The Simple Woman's Daybook: The May Edition

• Outside My Window...I can hear the neighbor's lawn mower, the birds that have made a nest in our eaves, and the Wee Skis hosing each other down. 
• I am thinking...I need to start dinner.  Pork chops, I believe.  Maybe some applesauce.
• I am thankful for... The amazing weather we've had so far this spring.  The boys come in at night, exhausted, from playing and riding bikes and generally going crazy outside.
• From the kitchen... Cleaned out my spices the other day.  Realized that my absolute favorite spice from Penzeys is the Mural of Flavor.  I stocked up at the Seattle shop the other day.  Used my birthday gift to myself from last year (the dry VitaMix container) to make ultrafine cinnamon sugar. A few weeks ago, we had teacher appreciation week at preschool, and Thomas made his sweet teacher vanilla sugar "ALL BY HIMSELF".  "Don't help, Mommy, this is my present to her. I CAN STIR IT! LEAVE ME ALONE TO STIR. I CAN DO IT ALL BY MYSELF."
• I am wearing... A sparkly headband from my mom for Mother's Day.  Sparkles always brighten the day.
• I am creating... Lots of goodness.  I've been editing an incredible amount of photos from Finian Road client shoots, and totally loving the new Canon 7D (see photo above).  You can shoot great photos with any camera...but this one makes me want to go out and shoot my own family again!
• I am going... to try to put the rest of the clean clothes away.  Mt. Laundry at the Skis seems never ending...but it could be because both 1.0 and 2.0 have grown a size and I haven't stashed their smaller sizes in storage yet. 
• I am reading... the list on my new favorite app, Any.DO.  It is so clean and simple in design, and helps me track my projects wherever I am at.  It transcribes from my voice, you cross things off with your fingertip, and shake it to delete finished items.  It even cheers for you (totally love that).  Bonus?  It's free. 
• I am hoping... that the boys sleep well tonight.  Today was the first day ever that we were home all day and Thomas and John Paul did not nap.  That could be why I am exhausted.
• I am hearing... Alexander fighting sleep in his bed.  Wishing kids and babies understood just how truly awesome it is to have time to take naps.  Or that someone makes you take a nap.  I WOULD LOVE THAT.
• One of my favorite things...  A few of the preschool families went to the park last Friday for nearly 4 hours.  It was so fun to just be able to watch them run wild, play, laugh, and get some time with the mommies.  Thomas is with two of his buddies, Levi and Mic.  I just LOVE this photo of them.
• A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Some travel this weekend for Jonathan, a "night in" on Friday night on the farm, low key and calm over Memorial Day weekend.  Totally looking forward to that. Who knows?  I may just light up the blog again with another post!  :)

Sweet little baby Alexander

Dear Alexander,

Over the past two days, you have skyrocketed to the place of favorite Wee Ski, in a world where no such title had existed before.

You weren't the Wee Ski that hid my car keys in a tub of toys and tucked it away on a shelf and caused Mommy to tear apart the house for two and a half hours.

You weren't the Wee Ski who drank the only remaining Diet Coke in the house when the aforementioned car keys were missing.

You weren't the Wee Ski who clogged the toilet and caused it to overflow while yelling "WOW! WOW! WOW!" the whole time.

You weren't the Wee Ski who took off his diaper and put it in the garbage to be "helpful", only for Mommy to realize it 20 minutes later by following a trail of "breadcrumbs" around the house.  You were really lucky you weren't that particular Wee Ski.  Really lucky.

You weren't the Wee Ski who dug out Mommy's lavender plants (again).

You are the Wee Ski who only wanted to cuddle today.

You are the Wee Ski who has started cooing with a hint of a giggle.

You are the Wee Ski who put up with your older brother smothering you with attention, playdoh puckies, and baby carrots. 

You are the Wee Ski who has finally started nursing on his own, nearly all the time.  Heavenly.

You are the Wee Ski who took good naps today and gave Mommy a rest from the older Wee Skis.

Sweet child, you are four months old now and the time is flying by.  You've meshed right into our family and we cannot imagine it without you.

We love you, Alexander Xavier, more than you can possibly imagine.

Just please don't ever take off a heavy, dark diaper on your own. 

A few images of life right now.

I'm sorry that blogging has been a little light! :)

It's not been for lack of activity, that's for sure.  We've had a busy three months since Alexander was born.  I'm winding down maternity leave from Finian Road and finally finding a bit of time to go through photos of OUR family...instead of everyone else's...and I love it. 

Wanted to share some of my favorite of the boys over the past month or so.
All three boys together:


I love how John Paul always "talks" with his hands.


Jonathan and Alexander.


A major milestone for my 5 pound, 13 ounce newborn: this photo was of the day he hit 10 pounds!!  (February 7th)


John Paul on a hike on the farm.  We've been blessed with a relatively mild winter (good thing we have Zeus the Generator -- of COURSE Murphy's Law says that we'll have a mild winter after we finally got the monster generator hard wired into the house!).  The boys have LOVED going on hikes. I have loved hikes more when it hasn't been raining and we aren't trudging through mud.  So much more fun to run through the grass instead.

Doesn't John Paul look old here?


This is when Thomas is just being calm, relaxed Thomas.  A rare moment, indeed.  And no photoshopping on his eyes -- they are simply that clear blue. 


In getting ready for the Blarney Blast, we did welcome placecards at each of the 200 seats.  I was on the eternal hunt for a leprechaun costume...and we couldn't find one in toddler size.  So I hunted for pieces -- found the hat and mustaches at Old Navy (mustaches lasted all of 30 seconds), the bow ties and suspenders at Claire's, and the green sweats from Gymboree.  The cute little leprechaun white shirt?  It's John Paul's -- 2T on my 4T boy.


