We’re finally home! We spent the last four days in beautiful San Diego. Back when we lived there, we used to love the Crystal Pier Hotel and always wondered how it would be to stay there. So when I was able to randomly get a reservation I jumped at the opportunity. And we got cabin #14. And it was lovely. We had this beautiful deck and got to watch sun set over Pacific Beach every night. Quite magical.
After the really long drive, we finally made it home and I am really happy to be here. So were the kids.
Nathaniel was tired but it was too close to bedtime so I tried to keep him up and he wondered around and rediscovered his toys.
David played Wii since it was his day and he was already bummed to have missed some of it.
I just lay on the couch and tried to recover from the car trip. I am feeling exceptionally exhausted. Tomorrow starts the events for David’s school. We have a social and a ribbon cutting in the next two days. And then Tuesday starts school. Wow.
Well I am off to get my life a bit back in order. Put my clothes away. Find my neighbor to get my mail (there’s some happy mail in there so I’ve been waiting all day for her to come back home!) and to read my book.
More tomorrow.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for my amazing husband to drove eight hours there and eight hours back in four days without a word of complaint.
2. I am grateful to be home and that we have such a comfortable, happy home to come back to.
3. I am grateful that it’s only Saturday and I get to rest for one more day before it’s workday again. It’s extra nice to come home from vacation and have some more vacation.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. being home!
2. playing wii.
3. daddy and mommy and nathaniel.
We started this morning nice and early at 5:30am. Kids were awake so it meant we were, too. We sat around for a while, desperately trying to wake up and then got the kids ready to go out.
This is the face David made when I told him to smile like he was about to get a ton of legos.
Then we walked down to Mission Beach and ate at a beachside cafe for breakfast. It was a little chilly but overall amazing. Nathaniel was already yawning 100 times so we came back to the hotel for his nap and we all ended up dozing a bunch (except David of course.)
Once he woke up, we drove to Scripps to get to the Birch Aquarium. I used to take David here when he was little and it was neat to go back. David loved every moment of it and ran from exhibit to exhibit. Here he is, on a special exhibit where you go into this room and then it records you reading the “news” and you can watch yourself on TV as a newscaster.
Nathaniel loved it too, especially the room with the huge fish tank.
After that, we went to our old neighborhood and had lunch at Wired cafe where we used to go regularly. It was neat being back there, too. Then it was time to come home so we could play on the beach which turned out to be a disaster. Both the kids got scared of the water, David took off. Anyhow, that ended badly. So we came back and walked down the pier and saw a bunch of dolphins which made the day amazing again. A little frozen yogurt, some healthy snacks for the kids and our day was over. I am tried and ready to stop living out of luggage. But I do love San Diego.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for the walk down memory lane.
2. I am grateful that we took the kids to the aquarium. I have photos of David there a little younger than Nathaniel is now and it was so neat to be there again.
3. I am grateful to be going home and for this short vacation. It was really nice to be here. I expect the next two weeks to be stressful as we adjust to our new routine but I suppose the sooner it comes, the sooner we can create our new routine.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. the aquarium!!
2. eating a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast.
3. daddy and mommy and nathaniel.
Today started with an early morning breakfast with friends of Jake. Both of the kids grew impatient after a while but they were great considering we were there for almost two hours.
We then came back home and went up to my favorite place in San Diego (or possibly one of my favorite places in the world.) Torrey Pines State Reserve. Nathaniel briefly fell asleep in the car which is why he looks so sleepy in this photo.
And here’s David “posing” for the photo. David did not want to go near the water but then he walked in too far and was caught by a wave that came in. His shoes and pants got soaked and he was really really upset.
We then rushed back to the hotel cause Jake had to meet with someone and Nathaniel needed to nap. While the little boy struggled and then slept, I snapped this photo from our balcony. We’re literally on the pier in Pacific Beach and look over to La Jolla. It’s stunning here.
I did some work on the computer, relaxed and read while David watched a bit of Thomas and played with his legos. To me, this is a lot of what vacation is about. Relaxing and doing what makes you happiest.
Nathaniel woke up and we had an appointment at the apple store for me to get a new power cable, cause mine died. And just as we were leaving the hotel I saw that the diamond had fallen off my engagement ring. The ring was still on my finger, but not the diamond. I really freaked out and was so sad but decided to leave anyway and look for it when we got back.
We went up the the store, got a new power cable and then had some lunch. On the way back we made a brief stop at Anthropologie (yey!) and Michael’s and Paper Tales (local scrap store) and I bought a bunch of punches. Because I can never ever have enough as it turns out.
