30 Days of Thankful: Week 2

Hello!  I'm back with the second installment of my 30 Days of Thankful month long project.  I am joining in with Cathy Zielske's and using her 6X4 templates, as well as linking to her second Gratitude Friday.  Thank you to the ladies who came by last week, it was really a wonderful experience to read your heartfelt comments and I hope you know how much I appreciated them! 

Day 8: I took E to a family night at her school.  They have several a year but this one is her favorite because it's art themed.  They provide several activities to choose from and we never have enough time to do all of them. 

Day 9: Slowly but surely our basement project is moving along.  Getting the drywall done professionally really moved it along and now Brad has finished another step.  I am beginning to think it might actually get finished!  It feels like we've been working on it forever!

Day 10: I've had my iPhone for almost a year now.  It totally increased our bill significantly and I could definitely live without it but oh do I love it!  We normally go quite a long time between changing phones and my husband's looks like it's from the stone age, because he only wants a phone that makes phone calls but I think he's been glad to have Internet access when out and about too.

This was Sunday, and my daughter was using the app Facetime to visit with her Papa, aka my Dad, and Uncle Dave, aka my brother, who have not seen the kids in several weeks.  We are working very hard on improving our reading and she spent some of her daily 20, reading to them via the app.  I thought that was kinda a neat thing!  My MIL just got an iPad so soon she'll be able to read to her this way too.

I did not mention this in the last 30 Days post but I was actually quite sick most of the week, but I was not going to be thankful for a nasty ear infection!  But by Day 11 or the beginning of this week I was beginning to finally feel better, just a little tired.  I had a lot of housework to do, to catch up from being sick.  But the sound of the rain was just making this already tired lady even more sleepy and when my son went down for his nap...I gave in and curled up too.  It was actually quite nice!

(Unfortunately I have to add that, that rain turned into this stuff later that night.  But since it's only the beginning of November I refuse to be overly thankful for seeing the white stuff this early!)

I started this blog to share my crafty stuff in addition to my scrapbooking, and I bought all sorts of stuff to make a fall wreath on clearance last year, but with my 2 year old being a ball of nonstop energy I just haven't had the time or the will to make one.  So while at one point I considered this a crafty blog, sometimes you have to wave the white flag, give in, and just buy one.  It was 60% off and I decided I couldn't make one myself for the same price - about $8, but still since I love looking at handmade wreaths it felt like a little bit of a cop out.  However, I really love the combination of colors and the arrangement so I've allowed myself to just let go, enjoy, and feel thankful we have money for extras like this.  Plus I can always make the stuff sitting in storage to make a really great wreath for indoors, next year.

I hired a neighbor boy to walk my oldest home from the bus stop after school last year and he's continuing to do it this one too.  It really has been a lifesaver, really great to not have to worry getting the little guy up, bundled up against bad weather, and out the door to get her.  Plus he is young enough, that he's thrilled with $5 a month for walking her the block down from his house to ours.  I also give him extra tips for each holiday and an end of the year gift so he makes out pretty well :)  His little brother is one of E's best friends and my friend, his mom, watches them so it's nice to know if anything went awry and for some reason she didn't get off when expected someone would know right away.  I can see the bus stop from our upstairs window so it's not like they have to go far.  She could probably walk without an escort but this gives me more peace of mind.

Last night Brad and I had our first date night since back in August, when we went out for our 13th wedding anniversary.  It was really nice that it worked out for his mother to come over our house after dropping off a friend at the airport.  A night out on our side of town, just the two of us is almost unheard of!  Thankful that we now live closer to family and these kinds of things can happen once in awhile.  Plus it's so much better that the kids can see their grandma more than just a couple times a year and really bond with her.