HAPPY BIRTHDAY Aksel and Jeff!!!!!! I love you so so much. I cannot believe they are twelve already!
Quiet day filled with work today. I have a pretty tight but flowing routine going these days and I really love it. There’s a small noise at the back of my mind that tells me that I must be weird to enjoy routine so much but I am really enjoying it so I try to tell it to stay quiet.
When David came home today we sat outside for a bit while I read to David and then they played by themselves.
Nathaniel even gave me a smile.
Here he is asking me if he can eat the Play Doh. And David’s making his spider run up the umbrella.
We have a guest coming for dinner tonight so I have to rush through a few of my daily todo list items. I am going to cut it short. I hope you are all doing well. It’s been quiet here lately but I am still here and hoping you are, too.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for happy mail. Some wonderful scrappy stuff came today.
2. I am grateful that Christy Tomlinson’s new class started today. Nothing like art videos to make me happy.
3. I am grateful for summer. I love walking around and soaking up the sunrays. Always puts me in a good mood.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we are reading a new book at school. It’s called The Stories Julian tells. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I will play on the computer.
3. I am grateful that I got a prize from the prize box at school (the spider the above photo).
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mom!!!!!! I love you so so much.
Today was a wonderful, quiet day. I woke up and exercised first thing so that we could take our family photos. The kids didn’t really seem to want to look at the camera, though.
Nathaniel pretty much held the remote nonstop again and he wouldn’t look at the camera while he clicked, of course.
so we just gave up and did tickle time.
then Jake and David went out to Maker Faire and I sat with Nathaniel for a little while, then started to do art. He napped and then when he was up, he sat next to me and did some art of his own.
We did a ton of art and then sketched and journaled. Then David and Daddy came back and he had also gotten a haircut.
we took our walk, read our book, and he wrote his journal. Then it was Family Night so we played Blokus. Now they are in bed and I have a very long list of blog posts to organize. But I feel full. I have done a ton of art and it made me happy. If I can get these posts done and a few more small items, I will feel great about my weekend productivity. And I got a lot of rest, too so I am not complaining.
Next week is likely going to be back to a ton of scrapping. I printed my photos and have my stories ready. Cannot wait to play with some beautiful product.
I hope your weekend was wonderful, too. Here’s to a great week.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I did so so so much art. It filled me up.
2. I am grateful for my husband who took David and had a wonderful father-son day which also meant that I could have a wonderfully quiet day of my own.
3. I am grateful for my mom. I love her so so much.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I went to maker faire. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we played Blokus.
3. I am grateful that I got to have chocolate ice cream at the fair.
After exercise this morning, it was time for family photos. I snapped this one as I was setting up. My three boys!!
Nathaniel was in a super happy mood and made us all laugh.
and would not let go of the remote.
so we just did a lot of tickle time.
i think tickle-time is becoming my favorite.
since David didn’t get to have the remote, he snapped some when we were done.
then he played Wii and I attempted to put Nathaniel down several times. The Wii makes his eyes bloodshot and watery (cause he doesn’t blink enough) so I make him rest them regularly.
but of course he’s faking it. he always fakes it.
I finally give up on Nathaniel and he immediately asks to sit on the chair.
He is so cute!
And gives me a special smile.
Then David’s back to playing.
And Nathaniel makes a little nest right by his brother (and with his choo choo of course!)
I had a quiet day. Cleaning, reading, and sketching. I hope to do some art journaling tonight and it will be the best day.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I cleaned up my space. Always feel better when it’s clear.
2. I am grateful for all the fresh fruit and groceries in the fridge.
3. I am grateful for a calm day.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played Lego Clone Wars. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we finished our book.
3. I am grateful that we start a new book tomorrow.
I love how my little boy plays while I work. He creates games, makes sounds, just amuses himself. And then comes to give me a hug.
Just seeing his face makes me happy.
so does this one. I love his weird smile.
though being boys means getting a lot more of these.
and these.
but then sometimes I get these. I love the gratitude journals!!!
