we have been home with my family and I haven’t been able to write daily. I ended up not having as much free time as I originally thought I might have while I’m here. Haven’t even managed to do a single sketch. Alas, here are some great moments from this week:

My sister’s son Jeff with Nathaniel (who was trying on clothes for the barmitzvah)

Her other son Aksel with Nathaniel.

Nathaniel wouldn’t look at the camera.

my mom, on the phone, as she often is.

Jeff with David.

being goofy.

the kids have not eaten much of the food here but my sister’s muffins are super-popular.

Nathaniel wouldn’t stop eating even for the photo.

the ipad has been a good friend to the kids during the more “boring” family conversations.

my sister’s husband, Isaac, and Nathaniel have become fast friends. Here he was “skiing” on him and laughing and laughing.

they played for hours together.

there’s a playground where we’re staying and the kids loved it.

david claimed he didn’t but it’s clear to me he did too.

my dad pushing Nathaniel.

and David trying to figure out how to get himself started.

he figured it out.

Nathaniel kept saying “higher”.

higher.

the next morning was the barmitzvah ceremony so the kids dressed up.

not too much, just dressy shirts and pants.

that night, Jake and I went out to dinner to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary (which was last Sunday) and the kids hung out with my mom, dad, sister, etc at my sister’s house.

there was much roughhousing of course.

at one point my sister’s twins piled on top of their dad and then David on top of them and then they put Nathaniel at the very top. They fell over more from laughter than pain.

and then there was only Nathaniel left and he told Isaac he had a “secret” to tell him. (His secret, which he whispered very loudly, was that we were going to go on a plane!)

we took our family photo at my mom’s today and it was sort of late so there wasn’t a lot of good light. but we did it anyway. And we had tickle time too of course.

afterwards the whole family ate dinner together at my mom’s. it was loud and noisy and absolutely wonderful.

and here we go. i hope your week was lovely, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

here are some great moments from this week:

i prefer to use my washi tape on my art journals but nathaniel has other uses for it.

the kids played in the backyard and David was in his spiderman costume and i just snapped as many photos as i could.

david was being a great participant.

and gave me a ton of smiles.

so of course nathaniel wanted some too.

but he still doesn’t really know how to smile.

not like his brother.

he also was annoyed that the shady part was also the dirty part of the backyard.

he kept telling me it was too dirty.

this is the closest we got to a smile.

when we got inside, i snapped some more.

david posed for me.

and then i got a closeup of those eyes i love.

they found a little spider on the couch and just kept watching him everywhere.

i went to a flower-arranging class.

and then there was mother’s day tea at nathaniel’s school.

we only spent about 8 minutes there but he was so cute and i am sad i didn’t snap a photo of him bringing the plate to me. he was so careful and so cute.

and then the family shots.

giggling.

laughing.

which just escalated.

and made me so deeply grateful.

and here we go. i hope your week was wonderful, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

here are some great moments from this week:

for three years, now, we’ve been celebrating Nathaniel’s birthday with our neighbors so this year we did the same.

at the little park by our house. david brought along his paper airplanes.

i love that Nathaniel sang along with the others.

and then he blew the candles.

and dove right in.

those cupcakes were delicious.

one of the presents Nathaniel got was these moustache stickers.

the kids loved them.

and i loved the photos.

nathaniel’s potty training is pretty close to done. it does mean he gets to spend a lot of time with his underwear tho. And here he is using it as a pillow.

and sleeping on it.

here he is working on his letter book.

i snapped some good photos of david this week, too.

those eyes and freckles are so perfect.

the highlight of his week was getting the lego club magazine.

i snapped a photo of the little boy, too.

he’s so very cute.

both kids spent time on the “computer” this week, too.

especially nathaniel, who loved figuring it out.

he also had a doctor’s appointment for his third year. he’s all healthy! yey!

and then there were some faces.

and some laughter.

and then my favorite: tickle time!

and here we go. i hope your week was wonderful, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

here are some great moments from this week:

crafting at a birthday party.

sunday was kite day for our town so we went to fly kites.

daddy did some,

taught david some.

he was enjoying himself ok but not super into it.

same for the little one.

david took the goodie bags from the birthday and made a puppet.

and then his front tooth finally fell off. now he’s toothless.

cutie boy.

Nathaniel’s been training to go potty all week. it’s been full of ups and downs but he’s working hard at it, the little boy.

and his birthday came.

i wasn’t sure if he’d blow the candles.

apparently he was all prepared…

he took a big breath and did it.

and then once more.

before we knew it, they were all out.

he took a break from eating to open presents.

and i snapped a photo of daddy.

the next day, we celebrated at school, too.

he was so so happy.

just a pure ball of joy.

after the singing and cheering, he sat to eat his chocolate chip pancake.

his daddy’s mom sent some awesome puzzles so he spent all of thursday putting those together.

and david helped him, too.

i never can have too many photos of my boys.

even when they all make faces.

but especially during tickle time.

and here we go. i hope your week was wonderful, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.

here are some great moments from this week:

boys hugging is always the highlight of my day:

i love the look Nathaniel’s giving me here.

We went to the park and the kids had so much fun.

asked me to take photos.

he’s saying “hi mommy” here.

of course he got dad to join in, too.

he also helped the big boy climb high.

and then he had to help the little one, too, of course.

they were so grateful for his help.

While David was at school, Nathaniel discovered some of the toys in his room.

and then watched as David showed him how to use it.

and then he recruited daddy, too.

weather’s been amazing here, and the kids have been playing in the backyard a lot.

the kids love it.

they run around and laugh.

and play ball.

so i had to take photos, of course.

because what’s cuter than kids having fun?

nothing. that’s what.

oh well, maybe kids hugging might be a bit cuter!

I love how Nathaniel’s totally doing his own thing here.

this week’s photos had a long pause where we just all gave each other kisses, it was quite wonderful.

there was much laughter. even by me.

and, of course, tickle time.

and here we go. i hope your week was wonderful, too.

Weekly Diary is a project for 2012. You can read more about it here.