Gratitude Friday...

I should be working. Baby's gone to bed. I should work.

But I can't focus.

This week I have worked more than I've been with my daughter and I think the exhaustion of that has set in.

But we had such a fabulous day. And Chris even made an appearance!

Because Pumpkin did not have a nap yesterday since she was shuffled between MDO and a play date with her bestie, Brynlee, she slept until almost 7:30 this morning.

That is a vast improvement over 5:30, 5:45 and even 6:00 am. Which is what we've been pulling lately. One morning, I got up, snuggled her and then put her right back in the crib. It was still dark outside for goodness sake. She bought it for about another half hour. I never went back to sleep but I felt better.

And really, it's all about me.

We played, played, played this morning. Then we went to walk around the mall. Pumpkin is loving walking in her stroller. She'll even sit in it and wait patiently for me to get my stuff together so we can go on a walk. Seriously. She sat all content today for a good 10 minutes while I finished getting ready.

Got five bucks that says THAT will never happen again.

At the mall, I found the most wonderful sugar and cinnamon roasted almonds. The only place I've ever eaten them was in the Fiesta Bowl.

No lie.

I ate them in 2007 when we went for the OU/Boise State game.

(And let's just not discuss it. Because I cannot stand hearing about the greatest college football game ever. Was. Not.)

Then we found them again this January.

So that's what I had for lunch today. Yum!

I found a great deal on an orange and white striped tee shirt and a to die for cardigan sweater for the fall. I'm doing my best to teach Pumpkin that one can never, not ever, ever, have enough orange tops.

It's completely impossible.

Successful shopping done, we loaded up the car. On our way home, she fell asleep.

Dagnabit.

So even though she only slept about 10 minutes in the car, she wouldn't take a nap.

I got in about a half hour of work while listening to her fighting the nap. I finally gave up and sprung her.

We then ate and played some more.

And to my surprise, Chris came home! His new teacher stuff was done and he didn't need to be back at band camp until after dinner.

We took a family trip to Sonic to take advantage of Happy Hour and then to the fanciest Wal-Mart ever to shop for a party tomorrow.

Of course, while we were there, I felt we really shouldn't miss an opportunity to stock up on ice cream.

There. In the Wal-Mart freezer section. Was. Pure. Bliss.

Blue Bell Chocolate Chip.

Almonds AND CC ice cream! Best. Day. Ever.

After we got back, Chris played with baby while I cooked dinner. I'd brought home two rather large dogie bags from our event at work last night.

(BTW, I was working an event last night.)

One was all the yummy fancy stuff I can't eat but knew Chris would love.

The other one was for me. Cheese and shrimp.

Tonight I made myself some shrimp pasta. G-free pasta, onions, tomatoes, shrimp and ridiculous amounts of butter and garlic.

Awesomeness.

Chris had to leave about 15 minutes before I was done cooking. Which left baby to explore on her own.

Our kitchen doesn't have any child-proof latches and she so loves pulling things out for me. Lately, she loves getting in the pantry and taking Chris' propel flavor packets out of the box. Then putting them back in.

So honestly, I wasn't paying a whole heap of attention to what she was pulling out. I knew there wasn't anything dangerous.

The next sound I heard was a "Crunch!"

I turned around to see her almost head first into the Doritos bag.

Of course, I laughed. She jumped five feet in the air and then started giggling. She LOVED the chips.

Since I am already the self-proclaimed Mom of the Year, I went ahead and let her eat.

It was priceless.

She was covered in orange cheesy goodness. Mouth, hands, clothes. Even her feet. She did try to take the bag out of the kitchen (meaning three feet from where she was standing at the pantry door) and I made her come back into the kitchen. Which she gladly did. She only ate a few chips. I think she was wearing more of them.

Took us forever to clean that cheesiness off of her. Another task Pumpkin found hillarious.

After that, we spent the rest of the night playing and getting chased. Then bath, prayers and bed.

And that was our day.

I know. You're thinking how boring. Maybe she needs to get out more.

Maybe.

But honestly, things have been so crazy the past two months, I am simply grateful for a "normal" day. Regular stuff like stacking blocks, pushing the stroller, eating delicious food, grocery shopping as a family, giggling over an unexpected discoveries...these are all simple, regular, normal, boring things.

And I am humbly and overwhelmingly grateful for each one of them.

Thank you Lord for the normal stuff. The regular day to day things. Time together. And for the love we share as a family. We are so very blessed. I guess I needed a normal day to remind me of that. But You already knew that. I heard You. Thank you Lord.