January 31

Wow! I can't believe it's already the end of January. Time sure is flying...

Here in the Roe Household we have two sick boys. I believe they both have what had me in bed all of last weekend... a yucky stomach bug. It hit Jack in the middle of the night last night... that's always fun. I'll spare you the gory details of our overnight adventure. He was kind of back and forth between saying he felt fine and saying he felt sick all day today... one minute he'd be playing, the next he'd need to lay down on the couch.

The bug hit Brayden midday. In fact, it was during his nap... he woke up crying, "Mommy, I'm siiiiiick...." and sure enough, he'd gotten sick in his bed. EEW. This is the first time Brayden's really had one of those tummy bugs where every time you eat or drink something, you're throwing up within 10-15 mins. Poor kiddo. Thankfully, both our boys are such good sports about being sick.

Today's picture was a tough choice though... while I could have shared a picture of the sickie brothers sitting on the couch together with their pots (for throwing up) and their blankies... this picture just makes me laugh so I'm using it for my photo of the day instead. Rob is in graduate school at DU, studying real estate. He's in his 2nd to last quarter. The program has been challenging, but it seems this quarter has definitely been one of the harder ones so far - lots of reading and studying. So much so that he often has to try and squeeze in some study time while the boys are awake. During a brief period when the boys were both feeling fine this afternoon and playing with their cars, he sat down at the dining room table to do some reading.... in the midst of puzzles put together on the table, a monster truck hanging from a crane, a deck of cards, and some color supplies. And almost as soon as he sat down, Jack and Brayden were all over him for one thing or another. Caught studying on the job! I don't think he'll be so obvious next time.... :)

January 30

Jack has never really been that into doing puzzles. He has a few of them and will put them together now and then, but it's never been one of his favorite things to do... despite his interest in how things work and are put together and that sort of thing. Brayden is more of our puzzle kid. Which is why I was surprised when first thing this morning Jack asked for help putting together the tractor puzzle he got from Uncle Sean for Christmas. Brayden was also doing his dinosaur puzzle from Uncle Sean. We put puzzles together last night too. That was when we figured out there are numbers and letters hidden in the tractor puzzle... giving it a whole new allure! While I helped Brayden with his dinosaur puzzle, Jack put his puzzle together almost completely by himself, even though he insisted he needed help.

January 28 & 29

Blogging every day is hard! I'm TRYING! I think it's the fact that after the boys go to bed and I have an hour and a half before I usually turn in for the night... and I should honestly probably go to bed even earlier than that to get a good night's sleep!

Yesterday was a rough day. Rob's company is making some changes which impact our finances and basically just make that much more difficult in these troubled times! I won't carry on about that though. The point is, it was a rough day. And I was grouchy. I've still been grouchy today. But I just uploaded the pictures I took yesterday and found this gem. My boys. Could I love them any more? Even on the worst day, these two just make me smile. I look at this picture and I think about how less than a year ago, I was worried taht these two would never be friends. More than two years after Brayden joined our family... Jack was still not at all interested in the big brother gig. My heart was just broken about it. A little more than six months ago they started sharing a room and an amazing friendship blossomed from there. Brayden has always adored Jack, and I can honestly say now that Jack adores him too! They are just the cutest little BFFs. I sit and watch them and think about how lucky they are to have each other, constant playmates, and hopefully friends for life.

And today, we went to the library. I love library day. We never used to go to the library. I'm not sure what was wrong with us! I may never buy another book again. Okay that's probably not completely true but I do love the library. So do Jack and Brayden. The new selection of books keeps them entertained for weeks. We come home with TONS of books. And I LOVE that they love to read. I hope it's a passion they never lose.

January 27... take two?

Okay well not sure why it wouldn't let me put this picture in the other post but whatever!

