Just Telling Our Story

Three Things

My husband recently initiated what has quickly become a favorite (albeit short-term) tradition around here: Three Things. Every night, when we tuck the kids into bed, we share three things we liked about each of them. Then after they're in bed, Chad and I share three things we appreciate about each other. Sometimes they're specific to the day's events, and sometimes they're just general things we like or appreciate for the day.

In the past week or so, both my son (age 8) and daughter (age 5) have started adding their own "Three Things" to the nighttime ritual, sharing things they like about us, too. (We share these things privately - just one kid and one parent at a time.)

The kids have really liked this. They look forward to our nightly Three Things. Our daughter has even gotten teary-eyed when she had to go to bed when I wasn't home recently. The next morning, she needed her Three Things bright and early.

Anyway, tonight, after I shared my Three Things with my sweet little girl, she shared her Three Things about me:

1. "I like that you love me."
2. "That you fill my heart in." (She made a little heart with her hands. Melt my heart.)
3. "That you fill my bucket." (Something the guidance counselor at her school has been teaching the kids this week -- to be "bucket-fillers" instead of dipping people's buckets.)

I gave her a huge hug. She made my day.

And then there's my all-boy son. After giving him his Three Things for the day, he took my hand and pulled my face close to his. I thought he was going to kiss me on the cheek, although that would admittedly have been a rare occurrence on its own. Nope. He pulled me in, put his face next to mine...and belched in my ear.

A week in our life

Well, once again, life has trumped blogging in my little corner of the world. I can't complain; I've been blessedly busy -- mostly with work, but also with sports, the end of the school year and 100 other things. It got me thinking, actually, that my scrapbooks only really document the leisurely things we do as a family and with our friends -- but have never addressed how busy our lives really are with all of the other stuff we do.

So I decided to document our real life - from the perspective of time on the calendar. This two-page spread will need a one-pager to introduce it and explain what I just said above (and include a few photos from the week), but that's for another day.

 

(The above image doesn't get much larger when you click on it. Try clicking on the individual pages below for legible journaling.)

 

For the scrapbookers out there, if you haven't documented a week in your life, I'd highly recommend it! Documenting our life in this way made me realize why I feel so worn out and somehow validated my feeling that way! Plus, I know our lives are constantly changing, and next year, our routine will be vastly different! (In fact, with this being the first week of summer vacation, our morning routine has actually changed this week over last week.) And some day, when I'm retired and wondering what to do with my time, I can look back on this layout and realize I should just be thankful for the gift of time.

If you're interested in how other scrappers have approached this topic, check out a couple of my favorites:

• Ali Edwards: Week in the Life (explanation and finished project)
• Cathy Zielske: The Monthly (buy it!)

Enjoy!

Finally...an hour to breathe

(Well, I wrote this last Tuesday but saved it as a draft with high hopes of being able to find and edit some pics to go with these. But of course, time has ticked away, and it's just not happening. I've been working in every spare moment again, so I'm falling behind in everything else. So...rather than keep this as a draft and never posting it, I'm going for it—pictures or not!)

*****

Things have been hectic lately.

Of course, things always seem hectic around here, but lately it has been ridiculously so. My workload finally picked up again (thank goodness), and the faucet is back on full blast. My kids are starting to complain about my frequent evenings and weekends working at the library or local book store, and I am feeling the effects of less sleep and less time (after the kids go to bed) to do the fun stuff—creative stuff—that keeps me sane. Anyway, I find myself with an hour or two free this afternoon, as I am in a holding pattern on a few projects and, frankly, can afford a short break. So I'm treating myself to a long-overdue blogging session.

So here are a few of the things keeping us crazy lately. (There is something personally satisfying about writing down little snapshots of our life as it happens. After all, next year—heck, even next month—this will be history (quite literally), and our life will look much different. Maybe this will make its way into a scrapbook some day.)

1. Soccer! I love soccer season. I really do. Both of our kids played this season, and Chad coached E's team to boot. So we were at the soccer fields four or five days a week for the last eight weeks or so. This was E's first season ever playing an organized sport (I don't count swim lessons), and our shy little girl really had a ball on the field! She's a great example of how sports can boost confidence in young kids, and I was so happy to see her running down the field and dribbling the ball, giggling as she kicked much of the time. She was simply joyful. And that made me joyful.
   
