thankful thursday

I've been a slacker recently - my apologies. But, I'll take a moment to share my thankfulness from this week just for you.

~I'm sucked into a very long trilogy (like 475 pages each book) that has my not-busy-mommying moments used all up (now you know where I've been). Since I'm starting the third book, I should be more readily available soon. (FYI: I'm reading The Daughters of Boston by Julie Lessman). Oh man...I just saw she's got a new trilogy (that is about this same family) coming - first book later this year. I do not know how I'll wait that long...I LOVE a read that carries me away. A long one (call it a pseudo-vacation if you want).

~John has been covered up with work so much that there are lots and lots of late nights and weekend hours required. There are not words to tell you how desperately we need those hours...to say I'm thankful that he is with a rare company who pays most of their employees (including professionals like his engineering self) hourly instead of salaried is an understatement. Every moment of overtime (also known as "professional time" since it's not time and a half as a professional) helps us right now. I miss the man, and I am heard to lose it a bit and feel grouchy, but oh how the Father is providing. That said, hats off to every single mother out there. I pray I never know just how hard that is because at least I have my husband safely on the other end of a phone if I need him.

~ Speaking of lots of hours and missing the man of the house, John needed a bit of a break and took Monday and Tuesday off. I so love having my love around - I can not get enough of that man. I look forward to the day he retires!

~ And with those days off, we took the kids on fabulous field trips in our local vicinity (I'm too chicken to take all three kids places like that while both boys are potential wild cards!):

Saturday, we took them to a train museum that had me in love with trains. I see how people develop such a love for them. We got to go through so many old trains and ride in a real caboose. Completely fascinating!

Monday we returned to a favorite environmental center that's all about water cycles and being "green." They've got a small room with fish, snakes, turtles and horseshoe crabs, and the main "hall" is full of cool displays. Best of all is play room full of interactive water things. You can experiment with the flow of a river, adjust water pressure with levers and wheels that, or play in a ball pit of blue balls that go into a tube in the wall sucking them up like vapor and coming back down out of a "cloud" like rain etc. etc. etc...it's a small place that's quiet and probably has a lot of "growing room" but we like it small.

Tuesday we went to a kid's art museum complete with a scavenger hunt that encouraged them to look at the art and pay attention to color and shape, draw some pieces, name some pieces, and talk about what they saw, felt or thought. And there was an interactive room with instruments, puppets, crafts and book nook.

And now, I believe I need to do some of that mommying I mentioned, then see happens in this third book. . .