So we’ve been having quieter and more relaxed days here where things are consistently moving forward and getting done. Nathaniel is learning to communicate more.
He looks up to his brother with awe.
And is still super-cute.
In the afternoon, once all the math and walking and reading and napping was done, I put on another movie for them.
I love how focused he is (only for a few minutes though, he has no patience for these movies.) I love the way David’s sitting with is hand on his chin, too.
Here’s the only shot David let me have today.
We get to go out on date night again tonight. I am so excited. I love going to the movies.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am still grateful for our quiet, calm, productive days.
2. I am grateful that I will hopefully get my hair dyed soon.
3. I am grateful for another date night.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I watched a movie * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I am building a lego project.
3. I am grateful that I got extra computer time today.
This weeklong page was originally inspired by this lovely painting. I created the tree with book pages and then did the leaves and painted the whole thing.
here it is the right way:
I wanted to keep this low key so all I did was to add writing and the dates.
here’s the left page:
And the right side:
And here’s the filled page:
I love this one too.
Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here. And you can find out more about the weeklong daily journaling here.
A few months ago, I taught a class at Big Picture Classes called Finding Your Way. I had created this class because, last year May, I found my way of scrapbooking and it has changed my hobby so much that I wanted to share that feeling and possibility with others. I figured if I could help a few people experience the joy of creating in a way that felt completely authentic to them, it would be worth the world to me.
So I wrote a proposal. I wrote the class. And I taught the class.
It was a wonderful experience to teach it. The class was incredibly supportive and the students were so kind and helpful to each other. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I felt grateful to be a part of it. To get to experience it.
As if that wasn’t amazing enough, last week I received this present in the mail:
it was a minibook made of thank you cards from several of my students. The very best part was that each card had a photo of the creator. I love putting faces to the people whom I only knew by username.
Every single one of these cards was unique and amazing and touching and lifted my soul so much. I tried to only take photos of the outside to preserve the privacy of each person but some of them have photos on top so I am posting as is. If you’re one of the ladies and would prefer I take your photo down just let me know and I will do it immediately.
Aren’t they amazing?
I have never, ever received such a thoughtful gift from any student or any friend. I felt so touched, so grateful, so full of genuine awe.
I wanted to share the book because Cindy told me not all the ladies who were in it got to see the full thing and I wanted to make sure everyone saw this wonderful, generous, amazing gift. Thank you Cindy for organizing it. Thank you to everyone who took the time to contribute. You have made me feel eternally grateful.
I cannot even put it into words. I am truly grateful.
Thank you.
Here’s the check-in for July. You can see the original goals for 2011 here.
Family
I have still been reading regularly to David and loving it so much. I’m still keeping up with weekly family shoots, daily diary, and gratitudes. We haven’t done so well on family night in July but we did take several full-day family trips and mini-vacations instead. Nathaniel and I are still in music class together but my attendance has been super-blotchy mostly because I really really do not like being there. Jake and I have done better on date nights for July and it’s been wonderful.
Health
Going strong on the running and walking. Did 3.12 miles a day every day in July and did 50 leg lifts and 20 crunches a day. The food has been so-so but I am planning on fixing that for August. Sleep’s been a consistent 7 hours or so. I’m getting up several times a night to make sure David goes to the bathroom but other than that I am enjoying the summer rule of not having to set the alarm. We’re also taking daily walks still and averaging more than 75,000 steps a week. So far, so good. The one area that I think needs more work is the food. That’s going to be my focus in August.
Art + Photography
Still Sketching daily every day, it’s been doing for a long time now, I am quite proud of myself for it. And also still doing weeklong art journaling. I still love this project. I have not grown bored of it one bit. I’ve continued with the daily art journaling in July and came up with a plan to continue it without the pressure of having to do it daily. No movement on photo excursions or etsy shop however.
Scrapbooking
July was also full of scrapbooking. Lots of projects for the show. Once I mailed off my projects, things have been quiet. I have a few commitments coming up in August, but otherwise, all is moving here. Steady and quiet.
Reading
Still reading my weekly book regularly. Reading to David, too. We didn’t have book club this month.
Writing
I seem to be neglecting the thoughts-posts. I still think about them all the time and also about classes but everything is on hold for now. I am just being quiet and resting. Newsletters are all the writing that I’ve been doing for now. And July was weak in journaling but towards the end of the month I picked it back up and it’s going full-force now.
