The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 31st- A few of my favorite things...
~Snowdrops at the end of the month replacing snowflakes at the beginning
~The promise of daffodils promise of daffodils poking up through the leaves
~The evidence that the tulips are not far behind....Spring grin emoticon

  

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things...

Mar 30th- A few of my favorite things...
~The girls excitement over finding 2 baby fish in our fish tank
~Vestiges of light in the sky at 8pm
~The almost full moon and moonbow adding wonder to the sky

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 29th- A few of my favorite things...
~Get-well flowers for Moriah from Chris' parents, reminding her she is loved heart emoticon 
~Finding that the yellow safflowers in my arrangement from Chris have begun to bloom
~Making palm crosses on Palm Sunday for kids

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 28th- A few of my favorite things...
~Making new friends while waiting for the tour of the renovated Holden Observatory
~A hug from an astronaut grin emoticon
~Things that are beautifully restored

Looking at rocks at in the

Heroy Geology Laboratory Atrium

Astronaut Story Musgrave with Shaniah

The restored telescope and housing at the

Holden Observatory

and

The Patricia Meyers Druger Astronomy Learning Center

at

Syracuse University 

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 15th- A few of my favorite things
~Discovering thousands of red-wing blackbirds have returned from their winter migration
~The amazing wingspan of a turkey vulture gliding on the wind
~Watching the ringed-bill gull and the turkey vulture soaring together when Inigo's words come to mind "I wonder if he is using the same wind we are using?" "Inconceivable!" wink emoticon Princess Bride is always quotable grin emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 26th- A few of my favorite things...
~Watching the water flow over the dam with Gwyn in Baldwinsville
~Finding lots of sheets of ice of various shapes and sizes caught in a whirlpool
~People who preserve details when remodeling...like stained glass half-circle windows smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favortite Things

Mar 25th- A few of my favorite things...
~Watching ice flowing down the Seneca River carrying winter away
~See two turkey vulture circle over the parking lot next door for several minutes
~God's protection for a friend's daughter and teammates, surviving a direct hit to their building today in Tulsa, OK by a tornado...God IS Good!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 23rd- A few of my favorite things...
~Librarians who hold onto my "holds" just a little longer knowing Moriah, who usually pics up our stuff, is still not feeling well
~The sun setting just north of west
~Not needing to turn on my headlights until almost 7pm

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 22nd- A few of my favorite things...
~A wildflower bouquet on a snowy late-March day--floral sunshine
~Catching the sunshine pave the roads in silver
~Girlies, all geared up with adventure gear, deciding what to explore first

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 21st- A few of my favorite things...
~Seeing the new Cinderella movie with Moriah and her friends
~Watching the birds who live in the mall flutter around the carousel
~Seeing a kettle of turkey vultures circling over Camillus on the way home

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 20th- A few of my favorite things...
~The fun of taking the girlies in the van through the new Delta Sonic Car Wash
~The girlies agreeing it was like going through a Willy Wonka invention, esp with the colored lights
~Having Gwyn, Thea and Lissie make me all sorts of "treats" with playdough...usually including something with chocolate..they know their mommy well grin emoticon

The Habit the Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 19th- A few of my favorite things...
~The simple joys of a sparkly headband
~The promise of lilacs...patiently waiting
~Last years grape vine's shadow seemingly leaving a name scrawled on the fence...Esme perhaps?....

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 18th- A few of my favorite things...
~Feeding the fish...I feel a connection with Mr Rogers doing this smile emoticon
~Watching the fish come come up to the surface to feed
~Watching them search for crumbs after the feeding frenzie

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 17th- A few of my favorite things...
~The wonder of watching litmus and pH paper change color
~The wonder of watching the tulips on the table open up
~The wonder of watching shamrocks (oxalis) open and close each day smile emoticon

Happy St Patrick's Day!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 16th- A few of my favorite things...
~The lure of a HUGE fish tank
~The beauty of a sycamore's bark on a gray March day 
~The wonder of "discovering" an egg...even if some random adult tried to convince you were only seeing rocks...you knew you were right smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 14th- A few of my favorite things....
-Tulips to jump start the season
~Fashion Plates set to spark little and big imaginations
~Daddy's gift of her favorite root beer to help Moriah feel better