Anyone else get new phonebooks like every couple of months? Well we got another set over the weekend. Tuesday is recycling day so we had to figure out which phonebooks to keep and which to toss into the bin. Jack saw the phonebooks sitting out last night and for whatever reason decided we couldn't get rid of them, he wanted to READ them. I assured him that even if we recycled the old phonebooks, we still have others left for him to reas. Sure enough as soon as he was home from school today, he asked where the phonebook was cuz he wanted to read it! So we had to pull out the phonebooks (because of course if Jack reads the phonebook, Brayden wants to read the phonebook too!) for the boys to read. Does it make me a bad mom to say my kids are such little nerds? I just had to LAUGH. I think they got the idea from one of their TV shows, Imagination Movers. But still. It was just hilarious. Here Brayden is checking out something apparently interesting in Jack's book. He's got his own book on his lap too though. Nerds!

January 26 & 27

Ever just have one of those weeks? I'm just not in a great place the past few days. Maybe my stomach virus or whatever it was has had an impact on my mood... I don't know. In any case, it's affected my photography/P365 as well... in that I'm just not feeling inspired! When I do try and take a picture... I feel like it's not turning out at all like I'd want it to. I'm feeling my camera's limitations - or maybe it's mine - this week. My house just doesn't have enough LIGHT. My camera doesn't handle digital noise well at ISO 800 or 1600 and that's basically the setting I need to use for most of my indoor pictures. So it's frustrating me! However... it is what it is and I won't be getting a new camera anytime soon, so I need to somehow get over this or learn to work with these limitations and not take it personally. Can you tell I'm whiney? Did you sign up to read THIS? Probably not. So I'll get on with the pictures... cuz even though I'm not thrilled with them, I took them, so here ya go! :)

Monday we stayed home from school because I was still a little weak from the stomach but and didn't feel like operating heavy machinery was in the best interest of my family. :) Plus it was FREEZING outside. So we stayed in. The boys have been using the big blue bucket that holds all their balls as a basketball hoop in the living room. Well for whatever reason, after a rousing game of basketball (Jack and Brayden style), Jack decided to climb into the bucket (feet sticking out, as you can see) to watch TV. I thought it was just so goofy, so I grabbed the camera. Well as soon as he saw it he furrowed his brow and me and said, "MOMMY. I don't WANT you to take my picture right now." Priceless.

Okay well now blogger won't let me upload my second picture. Figures! Will try again in a few....

Week 4 Layout

This week's layout was a lot easier because I made it as the week went along! That is, I plugged the pictures into the template every night, as well as did the journaling each day, decided on a kit about halfway through the week... then just decorated it when all the pieces were in place! I'm coming up with a system! Four weeks down... 48 to go. :)

Credits: Give Freely kit by Jan Crowley, Template by M Originals, Font: Angelina

As always, click to see it bigger... till I figure out how to post it bigger. :)

January 24 & 25

Well I missed my first blog day. I just happened to wake up in the middle of the night Friday night feeling horribly nauseous and well... you know the rest. Spent most of Saturday in bed... or resting on the couch... or attempting to nibble on some toast. Good times. I still managed to snap A photo when the moment struck me... but Rob took some earlier in the day too, just in case. :)

One of my moments on the couch, Brayden climbed up next to me with his blankie to watch TV. I just love the way his legs are just the perfect length that his feet stick off the end of the couch... his cute little feet, cute little socks, hiked up pant leg... everything about it. I can't belive this little guy is going to be 3 in less than two months! EEK!

Today I feel a little more human... although I've been spending a lot of time in bed still. When I first emerged from bed at 9:45 this morning... I found all the boys hanging out in Jack and Brayden's room. As it turns out, Jack and Brayden were playing sick, so they had to be in bed to rest, too. Jack had a broken arm and was growing a baby (yeah, don't ask about this one - I think all his pregnant aunts are wearing on him!). Brayden was sick AND the "butta-ayen." That is, "veterinarian." It took me awhile to figure out what the heck he was talking about the first time he said that one! Anyway they both kept getting under the covers of Jack's bed and going to sleep... then waking up to get some water, look out the window, etc. Here they are pretending to sleep. Jack's a good actor. Brayden, not so much. :)