   I was reminded once again how good Chad is at being a coach. He is patient, fun and complimentary to the kids, and he always, always, always just plays to have fun. We never talk about scores with the kids in either baseball or soccer, and honestly, with the exception of G, they never ask. (G's a bit competitive!) And the kids just love him. The parents do, too. He always gets tons of compliments at the end of a season from parents who were relieved to have a coach that wasn't brutally hard on the kids or demanding and competitive. The kids have fun, the parents have fun, and Chad has fun. Can't go wrong there, right? Makes me proud to be his wife.
   
   Tonight is G's last night (trophies), and then we're done for a few weeks before basketball (for G) and swimming (for E) start. So farewell, soccer 2009. We'll be back next year!
2. Our lot! Well, after a couple of years of dreaming about our next home and many months of seriously looking for a new lot on which to build our next house, we finally found it. We closed on the lot at the end of September, and we are SOOOO looking forward to building! Unfortunately, that will not be for two or three more years, as we save some cash for the down payment for the house (just about went broke after putting the down payment on the lot). In the meantime, though, we still get to enjoy our property. It has about an acre and a half of woods (plus about 3.5 acres of grass) that need some attention, so we've been spending some time out there, trimming choking vines away from our big, beautiful trees and clearing paths through the woods so we can make our way to the (mostly dry) creek and enjoy all the state-park-like woods have to offer. The kids have absolutely loved being out there, playing with dirt and rocks and trying to climb trees. They get along well and get some fresh air in their blood. It's a wonderful thing. Still, there is a ton to do, so we'll be busy for the next couple of years. I am craving the solitude and silence living in the "country" will bring. (It's officially part of an eight-property subdivision, but it feels like the country!) Now, I just need to find the strength to be patient as we save, save, save. It's not going to be easy! But it will be worth it!
3. School. School always keeps us busy. There are field trips and events (like today's Pumpkin Run) and open houses and after-care programs and HOMEWORK and so on. Homework, we're finding, is ridiculous for a second grader. G spends so much time every night on his homework -- mostly either a reading assignment or math assignment PLUS spelling, vocab, reading for fun for 20 minutes, reading his AR book (over which he has a test each week), preparing for at least three (if not four) tests plus unannounced in-class quizzes and graded assignments each week. It's exhausting, even for me! We enrolled G in an after-care program a few weeks ago so I could get a few hours of my workday back, and I'm not convinced just yet that it's working for him. He loves having the time to play after school (something he didn't get when he came home to our house instead, because I need to work the rest of the afternoon), but he's not getting that one-on-one (me and G) time for his homework that he used to get at home. He does have an hour dedicated to homework at after-care, but in a setting with all of his friends, he doesn't do as well. He's too concerned about finishing first than he is about studying and understanding what he's reading. His grades are starting to show it. (He's still doing well...just not quite as well as before.) So we'll have to change something soon, probably. Not sure what the answer is. With school, after-care, dinner, sports, baths, evening reading and bedtime, there's really not time to have him do his homework AGAIN when he gets home from school every day. Too much for a 7-year-old, if you ask me.
   
   And, of course, our school seems to be a pro at scheduling days off for the kiddos. Next week, G has three days off - two for fall break and one for parent/teacher conferences. So of course my work schedule gets screwy, and I'm forced to work in awkward chunks of time again. Still, I'm thankful for a flexible work arrangement and understanding clients!
4. Animals. With five animals (two dogs, three cats) in the house, we expect there to be a vet visit or two on occasion. But we've been spending FAR too much time and money at the vet lately. Poor Molly (our 9-year-old Labrador retriever) has been going every month for weight checks and general wellness checks, due to arthritis, a thyroid condition and a special diet she's on to help her lose weight. Then last week, she got very sick. She scared me, actually. That was the first time I really thought we might lose her. And it's technically still not over yet. After lots of tests, the vet said there were no crystal-clear answers, but the most likely diagnosis was a bleeding ulcer. Worse, it could be the beginning of heart failure. She went on a rice-and-cottage-cheese diet, Pepcid and a medicine to stop the nausea sensation in her brain. She has a borderline enlarged heart, fluid on her lungs and fluid in her abdomen. Her heart is working much harder than it should be, and she's having trouble catching her breath, even though she does essentially no exercise. So her age and overweight body frame is doing a number on her. It's too bad, too, because just recently, she was doing incredibly well. She was getting her old spunk back, going with us for walks and running down the sidewalk to greet people—things she hadn't done in a LONG time. Now, she's lethargic, sad and energy-less. She's nauseated, plus she's in pain. It's likely her arthritis medicine that caused her bleeding ulcer, so she's off of it until at least Friday. Then we go back for a check-up and for them to decide if she needs more tests to see if they can find a definitive cause (whether or not it's absolutely heart failure). Breaks my heart to think that she's so sick. But she does seem to be doing better the last couple of days, so we are holding on to hope that she'll pull through just fine. (She could still use a prayer or two, though!)
   
