"These are the Days"

I had a fabulous "final Friday" of summer.  It started with cleaning the house and doing laundry which I hate sometimes and love other times.  Friday I loved it because it gave me a fresh start to the weekend and upcoming craziness of work starting again. Naturally I listened to Pandora radio the whole time and the song that made a mark on me yesterday was Sugarland's "These are the Days"  The chorus of the song is 

"We can't forget, these are the days
Whoa, don't be afraid
We can't forget, these are the days"

and it hit me that so often I am so busy with life in general that I often forget to sit back and enjoy the ride and have to remind myself that my life is something special that God gave me and wants me to cherish.  So I made it a point to cherish every part of the day. 

I had a Starbucks date with my dear friend and her beautiful son.  She's getting used to being a brand new mommy and it was lovely to catch up with her and get some insight into what's coming.  

I cut 10 inches off my hair.  I am donating it to locks of love, and love the new do.  This morning when I washed it, it weirded me out a bit that I got to use so much less conditioner and had so little hair there. But, I did like how easy it was to style. 

Then I went to Ulta and got some new makeup to play with. 

I finally started reading the book kinder is using to pump up math this year.  I got a few pages deep while having lunch on the patio at Pei Wei.  Yum...

That afternoon my mom and adorable niece and nephew came over to play.   We started it off by watching Sako or "Pyscho" as my mom nicknamed her and the kiddos call her go for a jog on the treadmill.  Our silly dog loves to run on the treadmill and will often stand there and whine until we turn it on for her. 

After that we put on our suits and went swimming at my aunts.  It was so much fun and relaxing at the same time.  These kids are a hoot and I love spending that quality time with them.  Brett joined us after he got off work.  He brought us pizza and got in some excellent "Daddy practice"!

She already loves her cousin and gives "the baby" pats on the head, hugs, and kisses.

16 weeks, 4 days 

Her new best buddy! 

Sweet Ruby fetching the ball.

Swimming away. 

She's got some pretty good dance moves! 

They loved having uncle Brett throw them high in the air! 

Or give them rides. 

Especially the fun "Shamu" rides! 

Even the flowers seemed more beautiful than usual.

We ended the night with a movie (How to train your dragon) and popcorn made on the stove.  They had never done this before and were obviously amazed. 

These certainly are the days and yesterday was an extra special one!