February 23 & 24

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.......

Thanks for putting up with yesterday's vent. In some ways today was better, in some it was worse. Overall, it'll just be nice when Rob graduates (in about 3 months) and I have more of a support system in place again! Some sunny warm weather certainly couldn't hurt either!

Thankfully, we actually have had some WARM weather this week... mid to upper 60's in February is a heat wave by any standard! And we have taken advantage. Yesterday afternoon we headed outside to play. The boys got bells for their bikes for Christmas, which we put on the bikes finally over the weekend, and the bells have brought new life to their bikes! They hadn't ridden them in quite awhile, but now they are enjoying their bikes again. Amazing what a little bell can do (thanks Lisa and Marcelo!). The boys all ride circles around the little visitor parking area outside of our garage. Here they are racing... no contest really since my boys both still have training wheels on. Hopefully we can get those off Jack's bike this summer!

Today we spent some more time outside... we played at Jack's school playground for a little while after school, then met Grandma and Kate at the park after nap/quiet time. We hadn't been to this particular park in about a year... and it was more crowded than I have EVER seen it before! The crowds thinned shortly after we arrived, and the kids all had a great time. Brayden's favorite part of the park is always the swings. His new thing is to go "really high." So I push him hard a few times and up he goes. As he was swinging, I remembered a suggestion that my photography teacher last year gave me. One of my favorite pictures I'd taken before my photography class was of Jack on a swing last spring. She suggested getting down on the ground in front of the swing and taking photos as the kids swung toward me. So I tried a bit of that out today! Mostly they turned out pretty well! As I now sit here and look at this picture... I wish there wasn't that merger (the pole through Brayden's head), but aside from that, I love this! I guess I can live with the pole through the head because it gives some context to the picture. Now I'll have to go look at them again and see if I got any without the merger!

Anyway. It's also worth nothing that today Kate played on the swings! She always seems to want to go on the swing, looks interested in it... but then doesn't want to sit in the seat and swing. But today she did! And there was no going back. Once she started swinging, she didn't want to stop. So cute!

Jack's activity of choice at the park these days is still ladders. Or really climbing of all kinds. Today it was climbing UP the slides... which just happens to be a pet peeve of mine. Slides are ONE WAY in my book. Climbing up the slide - unless you are the ONLY person at the park - always causes drama! I'm trying to explain the one-way concept to Jack but his respose to that is, "but sometimes they go both ways." Whatever. :) He's also taken to making friends at the park or anywhere we go... introducing himself to the kids around him, learning their names, and playing with them. It's so nice to see him becoming more outgoing!

Day off...

I did take photos today... a few anyway. And I don't have anything else pressing to do that would prevent me from uploading and blogging those photos. But the fact of the matter is, I'm exhausted. My kids are wearing me out. Have I mentioned that Brayden is almost three? Age three did not go over well the last time I did it... with Jack. The myth of the terrible 2's, in my opinion, is just that - a myth. Two ain't got nothin' on three. In my opinion. And the opinion of most of the other parents I know who are in or have survived age three. Or maybe it's just a boy thing. I don't know... I don't have girls, all I know is boys. But boy oh boy... this little boy is driving me nuts. I can't even pinpoint exactly what it is... just that he's on my last nerve and has some serious attitude problems right now and lots of tantrums and overall is just being a beast. He's always been a beast. But he's ramped it up at the moment. And Jack well... he's Jack. He's actually overall doing really great, but is having his moments too. On top of all this, I've been babysitting my sweet neice Kate a couple of days a week. It hasn't added TOO much to my plate honestly, except that making sure the needs of three kids are met at one time (instead of my usual two) does have me doing a bit more juggling than I'm used to. In particular, Brayden is having a hard time getting along with Kate. The first few days he did great... he's just over it, AND he's going through a phase (independent of Kate's presence) right now that's making him more demanding. So refereeing his interactions with Kate has been taxing. Days like today... especially late in the day today... I feel like all I'm doing is disciplining. And being bossed around. And wanting to crawl into a hole (or just my bed - which I love) and cover my ears and go to my happy place where all is quiet and peaceful and warm. :)

So on that note. I decided not to deal with my pictures today... but to vent instead. Now I'm going to go watch 24, and let my husband give me a back rub. Then go to bed and do it all over again tomorrow.......................... ;)

