"A Little Bit of Life" Blog

(I'm going to be making my "A Little Bit of Life" blog private...if you read that one and would like an invitation will you leave me a comment with the email address that you'd like the invitation sent to?  I won't post the comments, so no worries about your email being shared).

One of the things I've been trying to figure out is how to efficiently record our family memories.  Do I print out the 3,079,354 photos I take a year?  I've been a little overwhelmed by it, and the result is that the photos keep piling up on my hard drive and nothing is done with them.

I was introduced to the concept of "Project Life" by a friend (you can read about it here) and thought it was a great solution.  A photo a day..and a short caption, and the year is done. 

Right now I'm in the process of putting my 2011 scrapbook together. Putting the photos in an album and writing my corresponding journal entries.  I love this album, the memories, and it's been fun to compile.

Here's what I don't like about it.
1.  I have a LOT more photos on my hard drive because I took more photos last year trying to get my "picture of the day."
2.  The scrapbook binder is BIG.  I can't store one of these for each year until the kids are grown.
3.  Sometimes I want more than one picture of an event.

So, I've decided to do things a little differently this year.  First, I'm going to do the digital version on Shutterfly.  I've done a lot of photo books with them and am happy with the quality.  It'll give me a much smaller book that I can order for each of the kids at the end of the year.  It gives me flexibility with the number and size of photos I use on a page, so I can use more photos of things that are important to me like birthdays and holidays. 

I also plan to have more of a weekly focus rather than daily.  I still might have a week with one photo of the day, or there might be a week where it's mostly just birthday photos.  I don't want to be as rigid with it, but just have the memories captured that I want.

I've started the book and plan to try to make it as I go ~  hopefully adding the photos and captions weekly so it'll just be done at the end of the year.  But if I fall behind it's on the "A Little Bit of Life" blog waiting until I can get caught up.  

We'll see how it works out.  I wanted to share this because I've discussed this with friends and I know others have the same dilemma as to how to manage photos/scrapbooking/documenting life for the kids.

If I don't like it, I'll just try something new next year.  By the time the kids graduate from High School I should have it figured out!

A Delicious Day

My very favorite day this school year was last friday.
My greatly anticipated "Jammie Day."

It was a raging success.
Completely delicious from beginning to end.

It was so wonderful to be at home all day and just have the opportunity to be with the kids and also get some things done around the house.

This is honestly my very, very favorite sort of day.  Just being at home with my kids with nothing on the calendar.  Had Dan been able to enjoy it with us it would have put it right over the top, but these at home family days are just the best to me.



Katie spent a lot of time in this laundry basket.
I had fun photographing her.





It became her movie watching spot.



There was a lot of this.



And I wanted to photograph one of the kids' fall windows.  This one is Andrew's.  They each decorated one.



Love this.



And this too.  Matthew really wants an Angry Birds shirt.   You can imagine how much I want to buy him one.  He googled "Angry Birds," found something he could print out, and made his own shirt.  The boy is resourceful!  He has always been like this. If he doesn't have something he wants, he tries to make it.  I love that about him.



Shan, this is the Elfa drawer I was telling you about but can't seem to remember to take you upstairs to show you.  (I need to join a Costco Wired Ribbon support group).

Dan said to me the other day, "Honey, what do we need to do to help so that you'll have some time to finish up the bonus room closet?"  (That was a nice way of saying, "Seriously honey, the bonus room closet has been all over the floor for five weeks.  Can you get it done already?")  I loved how carefully he phrased that question ~ 13 years of marriage in his corner, right there.  :)    I simply haven't had the time.  But today I did!



My label maker and I had a ball together.  And it's 98% of the way done.  At last.  That feels like a major accomplishment.

It was really a wonderful, wonderful day.  I felt so refreshed afterward.  I really needed a day at home.  The kids did too. 
I am counting down to our next day off of school.
Jammie Day #2.
I can't wait.

Organizing ~ The Paper Chase

I had a friend call with an organizing question today and I promised these photos, so Back to School post will have to be next.

I love to know how other families deal with all the paper coming into their house because it piles up SO quickly and I felt like last year my desk was always a huge mess.  It made me crazy.  I am determined this year to not have that happen so I spent a week going through my desk and the cupboards surrounding it and trying to set up a system to keep that from happening.  So here's what I came up with.

