Think Happy Be Happy | A Link-Up

"Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like and celebrating it for everything that it is." -Mandy Hale 

Hello friends! This link party was created as a way to create some inspiration and happiness as we begin our week. It can be hard to find the happiness in our day to day, and I believe it truly does help to take a second to find the positive. Please take a second to visit all of my wonderful co-hosts who will be sharing this link party as well!

• Kristen of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
• Kristen of Blissfully Insane
• Autumn of Our Blended Home
• Corianne of iCorianne
• Jessica of Kozy and Co
• Liz of Lizz And Co
• Cathy of A Boy and His Mom

I am so excited to be joining in with some of my favorite bloggers for this weekly link party.  I am a huge believer that making an effort to think positively, and then spreading that joy and happiness to others, truly helps all of us to focus on what really matters in life.

It is so easy sometimes, to get caught up in negative thoughts and feelings we have, and to focus on what is going wrong in our own lives and in the world around us, but when you take the time to think about the things you have to be thankful for, for what you've been blessed with, both you and the people around you can truly reap the benefits...

So, what am I feeling truly thankful for and happy about this Monday???

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If you have or have had kids, you're probably well aware of the fact that there are 3 types of days as a parent. 

There are those days when your babies are so sweet and well behaved, that you don't even want to put them to bed when the time comes, because you would so much rather snuggle with them, and dote all over every sweet and hilarious thing that comes out of their mouths. These are the types of days that you want to treasure and savor every single precious moment, because they are so very, very rare.

Then there are the days when bedtime can't come fast enough. You know the kind of days I'm taking about... The ones that leave you wanting to rip your hair out before it's even 8 am. Your kids are fighting over every single thing, there are meltdowns over what color juice you put in their sippy cup, and your youngest just pooped in the bathtub for the second day in a row!

And lastly, and more often than not, there are the days that are a combination of the two.  Within a time frame of 5 minutes, your kids are behaving like little angels, when suddenly, and out of nowhere, you are checking to see if they have grown horns.

This past week, we had our fair share of the second kind of days... As in M&E were bananas, and I seriously thought my head was going to explode!  It may be due to my lack of patience/exhaustion at 37 weeks pregnant, or it may just be that they are 3.5 and almost 23 months, but either way, my frustration level was high.

For the first time in a long time, on Saturday, I waved a little white flag, and begged my husband for a break!

For 2.5 blissful hours, Mike took both kids and left me with the house to myself. Naturally, I spent much of the first hour cleaning house, but the second hour was spent peacefully lounging on the couch, and indulging in some Food Network.  There's nothing quite like watching someone else cook to calm the soul.

I can't even explain how good it felt to just lay down for a few minutes without being asked for anything, or having to play referee for a full-blown brawl over a Buzz Lightyear action figure. 

I felt so refreshed by the time everyone came home, and so thankful to my husband for providing me with the time to myself that I so desperately needed!

Sunday we spent the day together exploring Maple Weekend, a weekend dedicated to sampling local maple syrup, and learning all about how it is made.... one of those "good" days.

Our time as a family of 4 is slowly dwindling, so I'm finding that these days spent making memories together are truly special.

In closing, for this week's "Think Happy, Be Happy" link-up, the moral of this post is, that I'm thankful for all of the types of days with my babies... I'm thankful for the crazy days because they make me appreciate it that much more when my husband swoops in and saves the day, by giving me some time to recharge, I'm thankful for the in between, and I'm thankful for the sweet days, because they're the ones that prove that all of the craziness is 100% worth it.

I hope you all had an amazing weekend!

Feel like sharing what you're thankful for or feeling positive about? Feel free to join us, link up and share!



RULES OF THE PARTY:
Leave a link to your actual post and not your homepage. A link back to your host, is greatly appreciated. Feel free to grab our link party button to add to your post. Please link up only your happiness related posts. Don’t link up and run, please visit other bloggers. Make new friends or say hello to old friends. Please follow your hosts and guest hosts in some way. Have fun with your posts! I truly hope it helps with starting your week off on a positive note!