February 22 and Week 8 Layout

Now that Brayden is nearly 3, it's time for us to start thinking of getting him out of his crib. Not a transition I have been rushing to do, because I know once he's "free" during sleep times... sleep is going to be scarce and he's going to be even more of a wild animal than normal! In any case, part of this transition is going to be moving Jack from the bottom bunk of our bunk beds to the top. He's been sleeping on the bottom bunk for about two years now, and Brayden has been in his crib. Jack has been a little hesitant about HIS transition though. So today we started planting the seed that he'll be moving to the top bunk soon, and trying to get him used to this idea. Much to my surprise, he was more willing than he's been when this has been mentioned in the past! He climbed right up to the top and then wanted to play up there all day! Brayden of course was more than happy to join him. So they spent quite a bit of time on the top bunk today, and Jack was ready to sleep up there tonight if we'd let him! We just weren't ready yet! Still, we're glad to see that when the time comes, it seems he'll be ready!

And now... this week's layout! For the second week in a row, I'm really happy with how this turned out! I can't take credit for the design... as usual I used a template. But some just come together so nicely! I especially liked how M Originals, the designer of this template, used her template for her layout last week, and I mimicked her design for my layout this week! Click the image to see it larger...

Credits: Kit - Hanukkah Funukkah by Peppermint Creative; Template - M Originals; Font - Marydale

February 21

This little monkey is our adorable godson, Ashton James. He's my best friend's youngest son, and he celebrates his big 1st birthday on Monday, February 23. Today was his birthday party at the Easter's home in Erie. We of course were thrilled to be able to celebrate his big day with him! Jack and Brayden had fun at the party, and especially enjoyed the yummy monkey cupcakes! Ashton on the other hand wanted nothing to do with his special giraffe cake. Jack didn't want his cake on his 1st birthday either. Maybe Monday when there aren't as many strange people watching he'll be more interested in his cake. :)

Today was birthday party craziness for us... we went from Ashton's birthday party to my mom's house for a birthday fiesta for Chris. It was a nice low-key time with yummy mexican food (cheesey peppers, taquitos, tacos, enchiladas...) and family.

After a full day of running around, I'm exhausted! Hopefully I will have my Week 8 layout to share tomorrow!

February 20

Oh happy day! We got our tax refunds today. Now in a perfect world this would be like our little version of winning the lottery... but in reality we'll just save the money because we'll probably need it to get through the year. However, it's still fun - even just for a day - to see that big balance in our bank account. I mean really, it only happens to us once a year. :-) So to celebrate our "less poor" day... we decided to get chinese food for dinner - real chinese food, not just the usual Panda Express. We tried a place in Parker that my brother and sister-in-law recommended earlier in the day. It was yum yum yummy! Rob and I are both still STUFFED. Funny - my fortune cookie said something along the lines of, "You will reach your goal if you can stay on track" or something to that effect... ironic as I pig out on chinese food while trying to lose a little weight. :-) In any case, the best part of dinner was actually the boys... Brayden especially is usually a picky eater but they just chowed down! And ultimately they decided to try and use chopsticks. Nothing like novel eating implements to help motivate them to EAT! They were so funny trying to manuever the chopsticks. It was definitely an amusing display of hand-hand-eye-mouth coordination! This picture of Jack eating a noodle with the chopsticks just cracked both Rob and I up when we saw it. He's such a little goober. A side note - today was a really good day for Jack. He has a really hard time warming up to other kids - especially younger kids. We had Kate today and it's like a lightbulb went on and Jack was so NICE to her all day! He admitted that they are friends and he really is starting to like her. For the fact that he'd hardly even look her direction a couple of weeks ago, this just melts my heart. I sure love that little guy. :-)

February 19

First, on a completely unrelated note... a very happy birthday to my little brother Chris, who is 28 years young today. Apparently he also has no cavities. Congratulations. ;-)

I was creatively uninspired in the photography department today... my excuse being that we did nothing interesting, and my kids have been cranky and not particularly photogenic. Those cranky boys are currently spinning around our tiny living room, treating their stuffed dogs to an amusement park type ride. THEY are creative! Brayden will be hacking up a lung (still fighting off his cough) by the time they are done, but I won't tell him "I told you so!" ;-)

