Second Grade!

The great photo dump and other stuff

I've cut back on the number of photos that I post to facebook.  I just don't feel like I have the control of it that I used to and I'm not sure that I want all 200 "friends" looking at every aspect of my life.  It's weird to run in to mostly strangers at the store and know that they've seen the inside of my house, photos of my children painting, etc... I've transitioned to Instagram for most of my photo sharing because I'm able to make my stream private and share only with people that are interested in looking at hundreds of photos of my children. :)
So here are some photos from my instagram stream this past week (or so).

 I love that Georgia lays on her tummy to color.  I remember doing that as a kid. 

 Kelly and Cooper are two of Henry's favorite people.  Partially because they have a video game system that he loves and they let him play it whenever he comes over, but also because they get him pizza.  No seriously, he loves them, they are great. 

 I saw this painting a few weeks ago.  I just wanted to document it.  It was amazing.

 Georgia calls these "bubble slippers'.

 Pillows and "Friends"

 I don't think I posted this earlier.  A family photo, the first one we've taken in a while.

Georgia loves to read. 

 She loves to wear "hats"

 This was her first time on a carousel.  She picked the purple horse.

 Dressing up with Henry. 

 Picking flowers from our yard.

Holding hands with her brother.

Taking naps with Grandpa (mostly Grandpa napping).

 

And painting

8.19.2013

Sooooo….once again I fail at weekly updates.  I’m not ready to give up yet.  I’m stubborn.  Really stubborn.  Like, it took me 10 years to graduate from college, stubborn.  Anyhoo, this weekend was busy, well at least it felt busy although thinking back on it I feel like we were mostly homebodies.  I tell you, there is nothing like the “mirror” that is having children.  I always thought we were homebody-ish but now having this 7 year old around that grumbles with every outing and cannot stand the idea of putting on shorts in order to go outside, I realize what big’ol homebodies we really are. 

This past week was the last week of summer.  Henry and Georgia spent their days with Gigi and Grandpa, like usual.  The week before, the one that is missing from my attempts to update weekly, well that week Gigi and Grandpa were in Colorado.  Which, I feel, explains why it was that I was not able to update the blog, I mean I was chasing these kids around all day long.  I had no energy for cute photos and long explanations of our daily activities.  My blog post would have looked something like “HELP ME”, which isn’t very interesting.  So see, I skipped the post for your sake. So anyway, last week, while my parents were out of town, Henry and I decided that we were going to paint the living room.  It’s slightly hilarious that we thought we could do this.  We figured we’d tackle one room at a time while G napped.  In a week we were able to paint one wall.  I learned some things.  1. 100+ year old walls are not flat.  2. 7 year olds aren’t great painters.  They are prone to distraction and mostly just want to use the roller on their hands.  3.  I hate washing out brushes and rollers and my husband will only do it for me some of the time. 4. My job is way easier than keeping up with my children 5. Henry can talk some serious trash when playing Mario Cart. 6. It’s impossible to keep my house clean, I will stop trying.  7. Georgia and Henry love Chai Tea Lattes. 

A question: do we have to buy the Crayola brand markers or is the Target brand okay?  Because I was digging through those bins looking for Crayola, original, wide tip, not washable, markers and hanging right by my head was a perfect little line of Target brand.  All the while Georgia was yelling “Buy it” “Get it Mama” “Jaja want it” as she unloaded an entire shelf of lunch boxes in to the cart. 

Once again I’m off track.  But that’s fine, the trip to Target for school supplies was pretty much all I can remember from two weeks ago anyway.  I may have blocked it.  This past week was nice.  The weather is amazing.  Unfortunately, we are not the only creatures that are enjoying it.  The mosquitoes are out with a vengeance and our children are mosquito candy, it seems.  So we locked ourselves in and enjoyed the breeze through screened windows.  Blah.  On Thursday the family got together to celebrate my birthday.  The people are Free State were smart and put us alone in the back room.  Kelly surprised us with cupcakes.  Georgia surprised us by throwing her rice (which was actually only surprising to the waiter, sorry man, we left you a good tip though).  On Friday Henry and I made another attempt to paint the living room.  We completed wall #2.  Slow and steady.  On Saturday G and I got up early and went to breakfast with Kelly and Cooper at Roost.  We overate and then went to the farmers market and overspent.  It was fun.  All the while, Henry and Wade went to Dunkin Donuts and then sat around watching cartoons.  In the afternoon Wade and I got on some coffee induced cleaning kick and we cleared out a ton of baby stuff (you’re welcome, Mom).  I thought I’d be sad letting those things go but I wasn’t really.  The week before knocked out any desires I had for a third child.  J  On Sunday we did more cleaning, shopping, drinking of coffee and whatnot.  We played some and we cooked some.  It was a nice relaxing day and Henry only had to put on his shorts once. 

That's all I've got.  I'll add some photos and pretty it up for you this evening (sure I will....). 

8.7.2013

Our friends, Jason and Mandy, came to visit a couple of weeks ago.  It's hard to put in to words what they mean to us.  Being with them is just so good.  Anyway, one day at dinner they mentioned that they enjoyed the blog.  I felt a little bad since I have been terrible at keeping up with this blog since Georgia arrived (and decided not to sleep for, well, for 20 months and counting). It's mostly a time management thing but there is also the thing about effectively communicating while only getting 4 hours of sleep, see I don't...effectively communicate on 4 hours of sleep.  My coworkers will tell you: I space off mid sentence, start stories in the middle, forget that I have already told them something minutes after I tell them.  It's pretty nuts.  I plan to revive the blog, I want to, but I think I'll focus on shorter stories and photos for a while.  Just until she starts sleeping.  She has to sleep someday...right?
So today is my birthday.  I'm not thrilled about turning 36, it's bothering me more than it should, so I made my list and am determined to change my attitude.  Here it is.  36 things to do in my 36th year-

This year I will -

1. Learn to use my fancy camera
2. Visit my sisters
3. Swim in the ocean
4. Read 50 books
5. Save money
6. Catch fireflies
7. Start a new tradition
8. Make a Christmas Stocking for Wade
9. Send each of my sisters a “just because” gift
10. Focus on the good
11. Art journal/photo every day
12. Exercise daily
13. Play more, clean less
14. Be kind
15. Stop worrying about things I cannot control
16. Have a big birthday party for Henry
17. Make Christmas gifts
18. Go vegetarian
19. Take Henry to see the mountains
20. Lay in a hammock
21. Have a family photo session
22. Have weekly movie nights
23. Remember birthday’s and anniversaries
24. Paint the living room
25. Send thank you notes
26. Take walks with my husband
27. Wear a skirted bathing suit with pride
28. Plant and pick berries
29. Paint until I make something that I’m proud of
30. Talk less, listen more
31. Fill my house with fresh flowers
32. Play with my children every day
33. Sleep in a tent
34. Keep up with the blog
35. Nurture friendships
36. Kiss the hubs