Prelude to Mothers Day ...

I love my mom. And sometimes I am reminded of how thankful I am for her. This may or may not be due in part to witnessing crazy moms in action. WOW.

Dear Mom,

I am so blessed by you! I was just reminded of this again. Thank you for being such an amazing Mother to me and Grammie to my kids!

Love, Anika

Meanwhile, Back At the Momma's Boy Farm ...

... Jason and I got to go on a date yesterday. For an hour and a half. Having 3 boys, we know how to pack a lot into a short amount of time. So we did. And it was wonderful (and also a bit strange) to have just the two of us -- no interruptions, no messes, no strollers, no highchairs, no snacks, no diapers, no toys, no spit up on my shirt, no pointing out every truck or digger we passed in the car ...*

We got home to find that the littlest love had been crying practically the whole time. And I was secretly glad he missed his mommy so much.


I'm his favorite.


* Can I just say something? I missed all of these things!

Breaking News ...

Bret Michaels suffered a brain hemorrhage. I hope that he's ok because his shows are really insightful uplifting deep funny to watch.

Also, he's 47. Who knew? I'm sure he's never had botox or other plastic surgery. And I'm sure his hair is 100% real.

Yum in My Tum.

Maybe if I didn't eat popcorn with butter and syrup on it ... And then warm apples with brown sugar and oats and ice cream ... Maybe then I would get skinnier.







But then what would I eat?!

Love Love Loooooove!

I think I've seen this post somewhere before ...

And because I feel creative reminiscent lazy, I'm doing it again.
And because I love old friends and new friends and potty training and red wine and the sanctuary and homeopathic teething medicine and my first-cup-of-coffee-in-the-morning and train sets and hockey and my three little punks and Jason and jalapeno havarti.
And also because I have nothing more to say than list things that I love ... I've handed over responsibility to Google to list things that I love ...

Anika loves Justin Bieber [*dry heave*]
Anika loves her new bed [we did just get a new bed and I do love it]
Anika loves to read books [read this immediately: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society]
Anika loves synchronized swimming, acting, dancing and playing the piano [ha]
Anika loves to go to her Oma's [true!]
Anika loves her baby sister [true!]
Anika loves being athletic [*cough* right]

The Current Theme in My Life:

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.
~ Cicero

So it's been on my mind lately: thankfulness.

Sometimes I find myself being a bit cynical. Or pessimistic. Studies have confirmed that pessimists are right more times than optimists*. It's more realistic to be a pessimist. Having said that, I want to be more positive. I just don't want to always 'be positive' in a way that is naive or oblivious.

And being thankful is being positive in a way that is not naive or oblivious.

I also want to be thankful without having it be a comparison to something / someone else [i.e. "I'm thankful that we live in such a beautiful city" as opposed to "I'm thankful that we don't live in Xxxx" ...

Also? When I count my blessings I truly am content and at peace. And that brings a wealth of other blessings. It's a vicious circle, except not vicious at all. Just fuzzy and warm.

*Look, I learned it in a Psych class so it's true.

Some Things ...

... Just make me feel so blessed with what I have.
So thankful for the beauty that surrounds me.
So utterly in awe of the amazing people / experiences / things I have in my life.

And sometimes I'm slow to be thankful or slow to realize or slow to wonder at it all. I want to live every moment with thankfulness. I don't want it just to seep in as an afterthought or a comparison to something else.

So I'm going to take a moment today. And bask in the blessings in my life.

The Answer is Right in Front of Your Face ...

Back in the day I dated this guy for a brief stint. He was nice, but not the man for me thankyouverymuch. Actually, I think the exact moment I decided it was over was when he was tickling Jacob and accidentally hurt him. There was no hope for us from that moment on.

Anyways. He had a buddy named Chad who said to him that if he wanted to be a pastor, he should definitely not date a single mom because that would ruin his credibility and hurt his 'ministry.'

Recently I came across something that Chad had written, asking (rhetorically, I assume) why his 'ministry' isn't bigger, reaching more people, and growing. I felt sorry for him laughed to myself.

HEY CHAD,

PERHAPS IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE A COMPLETE WANKER.

Just a thought.

Wii Are Not as Fit as Wii Would Like to be ...

So we got WiiFit because, well, what's more appealing than appearing to do physical activity in the form of a video game, right? We began last night. By the way, have you ever watched your husband doing the hula hoop exercise? Probably one of the coolest hottest funniest things to watch. Bonus points if he's naked.

But I digress.

The reason I'm writing this post is this: this afternoon I turned it on to get in some *ahem* exercise and the dang thing said I've gained 6 pounds! Dastardly game!

So I may or may not be off the regimen.