January 23

My kiddos have nap or quiet time every day, if possible. Jack doesn't need the sleep during the day THAT much anymore... but I still need my OWN quiet time! Now that they share a room (it's been about six months), they have to be in seperate rooms during their siesta time, or else there is no rest! So since Jack is more flexible... he hangs out in our room during his quiet time. He usually sits on our bed, plays cars, reads his book, and listens to music. Every now and then though, he decides to set up camp on the floor. It is always so funny to go into our room to wake him up (if he stays awake - he comes out at exactly 3:00pm - we know he's asleep when it's 3:01 and he's still up there!) to find him sleeping on a little makeshift bed on the floor! So cute! Even though he's almost five, he's still my little guy! :)

January 22

Today was another nice, unseasonably warm day in Colorado. It's supposed to be the last day like this before some more normal January weather moves in. So of course we took advantage and went to the park again - 3rd time this week! We went to a park I'd never been to before by Uncle Chris and Aunt Sarah's house. Jack and Brayden had been before with Grandma and Kate and Kate's other Grandma, Bev. Today we met Sarah and Kate there. The boys loves this park for the "tractors" - those digging things that you sit on and move the handles back and forth and scoop up dirt. Jack is pretty proficient with them, but Brayden is a little small yet. So I try and redirect them to the park's other amenities... like a balance beam, bells, slides, swings, and a new favorite for Jack and Brayden... pipes with kind of megaphone-like openings - which you can talk to each other through like a phone. I have no idea how to explain it or what it's called, but they love them, and tell each other knock-knock jokes through them. Here's Brayden listening to Jack. :)

January 21

Jack loooooves to play cards. That is, he discovered a deck of cards, and has since kind of made up his own games to play with it. He's learning a lot of the basic concepts, like suits, rank, pairs... even more complicated things like straighs, flushes, and full houses. Still his games were not very concrete. A few weeks ago when Rob and I were out of town, Uncle Ryan was over for awhile, and he managed to teach Jack how to play "War." He really liked it, and that was all he wanted to do for a few days... until reverting back to his own made up game. Well this past weekend, Rob taught him "Go Fish," and he caught on immediately. He loves it! He wants to play all of the time now. In fact learning "Go Fish" kind of set him off on a learning-spree with games... he has since started playing games like Memory and Chutes and Ladders... which we've had for awhile, but he never really wanted to play. "Go Fish" is still his favorite though! Here he is playing with Daddy this afternoon when Daddy came home for a lunch break!

Week 2 Layout - all caught up!

Alright... I've finished my scraps for the first couple of weeks before I decided to undertake this project! Here's week two!


Credits: Mr. Fix It by Miss Mint, staple from Miss Mint's Hanukkah Funukkah, Template by M Originals, Font: Marydale

Now I can finally get back to working on my OTHER projects, and I hope to just keep up with the photos and scrapping as I go from here on out!

January 20

Well today was an historical day... the inauguration of our 44th president. Four years ago, I snapped a picture of Jack (who was about 9 months old) near the TV while President Bush was taking his Oath of Office. Today, I felt compelled to do the same thing during President Obama's inauguration. Brayden and I watched the ceremonies live while Jack was at school... but he wasn't being THAT cooperative about taking a picture. I DVR-ed the whole thing, and I was pleased to pick Jack up from school to hear that they had talked about the new president at school today! Jack was one of two kids in his class who knew who Barack Obama was! Proud Mommy moment. He asked if he could watch the new president on TV... so I put the inauguration on for him. I was surprised to see that a four, almost five year old was so excited about our new president! While we were re-watching, I took a picture of Jack and Brayden together with the TV during the Oath of Office. It's not a great picture, but it serves the purpose!

