a photo for friday

This picture really doesn't have much of a story to it.

It just makes me smile.

One of my favorites cause it's just so Elliott.

a photo for friday

Evidence that we're back to the grind of the everyday:

Although he didn't seem to mind this homework.  

He has to complete 3 spelling activities each week, and his teacher changes up the possible activities each month.  This month included signing your words and writing them in sugar or salt.  Last month you could say your words to the tune of Jingle Bells....I have to say I enjoyed that one a lot!

And......Elliott won the spelling bee in his class this week!  So proud of him!

back to busy

This week has been our "real" week back into the swing of things.  Last week was only 2 days back to school and then the weekend, so this was our first full week, and of course we had to add some extra things into our schedule on top of that.

Both of the boys started basketball practice this week and will continue that for the next 3 months.  But for the first time, they both have practice on the SAME night in the SAME place AND it's 2 minutes from our house at their school.  I cannot complain much about that one!

Ethan also switched baseball teams this year, and his new team began practice last night.  The prospect of that schedule lasting until July makes me a little weary, but I'm excited for what he is going to learn and the friends he is going to make with this new team.  However, it happens to be the same night as my women's Bible study at church so I'm not able to finish that with the group of ladies I started with.  Very disappointed about that.  But that's okay.

So with these on top of other responsibilities and upcoming events, we have been a little bit busier this week.

And, of course, it's the beginning of the year.  I like to think of this as my semi-annual kickstart to organizing and cleaning the house.  It pretty much happens twice a year - January and August, when school starts up again and we get back into a routine after summer.  So I've been trying to sort, purge, declutter and find new homes for lots of things - I want it all done NOW, but I know it's a process so I've been planning my weeks ahead with little projects.  I'm a little obsessive with organizing like that.

But, anyway, the busyness of this week reminded me of two things I have been wanting to write about that have helped me a little in the juggling act and making things a little easier.

The first is a book a read a little over 2 years ago :

Quit! by Geri Scazzero

It's been a while since I've read it, so I can't remember exactly all I liked about it.  But it did make me see so much more clearly that it really was okay to say "no" when someone asked if I would help with something or take care of something, if I really didn't have the time or it meant giving up something else important to me.  I would often feel guilty for saying that I couldn't help with a ministry or task, because I felt like I was letting others down and ultimately not living up to what God's purpose was for me in this life.  I feel like I've realized now that  saying "yes" to things that I should've been saying "no" to did not really benefit anyone.  I still love to help with all kinds of things - at church, home, school, etc.  I just feel like now I feel better about the reasons I do all of them.  It's not perfect, but I feel like God put this book in my hands at just the right time in my life and then led me through a series of events in which He showed me how to be more purposeful in what I take on and commit to.  So that has led to a better balance of individual commitments with home and family time at our house, along with a not-so-frazzled-feeling mom, which is always a good thing :)

The second thing I've been wanting to share is this app:

Momento

I'm sure that I first saw this on a blog that I was reading when I was trying to learn Lightroom last year. It's like an electronic journal or diary, so if you want to remember something funny your kids say or something nice someone did for you, or just that it snowed 6 inches that day, then you can just write it in this app and then access it anytime.  

This is especially appealing to me because I so desperately want to remember my kids' childhood - the little things about it - things they say, funny ways they do things, along with big things like scoring for the first time at their baseball game or winning the spelling bee.  AND, I love it because it's great for scrapbooking (when I ever get a chance to do that).  I can scroll through and see what stories I want to include in their books.

I think the best part about this is that it integrates with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and probably whatever other social media you use.  So anytime I post a status on Facebook or post a picture to Instagram it gets pushed to the Momento app when I open it the next time.  And it's all arranged chronologically.  You can tag people, places, events, etc.

I know I don't use this enough, but I really do love it and it saves me a lot of time when I want to remember something or when I try to recall it later.  I always have my phone with me so I can always add a snippet anytime, anywhere.

And maybe I have one more thing that has been useful to me to get through the busyness

Project Life by Becky Higgins

This is an approach that I've been using for the past few years to document our lives through all the pictures we take and stories that I want to remember.  I'm still behind, but I don't feel the need to be so creative every time I want to do a page for one of our scrapbooks.  It gives me the freedom to just print pictures and slip them into a page protector along with some journaling cards - it's quick and easy and DONE!

I am still working on last year.  I think most people that do this do it weekly and some even do a photo a day.  I did that one year and love it, but a photo a day was too much for me.  Weekly documenting has seemed too overwhelming in the past as well, so I've just been doing monthly documenting.  I like how I don't feel too rushed about it, and when I do make the effort to catch up it doesn't take long at all to do that.  And even if I never do get around to adding anything more to the boys' albums, they will at least have what we recorded in our family Project Life albums.

