Us Right Now – January 29

jake
Things are still going great for Jake. He’s in a good mood, working hard and long but not in a bad mood. He got to go to the Crunchies and even meet with a few friends this week. All this will hopefully prepare him well for a weekend alone with the boys. I expect they will have a ton of fun together.

karen
This week was mostly rest and recuperation for me. I did a little scrapping over the weekend but spent most of the rest of the time journaling and doing homework in my classes. I have been doing a lot of soul work and I am really thankful for it and feel that the results have been astoundingly positive. I am trying to rest because the next few weeks promise to be hectic. I’m also excited about CHA and seeing some good friends. I am nervous about leaving this kids but I know they are in solid hands and look forward to a bit of me-time.

david
David’s been doing well. He’s making progress and still reading books with me and still enamored with the computer and the iphone and all kinds of games. He’s been reading a lot on the computer and we’re still reading together daily. I didn’t do a lot of workbooks with him this week but we’ve both been more patient with each other and kinder so I am hoping things are going to get better (mostly on my end since I am the one who needs to work on having more patience.)

nathaniel
Nathaniel is talking more and more and expressing his opinions more and more. He’s sweet as ever and looks up to his brother like nobody’s business. He plays with anything David plays with. Sits with him while he plays and watches him on the computer. Just likes to be near him. I love watching that. He loves when David makes him laugh. He went to the dentist this week and thankfully everything is good so far (despite a major meltdown at the dentist and not letting the hygienist clean anything.)

and here’s the card version:

Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

January 29, 2011 | Us Right Now | Leave a comment

Us Right Now – January 22

jake
Second week back to work and Jake’s still doing great. Relaxed and optimistic. I love seeing Jake at his best. He’s such a joy to have around. So wise, calm, kind. He’s making quite a collection of friends in the area as well. Another thing he’s great at. I’m so thankful for him.

karen
I am finally done with the CHA work. That’s basically occupied most of my moments since the year started. I finished all my layouts, I photographed everything and I am now ready. One week before I get to fly out and see all my work in person. I am sad about leaving the kids but excited to go. Now I can play catch up on everything else I’ve been dropping on the floor.

david
David’s been moodier than usual this week. He can be ver pessimistic and difficult sometimes but then just when I worry, his wonderful, happy self comes out and wins me all over again. I’ve decided I need to work on the way I talk to him. Sometimes I get impatient and say meaner things than I ever intend to, just to get his attention. I don’t want to threaten him or punish him unless he’s truly being unkind. So I need to find other ways to communicate and I need to learn to be more patient with him. He’s just six after all.

nathaniel
Nathaniel’s had a good week for the most part. He’s talking more and more and he’s definitely a lot more sure about what he wants and finds creative ways to communicate it. He was grabbing my fingers to point at things all week. He went to his first dentist appointment this week. He was too sad and wiggly to get any cleaning but he got a clean bill of health so far. He’s still into the Thomas but he’s getting more patient about letting me watch my own thing sometimes. He is so cute and loves his brother so much and imitates him all the time. He’s also still carrying the blanket around everywhere. He’s lucky he’s so cute because we let him do anything.

and here’s the card version:

Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

January 22, 2011 | Family, Us Right Now | 2 comments

Us Right Now – January 15

jake
This was Jake’s first week back at work after the long vacation. I think the vacation was a huge success for all of us and it gave him tons of energy to power through the long days he worked since he went back. He’s been happy and energetic and productive the whole time. I think there’s a lesson about the value of rest somewhere in there and I think I need to pay attention to it.

karen
I’m still mostly doing the same thing: preparing for CHA, working, exercising, and making portraits. Three of my classes started this week so I have a ton of homework and I have promptly begun to feel like I am falling behind but I am trying to coach myself daily and give myself permission to pace it all so that I can keep getting the sleep I need and not drive myself insane. This year is just as much about slowing down as it is about moving forward, so I keep working on reminding myself that.

david
David had another great week at school. We finished another book, did some more workbooks, and he even had a playdate all by himself. He’s growing up and there’s nothing I can do about it. Part of me loves watching him grow and part of me is so sad that pieces of his life are happening without me already. He’s such a kind, gentle soul and I am so thankful to have him in my life.

nathaniel
Nathaniel continued to be about the choo-choo. But now he’s also got a blankie. He seems to like having it around and grabs it from his crib when he gets up from sleep or naps. He started saying more words this week like “up” and “nana” for banana. He also has a word for the blanket. He’s been eating carrots and corn and even green beans sometimes. He laughs a lot and hugs me a lot. He also cuddles under the blankets with me often which is my very favorite thing. I love and adore him and I am so glad I am here to see him grow up.

and here’s the card version:

Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

January 15, 2011 | Family, Us Right Now | 3 comments

Us Right Now – January 8

jake
Jake was off all week and as I expected, it was absolutely wonderful. He took David to the bus and picked him up, he helped with both kids so much and they loved having him around more. He also looks so well-rested and relaxed. He’s home for four more days and then back to work. It’s going to be hard for me to go back to doing it all without him.

