Here’s another wonderful day and a little story from today. I played with Nathaniel last night so now he’s playing this game on his own. He picks up a car from his box.

puts it down.

car after car.

says, “ready set go!” and pushes the car down.

then we watch.

with anticipation.

and joy.

and excitement.

then self-congratulations, of course!

Little boys mean lots of laughter in our house.

So do bigger boys, thankfully.

I am so deeply blessed.

And I am thankful to photography for helping me freeze these moments. I love them so.

I hope your Tuesday was wonderful.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I had the day off. The second day ended up being the magic for full relaxation.
2. I am grateful to have my husband back at home. So grateful.
3. I am grateful for some wonderful scrappy opportunities coming up. I haven’t scrapped in a while and I miss it.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played toss the penguin in P.E. with Arthur. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I had played on the computer.
3. I am grateful that I took a walk with mommy and Nathaniel.

I woke up this morning and decided I was going to take the day off work. This is a stressful week for me cause I have several appointments and events. Even though most of them are fun and by choice, I’ve learned that socializing of any kind tends to suck my energy and I need to recover. So I am resting and storing some energy. Which meant I rested, surfed pinterest, and sat with the little boy.

who loves drawing.

and I love these pictures because they tell stories.

of our ordinary life. Of where he is right now. These are the kids of pictures I like to scrap. The kind of stories I like to tell.

Like the funny smiles he likes to give to the camera.

And the way he collects the cars.

Dumps them into a container that isn’t really for cars.

And then congratulates himself. (I wish we all congratulated ourselves a bit more.)

And then gives me a mischievous look and signs “done.”

How he picks his own clothes and tells me what he wants to wear and what he does not.

And how David’s shirts last for about a month before they are way too short because he is growing like a weed.

How Nathaniel runs screaming “uuuuggggg” and hugs his brother. Who loves it and they both giggle and laugh. And how it makes my heart melt and skip so many beats.

How lucky and grateful and thankful I am. How scared I feel that I might mess it up. How worried I am and how I deeply hope they can tell how much I adore them. With every little piece of my heart and soul.

Life is in these ordinary moments. So is scrapping. For me. I am trying to pay more attention and I am grateful to the camera for allowing me to freeze the moments. Giving me a way to stop and notice. And for the blog and for scrapping to help me write them down. So I will never ever forget. Because I don’t want to take any of it for granted.

Ever.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I took the day off. Yey me!
2. I am grateful that Jake’s coming tonight. And that I got to snuggle up with both my kids tonight.
3. I am grateful that I’ve been taking my afternoon walks with David and Nathaniel and that my average number of daily steps is 9,628.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that i watched the rest of Matilda. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I had some candy
3. I am grateful that I got to play on the phone for 15 minutes.

And another lovely week is over. I swear that this year feels like it’s flying by. I can’t believe we’re in mid-May already. I want the rest of this month and the summer to go by slowly. Very slowly. I want to savor each and every moment. I want to slow down and enjoy him:

And him:

And their laughter:

And the fun-lazy times on the couch watching TV together.

Reading stories, giggling, snuggling, hugging, kissing. I want to read my books. I want to sketch, take photos, art journal, scrap. Write our stories. Preserve the memories we’re so lucky to be making each and every day. I so wish I could freeze time just for a little while. (And I am sure I will want to fast forward when the teenage years come but for now I want to soak in every moment of this joy. Even the hard moments. The yelling, running, making a mess, tearing things, breaking things. I still want to stretch these days so I let them soak in fully. They will be gone in the blink of an eye and I will miss them so so much.

My day was blissfully uneventful. Some reading, sketching, exercise, TV, giggling and hugging, making food, journaling, blogging, etc. Nothing outside of the ordinary and yet every moment so special. I hope yours was wonderful, too. Thank you for taking precious time out of your day to come read my words, look at my art and photos and share your thoughts. It means the world to me.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I spent some time reading curled up. I mostly read on the treadmill now and yet I still adore curling up with my reader on the couch.
2. I am grateful that my sweet husband comes back tomorrow. I miss him dearly. We all do.
3. I am grateful that, despite the relaxing day, I got a few of the todo list items that were wearing me down.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that i get to play wii for a little bit today. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I did my new workbook
3. I am grateful that I got to play with my legos

Happy Friday!! I have had some serious lower back pain this week, which sucks! But I’ve also had a more upbeat attitude than usual all week which is awesome! I am working on being more present, optimistic, and just focusing on the good. And there’s enough good to go around.

Today was like any other day. Except David went on a play date right after school. So I got to work a bit later and then when I picked him up, we all sat in the backyard, in the new bench I got for the kids, and played with playdoh.

It was Nathaniel’s first time and I am not sure he understood exactly what it’s about. But he had a blast anyway (until he ate a piece which didn’t make me all that thrilled.)

David, too, had a blast. He ate his veggies and played at the same time. He made numbers, worms, balls, and I loved seeing the kids sitting together and having fun.

I snapped some more photos and sat and played with them.

Nathaniel took the opportunity to kick some balls around, too. He loves kicking balls.

My hope is that the kids can spend time outside at the table now that summer is coming. They can play with playdoh, color, draw, play with water. Whatever they want really. As long as they get some fresh air.

Then we came inside, ate, Skype’d with Daddy and now they are quietly playing in their rooms. We played so much that David and I forgot to take our walk so I paced back and forth in the backyard to make sure my step count was up to the 10K goal. Now I am completely wiped so I will sprawl on the couch and rest and read my book.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played with the kids outside. I love doing that.
2. I am grateful that we Skyped with Jake. We miss you daddy!
3. I am grateful that it’s the weekend!!

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I went to Maggie’s house for a play date. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we played with play-doh.
3. I am grateful that tomorrow is my wii-day!

Lovely day here. I had a good chat with a friend and spent the whole day doing everything in a slower pace. I am trying to enjoy each moment more. Stress less and get myself less worked up. I am also focusing on what makes me happy and what triggers sorrow in me so that I can do more of what makes me happy or helps me walk towards peace. And less of the toxic things that upset me.

It’s a lot of work and constant work. But very worthwhile. I think.

Little boy wasn’t up for being photographed (at least not as much as he was up for eating graham crackers.)

And David was laughing so i just snapped one rare shot that didn’t have a funny face or fake smile.

Then it was time for David’s open house. I was a little stressed about going to it alone with the two kids but I wanted to make sure I went and David got to show off everything. So we got there early, took a walk, and he got to play a bit.

while the little one watched him:

Then we went into the classroom and I made the mistake of taking Nathaniel out of his stroller and he basically wanted to play with everything. With all the other parents and kids there it was pretty much impossible. And of course David wanted my attention and wanted to show everything to me which I couldn’t look at cause Nathaniel basically had a meltdown every second. In short, it was painful. But we managed it anyway.

We had a wonderful talk on the way home and some special time at home. Then he went to bed. And I am completely wiped. Aching all over. So I will lie here for a while, maybe answer some mail (though unlikely) and then just go to sleep. All in all, it was quite a wonderful and ordinary day. I am grateful for these every time. That much more now that I am focusing on the positive.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I had a nice chat with my mom on skype today. I love getting to talk to her.
2. I am grateful that my son has an open house today and I get to see what he’s been working so hard on at school.
3. I am grateful that my hubby landed safe and sound. miss him and love him so much.

Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that it’s almost summer. {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that today is the open house
3. I am grateful that I played house with my friends at school today.
4. I’m grateful that I have a play date tomorrow