This is the Life Cycle of a piece of paper in our house. :)

Kids come in, and hang up their back packs here. If I don't have time to deal with whatever is in their backpack it goes up into those bins up above, sorted by kid. Dan's mail goes in one too. I'll show you where my mail goes in a minute.





This is the bin that lives on top of my desk.  The green folder in the back is my "Incoming mail" folder.  If I don't have time to deal with things it all just goes in there.  That would be anything coming through the mailbox ~ except magazines.  There's a file for Menu planning which has any recipes that I'm making for the week, so I can just pull them out when I'm making that meal, and an "Action" folder that has any papers or things that need to be dealt with.  Andrew's birthday thank you notes are in there right now and I'm shamefully late on those.



It also holds our prayer/praise books, an envelope for my current month's receipts so I can track my spending, and my coupon file, because I'm all about coupons.  It also has any cards that I'm going to send out soon as I'm notorious for misplacing them and never sending them.



Our permanent files are upstairs in the bonus room, but I put this one in my desk cupboard right now.  It has a  "to file upstairs" file of things that need to go up there when I have time, our church file for bulletins or things I want to keep downstairs to refer to, a file for each child for things like classroom information that I want to easily refer to, etc. and a low priority action file of things I need to get to (like I have an emergency preparedness check list of things that should be done that I'd like to prepare ~ things like that).  I made these files based on things that were often just sitting on my desk that I like to have close by, easy to refer to and not upstairs.  It'll continue to evolve.  I also have a household binder in there that I'm in the process of putting together and that has things like business cards of different repair people, a perpetual calendar, etc.



As for artwork, school papers, etc. I go through them and I usually hang up any fun art that they do, and then immediately sort the rest.  I save anything special that they've written, or little awards, etc. in one of these 12x12 envelopes that you can find at Michael's for $1.50.  But I'm pretty discerning about it.  Matthew's first grade folder is by FAR the biggest:



I'm going to go through it and thin it out.  After all, he'll be in school for 12 years.  I take photos of his art (saving just a few really special things) and I'm going to make a little photo book of it on Shutterfly for him for christmas.  He'll love that.  I put the art in the recycling bin after I photographed them.  (Except for some favorites). 



I have a binder for my recipes "to try" as I'm forever tearing out recipes from magazines or printing them off the internet. I love to try new recipes. The folder in the front is a place for me to quickly put any recipes in if I don't have time to file them. right now I'm caught up so there isn't anything in there.

The envelope and the tabs are from Office Max. They are the "in place" brand (I think that's the name it's by Peter Walsch The organizing guru that I adore). Anyway, I like the tabs because they stick out a tiny bit past the sheet protectors instead of getting buried in them.



Then I just stick the recipes inside sheet protectors however they happen to fit. They're sorted into categories like Soups/salads...chicken/fish/pork...beef....sides...sweet things. I just kept the binder in the car with my recipes and literally would work on it when I had 5 minutes here and there. That's how I get a lot of things like this done.

So that's how our paper chase works!  So far, it's working well.  But the true test will be in to have a spontaneous look at my desk in 3 months when we're in the thick of it!  Hope that helps! :)

'Twas the Night Before...The First Day of School

The clothes are pressed.



Backpacks are ready to go.



I organized an area in our laundry "room" (walk through) so that I can open the backpacks and just put the kids papers, etc. in their bin until I have time to deal with them.



I am desperately trying to avoid the big mess that lives on my desk most of the year. 

(On a side note, I thought the red laundry room would be "fun."

Big mistake.

I am hoping to paint it a very calm blue sometime in the near future....I find the more stimulating my surroundings are with kids, the more I crave a calm, serene atmosphere in my home. Not to mention I feel as though I should be doing my laundry in stilettos and fish net stockings).



The boys' clothes are laid out for the rest of the week so they can just get up and get dressed right away. Their sticker chart is behind the door so they can remind themselves of their morning responsibilities.

The boys spent their last day of Summer Jet Skiing and boating with Daddy and a friend of his.  Katie and I did errands, and she took a good long nap, which was exactly what I was hoping for.

We celebrated the last day of Summer vacation with S'Mores on the patio after dinner. 



We read, "The Berenstein Bears go to School", "Curious George's first day of school" "The night before Kindergarten" and "You and Me." (My favorite part of the day).

