Thankful Thursday

Thankful for:

1.  This Ninja Warrior (and his little bro!) going back to school in 5 more sleeps.  Love my Kai Bear, but man, our kids fight! Yes, he's going back because he's in an independent school.  Yes we are `lucky' as some people say.  Do remember, though, that we pay $7,000 a year for our two boys to go and Gary makes $10,000 less teaching there.  I don't mean that in a confrontational way, just factual.  I feel bad for the teachers in the public system as well as for parents with kids with special needs or really just those that need to find childcare. 

2.  Outdoor swimming lessons.  So fun.  It's just 5 days and 5 minutes from our home.  Nya and I just explore so it's good for all.  Kai is in Swim Kids 3 and will pass no problem.  Koen is not yet in Swim Kids because he's only 5.  He's...getting better :) I do have to remember that he's 2.5 years younger than Kai so of course he has a ways to go.

3.  A summer of outdoor goodness.  While exploring the outdoors our kids don't fight :)  

4.  Three great trips this summer; Manning, Oregon Coast and Invermere.  It was perfect for our little family.

5.  Our little hikers. If it was 1 km or less, Nya would do it no problem.  The boys can pretty much hike anything I can, well, to be honest, Kai is way better than I am.

6.  Our kids' desire to learn.  They love all the programs and love to read the signs.  They continually ask great questions.  I hope this continues!

7.  Having three kids.  I always visualized myself with three kids and I truly love it.  Just the perfect amount of crazy for us.  

8.  A new way of eating. I've lost about 7 lbs this month by my food choices alone.  I was a carboholic.  I might blog about this more later as I'm using a certain plan.  I eat a lot, but just the a smarter way (no sugar, low carbs, more protein).  My desire is to lose 18 lbs overall (initially the goal was 10 lbs but I'm going to keep going).  I just have to be very careful mentally as I was way too obsessed over the scale for probably 10 years of my life.  I would like to be my pre-Kai weight. This is for two reasons; 

a. I'm feeling my age and want to be as healthy as I can be based on my terrible genetics

b. I was getting really sick of my big belly where all the fat was being stored

{Left photo is one week in.  Right photo is four weeks in.  I should probably get better pictures of these as they don't look too different. My hope is to incorporate more exercise into my life once the boys are back in school to really tone up.}

9.  Fun with the Chapmans.  Gary and the boys went with a bunch of the Chapman side of the family to the BC Lions game.  It's a tradition and they had a lot of fun. It was Koen's first time.  I think he loved the refillable pop the most.

{Karen, look at you all fancy with face paint!}

10.  A mini reunion with my mom's side of the family.  This was the same time as the BC Lions game so I just went with Nya.  When my mom died, there was less of a connection with that side of the family.  We got together with some of them this weekend and it was good to catch up!

{No photos...it was the day after a wedding which is the day I allow my wrists/hands to recover from carrying a camera all day and taking 2,000 photos!}

I hope you are having a good week!  If you also do a `Thankful Thursday' post, please leave a link in the comments

Have a great long weekend!  We have plans for some more hiking and hanging out with friends.  You?

Love, 

Louise