By the time we came back, we were all tired and I was again sad about my diamond. We got the kids ready for bed and Jake was supposed to leave again so I asked him if we could look for the stone for fifteen minutes. As I said it, I was making David’s bed and picked up the folded sheets. I heard a small sound and amazingly we found the diamond! it was right there. We couldn’t believe our luck.
Now that I was super-happy again, the sun was setting, so we went out to the balcony and I tried to take some photos. As you can see, not everyone was cooperating.
Nathaniel absolutely loved being outside and especially walking up to our neighbor’s door.
And up and down the pier.
We kept trying to get him back in to the room.
But as soon as we closed the door he’d cry and try to claw his way back out.
This little boy loves being outdoors. So, all in all, a full and wonderful day and I am happy to be here. To breathe some of the delicious, fresh beach air. I am really really glad we found my diamond. And thankful for getting to spend so much time together.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for the beach air. For our comfortable hotel and relaxed trip.
2. I am grateful that we found my diamond. I am sad the ring broke but so glad we found the stone.
3. I am grateful to be healthy today. I am so sad for my wonderful friend Katie whose father just got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. My heart and soul are with her and I am hugging my own family a little bit tighter tonight.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. the puzzle/coloring books I got today.
2. watching Thomas and being in San Diego.
3. daddy and mommy and nathaniel.
Long long long day. We spent most of today in the car. And it also was one of the rare rare occasions in which David threw up. All over the car. All over everything. It was not pretty. Anyway, it was a long day. But we got here and Nathaniel was super-happy.
When we sat at our favorite cafe I asked Jake to snap some photos of David and me. And now you can see why I take so many photos of Nathaniel and not as many of David.
And then I just gave up and tickled him silly.
The kids are finally asleep and I must say I am wiped, too. All my muscles feel like they are aching. I look forward to tomorrow. To relaxing. To being together. To being here.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we made it safe and sound.
2. I am grateful that my kids are really amazing in the car. Eight hour drive and I heard maybe 10 minutes of whining total.
3. I am grateful to be here and to get a little time off. Time with my family.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. playing with my legos.
2. being in San Diego.
3. daddy and mommy and nathaniel.
Today started off late. Nathaniel decided not to sleep last night and I couldn’t fall asleep either. So it started our day on a hard path. But we still made it through our list of daily tasks, like exercising, reading, etc. So I’d have to say the day turned out much better than it could have. Here’s Nathaniel making another one of those piles I mentioned yesterday.
We received some boxes in the mail today and David decided it would be fun to get in them. He tried to get Nathaniel to follow suit.
But Nathaniel wasn’t as enthused.
Instead, he reached for David’s legos.
And David was pretty nice about it.
Then David leaned over to the chair to take a “nap” and Nathaniel thought it was so funny that he went on the other side and lay down too. I love how much he imitates his brother. His brother loves it too.
And he loves going through his brother’s toys. They are way more fun than his.
Here, I was trying to get him to look at me so I kept calling his name. He wasn’t easily fooled, though. He just smiled and kept going.
Perseverance pays off though and I did get my shot.
A lot to do tonight still. Emails to send. Some packing. Some fixing. Oh well… it will all get done.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we are about to have a few days of quality family time together.
2. I am grateful that we got to go to David’s school and meet his teacher. It all seems monumental and it’s stressing me out but I am grateful that he’s so excited.
3. I am grateful for an incredibly amazing happy mail today. I am a lucky lucky lucky gal.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. playing with my legos.
2. going to my school and meeting my teacher.
3. daddy and mommy and nathaniel.
Well if it were two hours ago, I’d write all about how grouchy I’ve been and how frustrated I was all day but I did some scrapbooking and I am in such a great mood now so I won’t write about any of that. yey.
I’ll start with this super-blurry photo. Nathaniel keeps his hat on for less than a second so getting a nonblurry shot has been impossible but i love the expression on this one so I kept it anyway.
and here it comes off.
and it’s off! that was that.
See the arm? I put the sock on for naps and bedtime. I worry if he wakes up in the middle of the night and undoes it, he will suck on the thumb with a lot of ointment on it.
And here it is without the sock. At least this way he can use the other four fingers to grab things.
I’ve been a grouchy grouchy mom. Yelling a lot today. I will work on this a lot. And thankfully my boys are just the happiest bunch. Something I cannot take for granted.
see that smile?
Nathaniel loves making little “corners” for himself. He will take over a chair or a table and arrange his things just the way he likes them. I love watching him work. He’s so adorable.
Today was my day at the Big Picture Scrapbooking Big Idea Festival and it was so much fun to chat with everyone. If you haven’t checked it out, make sure to head over there. And I did a layout. And I did so much work. And I worked out. And David and I read. Now I am off to write my gratitude post before I head to bed. More scrapping plans tomorrow. And some happy mail coming this week. Yey!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I scrapped. Turns out it was all I needed to turn my mood around.
