Thankul Thursday

Hello, friends! This week brings cool, windy weather here with a forecast of snow. This makes me feel...cold. And grumpy. So, let's focus on the positives here.  This week I am thankful for:


1. Great recipe recommendations. I asked on Facebook what people liked to make each week and this recipe came up. I tried it and it's perfect! The problem is I like it too much.

2.  Hummingbird feeder. I grew up with one outside our kitchen window and I have great memories of everybody freezing to watch it! I found this feeder at the thrift store for $1 and within in a week, we had a new friend visit us several times a day!

3. Cousin fun. Nya often has G over to play and it makes my day so much easier! These two are calm and get along quite well. 

4. Individual play time. Nya is not great at playing by herself. At all. Koen could do it for hours but Nya can maybe do a 15 minute craft or play with her barbies and she's done. We're working on this and I'm thankful she'll be in part time kindergarten next year!

5.  This lettering is finally up. I think we had it sitting around for about two years. Done.

6. Simple walk in nature. I'm trying to be very intentional about not making our kids do "too much" hiking and this was a nice, easy walk at Campbell Valley Park. We fed the birds, Kai played Pokemon Go, and we had a donut afterwards. Simple. No complaining.

7. Snowshoeing date with Gary. He had Friday off due to exams so we went snowshoeing for the morning. Although our hiking styles are different (he pushes through any pain), we enjoyed ourselves...once we got to the summit ;) 

8. My treadmill. Oh, do I love it! I use it at least 5 mornings a week now. I just run 15 minutes and walk an additional 10-20 minutes but it helps me feel much better. I've gained quite a bit of weight since my surgery in July and I'm curious if it's connected. It's not that I care about the number on the scale, I care that my pants are too tight and being active is harder when you have extra weight to carry.

9. Time to prepare meals ahead of time. I feel like I have more energy to bake and cook which obviously makes things easier come meal time! I've tried to make Belgian waffles and have them frozen and ready to go for breakfasts.

10.  Gary is almost done basketball. This is a bittersweet one. He puts so much time and energy into it and therefore I wish they made it further...they missed the playoffs (were in a 3-way tie). I will have Gary back every evening after Valentine's Day.

11. Koen reading in bed. He doesn't love reading and he has a hard time settling down each night. Somehow reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid works well for him; it keeps his attention and calms his body down. Win win.

So there you have my Thankful Thursday. What is something YOU are thankful for today?

Love,
Louise