Thankful Thursday

"When we bring sunshine into the lives of others, we're warmed by it ourselves.  When we spill a little happiness, it splashes on us."

~ Barbara Johnson

Happy Thankful Thursday YUMMs!!  I'm going to jump right into Thankful Thursday and say that I am grateful for this lovely Spring weather that we have been having here in the Queen City.  With the exception of today and yesterday, it has been in the really 70s and low 80s.  I even had to turn the air conditioner on one day this week because it got up to 82 degrees inside.  I took a nap with JJ and we woke up misted in sweat.

I'm also thankful that we got our balcony garden planted.  We still have some pepper left to plant and want to pick up some cabbages and a strawberry plant to add to the mix.  I'm considering watermelon and squash as well because those really take no work to grow from my past experience with growing them.  Moo and JJ are too excited and have been great at remembering to water the plants and helping me move them inside at night.

If you live in a rental or apartment, please don't think that you still can't garden because you can.  Our little balcony is going to be bursting with lots of herbs and veggies this Spring.  I'm excited to have this activity to serve as a bonding time for us as a family and as a way to teach the kids about working together as team as well as showing them how our food is grown.

This week JJ's speech therapist commented on how well he's doing with talking.  She's very impressed that he's now speaking in sentences and fragments instead of just one word or grunt sounds.  I feel like his speech and vocabulary are expanding on a daily basis.  This morning we went to Target and when I was getting him out of the car he told me "wait up."  

That's a new phrase him and I had him repeat twice just make sure that's what he said.  I'm always in awe when I hear him say new words and phrases.  We've also started teaching him how to read using picture books.  Our nightly routine now is that he has ghost read with me before I do their bedtime story.  We usually stick to books with less than 10 pages.

Moo was so ready for school to be over at one point, but now she's more into it.  I think it has to do with her coming out of her social shell and her teacher being encouraging about it.  Moo is definitely like me in the sense that she has to observe people for a long time to get a feel of who they are before we welcome them into our circle.  She's made a great group of friends and I'm very thankful for that and the fact that she's loving school again.

I'm grateful for little drops of sunshine that have been spilled into my life from my friends and family.  It only takes a kind word, a funny text or a phone call to shine a little sunshine into someone else's life.  This week hasn't been hard or anything, but it was still nice to share a laugh with my loved ones.

Lastly, I'm grateful for my vision board.  It's really helping to keep me motivated and focused on what's important.  Having that visual accountability is awesome. 

What are you thankful for this week?