2. I am grateful that my kids are so forgiving and even on the most grouchiest and difficult day, I am still so grateful to be home with them.
3. I am grateful for the happy mail I’m expecting tomorrow. it’s super awesome as David would say.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. watching pink panther.
2. playing with is star wars legos.
3. daddy and mommy and nathaniel.
Today was considerably better than yesterday but still very much lacking in the productivity department. Oh well, I guess this weekend was meant to be this way. Next weekend will be a whirlwind, too and then school starts for my little boy. Ugh. Summer ended way way too quickly. Way too quickly.
I did the three big tasks for this weekend which were to get David’s school stuff ready, print more photos for upcoming scrappy projects, and to cleanup and organize my table. I still have emails to reply to, a few todo list items for Jake’s upcoming birthday, and some prep work for creative therapy. And I still have that happiness-project wrap up post to write and my August plans to share with you. Ugh. Yes, this is shaping to be one of those months where I play nonstop catch up.
Nathaniel spent a bunch of time playing with a bowl that was on the floor today. He’d flip it and kick it.
and just work himself into a laughter. It was so much fun to watch.
And then the headphones of course. He loves loves those things.
We tried to put him down for nap this morning but he wouldn’t take it. While he was trying, David and I did his reading exercise (he’s up to #43) . And then we read some of the books he checked out from the library. He has some attention span issues where he tries to guess looking at the photos. But if he pays attention and takes his time, he can actually read. It’s quite phenomenal to watch.
In the afternoon, we tried to put Nathaniel down again and this time he did nap. Afterwards, Jake took David for his haircut, during which I’m told he misbehaved and fidgeted a lot. When he got home, he was miserable. Crying and saying he was itchy and that he hated the haircut. He did calm down a bit but it was not pretty. I asked him if I could get some photos of it, and this was the best he let me snap.
Love the boy. A little bit more reading, some playing and then it was time for dinner. My last catch of the day was Nathaniel signing “thank you” which is a new one for him. He’s learning to sign, slowly but surely.
And now they are both in bed and I am wiped as usual and I don’t think I can get much more done. So I will finish off a few items and curl in bed with a book. I hope your weekend was wonderful!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that David’s been reading so well and enjoying it so much. It is such a treasure to watch him.
2. I am grateful that Nathaniel is taking not having one hand in stride. He’s been in good humor and the hand does not seem to be getting worse.
3. I am grateful that we have a short but happy vacation coming up. I am excited to spend even more time with my boys.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. reading library books.
2. new spiderman shoes for school.
3. daddy and mommy and nathaniel (he said he will be grateful for all three of us everyday from now on).
Well, I never saw today coming. My plans for this weekend were the opposite of audacious. I wanted to rest some, play with the kids some, and read a bunch. I hoped to get up and take David to Target for back to school shopping and then to the library for some books. And we did do all of that. Then I came home, already dead tired to find Nathaniel’s thumb swollen and filled with puss. So I called the doctor who told me to bring him in right away. So I rushed right back out. Then we waited for way too long. Nathaniel has just woken up from a too-short nap and hadn’t eaten. After the really long wait, the doctor had to have two of us hold him down to puncture his thumb, get a sample, put ointment and wrap it like crazy so even if he sucked it, it wouldn’t matter. Nathaniel was weeping the whole time.
Then, we had to go to the Stanford Children’s Hospital to drop off the sample she took which involved a very tired mommy having to walk a long long way and then wait in long lines. Then I tried to get his medicine but the pharmacist wasn’t sure what the doctor wrote and the doctor’s office was already closed so we had to wait for over 45 minutes for the doctor to call us back and confirm the medicine. By the time we made it home, we were both a huge mess. I put him right on his chair so he could eat. And he swallowed the food like he hadn’t eaten in days.
Having only one thumb made things considerably harder for the little boy.
During lunch, David’s third tooth fell off and he was super-excited.
Once he was fed, Nathaniel did return to his good mood.
Even with a sock covering his arm.
As the day wound down more, he got a lot more frustrated and emotional. Cause he wanted to play like he usually does but he didn’t have the two hands he usually does.
During bedtime, we had to unwrap the whole thing and put a new one. And that was yet another challenge. Lots of weeping, turning purple, mommy freaking and yelling later we finally had him in bed. And I must say I am ready to crawl in bed myself.
Best laid plans.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I had the mind to call the doctor when I saw his thumb.
2. I am grateful that the school shopping (at least preliminary) is done.
3. I am grateful that my whole family is a lot more relaxed and chilled out than i am cause I don’t think it would work any other way.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. new legos he got for doing so much work on his reading.