All day today Jack has been pretending to be Barack Obama. He has Brayden alternately play the role of his vice-president, or the former president. He's given several speeches, and speaks fondly of the white house he is going to move into when he leaves our green house! He really wants President Obama to move to Colorado. The way the hero-worship has evolved today, you'd think we were a whole lot more political - and democratic - around here! In any case, I am proud of him and his excitement about history in the making, and I hope someday he remembers this!

Backtracking... Week 1 Layout

Trying to catch up on the two weeks I missed with the pictures I had taken those days, and a few that I've faked (shhh... don't tell!) and taken after the fact. :)

Week 1: January 1-4

Credits: Winter Sparkle by Miss Mint (background paper recolored), Template by IkeaGoddess, Staples by ksharonk, Fairy Trails by Shawn Headley, Fonts: Pharmacy and Blueprint

Again, you can click on the image to see it bigger... until I can figure out how to post it bigger in the first place. Anyone know how I can do that?

Week 3 Layout

I finished my week 3 layout! January 12-18...


Credits: Kelyan by Petit Moineaux (kit), template by M Originals, gemstones by Gretchen Tripp, Fonts: SBC Courtneys Journal and Joyful Juliana

I realize the journaling is nearly impossible to read when the layout is shrunk to size for the web. In fact the whole thing is hard to see at all. You can click the image to see it larger - even then it's still hard to read. But I wanted to share anyway.

I'm just learning this blogger thing... I know there's a way to post them larger to begin with, but I haven't figured that out yet. Bare with me here.

January 19

I'm working on my first two-page spread for my Project 365 book... but it's not done yet! So for now, here's Day 19's picture. While the majority of the country is experiencing artic cold, Colorado has been having unseasonably warm weather over the past few days. Today's forecast was for 66 degrees, so we couldn't resist a trip to the park. The boys had a great time, even though it was a little cooler than we were expecting. Jack spent a lot of time going up the park's various ladders over and over... something he hasn't done much before! Also, I continued to try and teach him to pump his legs on the swing... to get him to kick his legs out, I ask him to try and kick me. Of course, this always gets him to laugh.

January 18

Two days in a row! Amber - am I making you proud yet? :)

A couple of months back my sister-in-law Sarah talked me into starting a book club with her. Today was our first official "meeting" where we actually had a book that we all chose to read and were supposed to have read by today! Sarah and I were the only ones who actually finished, but we still had a great time chatting about the book (mixed reviews!), babies, parenting, cooking, etc.

This month's book was "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Next month - The Glass Castle!

January 17

Okay so here's my first daily photo. I have so many projects that I'm working on that it's hard to imagine keeping up with this every day, but I'm committed! Taking the pictures is no problem, I already take photos almost daily. It's the rest that's daunting! Posting and scrapping them! But in any case, here's January 17. I have photos for most of January but am not going to backtrack and post those, I'll just share the week's layouts when I get them done.

Yesterday afternoon one of our neighbors made a little sledding hill out of the pile of snow in the corner of the parking lot, where the plowed snow for our little corner of the neighborhood ended up. There are six boys between the ages of 2 and 5 on our little corner... Jack and Brayden's neighborhood friends. (Random fact - all six boys have birthdays in either March or April - 3 in each month). Last night they went sledding with a few of them, and then we went back out today to play some more, this time on our own. This picture is Jack standing on top of the sledding hill.... waiting for Daddy to help Brayden up to the top with the sled so they could sled down together.

Here goes....

Okay so I've been thinking about starting a blog for... looks like about 2.5 years. By my "first post," that's when I signed up for this blog site! Obviously, I've done nothing with it. :) Well that's about to change... for a lot of reasons! First... I love photography and take tons of pictures usually every day and want to share them! Second... I have a million other projects going on I like to talk about (and share pictures of!). :) Third... I think this is a great medium for writing about and sharing (and down the road, remembering) what is going on my life and my family's life. Last... I've decided to undertake "Project 365" - a project where I take at least one picture every day... and in my case I'm going to be putting together weekly scrapbook pages highlighting my photos of the day for the week. I'll share those here as well.

Soooo... here goes!