These were the welcome cards.  I sliced just above and just below his fist, and slid a green and white lollipop in there.  It looks really cute when it's all done...and they were a hit!


On the election day of Pope Francis.  My sweet little innocent Wee Pope Alexander.  His brothers were axed from the photo when one Wee Pope strangled the other Wee Pope. 


Sheesh.


Grumpy Wee Pope.


After the Blarney Blast, the next morning when the boys woke up to find Grandma and Grandpa had stayed the night:


And my wee cow herder. 


The first day I let the boys go get the mail on their own.  You can imagine their incredible joy to not only get a package in the mailbox, but to find it filled with marshmallows.  They do love their "Auntie Uff Da"!!

Project Life: Week Seven

Out of order, but fresh in my mind and I want to share!  Last week was a pretty emotional week from a faith perspective...starting with Pope Benedict's announcement, leading through Ash Wednesday and Stations of the Cross and then to the first Sunday of Lent.
I loved saving Thomas's Valentine from his teacher, Mrs. Johnson, the Valentines from Grandma Sandi, and John Paul's reaction when he saw my mom's latest obnoxious singing plush, the Cupig Shuffle.  It was as cute as the song is annoying.  So incredibly cute.  :)





// RESOURCES //
Digital templates  |  AC Digitals  (some pages modified)
Digital kit  |  bonus love kit from AC Digitals order last week, journaling cards designed by me
Font  |  PMN Caecilia 

Project Life: Weeks 3 and 4

Out of the 7 weeks of the year so far, I'm only behind by two weeks!  I can't even begin to describe how much I am loving this project, even if it's been hard to carve out time each week. So very thankful for the apps on my phone which make it easier -- Dropbox to transfer photos and Day One to keep random notes on specific days...as we all know that pregnancy brain translates into newborn brain that becomes preschooler+toddler+infant brain. None of those include good memory skills.

And since my memory sucks right now, I am loving looking back on these weeks...especially since it reminds me how far we've come as a five-some with three kids that are four and under.  :)

I am also totally loving saving photos of Thomas and his art projects from preschool...with his proud smile and date of when he did it.  He's starting to write the letters in his name, and I LOVE seeing them.  Will be saving the current version in week 8.  

A very full two weeks, finishing with the Mega Event Experience in Seattle.  It is the only training that was on the books for 2013 for the Relay For Life...as the "transformation" of the Society is changing things up pretty dramatically.  We truly had the "who's who" present:  Pat Flynn, Dr. Gordy Klatt (the founder of Relay), Jeff Ross, Adam Schwartz, Marty Coehlo, and the CEO of the American Cancer Society, Dr. John Seffrin.  You will notice that the Wee Ski 3.0 and I did get a self-portrait with him...figuring it was the one time that was possible!  He also mentioned us in his keynote on Saturday evening, a sweet moment that brought tears to my eyes and made me snuggle my little boy that much tighter.

Enough words.  Check out the pages below!









// RESOURCES //
Digital templates  |  AC Digitals
Digital kit  |  Bridgeport Edition Childhood Mini Kit
Font  |  PMN Caecilia  & Slapjack

Project Life: Week Two

Our second week in January. 

I love being able to change up things each week -- adding bits of life from the kids or things that make me laugh (see the nursing comic on the lower left side).  Feeding Alexander has been an adventure, to say the least, and I am extremely grateful for my husband the fact that I have so much flexibility with my schedule, so if I don't get much sleep one night, I can work around it the next day.  And I'm amazed that even with as many struggles as we've had with it, Alexander continues to grow and gain strength and size and is a sweet little boy.

We celebrated Thomas's birthday on the 8th -- he received a phone call from Grandma (just for him!) where she sang to him...had a fun party at preschool (see his hat!), and dinner at Infernos with our good friend Autumn and her nephews Jack & Owen. 

Learned a valuable lesson about self-portraits taken with my iPhone facing me...the resolution is TINY with that camera!  Either way, FINALLY got my hair cut + colored (should have happened 5 weeks earlier, the day Alexander was born) and I felt like a new woman. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

Used about half of one page for the boys' joint doctor's appointment.  Hilarious about what goes into bringing the three of them somewhere.  And some day, when they are grown and aren't dependent like they are now...it will be bittersweet to look back on it. 

// PAGE ONE //


// PAGE TWO //


// RESOURCES //
Digital templates  |  AC Digitals
Digital kit  |  Bridgeport Edition Childhood Mini Kit
Font  |  PMN Caecilia 
Brushes  |  Ali Edwards' Bible Quotes No. 01

Project Life: Week One

Finally getting started with uploading the pages...I am all caught up through week 3 and am looking for a bit of downtime to pull together week 4. 

I am loving this style of scrapbooking. 

Keeping things very organized and simple (using dropbox to sync up my iPhone and my Dell) has made it a breeze.  And I am loving an hour or two to myself to look back over the week and save those memories...since clearly, newborn brain is nearly as bad a pregnancy brain for memories!

This is our first week of the year.  Snippets of our life.

I am letting my type-A-ness of perfect images all the time go, because right now, it's most important for me to REMEMBER this stuff...even if an image is blurry from my iPhone.  And I'm finding that doing that works for me right now...since I am treasuring seeing our lives all in one spot. 

PAGE ONE  //



PAGE TWO  //



// RESOURCES //
Digital templates  |  AC Digitals
Digital kit  |  Bridgeport Edition Childhood Mini Kit
Font  |  PMN Caecilia

See?  Super simple.