my life currently - by the 5 senses

taste

coffee

hot dogs and mac&cheese

vanilla yogurt

smell

stagnant but yet somehow wonderfully beautiful child morning breath

dog farts

the best smell on Earth; Brandon's neck

hear

"hold you"

"Mum!"

the kids giggling

touch

the feel of worn carpet on my cheek from laying on the floor (to wait for a child to fall asleep in her bed, while pretending to be a sleeping monster before jumping up to chase the kids, after dramatically falling to the floor during wrestling-basketball)

her fine hair while brushing it across her forehead or back from her face

his heavy body barreling into me for a hug, a tackle, or to be carried

sight

the two kids on the breakfast table bench framed with our backyard and our mountain view out the window

his shadow in our bedroom doorway in the middle of the night

her face; nose to nose with mine

Thank you Thursday is making a return in 2014!

It hasn't been since 2012 that I wrote a Thank you Thursday blogpost and I feel like I have been physically aching to bring them back for the last few months in 2013.  So when I was jotting down some blog new years resolutions- I included "Bring Back Thank YOU Thursdays" - and that's just what I plan to do in 2014.

You see, I have a theory; Happiness is directly connected to Gratitude.  I am not alone in this theory, if you need further evidence - see these examples:

HuffPost reports on the Neuroscience of Gratitude

WebMD & Women's Health talk about the actual health benefits of gratitude

Or this awesome video from SoulPancake (not my first time sharing this!)



I have found that my unhappiest moments have occurred when I haven't taken the time to focus on being grateful.  Granted, to think about what you are grateful for every single moment is impossible - but I try to remind myself each time when things become frustrating or strain my patience.  When the kids are being especially trying and the house is especially filthy; I'll take some deep breaths and catalog a list in my mind.

They're wild but healthy
this will only last a little while that they'll want me to pay attention to every tiny thing
look at the way her little nose just scrunched up with that smile
look at how he just helped her up on the couch
we are safe and warm
we are each other's best friends
we feel comfortable to all be ourselves

And slowly the frustration becomes less heavy on my shoulders and I tell myself, "I can only do today what I can do.  And that is enough."

This idea of Thank YOU! Thursday was originally created because of the enormous amount of flat-out good people that surround me and my family.  We are so lucky to have family, friends, supporters, and random people walk into our lives and help us or cheer us on.  And I believe they know how grateful we are to have them in our lives - but to actually get the words out there:  thank you for being in my life - it does so much more good.

So, I am hopeful that each third Thursday of every month, I will send out a new Thank YOU! Thursday note to someone in my life that deserves a thanks.

I hope that you will join me too!  There won't be any particular theme to the thank yous this year, but rather - each third thursday of every month to make a point to thank someone in your life for being there - maybe the one time you need them or a million times over.

Let's spend 2014 saying thank you to the people that make our lives brighter and easier.

You can find all of my Thank YOU! Thursdays here, if you're in need of a little gratitude inspiration.

First thank you! thursday of 2014:  February 20

Traditional and Virtual Hybrid Baby Shower

Remember my two best girl friends?  Kate and Allison.  We've been friends since college and just last year we took a long weekend trip together to Nashville to celebrate our 30th birthdays.  They're the best.

Kate and I live in Pennsylvania with our two kids a piece.  We shuffle them back and forth to each other's houses for playdates and supervise occasional facetime conversations where the camera on each hand either shows a close-up on a child's nostril or no child at all (our kids like to have races around the houses against each other to see who can get back to the iPad first).

Racing!

Allison (fondly known as Karpy) lived for awhile in Baltimore which meant we visited her and she visited us at least a few times a year.  And then she and her hubs moved further south to NC and now THEY ARE EXPECTING THEIR FIRST BABY ?!?!?!!!!!  Did you get the excitement from my full caps and punctuation?!  I AM WILDLY EXCITED!!!!!!!

gender reveal via facetime

So when Kate and I discovered that our best friend in the whole world was bringing a new best friend for our kids into this world - do you think we let 450 miles stand in our way of celebrating with her?  (translates to a 6.5 hour drive).  Heck no!

