thankful#121: puddles to stomp in

The girls and I went to Music Time at the new local toy store today. Our walk home took about three times as long as our walk there because both girls were on foot rather than in the stroller or the ergo. We stopped to watch the ducks in the canal, we stopped to pet a couple of dogs on walks with their people, we stopped to pick flowers and blow some wishes. The longest break, however, came when Kinsley discovered the "giant" puddle right next to the parking lot by the track. She and Dagny spent a good twenty to thirty minutes running, jumping, skipping, and dancing through it. I haven't heard Dagny giggle that hard and for that long in a while and she's generally a pretty happy kid.

They. were. soaked. The rest of the walk was a wet, muddy, squishy one. Kinsley could hardly keep her drenched pants from falling off and Dagny was having a hard time walking because the weight of her muddy pants and boots were so awkward for her. When we finally got home, I stripped them down at the front door. Kinsley was giggling hysterically as we pulled her boots off and she was hit by the wave of water that was stuck inside them. She couldn't even get her clothes off by herself because they were plastered to her body by the mud and water. And Dagny's pants will definitely not be getting passed along to any of the neighbor girls when she outgrows them. In fact, they may be taken directly to the cleaning rag pile.

thankful#120: megan b

I have a hard time putting into words why I am thankful for my friendship with Megan. And it's not because I have to stretch to find something, rather it's because I am thankful for every single aspect of her friendship. I could have a blog titled "thankful365 for Megan" and come up with hundreds of reasons and solid examples of why she's so amazing. She is, simply put, just a great great person. She is kind, honest, positive, funny, encouraging, supportive, trusting/trustworthy, morally sound and true, and on and on and on.

Megan is one of the people that I miss the most in Portland. I can't imagine a better coworker. She made days bearable that would otherwise have been very much not so. We commiserated about coaching-related things, school-related things, parent-related things, and students. Personally, she gave me the strength to get through times that I think I may have lost my mind in had she not been there. And after all that she knows about me, she doesn't judge me.

But she is not only amazing through hard times, she is someone who I very much enjoy simply hanging out with - one of the best running buddies around, super fun to play soccer with, and we even made a fun night out of chaperoning the Prom. 

I'm not even beginning to do justice to the amazing person that is Megan Bruce. She is an amazing friend, an amazing counselor, an amazing coworker, and an amazing person. I am so thankful for our friendship. Happy birthday, buddy!!!

thankful#119: a good day

We didn't do anything overly special today - just the normal school day for Kinsley, I got to hang out with Dagny, we ran some errands, played, danced, and read some books. I can't complain about a single thing that happened today ... just thankful for a good day.

thankful#118: barnes and noble

we had the busiest day ever today. kinsley had swimming then we immediately came home to pick up dagny and go to the new storytime at the new toy store in town. the girls were so in to it that kinsley asked to go to barnes and noble so we could keep reading books (love this kid). we spent two hours there. two hours! we would have been there longer but dagny hadn't napped at all and she was walking her drunk-tired walk and bouncing off of bookshelves in the store - i had to get her home. but we read that entire two hours. dagny played by herself at the little train table almost the entire time which allowed kinsley and i to read book after book after book. it was amazing. and when dagny decided she was done with the trains, she picked out some books and we read more. i love that these girls love to read so much. and i love that we have places like barnes and noble where we can spend an entire afternoon doing just that.

thankful#117: lighter evenings

Kevin didn't get home until almost 5 this evening but I was still able to head out for a run and have some daylight left. Just a couple of months ago if I hadn't left by about 4, I wouldn't get a run in at all. I refuse to run in the dark. But it's now still light even at 630/700 in the evening. I love the time of year when I can go out for a later evening run. We're almost there.

thankful#116: brunch this morning

Whitney stayed the night at Grandma Billie's so we headed up first thing in the morning for brunch. Kevin met us up there at the end of his run, which was nice. We brought up the Blendtec to make waffles on GMB's waffle iron and she had fruit and scrambled some eggs. It was simple, but so nice to get to hang out with Whit a little more before she headed back to Portland.

thankful#115: date night

Whitney came down tonight so that Kevin and I could go out for dinner and a movie. We so rarely get to go out like this that it makes it extra exciting when we do. We hang out just the two of us, but it's typically at 8 in the evening when the girls go to bed. We went to see Silver Linings Playbook and then went out to eat before heading back to hang out with Whit and the girls. It might have been the funnest date we've had in a long while.