As I already mentioned, I spent most of today working on a project. Almost all of it actually. But I am nearly there. I can see it coming together and I am so happy. I love it. I will tell you more about it this fall but until then, mum’s the word. We had planned to take it easy today and spend some time together on small activities and get stuff done. So Jake worked in the garage and I worked on my project while the kids played and David read his lego catalogue for the nineteenth time.

In the afternoon, we went out to let David ride his bike for the first time ever. He was a rockstar. Yes, I know he’s not wearing a helmet. That will never, ever happen again.

Nathaniel was watching him and cheering. This is a typical Nathaniel move right here.

David rode with confidence and comfort but I could tell beneath it all, he was really self-conscious. He worked hard to push those pedals.

And then went as smoothly as he could.

The boys watched him and made sure he was ok.

I snapped this photo of Nathaniel while I had him outside for a minute. Amazing the difference natural light makes.

Plans for tonight are more work on my project, maybe a layout, some reading, and getting organized. I have only one more day before I go back to work and I still have quite a few items on my todo list. Hope you had a great day!

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for this project I am working on. It’s making me smile and be so happy. I hope the recipient will feel that way, too.
2. I am grateful for a really nice few days off. It wasn’t supremely eventful but it was mostly relaxing and quite productive and just wonderful to have Jake around so much.
3. I am grateful for random bits of wonderful news. I won the My Minds Eye Blog Challenge and I won the sketch challenge at Collage Press last month and I just got an email asking for a layout to be published in an upcoming magazine ( I didn’t even apply.) I am thankful for the kindness of everyone and feeling so grateful.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. my new box of legos (i found a box in the garage cleanup process).
2. riding my bike!
3. watching mommy and daddy play a game (we played this board game called spy wire that jake got for david, we were playing it for the first time, trying to figure it out.)
4. daddy.

The plan for today was to take a trip and have fun. Originally, we were going to go to Muir Woods but I really wanted to go to the beach so we decided to go to Ocean Beach instead. It was a cold and gray San Francisco day but I still tried to snap some photos.

David claimed he wasn’t a fan of the beach. He begged not to go.

And then fell in love (as I knew he would) and wanted to run and play and watch the birds.

But it was too cold. So so cold. So we took a quick walk to the water and then got back in the car.

Our plan was to have brunch at Outlands which gets really good ratings. It didn’t open until 10 am so we sat in the car for a bit and waited for it to open.

I was using my 17-40 lens. I hate this lens. It’s a high quality lens but somehow I just can’t seem to figure out how to use it properly.

After brunch, we went back home, all of us rested and then I worked in the garage some more. I opened one of the huge packed boxes of toys so I could donate most of them but I took a few things out and the kids flocked to them like they were brand brand new.

Here, Nathaniel is watching David run around with a dump truck and laughing while sucking his thumb. It always makes me smile when he does that.

All in all, it was a great but tiring day. Now I am sprawled on the couch and too tired to put the kids down. I hope they are as tired as I am and sleep a long long time.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for our trip to the beach. I love love love the peace water brings out in me.
2. I am grateful for cleaning a few more boxes in the garage. I can see light. Sloooowly but surely.
3. I am grateful for a few more days of downtime. Happy that there’s no work tomorrow for me.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. watching the birds on the beach.
2. building cool things with my legos.
3. daddy.

I’m still feeling moody, for reasons I truly cannot explain. Maybe it’s cause I don’t have anything that needs to get done and it’s making me feel aimless. Or maybe I just really need rest. Who knows.

I just tried to work and be with the kids today. Nathaniel loves this truck with the remote. Even though it’s out of battery, he doesn’t seem to want to understand that and keeps waiting for it to work again.

But that face is hard to resist so I just let him play.

I love this boy. He’s growing up so so fast. 15 months old tomorrow.

He loves playing soccer with anything at all. Anything he can kick, he will.

I honestly have no idea what they were looking at there. I was working and David told me to take their photo. I love how his hand is over his brother’s shoulder. Gently and protectively.

We spent a little time in the backyard. Nathaniel is making his peace with the grass I think. Especially since there are balls in the backyard and he loves balls.

Not fully peaceful just yet.

I love watching him suck his thumb. Almost all the way to the palm. I wish I had something that comforts me that much. Something besides chocolate that is.

And of course David played with legos. We spent a bunch of time playing legos together today and I built this and then he embellished it.

I’m excited that we’re both taking a few days off and planning on some work at home, some relaxation, some sightseeing, and some pampering. A few days of rest sounds lovely.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for our upcoming mini-staycation this week.
2. I am grateful for some great time watching tour de france with my hubby. By far, my favorite sports event to watch.
3. I am grateful for some quality time with the kids. They make me so so so happy.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. playing legos with mommy.
2. having juice for lunch (I had some odwalla left and he got to have it for eating his veggies.) .
3. daddy.

