A Week in the Life...

I have been working on getting my Week in the Life album together. It is a bit more work then I anticipated, but I am hanging in there and pretty determined to get this thing done. What is really keeping me going is this quote from the book "Lift" by Kelly Corrigan. The last line really resonated with me:

“The average person knows ten stories from their childhood and those are based more on photographs and retellings than memory. Which means, that with all the photos I have taken, you’ll be lucky to have 14 stories from your childhood. You won’t remember the things I know about you that you don’t even know about yourselves.”


This is the cover page to explain why I decided to make this album...

This is the "opening" page each day. It included the story of what happened during the day.

I also included the blog posting for the day...

This is one of my favorite pages. It is a baseball trading card holder. It is about the size of ATC trading cards. It allows me to put a lot of info in a small area. I also don't have to spend lots of time or thinking about pictures or layouts.
Wish me luck that I get it done!! :)

Sock Puppet...

Jack loves to make sock puppet shadows on his wall before he goes to sleep. Sometimes, though, he falls asleep with his sock puppet on his hand..:)

The First Bike Wreck...

Poor Sam wiped out on his bike last week. He was trying to see how fast he could go around one of the islands in our lane, hit a wet patch (I was watering flowers) and his bike slid. I ran over to him and told him not to look at his leg and that he was alright...there was no blood (yet.) I took him upstairs to clean him up. Once we got in the bathroom, he still did not have any blood dripping, so I got him in the tub and cleaned him up. Thank goodness it was just a few strawberries on his knee and elbow. Only needed one band-aid!! I am sure that it is the first of many bike accidents...yea. I think what saved him was that the asphalt was wet and he wasn't on the cement.

I am still hanging in there with the "Week in the Life" story. You can tell that Sam was sick of me taking pictures of him!!

See, just a few strawberries...hard to tell from the photo. OH! and Sam didn't cry one tear!! What a guy!

Thanks to My Mom...

Last week, Jack and I were doing some things outside and suddenly he disappeared. I yelled into the house, "Jack? Are you in here?" "Yes. I am just in the bathroom," he replied. So I went back outside to my sweeping. Shortly after, he came out. Didn't think anything of it. Well...as you know, silly me not to think anything of it. When we came inside, I walked past our bathroom and saw a kitchen stool in there, dripping wet with water. "Jack? Why is there a stool in the bathroom?" He went on to explain, "When I was playing outside my feet got dirty. So, when I came inside, I decided to wash them in the sink." Me: "So you washed your feet in the sink...and you needed the stool to help you get up on the counter so you could sit on the counter?" Jack, "Yep. I was doing it just the way my Nanny showed me how." If you could see my facial expression, my eyebrows were raised quite high. Thanks, mom....:)

Pictures from Our Yard...

Jack's shadow...

One of the MANY dandelions...

The wood pile by our burn pile. The back stumps are our seats for bonfires...

Jack washing his hands...

What is so awesome about all these pictures? JACK took them all! No joke! We went out for a walk and I gave him a camera for him to take some pictures, which he loved doing. When I loaded them onto my computer, I was pleasantly surprised at what his little eyes saw! His grandpa would be proud...he took at least 50 photos in 10 minutes...just like his mom does!!

Jack the Exercising Artist...

We had Jack's preschool conference last week. It was good and interesting. His teacher shared with us that he sometimes will do 2-3 push-ups, for exercise before getting into line. All Jason and I could do was giggle when she told us. Where does Jack get this? Who knows..it's just Jack. Then she shared with us his self portrait he had drawn. He did such an awesome job with his details! Love that he has on a green shirt! Oh...and what is the writing in the lower corner? His teacher wrote down what Jack said about his picture: " Do you know why my hands and arms are so big? I've been working out." Jason and I read that and started to belly laugh right there in the conference...I don't know if his teacher appreciated our reaction. I am sure when we left she said to the others, "Well, that explains a lot about Jack!"

Fiber...

The other day, Jack brought home his snack from preschool. He jumped out of the car (I carpool) and he said, "Mom! I saved my fruit loops for you! That way you can get some fiber!" After laughing to myself, I asked him what was fiber? His response, "It makes your tummy happy. Apple Jacks have fiber, too. You should check those out." I am glad that he is watching out for my health and digestive system.

Boy's Bathroom...Done...

I painted the boy's bathroom a couple of weeks ago and noticed that I hadn't bogged it...so here are the before and after photos.

This is walking in to the bathroom. It was painted white and had purple flower wallpaper around the top of the walls at window height. I hadn't taken wallpaper down before and proud to say that it was an easy process. (phew!)

Sam and Jack picked out the blue color. It's a darker blue and makes the bathroom look smaller, but the room can handle the color. The pictures on the wall are ones that Sam painted when Jack was born. The blue person is Sam and the red person is "baby digger" AKA Jack.

This is the shower/bath. Jason and I took down the doors, which again, was pretty easy! (phew again!)

We put up a shower curtain with monkeys - Jack's idea and Sam was alright with it!

And here is the sink and toilet area. To balance out the monkeys, we put an ISU helmet and a Vikings player on the shelf. We also put up an ISU print above the toilet. Helped make it more "grown up" for Sam!

