It's FRIDAY! (aka My Day Off)

I have so many things to be happy about ( and thankful for ) that it's hard to know where to begin. If you had asked me a month or two ago what made me happy during any particular day, I could have possibly named a couple of things. But, if you purposely look for even the tiniest thing that makes each day special, your list could be endless!

So, since today is my day off and I'm home alone with a fresh cup of coffee (Happiness!) I thought I'd blog a little.

Happiness is having light filtering blinds. That way, you can sleep in until 9:00 and the sun never wakes you up! These work especially well in the summer when you're trying to get your little ones to bed at 8:00 and the sun is still in their faces until 10:00.

Happiness is having a fantastic husband take the kids to daycare and let you sleep in. Thanks sweetie!

And speaking of husbands, he also picked the kids up from daycare yesterday so that I could go spend money on candles (thanks again) and spend time with my girlfriends.



Happiness is winning the door prize at said candle party! I'm really into lavender lately. Must be its calming qualities.

And, just a few more random things.

Happiness is flower tattoos. If anyone knows where I can get more of these, let me know Sydney and Chase both love tattoos! This picture only shows 2 from Thursday morning, but if she's good, she can always get more. She had earned another one before bed last night, so she's well on her way to making an anklet.


Happiness is also waking up to a light blanket of snow (but, not too much)! This was enough to buy myself some time with the kids since school was running late so that we could have breakfast together and a much slower ride to school.

And in case you were wondering, probably not, but just in case.... no, this is not my cow, not even by my house, which is probably why Sydney kept asking why I was stopping the car in the middle of the road just to take a picture of some random cow. "It's to show the snow", I said, "and that lonely cow"... I don't know. I guess I just hadn't taken a picture in a couple of days and there we were, driving down the road and there was this lonely cow.

Happiness is rambling on and on about nothing!

Wednesday

Happiness is having things to look forward to...

Happiness is knowing that tomorrow is my Friday at work. Can I get a high five for a 3 day weekend?

Happiness is a PartyLite candle party with girlfriends after work. Aren't candles just the best? So relaxing. Even in the middle of cleaning up the dinner dishes, a candle makes it feel like I'm at a spa. (Don't even get me going on my love of a good spa! - Hey.. there's an idea... I should go to another spa just to have something to write about. I mean, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for some good blog material.)

Happiness is getting ready for our camping trip next week. I'm so excited to get out of here for a few days with friends we hardly ever see. I hope to have some cool pictures from the trip. Please say a prayer for good weather!

Happiness is really getting into this blog thing. I'm finding it so interesting to see what other people are writing about. It's also interesting to learn about people who live here in my area that I never even knew were there.

Have a blessed rest of your week!

Monday

Sunday was a day for rest.... back to work and blogging!

Happiness is a trip to our fabulously remodeled grocery store! If you look closely, you'll see that Sydney is wearing Chase's pants. She messed hers up at school and had to wear his home.






Happiness is a great produce section!


Happiness is endless options for cheese. Who doesn't love cheese?!?


Happiness is mmmmmm.... cake! No, we didn't get the cake, but we did get a few cupcakes.

Happiness is candy! How can you just choose one?

Here's the one!




How many grocery stores have a reading area like this?




Check out the assortment of Louis L'Amour books! I bet my Mom has read most of them.



Happiness is stopping to smell the flowers!



Of course there's a Starbucks in the grocery store, too....




No, it's not coffee! You think I'd hype him up on caffeine before bed??? It's caramel apple spice. The kid's favorite. (Now that I think about it, there's probably enough sugar in there to keep him up for several hours)

Well, time for bed.... You guessed it.... another Dr. Seuss book! How many books did that guy write?


Happiness is Daddy reading a book before bed. It's a nice change from Mom.


Happiness is playing with the dollhouse before bed ... fun stuff!

Saturday - Lets try this again.

If you read my Saturday post earlier, you'd know that I've misplaced my USB cable that goes with my camera. Today I was able to go buy a card reader, so now I have pics!

Happiness is a pink ballerina slipper stamp given to all the girls after dance class.

Happiness is sharing a caramel apple spice and a chocolate truffle at Starbucks after dance... (OK, so I bribed her to be good... is that so bad?)

Happiness is a trip to Old Navy to buy jeans for Taylor, but leaving with two pair of jeans, one white shirt, new PJs for Syd, 2 shirts for Chase and new slicker rain boots for both little kids.

Happiness is taking a hike down to the water at a nearby county park to try out your new boots!

Parts of the trail were pretty steep, so happiness is having your older brother there to told your hand and help you down the hard parts.

Happiness is living close to the water. It's beautiful here.

Happiness is having an 18x zoom so you can stand in the same spot as the picture above and zoom into the capital building.

Chase and Sydney enjoyed walking down the shore....

and picking up shells (and other nasties)

Happiness is wading out into the sound when your Mom isn't looking. Next time, I'll tuck his pants inside his boots!
Happiness is a cell phone signal so Taylor could continue to send text messages...

Happiness is having all your kids together.... and happy.

Happiness is playing on the playground at the park (and not getting lost among all those kids!) Thanks Taylor for helping.Chase was hiding under the playset...

and climbing on the rock wall...

Sydney enjoyed the rocking whale.

Chase and Sydney both liked the slide.

What's he thinking?

Happiness is putting together puzzles while your brother is taking a nap. Nobody to take it apart as fast as you put it together. Happiness is not being upset when you're done and several pieces are still missing.

Happiness is trying to wear Mr. Potato Head's glasses. They sort of look like Harry Potter glasses to me, except blue... and small.... OK, so they don't look exactly like Harry Potter.

Happiness is finding a work around when you can't find your USB cable. It really takes the fun out of blogging if you don't have pictures!

It's Friday! Wahoo!

Happiness is Friday afternoon and leaving work while the sun is still shining! It feels like SPRING!

Happiness is talking to your parents on your cell phone almost every day after work.

Happiness is going out to dinner with the family and knowing you don't have to do dishes when it's over! Yeah... Red Robin!

Yes... my boys are silly!

Sydney refuses to smile at the camera, but she's getting her picture taken anyway.


Happiness is a *HOT* burger with jalapenos! D-Lish!


Happiness is a big bowl of Mac & Cheese!

Happiness is Valentine's Day candy for 75% off! (and a quick trip to Target by yourself to buy it so nobody knows you have it.... is that bad?)

Happiness is watching a movie before bed on Friday night.

Happiness is Everything Dr. Seuss. (Horton Hears a Who!) It's staring to look like Dr. Seuss is all we read and watch, but it's just coincidence this week. Sydney was voting for Spiderman, but I couldn't find it.

And last, but not least, happiness is ending the night with a little Rock Band 2! Taylor is awesome. (Even Chase got into the action a little bit)

What was your favorite thing today?

Sydney - Playing with Alaina at school.

Chase - Playing with Bella (one of our little corgi puppies)

Taylor - Going to school. (Do you think that has anything to do with his girlfriend?)

Jason - Helping an elderly couple at work. He delivered their propane , detected and fixed a leak and lit their pilot light.

Me? My favorite part was hearing about everyone's day.... and sneaking chocolate! : )