30 Days of Gratitude: Days 6 and 7

Yesterday, I was grateful that Patrick and I were able to have breakfast together at Magnolia Pancake Haus. It's the only time I've gone there and gotten seated right away--they're usually super busy, but then we're usually there on a weekend or federal holiday.

I'm also grateful to be able to take lunch to Natalie and Eric at their school, although I was running late. I had gone to the grocery store and got back home a little later than I had planned. I could have made it to Wendy's and then to their school in the right time frame, except that I was stopped by a train. In fact, the train stopped on the tracks for some time. I wasn't worried so much about Natalie. I knew she would just assume that I was running late. I was worried that Eric would think I wasn't going to show up with the expected spicy chicken nuggets and Frosties. Luckily, Patrick had gotten home from Costco already and he went to the school to wait with Eric until I got there. I was grateful that he did that for me and I was grateful that we live close enough to the school that he was able to do that for me!

By the way, Eric is raising his hands here to indicate that he's ready to go after lunch. I'm pretty sure they only have to raise one hand, but they seem to all want to raise both hands. Five year olds are so adorable.

I was grateful that today was my only other work day this week. I might regret that later when I need hours at the end of the fiscal year, but for now I'm enjoying it. Alex had a lot of homework today, so he wanted to skip soccer practice to finish it. That freed up Patrick to take Natalie to swimming. That meant that I could take Anthony and Eric to Pei Wei for dinner. Is it bad that I'm grateful that Alex had lots of homework?

Anthony had one of his favorites, Thai Dynamite Shrimp, and I had that new very spicy Sriracha Shrimp dish. Eric had his usual Kids' Lo Mein and we shared a Fanta orange soda. After we ate, Anthony ran off to Half Price Books while Eric and I ordered some Pei Wei Spicy Chicken for Alex. We love spicy food. This is just a picture of Eric trying to ham it up for the camera while we were waiting. A big fire truck also drove by and Eric got so excited watching it. I love that exuberance.

We met back up at Brindles. Eric and I shared a Creme Brûlée Gelato. I love that flavor, but once again, I'm grateful that I don't have to eat the whole thing by myself. This way I can satisfy my ice cream craving without as many calories. When we first walked up to the counter, he saw a flavor that ended with "Blackberry". He said, "Look Mama. This says 'black' except for the b, e, r, r, and y." I'm grateful that he is finally starting to read!

We went home, got Eric ready for bed, then we watched our X Factor tape together. I'm grateful to Patrick for doing the driving tonight so I could do all of this. It was especially worth it to see Eric dancing to the musical numbers on X Factor. So cute!