I digress. Those two monkeys are both coming up on birthdays and my REAL excuse for not being creative today is that I used up all my creativity on coming up with a design for their birthday party invitation. I am always my own worst critic with my designs, and today is no exception. I'm pretty pleased with the ultimate result, but I can't help but think it could be better! The few who have seen it so far though seem to like it, so I'll stick with it. Today's picture is of my "workspace" - the coffee table at the end of our couch is the throne for my laption, external harddrive, notepad with endless to-do lists, and more. Underneath the table is a basket full of cross stitch projects (I finished on yesterday, which is why I was able to work on the bday invite today), photography books, cds, computer cords of various kinds... my "office." Ha ha. The invite is up on my new-ish (two months old) laptop. But because you can't really SEE it, here's the ACTUAL invitation I'll be printing (not to spoil it for those of you who will be receiving one in the mail!)... although it's not quite done yet!

Credits: Kit - Traffic Jam by Julie Billingsly at Sweet Shoppe Designs; Font - Corbel (although I may change that - but in this picture, that's what it is!)

February 18

Well it was a rough day in the Roe household. Brayden is a cranky cranky beast. One of the reasons being that (I think) he's struggling with sharing Mommy (and everything else) with Kate on the days we babysit. Today was also the first day that Jack was at school while Kate was here, and I think that made it a little harder on him, not having his playmate and partner-in-crime with him. In any case, naptime was a much needed break for ME... and everyone else! Kate is still working on naptime over here... when she woke up from her nap Chris and Sarah were on their way over here to pick her up, but she almost immediately fell back asleep on my shoulder. When her Mommy and Daddy showed up, she just moved to them and continued the nap. So Chris and Sarah hung out for awhile to let her keep snoozing. She was so stinkin' cute crashed out on her Daddy with her little fist in her face. Poor sleepy little thing! Apparently this is not something she does often, so it was kind of a sweet early birthday present for Chris, whose birthday is tomorrow.

February 17

As a result of watching the Disney Channel almost every morning, Jack has been introduced to - and become a fan of - The Jonas Brothers. He's also recently become a fan of Ellen... because that's usually what I'm watching on TV when he gets up from his quiet time in the afternoon. Well yesterday he sees an ad on Ellen that who is going to be on the show tomorrow? Why the Jonas Brothers of course. He is SOOO excited. He says to me, "Mommy, I can't WAIT to see the Jonas Brothers tomorrow on Ellen!" I just laughed, and laughed! Then he kept talking about it today. Well we had a very active morning so Jack crashed during his quiet time today. I had to wake him up, and when I did, the first thing he said was, "Is it 3? Are the Jonas Brothers on Ellen now?" He actually missed the live showing... but I DVR-ed it for him. I'm not sure if it was all he was hoping for, but he did pretend to be one of the Jonas Brothers the rest of the day. (He made me look up their names on the internet). I wanted to capture a picture of his excitment, but he didn't want me to take his picture. Still, I was able to sneak up on him... half of his face is covered with his blankie, but you can still see that smile in his eyes.

February 16

We had kind of a busy morning... our best friends were down on our side of town and came by to visit and play, and then we met up with Rob for lunch at Red Robin. So because of all this Brayden got a late nap today... and consequently at 4pm I had to go wake him up so that hoepfully he'd go to sleep tonight! (And as I write this, he's been in bed for half an hour - but isn't sleeping yet!) I was hoping to snap a picture of him sleeping, but when I opened his door, it woke him up a little. So instead of a snoozing picture, I got an "I'm a little grouchy about you waking me up" picture. He's laying against his polar bear stuffed animal - he actually sleeps with more than 20 stuffed animals in his crib. Three blankets, too. He uses this big polar bear (which my dad gave me as a college graduation gift) as a pillow, basically.

Week 7 Layout

Voila! Done with Week 7's layout! Click the image to make it larger...

Credits: Kit - Love Notes by Vintage Charm; Template by M Originals; Font: Desigers

February 15

Seven years ago today started with this happy event...

