetables at all. (Although I've been sneaking them in as an ingredient lately and she has no idea.)

- Watching the girls with their Uncle Rob. They only see my brother about once a year, so I was surprised at how excited they were when he was in town last weekend. In fact, they were fighting with one another over who was going to sit next to him at dinner. It's nice knowing that they remember him, even at this young age, when they see him so rarely.

- "Sweater weather" in Atlanta.

- Doing fun, wacky projects with the girls. Today we made construction paper handprint turkeys, and alien hats out of tin foil. It's fun to watch their little imaginations run wild when they're drawing or dressing up. Josie makes the funniest alien too.

- The holiday season. It's my favorite time of year.

- Hearing the girls sing Lollipop by Mika in the car for the 10,000th time.

- Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Lattes

- That feeling you get when you stand back and look at your house after you've spent an entire Saturday doing yard work. Pure pride.

- A really good, and easy, fudge recipe. I took some to my mom's party and people kept coming up and asking me about it. That was a new experience for me.

- Blake's birthday. Happy Birthday! We love you!! :)

We haven't posted anything in a while (yes, you've all pointed it out) but I thought I'd write about the last few weeks, seeing that our next post about our Disney trip will probably an incredibly long one. :)

- Bill took me to the Bjork concert a few weeks ago. Attending one of her concerts was another one of my 43 things. I'd known about her tour, but she wasn't scheduled to come to Atlanta until last month when she added some more shows, including one here. The concert was amazing and her voice was so pure that it sounded at times like I was listening to one of her CDs. It's an understatement to say that Bjork was adorable. She'd say, "Thank you!" after every song and each time the audience would laugh a little because it was so cute. (It sounded more like "Tank U" in a little girl voice.) And don't even get me started about how she sounded when she said "Gracias" a few times in her Icelandic accent. I seriously had to restrain myself from jumping up and dancing a few times. If the concert had been outdoors, that would have been okay, but it was at the Fox Theater (gorgeous!) and I didn't want to block the view of the people behind me. I know I'm going to sound like a huge dork here, but there were moments where I couldn't even believe I was in the same room as she. Has anyone else experienced something similar? Anyone that you've idolized since you were a kid and you finally see them in concert?

- Josie had the croup two weeks ago, but got over it pretty quickly. Still, it was scary. She was fine and then woke up in the middle of the night and we could hear coughing. We went in and found her barely able to breathe and crying. She would have a "barking" cough but then have trouble catching her breath. We were just about to go to the ER when she calmed down a little. We called the advice nurse instead and by that time Josie had fallen asleep on my shoulder. The nurse said she should be fine if she was able to sleep, but we made a doctor's appt. for the next morning. She got over it pretty quickly, though a little cough did linger for a week or so. We'd never experienced anything like that with Maddie. Now we can appreciate how scary it must have been for Mike and Kami when Ethan had it.

- One of Maddie's friends is in a little gym class. Her class had a "bring a friend" day and asked Maddie to come. There are only a few kids in the class and they hadn't brought anyone with them, so Josie was allowed to join the class for a tryout as well. I worried because she started asking as soon as we walked in the door if she would get to play too. The girls got a chance to get some energy out and the moms got a chance to relax and watch them learn things like walking on a balance beam and doing rolls on the floor.

- Sindri got his stitches taken out a few weeks ago as well. Things look great and he's been given the "all clear". He got over his little depression and now seems completely normal -- you know, except for missing one leg. Honestly, you'd never really notice except for the way he walks with a little extra hop in his step.

- We got a new DVR. We were using Replay TV, but since we had gotten our new HD TV we weren't able to use any of the HD channels without changing our cable package. We changed it and also switched over to their DVR as well. It's taken a little time to learn (I could use the old remote with my eyes closed) but we're pretty happy, and boy, does seeing things in HD really make a difference. In fact, there are some things I really don't want to see in HD: You really get a chance to see just how much makeup the actors wear and exactly what their skin looks like.