I have been using the Cherry Edition for the past few years.

I'm getting kind of bored with it now.  It has lasted me so long because it's designed to be used weekly, not monthly, so I've gotten at least 3 years out of it.

And this is the Clementine Edition.  

I bought it last year to use in the book I plan to create to chronicle our cancer journey.  Yet I still haven't started that.  Another project on my list.

 And my favorite new one, that just became available within the last few days,

the Seafoam Edition

I'm planning to use this one for this year.  It has more of a boyish tone to it I think, and since my house consists mainly of boys.....

Being I'm being a little brave this year, getting out of my routine, and planning to do the weekly photos.  I plan to go back to monthly next year, but I was remembering how much I liked the photo a day thing a few years ago.  It really made me appreciate the little everyday things in our family, and that's what I really want to remember - they are the most special to me.  So I'm changing it up this year, but not putting the pressure on myself to get a photo for each day - just an overview of the week.

I'm also planning to do everything digitally this year.  So this is actually the edition I will be using:

Seafoam Edition at ACDigitals

Not sure if I'll get tired of using the same papers, cards, etc. over the year.  I may decide to do a different set for each month.  I don't know.  I just like the ease and flexibility.  And then at the end I can either print scrapbook pages or bind it all into a hardcover book.

Anyway, didn't mean to get into all of that.  It's late and I guess it's my way of rambling.  I'm excited for the busyness and the challenges and blessings that it brings.  Looking forward to this new year!

a photo for friday

I was thinking that maybe I could at least commit to writing one post per week - even if it's just my favorite photo from the week.  We'll see how it goes.

We finally got snow on New Year's Eve.  It really wasn't much.  A couple inches maybe?  But the boys wanted to get out in it right away, of course.  It was actually good snow to make snowballs and snowmen, so they had fun playing with some of the neighbors for a while.  I would be fine if this was the only snow we saw this season.  They, on the other hand, would not!

one off their bucket list

Well, actually two things checked off their list now that I think about it.  The first one being that they were finally able to go to the Arch.  They had been asking to do this for a few years.  There really wasn't a reason we hadn't done it.  We had just not made it down there with them.  I call it their "zoo trip".  When Brian was growing up he would ask periodically to go to the zoo, but it was always either too hot or too cold, etc.  So he ended up not ever going to the zoo until he was in college!  It was just one of those things that had really good intentions but just never worked out.  Same as the Arch for the boys.

Then at the beginning of Christmas break, Elliott declared that his friends at school were even making fun of him because he had never been to the Arch.  Not sure how exaggerated that statement was, but I thought maybe I should take them while we had some days off.  It would give us something to do for relatively cheap.

  So one day after Christmas we headed downtown.  About halfway there, the boys started asking if we could take the Metrolink.  Enter the second bucket list item.  I said no at first, but then thought "why not".  So we made our way to the nearest station with parking, fought with the ticket vending machine (I felt pretty good that we finally got our tickets after about 5 tries and then sat down in the train only to see a sign that they were changing things a little beginning in January - so I'm sure it will take me that many times for the next ride, too), found the heaters on the platform and waited for the train.  

They loved it.  At least the ride there.  When we were done at the Arch they were a little agitated that we had to get back on the Metrolink to get back home.  But the ride home was far more educational as we met a homeless man and heard all kinds of colorful conversations.  It definitely sparked a little more compassion in them.  They used to think there was no such thing as people being homeless.  I guess that is a difficult thing to imagine when you and everyone around you has never really "needed" anything, especially a place to sleep at night.  Definitely an eye opener for them - and me.

 Once we got to the Arch the clouds had cleared a lot, and it was a really pretty day.  We had to stand in line outside for 20 minutes or so to get through security, which surprised me because I thought it wouldn't be all that busy.  I was a little worried that we wouldn't make it to the top with so many people there, but it ended up being way less crowded than it seemed once we got inside and pretty much got on the next tram to the top.

 We made it!  Nobody liked the ride up that much, but it was definitely worth it.

 View of downtown

 630 feet up! 

Which apparently equals 395 feet higher than the Superman ride at Six Flags, according to the boys' math.

By now you may be wondering why there are no pictures of Ethan at the top.  Once we got up there, he decided that he liked it MUCH better on the ground.  I don't know where he would get that from?! He was very brave and stayed up there for a while so that Elliott could enjoy it, but he really would have preferred to leave on the same tram we came up on.  And he definitely wanted no pictures to remind himself of being there!