Learning
July was the end of Soul Restoration 2 and I didn’t sign up for anything new until the very end of the month when I succumbed and bought 21 Secrets. I also signed up for Christy’s class which starts August 1. Nothing on the iPad front yet or the stop motion movie.
Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
Mom’s group was quiet this month but we did have quests over and I also had breakfast and went to the movies with a friend. I also went to work for lunch. This area is moving slowly but it is moving.
And that’s it for July. Overall, I think I did okay. Lots of good goals met. Let’s bring on August!
Happy Monday. We had a relatively productive and also pretty quiet day here. I tried to take some photos of Nathaniel.
But he just wasn’t having it.
He kept showing me other things instead.
So I got one of my sweet David.
I tried Nathaniel again.
But all I got was a blur.
After my meeting in the afternoon, I put on a movie for the kids and took a photo while they watched.
Now they are getting ready for bed. And I am feeling calm and full of gratitude for the ordinary day. I still have two blog posts gnawing at me for today but I’ll get to them eventually.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for our quiet, calm, productive days.
2. I am grateful for kids who know how to keep quiet during a meeting and for video chat.
3. I am grateful for Christy’s new class. She never stops inspiring me.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played with Nathaniel * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I watched Because of Winn-Dixie.
3. I am grateful that I played with my Star Wars ideas.
This layout is for Write.Click.Scrapbook’s July Gallery. The theme is to scrap with no photos.
Journaling Reads:
when I was a little girl i thought this poem was so sad. As a teenager i copied it from diary to diary. always feeling a pull to it. But i always thought it was depressing that good things didn’t last and that the beauty of life is so very ephemeral. but now that i am much much older I feel so differently. This is a reminder that everything is ephemeral so I try to enjoy each and every moment.
Poem Reads:
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Well, as this week comes to a close, we had a sweet and lovely day here. It started with exercise of course and then some family photos.
My sweet husband made me laugh today. He makes me laugh so often and so much. I adore him for that.
Then we tried to get one with all four of us looking at the camera.
Alas, that never happens.
See the zit I have? I didn’t photoshop it out. This is about life. Real life.
And then tickle time. Nathaniel’s started kicking and headbutting during tickle time recently hence me holding his head.
And in case you think I don’t laugh during tickle time too. I do.
I love tickle time with my heart and soul.
I wanted to do something for family-time so we decided to go to San Jose Children’s Discovery Museum. We drove all the way there only to discover it was closed for another two hours. After feeling terrible we changed route and went to Happy Hallow Zoo instead. We saw the lemurs.
Fed some sheep.
had a little attitude.
climbed.
ate a yummy lunch and watched more animals.
on the way out, the kids held hands.
inspected all the dinosaur paw prints on the ground.
There were many many many.
And the boys touched every single one. (Until I had enough and we aborted the project. But it was super cute seeing them holding hands and laughing.)
Then we came home and it was naptime for the little boy. David played on the computer a bit and then with his legos. I sketched, art journaled, and journaled. I also prepared most of my newsletter which will hopefully go out tonight. Then we played and laughed a bit more. David and I started a new book. Ate dinner, watched a bit of TV, and read stories for bedtime. The boys are in their beds, both reading now. I cannot think of a lovelier way to end the day.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for our family photos. If you’re not doing this, I cannot recommend it enough. It has become my very favorite project.
2. I am grateful for a wonderful family trip to the zoo and some great time with the kids.
3. I am grateful for a few more quiet hours before the day is over.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we went to Happy Hallow Zoo. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played with my legos.
3. I am grateful that Nathaniel and I touched all the paw prints.
David says:
I gave this story five stars because I liked that the investigators found gold doubloons.
I liked Chris because he was clever and saved the investigators many different times. He invited them along on this dives and he shared his gold with them when he found some. He was nice to the boys and to his father and I was very happy that he got to help his father get better and go back to Greece in the end.
My least favorite part was when the villains were trying to steal the money and tied up the boys. I liked how Jupiter solved the mystery and came to rescue the other investigators. I didn’t like that the thieves made it look like there was a ghost on the island because they were trying to keep people away.
I liked that everything worked out in the end: the movie and Chris.
