Family Diary « karenika

Weekly Diary – March 23 2014

Here are photos from this week:

Last week, we were gone skiing so I didn’t get to post our photos. We did take family pictures so I added those to last week’s post but I will put all the other photos here. So this one might be a bit longer than usual. I haven’t been taking a lot of photos this year though. I can’t decide if I want to change that.

David was gone all day at a birthday so Nathaniel and I painted with watercolors.

and color pencils.

I showed him how to draw a poppy (which I just learned during my class with Lisa).

then he practiced his lowercase letters.

here they are, finished.

then he filled the certificate.

and i reminded him that he was practicing his lowercase letters so he had to do it all over again.

he had a playdate this week, too, where they played minigolf in the house.

and then we left to go skiing. I didn’t take any photos all weekend but at some point we went downstairs to the firepit to make some smores and i grabbed my camera.

and asked Jake to take some photos.

my face was so burned from skiing in the sun.

but i love them anyway.

the boys liked the smores.

and had a few each.

and they really liked the skiing too.

and got much better.

they get report cards at the end of the day.

which i love reading.

when we got back, it was time for family photos.

we said we love skiing.

and then tickled.

and tickled more.

just looking at these makes me smile even now.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2014. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – March 16 2014

Since I am posting these retroactively, I will just post our family photos for the record.

nathaniel loves making faces.

just never smiley ones.

david ran away after the tickling.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – March 9 2014

Here are photos from this week:

The weather was finally getting nicer this week so Nathaniel and I had lunch outside for the first time in a while. I’ve been trying to choose nutrition over eating just to be full and I usually eat no protein so I’ve been trying to eat healthy food for lunch.

so is the little one.

David’s been taking tennis lessons so we went to practice at a park nearby.

he and daddy played while I shot photos.

the practice has really been helping him improve.

the little boy spent his time running and throwing tennis balls.

and then running some more.

and playing with the net.

Jake played with David for a while as I entertained Nathaniel.

who didn’t take much prodding to self-entertain.

then Jake and I played while David practiced against the wall and Nathaniel ran around some more. When we got home, we were all tired, so it was time to relax and play games.

for our family photo, we had no light but still a lot of laughter.

and apparently i put the focus just on Nathaniel’s face.

which wasn’t wise considering he can’t keep still to save his life.

but when i shoot these, it’s not technical perfection i am after. it’s joy. and you can see joy even in a blurry photo.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – March 2 2014

Here are photos from this week:

Most of our photos this week are from the ski trip to Tahoe and our little hike there, too.

The boys got their photos taken in ski school.

I love having these since I took no photos.

except for this quick shot in the balcony of our hotel.

I love this happy shot of David from the second day, too.

on our last day, we weren’t able to go skiing so we went hiking down to the lake.

i’m still making an effort to get in the photos more and more.

My lips were so dry, I couldn’t feel them at all.

And here’s the man of my life, Love him so.

Nathaniel would not stop making faces.

no matter what.

then it was time for our photos, there was almost no light so they are blurry. but still. they are us.

laughing.

trying to pose but not really.

tickling and laughing.

and now on a roll.

and we just give up seriousness altogether.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – February 23 2014

Here are photos from this week:

I still have to take our valentines photos but my boys made this fold out with a QR code in the middle. When you scanned it, it said Happy Valentine’s Day. Geeky, I know.

Little boy posing for me.

We had David’s birthday snack at school, which he loved. Madelines and Susie cookies.

then the next day we went to observe Kindergarten which Nathaniel starts next year and then I went back to David’s class for Valentine’s Day party. The kids all got a whoopie cushion from their teachers.

I took some shots while I was in the classroom.

the teachers made bags for each kid and all the other students wrote what they liked about that student.

i loved loved loved this idea.

My love got me some beautiful tulips for Valentine’s Day.

David’s been going to Speech Therapy for a few weeks now to correct his “th” vs “f” sounds. He gets homework each week.

Jake bought a yoyo to have some fun and to teach the kids.

Nathaniel was a big fan.

David had his birthday day with his best friend. Going back to the Lego movie, having some milkshakes and then playing games all day at home.

then we left for Tahoe to go skiing. Photos from that coming next week. When we got back, we took family photos.

we love skiing!!

and giggling.

