The Happiness Project- August

August's "project" was to be more aware of my surrounding and to treasure the little moments.  I had intended to do this with Amirah, but each time I asked her what made her happy that day she said things like, "I painted" or "I drew a picture."  Sounds good, right?  The thing is she was just making things up.  I think she might be a little young to get the point, but the girl knows what she likes and she loves arts and crafts.

One of the biggest blessings for us was finding an awesome babysitter who also loves arts and crafts. Amirah has made some really neat paper crafts and she is always talking about "Miss Melissa".  Once again God literally just dropped someone in our lap to take care of our children.  He is so faithful.

Each night I wrote down a few words of what I was grateful for that day or what made me happy.  Here's what I wrote.

1- Bunco!
2- an evening outside with my family
3- time with April and Erin at Starbucks
4- a chance to relax tonight
5- A.C!
6-
7- an evening chat on the back porch with Alli
8- seeing Amirah's cousins together
9- apples from Josh and Sherah's tree
10-
11- monarch caterpillars and a visit from Crissy K.
12- hamburgers on the grill
13- new neighbors
14- a partner in parenting
15- mulch I didn't pay for or spread
16- babysitter who loves my children
17- a goodnight kiss and a compliment
18- an evening with my sister
19- tea party with friends
20- successful day at school
21- playdate at the park
22- free lunch
23- lunch with Nikki
24- fun day with the kids
25- couples massage!
26- Brielle's birthday party
27- a great group of kids
28- the transformation of a butterfuly
29-
30-
31- foot massage

When I look over the things that made me happy I realized that more than half of them were the relationships in my life.  I am so grateful for the friends and family God has given me.  I am truly blessed.

I want to keep this attitude of gratefulness as I begin a new school year.  I am also looking forward to September's goal-- trying new things.  My goal is to try five new things in the month of September.  Here are some ideas I had, but I would love to hear from you.

- cooking with bok choy
- karaoke
- going to Wal-Mart in my p.j.s (I want to see what all the fuss is about...)
- learning to embroider
- lay in the yard and watch the stars with Ysmaille