karen
This week started with a lot of pain but thanks to an emergency trip to the doctor, it got much better. It was a busier week than usual with lots of CHA prep to work on and several nights out. I accomplished a lot, but also fell behind in some important things like my email and getting back to people. I’ll have to do better with that next week. I also have three classes starting next week so let’s see how that works out.

david
David went back to school this week and he’s back on his routine. It all worked out much more smoothly than I thought. He went back to going to bed earlier. We’re reading in the mornings now while he eats his breakfast. We do some workbooks when he gets home. He’s rather use all of his time to play on the computer. It’s his favorite thing to do. Being the wonderful kid he is, he doesn’t fight with me and does all of the other activities willingly. He’s getting so good at spelling and reading and even math. I am very proud of him.

nathaniel
Nathaniel is still all about the choo-choo. Meltdowns occur when the TV is not on but he will occasionally let David watch something or even me sometimes. But only for a short duration. Even if he’s in the other room, when I change the show, he comes back and says “choo choo.” He also learned to say wa-wa this week for water and uses it a lot already. I’m excited that he’s learning to speak more. Part of me is worried he’ll have speech issues like David did but we’re doing good so far. He’s much more communicative than David was.

and here’s the card version:

Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

January 8, 2011 | Family, Us Right Now | 4 comments

Us Right Now – January 1

Text Reads:
Jake
Jake is taking a nice amount of downtime this week. A rare vacation and well deserved. Which also means some wonderful downtime for me since he will be around more to help and be with the kids. It’s been so nice to have him around more than usual during the holidays and I am happy to have that continue for a bit.

karen
This week is about new beginnings for me. New projects. New leaps. My word, free, is something I plan to keep in the forefront of my mind every single day this year. I want to be productive but I also want to prioritize. Health and family are first and foremost this year. I also want to compartmentalize my days a bit so I focus better and more purposefully on a task and am not jumping from task to task too often. I also have to get going on my CHA samples. Very excited to be going alone this year so it will be much less stressful.

david
David goes back to school this week. He’s had a long time off and the routines have mostly gone haywire so we’ll see how much adjustment time he will need to get back on track. We have been reading quite a bit during his vacation and we did a lot of activities together but most of it has honestly been spent on the computer but he still writes his gratitude journal and does all of his chores so I let him play as much as he wants.

nathaniel
Nathaniel is all about the choo-choo lately. The first word out of his mouth when he wakes up is choo-choo and same when I go to get him from his nap. If we put anything else on besides Thomas, he throws himself on the ground and cries. He doesn’t even watch it but it must be on. If he’s sitting in his chair to eat, he will watch it and then get really upset during the sadder scenes. I have to calm him down and tell him it’s going to be ok. I am not sure how to handle this just yet but I am going to be patient and work with him. David went through a phase watching Baby Einstein just like this and then it went away so I am not freaking out just yet.

Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.

January 1, 2011 | Us Right Now | 3 comments

2011 Projects – Us Right Now

This project started with the goal of getting in the photos more. I wrote a long post on shutter sisters about how I want to be in our family photos more often (full post here which got me thinking about how I can do that on a regular basis.

If I learned one lesson last year, it’s that things happen when they’re put on a schedule. A frequently recurring schedule.

I’ve been a huge fan of Tara Whitney’s Six people Twelve Times project.

And then there was this layout I made for Big Picture Classes last summer:

I decided to combine all those ideas and make a commitment this year to take weekly photos of all four of us.

I’ll be honest that this is the project I’m most worried about. Because this one requires commitment from my whole family and it means I have to use my tripod and self-timer more often. But I am blessed by the most amazing and kind family so I am going to take a leap of faith and I am going to assume it’s going to work. It might end up in the same spot in the house each week but I am ok with that. The idea is just to have photos of all of us together. It doesn’t have to be super-exotic or creative. We can try that for 2012, for this year I just want to start the habit of getting photos of all of us.

So I take the leap.

I spent a long time trying to figure out the format for this project. I thought of using the template I did for Weekly Gratitude last year but I wanted the photo to be bigger. I wanted a full 4×6 photo of us each week. So instead of going with a 4×6 album, I decided to go with a 2-up. Much to my delight, the colorful albums I love at Target also come in a 2-up format so I came up with this template:

Just in case any of you are interested in doing something similar or using the template for yourself, here it is: download me.

It’s two 4×6 photos. The top one is just a photo of us with the date on it. The bottom one lists each of our names and gives me space to put a sentence or two about each of us from that week. (Things like thoughts, mood, current obsessions, etc.)

I will then print them out and put them in this album:

and there will be a page for each week.

So here’s to crossing our fingers that this project comes to life. I will really really love to have this one at the end of 2011.

December 30, 2010 | Healthy for Life, Us Right Now | 18 comments

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