Sweet days of summer

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! Today is hard for me - as much as I enjoy celebrating hubs and my grandpa, it reminds me even more clearly how much I miss my own Dad. I am excited to see how EmDee likes the gift that Sweetpea and I picked out this year - less frugal than usual but something that we will get a lot of use out of...more on how that turns out later.

I can't believe how quickly my week off went by! We had a lot of fun - at the amusement park, the "regular park" (or the swing and slide park as we now call it to help Sweetpea differentiate), the pool, a new park we discovered with a fountain area to play in, and in the sprinklers in our own backyard. The best part was that everything was free except the amusement park.

One week back to the grind and we will be going away for a week's vacation. There are quite a few things still to do for us to get ready, but with my packing lists ready and a prep area in big T's room, I think we are well on our way. One thing we're definitely going to be taking with us is this great garage sale find - Sweetpea's new fold up chair:

I found this for $0.75 at our last garage sale Friday outing!

Here are a few things from my gratitude list this week:

*Sweetpea finally held still long enough to feel the baby move - now each night after reading stories she holds her hand on my belly and talks to the baby*

*Lots and lots of castles built and pillaged from alphabet blocks and dominoes*

*Loads of blooms on blackberry and raspberry plants, the promise of summer sweetness*

*Steady soaking rains for the garden*

*Hunting for worms and puddle jumping*

What are you grateful for this week?