Another day that I decided to keep things low. And it worked great. I spent most of today reading and watching TV and resting. We did take some family shots:

even though the light was bad:

so we kept it to a minium and went right into tickle time:

which was, of course, super-fun:

but we kept that short, too.

Then Nathaniel showed David where to put the tripod back:

and watched as he did it.

then it was nap time for him, sketch time for me. I sketched, wrote my weeklong journal and then redid the blog. So now you have a new schedule:

Mondays – Scrapbook pages/minis/posts
Tuesdays – Weeklong Art Journal
Wednesdays – Sketches + books I read
Thursdays – Art Journaling pages
Fridays – Healthy for Life
Saturdays – Us Right Now
Sundays – Reading to David

So I will attempt to fold the Daily Diary into the Us Right now Posts which means those will get really big with photos from the whole week. I don’t know if I will like this new format or not so I might go back. I still want to give it a try. I have created a new sideblog for the gratitude journal cause I do want to continue that. You can now find it on the left side of the blog under my badge.

I am hoping to do more, longer posts daily or at least a few times a week talking about some of my thoughts, some details about my process, etc. This blog used to have a lot more of my thoughts and I liked that so I want to bring it back. We’ll try this for a while and see how it works. Feel free to comment on what you think, too.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I took this weekend to rest. It did me a lot of good and I need to do it more often.
2. I am grateful for my new sketches. I love the way they are turning out.
3. I am grateful that we spent some fun time with the kids today.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I went to Fall Carnival at school * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I got to play a little wii.
3. I am grateful that we got some take-out for dinner.

I had planned for today to be a super-restful and super-productive day. But you know what happens when you make plans, right…?

It started out just fine but quietly went downhill. The best part was this boy who was super-excited about his playdate:

and this boy who found a fork and decided to jab it in his brother.

So he could eat him. He jabbed gently, then brought the fork to his mouth and made eating sounds.

which made both of them laugh so much. He did it to me and to David again and again.

and then he asked for the lens cap.

which also made him laugh and laugh and laugh.

the joys of my life.

Tonight I learned again that I should be careful when I agree to do things. For some reason I seem to have to relearn this lesson again and again and again. Sigh.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that Jake took care of David and took him to his playdate and picked him back up and was so amazing.
2. I am grateful that despite some small chaos, everything worked out at work.
3. I am grateful that it’s the weekend and I intend to take this whole weekend off. No daily nothing (except exercise of course). If i do it great but I will not pressure myself. I will read, draw, write only when I feel like it. That’s the plan!

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I met with my school family today * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I had a playdate (and it was super-fun!).
3. I am grateful that I chatted with mommy for a long time.

today started super-hectic for me. I dropped the kids off and then drove to work. I had a meeting and several things to pick up all over the building. Then I rushed back home and took Nathaniel to the doctor and we came back home for the nap.He woke up rested and cranky.

then I worked worked worked. And David came home so I got some photos.

I will never have enough of those blue eyes.

here he is writing his gratitude book.

Nathaniel wanted photos too of course.

I tried to entertain him with the lens cap.

which he wanted, too.

so I gave him and he loved it.

then david played on the new computer a bit and nathaniel watched (and bugged) him.

now i am off to do some art before I go out to meet a few friends. whirlwind of a day here and still suffering from allergies and perpetually behind everything at this point.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I set a hair appointment. I have too much gray again.
2. I am grateful that I might be going out to see friends tonight.
3. I am grateful that I went to work and had a super-productive meeting.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I read my book to mommy * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I watched some movies with daddy.
3. I am grateful that I read my treasure map book to daddy, too.

Well the day was hectic but uneventful, thankfully. When I went to pickup Nathaniel from school, he was wearing a tail so I had to take a photo.

When David comes home from school he always likes to tell me stories:

and i like to snap photos while he does.

Nathaniel gets jealous so I try him next:

entertain him with the lens cap.

which he loves.

and he puts it on his head and says “hat”

plans for tonight are sparse. A little art and a lot of sleep. How about you?

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I talked on the phone with a good friend from my childhood.
2. I am grateful that work went mostly uneventfully today, here’s to hoping it’s the same tonight.
3. I am grateful that despite being super-tired, I still made it through all my tasks today including the 5K.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that it was Anthony’s birthday (and I had some muffins!). * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we practiced for the fitness challenge at school.
3. I am grateful that I’m reading my Turkish folktales book.

We had a rough night so it started the day on a tough note. But I still got up and exercised. Then we took our family photos. It wasn’t a great set this time but we got some fun ones from tickle-time.

David was tickling daddy again.

Then David and Nathaniel played.

David was in a super-happy mood so he talked nicely to Nathaniel, who of course adored it since he worships his brother.

David was so happy to play with him that he brought down all of his legos and said that he loved his brother so much and loved playing with him and that he didn’t want to do anything but play with his brother all day. He said he might even rather do that than play wii. he said it was the happiest day of his life. I am not exactly sure what prompted it but it was so so wonderful and lovely to watch them both play and hug and kiss. I will hang on to this one so I can recall it when they start fighting nonstop.

Then Nathaniel went to nap and David played wii and I sketched. I also started my art journal page but didn’t get to finish yet. When Nathaniel woke up we all went to the doctor to get Jake’s birthday present (finally!) so we were there for over 2 hours while Jake tried to put on his contacts. Then we went grocery shopping and by the time we got home and now that both the kids are sleeping, I am completely wiped. I have a photo shoot tomorrow so I will have to wake up early to exercise before I go there so I plan to just rest tonight and only do more art if I feel super-inspired. Otherwise, the couch and I will hang out as we watch TV.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I got some sketch time in today. I was so tired, I thought I would get absolutely nothing done but I took my time and slowly sketched.
2. I am grateful that I finally got Jake’s present, it was making me sad to have put it off so long.
3. I am grateful that I feel better today than yesterday, last night was challenging for me.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played with my brother. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I got a new lego set.
3. I am grateful that I got a little travel fish set.

Happy almost-Friday. Last night was one of those huge shame-spiral nights for me. I got more and more and more upset and finally just went to bed cause I couldn’t stand it. Didn’t wake up much better this morning but slowly I started to snap out of it. Still got a ways to go but I am doing better.

Nathaniel was home today but I still got no shots until Jake held him in the evening.

even then he moved back and forth. blurring everything.

then he started heading David’s books so I snapped one more.

and as soon as I asked David to pose, Nathaniel threw himself at me and cried.

but I got some of David anyway.

Nathaniel now calls himself Nay-nay and basically says it all day long. “Nay nay food. nay nay no nap.” on and on. It’s so cute and fun to watch. Tonight’s David’s back to school and we finally get to meet his teacher. I am looking forward to it. And looking forward to the weekend even more.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that beta channel is live.
2. I am grateful that I had a good meeting today.
3. I am grateful that the weekend is almost here.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that for my math class today. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I found a Big Nate book at the library.
3. I am grateful that I played on the computer.