Friday's Fave Five #5

I can't remember the last time I did this one. Bad me. I really want to do this more often. It's always, ALWAYS good to look back and see what I'm thankful for over the course of the week.

This is hosted on Living to Tell the Story. If you’d like to join in, the rules of play can be found HERE. This week’s post, with the MckLinky attached, is HERE.

1. Girl Scout Camp ~ Yes, I know. I'm a horrible mother, but I needed a break from the oldest. She's the sweetest, most loving child. But she's also a handful. And she gets bored easily. Girl Scout Camp (day camp) was a perfect activity for us. She's still home in the mornings and at night, but during the day she's having a blast with her friends. And, she's in the same group as her BFF. Yesterday she told me she's sad that today is the last day of camp. Me, too, kid. Me, too.
2. FROGs ~ Say what? That's my forum for Christian women (frogsgroup.com), and these ladies are the best, most supportive group of women I've ever had in my life. Even though I've been less-than involved there lately, they're still here for me when I need them. Thank you, ladies! I love you all!
3. A very understanding husband ~ A few weeks ago we purchased a new mattress. We chose poorly. After about a week and a half of hemming and hawing, I finally said enough was enough. It isn't as soft as I like my bed. It's too bouncy (we had a Simmons Beautyrest before, and we are SPOILED as a result). I'm waking up with a sore back EVERY day. Not good. Not good at all. So, my wonderful husband, who said he was fine on that mattress, agreed to get a new new mattress. (There's a 30-day guarantee, thankfully.) So, I went (without Natalie) and chose my top three. (And wouldn't you know it, I went back to Simmons! Which, interestingly, wasn't available the first time we shopped, so I think it's good we chose poorly first.) Mr. Ham and I went back (with the kiddos in tow) and he agreed on my absolute favorite! :-D My wonderful, sweet husband didn't let the fact that it costs TWICE our original selection stop him. (Shockingly, I have to add!) He and I agree: We got 11 years out of Mattress #1, and expect to likely get about the same out of Mattress #2. Now, the hard part. Waiting. Seven to 14 days for the mattress to arrive in the store. Then we schedule delivery. I still have a sore/stiff back every day (stupid wrong mattress), but at least I know it's almost over!
4. Thirty-day guarantees ~ See #3 for why! ;-)
5. Kids' programming back on Netflix ~ I recently posted an e-mail I had sent to Mr. Ham. (If you haven't read it yet, it can be found HERE.) Well, I checked a few days ago to find that Blues Clues and Dora were BACK! WOOT! AND, even better, Diego is available streaming, too! Extra bonus: Instead of just two seasons, all three shows have THREE seasons! Woohoo!

Now it's your turn. What are your five favorite things from this week?

Friday's Fave Five #4

I really mean to participate in this every week. Just sometimes life gets in the way ...

This is hosted on Living to Tell the Story. If you'd like to join in, the rules of play can be found HERE. This week's post, with the MckLinky attached, is HERE.

 1. Good Movies ~ I saw a couple of good ones this week, one of which was He's Just Not That Into You. OMGosh! I LOVED it! AWESOME movie! It's probably my favorite in a long time. I noticed in the end credits that it's based on a book. I think I'll be adding that to my to-read list!

2. Wonderful Teachers ~ On Wednesday, Grant finished his first year of preschool. Those of you who know me personally know that this time last year was very rough for me. We had some concerns over his development, and were even concerned that he might have ASD-NOS. After some reading I did, I was convinced that wasn't the case, and took him to Iowa City last June for a full evaluation. Long story short, nothing more than a speech delay. PRAISE GOD! Thanks to the speech delay, he qualified for a preschool in the school district. I was very, VERY nervous about this. I was worried he wouldn't separate well, worried he wouldn't blend in, worried about EVERYTHING. God placed him in the right class with the right teachers, and he FLOURISHED over the past nine months! He was in absolutely WONDERFUL hands, and I am so excited and pleased to say he'll be in the same class next year! :-) God is so good!

3. Mr. Ham Comes Home TONIGHT ~ Yahoo!

4. A New Adventure ~ Last week I finally decided to get my own domain for my book blog, and switch to Wordpress. Proudbooknerd.com was born. I'm having a little bit of a tough time adjusting to WP, as it is quite different. But, I'm confident that once I've made that adjustment I'll be very happy. I am QUITE happy with it overall. It's easier to use and, most importantly for me, MUCH easier to customize.

5. Birthday Parties ~ My poor sweet Abigail hasn't been invited to many classmate birthday parties since entering Kindergarten in 2008. She got invited to one this week, and was SO EXCITED! She'll be going for sure. I hope she has a WONDERFUL time. I feel bad for her, not getting a lot of invites, but I do know that will make the ones she does go to that much more special. But, my heart aches for her. I sure hope this doesn't mean she'll have to live with the horrid rejection I faced as a child/teen.

Friday's Fave Five #3

I was very, very sick last week, so I missed this one. I was sad, as this is one of my favorites! I have decided to share a couple from last week simply because otherwise they'd go missed!