We went out to dinner tonight and then did some grocery shopping. When we came home Daddy and David went bike riding and I snapped some photos. Well, tried to.
I cannot tell you what it means to me to see my son riding his bike by himself like that!! Not learning to ride a bike has been one of my few regrets and I have been constantly worried that David would be like that, too. But here we are!! He’s already riding. I am so so so proud of my boy.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that Jake taught David to ride the bike and so grateful David stuck with it.
2. I am grateful for a tasty dinner with my family and the beautiful sunshine we had during dinner.
3. I am grateful for a completely free weekend. No obligations, no assignments, nothing at all due just yet. I have wonderful opportunities coming up and lots of happy mail I expect over the next few weeks. I am so grateful for that, too.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I watched Magic schoolbus today. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we went out to dinner.
3. I am grateful that I rode my bike by myself.
There’s something magical about watching my kids hug.
it fills my heart with overwhelming gratitude.
and happiness.
makes me feel blessed in my core.
I love my little boys and I know that there will be days of bickering and fighting so I am trying to enjoy the hugs more right now.
so when they whine.
and give me the stink eye.
I remember that they are magnificent.
and I give thanks. I think the key to life is living with gratitude, every moment. I have been paying a lot of attention to my life and feeling thankful for it. And I am thankful to scrapbooking for giving me another way to remember. And photos. And for art. Because it makes me so happy. And isn’t that the purpose of life after all?
Happy Thursday!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that Jake worked from home today so I could juggle my appointments and meetings more easily. I am so so grateful.
2. I am grateful for a nutritionist appointment which will hopefully help me get more organized about food.
3. I am grateful for journaling. It’s helping me sort out my head a lot lately and I am thankful I do it regularly now.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I am going to a pizza party tonight. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I got to play on the computer.
3. I am grateful that the bus driver had a bandaid (his finger bled during the bus ride. just a little bleeding.).
Some days I get excellent quality photos. Some days I get great stories. And other days, I get neither. That’s life and life with kids and life with little kids. But I still try.
and capture a little.
however imperfect.
Because time will pass and this funny, cute smile and those shining eyes will change. They will evolve into something new, different and wonderful in its own way. But it won’t be this. This moment will pass. These faces will change. The habits, quirks, smiles will change. And I am so thankful to capture them the way they are on this very day.
However imperfect.
Also a good reminder that life is imperfect. Which is great cause it would be so much work to keep everything perfect all the time. Talk about a moving target that’s completely unreachable.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I did a little art just for me.
2. I am grateful that I had a nice walk and a wonderful chat with David about apologizing and forgiving others and forgiving oneself, too.
3. I am grateful for my mom and my dad who are always so kind and generous to me, in every way. thank you!!
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I will spend some time with Daddy tonight before bed. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we learned a German song in music class.
3. I am grateful that I played soccer and baseball with daddy in the backyard.
Here’s another wonderful day and a little story from today. I played with Nathaniel last night so now he’s playing this game on his own. He picks up a car from his box.
puts it down.
car after car.
says, “ready set go!” and pushes the car down.
then we watch.
with anticipation.
and joy.
and excitement.
then self-congratulations, of course!
Little boys mean lots of laughter in our house.
So do bigger boys, thankfully.
I am so deeply blessed.
And I am thankful to photography for helping me freeze these moments. I love them so.
I hope your Tuesday was wonderful.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I had the day off. The second day ended up being the magic for full relaxation.
2. I am grateful to have my husband back at home. So grateful.
3. I am grateful for some wonderful scrappy opportunities coming up. I haven’t scrapped in a while and I miss it.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played toss the penguin in P.E. with Arthur. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I had played on the computer.
3. I am grateful that I took a walk with mommy and Nathaniel.
I woke up this morning and decided I was going to take the day off work. This is a stressful week for me cause I have several appointments and events. Even though most of them are fun and by choice, I’ve learned that socializing of any kind tends to suck my energy and I need to recover. So I am resting and storing some energy. Which meant I rested, surfed pinterest, and sat with the little boy.
who loves drawing.
and I love these pictures because they tell stories.
of our ordinary life. Of where he is right now. These are the kids of pictures I like to scrap. The kind of stories I like to tell.
