my 100 happy days challenge is complete. :)

Hard to believe it's been 100 days since I first heard of this challenge.  So much has happened, and yet it's flown by so quickly.  Wow.  :)

So here are the last 9 of my 100 happy days...

day 92, getting the nails painted. :)

day 93, painted for a while after dinner tonight. :)

day 94, the boys narrating to me just now about their reading in The Age of Fable. (Jesse is under the table with the puppy.)

day 95, besties reunited! Sydney flew out from MI for a week. :) (Marissa is being a goof)

day 96, a vase of lovely tulips came for us from a "secret admirer" Hmmm... wonder who it could be?

day 97, it's such a beautiful day today. :)

day 98, had a good Resurrection Day today. He is risen!

day 99, been scoping out where to camp during Matt's high school reunion in Michigan. So fun seeing our vacation details falling into place!

day 100, I'm so thankful to be Matt's wife. :)

So now I've finished my 100 happy days challenge!  Yay!  Maybe now I'll go back to doing normal blog posts from here on out...?

100 happy days. days 85-91.

Wow, I'm almost to the end of the 100 happy days challenge!  I have to be honest and admit there were a couple days this week I didn't *feel* happy and did a double posting the next day.  I won't tell you which ones. :)  

In any case, God is very good.  Some days, I find myself posting several photos on Instagram after I've already posted my "happy photo".  It's good to notice the beautiful, funny, cute, happy, pleasant things hidden in our everyday lives when nothing "big" is going on. 

So here are the photos from the past week...

day 85, it's *so* nice in our back yard tonight!

day 86, enjoying doing school outside before the heat kicks in.

day 87, love this 1975 pic of my family in honor of National Siblings Day.

day 88, old vacation pics are fun.

day 89, such a nice feeling when the house is tidy at bedtime.

day 90, we found some things I needed while thrifting tonight.

day 91, playing Bananagrams with friends tonight.

days 78-84 of my 100 happy days :)

day 78, I love this little corner of our living room.

day 79, (April Fools Day) woke up to this message Marissa put on the coffee pot... I can only assume she meant coffee?

day 80, Caspian says, "Thanks for fixing my water fountain!" Turns out the instructions say to take the pump apart to clean it. And it works.

day 81, just trimmed Rue's whiskery muzzle for the first time.

day 82, we walked Roosevelt Row tonight during First Friday Phoenix, saw some art & did a *lot* of people watching. It was super busy.

day 83, Rue seems to like the bed I made for her crate on Friday.

day 84, I've read it plenty of times before, but my brain was kind of blown away yesterday by Romans 6, and I can't really explain how. But it's pretty amazing that Jesus' death on the cross frees us so we are no longer slaves to sin.

my eleventh week of the 100 happy days challenge :)

Here it is again, time to post my last week's happy photos.  It's been fun finding something about each day to be happy about. :)

At the same time, though, I hate inundating my Instagram and Facebook feeds with all these photos.  So, I'll be glad in 23 days when I come to the end of this challenge.  

But, a challenge is a challenge, and I want to see this thing through. ;)  So here they are...

day 71, doing school with Naomi in the shade of the big fig tree today.

day 72, sibling love makes me happy.

day 73, shenanigans at youth group tonight.

day 74, cooking is art, too.

day 75, Sydney just booked a flight to visit us at Easter time! (and this is a Flashback Friday of Marissa & Sydney from July '06.)

day 76, coffee date at Lux.

day 77 (yesterday), took this photo at CityScape Phoenix yesterday afternoon after picking up my paintings.  (You'll have to click on this one to see it very well.)

are you tired of this yet?? (weeks 9 & 10 of 100 happy days)

Wow!  As of late last night, I have completed 70 of my 100 happy days.  Most of the time, I remember on the actual day to post the photo, and a few times I've had to post something the next morning because I was too busy doing life to think about it. :)

Last week, I never got to posting the previous week's photos, so I'm just posting them together this time...

day 57, orange blossoms in our backyard. They smell amazing.

day 58, just took a break from school for a walk while the kids rode bikes.

day 59, we sold our silver minivan last night... it was sort of bittersweet, watching it drive away after all the adventures we've had with it since we got it in 2005. But it was time to get a vehicle with fewer miles, and it's fun knowing a newly immigrated family from Romania will enjoy it.

day 60, it's too confusing to explain here, but God totally answered prayers during a call I just made about some orthodontic expenses. :) HUGE weight lifted from my shoulders here. Thank you, God!

day 61, been painting onions from life this afternoon.

day 62, had a good camp fundraiser at church today.

day 63, at the #scottsdaleartsfestival with friends. I had so much fun bouncing with the kids. :)

day 64, it's my mom's birthday today! We're not Irish, but we always had good reason to celebrate this date. :) Also, it's pretty cool that we have an Irish #wheatenterrier this year on St. Patrick's Day.

day 65, We made our own shamrock shakes for Jessica's birthday... yum!

day 66 (yesterday), we bought our tickets for our trip to Michigan this summer. Yay! :)

day 67, look how much she's grown! Just upgraded Rue to a bigger crate today. (And she was tiny enough to use that cat crate when we first got her.)

day 68, date night at home (the kids are all going other places) and I'm trying something new... stuffed crust veggie pizza. :)

day 69 (yesterday), a successful thrifting adventure got Matt nine new pairs of pants for work. :)

day 70, I guess they played a bit too hard...

more happy pics! :) (week eight)

Not sure if I have any followers on here or not... and I'm also not sure if you're tired of seeing all these "happy photos".  But here goes.... my eighth week of finding something happy about each day. :)

day 50, we just went to the Apple store because Siri wasn't working on my phone and they gave me a new phone! :)

day 51, this made me smile. :)

day 52, well, would you look at that? *Empty* laundry baskets!

day 53, it's not much yet, but it's paint on a canvas & hopefully the beginning of the end of my "artist's block" that's been plaguing me for some time.

day 54, working on my painting, enjoying a beautiful day with nothing pressing on the agenda.

day 55, a sunny selfie with Naomi. :)

day 56, We went to Art Detour in downtown Phoenix today. This was at the mutant piñata show at the Frontal Lobe Gallery. :)