   (UPDATE - Sunday, Oct. 18: We went to the vet on Friday for a check-up, and Molly is doing much better! She's back on some pain meds -- a different one, though -- and her symptoms have waned. So she's looking good! She got a great report from the vet, and we're so, so happy to have a healthy doggie back! Plus, she's lost more than 12 pounds since she started her weight medicine, so she only has five pounds to get to her goal weight! Good news for Miss Molly! Feeling much better about things now!)
   
   Maddie, our three- or four-year-old Lab mix, has some sort of issue, as well. I'll spare you the details of part of it, because they're not pleasant, but in a nutshell we think she has an allergy that is causing her to chew and lick herself nonstop. She has chewed between her paws enough to wear the webbing raw, actually. We need to get her back into the vet for another check on that. There has to be something more to it than what the doc said originally (again, I'll spare you).
   
   Lucy (our calico cat) has three small sores of some sort on her head and neck, too. So SHE needs to go in as well. But she and Maddie don't get along very well, so we'll have to take them on separate visits! I think we need to take stock in our little animal hospital/vet office.
5. Photographers' Workshop. I was lucky enough to get into Karen Russell's Online Photographers' Workshop, an nine- (10- if you count the week intermission to allow people to catch up) week class I have been drooling over for a long time. And yet, with everything else going on, I'm finally in it and I'm WAY behind. UGH!!!! I am learning a lot, though, and squeezing in the lessons where I can, so it's been well worth it. I hope to get the assignments done in a timely manner, but it's not looking good. I think I might have to skip a couple of the ones about concepts I'm very familiar with (aperture, shutter speed, perspective, etc.) and just start in the middle if I ever hope to get everything done! Makes me sad to get behind (I hate that!), but with work and everything else lately, it's been challenging. Still, it makes me happy to download and print my new lesson each day, and I have enjoyed catching up when I can. I just love her photography style. And even though I took my fair share of photography courses in college, there's still so much I have to learn. It's definitely a process, not an accomplishment, to learn to be a better photographer. I'm finding -- rediscovering -- that I really have a deep-rooted passion for photography, so it's thoroughly enjoyable...every minute I can soak in.
6. Friends & Family. Unfortunately, this is not taking as much time as I would LIKE for it to take lately. I feel like we are moving at 1000 miles per hour, and we don't have time to stop and breathe and get together (or even talk, for that matter) with friends or family as often as we'd like. There are a bunch of friends on my list whom we haven't seen in ages, and whom I miss. I want to get better about making time for friends this winter, when things hopefully slow down a little.

Well, that should do it for now. Sometime soon, I'll share a couple of new digital scrapbook pages. However, they've been few and far between. I did get a few pages done for my priest, who retired this month. Hope to find some time to share those.

More later...and hopefully in a more timely manner than the last several posts have been! (Hope to get another digital scrapbooking tutorial up, too. I've been thrilled to hear from a few friends who have been inspired to give digital scrapbooking a try. Want to make sure they get hooked while they're still thinking about it! :o) )

A page to pass the time

Things aren't looking to quiet down soon enough around here, so I thought I'd post a recent layout to pass the time.

 

These photos were taken back in December 2007. (I've been revisiting some old photos lately.) G & E used to love getting buried in a mound of stuffed animals. I love the way the pictures turned out. Reminds me of a shot in "ET" when he was camouflaged in a closet full of stuffed animals. Anyway, I kind of like this very simple layout.

(Paper and elements from Out of This World Friday Freebie Add-on - Creations by Karen.)

Things are crazy as ever around here. I'm starting to feel the effects of... (bear with me...I love bullets!)

