day of thanks #20

Today I am thankful for weekends. Sleeping in (or at least the ability to sleep in), made-from-scratch breakfast, coffee with Patrick, and kids playing. Weekends really are the best inventions!!!

day of thanks #19

Today I am forcing myself to be grateful for rainy lazy days. Because of said rainy day...I am pretty grumpy. That is why I am forcing myself to be grateful. Because it is rainy, I let Evelyn skip cheerleading so we ended up going to the bakery (always grateful for that). Also because of the rain, Patrick did not go to play golf so he was able to stay home with us and help around the house (again, always grateful). Then I took a nap. A long nap! And Patrick played nerf wars, wii, and board games with the kids. Then we hung out with some friends for a bit and are now back home. Lazy, rainy day - I am grateful for you....even though I may seem like a big B**** today because of you.

Day of thanks #18

Today I am thankful for make-your-own-pizza night at the E Club! We go just about every Friday night. And so do half of our friends! They have flat bread dough/crust that you can add marinara, alfredo, or BBQ sauce to. Then cheese. Then toppings of your choice. From shrimp to corn to pineapple and everything in between. Gavin gets just the crust and marinara...no cheese or anything! He usually eats 2 whole pizzas of that himself! Evelyn always gets corn and sometimes pineapple and pepperoni. Patrick and I like to switch it up - but I always get at least half like a hawaiian pizza. We get drinks and sometimes I just get the salad bar (like today when I had a lot of pizza for lunch and couldn't think of taking another bite of it). The kids get ice cream and sometimes (like tonight) I get a slice of cheesecake :-). Grand total for tonight's dinner = $12. SERIOUSLY!!! Ok...it was so low because the kids are basically free ($1 for ice cream each) and I only got salad bar ($3). It was my cheesecake that cost a little bit and then a tip. And the kids think it is so cool that they can get whatever they want!!! And make it themselves!!! Cheap, fun, family outing...definitely something to be grateful for!

Day of thanks #17

Today I am thankful that I am an independent woman. This is something that I had to learn to do (even thought i had a great role model in my mother). I believe I used to be very co-dependent, especially with Patrick. When you love someone, it is easy to wrap yourself up in that relationship and lose your own independence. BUT, I knew Patrick fell in love with the independent Kelly so I really searched hard to find her again (this was all back while dating).

It has been great ever since! Especially once I had kids! And especially since Patrick is in a job that required him to be gone a lot during residency and to be on-call (not allowed to leave a certain radius) a lot. Of course I wish Patrick were able to do all the fun things that I get to do with the kids. But, I am also strong enough to do things without him if needed. I saw many friends struggle with this during residency...some even resulting in divorce. I think it gave Patrick a breath of relief knowing that if I wanted to go somewhere - and he couldn't - I would still go. I didn't stop living my life if he was busy.

As I said before, I would love it if Patrick was there with us all the time. But days like yesterday when it was the perfect chance to go to Disneyland but he couldn't go...I wasn't going to let it stop the kids and I from going. Some people don't always get this...they want to share every single moment with their spouse (and I do too - but I know it is impossible with his job). It works for us, and I am so grateful for it.

Day of thanks #16

Today I am thankful for a perfect day at Tokyo Disneyland. Can't write now...so tired. More tomorrow!

Day of thanks #15

Today I am grateful for The New Sanno hotel. It is a 5 star in Tokyo for military personnel and family. It is awesome in every way with an amazing indoor pool and hot tub area (will post pics when I get home). It also has great restaurants, shopping and wine store. It is only an hour away and is so close to everything in Tokyo. Even Disneyland!!! Which is where we will be tomorrow!

day of thanks #14

Today I am thankful for Amazon Prime. It is so worth it while living overseas to become a member! Free 2 day shipping (although it doesn't always get here that quickly - it still is pretty darn quick)! And it is so great to order something for friends and family online and be able to ship to them for free too! Yesterday was my niece's birthday (Happy Birthday Abby) and today is my little sister Kaitlin's (miss you girl - hope you have a great day)! It was so nice to be able to know what I wanted to get for them, have it available online at Amazon and then shipped for free! When we mail things from here - it can cost just as much to mail it than the cost of the present!!! So I am thankful (especially with the holidays coming up) that we have a good option for gift buying!!!
AND - It also has free book sharing for your Kindle, tons of free movies and tv shows, or cheap movie rentals (and you don't have to return them to the store 5 days late :-) Amazon rocks (and I am not getting paid to say so!!)

day of thanks #13

Today I am thankful that I live in Japan. Mainly because Japan is not filled with ambulance-chasing, lawsuit-happy, sue-mongrels. I certainly have my distaste for these types of people...but I am so happy to live in a land that is much more honorable than that (ok - I am done my rant)!
Given that fact, I am grateful for the Obstacle Course park. This awesome place is only about 10-15 minutes from us and is an outdoor playground for the kids (and us)...but you would never find anything like it in the states without signing waivers, etc. The kids LOVE going here and we always have a great time. Today was Sunday, and it was a beautiful fall day, so it was packed - but orderly. We even ran into some little girlfriends of Evie's from her school!!! And we explored some new areas which were beautiful and made us remember to expand our comfort zone sometimes and try new things - even if it is in old places!!!