2. mommy.
3. daddy.
For reasons that are truly inexplicable, I am still quite grouchy and I am waiting to snap out of it. It hasn’t been easy being around me and I am frustrated with myself for letting it get to me so much and for not being able to snap out of it. That’s my goal this weekend. Serious attempts to snap out of it.
Nathaniel took a four hour long nap today so I spent the time working and being grouchy and when he woke up, we all went out to lunch. And then did some grocery shopping. So it took me much longer to snap photos today. I started with the big boy.
Nathaniel was snacking on animal crackers when I snapped his photos. He was putting them in his hair, which he loves to do.
So I just snapped while he made some faces.
And finally we both laughed.
Even the big boy.
And now I’m rushing to get the kids to bed cause I have to go out for my new book club. Maybe that will do the trick. Happy weekend to you!!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that the dev build went out nice and easy this morning.
2. I am grateful for my kids who make me laugh again and again.
3. I am grateful that I took the time to go out in the sun and to shop. I love when my fridge is full of delicious fruit.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. lunch with mommy and nathaniel
2. strawberry yogurt cheerios.
3. daddy.
Lots of photos today. As with all mornings recently, I got up, gave the kids food, exercised, did some art, some reading with David, and then started work. I found Nathaniel like this today and I grabbed my camera right away. I love the idea of my kids reading and reading is definitely my favorite thing to do with my time so I hope hope that the love has passed on to them, too.
And, David, too.
I don’t know if you remember, but back when we went camping, I was looking for the shoes I bought for Nathaniel. I had looked and looked and couldn’t find them to save my life. And, guess what? Nathaniel found them today! (and he is wearing different clothes cause he peed on the other ones. happens often in our house sadly.)
And then tried to put them on.
And then gave up and chose to play with the box instead.
Then, I put them on for him. He wasn’t sure he liked them but since he discovered them, he didn’t complain.
He kept walking to the door, so we decided to take a little walk.
We often walk to this bridge by our house. I like to take photos there. So we did again.
On the way back, the kids played for a bit. I love the way David looks at Nathaniel here.
And how happy they both are, here.
And the way Nathaniel’s looking at his brother here. Look at that love.
On the way home, David did what he does best: run run run.
All in all it was a good day. Good time with the kids, good work done, some art done, some chatting with friends, and some reading with David. I am still in a bit of a funk but way better than yesterday which is good news for tomorrow.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for the art I’ve been creating. Some better than others but I like that I’ve been doing it consistently.
2. I am grateful for work being relatively smooth this week. I am not done yet and shouldn’t jinx it but so far, so good.
3. I am grateful that David’s making such big strides in reading. It’s so wonderful to see him get excited.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. legos
2. eating a peanut butter sandwich.
3. daddy.
Bad bad bad day. I woke up from the wrong side of bed today and could not seem to shake the feeling all day. I got grouchier and grouchier. It was insane. And I am still not done being grouchy it seems so I am going to keep it short today.
Nathaniel’s really into putting things in bowls lately. Loves to collect his little cheerios.
He puts them in the head of this guy.
And then eats out of it. Ugh.
And here’s the big boy who’s really been super patient with his amazingly cranky mommy today. I was a bad bad bad mommy.
I am going to say goodnight and let this day end hoping i wake up from the other side tomorrow.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for happy mail today.
2. I am grateful for the two layouts I finished today even though I cannot make my peace with them.
3. I am grateful that my kids were still so happy, kind, and generous despite my totally grouchy mood today.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. watching my DVDs
2. watching Preschool Playhouse on dvd.
3. daddy.
Today went by way too fast. I can hardly remember it. I did however work out and work a whole bunch and read with david and take photos. Those are pretty much the norms of my day now. oh and i FINISHED the garage woot woot woot!!!!!
Early morning, we watched a little TV and when I turned over, I saw David sitting like this and had to snap a photo. Love him.
Later in the day, we found David’s DVDs so he spent a lot of time watching them as Nathaniel walked around.
And gave me looks.
Tried tasting some toys.
And then put them together.
And then my goodies from Tim came. So it was like Christmas in my house! (Exactly like Christmas actually since his products are often what’s on my Christmas list every year.) I wish I could stay home and play with them tonight but I am heading out to my book club. Tomorrow morning, after I work out, I will have to play some.
Now, off to feed the little boys.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for the wonderful box of goodies from Tim. Happy happy joy joy.
2. I am grateful for the finished garage. I cannot tell you how amazingly happy I am about this.
3. I am grateful about going out tonight. I like getting the chance to go out every now and then and I always look forward to my book club meeting.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. watching my DVDs
2. reading with mommy
3. daddy.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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