Feeling grateful

1. I got a free pedicure today. My painful cracked heels and my husband are grateful too.

2. We're having fondue with friends tonight. I made homemade shortbread to take for chocolate dipping.

3. Rick plays so lovingly with both of the kids. Piper can never get me to play 30 minutes of princess dress-up so enthusiastically. He sometimes smothers the kids a little but that's because he loves them so much.

4. Piper's letter and number recognition is getting much better. She's perfecting numbers one through four; a few games of Hi-Ho Cherry-O and Cariboo help.

5. Tomorrow's Sunday, which means church, roast beef, and pumpkin pie. Nice.

Sixth Day of Thanks

1. Dinner out with friends.

2. A clean house.

3. Snuggling on the couch watching a movie with my main man.

4. A nice long walk to the library with the kids in great weather.

5. Feeling contented.

Today's five

1. Piper's youth so that she won't remember long term yet some of the mistakes I make as a mother.

2. The blessings of repentance and forgiveness.

3. Rick got to see Piper tonight before she went to bed (though I did keep her up for that express purpose.)

4. The new Reader's Digest and the latest New York magazines.

5. Fondue night on Saturday with friends.

EXTRA: Simon's youth too. I love the newborn phase. Too bad it doesn't last longer.

Halloween Part 4: Last Installment

Here are the photos of our pumpkin carving and dressing up for Halloween. Our witch insisted that she was a "nice witch" not a scary one. Her hat didn't want to stay on despite the chin strap. At first she was quite distressed that her hat kept falling back since she thought that no one would know she was a witch otherwise.

Rick dressed up as a pirate and I was a princess. Sorry I didn't get any photos of us. Simon was supposed to wear an orange outfit that said "I Love My Mummy" with a mummy on it. However, he decided to blow out his diaper and make me do laundry. Thankfully I had this cute baseball outfit from his Grandma Ann. It kept him warm too.

The night was eventful as Piper got to play with her friends, run around in the dark, and eat lots of candy. She also fell in the driveway right before the trick or treating commenced. She cut her chin but thankfully I had a first aid kit in my car and off we went none the worse for wear.

By the way, Piper won the "Best Witch" costume award at the church Halloween party. Her prize was a Wendy's junior frosty.

One cute story. A few houses we went to had awesome decorations. One of these houses also had the adults dressed up as Captain Sparrow and Darth Vader. Piper said, "I don't like that Darth Vader. He's naughty." Then he waved to her and she replied, "He's nice. Look, he waved at me."

I carved my pumpkin; Piper painted hers.

A green mouth

Smile!

Piper said that her pumpkin is a mommy, since mine is a daddy due to it's size. I think it looks like a clown though.

An angry witch

Nice witch

See my socks!?

She didn't want to pose with Simon. This was before bed so she was a tired one.

There's a smile for us. Note the chin Band-Aid.

Ay batter, batter, batter, swing batter.


I was lazy with my carving this year. I didn't have my regular pumpkin carving tools.

Day 4 of Gratitude

1. Simon is growing like a weed and is very healthy. And I can successfully nurse Simon. (I was very nervous since Piper had her first bottle at 3 weeks old.)

2. Easy dinner tonight (leftovers) which gave me enough time and energy to leave a surprise dinner in the fridge of some friends getting home from a trip.

3. Everyone got clean sheets today.

4. This brisk weather is making me excited for the first snow.

5. After spending two hours teaching Piper's co-op preschool class today my friend Anne randomly offered to take Piper to ballet on Friday for me. I guess that either Piper wasn't too wild or that Anne really is just that nice. (I know it's the latter but I'm hoping it's a bit of the former too.)

Gratitude: Day 3

1. Eggnog and the smell of fresh chocolate chip cookies
2. Daylight Saving Time because although it means Piper wakes up early, she goes to bed early too.
3. My quasi-cold seems to be abating.
4. I emptied two more boxes tonight.
5. While putting away Halloween stuff I found autumn decorations for the house that I had forgotten about. I re-did the mantel with the decorations and newer photos of our family.

I Accept...

So Amberly extended the challenge to write five things that I'm grateful for every day of November. I decided to accept the challenge. This is what I've got so far. Oh, stay tuned for the last installment of Halloweens photos.

Day 1: November 1st

I am grateful that...
1. Simon falls asleep easily and sleeps well.
2. Piper is such a crack-up and can make me smile so easily.
3. Rick has a good job.
4. We live in a big(ish) house.
5. I have good friends.

Day 2: November 2nd

I am grateful that...
1. Our library is awesome and that Piper and I go so often.
2. I summoned enough energy to tidy the whole downstairs and fold three loads of laundry tonight.
3. We get to see both sides of the family at the holidays this year.
4. Simon is giving me great big full-face smiles these days.
5. My birthday is in two weeks.