This week we have been cleaning out the rest of our storage boxes in the detached garage. We have that almost done. Last weekend we spent the days outside chainsawing downed trees (thank goodness no blood!) and picking up downed limbs. Next project - Sam's bedroom. We also have a tree house on the list that needs to be built and hope to start our addition in early summer...OH MY!

WHAT am I thinking???

Every year, Ali Edwards puts together a week in the life album. Basically you spend one week photographing and journaling your every day happenings for a week. I tried it two years ago and took so many photos, I overwhelmed myself. So what am I thinking...I am going to try it again this week. So either I will have a cool album by the end of the week, or a lot of photos and memorabilia in a box with the items of two years ago. I will let you know how it goes...or not!

To check out some of Ali's ideas and pages, click on the link below. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by her little post! :)

http://www.aliedwards.com/2008/10/week-in-the-l-9.html

Creative Sam...

Sam is learning how to draw portraits in art. This is his drawing/portrait of Jack. He is going to finish it up and hang it in Jack's room.

Below is poem that Sam wrote after an poetry author visited his school:

Toxic Fumes
When I was at school today, I went outside to play.
When I got inside, I took off my shoes and smelled my feet.
They smelled like toxic fumes!
I didn't know what to do, so I ran out of the room!

Jack-O-Bot...

Sometimes when you don't have a costume that you want to wear, you must make your own...such as the Jack-O-Bot, the Homemade Robot t-shirt.

Jumping in Mud Puddles and Sam...

After a day of rain last week, Sam and Jack headed out in the evening as soon as the sun peeked through the clouds. Of course, Jack found the only mud puddle in the yard! He had a ball and I thought - oh well, he's washable!

And as we all would expect, Sam stayed clean.

Our Nanny...

A great photo of my mom with the boys on Easter.

She made the boys new quilts and gave the blankets to them for Easter. Sam wanted red, white and blue with stars. He is elated!

Jack's is blue and green with monkeys all over it...he loves his! She even included a small quilt for his monkeys - that was a big hit!

Non-Traditional Easter Shots...

Jack found an Easter egg with two gummy bears in it...the excitement!

Finding an EMPTY Easter egg in our empty water fountain..."Oops!' says Sam. Jack is very confused about the empty egg.

And a rare shot of me. I am so glad I was looking my best in my boxers, robe, flip-flops and Jason's coat. (At 7 am in the morning with my pasty white legs - YEA!) Jack is saying, "Look mom! The neighbors are all running back into their houses! Go inside mom!!"

Making Martians...

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning out and going through things in our big garage, storage area, the basement and closets. It was HUGE undertaking, but my mom came over and helped me out..what a life saver. There is NO WAY I would have gotten done what I did if she wouldn't have helped me! Thank you again, mom!

Anyway, she also entertained the boys while I straightened and cleaned up the garage. She made Martians, out of goo, with the boys. Only a grandma would sit in her nice clothes (she had gone out with friends in the morning before dropping by) in a dusty garage and play with play-dough and goo with her favs.

As you can see, all three of them were very intense with their alien creating...especially my mom!!!

Love this picture of my mom and the boys. Jack is into his martian!

Coming up this week: The story of Jack's t-shirt he has on in this photo and Easter pictures!

Jack Can Spell...

Jack spelled his first word on Saturday night!
But, of course there is a story behind it.

Jack would not eat his hamburger for dinner on Saturday evening, so we told him no snacks until tomorrow. "Well, I don't want any snacks," replied Jack. (Yep, we'll see how that all works out!) And guess what - I put out a bowl of Easter candy for Sunday morning and Jack spotted it (NO, i did not do it on purpose!) and wanted an Easter egg...SO BAD. But, I stuck to my guns and told him he made his choice earlier, so no snacks! Well, he tried everything in the book to get an Easter egg - even telling me he was gong to starve to death and call the Easter bunny and tell on me. Finally he gave up. Later, I went upstairs and this was outside his door. I asked him what the blocks were for. He explained, "Anyone who is after the age of 8 is not allowed in my room! No 8s! Or girls. Or people who won't give me candy."

I looked at Jas and said, "Look...he spelled 'no.' " :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone! Hope the Easter bunny was kind to you!

A Music Concert...

Last night, Sam had his music concert. The weather was pretty warm yesterday, so he decided that he would wear shorts - no big deal, he is in the back row and no one would see his legs. (There were lots of boys with shorts on!)

This little girl asked Sam to go on American Idol with him...he said he couldn't do that without an adult. If he sings anything like his parents, he shouldn't go on it...even with an adult!!

Sam posing for a final picture!! He had a great time. After the concert we went to Dairy Queen where he told us a girl in the class told him, "Man Sam, you look good tonight!" ( OH NO!!! Way to young for that!) Sam said he had a great night!

I am a Minja...

Jack spent the other day dressed up as a minja.
"A what?" I asked him kindly.
"A minja."
"Do you mean a ninja?" I stated.
"Nope. A minja."
And off he went...

"Look how sharp my blade is."
I wonder sometimes if I should be concerned...then I remember what I was doing and dressing up like when I was his age. (Did you know that if you take the bottom of your t-shirt and pull it through the neck hole, it makes an awesome halter top?)