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 13th- A few of my favorite things...
~Watching a hawk circling over the snow-free area of the fields
~Shaniah pointing out a piece of a rainbow in the sky on our way home this afternoon
~Watching the Orion the Hunter move further west in the sky...his winter hunting nights are coming to a close...spring is coming smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of my Favorite Things

Mar 12th- A few of my favorite things...
~Celebrating Chris actually being with us for supper for the first time in 6 weeks at Johnny Angels...Yumm!
~Watching a Jeep off-roading in 1.5 ft of heavy packed snow and watching it get stuck (common sense would have stayed out)
~Seeing 20+ deer enjoying a patch of grass on the hillside smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 11th- A few of my favorite things...
~Watching Lissie silently learning Gwyn's lessons...I can see her mouth move silently repeating them
~The girlies watching the all fish channel, aka the fish tank
~Warm temps allowing us to finally take down the Christmas swags from the windows...although with all that snow, they looked prettier this last month then they did all of December....

The Habit of Homemade: 4 Minute Brownie Pie

Years ago I came across this recipe for quick and easy brownies from scratch. It's easy enough to make with kids and tasty enough for adults, especially is you need a chocolate fix!

4 Minute Brownie Pie

(maybe 8 minute if you make it with kids)

Preheat oven to 350*F

Grease a pie pan (I uses Pam baking spray)

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter(one stick) 

1/2 c flour

3-4 TB of baking cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt (optional)

Toppings and or stir-ins of your choice (nuts, chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc...)

**Note: You can use baking cocoa of your choice. I've used regular, dark chocolate and semi-sweet...they all taste good! )

Blend together the butter sugar and eggs. Then mix in the flour, cocoa, vanilla, salt, and "stir-ins". Pour into greased  9 in. pie pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Pie will settle a bit when cool. Enjoy! 

This is just as easy as making a boxed mix and even better to eat...Go forth and bake!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 10th- A few of my favorite things...
~Catching rainbows in the fish tank from the early morning rays- light lava
~Temps in the 40's...we can see the concrete for the first time since January
~4 Minute Brownies (which usually take 8 minutes to make if I have little helpers) with shamrock sprinkles

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 9th- A few of my favorite things...
~The fun, limitless possibilities of a new play scarf
~Sunlight catching the water droplets 
~Growing pineapple plants...a mini tropical vacation for the eyes smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 8th- A few of my favorite things...
~Looking out the window on the way to church on Sunday morning
~The variety of snowflakes we've had this winter....today's are delicate as paper thin glass
~The setting sun to reveal who's been by in a white landscape

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 7th- A few of my favorite things...
~Surprising the girlies with a fish tank
~The fun of looking at all the different kids of fish at the fish store
~Setting up the tank, getting it ready for its coming guests smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 6th- A few of my favorite things...
~Girlies giggling throughout "Herbie Rides Again"....
~Listening to them cheer Herbie on...
~And laughing when Herbie falls in love with another car...

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 5th- A few of my favorite things...
~Decorative finials against a deep blue sky
~Icicles shadows creating their own arch patterns
~The sun setting closer to due west..spring is coming!

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 4th- A few of my favorite things...
~Taking in how quiet Montezuma Wild Life Refuge is and how much difference a month will make
~Finding an "aqueduct" under the melting snow on the observation deck
~Find ice "animals" in the melting snow

Montezuma

 National Wildlife Refuge

Aqueducts though the melting snow on the deck

Another view of the aqueduct

Oxen trudging through the snow with chicks and an egg on his back

A Parrot or a chameleon looking left or

A crow looking over his shoulder looking right

A duckling

bear stepping off the roof

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 3rd- A few of my favorite things...
~Watching an elderly gentleman carefully put on his wife's coat before his own
~Watching a son lovingly help his mother get her coat off
~Wondering if he ever wonders when the roles reversed, so he could give back smile emoticon

The Habit of Thankfulness: A Few of My Favorite Things

Mar 2nd- A few of My favorite things...
~Big sisters who always have the best stories
~Imprompu kitchens made from chairs and Playmobil Castle parts
~Seeing how Thea sorted the rock collection all by herself