That's right for those of you who DON'T know the story... Rob proposed in full Santa suit the morning AFTER Valentine's Day... his clever way of throwing me off his trail. It worked. :-)

And back to our regularly scheduled Project 365. The little monkey Brayden is fighting off another cold, complete with hacking cough. So he's back on the nebulizer - so sad and pathetic! So as a precaution, when we needed to hit the grocery store today - a day earlier than planned - Rob and Jack got the honors while I stayed home with Brayden. You wouldn't think missing a trip to the grocery store would be a big deal but to Brayden it was. I don't think it was missing the store so much as the fact that Daddy and Jack left WITHOUT him. He was devastated. So worked up and sad in fact that he ended up having an almost non-stop coughing fit the whole time Rob and Jack were gone. He did get over the disappointment though... with a little bribery in the form of a movie he hasn't watched in awhile. Of course he ultimately paid no attention to the movie and instead played "parking lot" with his hot wheels on our ottoman.

I'm nearly finished now with my Week 7 layout, and hope to be back with that post in a little while. I'm really happy with this one. :-)

February 13 & 14

I've got a THEME going today. My favorite drinks. :)

Last night Rob and I went out for Valentine's Day. Decided to beat the rush, with Valentine's Day actually being on a Saturday this year. My mom came over to babysit, and we went to the Rio. We love the Rio. Pretty much every time we get to go on a date, we end up at the Rio. Usually we go to Kohl's first. Last night was no exception. We hit up Kohl's because we both needed new jeans and I got the ever elusive 30% off coupon. After Kohl's we waited FOREVER (okay it wasn't that bad - we've waited much longer in the past) for a table and got our much anticipated margaritas, steak quesadilla for me, and chicken burrito for Rob. Every time I go there, I just want MORE. We had a great time, and as always are looking forward to going back. :)

So today is the actual V-Day holiday. We weren't supposed to be doing presents. But Rob got me a present anyway. He jokes with me that my love language (there's a book about love languages... which we haven't read, but know about) is "Starbucks." Oh, so true. My gift was a mug that I've been eyeing at Starbucks since before Christmas. I love mugs. I love coffee. I love Starbucks. The perfect gift for me (on a budget!). Here's my beloved new mug, complete with my reflection in the toaster, as I enjoyed my first cup this morning. Too bad it didn't come with a lifetime supply of Starbucks coffee. ;)

February 12

Look at these two little lovelies! Am I not the luckiest Mommy on earth or what? Jack's Valentine's day party at school was yesterday and today, and he got to bring home all his goodies today. He's such a good big brother, he decided all on his own to share one of his heart-shaped lollipops with Brayden. So after eating a good lunch, they each got their lollipop. And for whatever reason, they both wanted to sit on my lap to eat them! Thank goodness Daddy was home... and even more amazing, realized this was a great photo opportunity! Usually I have to remind him... hey, do you think you can take a picture with me in it every now and then? I know partly he's intimidated by the BIG camera. But he's also just not "I should be photographing this"-minding like I am. Anyway... something about all these photos lately actually has the boys being somewhat... dare I say it... COOPERATIVE in front of the camera! (KNOCK ON WOOD!) I'm getting more... "take a picture of ME Mommy's!" than "No I don't want you to take my picture!"'s. Amazing. And now, thanks to my loving husband, I have a wonderful picture of me and my boys, which I already treasure!!!

February 11

Cards, cards, cards. Have I mentioned that all Jack ever wants to do is play cards? So yes, it's a good thing that at least he's learned to play some actual, real card games now, not just his made up games. But it's still constant, and can get exhausting. He wants to play first thing in the morning right up until bedtime! Go Fish is still the current favorite, and now Brayden is trying to learn the game and play along too... although his understanding of the rules is minimal at best! So tonight after dinner Jack and I played a few more hands of Go Fish. I didn't have any pairs in my starting hand, which according to Jack's rules means I get to go first.

February 9 & 10

So I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find something to photograph each day. I fear becoming redundant. But I guess our life is redundant. This project has been so much harder than I expected... I thought at first, "a picture a day? No problem!" HA! I wish it was that easy... but I have been trying to give each day a lot of thought, pick a photo that resonates emotionally, compositionally, etc... then blog them daily and make a weekly layout. It's added quite a bit more to my plate than I realized it would! Not to mention tracking the days and weeks as the year elapses is making time fly even faster! I know I'll be glad to have done this though, and will persevere despite my struggles with it this week!