We wanted to organize a baby shower for Allison, the Grandma-to-be (also lives in NC), the aunt-to-be (didn't let international borders stand in her way - she currently lives & works in Panama!) and all of Allison's neighbors and local friends.

But we knew too, that not everyone that cared about Al and this sweet boy of hers would be able to make the haul down south to join us, so we got to planning a Traditional and Virtual Hybrid Baby Shower.  

Since Al and Matt are expecting a boy, we took a cue from Allison's Dad's sailboat to settle on a sailing theme for the shower.

We created two invitations, both using Paperless Post.  The traditional invitation included all the standard details for a shower including registries, place/time, and a section to RSVP.  The virtual invitation stated the details date/registries and in the place of an RSVP, we supplied a link to a sign-up for the virtual shower.

Guests were then able to log into SignUpGenius to choose a 15-minute time slots during the evening (after the traditional shower) to connect with Allison via their preferred choice of technology (facetime, skype, or google hangout).  In the instructions, we asked that guests try to get their gift to Allison in time for the virtual shower so that she would be able to open the gift with them there.

Weeks before the shower, I also sent out mailed packages to confirmed virtual guests that included some cards for them to complete (that we also had at the traditional shower).  The cards asked why Allison would be a great mother and the best parenting advice that they've ever heard/received.  They were instructed to use the stamped envelope to return the letter to Allison before the virtual shower (with a big "ALLISON DO NOT OPEN THIS!" on the back of the envelope).

Finally, in early December, Kate and I kissed our babies and husbands farewell and made the trek down south to celebrate our very best friend and that sweet baby boy bump.  The trip wasn't bad considering I talked (literally) the.entire.ride.down (I need more adult interaction, HAH) and we had clear skies after waiting to leave Saturday morning instead of Friday night.

We made it all the way to Apex unscathed and spent Saturday night beaming over Karpy's adorable belly, stumbling upon a town parade, and noshing on delish dinner together.  No matter how long is spent apart, it's always like no time at all when we get back together.

On Sunday, we all got up bright and early and got to preparing for Baby Shower day.  Traditional shower would be from 11am until 2pm with an hour of rest before the start of Virtual shower time slots scattered between 3pm until 6pm.  We were all set and ready to go before anyone arrived.  We had light brunch fare of waffles and croissant sandwiches with some desserts and a beautiful cake brought by the Grandmother-to-Be.

 

Grandma, Aunt Joce, and a surprise out-of-town guest all arrived first (Allison's godmother came all the way from PA as a surprise!).   We got some photo ops in front of our Ahoy! It's a Boy! banner and used our 'guestbook' life saver as an adorable belly frame:)

The traditional shower was beautiful and simple.  It was so amazing for Kate and I to get to meet all of Allison's neighbors and friends here in their town.  We felt so grateful to meet and laugh with the people that will be surrounding our best friend with support and love for those first weeks (the rotten 8!)  It was a afternoon filled with smiles, love, and excitement.

baby shower mad libs

toilet paper - belly measuring game

rice & pin game

Grandmother-to-be

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After a successful traditional shower and some quick bites to eat - we headed upstairs to continue the virtual shower.  We set Allison up in a comfy chair with the Ipad.  We had the list of which guest would be attending at what time, so we pulled the gifts from the large pile of mailed boxes and had them ready for the specific times.  It was so sweet to see Allison's face light up each time she had a call coming through facetime or skype.

Our girl spent the afternoon showing off her bump, giggling, and opening gifts with all the people who love and care about her but couldn't make the trip for her shower.  It was such a fun way to spend the evening after the shower still sort of relaxing but with the added bonus of seeing familiar and happy faces.

We decided at the end of the day that both showers were a success!  Allison and Matt have quite a bit of assembling and organizing to get done before that boy makes his appearance late next month:)

Kate and I were so grateful to get to spend the weekend celebrating our best friend and were both moved to tears (read: to sobs) when we received our thank you from Karpy in the mail.

Katie's baby shower in 2009, My baby shower in 2010, Allison's baby shower in 2013

So many years as best friends, so many memories, challenges, scary stuff, and awesome stuff.  But always shared together.  We are the luckiest.