CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY

I felt a little lost this weekend, It started Thursday morning  my beautiful Mr Spaghetti awoke pale and with a sore stomach.  Poor little thing was miserable so we cancelled kinder for the girls and a long awaited play date with a much loved little family.  By lunch time Mr Spaghetti was actually sick and  then seemed to pick up however I rang my brother and cancelled our 5km run together along the coast, oh I was soooo looking forward to this run....not to worry poor Mr Spaghetti cheer up little buddy. On our way home from the coast we'd planned to pick up my stepson so that he could spend the weekend with us and some family friends that were coming to stay, however you guessed it... we cancelled.  I sound as though I'm feeling sorry for myself don't I? It wasn't that bad,  I was more worried about Mr S although as I've mentioned before our family has spent a lot of time being ill of late, colds and flu and the dreaded gastro and now my heart just sinks, I'm beginning to feel  "over it", "over" the weather, grey cold and wet, "over' the bugs and virus's and "over" being stuck inside, I was craving fresh air.  So Friday afternoon, fully recovered and everyone healthy yet maybe contagious?? We rugged up and took the dogs for a walk along the road  through the bush, bikes, prams, scooters, three children and two dogs.  I gained my fix of fresh air, the kids shook the wiggles out, we walked up and down hills, through puddles, swapping bikes and prams and scooters and taking turns to walk the puppy.  Once we arrived home warm and relaxed, calm and content the children played and I had a quick play on the computer, I came across the words "we choose to be happy" or there about ( I would of made a link although I didn't  bookmark the page).  There are choices I make, I choose to be positive as opposed to being negative, I choose not to be quick to judge, I choose to do the dishes before the children are in bed, I choose not to litter (major pet hate of mine), I choose not to put my fruit in a plastic bag at the fruit shop and I choose to wear pajamas all day some days sad but true. But choosing to be happy, aren't you just happy or not? I know positive thinking and exercise and being kind to others etc effect our moods, but actually choosing to be happy??
 I slept well last night and awoke this morning and said to myself  "I choose to be happy" it seemed to make sense  "I'm going to be happy today... all day?"  That's what I've done, the children were non responsive to the " please pack up the lego, get dressed and finish breakfast so we can get to swimming on time" request and  three requests later I stayed happy and they eventually responded after turning of the TV and pointing out on the clock when we were leaving dressed or not.  And so on and so fourth, I had this little mantra going on in my head all day and perhaps today was going to be a great day with or without me saying this to myself but it seemed to put an extra skip in my step on this cold wet day and we made it to swimming.
Right now the children are all asleep, the house is cosy and warm, i'm enjoying a glass of wine while watching the football and writing this and tomorrow while enjoying breakfast with my lovelies I'll tell them that its only three sleeps until Daddy's home.
 Sometimes there's no choosing. x