Gratitude VIII

This is probably cheating on the Gratitude Image Challenge, but look! This year is 5th for the all time number of blog posts by Slapdash in one year! 

It's been a busy June, but I'm even hoping to pick up the blogging pace in July. Buckle up. 

Gratitude VII

The tantrums have started. This morning's was prompted by Eloise's displeasure with the bowl selection. She simply refused to have her cereal in any except the red one. The red one has a crack in it, of course.

The gratitude part of this experience is that Eloise is our second child, and we have some perspective on tantrums. Sure, we still try to get her to stop crying. But when everything fails to do that, we get out the camera and take a few shots while we ride it out.

Gratitude VI

Everything about this picture makes me grateful.

Gratitude V

Sam had his first t-ball game of the season (and of his life) this week. He took it very seriously, of course, and ran for the ball every time it made its way onto the field anywhere. The kid's not very laid back about anything, so that wasn't really a surprise. For some reason, though, we never thought to give him any water despite how red and sweaty he was looking. So later when he was waiting for his food to arrive at a nearby restaurant, he chugged his chocolate milk. And about two minutes after that, he complained of a tummy ache and vomited his chocolate milk into a malt cup.

We're planning to work with Sam on dialing it back at t-ball next week. But other than that, I'm pretty grateful to be spending a handful of summer evenings watching him play.

Gratitude IV

Watching Sam watch Peter Pan on stage was one of the highlights of my parenting life. The boy was nothing short of enthralled. He held his sword and spyglass through the entire play and swung at imaginary enemies in front of him. He also made loud exclamations during quiet parts of the play ("I think Peter Pan is going to come!") and turned to smile at me at the end of each musical number.

When the play was over we had a chance to meet the cast of characters and get autographs. Sam had them each sign his sword, and Captain Hook, who remained in character, scared the bejeezus out of Sam with a simple motion of his hook. Later Sam said to himself in the backseat of the car, "Hook wasn't real." 

I was thinking it would  be nice to bottle up that afternoon and open it up every once in a while to experience it again and again, but then I realized that Sam will be reenacting the event every 15 minutes for weeks to come. And I'm grateful for that. 

Gratitude III

I'm just so thankful whenever someone else is in charge of feeding this moving target.

Gratitude II

Thanks to a team of hard and careful workers, the new garage (well, its spot anyway) is coming along nicely.

Birthday Morning High

"Dad, I have to wake my mom and show her how much happy you have from my present."

Which was, of course, the John Denver piano anthology.

I sure do love my folk-singin' boys. Young and old.

Gratitude I

Here's the first of several images for a little photography and gratitude challenge suggested by blogging pal, MM. Today I'm grateful that my dad replanted the flowers that were washed out by a deluge made worse by our clogged gutters. I'm also grateful that Dave cleaned out those clogged gutters later in the day. And finally, I'm grateful that Sam took this picture for me upon request. With a snazzy filter no less.

So there you have it. Three expressions of gratitude for three helpful fellas.