Happy thoughts.

Just some random things that have been making me happy lately...

1. Date afternoon. Last weekend, Nathan and I took advantage of a Groupon deal to go to a whiskey tasting and tour at a new local distillery, Feisty Spirits. Though we don't think that whiskey is going to be topping our drink orders anytime soon, lol, we did enjoy the tour and learning more about whiskey. The time together was pretty cool, too. ;)

2. Door sign. I would have guessed that Noah'd have been the first to put a sign on his door. As it was, the 8 year old taped this to his door recently:

So polite, right? ;) Apparently, he kept getting scared by Noah who (intentionally) would barge into Micah's room unexpectedly. That kid cracks me up. ;)

3. Actually saying the right thing at the right moment. Don't you hate it when you think of a great response *after* the moment has passed? Yeah, me too. Last week, though, I had a moment. Noah was complaining about his homework...arguing that if I insisted on making him take a shower and then he was ten minutes late on his homework, it would be because of the shower...and similar remarks throughout the morning trying to finagle extra time before his homework would be due. Argh. But. I'm so proud of my response. :) I told him that, okay, I'd extend the deadline for things like taking a shower...*IF* I could also shorten the deadline for every time I saw him during the week *not* working on his homework when he had the opportunity to. Ha! He promptly announced that the normal deadline would be just fine. ;)

4. Front yard tree. I love when the leaves change color. Love it. So happy that I managed to capture our front yard tree in full fall glory last week...before our recent cold snap and the subsequent nakifying of the tree. ;)

5. New favorite cookies. A couple weeks ago, I tried a new cookie recipe (thank you Pinterest!). Seriously in love. It's probably a good thing that I don't bake often. ;)

6. Halloween decorating. Though he hasn't had a costume or gone trick-or-treating for a few years now, Noah still enjoys the Halloween spirit. He took charge of our outdoor decorations this year:

In the end, we opted for simple...just a bunch of webs and pipe cleaner spiders...a handful of pumpkins and maybe some strobe lights. Originally, though, his plans included ghosts (made of chicken wire and painted with glow in the dark paint), fog machines, black lights and scary music. After much discussion, we decided that we get a number of young trick-or-treaters and perhaps should keep things nice...we'll save the spookier ideas for a future haunted house or something. :) Still. It was lovely just stepping back and watching Noah direct Nathan in hanging decorations. 

7. Boots. Went looking for snow boots for Noah recently. (We didn't get around to finding any for him last year and he ended up just using his sneakers and freezing...by the time we'd looked, we couldn't find any locally in his size.) Usually, btw, I just get used snow boots at the local gently used store for kids...because I don't like to pay more for an item that gets used so little before being out-grown. ;) But. I'm now realizing that, while I can still get used things less expensively for the younger two and for myself, finding men's sizes is considerably more difficult.

How, then, is this on my list of things that make me happy? :) Well, in looking for boots for Noah, I came across some boots for myself that I'm now in love with, lol. I haven't bought them yet (still looking for a deal and/or trying to justify the cost) but it makes me happy just to know they exist. ;)

8. Poetry. Asher and I have truly been enjoying his new writing curriculum, Cover Story. This week's lessons have focused on poetry and we've been having such fun. Today's limerick (using his super hero theme that he chose and that runs through his entire year):

There once was a dude named Nick Fury
Who always was in such a hurry.
He tripped on his shoe
And out his eye blew,
And suddenly things went all blurry.

9. Friends. Friends rock. ;) Feeling so blessed to have such good friends...to be able to chat and complain and laugh and kibitz together...to know there are others who "get" you.

Okay, off now to get costumes ready and such. :) Will post Halloween pictures soon!