Like the funny smiles he likes to give to the camera.
And the way he collects the cars.
Dumps them into a container that isn’t really for cars.
And then congratulates himself. (I wish we all congratulated ourselves a bit more.)
And then gives me a mischievous look and signs “done.”
How he picks his own clothes and tells me what he wants to wear and what he does not.
And how David’s shirts last for about a month before they are way too short because he is growing like a weed.
How Nathaniel runs screaming “uuuuggggg” and hugs his brother. Who loves it and they both giggle and laugh. And how it makes my heart melt and skip so many beats.
How lucky and grateful and thankful I am. How scared I feel that I might mess it up. How worried I am and how I deeply hope they can tell how much I adore them. With every little piece of my heart and soul.
Life is in these ordinary moments. So is scrapping. For me. I am trying to pay more attention and I am grateful to the camera for allowing me to freeze the moments. Giving me a way to stop and notice. And for the blog and for scrapping to help me write them down. So I will never ever forget. Because I don’t want to take any of it for granted.
Ever.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I took the day off. Yey me!
2. I am grateful that Jake’s coming tonight. And that I got to snuggle up with both my kids tonight.
3. I am grateful that I’ve been taking my afternoon walks with David and Nathaniel and that my average number of daily steps is 9,628.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that i watched the rest of Matilda. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I had some candy
3. I am grateful that I got to play on the phone for 15 minutes.
And another lovely week is over. I swear that this year feels like it’s flying by. I can’t believe we’re in mid-May already. I want the rest of this month and the summer to go by slowly. Very slowly. I want to savor each and every moment. I want to slow down and enjoy him:
And him:
And their laughter:
And the fun-lazy times on the couch watching TV together.
Reading stories, giggling, snuggling, hugging, kissing. I want to read my books. I want to sketch, take photos, art journal, scrap. Write our stories. Preserve the memories we’re so lucky to be making each and every day. I so wish I could freeze time just for a little while. (And I am sure I will want to fast forward when the teenage years come but for now I want to soak in every moment of this joy. Even the hard moments. The yelling, running, making a mess, tearing things, breaking things. I still want to stretch these days so I let them soak in fully. They will be gone in the blink of an eye and I will miss them so so much.
My day was blissfully uneventful. Some reading, sketching, exercise, TV, giggling and hugging, making food, journaling, blogging, etc. Nothing outside of the ordinary and yet every moment so special. I hope yours was wonderful, too. Thank you for taking precious time out of your day to come read my words, look at my art and photos and share your thoughts. It means the world to me.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I spent some time reading curled up. I mostly read on the treadmill now and yet I still adore curling up with my reader on the couch.
2. I am grateful that my sweet husband comes back tomorrow. I miss him dearly. We all do.
3. I am grateful that, despite the relaxing day, I got a few of the todo list items that were wearing me down.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that i get to play wii for a little bit today. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I did my new workbook
3. I am grateful that I got to play with my legos
We had a full day here today. We started our day with a breakfast with my college roommate Jess and her husband and two kids. It was wonderful to see her and lovely to eat together (albeit a bit hectic with four kids.) Then we came home and rested a bit and Nathaniel took his nap and David played on the Wii. When Nathaniel woke up we went outside so the kids could play more play-doh.
This little table is a winner so far. And I love being able to sit out there with them and take photos.
They played and ate snacks and I sketched.
And then I read a bit.
And took some more photos.
When we came inside I noticed my friend Nicholas was asking if they should come over and say hi and I said an enthusiastic yes! Even more amazingly, they brought a Wii game for David and he was overjoyed. He played and we all chatted for a bit and then when they left we took our walk. Dinner and now the kids are sleeping. I feel tired but full. I need some rest and then maybe I might art journal a bit. I don’t really feel like doing anything else though my todo list is getting bigger by the moment. I’ll work on it tomorrow. Right?.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we got to see my friend Jess and her wonderful family.