Andrew cried because he was going to miss me. And I did too.
Matthew had some encouraging words about making friends and Daddy provided some silliness. (Thank God for Daddy. Truly).

We said prayers and an extra prayer for a happy first day...new friends...a year of learning lots....

The laundry is done.
The ironing is done.
Everyone has clean sheets on their bed.
The house is tidy.
The groceries have been bought.
After school snack (cupcakes) just came out of the oven.
I even washed the van.

By all outward appearances, we're ready for the first day of school.

By all inward appearances, I'm not.

Honestly, I'm in such a bad mood.

So, I've been doing what I usually do when I'm anticipating a change...cleaning and organizing and trying to feel in control of life and "Ready" for the day, even when I'm really not.

Matthew's first day of second grade is really just more of the same....he's made that leap into the "big kid" stage.  He's part of his school.  He has friends. He's doing great. I'm confident he'll have a good year. That sensitive little baby grew into a surprisingly resilient and strong little boy.

Katie is making her baby step out tomorrow as she starts pre-school.  But it is at our church...I know the school well.  I love it there and I know her little heart will be well tended to.  She is very outgoing and self confident. Lots and lots of fun awaits her at school, and mostly I'm just excited for her as I know she's going to LOVE pre-school and it's such a fun time.

But Andrew takes his first step out tomorrow to Kindergarten.
I know the changes that will happen in him this year.
I've seen it before in Matthew.
And I celebrate some, and mourn others.
I have that first day of Kindergarten lump in my throat.
For so many reasons.... 
But tomorrow I will be all smiles and encouragement.
I loved Kindergarten as a child.
Andrew has a great teacher.
And I'm praying for a sweet boy in his class that is waiting to make a friend, just like Andrew.

I'm nervous for him for a variety of reasons, but not for the reason I thought I would be when I anticipated this day.
My main concern is for his tender heart.
I want so badly for this to be a positive experience for him.

It's hard to let him go.

But I will.

And I'll be counting the minutes until I get him back.

On Parenting & Organizing

I am cleaning out my desk today.

It's a glorious, lazy (yet productive), still in my pajamas and the kids are finger painting, crafting and watching too much tv sort of day.

My favorite.

I will have to shower for Katie's "parent night" tonight.

Later.

First, something funny.

I'm doing a top to bottom clean out of the desk, so every shelf, cupboard, drawer, etc is being cleaned out and organized so I can start the school year from a more sane place.  (It's helping my mindset tremendously.  Organizing is such therapy for me).

So, I was in the kitchen when I heard a far away panicked sounding...."Mama!  Mama!"

"Andrew?"

"Mama!"

"Where are you?"
He sounded far away and yet close at the same time...so strange.

Until I rounded the island and saw this....



Oh that little boy just cracks me up.  He was in tears (scared) when I pulled him out.
I held him and said, "Andrew what would we do without you?  Our life would be so boring."

:)

And for fun, this is what my desk looks like at this very second.



Yes, those whole two shelves on the top left are filled with sprinkles.  Do we have our priorities straight, or what?

I'm at the "getting messier before it gets better" part.  I'm going through that pile on the table right there piece by piece, and I came across a quote that I had saved.

I wanted to record it here so I would have it saved and can recycle that piece of paper. :)

It's from the book "Parenting the Heart of Your Child" by Diane Moore (p.125).  The quote draws a parallel between Jesus and parenting.

"A close look at Jesus' life shows a love that can be worn in everyday situations.  Not just a dress-up, looking good, Sunday morning image, but a love that rolls with the punches and doesn't worry about image or self.  Jesus was not trying to please people and make them comfortable.  He was working toward their good, whether they appreciated Him or not.  Since he did not fear their rejection of Him, he was able to love them even when they were in the process of humiliating and killing him."

So much good stuff in there to reflect on.

Back to the pile.... :)

Catching Up

This is going to be a really long post of random goings on the last week.

It was a busy first week of summer!  But really good, too.
We did VBS all week for Matthew, and 4 days for Andrew.
Here are a few pics I took during the weekend prior while decorating.



Amy, and Linda ~ fun friends from my small group.  Linda did SO much to oversee the decorations.  I am so thankful for her efforts.  It was a BIG job.

I spent a few Wednesday evenings with Linda and Andrea in the basement of the church preparing decorations and it was so much fun talking with them.  Andrea and I immediately clicked and had a fun time working together to set up this ice cream stand that she dreamed up.


