{"id":379562,"date":"2013-06-09T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-09T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/06\/09\/pampering-peace-a-piebald-and-hope\/"},"modified":"2013-06-09T11:30:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-09T11:30:00","slug":"pampering-peace-a-piebald-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/2013\/06\/09\/pampering-peace-a-piebald-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Pampering, Peace, a Piebald, and Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
The end of the school year is barreling down on us.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

For all intents and purposes, classroom work is done.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The students are all but singing School\u2019s out for summer!<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

They are bounding off the walls off Hurricane Andrea\u2019s barometric barometer. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And the conclusion of this academic year can\u2019t come fast enough.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Times like these call for some serious pampering.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Girl time with a friend at the spa is just what my nails and my mood needed to kick off the week.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I must say, I welcomed the rain and this rare night off from extracurricular evening activities.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
\ufeff<\/div>\n
Warren, who knows just what I like, chose the movie for our quiet night at home<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
But one of my favorite moments of the week came when I realized that our family date night was actually a Thursday.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

You see, all day I\u2019d been thinking it was Wednesday, and I\u2019d literally been examining how I was ever going to drag myself through the mud of those next two days.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
\ufeff<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The Thursday euphoria literally put a spring in my step and plastered a smile on my face that stayed all the way through Friday\u2019s end-of-work whistle.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I clocked in a little reading, a little guilty pleasure Dragonvale gaming, and a two-mile walk while waiting for Big Guy\u2019s practice to end on Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Look what I found along the park’s path.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
Hope is in bloom!<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
\ufeff<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

This rare little piebald duckling has to be one of the most adorable creatures I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
\ufeff<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And I couldn\u2019t help but be thankful to this protective little mama, who allowed me space enough to capture this photo, even as she corralled her babies and made sure I knew she was in charge.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
\ufeff<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And to cap off the week\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
\ufeff<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

This gift-for-no-reason from Big Guy struck <\/span>one of my sensitivity chords<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the thought that counts, right?\u201dA huge grin on his face, the phrase was more of a statement than a question from him.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAlways,\u201d I said.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGood, \u2018cause I didn\u2019t pay for it,\u201d he replied, \u201cit was free.”<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span> <\/div>\n
He and a buddy had stopped for a Free Hot Dogs<\/i> sign at a community rummage sale, where he spotted some other Free<\/i> stuff.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

For no special occasion other than to let me know he was thinking of me\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

What a way to end a week, or a day or a moment for that matter, than with a few happy tears\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

How about you? Has your kid ever made you cry happy? What Moments brought a smile to your face this week? Share them here and bring a little hope or happiness to someone else\u2019s day.<\/o:p><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/o:p><\/p>\n

Soon\u2026<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The end of the school year is barreling down on us. For all intents and purposes, classroom work is done. The students are all but singing School\u2019s out for summer! They are bounding off the walls off Hurricane Andrea\u2019s barometric barometer. And the conclusion of this academic year can\u2019t come fast enough. Times like these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[316,923,113,317,407,483,285,19,63,924,889,320,925,926],"class_list":["post-379562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-happyhappens","tag-dove","tag-family","tag-finding-happiness-in-your-day","tag-flowers","tag-girlfriends","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-parenting","tag-peace","tag-piebald-duck","tag-random-happiness","tag-spa","tag-wizard-of-oz"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Manicure.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.annahelizabeth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}