Well here’s to another fantastic weekend day! I woke up relatively early and Nathaniel was still sleeping though as soon as he woke up he started rummaging through the books.

I love how he checks out every single one to find what he likes.

Then I exercised, showered and set up for family photos. Nathaniel was in charge, of course.

Here’s David wishing he had the remote.

beginning of tickle time.

full-on tickle time. We all love tickle time. David’s been asking me if we can make the whole session tickle time.

Nathaniel was wearing pants that were too big on him so they fell off and here’s David helping him put shorts on. I love this photo even though it’s blurry.

And then we each did our own thing for a while. David did his workbooks. Nathaniel drew.

And drew more.

Then David was on the computer.

I love watching him type and use the laptop keyboard.

And while they played I did a lot of art.

I did more and more art pretty much the whole time. Art journal pages, background for my weeklong journal, truth cards, etc. Then it was family night so we played Blokus and it was a lot of fun. Now the kids are in their room and I am off to do a little more art. Then I have to send emails and prepare blog posts. I feel very happy and full at this moment. I really love all the art I immersed myself in this week. I promise there’s a post coming about all my pages. I just have to stop doing art and write about it. Just not yet.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for getting to do more art.
2. I am grateful for podcasts and hulu. Both of which have been keeping me company while I do art.
3. I am grateful that my exercise felt a lot more manageable today.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that it’s family night. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played with Daddy.
3. I am grateful that there are eight more days of school left.

Happy Friday! Today was one of those “i don’t know where the time went” kind of days for me. I did a bunch and had a friend over briefly even but I still feel like the day got away from me. When I put Nathaniel down for his nap he wasn’t happy. He then said ouch ouch after a while so I went back up and he was pointing to his eye. But when I took him out, he seemed better so I thought maybe he was faking it to not nap. I put him back in and he finally fell asleep.

When he woke up 45 minutes later he was still super cranky and would not relax for a long time. As we went to get David, I noticed his eye was still watery and I couldn’t tell if it was because he kept rubbing it or cause he was hurt. I called the doctor and they said to come in so they could check. So I picked up David and we went in. And I am so glad we did!! It turned out that the little boy had somehow managed to scratch his cornea. No wonder he was so grouchy and frustrated. My poor poor boy.

When we got back home, I snapped some super quick photos.

But none of us were in the mood really.

We read David’s book, ate some dinner and Jake came home so David and I took a walk just the two of us cause I didn’t want to risk any dirt getting in Nathaniel’s eye. We gave him his medicine and he’s finally asleep. I feel so bad for the little boy and how much pain he must have been in without being able to express himself.

No plans for the weekend. Sunset magazine is nearby to us and they’re having their celebration weekend so we might stop by there but we’re expecting a lot of rain here so I plan to sit at home, curl up with books, play with my wonderful new art supplies and just cuddle up with my kids. To me, that’s the best kind of weekend.

Hope yours is great, too.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I called the doctor and took Nathaniel in. I am glad I didn’t ignore it. I am glad it’s a small scratch and it will heal very soon.
2. I am grateful for a quiet weekend with no major todo list items.
3. I am grateful that I did a little art journaling today. Even though I didn’t like how the page turned out, I love that I tried, experimented and I will keep doing so.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I got a Pokemon card and two lollipops. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I get a notebook tomorrow. I told him he could bring one to school to write in during lunchtime.
3. I am grateful that I got to have a lollipop.

Thankfully, this morning I woke up considerably less cranky and whiny. I got right to work which was to exercise first thing. Today’s goal was 3.12miles and I think likely cause I was nervous about that, I forgot to take my ipod off the pause and it was 20 minutes in that I realized my mistake. I could have just assumed a mile (likely more) and done only 2.12 more but it was the first day doing 3.12 so I wanted the record to be straight. So I started as if I hadn’t walked at all and made it all the way to 3.12 and it was hard. By the end I was not a happy camper. But I did it!

I snapped this shot of David before he left for school. I rarely take AM shots during the week but I love snapping some while he talks to me.

Then I snapped one of the busy little boy, too.

He loves to color but he’s not so great about putting the caps back on.

The rest of the morning was sketching, writing, working, working, working and then going to get David. We did our walk and then read our book. Right after that Jake and David went to a robot factory right across from our house. Which they loved!! Then I got to take some nicer shots of my big boy.

He’s so pretty.

I tried to snap some of Nathaniel too but he wasn’t cooperating. Here he is looking up cause I told him there was a spider behind me.

And here is another unsuccessful attempt.

Then I gave up and went back to working on a layout. I got another happy mail today so I have a few layouts to make and then I should have a quiet period for a while. This package was full of bright, happy goodies. A perfect way to start the summer.

