Thankful Thursday, Rebooted.

My time hop app has been doing a good job of reminding me about thankful Thursday. I don't even really remember when I quit posting it, but I know that I miss it. Writing what I was thankful for each week helped me. It was a quiet change, but now that I look back, I think it changed my outlook on things. A grateful heart is a good thing to refresh once a week, I think :)
It reminds me of that one wonderful year where we hired a house cleaner. It was the first year of Sadie's life, and Daniel hired our  tenant (a housekeeper by trade) to clean our house once a week to help me out. It was so weird at first, having another woman come into my home to clean. And by "at first", I mean until the second I walked in my door after she had been there for the first time. After seeing my spotless, clean smelling house, all the weirdness left, and I just fell in love. (Ok, maybe not ALL the weirdness left :p).
Anyways, my point of that is this: I looked forward to that moment every week, where I would walk through my door, and my entire house was reset back to zero. Garbages were out, the floors were clean, the kitchen was clean, and I could just start from there. It also motivated me to set short term goals for my own cleanliness. "If I can keep it tidy for two more days, then she is able to do more deep cleaning and less tidying, so it's more worth it!"
A week was a good amount of time. I think the same goes for gratefulness and a happy heart. Today, for example, I'm finding myself feeling overwhelmed by the problems of the week. I can pray about it here and there, but unless I take the time to sit down and write stuff out, that's where it ends; the odd prayer of thanks, a whispered plea for peace, or strength, or patience. Before I know it, months have gone by, and I realize that there has been no real depth to my relationship with God. No growth. It's like he's become a gumball machine of attributes I would like at the time.

This week I am thankful for:

1. Having a day to spend alone with Daniel today. Sure we were cutting firewood, but we had a good time, got lots done, and had a nice lunch afterwards, so I call it a win :) it's nice to take a break from being parents sometimes, and just be with each other.

2. Our funny day yesterday. I don't know what was in the air yesterday, but a few things happened with the kids that still make me laugh when I think of them. A couple are kind of embarrassing to post, but at the end of the night last night, after the girls had been bathed and I was braiding mykas hair, Sadie came over and laid in mykas lap. "Mmm, Sadie, you smell like a rice bag!" Mykas said, followed with, "and you are hot like one too!"

3. Tea with friends. It's just good for the spirit :)

4. Almost every morning, I struggle getting myka out the door for school. She's always super happy once she is there, but she is NOT a morning person, and often complains right up until the bus comes. This morning she didn't. Not even a peep. She happily got ready for school, ate her breakfast in just a few minutes, and ran out the door yelling "bye!". I'm so thankful for stress free, fight free mornings :)

5. Our wood stove. There's nothing like a cozy fire when it's cold outside!

6. On Sunday our friends invited us over for a dugout skating party and a hotdog roast. We had so much fun. The dugout was huge and the girls loved skating all over :)

7. My bed. We got a new duvet for Christmas, and it makes our bed so cozy. There's nothing better than snuggling up in it after a long day. I've learned to never under appreciate sleep...or time without a toddler crawling on me! Lol.

8. Speaking of toddlers, Sadie is learning new words every day, and for that I'm thankful. She still whines, but now she will make an effort to stop whining and try to tell me what she wants. It's super cute most of the time too :) three days ago, as she left my bedroom, she waved and said, " bye bye, La loo!"

9. I have also found myself being very thankful for the friends Addison and Tegan have. They are both coming into a new stage of life, where they want to spend more time with friends and less time with mom. There are lots of great kids that live out in this area, and for that I am so thankful!

10. The weather. I know it's winter, and I'm not normally a winter person, but this year I feel like we live in Narnia. It has been absolutely gorgeous here. The skies are often blue, the snow isn't too deep, and the sunsets are stunning pink. The trees have been continuously covered in a thick layer of whoar frost, and it has been almost magical :)

What are you thankful for this week?