2. I am grateful that we saw Nicholas and Ty. What a lovely surprise.
3. Three years ago, I made a little 7gypsies table top thingie (don’t know what they are called) with ATC cards with photos and art from each day in David’s life. When I was exercising this morning, David looked at that and said “Mommy I think good thoughts when I look at these and they make me happy.” And it made me so so happy to hear that. I told him he could take it into his room and look at it anytime he liked. Three cheers for scrapbooking!!
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we went out to breakfast. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we played outside with play-doh.
3. I am grateful that I played wii!
Happy Friday!! I have had some serious lower back pain this week, which sucks! But I’ve also had a more upbeat attitude than usual all week which is awesome! I am working on being more present, optimistic, and just focusing on the good. And there’s enough good to go around.
Today was like any other day. Except David went on a play date right after school. So I got to work a bit later and then when I picked him up, we all sat in the backyard, in the new bench I got for the kids, and played with playdoh.
It was Nathaniel’s first time and I am not sure he understood exactly what it’s about. But he had a blast anyway (until he ate a piece which didn’t make me all that thrilled.)
David, too, had a blast. He ate his veggies and played at the same time. He made numbers, worms, balls, and I loved seeing the kids sitting together and having fun.
I snapped some more photos and sat and played with them.
Nathaniel took the opportunity to kick some balls around, too. He loves kicking balls.
My hope is that the kids can spend time outside at the table now that summer is coming. They can play with playdoh, color, draw, play with water. Whatever they want really. As long as they get some fresh air.
Then we came inside, ate, Skype’d with Daddy and now they are quietly playing in their rooms. We played so much that David and I forgot to take our walk so I paced back and forth in the backyard to make sure my step count was up to the 10K goal. Now I am completely wiped so I will sprawl on the couch and rest and read my book.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played with the kids outside. I love doing that.
2. I am grateful that we Skyped with Jake. We miss you daddy!
3. I am grateful that it’s the weekend!!
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I went to Maggie’s house for a play date. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we played with play-doh.
3. I am grateful that tomorrow is my wii-day!
Lovely day here. I had a good chat with a friend and spent the whole day doing everything in a slower pace. I am trying to enjoy each moment more. Stress less and get myself less worked up. I am also focusing on what makes me happy and what triggers sorrow in me so that I can do more of what makes me happy or helps me walk towards peace. And less of the toxic things that upset me.
It’s a lot of work and constant work. But very worthwhile. I think.
Little boy wasn’t up for being photographed (at least not as much as he was up for eating graham crackers.)
And David was laughing so i just snapped one rare shot that didn’t have a funny face or fake smile.
Then it was time for David’s open house. I was a little stressed about going to it alone with the two kids but I wanted to make sure I went and David got to show off everything. So we got there early, took a walk, and he got to play a bit.
while the little one watched him:
Then we went into the classroom and I made the mistake of taking Nathaniel out of his stroller and he basically wanted to play with everything. With all the other parents and kids there it was pretty much impossible. And of course David wanted my attention and wanted to show everything to me which I couldn’t look at cause Nathaniel basically had a meltdown every second. In short, it was painful. But we managed it anyway.
We had a wonderful talk on the way home and some special time at home. Then he went to bed. And I am completely wiped. Aching all over. So I will lie here for a while, maybe answer some mail (though unlikely) and then just go to sleep. All in all, it was quite a wonderful and ordinary day. I am grateful for these every time. That much more now that I am focusing on the positive.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I had a nice chat with my mom on skype today. I love getting to talk to her.
2. I am grateful that my son has an open house today and I get to see what he’s been working so hard on at school.
3. I am grateful that my hubby landed safe and sound. miss him and love him so much.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that it’s almost summer. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that today is the open house
3. I am grateful that I played house with my friends at school today.
4. I’m grateful that I have a play date tomorrow
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projects for twenty twenty-five
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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