Happiness is...

The past two weeks I've been trying to notice all the things that have happened to me that make me happy and keep a mental note of them.  The practice has been rather therapeutic   I decided to pour out my thoughts here:

• drinking hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream....none of this redi whip business.
• K1's daily poking of the baby in my belly and how he's just started to feel kicks and such.  So precious.
• Seeing K1 and Sister laughing and playing together on the couch and in the tub
• having a really warm and sunny day today.  The sunshine just lifted my spirits.
• K1 taking on responsibility.  He'll spill his water, and without me asking will go grab a towel and begin cleaning it up.
• I introduced sugar snap peas to my kids and K1 (my veggie adverse kid) loves them.  He asks for them :)
• I've been making whole wheat bread the past couple of weeks and my family hasn't been bothered by the change.  I thought the kids might protest wanting the soft, store-bought wheat bread.  Apparently not.  
• I haven't missed a week of planning and giving FHE.  K1 really enjoys it.  
• making an healthy dinner and having both the kids eat with no complaint.  I really REALLY love that.
• I've noticed a lot of the anger I've been feeling the past months has miraculously waned the past few weeks.  Because of it, my patience levels have gone way up and I'm not yelling at my kids hardly at all.  I know things will change back and forth, but I'm just really enjoying this calmer, more patient me.
• Making a meat free meal and having everyone really like it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not going vegetarian or anything, I just feel my family eats too much meat and I've been trying to really cut it back.
• PC's pancakes.  He makes them every Saturday morning.  It's one thing that makes me still feel like a kid and that someone is taking care of me. :) :)
• PC's waffles!  He sometimes makes those after church on Sundays.  Lately my favorite way to eat them is topped with raspberry greek yogurt, fresh whipped cream and fresh berries.  Oh wow.  I get transported to bliss every time I take a bite.
• Talking to friends I haven't talked to in a while over the phone.  I've had good chats with Madi and Amy.  I'm hoping to add a few more peeps to the tally.
• Feeling a prompting and acting on it despite my plans for that moment or the day.  I've noticed the more I act on them, the more promptings I receive. 
• When K1 shares.  It doesn't happen often, but the few times it has have always made me very happy. I always try to shower him with praise when he does it too.
• Random hugs from my kids.  I always love those.
• When K1 says cute things.  Today I made dinner for the missionaries and took it to them.  On the drive there, I was explaining to K1 what missionaries do.  On the way home K1 said,"I love the missionaries and their church"  All I could say was ''me too''. :)
• My tolerance for spills has gone up.  Every time something spilled, I would get annoyed or  otherwise agitated.  Now they don't bother me.
• I've been more on top of the dishes lately.  The dishes and I REALLY don't like each other and normally I ask PC to do them (because he loves me).  Because PC has been so busy and stressed with his BAR study, I've tried really hard to always get them done so he doesn't feel like he has to do them.
• I've been slowly doing some of the deep clean items that have been on my todo list for months.
• My nightly cuddle with Sister.  I read several stories to K1 and then tuck him in.  After, Sister runs to the rocking chair and I scoop her up, wrap her in a blankie and then rock her.  All the while I'm singing to both my babies.  Some nights I won't sing and she'll look at me and say 'sing song?' and then I, of course, will start singing.
• K1 knows most of the 'Bill Nye' song.  I've been checking out at least one Bill Nye episode from the library for the kids each week (usually tying in with our preschool theme) and K1 has started singing along with the opening credits.  So funny and cute.  
• I've made a plan for my scripture study this year and I'm following it.  My goal: read the entire canon of scripture before the year is over.  That's 5 chapters a day.  I can do it.
• PC and my conversations have become more varied lately.  They were pretty predictable for a while there(what I did with the kids that day, and what he did at work).  Ever since he finished school, we've started talking about...anything and everything random, fun, political, religious, serious or nonsensical. 
• Noticing that I hadn't given either of my kids tylenol or ibuprofen in over a month i.e. no one is sick. (knock on wood)

I'll end on one of the very best ones:  my kids have been sleeping way better at night for the past few weeks. That translates into me getting larger chunks of sleep at night which equals a happy mama :)