Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Christmas? Oh Wait...

Today I am grateful for belated Christmas presents.

i knowwwww.

i said i wasn't going to talk about Christmas anymore.

but i'm not really talking about Christmas. just presents. specifically a present to me from The Marsh. and it's just fantastic.

what was this most amazing gift?

a new running jacket.

(crickets)

whatever, guys. nothing is cooler than a new running jacket. especially one that looks like this

isn't it soooo pretty?

i'm not normally one for orange (I know it looks yellow here, but i promise it's orange), but i just had a mighty need for this jacket. 

and I'm grateful The Marsh decided I needed it too.

but i think his reasoning had more to do with visibility. and my not getting hit by cars. he's a worrier. 

either way, i'm happy it's mine. even if it meant bringing up Christmas again.

Thanks for reading!

Lana

Chill Out.

Today I am grateful I didn't freeze to death.

or freeze off any important parts either.

holidays are over. back on the running track tonight with a three mile jog. I would have liked to do four, but there reaches a certain part of the trail I run on after about a mile and a half in that leads into the woods and there isn't any lights. so yea. 3 miles it was. and it was 26 degrees. fahrenheit. just in case you're reading this from someplace that uses celsius. (you know like anywhere that's not America)

so yea that's a bit cold.

but to be fair it's actually much warmer then the 8 degrees or so it's been, so i figured tonight would be a decent night to run.

it's only cold for the first mile or so. then you're just numb from the cold. so that helps too.

also i came home and ate a Caramello.

that helped as well.

i think i may be missing the point of this whole exercise thing.

sigh.

at least i'm not cold anymore.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Party On Wayne.

Today I am grateful for our amazing family.

and by "our" I mean The Marsh and mine.

we had Georgiana's birthday party today.

We never do anything overly big for the kids birthdays, it's harder to when they both have late fall/winter birthdays that fall around the holidays. but we usually have both sets of parents and all our siblings over. my niece is usually here as well.

it's always a lovely little gathering. with some laughs and pizza. i mean what more could you really want in life?

I love that my kids are growing up next to their grandparents and aunts and uncle. I love that they are surrounded by family and know how much they are loved. I'm grateful that they are only just a few minutes away, even though in the winter months i always second guess our reasons for staying in this god forsaken state.

and mostly I'm grateful that everyone is close enough to deal with the fact that The Marsh and I never have our shit together in advance and generally just say "hey, G's birthday is tomorrow, you gonna be around?" We're kind of a pain in the ass like that, so them being five minutes away really helps on such occasions.

that and the fact that we're always ready for a party.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

ANTI-ANTIBIOTICS.

Today I am grateful to be done taking my antibiotics.

I'm fine, it was no big deal that I needed to be on them. just an infection that I tend to get once or twice a year. it's more of a pain then anything overly harmful.

but I hate taking antibiotics.

like really really hate it.

my attention span was not built for remembering to take a pill twice a day. even if it's only for a week.

plus this time i got all the freaking side effects and they were probably a major factor in while i felt so horrid all week.

so now I am just grateful to be done with them. appreciative for the help they have provided, but grateful to be through with them just the same.

Thanks for reading!
Lana

Princess Thor?

Today I am grateful that my little princess isn't all pink and lace.

Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, I just like it when my children broaden their horizons a bit.

And Miss G is definitely all about the girly girl stuff. Pretty dresses, pink, princesses and baby dolls, she is ALL little girl, but occasionally she does something out of the box.

A few weeks ago when we first started discussing her upcoming birthday she mentioned wanting an Avengers cake. I was stunned. Sure she watches Avengers with her brother, but to pass on a Sleeping Beauty cake? I thought for sure she would change her mind.

But as time went by, she was dead set on having an Avengers cake. then came the problem of not being able to find a store that made them. Today when we checked, the grocery store said they only had a couple individual marvel heroes...lucky for us the one hero she really wanted was an option.

And which hero was it that she wanted? Thor. I'm so proud. We then went to iparty where she picked out her Avengers paper plates and napkins.

I'm grateful that The Marsh and I have been able to raise our children in a way that allows them to explore all sorts of interest, no matter what their genders are. Hell, Breyman is about as boyish as you can be short of being a miniature lumber jack, but he still loves My Little Pony. and I love that about  him. Just like I love that G wants an Avengers birthday cake.

Its scary sometimes, raising little people the right way. I'm grateful for little things like this that help remind me that we're doing okay.

Thanks for reading,
Lana

Little Miss G.

Today I'm grateful for my beautiful Little Miss G.

a.k.a Arch Nemesis Numero Uno.

It's her 4th birthday today and i just can't believe how quickly time flies.

How is it possible that she is four years old? She is my baby, i'm never having another one. so she needs to just slow it down right now. She was so excited about her birthday today that when Breyman got on the bus she told his bus driver "I'm four years old!" and his response? "That's great! That means you're old enough to ride my bus next year!"

um.

excuse you, Mr. Bus Driver.

stop talking about taking my baby away from me.

I'm still handling the idea of her turning four, lets not start talking about school!

Obviously I know she will be going to school next year, half a day like Breyman does now, and i'm sure when the time comes I will think it's absolutely amazing to have 3 whole hours by myself when the kids are at school, but I can only pretend she's my little baby for a little while longer, so lets no talk about such things right now.

over all i think she has had a very nice day. The Marsh and I gave her her new "big girl" bed, which is twin sized and she is very excited about it. when The Marsh asked her if she like her new bed, she responded by saying "No, I love it!" It was pretty adorable. She seems to be looking forward to her birthday party on Saturday more than anything. we didn't do cake tonight because we'll be having it then, so she said to me "Mama, don't you know people are suppose to be having cake on their birthday?" I don't know if she'll make it to the weekend. although she is spending the night at her Grammy's house tomorrow night so she probably won't have to. She'll just mention that she wants cake and it will be hers. She has one of those faces that are just hard to refuse, you know?

anyway.

Happy Birthday to my most beautiful little lady.  

I love you more than you'll ever possibly know.

Thanks for reading!

Lana

Lessons Learned.

Today I am grateful for ....well let's call it lessons learned.

last night I learned a very valuable lesson.

don't drink gin.

ever again.

it was pretty horrific. and i've spent all day long today paying for it today. but this is a blog about seeing the positive, even in the bad. so i'm going to say the positive side is that now i know i shouldn't drink gin. and at least i was at my mom's house with family..as opposed to finding this out in a foreign country whilst being the responsible adult.

okay, i know what you're thinking. responsible adults shouldn't be drinking that much anyway. but let me tell you, i didn't even really drink that much last night. there was absolutely no reason for me to have been that sick. my mom actually wonders if i may be allergic to gin. it's a good theory. The Marsh told me this morning that he couldn't get over how sick I was because he knew that i had only had a few drinks.

but the worst has seemed for pass finally.

I'm grateful that tonight i finally managed to eat some food without it coming back up. and i'm grateful that my head no longer feels like it's going to explode.

side note: I'm also amazingly grateful for my husband. i know, i know. i'm always grateful for The Marsh. but he was seriously a trooper with me today. he could have just been a jerk and said this was all my fault, but he was very sweet and understanding. he shampooed my hair for me when i needed him to and he even puts socks on my feet for me because my toes were cold. is he a keeper or what?

anyway, i'm hoping that the rest of 2013 ends up treating me a little bit better than today did. I would say that I hope it isn't a sign of things to come..the feeling miserable part, that is. but feeling sick aside, i spent the night with my awesome family and was reminded again today how amazing my husband is. so to be fair, i guess 2013 didn't start off too bad after all.

Thanks for reading!
Lana