Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Orchids
• Double rainbows
• Super glue
• Flying pigs (haha yes, we have one in our house)
• Imagination
• "Chapter books"
• The bunch of lavender on my desk from my Mom's garden
• Finding old pictures that make me smile
• Love notes from my kids
• My kids offering to help cook dinner

Wordless Wednesday

A storm is brewing

Less than five minutes home from spending part of the summer with their Dad, you can tell my hurricane tween is home. I should just start calling her Tropical Storm Ashleigh. It's like she leaves a trail where ever she goes. Hair accessories, dishes, wrappers, toys.. you name it. She will pick up when asked, usually without complaining. But I need her to automatically put things away when she is done.

Famous words around here are, "I'm not your maid" or "who were you planning on picking that up for you?"

She doesn't get allowance with her things scattered around the house, I've tried having her pay a 'fine' for every item left out... and sure, the things get put away.. but not without a friendly reminder first.

I'm almost at my wits end. She needs to pick up on her own... there's no excuse not to. I'm at a loss on how to get her to do that on her own. I am open to any and all suggestions on the matter.

Girl's Day - August

Once a month the girls in our family get together to visit. Usually our group consists of my Mom, Aunt Glory, Cousin Sharron and her daughter Sarah, Sierra (soon to be sister in-law) and Ashleigh & Myself.

It's just a nice break to get out of the house and socialize with other women. This month, we all gathered at a new restaurant called, Thai Basil. The food was great and we had a nice visit. All of us have had such busy summers that we skipped our get together for July so it was nice to catch up.

Ashleigh & her giant bowl of Wonton Soup

(I can't believe how grown  up she looks in this picture)

It's important to have girl time, but we have never done activities for our girls day that Jackson would even be interested in, so he never feels like he's missing out. Jackson always gets a special date too because it's just as important to have a special day for him also. He chose to go see the new Karate Kid movie. So we will be doing that today. Last night we watched the original Karate Kid movie together on Netflix. It had been so long since I've seen it, it was like watching a new movie. After the move tonight we'll stop at the new In & Out burger for shakes.

Back to it

I've always loved the idea of 'Wordless Wednesday'. I am officially adopting it and adding it to my blog this week. The month of July has been crazy. Between trips, company, camping, and visiting with the kids on weeknights and weekends, my blogging has fallen on the back burner. Time to get back to it now that I'm home.

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• My silly kids
• Ticklish toes
• Hopscotch 
• Porch swings
• Lilly pads
• Fresh picked lavender
• Aloe Vera
• Solar lights
• Fresh squeezed lemonade
• Umbrellas

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Funky socks
• Flip flops
• Sunscreen
• Pickles
• Paper plates
• Sleeping bags
• Everlasting Gobstoppers
• BBQ grills
• Fire pits
• Balloons