I just love looking at these photos so much.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – February 16 2014

Here are photos from this week:

This week was mostly about David’s birthday which started with donuts and candles.

which he blew effortlessly.

then it was swimming and basketball.

while the little boy found his own friends.

the team won their third consecutive game. there was much joy.

then we came back home and it was time for presents.

David was delighted to get another one of his calculator watches (he lost the previous one and was very sad.)

then we went on an adventure of watching the LEGO movie, which was sold out in quite a few places. We did eventually get to see it and we loved it. And then it was time for cake.

David picked an ice cream cake this time around.

then he went about the business of putting together his new legos while Nathaniel played with the presents Jake’s parents got him.

and then it was photo time.

laughter and joy, as always.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – February 9 2014

Here are photos from this week:

When we were doing parent teacher conferences, Nathaniel was playing on the school computer.

he made himself into an astronaut.

after spending the whole week sick, when I found out that the Exploratorium was free on Sunday, I decided we should all go.

even though it looks nice in this photo, it was pouring rain when we got there and there was a line curving around the block. We were quite wet by the time we got in.

the boys loved everything.

Nathaniel loved watching David.

and David liked messing with the different displays.

this one was all about tinkering.

and one about showing all the heat in your body. I loved this one.

there were chairs everywhere, which I loved.

and this one was jake’s favorite exibit. magnets and copper, can’t get much better.

then it was family photo time.

where there was much laughter, of course.

love my boys so so much.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – February 2 2014

Here are photos from this week:

The boys went biking in the front of the house.

Nathaniel is still a bit wobbly and scared.

but he keeps at it anyway.

David’s a champ at this point.

he goes and goes like he’s been doing it all his life.

and i love watching.

both of them, so much.

then they played ball for a while and i went back inside to do art.

and then i got really, really sick.

the little one tried to cheer me up.

and made faces.

he also had a play date.

they played with punches and made cards.

as i lay sick home all week, he worked hard to entertain me.

and himself.

i finally started recovering and then work attacked. but yesterday we all took it easy. David typed up some cryptography python code he found.

nathaniel worked on the hour of code puzzles.

and I did art. We also tried to take photos but the light just didn’t exist. We took them anyway.

because we don’t skip weeks.

even if I have scars all over my nose from strep because they don’t matter as much as the laughter.

and those minutes we share in the chairs.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – January 26 2014

I was sick on this Sunday so I will post the photos next week but I just wanted to make sure I did post our weekly family photos:

my attempts to do look serious.

Nathaniel making us laugh.

within seconds, we’re laughing.

and tickling.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – January 19 2014

Here are photos from this week:

Nathaniel is a big fan of his new magnets and regularly finds creative uses for them.

I flew to Anaheim for one night just to be at CHA and worked at the Maya Road booth. Terrible photo, I know but it’s proof I was there.

While I was there, Jake took the kids to the Apple store.

where they played and played.

and made these funny photos.

which made me laugh and laugh.

nathaniel played with legos this week while he was home sick with a fever.

he’s always in a good mood, even with a fever.

then he did the puzzle in the cracker box.

and spent some time in his time travel box.

by the time we took photos he was all better.

and would not stop laughing.

making all of us crack up too.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – January 12 2014

Here are photos from this week:

We cleaned out the board game closet this week, which meant a lot of playing.

the boys played Chess, stratego, risk, and scrabble.

i played scrabble with them too.

it’s my favorite. i loved watching them play.

then we took a walk to the park so david could get some photos of animals.

and Nathaniel could play.

he had to make some funny faces, of course.

as he loves being a clown.

when we sit to take our family shots, he can hardly contain himself.

he looks at me.

or away from us.

or starts giggling.

until we’re all laughing too.

and here we go. so grateful for my life. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2013. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – January 5 2014

Here are photos from this week:

Nathaniel is a fan of his new magnets:

we took a walk to the Palo Alto lake by the airport.

david took a bunch of photos.

and I tried to take one of them but Nathaniel was being silly.

after some words, he was good.

and my three boys.

one of my goals this year is to be in the photos more. not just the weekly ones but ones where i am living my life with my family. i am still uncomfortable with it but I plan to work on it.