Thankful Thursday

Happy first Thursday of August to you all! Things I'm thankful for today...

1. Sons who value minimalism. So, last Friday, we moved Noah home from his apartment while he continues his job search after having graduated in May. Gotta say that I'm thankful my guys don't have much "stuff" and mostly value minimalism. Noah and Micah have even, of their own accord, gone through their stuff to purge at least once just this summer. :)

Micah and I had moved a few larger items earlier in the week (a large monitor, a 3D printer, a bag of board games) and then hauled most everything else in one big load on Friday morning. (We'd debated waiting until the afternoon when Nathan and Asher would be available to help but decided the cooler morning temperatures and less competition for the curb parking spots outweighed the extra hands. While Noah finished actually packing things up, Micah and I made multiple trips--Noah's apartment is on the third floor--and I'd done boot camp that morning and Micah still went to the gym that afternoon. We rock. Also, we think we made the right decision.) Aside from the first load earlier in the week (which wasn't much, just oddly shaped), here's the total of what we moved...

That's not much more than when we originally moved Noah to the dorms four years ago. Okay, I just looked. I think it might actually be less than the first dorm move in and definitely less than the second dorm move in...despite the fact that he added kitchen stuff when he switched to the apartment two years ago, lol. (In the apartment, though, he didn't have to move a mini fridge...and since his bike got stolen just before finals week, we didn't have that to move either.)

Grateful, too, for Micah's help. He enjoyed the few times he got to literally toss things into the giant dumpster out front. Here he is taking a load down...using the mattress protector/envelope as a bag. (Noah reasoned that it makes more sense to buy a new mattress cover when he gets a new place and figured that it's not likely he'll need a full XL sized mattress cover anyhow.)

Whew. And now all that stuff is in Noah's room, and all three boys are living here again. It's a bit of an adjustment after just having Micah here (and him being gone much of the time anyhow, lol), but we're figuring it out. :)

2. A new tree. The City of Fort Collins has a Community Canopy Project that offers discounted trees to residents. I took advantage and ordered a skyline honeylocust for our front yard. I get to pick it up in mid-September and am silly happy about it. Our existing trees out front are older and probably won't last too much longer. (Everyone else in our neighborhood has already removed their trees planted around the same time.) I know this new tree will be small, but the hope is that it'll get established and grow at least a bit before we have to remove the others. (And, at this price, I'm willing to take the risk on investing in a tree.) Fingers crossed!

3. Neighborhood BBQ. Our neighborhood had its somewhat annual BBQ on Tuesday...with hot dogs, brats, chips, watermelon and margaritas. It wasn't as well attended as a few years ago but it was still nice to catch up with folks and be reminded that we love our neighborhood and neighbors. 

4. Good health. Micah had his annual well check yesterday. Thanks to the wonders of medication, his arthritis has been under control for more than a year now, and he's quite healthy. Very thankful for that and not taking it for granted at all. 

5. No back to school shopping this year. I'm starting to see people sharing first day of school pictures already and know that all of my teacher friends are already working again (either officially or on their own to prep). Strangely, I only have one going back to school this month (not for another couple weeks) and no back to school shopping to do. It feels weird. But. I'm thankful...and am savoring this and tucking it away to remember next fall when we probably spend plenty to move Micah to California for college. :)

So. Seems like August is off to a good start. What are you thankful for today?