This is hosted on Living to Tell the Story. If you'd like to join in, the rules of play can be found HERE. This week's post, with the MckLinky attached, is HERE.

1. An AWESOME hubby ~ I think I married the best man ever. How do I know? Because when I was sicker than sick (trust me, you do NOT want details), he helped me so much. He took care of me, cleaned up after me, and even took a day off work without my having to ask! The day he was off, he did EVERYTHING so I could just sleep – which is pretty much all I did last Thursday! While it wasn't necessary, he totally proved himself to me last week!

2. A very, very sweet daughter ~ Abby so very sweetly was quite concerned about me while I was sick. She suggested that she had the hubby make me my favorite dinner last Thursday. Now, there was NO WAY that wouldn't have caused MORE trouble, the fact that she thought of that all on her own and she wanted to help take care of me means so much! (Happy tears!) When told I probably couldn't eat much, she asked if I could eat toast, then promptly made me toast! After that, she sweetly read me stories as I laid down before she went to bed!

3. Blogmania ~ What!? Yes, Blogmania. It was so much fun discovering so many blogs I never would've visited without it. I entered more giveaways than I care to admit. Best part: I won THREE different giveaways associated with Blogmania (posted about it on Proud Book Nerd, because it was book-related). I have received one of my prizes from that already, and can't wait to read it! (It's Jodi Picoult's Handle with Care. Add to that, Proud Book Nerd will be a participating blog for Blogmania in September! I'll be posting about that over there soon ...

4. A good bank ~ Saturday morning we were contacted about suspicious activity on our credit card. Fortunately, it was only three small charges, and we aren't responsible for them. Thank God our company (Bank of America) was so attentive and quick to contact us! That account number has been deactivated and a new one created. Now we just wait for the new cards, although this has been a good thing. Force me to NOT spend ...

5. School book fair ~ My favorite even of the year! LOL I help set it up, then I help support our PTA. And we get some great books to add to our ever-expanding "library" at home! :-)

Friday's Fave Five #2

LOVE this idea! Share your five favorite things from the past week! This is hosted on Living to Tell the Story. If you'd like to join in, the rules of play can be found HERE. This week's post, with the MckLinky attached, is HERE.

1. Spring rain ~ I love the smell of spring rain. I got to smell it this morning. Heaven on Earth! :-)

2. Soccer ~ I never expected to say this, but I'm enjoying Abby playing soccer. She seems to really like it, and she seems to be pretty good at it! I really enjoy watching her play and practice and get all excited about it.

3. Good news ~ I had an annual IEP meeting for Grant yesterday. (I meant to post about it, but kinda forgot.) He is doing well. It was so much better than the one we had a year ago! (PRAISE GOD!)

4. Umbrellas ~ This goes with my first one, but deserved its own mention. Abby has been using an umbrella for quite some time now. Today was the first time the other two got to use one. Grant has a blue one he uses, and Natalie used a Disney Princesses one. As they're walking in the rain, holding their umbrellas over their heads, I hear constant giggles. From both of them. :-) It's quite possibly my favorite thing from this week!

5. Good friends ~ Not casual friends – which I guess would be more like acquaintances. I mean GOOD friends. Friends who know me. Friends who know that when I post something that, while not necessarily in good taste, makes me laugh, I'm not being malicious. I'm just sharing something I thought was funny. Friends who TRULY know me. Friends who know how I work and usually know my motivations behind such things without me having to tell them. Friends I know I can count on – not just when I really need them, but when I'm just trying to have fun or live my life and someone else has a problem with it.

Friday's Fave 5

LOVE this idea! Share your five favorite things from the past week! This is hosted on Living to Tell the Story. If you'd like to join in, the rules of play can be found HERE. This week's post, with the MckLinky attached, is HERE.

1. Lilacs ~ The other morning, I could smell them as I walked from the house to the garage, and back. They were just starting to bloom. And now, they're HERE! They are my absolute FAVORITE flowers because they are so fragrant, beautiful, and FRAGRANT! :-)

2. Back to school ~ Last week was spring break. And it was nice. The kids and I enjoyed our time together. But, well, by week's end, I was READY for school! (How am I gonna get through SUMMER?)

3. Reading ~ I finished TWO good books this week, and have started another AWESOME book! Wanna know details? Follow me at Proud Book Nerd! :-)

4. Chinese food ~ Dh and I had Chinese food for dinner last night. It's a RARE treat, and one of my FAVORITE ethnic foods! :-)

5. Organizing my pantry ~ Oh, yes, I did! This time I decided that our pantry was a disaster and HAD to be fixed. One, it was frustrating. Two, it was embarrassing. Three, I could tell it was a big source of stress for my hubby. So, well, I cleaned it out, top to bottom, and reorganized it! I'm 99% finished – finished enough to be feeling like I got a LOT accomplished!

And that's it this week! What a great meme! I like looking back and counting my blessings! I'll be back next week for sure! :-)