Thankful Thursday

There must be something in the air around here, because it seems that everyone is grating on each other this week! Maybe it's the hot weather returning that has us all on edge, but this week, we are thankful that we all have each other...even through the tough times. 

I am thankful that Greg and I are able to tell each other that we love one another, even if we don't always understand what the other person is trying to say. It makes a huge difference in the atmosphere of our home. 

 This sequence of pictures pretty much sums up the week of emotions around here.

Note Nora's pouty face

Some advice that helped us laugh this week-

 As a note, a friend calling to catch up on life and then telling you that they only really call as a service to themselves reminding them that their life is not that bad is not always encouraging. Especially when you are in the processes of trying to smash three hundred and forty-two flies with a flip flop. 

I've been on a quest for a serious chocolate fix this week. 

First, we tried making chocolate chip cookies. I'm pretty sure Ben got his chocolate fix while we were making the cookies. 

When that didn't work, I tried these German Chocolate Fudge Bites. That did not work. And  I would not describe them as " insanely-fudgey chocolate", although they were okay and I would probably make them again. 

Finally, I tried chocolate ice cream with fudge brownie pieces in it. That didn't work either, so I think I need to just detox from the chocolate and hope that the craving goes away. 

We had a visit from some friends we made at the church we attended when I was in college. Melissa was with us for Nora's birth. I had a strange urge to ask her to be with me, even though I could never imagine anyone but Greg being with me for such and intense and personal moment, so after months of praying about it I decided to do as I was being led, and asked Melissa if she wanted to be there for the birth. I can't imagine not having her there, looking back she was just such a steady presence in the room and I am glad she was there. She is studying to be a nurse, and is considering focusing on something related to babies and mommies. I think she would make a great mid-wife. It was fun to see her with Nora, it was the first time she held her!

Greg broke his hockey stick on Sunday night, luckily he had decided to take my never used one just in case. My stick is now his permanent stick, and after Greg taped the "handle", Ben inherited the broken one. The reason this is a big deal is, Ben's new stick cost around $200 and my stick was about $20. 

 

The cherry on top for this week was the car starting, but not going into gear on Sunday as we were trying to leave Greg's parent's house for his final softball game of the year. He left with his Dad and bothers, while I got the car towed and made arrangements with the mechanic. It was a bizarre part that controls the brakes, brake lights, and part of the transmission. Fortunately, it wasn't very expensive to fix, and everything went very smoothly.