- I'm SO grateful that my pink eye went away in time for Tina's wedding. My brother-in-law's sister got married and asked Maddie and Josie to be flower girls in the wedding. I was in charge of the music for the ceremony. As you know, I woke up with it on the morning of our family portrait. That was ruined, but luckily it was all gone by the next weekend for the wedding. There's NO way I wanted that immortalized in any pictures. The girls were adorable and did an excellent job of scattering rose petals. I worried that they'd get nervous, but they had a great time. A few weeks before, when I had told Maddie that we were going to the wedding, she asked, "Am I going to get married-ed?" I had to explain that no, she wasn't getting married. She replied, "Can I still get a pretty dress to wear?" No problem.

- We had Maddie's birthday party this past weekend. Her actual birthday isn't until next week while we're at Disney, but we had a little party for her friends and my family this weekend. We had it at a great little park and the weather was perfect. Warm, with a nice breeze. After weather reports of 90 degrees and thunderstorms, I was relieved. It started out as just a little party for my family and close friends, but well, things grew as I sent out the invites and a few more people came. It wasn't a problem, really. The park was able to accommodate all of us and there were enough cupcakes for everyone to have more than one. Maddie really wanted a Minnie Mouse cake. In her words she wanted a, "brown cake with white on top and Minnie Mouse and it says 'Happy Birthday, Maddie!'" You know, not specific at all. It took me at least 5 different places to find a bakery that could make a Mickey/Minnie Mouse cake. None of the others were licensed for Disney characters, or the ones that were only did Princesses and Cars and Nemo. We were able to get a gigantic cupcake cake (the best invention ever! No silverware and everyone just grabs a cupcake to pull the cake apart) with Mickey and Minnie on top. She was ecstatic. My mom and stepdad, sister and brother-in-law, and Bill's brother Todd were able to come so it made it even more special.

- A Tea Party with Mommy. Our playdate group scheduled a little tea party for moms and daughters at a local teahouse. The teahouse supplies all the dressup clothes and hats. We got a chance to dress up and have a little lunch together. Finger sandwiches and "tea" (hot chocolate, which Josie informed me was really "warm chocolate) and little petit fours. They were such little grownups, sitting nicely and sipping their tea (pinkies high!) They both kept saying "This is so delightful" in little Fancy Nancy voices.

- Braves game. A company that works with Bill sponsored a day at the Braves game. The event included a catered lunch and free seats. The girls loved cheering on the team and doing the "tomahawk chop". They ran the bases on the upper deck and played in the Cartoon Network kids' area. They got to meet the Braves cheerleaders and pick out their own Braves caps.

- We leave for Disney early Saturday morning. WE CAN'T WAIT! You can physically feel the excitement brewing at our house right now. I've spent the last few days trying to pack as well as clean our house for the housesitter who will be watching the animals while we're gone. We're going at a great time because September and October are "Preschool Magic" times at Disney. They have specially planned events and activities for preschoolers. We'll get in Saturday afternoon and meet up with our friends Carolyn and Todd, who oddly enough have been at Disney this week. Our vacations are overlapping by two days, so we're going to get together and check out Downtown Disney Saturday night. I mean, how fun is it that Maddie's best friend (and Josie's as well -- Grace and Kaylie are very popular in our house) will be at Disney while she's there? Then Grandma and Grandpa will be joining us on Sunday. The girls will get to see the parks and enjoy time with them. We're hoping to visit Bill's Aunt Joanne one day as well. It's sad, but we realized the girls have never been to a real beach or seen the ocean. We've taken them to the pseudo beaches around here, but they'll get to see the real thing this time. And Wednesday, on Maddie's birthday, she'll be having lunch with all of the Disney Princesses. She can't wait. She decided to inform everyone at her birthday party that it wasn't her real Disney World birthday and she wasn't going to see the Princesses yet.