After that I did some art journaling as I’d neglected my journal last night out of grumpiness. And now I am trying to work on getting some content written for a class but honestly I am not feeling it so I am likely to walk away and just surf a bit and go to sleep and read my book. I consider this a good and happy day and hope for another productive day tomorrow.

I hope your Wednesday was good, too!

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for some lovely happy mail and for a happy layout created with it.
2. I am grateful for Skype time with my mom and dad. I love getting to talk to them so often. Love you mom and dad!!.
3. I am grateful for some quiet time at work so I can catch up on all the work that I got behind these last few hectic months.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I went to the robot factory. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played spies with Julian at school.
3. I am grateful that I built an aquarium at school.

And the long weekend is sadly almost over. I had such a lovely weekend that I really didn’t want it to end. I relaxed, exercised, did art, took a nice walk with my kids, sketched, made a layout, took photos, and then relaxed some more. Lovely. David spent some of his morning looking through my layouts of him.

He read all the titles and even some of the journaling. He really really enjoys looking at his pages and I love seeing his joy.

We then put Nathaniel down for his nap and while I sketched and made my layout, he colored with watercolors outside.

Then Nathaniel woke up and we took a long walk together and he played around the room. He even cleaned up some spilled water.

I took what might be my most favorite recent shot of him.

He’s still coloring like crazy and when he can’t reach the table, he does it on the chair. He’s so so so cute though which is why I let him do it. And also because he knows to write only on paper.

We all had some food and then Daddy came home!! which was wonderful. He hung out with the kids, went biking with David, gave them baths and now we’re both relaxing. I have to still journal and work on my art journal. I feel so full after such a wonderful weekend. I hope yours was, too.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I made another layout and sketched today but then also relaxed a lot.
2. I am grateful Jake’s back. Nothing is the same without him here.
3. I am grateful for this long, wonderful, relaxing weekend.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that daddy came back. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we took a bike ride.
3. I am grateful that I read my layout pages.
4. I am grateful that I watercolored.

As expected, today was a lovely, quiet, and art-ful day. I woke up well-rested and happy so I exercised immediately and it was time for family photos.

nathaniel was in charge and took most of them.

He managed to capture a few great ones.

He enjoyed the process so much.

Except for those few seconds when David had the remote.

Then it was tickle time.

Which I’ve come to love love love.

Then David and Jake went to Berkeley to play soccer with Jake’s friend and Nathaniel and I made art. He drew with his pencils and I scrapped while we listened to Paperclipping Roundtable and he watched Thomas (on mute.)

He loved the pencils. Until he started breaking the lead and I had to take them away!!

When David came back, it was Wii time for him.

I did my sketching and then some truth cards. Then we all went on a family dinner and now the kids are down so I am scrapping once more. Lovely, full, wonderful day!!

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for a few hours of pure quiet.
2. I am grateful for my wonderful family and these awesome family shots.
3. I am grateful for a new great book to read and devour.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I went to play soccer. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played wii.
3. I am grateful that I got some candy.

Amazingly my headache was still around when I woke up today. But, even more amazingly, it completely cleared after I exercised. I didn’t even want to admit it but I know it did. Which made me so happy. I did all my list items today and did a layout and had a friend come over and did a solid amount of work. Which makes this day a success in my book.

David and I took our walk and then he was allowed to play on the computer. Of course, I needed a smile first.

And here he is focusing on the game.

I love watching his hands on the computer.

And how well he concentrates.

Little boy was happy most of the day even though he tumbled down the stairs (only a few steps but still!) as he crawled down them and got slight rugburn on his face. Made me cry more than him.

I love watching him and capturing him. Especially in the quieter moments.

And the funny ones.

And the smiles he gives me knowing I am there but not looking at the camera.

He’s still into drawing nonstop and asks to sit on the chair several times a day.

And I love that he loves it!

I am off to rest a little bit now and then maybe attempt to make one more layout. Things generally go badly when I try to make two in a day but I am going to be gentle with myself and see where it goes. I might also make a truth card or two. The headache is sort of back so I will also go to bed early and see if that helps. Thank you for all your kind comments in the last few days, they truly mean the world to me.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for a lovely day of productivity, friendship and lack of stress.
2. I am grateful for happy mail for Maya Road goodies and for shopping for some art supplies I’ve been coveting for some time.
3. I am grateful for Christy’s class and all the videos that make my morning exercise go so quickly.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I got a Pokéman card. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I did more tracing at school.
3. I am grateful that summer is coming soon.

One Thing Jake’s Grateful For:
That the Stanford track has lights and that we live somewhere where it’s still warm enough to go running at 9pm. (He told me this tonight and I said that now he’s going to have to tell me one thing every day!)