In case you wanted to see the gratitude challenge one more time:
~Here are my day 15-21 pictures of gratitude~
Day Fifteen - Family
One thing I love to do and make sure I do every year is have family pictures made. And I am sure that Pat and I get in at least one picture. We usually use these for our Christmas cards each year. Last year, we had Kellan's newborn photos done by Coreyanna Photography (highly recommend). I had two large canvases made from that session to place in our living room and I absolutely love the outcome:
Most of my extended family lives in Michigan. I have a few family members in California, Georgia, and Florida as well. It is extremely difficult to keep up with everyone. I am so thankful for FaceBook. I feel like I am able to see the lives my family live from afar, and they get to see my family. I've had people mention that I post a lot of photos and a lot of little things about the kids ~ perhaps too much (what?). Well, this is mainly for my family. I want them to know Finn and Kellan, even if they have never seen or rarely see them. Moral: If you think I post too much, unfollow/unfriend me. Thank you. I'm so grateful that I get to see my family every day on FaceBook:
Day Sixteen - Inspiration
As a runner, I don't run to beat others. I run to beat myself. To set personal records and goals. I bought a Nike Sports Watch from Best Buy a few years back that helps to track my progress as a runner. It has GPS, and monitors my speed and distance. I hook it up to the computer, and it shows my route, overall pace, and helps me to set goals. It gives you virtual medals, who doesn't love a good pat on the back from Nike? I'm grateful I have the motivation/inspiration to exercise and stay healthy:
Pinterest has been another source of inspiration I'm grateful for. And man, if I knew about Pinterest before I got married, I would've been ecstatic!!! Can I have another wedding please (same husband, just another reception)? I use Pinterest boards for fashion, photography, home improvement, cooking, weight loss, gift ideas, baby/child advice, education, etc. Below is a picture of my "Principal" board. I pin things that I want to remember for staff meetings, my Monday Memos...just generally when I need some inspiration or need to give inspiration to my staff:
Day Seventeen - Weather
One thing I have a love/hate relationship with in the summer is the weather. I'm a 70-80 degree kind of gal. And where I live, in the summer it lingers in the upper 90s. Thankfully, every afternoon (well, just about every afternoon) we have a summer storm. It cools things down for a little while, but the next day like clockwork - it's 98 degrees again. The summer storms roll in around the same time every early evening; right as I leave work. Here's a picture over the tree line outside of my school:
And then 2 hours later...same day...in my back yard:
We bought this hammock this summer for my summer mini sessions and I love it. I am grateful for it most after the summer storm clears out and it's in the mid 70s. I'll swing on it with my boys before bedtime. Then after the boys go down, Pat and I sometimes will swing on it for an hour or so while we enjoy a glass of wine and good conversation.
Day Eighteen - Change
Man, I had a grand idea for today. I wanted to have a picture of each boy holding a picture of themselves from their earlier days. I started with Finn, which is where I went wrong. "Hold this picture up buddy" and he puts it in front of his face. "No sweetie, put it down a little lower" and he sets it at his feet. "Finn, lift it up a bit" and he extends it as far as he can into the air. So, after a few deep breaths, this is what I catch and I give up:
I didn't even look at the picture after I took it because I was so frustrated. After uploading it, I was dying laughing. I mean, he's making the same face!!! Can you get any better? I'm so grateful for my little tornado even when he frustrates the snot out of me. Needless to say, I didn't even attempt to have Kellan do this. I'm sure he would just end up eating the picture or frame. Or both.
Day Nineteen - Laughter
Is there anything better than the sound of a child laughing? I think not. Finn's laugh reminds me of my Pabu's laugh. Deep and throaty, especially when he is deep in belly laugh where he is to the point he's laughing so hard he's practically holding his breath. I love it. Kellan's laugh is more loud belly laugh. I wanted to get a few of him on this day since it's so hard to catch Finn truly laughing on camera. All I have to do is make a silly sound or face to get Kellan to laugh. Here is one that I promise is not just a smile, he was laughing so hard:
And so maybe this next picture isn't Kellan laughing (nor is it on the same day - oops). Kellan has been falling asleep in the high chair during dinner a lot recently. This picture is of the first time he did it. Pat, Finn and I were deep in laughter watching him drift and nod. Sweet tired boy:
Day Twenty - Food
I love food. I'm a picky eater, but I love food. I won't go on and on about my weight loss journey with Weight Watchers, but I will tell you that I lost a lot of weight on the program. What I learned most was it's all about making a good choice. Which I think is more of a general life lesson, applied to food. It was so hard to cut out all of our delicious full-fat meals we were so used to. Especially thick sourdough bread with garlic butter - that's one thing I miss most. My God I love bread. We use a site called Skinny Mom to find a lot of our meals we make Pat makes. Here are two beauts that I MADE this summer. Not from Skinny Mom - the stuffed avocado recipe is easy and can be found HERE. Here's a picture:
I would change it a bit to make the chicken a little creamier somehow. I also added cheese - big shock.
Next, we have salads pretty often during the summer. I am the official salad maker. I love making beautifully colored salads. The lettuce for this salad was indeed grown by Master Finn in his garden and it was delicious. I love salads, thankfully. They're zero WW points until you add cheese (light feta), dressing (light Asian vinaigrette) and protein (we add blackened chicken and avocado).
Pat makes a killer Thai Chicken Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce (the one salad I make him make) and it's recipe is HERE. Highly recommend you try it. To. Die. For.
Day Twenty-One - Home
Pretty soon after Finn was born, we realized our two bedroom townhome wasn't cutting it for 2 adults, 1 baby, and 2 dogs. We had always dreamed of moving across the street into a neighborhood called The Gates. Shortly after Finn's first birthday, we were able to make the move. We live on a short cul-de-sac street called Mountainridge Dr. And I love it. Is our house perfect? No. But it meets our needs, is something I'm proud of, and is a place I plan to stay until both boys are through with college. It is 4 bedrooms, so I don't anticipate us necessarily growing out of it. Here's the front:
And one of the huge draws to buying this house was the lot. It's at the end of the cul-de-sac, and it is one of the larger lots in the neighborhood. I love our back yard! Excuse the garden in the picture - we didn't plant it this year, so it is overgrown. You get the point:
I'm tremendously grateful that my husband and I have jobs that allow us to live here. Another benefit is that our neighbors are wonderful. They love our children, offer to babysit, and look out for us.
See you next week for my final set of photos from this challenge: days 22-30!
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