Gratitude Day #17

A quick list tonight as I have not been sleeping well and need to try and get to bed earlier.

1. I am grateful for learning new things. Today I figured out a little recipe for patriotic jello cups. I'll share it and some photos tomorrow. It was gratifying to come up with an idea and have it work.

2. I am grateful for little boys in farm socks. Calvin wore these to church on Sunday. I love cute little socks. Today Calvin wore his Thomas the Train pajamas all day. We went visiting teaching at two houses, Michaels, Walmart and pack meeting - all in pajamas. Choose your battles.

3. I am grateful for unexpected packages in the mail. My sweet Mother in Law sent some Thanksgiving decorations for me and a new outfit for Calvin. I have very few decorations for this little holiday sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas. It's funny because I love Thanksgiving far more than Halloween, yet I have four bins full of Halloween items and about 1/2 a bin of Thanksgiving items. Calvin asks me every night "how many days until Thanksgiving"? Soon, sweetie.

4. I am grateful for cousins. I have 10 cousins on my Dad's side and 4 on my Mother's side. My children have 4 cousins on my side (with one more on the way) and 9 on their Dad's side (with one more on the way). I think it would be wonderful to live near our cousins, to be able to see them for special occasions and sleepovers. I have always kept up with my cousins through blogs and family members and family reunions, but I wish we were able to spend more time together. I have some pretty amazing cousins. I love big families.

5. I am grateful for finding a new little shutterfly blog where I can post photos of my daycare kids for their parents to see and print if they would like. I have not shared this blog with them as I feel it is too personal - maybe I'm wrong. Only one of the families knows that my husband moved out in July and only because they kept asking where he was all of the time. It is a great little format and super easy to create if you are looking for a little place to share photos.

6. One more as I am still not in bed, I am grateful for dead mice. The sticky trap in the storage room caught not one but two mice today. *shiver* Sophie found them as she was checking traps and all of the kids had to run down and check them out. Me? I ran next door and asked my kind neighbor Paul if he would not mind coming over and taking their little corpses out of my house. Gross. I did not have to look at the dead mice and for that I am truly grateful.

***Pet peeve: why will blogger spell check your post, but not your title?***