Nathaniel woke up just a little too early today. Or I was in a bad part of my sleep cycle cause I woke up feeling like I was slapped. He did also wake up at 2:30am which wasn’t so much fun. But it didn’t take me that long to recover and by 7am I was happy and less tired. Coffee didn’t hurt. Nathaniel’s discovered David’s toy and he’s loving it. Today it was all about putting the sheets on the floor and stepping on them. I think he loves the texture difference or something but it’s so much fun .

He steps up and down on it and laughs and laughs.

And laughs. It’s so much fun to watch him.

So we decided to shoot some video of it cause we both laughed so much watching him:

Isn’t it so funny? He’s also obsessed with plastic bottles, putting their tops on, taking off the paper, putting his fingers in it.

He’s also still putting his hands behind his back.

We tried to let him eat with a fork today and he was super-excited.

He laughed the whole time and kept putting more and more food in his mouth just to play with the fork.

David spent most of the morning playing his soldier game. (One he made up.)

Lest you think it’s always so quiet here, he was running around, shooting, making crazy amounts of noise.

Later in the day, we watched some Whitney Houston and Billy Joel videos on YouTube and I snapped this while he was watching. He is so beautiful, it breaks my heart.

At some point today he told me that if i am mean to him he’d do something to really upset me “Go live with someone else” he told me and I told him that I never want him to live somewhere else and then he said but that won’t work cause he will grow up and get married. And then he added, “don’t worry, I will come visit you.”

I hope so, my son, I hope so.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for a clean checkup. I had my yearly checkup, the first in a while and all was perfectly normal. At the doctor’s that’s exactly what I want to hear.
2. I am grateful for a really wonderful book. One that’s not only engrossing but where the words and sentences actually touch me and make me smile.
3. I am grateful for inspiration my husband gave me yesterday that made me feel stronger and more energized all day long.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. watching music videos with mommy.
2. playing my soldier game.
3. daddy.

Today began crappy but then turned around (more on this tomorrow) but it also meant that I took a little break from my July projects. July’s been a challenging month so far as it turns out. But that’s ok. It’s life.

I decided we would have some ice cream and a ton of fun. Nathaniel refused to take his nap at his normal hour so he slept much later and when he woke up, I decided to take a little break so we could all play in the backyard.

David brought a bunch of legos with him, of course.

Nathaniel wasn’t sure at first but then decided to give it a go.

He even ran around with his brother while they chased each other.

Then Jake came home and Nathaniel went begging for some grapes. My favorite part was that when he finally got one, he walked over to a bowl David had left on his table.

Grabbed the bowl, took it back to where Jake was, put the grape in it, and then took it out and ate it. He watches, he learns.

Then they played legos for a while.

I truly love watching them play together and next to each other.

Nathaniel loves legos almost as much as David..

But I think David loves them more. And I love him. So much.

In the end, it was a good day. Tomorrow, back on the horse.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. Grateful for some kind people who are helping me put together something I’ve long wanted to do.
2. I am grateful for all the kind comment you leave here. I know I’ve said this before but i cannot say it enough. it touches me deeply.
3. I am grateful for some silly TV to watch today as I relax and embroider and let my troubles go.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. Nathaniel.
2. playing with his legos.
3. daddy.

Months ago, Jake signed up for this weekend-of-video-games thing where they bring old and new arcade games (hundreds of them!) into this convention center and you can go play all weekend. It is this weekend, so he’s been going there on and off all day. And since I remember my Atari days so well and loved Space Invaders, I had to take a photo of his wristband.

And here’s David, who’s focusing really hard on his lego wii game.

So for the rest of the day, my only subject was Nathaniel and I took photos of him liberally. I love how while he sucks one finger, he uses the other hand to support the hand he’s sucking.

The hands are still reaching for his back when he walks.

Focusing.

I spent my day embroidering while I watched hulu and then i did a layout and back to embroidering.

I cannot get enough photos of him.

He’s so so cute.

And he’s still chewing on his lips. Not sure why. Though he’s got lots of teeth coming so that could be it.

Wii, legos, embroidery, layouts, tv, homework, and food was pretty much all of our day. I did work in the garage some (a big slow project here.) and after this I plan to sit and read a bit tonight before I am off to bed. Good, quiet Saturday here. I hope yours was just the way you like it.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. Embroidery. I am really really enjoying it so much.
2. Hulu. So awesome to get to watch TV when you missed it the first time around.
3. Nice, quiet days with no deadlines or lists of todos.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. getting a gold star (he got one for writing today).
2. playing wii.
3. daddy.