Thankful Thursday

1.  My nephew James, whose second birthday was last Saturday.  I cannot believe how big he is, but I'm sure they think the same thing about Luke.  He is as much wild fun as his big brother, with the tender heart and love of his Mama that his Daddy has.  I can't wait to get to see him grow into his own in the coming years.  

2.  Girl time.  On Monday I got to see my two closest girlfriends.  Kara, who recently moved to SC, stopped by for a quick visit while she was in town.  Then I got to eat dinner with Lara Lynn that night - our first chance to catch up in months.  So thankful for these two and what they mean to me!  

3.  Gloves.  I did my longest cold run last Saturday morning.  It was "only" 36 degrees when I started and I was totally unprepared for running in the cold.  Since then, I bought some gloves that made Tuesday's run much more bearable.  (But for the record:  This morning, when it was 25 degrees at 5:45am, I hit the treadmill at the gym.  Please pray for warmer temps for my next half on Thanksgiving Day!)

4.  That our floors/staircase banisters and spindles are finally finished!  I know this made the list last week, but after two weeks, I'm just ecstatic they're officially done.  They had to wait a week for the stairs to cure before coming back and scraping some of the white paint that bled onto the stain.  Everything looks wonderful and I'm so glad to be finished with scheduling and people in our house!  Still waiting to finish up that deep-cleaning though.  And by finish, I basically mean start.  

5.  Cleaning out and cleaning up.  We loaded up a bunch of junk for the dump and a few things for Goodwill last weekend, which I LOVE.  In a list of things that make me happy, it would go something like 1) seeing David smile  2) hearing my kids' laugh  3) throwing crap away.  It's no joke around here - one year anniversary deadline approaching, y'all, and Mama is serious about gettin' er done! :)

Happy FRIDAY (and really, WHERE oh WHERE has another week gone and how on earth is it November 14th?!  Slow down just a smidge, 2013!)