multitude monday

it's monday again.  time to continue counting my blessings!  (apologies to anyone who missed last weeks non-existent post. i forgot!)


in no particular order this week...

81. watching a mama kitty and her two darling kittens (they're not ours--just a neighborhood cat that claims our yard as part of her territory)
82. lessons from the Bible Bee Sword Study on 1 Peter

83. memorizing verses with Bubba
84. having our own church "service" at home as a family on Sunday morning
85. seeing a young deer cross the road in front of our house as we were having our family church service {would've missed that blessing if we hadn't stayed home!}
86. good friends you can count on (and hopefully being one in return)
87. wearing my new shawl and loving it!
88. swim lessons and having them all done for the summer
89. watching cj color in his coloring book and seeing how much joy it gives him
90. fingerless mitts on a cool summer evening
91. time to knit each day
92. time to read each day
93. time to celebrate my father and my husband on Father's day
94. a new fire pit in our yard
95. having a bonfire/campfire in our new fire pit twice this summer already!! amazing!
96. new yarn
97. being able to dream of the possibilities for those yarns!!  i think this is half the fun!
98. a little better-late-than-never spring cleaning.  it's really just a start, but at least it's something!

tune in next monday for the next installment...if i remember!  ha!

multitude monday

is it monday again already?  i just about forgot i was going to start posting again today!  here we go...
if you want to see my other multitudes on mondays posts, they began on mother's day with this post.

54. holiday weekend in Duluth with just my hubby!!!   (Thanks AGAIN to my parents for making it possible by taking the kids.)
55. yarn shops!  and getting to shop at 4 in one weekend!  WOOT!
56. a mall to shop at too!  (can you tell we live in the middle of nowhere?)
57. my new purse in a lovely shade of PINK! yes!
58. a couple new outfits too
59. new clothes for my man as well
60. finding a fun gift for hubby's dad (his early b-day/father's day gift)
61. did i mention yarn shops?  well, i should have mentioned my beautiful new yarns and needles too!
62. going out to the movies with my man--we saw Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Kung Fu Panda 2 (in 3D).  and yes, we enjoyed them all.
63. coming home
64. hugs and kisses from my boys
65. my hubby's 45th birthday
66. getting our Bible Bee box on Friday (exciting!!!)
67. dinner with my inlaws (to celebrate their eldest son, of course)
68. the first day of summer swim lessons (today)
69. finding out there's another boy in bubba's level who's "behind" on swim lessons so he's not the only 11 year old in level 4
70. time to knit while bubba was in lessons because cj was being such a good boy
71. planting raspberry plants that were given to me (actually, we were originally getting them for my mom, but she let me have them since she already has a few plants and i didn't have any yet)
72. going for a walk with my little man, cj, to try and find monarch caterpillars (no luck this time)
73. finding tadpoles in our front ditch instead!
74. being the kind of mom who catches tadpoles--eight in all--so we can watch them grow legs

75. accidentally catching THIS while trying to get tadpoles and being thrilled even though we didn't know what it was

76. learning that it's a triops (i couldn't find any info to tell me if they are native to minnesota though)
77. going for a family walk and seeing all kinds of wild strawberry plants in blossom.  (gonna have to keep my eyes on those for berries!)
78. pizza
79. falling asleep to the sounds of a gentle rain and distant thunder
80. waking up to the sounds of birds (the one rather loud and crazy bird that has a bunch of different calls was kind of annoying at 4:30am, but otherwise it's kind of a nice way to wake up)

 
On a side note: I decided to put the tadpoles and triops in the same container.  Mr. Triops (as he's been dubbed) eats mosquito larvae and other stuff like that so I'm hoping he'll clean out any bugs from the ditch water we collected with these critters.  Hopefully he won't be hungry enough to eat the tadpoles! Not sure he'd do that, but you never know...

 

They seem to be getting along well enough, but it's only been a few hours. 

multitude monday

Here's my Multitude Monday post for this week.
I began my Multitudes on Mondays posts on Mother's day with this post.

38.  5 days in a row of GREAT weather
39.  playing, reading, and knitting outside each afternoon of those 5 days
40.  the joy of sunshine on my skin
41.  Maui Babe browning lotion leftover from our 10th anniversary trip in 2008
42.  sunscreen
43.  a big, floppy straw hat to keep the sun out of my eyes (and off my face)
44.  starting yet another book on my Kindle
45.  parents who will take the kids at a moment's notice if they're not already busy (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)
46.  Friday night date with my hubby 
47.  dinner at Jake's Pizza {YUM!}and then going to the local movie theater to watch Source Code (it was okay)
48.  buttered popcorn and other yummy movie theater treats
49.  a rainy weekend watching tv and knitting
50.  the last Sunday School week until it starts up again in the fall
51.  safety for my hubby's brother and his family as tornadoes hit the twin cities yesterday
52.  scheduling our anniversary get-away (finally!!!) and having something fun and relaxing to look forward to
53.  playing Monopoly Deal with my hubby and firstborn

My next post will be in two weeks. (I plan to skip next Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday.) 

Have a blessed week!

multitudes on mondays

continuing my multitudes on mondays that i began last week...

20. a good chiropractor to adjust my neck and back when it's out bad like it was when i woke up thursday
21. feeling less pain in my neck today--it's much better than it's been the past few days
22. my Kindle--i love having so many good books available at my fingertips!
23. free books (for said Kindle)
24. time to knit a new project (testing for another item to sell)
25. an 11 yo who learned how to mow the lawn with this

26. getting some more brushed cleared in the backyard too

27. my parents who came and helped us work on the yard  (Thanks again, Mom and Dad!)
28. the promise of warmer weather for this week
29. sunshine
30. time Sunday afternoon to just read and read and read
31. my first sunburn of the year--on my upper arm--that I got while sitting outside on mom and dad's deck reading my book on my Kindle
32. watching Tangled (for the first time) with Mom and my boys and LOVED it!
33. grateful for Plugged In from FOTF to give reviews of movies so we know if one is okay to watch or not
34. finishing the book i'd been reading this morning
35. sleeping in on a Monday morning--just 'cuz.
36. homeschooling and the flexibility it provides us!
37. a gift from Sonlight curriculum in the mailbox Saturday!  we just love our new 2-in-1 book by Kathryn Otoshi!  Thank you, Sarita and John Holzmann for blessing us with this book!

mother's day memories

1. waking up to my two sweet boys wishing me a "happy mother's day!"
2. a hand-made card from bubba
3. breakfast in bed
4. my hubby and sons sitting on the bed and visiting with me while i ate my breakfast
5. visiting with my own mother in the afternoon
6. getting a mother/daughter photo--neither of us likes having our picture taken!

 7. a yummy dessert

8. going out to a movie with my mom and my eldest son (dad tagged along too)
9. hubby having time to visit with his mom too (cj tagged along with his daddy)
10. hand-picked "flowers" from my four-year-old
11. finding that even dandelions can be beautiful!

 

12. playtime outside since the weather was nice

13. bicycle "races"

14. taking tons of pictures with my hubby's camera
15. talking over some new knitting/crochet design ideas with my mom and getting her input
16. a little time to read
17. a little time to knit
18. realizing i am so very blessed to have my mom live relatively close by
19. feeling blessed to be a mom to two wonderfully crazy and amazingly loving boys

note:  i've been enjoying reading my sil's multitude mondays posts so much that with this post i am jumping in and plan to continue with my own.  so watch for more monday posts like this.  and if you're interested in learning more about multitude mondays click HERE.