So on to more interesting things - pictures! Brayden is our resident color-er. When Jack came home from school yesterday with a coloring book from his police station field trip (which Brayden didn't participate in), Brayden was jealous. He got over it quickly though when I dug out his Thomas the Train coloring book from our art supplies box. (While Jack colored his police station coloring book). Not to mention, he's darn cute in his jammies. Rob called in to work yesterday so we could have a long weekend (we needed it)... and when he changed into his comfy clothes early in the evening, the boys were both inspired to go up to their room and change into their jammies as well. Monkey see, monkey do!

Today they both explored their artistic sides again... it's been a crafty week! Jack's class is exchanging Valentine's Wednesday and Thursday of this week, so Jack needed to put his Valentine's together to bring to school tomorrow. What this involved was him signing his name to 32 Valentine's! There aren't that many kids in his class, but he decided he'd also like to give Valentine's to all his teachers, his neighborhood friends, and even his little brother. Awwww. :) As luck would have it, we had the exact right number of Valentine's for everyone! By the end he was getting a little flustered and having a harder time writing his letters, but all in all, he did great for writing his name 32 times straight! It's hard to believe he can write his name period... he's getting so big! On that note, we picked up his kindergarten registration forms today - eek! Momma is so not ready for that one!

February 8 & Week 6 Layout

Is this Week 6? I think it is... I'm losing track already! This weekend - this week in face - has been nuts! So it was hard to find the time to put together this week's layout! I put the pictures together as the week went on, but just kind of threw the rest together in the 11th hour - that is, just now! I'm happy with how it turned out though!

Credits: Kit - A Piece Of Her Heart by Ellie Lash; Template by M Originals; Stitching by Christine Nash; Chipboard Labels by Sweet Blossom Designs; Font - DearJoe 1 M&S

Click to make it bigger!

Today was another book club meeting - our second. This month's book was The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Stephanie, Kerry, Kendra, Kim and I met at Stephanie's house. Everyone enjoyed this book far more than Eat Pray Love. Both books were memoirs and yet this one was a much easier read. In fact we all finished this one, unlike the previous book! We had a nice discussion and are looking forward to a more light-hearted book for next month - Can You Keep A Secret by Sophie Kinsella.

February 7

My brother Ryan and sister-in-law Pam are expecting their first baby in April. Today my other sister-in-law (on my side of the family) Sarah and I hosted a baby shower for Pam. We held it at Carino's in Parker, where we had appetizers, drinks, cake, games, presents, and an all around good time. For being 7 months pregnant, Pam is still tiny (I think!), and she definitely has the mommy-to-be glow. We are super excited to meet our new little nephew soon! Although it is still hard to imagine that my baby brother will be a Daddy in just about two months!

February 5 & 6

The past couple of days were crazy busy and exhausting! We spent Thursday and Friday this week doing a "trial run" babysitting Kate, my brother Chris and his wife Sarah's little girl. She's 18 months old. In addition to that, Jack had a school field trip yesterday to an Araphaoe County police station. So we've been running around crazy AND with an extra kiddo in tow! It all went great, but I'm pooped!

Jack's field trip was good! Because my mom is not working right now, rather than bringing both Jack and Brayden on the field trip, my mom babysat Brayden (and Kate) so that Jack and I could go just the two of us - something we never get to do! It was nice to spend that time with him, and I got to see a side of him that I never see! My once shy little boy is really coming out of his shell! Throughout the presentations, he kept raising his hand... not to ask questions, but to tell stories (real and made up) relating to what was being talked about. For instance, he wanted to tell the police woman giving the "stranger danger" presentation about his stuffed dalmation Sparky after she showed a picture of a dalmation when talking about firefighters. We got to see the dispatch center, play inside two different police cars, and watch a K-9 demonstration. Here Jack is watching the K-9 demo, raising his hand, probably to tell another random story. I'll never know for sure... he never got called on this time. :)

Today Kate was back at our house for day two, and I continue to be surprised by how easy it's been having the third kid around. Granted, Kate is a pretty laid back little girl, and she's old enough now that she can keep herself entertained some. Still I was expecting it to be maybe a little bit harder (knock on wood!). I'm grateful for the chance to hang out with my awesome little neice, and for the chance for my boys to get to know their cousin better! We attempted out first outing this morning too, to Target. They did great! The hardest part was getting an extra child in and out of the car. After we got home, the three of them set up our little table and were just sitting together playing while I made lunch. They are all so cute and so silly!