• spending five days a week at the soccer fields (this week it's only four...woo hoo!)
• preparing for a major purchase that will change the way we live our lives (more on that when it's official)
• a couple of health issues for E and me (lots of doctor appointments lately)
• vet appointments seemingly every week (Molly's thyroid, arthritis and weight; Maddie's incessant chewing/licking)
• a bully on G's school bus (who unfortunately lives on our street)
• work deadlines
• unusual preparations to start working with a new client
• my lifelong priest retiring
• getting back into the school-year schedule (especially the after-school schedule, which often cuts my work day by 2.5 hours and forces me back to a working-nearly-every-night-too schedule)
• a strong desire and no time to do lots more scrapbooking
• a strong desire and no time to do another installment of my digital scrapbooking how-tos on my good ol' blog
• a strong desire and no time to update my blog with lots of pictures of our recent trip to Colorado
• a strong desire and no time to get in shape (wish I had time to work out!)
• a strong desire and no time to learn more about photography, especially photo editing, as I'm getting ready to weed through thousands of pictures from summer (I am, though, getting ready to start a 9-week class I'm very excited about!)
• a strong desire and no time to get together with friends more often, some of whom I haven't hung out with in weeks or months
• a mild desire and no time to clean my house, which is way out of control lately.

Anyway, I'm also starting to get worried about the H1N1 flu, which has hit an elementary school in a neighboring town and resulted in 54 absences in one day. It also has been confirmed at a good friend of mine's daughters' preschool in another neighboring town. Hitting too close to home. Making me worry. I'm good at that. :o)

So anyway, it feels good to make lists when I'm stressed, so getting this down is actually therapeutic for me. I also love to look back on things like this and remember what my life was like in this little snippet of time. So someday I'll hopefully be able to look at this list of things on my mind and know that I made it through just like any other old time. Hopefully I'll be looking at it from the beach or somewhere else where I'm doing nothing but relaxing! :o)

Playing in the Rain

Photos from June 16.

Journaling: Leave it to kids to make the best of a dreary situation! We were supposed to be celebrating the end of G’slast pee-wee baseball season with his teammates. Chad was coach, and we were treating everyone to Dairy Queen. The game scheduled for this night was rained out, but we decided to go ahead and take the kids to DQ anyway. While the parents huddled under umbrellas and the small building’s awning, a handful of the kids (including you two) decided they’d rather get a little wet. Chad and I don’t typically encourage playing in the rain. It’s not that we don’t think the kids would enjoy it; it’s just because we typically are busy and don’t often have a chance (or take advantage of a chance) to just enjoy the rain. Besides, it’s usually storming when it rains in Indiana! But today, we decided to let you enjoy yourselves. It started with a cautious giggle as you stepped out from under the umbrellas. It didn’t take long, though, before you were completely soaked...and completely loving it! Soon, you were joined by Kaden, Hailey and Lainey, and you were having a ball trying to get soaked by passing cars. It was just as enjoyable for us to sit back and watch you enjoy yourselves, having fun like kids are supposed to do. I think we’ll play in the rain more often!

Sources: All elements from Americana Mini Kit from Heather Ann Designs. Fonts: Effloresce and Avenir.

A day in Shades

We have been quite busy lately, and I have lots of events and little things happening that I want to scrapbook and/or blog about. Here is one of those. Last weekend, we went to Shades State Park and thoroughly enjoyed a creek hike. I absolutely love creek hikes; they remind me of lots of enjoyable fall visits with my dad when I was growing up. (He had lived in Florida and came to see us every fall. We went down there to visit him several times a year, too, but creek hiking in Florida — alongside the alligators — would probably not be a good idea!)

Anyway, last weekend, we enjoyed a creek hike of our own. And as often as we have gone hiking with the kids, dabbling our toes in water on occasion, I don't believe we have ever found a true creek trail like this one. (We typically stay with Turkey Run State Park, which doesn't have much in the way of creeks.)

Here is the journaling: When I was a little girl, my dad (your Papa) would come to Indiana every fall. Each year, we would try to squeeze in a hike in a state park. If we could find a good creek hike, our day was made! Flash forward 20 years or so, and here we are in 2009. Chad and I have always loved going hiking in state parks, and since the two of you have been born, we’ve been hiking several times. But this trip to Shades State Park in Waveland, Ind., is safely one of our favorites to dates! Without realizing what we were getting into, we set off on Trail 5, headed down to the shores of Sugar Creek for some rock skipping, and headed back. For some reason, we chose to head back on Trail 4, and we were so glad we did! It was a true creek hike at its best—narrow, wet and rugged. Daddy carried E** most of the way, but even she got in on the fun. It was a great hike! And we’ll be back!

Sources • Notebook paper: Karen Lewis, Flutter freebie. Background: K Teague, Dirty Stocks, tan. Tab: Tracy Collins, Welcome Back kit, altered with clipped paper from K Teague, Dirty Stocks kit, green. Fabric ribbon flower (altered color): LouCeeCreations, A Touch of Class kit.