It's been a while since we posted. Things have been pretty busy and I never got around to writing last week's Grateful Friday post so this week it's a "Friday Update" instead.



- Sindri is doing really well. We did have a few days where he would wake up and immediately start yelping/screaming. The vet said it was because he was trying to move those same muscles in his arm that are now sewn together. The poor thing would wake up and forget that he didn't have that leg and just freak out a little. He's doing better now and hasn't had that happen in almost a week. He's been kind of depressed all week, which we've read is normal. Right now you're probably thinking "depressed dog???" and thinking of the movie Best in Show where the dog has to see the therapist... What we really mean is that he pretty much refuses to get out of his cage. He'll get out occasionally to get his food (though he's barely eaten anything except for a few scraps I fed him) but otherwise he doesn't like to hang out with us. This weekend we took him out for ice cream (they give free sundaes to dogs) and a walk around the duck pond. He LOVED the ice cream and all the attention he got. We put a t-shirt on him to both protect his stitches and spare anyone from the gross site of the incision. Once we were at the duck pond, we let him off his leash a little. First, he went down and chased the ducks and started wading in the shallow water. Then, we got to the other side of the pond, which is pretty much a swamp. He immediately ran down the hill and fell face first into the mud. He got out on his own, but he was still a muddy mess. We were really lucky he was wearing the ti-shirt, though, as he didn't get any on his stitches at all. He gets them removed tomorrow. He was running and having so much fun.



- We visited Sun Valley Beach this weekend. It's basically a gigantic acre-sized pool surrounded by sand. The pool ranges from about 1' to 12' deep and has lots of kids' areas as well as adult slides. The girls loved it and spent a lot of time playing in the sand too. It was nice to get outside and relax a little in the water. Bill and I have talked about how unfortunate it is that we don't have regular access to a pool (the community one closed a month ago -- why so early? I ask myself the same). If we did, the girls might be a little more comfortable in the water and might even be starting to learn to swim. They'll definitely be taking swim lessons next summer.



- The girls and I visited the High Museum for their "Toddler Thursdays." They have a really wonderful children's area, full of information about sculptors and artists and lots of hands-on activities. I went with some friends and we stayed there for about 45 minutes before checking out the rest of the museum. The kids' areas are great, but my real reason for visiting was to see the Annie Liebovitz exhibit. Last week was the last week it would be here in Atlanta, so it was my last chance. Unfortunately, we decided to take the kids to the exhibit (read, adult area) after they'd been playing for about an hour. They did NOT want to be quiet and look at pictures. Eventually my friend and I got kicked out of the exhibit because the kids were going nuts. Her 9 month old was screaming and Maddie and Josie just did not want to stop running and giggling. In retrospect, I would have taken them to the adult areas first and followed it up with the play area. Oh well. Hindsight...

- I attended a craft class with the kids. A woman I know through my new mom's group is incredibly talented and has started offering sewing/arts classes at her house. She has a daughter Maddie's age and they get to play together in their play area while she and a few other moms and I work on projects. Last week I made sign for each of the girls with wooden letters to spell their names. I painted and then decoupaged the letters and nailed them together. The signs are now hanging over their beds and I have to admit that I did pretty well. I'm not usually a crafts person, but it was fun and I can't wait for the next class (sewing!! Maybe I'll finally be able to learn what to do with my machines.)



- Our neighbor's son's birthday party. It was a "Superhero/Fairy Princess" party, so Maddie and Josie got the chance to dress in their finest. I'm lucky I made them wear clothes underneath their princess dresses because it was hot out and they immediately stripped down to their clothes soon after we got there.



- We've spent a lot of time at the bookstore recently. In fact, I think they're pretty sick of us. It's just so nice to go there in the evenings after we pick up Bill from work. The kids can read or play with the trainset, and Bill and I get a chance to check out some books or magazines ourselves. Add Starbucks to the mix and I'm in heaven.



