Grateful Friday

It's been a while but I finally feel like posting again. Occasionally I just feel apathetic towards this site and decide to take an extended period of time off from posting. Luckily, I then come back with a vengeance.

Riding "Red" with my sister's and brother-in-law's help.

- A really great Easter Sunday with beautiful weather (not too hot or too cold). The girls are both old enough now to participate in an egg hunt and they had SO much fun. We went out to my mom's place, which is out in the country with lots of land. She has a few neighbors with farms too. The girls got to see chickens and the eggs they laid, and they got the chance to go horseback riding. They love visiting Nana's house and seeing all the animals. We also spotted a few calves and puppies. The Easter egg hunt was fun too. They found lots of eggs and were delighted with the "prize" eggs. Best of all, though? The real decorated eggs they found. Did I mention that my kids LOVE boiled eggs? Josie ate three in a row and I'm not sure how many Maddie ingested.

- NOT getting poison ivy. As many of you know from this, I am extremely allergic to poison ivy. Well, my sister's mother-in-law suggested that I hide one of the eggs in a tree. She pointed to a branch and I tried, but the egg kept falling out, sooooooo... I tried to place it in the vine right next to that branch. At this point she said very calmly, "You know that's poison oak, right?" Aaaaaack! I ran inside the house and didn't touch anything with that hand until I'd washed it thoroughly. Like I said, I didn't get poison ivy, so I'm very thankful.

- Feeling better. I no longer feel pain in the incision from my surgery any more and I'm back to normal, lifting the girls and otherwise. I finally got the green light from my doctor as well, so I am officially back to normal. Well, at least health-wise.

- The fact that "pollen week" in Atlanta is finally over. See this?

All of that yellow stuff is pollen. We are attacked by it during two weeks in April each year. It leaves a quarter inch-thick layer of yellow dust on everything until it finally rains. Then, instead of being washed away, all the stuff puddles (and splatters all over the girls' toys). It's torture for people like Bill who have seasonal allergies. I don't have allergies, but even I get stuffy.

- The good health of everyone in our family.

- Easter candy. We limit what the girls eat, but we don't have any limits for ourselves. Well, at least not until that diet starts.

- Planting flowers with the girls. They love "gar-ning." I took them to a local landscape center yesterday to pick out some flowers for a few containers we have on our porch. We had fun smelling the herbs and picking out their favorite color of flowers. Then we came home and planted them all. It was so funny to see them with their little shovels playing in the potting soil. I'm horrible about remembering to water my flowers, so it's good that they're so excited about doing it and remind me all the time.