These are a few of my favorite things

I'm going to celebrate them (In no particular order):

• A Memorial Day cookout on the deck with my BFF Gina, and her family.  And trying (both passively and aggressively) to get them to move to our area...or, you know...less than a 9 hour drive away.

• A phone call from Gina the next day that lasted for over an hour...because we still had fun stuff to talk about.

• An almost completed deck- I have to decorate, you know!

• The hope of a family jaunt to Chicago....sometime this summer.

• Trader Joe's mini peanut butter cups.  And suddenly I'm so grateful that Trader Joe's isn't in my geographic area.  And also...happy for friends who go there and share their loot.  :)

• Vodka Tonic's.  Not one hang over.  (!)

• Teachers who care.  We've got 'em.

• Grandparents who help out with my kiddos and cheer for the boys at their baseball and soccer games.

• Easy going friendships- ones that I don't see often but can pick up right where we left off without missing a beat.

• Catching just the right shot of the kids.  The one that makes the other 117 pictures worth it.
• A belly laugh from the husband.

• Devotions on the deck on a crispy quiet spring morning.  Nothing but me and the robins.  Oh, and God.

• The smell of a greenhouse full of blooms.

• My boy's faces when they present me with their homemade Mother's Day cards.

• Unsolicited hugs.

• Protective big brothers- who will get in grown men's faces for their little sister.

• Ear meds for the dog.

• Finding my groove (I haven't found it yet, but when I do...I'll be happy about that).