- The girls started their first ballet class of the season yesterday. This time Josie got to be in the same class as Maddie. That means I was sitting outside the room by myself. I've always been keeping Josie entertained while Maddie was in ballet or soccer, but now I didn't even know what to do with myself. At one point, I wanted to ask my friend if I could hold her baby, if only because I wasn't sure what to do with my hands!! The girls loved the class and Josie's first words to me afterwards were, "I didn't cry!!!" We had a talk beforehand about how she had to be a big girl and not cry all the time. The teachers said she did a great job and followed instructions and wasn't at all intimidated. They also told me that they could see such a difference between Maddie and Josie. To quote one of them, "Maddie is all about 'Look at me!' while Josie just hangs back and watches and does everything quietly." Yep, those are my girls exactly.

- Only a little over 3 weeks until our trip to Disney World!!!

Heading into the office on Thursday.

- Our vet said Sindri's surgery went well. The tumor hadn't made its way into the joint yet, so he was able to just remove the leg and leave the rest of his shoulder intact (removing more would have meant a longer and more difficult recovery.) Apparently, though, the tumor had grown so much in just a week that it would only have been a very short time before his leg broke on its own with any kind of pressure on it. We're very lucky we made the decision we did at this time and spared him that pain. They kept him for observation last night and we'll be able to pick him up this evening and discuss what he'll need for the next week or so. We'll most likely have more information to share as well. I'm anxious to see him and even the girls have been talking today about how they miss him and want to go get him tonight. I thought they hadn't even noticed.

- I'm thankful that not all public toilets automatically flush. Josie had one flush while she was on it the other day and now refuses to use any restroom other than ours at home -- and even then only if we assure her that ours does not flush by itself. It's made for some difficult shopping trips. Three times already we've had to leave a store as soon as we got there because she had to go potty and we needed to take her home to do so. I'm not sure how to get her past this fear other than constantly reassuring her and showing her how toilets flush manually.

- The gigantic watermelon from my stepdad's garden. He always loads us up with fresh fruit and vegetables in the summer, most of which we have to give to friends because we can't eat them in time. This time he gave us the biggest watermelon I've seen in a long time. I used about 2/3 of it, and ended up giving the rest to some neighbors. The girls, who usually love watermelon, informed me that they didn't want any. They now only like "the orange kind" (ie. cantaloupe)

- How loving our two little girls are. Lately, they need to bring their stuffed animals (sometimes numbering in the double digits) with us in the car wherever we go. There's always a mother, father, big sister, little sister, grandma, grandpa, best friend, etc. Each of them has a name and a role. And Maddie and Josie each have a collection. Yes, our car is so full you can barely see the kids in the backseat. It's sweet, though, to hear them talk to the animals and make them, in turn, talk to one another. The other day we were heading to the bookstore when Josie started putting two big rubber balls into her backpack. "No, Jo, we can't throw the balls in the store." No, Mommy, this is the mama and the baby. I just holding them.

- This Ebay listing. It made me laugh so hard this morning that I nearly spilled my coffee. I want to meet this woman and give her a big hug.

They're wearing my clothes already?

- Despite how heart-wrenching it is, I'm grateful that we found out about Sindri's cancer early, before it was to the point that we'd have to put him down. My friend Carolyn just called to say that they had to put their dog, Cassidy, to sleep this morning. They'd taken him in yesterday for a checkup because he'd been acting tired lately. She thought it was just his arthritis acting up. Instead he had cancer that was so far advanced that they had to put him down right away. I hate that she has to go through this too, but it also makes me think about Sindri and how we can really provide him with as good a life as possible in the time he has left. I know our last few posts might seem like a lot to take for many people reading this. It sounds like we're eulogizing Sindri before he's even gone, but it's almost like we need to get the mourning over with now so we can go on and actually enjoy our time left with him.