Reading a book a week with my six-year-old son David is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
It was a relatively quiet day here today. We started the day late but still did the same routine of exercise+shower and then family photos.
I adore, love, cherish these three boys more than anything else in the world.
We took family photos. And I adore, love, cherish these photos. Even when they are so imperfect.
Even when they are trying to squirm out of my arms.
And especially when we are all laughing unabashedly.
We then rested for a while. Sketching, art journaling, and so forth. Then we took a long long walk and I am off to read to my boy and then date night tonight. A quiet, lovely weekend day here. Hope yours was as well.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we have date night. I love going to the movies.
2. I am grateful for our nice long walk. I love talking a stroll with the whole family.
3. I am grateful that I started journaling again, I missed it.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful mommy and I are going to read my book. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played wii.
3. I am grateful that I am copying one of my books (he’s writing all the words in the rocket book into his own notebook.).
jake
Jake had another relatively busy week at work. Several meetings but not that many night ones this time. He had a paper due for his tax class which is now over. His paper turned out quite good, in my opinion. It was well written and interesting. It’s amazing to me that he can do that in one day, at the last minute, whereas I take forever to write a well-sounding paragraph. He has always been good at writing papers.
karen
This was a very quiet, uneventful week for me. I’ve been working to take it easy and it’s been relaxing but also a bit unnerving. I think when I tend to relax, I overdo it and then cannot muster the motivation to do anything, which, in turn, depresses me and feeds into my bad mood. I need to find a good balance of working and resting, doing both with vigor and awareness. It’s an ongoing struggle for me. However, I am enjoying the summer days and not yet looking forward to the school craze.
david
David has been working and playing a lot. He’s spent a lot of time with his legos and books this week. I love to watch him play and I love to listen to him read. I am amazed at how well he can read. He is also riding his bike and doing well with both swimming and soccer. We’ve been practicing the multiplication tables during our daily walks and he’s doing extremely well with that, too. I love how emotional and loving and kind David is. He reminds me of me when I was his age and I am trying to remind myself to be very gentle with him.
nathaniel
Nathaniel is enjoying having David at home and the two of them build legos together. They also fill up the two trucks with toys and drive them around the house. Nathaniel picked a truck book for himself from the library this week and has been asking me to read it every single night. I love the little time we spend together right before bedtime and I know it will be a memory I will cherish long after he grows up.
Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
And we’ve come to the end of another week. They’re passing all too quickly lately. And I’m feeling antsy because I feel like days are passing without my using my time well but I am not exactly sure what I want to do with my time which puts me in an unpleasant conundrum.
The little boy has been playing legos a lot lately.
The big boy, too.
Here he is watching Nathaniel put something together.
And then Nathaniel rushes over to get another piece.
And talks his brother into helping him.
David leaves for soccer and Nathaniel is left playing all by himself.
And now it’s dinner time. It’s the end of the week. I am tired. But this weekend is wide open. And I will not put any pressure on myself this weekend. No art journal pages, no todo lists. I will just relax. Let’s see how it goes.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I made another art journal page today. Even though I don’t like it, I am thankful to take time for art no matter what.
2. I am grateful for Jake who does the grocery shopping.
3. I am grateful for the quietness of life right now. I love quiet.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful I have soccer. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played with Nathaniel.
3. I am grateful that I read some of my library books.
Ok I am officially furious. I am done with this total mess of weight gain. I have to tell you it’s not as much about the weight (though, of course, that plays a part.) as it is about working so hard and having the results go in the opposite direction. I still exercise 5K every day.
This might not seem like a big feat to most people. But it is to me. I hate exercise. This week I hit my 300th consecutive day of exercise. I’ve been doing this for so long now and yet I still loathe it. I am not looking forward to it. I am just tolerating it. And I know it’s good for me and it will help keep my metabolism high so I suck it up and I do it. Day after day. I show up and I do it. Because I do it on the treadmill, I know that I am not doing it halfway. I am doing this. I am working hard at it.
And yet.
And yet it does not appear to be working lately. I don’t buy the plateau argument, nor doI buy the muscle one. Something isn’t working right here and I am committed to fixing it. I haven’t come this far and I am not working this hard for these results. Something will change.
and here’s this week’s card:
Healthy for Life is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
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projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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