30 Things I'm Grateful for in September

1. Fantastic family. My parents, my in-laws and my brother-in-law have all come down and helped paint the exterior of our house this past month. As a result, we're close to being done. Really close. So much better than shelling out $3100 to College Pro Painters. No joke, that was the amount they bid to paint our house.
2. Lucan's speech has really blossomed. He calls people by their correct names and it's really cute. He loves his grandparents (Gram-mer? Gran-per? Papa?) and his cousins (Why-er? East-y? An-rea?). He also calls my brother-in-law "Uncle Donkey" because Andrew has word vomit and said donkey 40x one morning before church. As a result - "Uncle Donkey."
3. Our friends have a Boston Terrier named Sammy. Lu thinks every Boston he sees is Sammy - tv commercials, farmer's market dogs, our cousin's dog, Tinker Bell - all Sammy.
4. The birth of the newest little baby into the family - Ean. Such a cutie!
5. The celebration of this little guy's first SUPER birthday.
6. Canning. Canning. And more canning. I'm totally OVER preserving the summer's bounty. It can rot in my garden. We've canned over seven gallons (that's 26 quarts and 5 pints) of applesauce and have more apples in the garage. We've done tomato juice and Italian diced tomatoes too. Yep, I'm over it.
7. I'm thankful for a good roof over our heads. We had a massive storm blow through our community - 80 MPH straight-line winds that took down a grain bin and blew off the school kitchen roof, but left us unscathed.
8. My dad and my aunt's birthdays. My grandpa, before he died when I was 13, all had September birthdays. We would do a big celebration dinner of Sept birthdays. I remember once going to this really cool Chinese restaurant in Omaha that had koi fish swimming in an inside pond. That's cool stuff to an 8 year-old.
9. Lu got to meet an old family friend for the first time over Labor Day - love when those connections happen :)
10. Buying our first pumpkins and Lucan loving them "pump-er! pump-er!" Family memories in the making.
11. My chiropractor. It's probably ridiculous how much I appreciate adjustments.
12. Television season premiers. I live a small, small life with small, small joys.
13. Wedding day cupcakes from Scratch Cupcakes. The best cupcakes on the face of the earth.
14. Netflix. We watch Daniel Tiger and the video version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar on regular rotation. In fact, I can't remember the last time I got to watch adult television on Netflix.
15. Cooking club. We have so much fun.
16. The new Fleet and Farm in Ankeny. It's so clean, organized and well-lit. Because I'm totally a Fleet and Farm sort of gal.
17. Lucan loves soup. A boy after his momma's heart.
18. Subscription boxes in the mail. I reviewed Citrus Lane earlier this month and will review my Stitch Fix box later this week. I love mail.
19. Speaking of mail, we do this junk mail drawing at work once a quarter and I won a $25 gift card this quarter. Yay!
20. Homemade pumpkin spice lattes. I made this syrup the first time, but I think I might try this one next.
21. I know that I said that I'm sick of canning and applesauce, but I'm forever grateful for my dad picking four 5-gallon buckets of apples for us. And for Lance's aunt who let us have some more of her apples and gave us cherries off her tree.
22. Trader Joe's Cookie butter. I could eat it with a spoon. Everyday.
23. Men's Bible study that Lance is participating in.
24. The book "Tao of Martha." It's a hoot!
25. Days off with Lu. Granted, I had to take the day off because he had croup, but it was fantastic to be at home with him and just chill. He was such a good little man all day long.
26. "Good Night Moon" on the ipad. There are times when I hate the app, but Lu loves it. He'll point to the ipad and go "Moon? G'night moon?"
27. Kohls.com Who knew no one carries mens slippers until Christmas?
28. My friend, Jessica's kids. They are so much better behaved than most kids I know. Babysitting them seems like a mini-vacation from my own life :)
29. $6.55 pizza from Pizza Hut when I've burnt supper to a crisp.
30. Replacement grill parts for the birthday grill Lance received in APRIL. Stupid Char Broil and they're 8 week backordered problems.

Baby Ean. Lance is terrified of newborns. It took a lot of convincing for him to hold Ean.

Lucan wanted to check out the baby. This is where Lance starts getting nervous that one of the two year olds are going to crush the baby (see the panic?!). Easton was a little protective of his brother and his "things." Lucan is still walking around the house saying "Easty 'puter. No share." (translation: Easton's computer. He won't share.)