#Gratitude365 Day 15

#Gratitude365 January 2 2013

Do you have moments where you are thinking how blissful things are and then 10 minutes later your kids are fighting with each other in a public place and you look like the crazy mom who can't keep it together? Okay, that happened today. I was using all my patience and didn't dart my eyes around to see if people are really seeing this all unfold before me - instead just stated matter of factly to my 6yo "Yes, I know you are embarrassed, we are ALL embarrassed." I think just stating what IS helped me find my center again. With every passing month of this parenting journey I am indeed learning not to sweat the small stuff - seriously this is huge for me because I'm regularly having it in the back of my mind that my children's behavior is a reflection of my parenting, and I had an epiphany... that the only thing that is a reflection of my parenting is how I BEHAVE when they have their "moments" so to say. That "pause" button sure is easier for me to find as of late. Then an hour later, we're at the park and I capture this photo of them being in a state of bliss again. 

First, I'm grateful that I am having an easier time finding that "pause" button so I can respond rather than react to those situations. Second, I have abundant gratitude for these 3 kids! The 4th kid with the hat is a photo bomb - he's not mine ; ) I know people who want to have children and do not have them and for all the crazy there is plenty of laughter and hugging - so I'm grateful to take the whole package.

I got a call today from the hair salon I went to right before Christmas informing me that I had won a raffle basket with all these amazing Aveda products! Aveda is my brand of choice when it comes to my hair so I was thrilled to win. What was further interesting is that when I arrived at Joelle's hair salon I saw there were a few other baskets from the raffle and they were for various other product brands - how cool is it that I won stuff I already love and will actually use?

This is only day 15 of this 365 day journey and I have to say I feel pretty certain that the conscious effort of being thankful, expressing gratitude, and looking for the good is manifesting itself pretty nicely. 

Anyone else on a gratitude journey or inspired to start? New year, new perspective!

#Gratitude365 Day 8

#Gratitude365 The Day After Christmas

All holiday season I have been itching to take the family ice skating! And that is what we did this day. I'd taken Amberly ice skating once before, two years ago. Having 3 kids with just 2 adults, we needed to wait until they were big enough to be able to handle falls without too many tears. For the most part I stayed with Owen, who wanted to do the running man most of the time. It was cute to see him recover his balance over and over again, reaching out to me, many times saving himself by grabbing the guardrail. Kyle had a different approach, looking like he was almost walking around the rink, with this cute little stopping move cutting his skate into the ice with his left foot. Amberly had been left to sort of fend for herself and ended up falling pretty hard on her knee. She was ready to go home after that. In total we lasted about half an hour. That might win for the most we've ever paid per minute for entertainment, but it was fun!

Last year we wanted to go ice skating and we never committed to making it happen. This year we followed through. My husband says we should go a few more times to the indoor ice rinks throughout the year and then next winter it will be even more fun with all that practice under their belt.

My gratitude comes from recognizing that if this half hour of ice skating would have happened a year ago I would have been greatly dismayed at the experience being cut short. Now, however, my focus was to appreciate that each child had their moments of joy on the ice and we left with no major injuries. Taking your children ice skating for the first time is a practice in using your patience. We saw other families with both big kids and small kids navigating their way around the rink that would succumb to frustration. Maybe being that we have the kids in sports in general, we know it will take some practice a lot of practice before everyone is out there skating with grace.

Are there things that you put off trying as a family and it works out to be better?

#HolidayBucketList