Friday Thanks

Five things I am grateful for this week:

1. Grandpa Keith.  My father-in-law gave me the gift of 22 hours of no responsibility last weekend, by taking Henry over night for a little grandson-grandpa bonding time.  Grandma Sherry was at the beach and Ryan was at work, so I had no one to be accountable to.  It was GLORIOUS.  I hightailed it to McMinnville to spend the day with my two dear friends, Jen and Shannon.  AND, I finally got to watch Brady play soccer.  He even made a goal!!!

2.  Rain.  I am a true Oregonian.  I actually really like the rain and grey skies.  It has a calming effect on me.  Don't get me wrong, I really like the sun too (especially on a cool crisp fall day when it is around 60 degrees and blue skies), but I dig the rain.

3.  Squash.  Fall brings some of my favorite foods, squash and sweet potatoes.  I made the first batch of butternut squash mac n' cheese with spinach and sausage of the season.  Delicious!  Comfort food makes me happy (especially when I can "hide" some veggies to make a dish a bit more nutritious without compromising the scrumptiousness).

4.  Playdates.  I have mentioned before that we have amazing neighbors.  Last weekend I watched all the kids.  It was so much fun watching Henry try to mimic everything Micah (almost 4) did and then watch Micah try to impress me by doing tricks.Maddie (6) convinced us all at one point to have a singing/dance contest.  It was a hoot.  She sang songs about love and kindness while doing ballet, Micah sang rap songs about rockets while break-dancing, and Henry providing back-up "vocals" while doing happy-feet.  Then it was my turn.  I told Maddie that I didn't know the words to any songs and she replied "c.o.m.e. o.n! ... you must know the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  I indeed do know the words to that song, so I sang it while Henry played sleigh bells and Micah played the recorder.  It was AWESOME!

5.  Snuggles.  Henry is a very, very, very active boy these days.  There are few moments now when he wants to slow down long enough to snuggle with his Mama, if even for 30 seconds.  He's fine with sitting next to me while we read books, but he doesn't want to cuddle.  But this morning, I got a rare gift. About 4 minutes of snuggles in the rock chair right after Henry woke up.  Precious and cherished.