100 Happy Days - June 4 (day #4)

Uh oh, only day #4 and I've already resorted to pictures of food. Yikes! This is a picture of our homemade pizza which is a semi-regular dinner around these parts (almost always served with a veggie for a nod towards nutrition). Jeremy mixes a batch of dough in the Kitchenaid so it is ready when we get home from daycare pickup. Phoebe does the rest (with a little help of course) - she likes to stretch out the dough, spread the sauce (with a few licks of the spoon just to test things out), and put on the cheese and pepperoni. A good amount of cheese and pepperoni goes into our helper rather than on the pizza, but that's part of the fun. Even though things are a little messier (and a lot slower) when Phoebe is in the kitchen, cooking with her makes me happy. I will be super happy when she is capable enough that she can cook dinner for us all by herself ... but I think we have at least a few more years before that happens :)

Landscaping "Help"

Some friends of ours live downtown Monterey and have a huge empty lot next to them that they own and are fixing up as an outdoor hangout space (complete with fire pit and garden). It is a great place to hang out with beautiful ocean views and great company (for both the adults and kids). There are actually two families that live right next door to each other with two kids each, so when we all get together you can typically count on one or two parents at a time rotating through kid duty while everyone else gets a chance to have a glass of wine and talk to other grown ups.  Last weekend when we got there to cook out for dinner, they were finishing up a garden project - spreading hay on part of the lot. The kids were more than happy to help out. Let's just say our plan to skip bath time was quickly abandoned.

100 Happy Days - June 3 (day #3)

Today we took a walk to the park after dinner. Evenings can sometimes be a little rough because neither of our girls likes to nap (lest they miss out on something exciting) so by the end of the day they can be grumpy and whiny. Tonight after dinner we rallied and headed to the park at the end of the block where we played chase and swung on the swings. Both girls were tired, but had a great time playing at the park (Eleanor loves the swing!). Not only does family time at the park make me happy, it had the added bonus that both girls were asleep by 8 PM!

Eleanor is excited to ride to the park on Daddy's shoulders

Fashion - Phoebe style

Phoebe can be pretty particular about her clothing.  She's not into traditionally girly clothes, but she definitely has her preferences: fuzzy pants when it is cold, leggings when it is warmer, super hero shirts, headbands, capes, lots of blue, a little sparkle, and (recently) bicycle shirts. She also likes crazy mis-matched socks (bonus if they say "Hanes" on the bottom) and day-of-the-week underpants. Recently Phoebe has discovered accessorizing. For her that usually means a baby-sized headband (despite us purchasing her own headbands, she always wants her sister's), a cape (or a jacket worn as a cape), and sunglasses.  This Sunday, while we were out running errands, Phoebe went through several wardrobe changes:

In the car on the way to lunch. (1) Leggings (they are too small, but were the only clean pair we could find - part of this trip was to purchase a few more pairs of leggings to avoid having to squeeze into a two-sizes-too-small pair ever again), (2) super girl t-shirt (this is probably Phoebe's favorite shirt - it has velcro tabs and a cape that attaches. She loves to wear her cape. This day we forgot the cape, so she spent part of the day with a receiving blanket tied around her neck), (3) Infant sunglasses.

At lunch. Hoodie jacket with hood up. Sunglasses inside.  

While I was digging through clearance leggings trying to find Phoebe's size, she helped herself to a whole new outfit. Since everything was on sale and I didn't have the energy to wrestle her out of the clothes, we bought her the outfit and let her wear it home. The sunglasses in particular have been a big hit ... she even wore them in the bathtub last night.

100 Happy Days - June 2 (day #2)

Phoebe loves being a big sister - sometimes a little too much - her style of love can be a little aggressive :)  Phoebe always wants to help with Eleanor and lately she has been offering crawling tutorials as Eleanor tries to figure out how to move around. Eleanor has also just started to stand with support (and can even pull herself up every once in a while). Phoebe is really excited by this new development, and often insists on sitting right behind Ellie "so if she falls over I can catch her right away".  While we often have to remind Phoebe to give Eleanor a little space, big sister helping little sister is definitely something that makes me happy. I think these two will be thick as thieves when they get older and it is really cool to watch that relationship develop.

100 Happy Days - June 1 (day #1)

Reading makes me happy and reading with my kids makes me super happy. Last week my mom sent Phoebe her very first chapter books. We weren't sure she was ready, but she has jumped right in. We have read The Magic Treehouse books 1-4 numerous times in the last week - other than a little confusion about the difference between mommies and mummies things are going great! Even though the stories might be a little slow for mom and dad (a little less exciting than say Game of Thrones) reading them with Phoebe is one of my favorite parts of the day. She usually wants to read right after she gets up in the morning, or before she goes to bed at night. We've also been reading the books as part of mandated "quiet time" on the weekends. Phoebe snuggles up on one of our laps and will stay there through a whole 10-chapter book if we're willing to read that long. Phoebe snuggles + getting to share one of my favorite hobbies with my kids is definitely something to be happy about.

100 Happy Days

There is an online challenge called 100 Happy Days (http://100happydays.com/) that encourages people to take time to enjoy the good things in their lives. I have been pretty bad at appreciating the good in my life lately since there has been so much chaos and stress (new jobs, moving, sick kitty, etc). So it seems like the perfect time to jump in and challenge myself to focus on the positive at least once a day. When it gets right down to it, I have an amazing family and pretty darn good life. As part of the challenge you are supposed to post one picture a day of something that makes/made you happy that day. I'll take a photo each day, but will likely post them in batches. Let's see if I can actually keep up - here's hoping for happy :)