Appreciation.

After the much anticipated opening of my very first 

SHOP

this morning, and after breakfast had been taken care of, and beds had been made,

I decided that Carter and I needed a little bit of outdoor time.

The heat has finally broken, and I was just dang sick of sitting around inside waiting for night time to come around to give us some relief.

Anyway, I strapped the kiddo to the stroller and off we went.

As I was walking, I started thinking about how Carter tries so hard to count to three,

and even when he doesn't reach the number on his own,

how he throws his arms in the air in celebration anyway.

I was thinking about how cautious he is, and how one day that caution may be thrown to the wind

because he will be old enough to know that if you throw yourself down a slide at the park,

chances are, you'll come out okay.

All of a sudden I had a huge knot in my throat because these days are fleeting.

The Mommy, bite?!'s

The wonderment of brushing his teeth

The innocence of it all.

So I decided that I need that I need to appreciate everything a little bit more.

I need to appreciate how Carter sometimes will grab onto my leg and want to walk forward, even though it's completely impractical. I need to appreciate the fact that my husband is not bothered by the ironing board's new position {which is right in the middle of the living room} because he knows that it's where I have been cutting my patterns. I need to appreciate how Chad took my purse in church the other day because we got there late and were forced to stand in the back in what seemed like a green house of heat because he thought I might fall over from the weight of that thing.

I need to appreciate....I need to appreciate....I need to appreciate.

And that's what I'm going to do.

No more unnecessary commotion

{unless it's nap time or post-bedtime}, 

if only for this one week.

{Hey, what can I say? There's no use in setting unrealistic goals, so I'll start with the one week}

Oh, oh!

{And don't forget about the unbelievably awesome GIVEAWAY that will be happening here tomorrow!}

{And could ya vote for a gal?}

{AND you should link up in these awesome places}

And 

And here, and with Casey!