Miscellaneous Monday

A few random thoughts today:

1. I miss blogging. I am in a blogging funk. I just haven't really felt like it much lately, and yet I miss it, all at the same time. I hope to get back to blogging about stuff soon. And not just scrapbook layouts (although I enjoy making and posting those, too).
2. We just got back from a weekend get-away to Cincinnati, just Chad and me. It was wonderful. We needed to get away - away from work, away from animals that puke and need walked and poop where they shouldn't, away from kids whom we love but who need lots of attention, away from a house that needs cleaned and clothes that need washed and dirty dishes that never end. We enjoyed ourselves quite thoroughly, if even only for two days. Maybe I'll blog about that sometime soon.
3. I got into Karen Russell's Online Photographer's Workshop! I am super-excited about this — and wondering whether it was a necessary purchase. I LOVE Karen Russell's photography. (Check out her stuff on her blog.) She's what I call a "real-life photographer" - someone who captures life in the moment, as it happens, without any (or much) posing. That's my kind of style. She is famous (in the scrapbooking/photography world) for photos of her own family life. She doesn't photograph other people's families like "normal" photographers...and yet she has a captivating way of telling her life's story (and making it into a profitable business!). Anyway, I tried registering for this class last year, but ended up one of 745 (or was it 795?) people on her waiting list. So when registration opened this morning, I was clicking on Register just as soon as it was active. And I was so, so excited when I got in! (Then, as buyer's remorse set in, I began wondering if I really need this class. After all, I did go to school for this stuff. Still, I think she can teach me a lot! Hope I learn some great stuff!)
4. I am having trouble staying motivated today. I was doing well earlier. Not so much this afternoon. Hmmm...
5. Can't let a post go by without a photo. So here's my layout that I did for Chad's and my anniversary. I'm too impatient right now to wait for Photoshop to open (my computer is in a funk, too) so I can copy the text and paste it here. So you'll have to click on the image for a bigger version, and then squint! :o) I hope I don't get sick of this picture of us. I have used it a LOT lately - on everything from a Christmas ornament to an 11x14 picture framed in our house to scrapbook layouts to a little canvas for Chad's desk at work. I love this shot! (It's by Connie Phillips, if you're from around here.)

Have a great week!

A little bit of chaos

The lower photo on this layout just makes me laugh.

It is a pretty clear representation of the chaos that ensues when you mix five young kids, two adults, four animals (at the time) and a small space. (This was last year. When we get together now, there are four kids and five animals!) I'll stop here and let the journaling tell the rest of the story.

Journaling: On the surface, this photo looks pretty imperfect. After all, nothing is in focus. But I love it. Why? Because it is a pretty clear picture of what our little house feels like when there are five kids, four adults, three cats and a dog sharing space. But despite the chaos, we absolutely love when our friends, Kevin and Kelly, and their three (and not long after this photo was taken, four!) kiddos come to visit. We love hanging out with our friends whenever we can. We’ll take the chaos any day.

Credits: Beige background - K Teague, The Basics, Beige. Loopy embellishments: JenAllyson, Adorn LoopyFrames, 2 Peas in a Bucket. Fonts: 2 Peas Renaissance (title) and Avenir. Blue background paper: Skrapper Digitals, Nighty kit. Small ring to right of photo (with date): Chipboard circle by Design by Dani, Cabana Boy kit; clipped paper: Nighty kit.

Summer rides in the bike trailer

Another page to share! And it's another from 2007. Not sure why, but I've been in the mood to scrap some older pics of the kiddos lately. Enjoy!

Journaling:
One of our favorite summertime activities is going for a bike ride. Daddy often goes on long rides (sometimes 20 miles or so at a time), but occasionally we’ll join him for a shorter ride. You both pile into the bike trailer (it can hold up to 100 pounds)—with your helmets, shoulders and legs touching each other—and enjoy a snug little, four-and-a-half-mile ride. The fresh air keeps you calm and happy, and you couldn’t be cuter!

Credits: All elements from Shabby Princess, Happy Go Lucky kit.

Stretching with Daddy

Just another page to share. Not much to say about this one, other than the kiddos decided to stretch with Chad before he went out for a run. This is back in 2007. A fun little memory. Enjoy!

Credits:

• Tag: Jessica Sprague, Echoes of Asia
• Tag anchor and ribbon: Shabby Princess, Happy Go Lucky
• Brown-and-teal patterned paper: J Schmitt, Daybreak
• Brown and cream patterned papers: K Teague, Dirty Stocks
• Font: Black Jack, MyFonts.com