February 4

Another lovely mid-60's day here in Colorado. When we have days like this in the middle of the winter, it IS a little weird. But days like this are never unexpected in Colorado. Because the winter in Colorado isn't the same as it is in the midwest or on the east coast. Yeah, we get cold. Yeah, we get snow. But not nearly as much of either as most people think. And when it snows, even a lot... it usually is sunny enough to melt off almost completely within a few days. The cold and the snow is always punctuated by nice, sunny days... not always of the 60 degree variety, but it's not always subzero and snowing, either. People think that's what it's like in Colorado. It's like our little secret here that it's NOT that bad. :)

So because we had 60's again today, we had to play outside again. And today some of the boys' neighborhood friends came out to play too. One of their favorite things to do is all play tennis together. But this isn't your average tennis match. It's tennis CHAOS. Balls flying everywhere, parents ducking for cover, rackets swinging all over the place... it's nuts. And it's HILARIOUS. Today Rob got the boys a little organized. He had Linus (5), Oliver (3), Brayden (2), and Jack (4) all in a line, and tossed a ball down the line to each of them in turn. It worked out pretty well. And they all looked SO FUNNY waiting for their turn to hit!

February 2 & 3

Another two-for-one today. By the time the boys were settled and the house was cleaned up and I got a chance to sit down and rest... I just didn't feel like uploading a picture of mac and cheese. Because that's all I photographed yesterday - mac and cheese! Jack's meal of choice. If asked what he wants for dinner, every night it's "mac and cheese!" If you remind him that he had mac and cheese for dinner last night, he might pick something else. Maybe. He might still just want mac and cheese. Sure enough, that's what we had for dinner last night. Brayden doesn't like mac and cheese quite as much as Jack (he's still in the very picky toddler eating phase)... but if you cover it with salt and pepper, eating it becomes a game, and he likes it better. :)



Today I spent a little more time behind the camera. I had a lot of pictures to choose from, it was hard to decide on THE photo of the day. Ya know just generally too though... trying to find a unique picture every day is making me aware of how identical our days are... and unless we do something different, my pictures would look the same every day! Thankfully part of our day today was different than our usual day lately. It was another nice day in Colorado, so after the boys' naps, we went outside to play for awhile. When we haven't played outside for awhile, they just can't even decide what to do... they'll start up one activity and within 5 minutes they'll move on to something else. Digging with their tractors, riding their scooters, sweeping, blowing bubbles, playing tennis, playing catch... the list goes on. Their scooters were a Christmas present from Grandma. Brayden stopped scootering for long enough for me to snap this picture. When I look at this, I think, please God don't let those dimples ever go away!


Sometime in the next few days I hope to post the pictures from January that didn't make the P365 cut. In the meantime, they're posted on my facebook page.

February 1 and Week 5 Layout

Another weekend gone already... sad. Another weekend "wasted" with a stomach bug... this time the boys, not me. Although thankfully they were mostly better today.

Today's picture is one of those rare gems that I wait weeks - even months - to capture. Obviously I take pictures of my kids almost daily. But most of the time it's a case of me chasing the boys around... them running away, blinking, making silly faces, or generally doing something to avoid having their picture taken... again! Tonight though, after dinner, I had my camera nearby and Rob started giving Jack some directions to "pose." He was still wiggly and the moment passed as quickly as it came... but before it did, click! I got a picture that capture our sweet little boy which is one of my new favorites! I know I'm biased... but isn't he so cute???

And now... this week's layout. I had a hard time with this one. The pictures were fine... but the colors, the layout, the font... nothing felt like it was coming together for me. But here it is anyway... hopefully next week's is better! As always... because I don't have time to figure out how to make my blog better (yet)... click the image to make it bigger. :)

Credits: Kit - Becky by ksharonk designs; Template by Pamela Yates; Font - Aubrey

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!