And how cute is this sign that she made?



I was teasing her that I was going to sneak off with it when VBS was over. :)





There is a part during one of the songs when the leaders stop singing and you just hear all of the little voices singing,

"I am the way, the truth and the life..."

Oh it was so precious, it would just bring tears to my eyes.





Katie would try to do the moves to the songs too.



She is so going to love pre-school. :)
She's wearing her sunglasses on her head like me.



Andrew and his friend Samuel were in the same group. Andrew was really happy to be in class with him.  I was glad they had the time together.

I really can't say enough how grateful I am that the kids are able to go to this each year. The leaders do an amazing job, and it is such a fantastic ministry. It's truly wonderful.



In other happenings. I'm still cleaning out the house with great determination. I pull everything out, clean the drawers/cabinets, then sort things, get rid of what we don't need/use and then figure out how to organize it better. This is the part where it looks like a big mess.

The key is really the sorting and just putting like things together ~ it helps a lot! I learned that technique through my organizing website stalking.



Though it doesn't look like it, this was "Sorting" ~ soaps, hair products, tooth brushes (do we need that many?) first aid, etc.



These books are too big for the boys' bookshelves and have always annoyed me here.
I found this solution on sale (now) at Target.



And in doing that, I found some family gems to share.



Winnie made this "book" for Matthew when he was little. I can still hear his 3 year old voice reading it. He had it memorized.

He loved it.

It was such a fantastic idea.


simple words.



paired with pictures that showed the process of building the porch.
So great.


When Matthew was in Kindergarten he made books all the time.
This was one that I saved that was so cute.
A book about Matthew.



This is Kindergarten for "My friends are Isaiah and Hannah."

:)



This says "My favorite baby is Kaitlin." 
I love how he went back and added "And Grace." (Gras). :)

While I was organizing the books, I just gathered the paper crafts that he has recently done that were simply within arms reach and photographed them.

See what I mean?
Paper stuff, everywhere.



And look, here's the little crafter at work now!



Every day you can find him doing this.
He LOVES art.



I had a quick lunch with Andrew after VBS on Thursday before his Allergist appointment. This was the site of many lunches on days when I had an OB appointment. My Dad joined us for a couple. Dan would go there with the kids (and Dad) and then I'd meet up with them when I was done. It worked great.

Andrew was all smiles having lunch "with just Mama."
And wore the bag that held his lunch out on his head as a hat.  :)
We went to the allergist and played cars together, read books together (we were there for an hour and a half).
It was nice having time with him.

We'll go back for a skin test next month, but I really liked his allergist and I think we've found a combination of medicines that will give him some relief.



My friend Diane came to town unexpectedly. (A wonderful surprise!)
She ended up being later than expected, which worked out great as I could get some cookies in the oven! With my assistant, of course.

No baking is done in the house without her "help".



Love this face.
She said all sorts of cute things, like when I let her smell the vanilla,
"MMMmmmm! It smells like sea shells!" :)



Our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe from "Baking Illustrated."



Daddy was working from home and came down for something to drink.
We asked him to photograph us.
He obliged.



Diane arrived and Katie was smitten.
Diane is a teacher and is so great about engaging the children. She sat and showed Katie some pictures of her kids.

It was a wonderful visit ~ wish it could have been longer.
And wish it was more frequent. But I was so happy to have this time together!
Katie was so upset when Diane was leaving that she had to run around the yard with a wrinkled nose and say,
"GUTS! GUTS! GUTS!"

Thank you again, Ramona Quimby. :)

She recovered in time to blow kisses though.



My dear friend.



Of course, Dan had us laughing.
Thought this was cute of Diane.



We packed up and headed out for Richland today.
There's always a little spoiling done by Nana.
This little dress and wand was waiting for Kaitlin, who immediately said,
"I need to go outside and dance!!"









It had to be a short dance though, because we took the kids to see Cars 2!



The movie was cute, but best of all, I got to hold Katie and Andrew on my lap.
At different times of course.
Andrew is almost too big for my lap, which makes me really sad, so I just try to savor it. Truth be told, it's hard for me to breathe when he leans against my chest (a relaxed Andrew is dead weight).
But it's worth it. :)

On a side note,
it's HOT here, and I'm LOVING it.

It's going to be a great weekend!