- A fantastic weekend roadtrip with just my mom and sister. We rode to Pensacola together to visit a friend of mine who was having a baby shower. The trip was 5 hours each way but it didn't seem like it at all. We talked the entire time and barely listened to the radio or any of the music we'd brought. We relaxed a little on the beach, and waded in the ocean (where there'd been a recent shark attack, but Angie kept that from us. What's it with me and sharks?) We're hoping to do the same thing next summer as well, maybe to Charleston or Savannah or something.

- Our upcoming trip to Disney World. I don't know who's more excited -- the kids or Bill and I. Every night they want to hear a "story about Disney World" and they've pored over the brochures the park sent us already. We'll actually be there for Maddie's birthday and she'll get a chance to have lunch with all the Disney Princesses on that day. A 4th birthday to remember! Bill and I literally get teary-eyed when we think about how excited the girls will be once we get there. I thought Disney was fun as a kid, but I had no idea how much enjoyment I'd get out of it as an adult watching my kids enjoy it.

- Making cookies with Maddie and Josie. There was more flour on the floor and counter than actually in the cookies, but I think they had fun. We saved them for Bill to try when he got home. You'll have to ask him how they tasted. I made sure we put lots of icing on them to mask any unusual taste.

- Ethan's first birthday. Was it really a year ago that he was born? Has it been that long already? It definitely seems like it can't be, especially when we haven't seen him much in the past year. I wish that we could see him more often and I hope that he really gets to know his cousins in the future.

- High School Musical II. I know there are a few nieces and nephews who are very excited about its premiere this weekend, am I right?

- And you?

This picture would be perfect, except for the pink frosting all over Josie's mouth.

- Finding Josie's glasses after they'd been lost for over a week. It was bittersweet, though. We found them (okay, Maddie found them) the day after we bought her some new ones. Insurance only covers lenses every year and frames every two years so we had to pay the entire cost out of pocket. In a sense, we just spent a couple hundred dollars on something we didn't need afterall. At least she has a backup pair now. Ouch.

- The birthday party for the daughters of some really close friends of ours. Their girls and our girls play together wonderfully, and like always, we were the last ones to leave the party. On the way there, Bill instructed me that we wouldn't be staying long like we always do. And then who was the one who had to be dragged out of there? You guessed it.

- 12 straight hours of sleep. I didn't realize how tired I was until Monday night when I fell asleep on our bed around 9:30pm (Bill was watching the girls while I had time to myself to read) and didn't wake up again until 9:30am. That is so NOT like me. It was nice, though.

- Heading to a baby shower this weekend for a friend of mine from high school. The last time I saw her was at my wedding, and we've both since had a lot of changes in our lives. She and I lived together on the same floor of our dorm for two years in high school, and she ended up going to college 30 minutes away from the one I attended as a freshman. About six years ago, we took a road trip to Key West -- something I'll probably devote a whole chapter to in my future autobiography. I'm looking forward to seeing her and hanging out at the beach right by her house. Oh, and I'll be leaving the girls home with Bill. It will just be me, my mom, and my sister on a little girls' road trip.  Mommy's weekend away!

- The Smyrna birthday celebration last weekend.  Live music, cake, fireworks.  It was incredibly hot so we didn't get there until about 8:30, which means we missed the cake but had plenty of time before the fireworks.  We found a nice spot away from the crowds, laid out our blanket, and watched the sky.  Unfortunately, we ended up sitting right in the path of the wind from the fireworks so we got covered with ash and various cardboard bits.  Still, it was fun.  

- There's so much silliness around our house these days.  Both girls insist on being little comediennes.  And watch out if you give them even a little bit of sugar -- both will literally run around in circles giggling and making silly noises and faces.  It's funny, until it's time to get dressed or get their shoes on or get them to do anything in general.  

- Pools, or large bodies of water in general.  For the Northerners reading this, you might not know that we've had temps in the 100s all week, with the heat index even higher (yesterday was 109).  On the few times we've gone outside at all, it's been to the pool, though even that water was lukewarm.  When it's still the high 80s at night, you know you've got a hot day coming.