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!

Christmas 2012

A few pictures from our Christmas celebrations.

We had a great time with my parents, sisters and their families last weekend.

Never seems like there is enough time together!

And Christmas morning at home was awesome too.

When we moved to Missouri we decided to stay home on Christmas.

We had been alternating between our families in Illinois and Florida, but we felt like we wanted the boys to have the chance to wake up at their own house on Christmas morning for a while.  And we have loved each year of that!  We always have a very low-key day.  No big meals to prepare or clean up.  No traveling.  Just pajamas all day, snacking, hanging out, napping, whatever we want.

hair.....one year later

Last Thanksgiving (2011) Brian and I decided that it would be interesting to document the comeback of my hair through pictures.  Originally we were going to do a photo everyday.  That crazy thought was replaced with one a week very quickly.  But I couldn't even keep up with that.  So it just became a "hey it's been a while since we took a picture of my hair" type of schedule.  I tried to at least get documentation of each stage.  

Sorry that the dates are kind of difficult to read.  Guess I should have used a different font, but it looked fine when I was doing it in Photoshop.  I think you can click on it and it will open in a new window in a larger size if you really want to see them.

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you since you've shared in our journey all this time. 

I'm so glad we did this, and in fact I think I will continue it for another year.

I have a few observations about this little collage:

1.  I think it goes down as the most different

hairstyles in one year for sure.

2.  It definitely saw the boldest hairstyles I've 

ever even entertained.

3.  As a spinoff from #2, I do not ever remember

having the desire to shave my head, have 

a pixie cut or anything else shorter than

chin-length.  But while I have complained

about different issues with each stage,

I've also enjoyed a lot of things about

having short hair and would definitely do 

some of them again.

4.  You should try to get your husband or a girlfriend

to photograph you as much as possible when 

doing a project like this.  When no one else

is around and your kids are the ones behind

the camera they do not feel compelled to tell you

when you're making a crazy face.

Looking at this I also have one overall regret - that I didn't shed the hats, scarves and wig earlier.

I did go sans head cover at home most of the time, but always found a need to cover up if I was leaving the house - risk of sunburn, it was cold outside, the kids would be embarrassed, people would stare even more than they already did.  All valid reasons, but if I were to do it over (which I do not plan to do), I would be much more open to just being bald all the time.

This next part is just telling a little about some of the pictures individually.  Mostly for me, but if you're interested, keep on reading.

(Perhaps this is why I have fallen off the blogging wagon.....my posts end up being so long that it seems a bit overwhelming!)

Thanksgiving 2011
This was really more than just the beginning of documenting
my hair growth.  This picture was taken on Thanksgiving,
when I had finally started feeling better after the last chemo treatment,
and if I remember right, food tasted good again.
But more than that, I was DONE with chemo.
When I started feeling better after each of the prior treatments
it was just in time to start another one.
Now I no longer had to anticipate what lied before me with any more treatments!

Early December
There wasn't a whole lot of change in these few weeks,
but you can see some fuzzies starting to show up in these two pictures! 

Only one month since the first picture.

It looks so much darker looking at it now.

At the time it felt like it had not grown one millimeter. 

Christmas Day.

Shortly after this picture, I started to go places without my security blankets of hats, wigs or scarves.

It felt good.  I was self-conscious for a few days, feeling some stares sometimes but that's just human nature.  It honestly did not upset me at all.  It was awkward sometimes, but I was never upset or angry about it.  I think most people are just curious or want to say something to you but aren't sure if you'll be receptive to it so they unknowingly are still looking at you while they are deciding if they are going to be courageous and talk to you or not.  But most people were so kind and would even approach me sharing a cancer story of their own or just to say they would pray for me.  I always wish that I was that outgoing.  And my friends and family were so encouraging,

of course.  In fact, the primary reason that I decided it was time to let the world in on my hair journey was that my dad's cousin, Ellie, made such a fuss over how much she loved it when I saw her at Christmas.  She wasn't saying it was cute or that it looked great on me or that it suited my face (you know all those things that we want to hear about our hair every once in a while).  She just thought it was great and loved that I was wearing it like that.  She had gone through cancer journeys

with two of her sisters and talked to me for a long time about mine.  I completely understand and empathize that some people aren't sure if you want to talk about cancer when you have it.

Some people are uncomfortable talking about it with you.  Some people don't know what to say and would rather not say much, afraid of offending you or bringing up bad memories.  I've been all of those people in all different situations.  I'm always intrigued how some people are just naturally comfortable

conversing with others, especially in a crisis situation or awkward moments.  I am not one of them.  But Ellie seemed to be.  At least that evening.  I completely enjoyed our conversation

and went home with more confidence that it was time for me to put the head covers away for a while.

 Early February

By this point I was realizing two things.

Number 1 - my hair is really dark!

Number 2 - Earrings and make-up go a LONG way in

helping a girl enjoy extremely short hair!

End of February

 I like to call this the "Spock" phase.
Star Trek lovers, you know what I'm saying.
Live long and prosper, right?

Can't see much scalp anymore - yay!!

It still didn't look much like a style to me, but at least you couldn't see skin.
This is definitely not my favorite picture.
I'm not sure why I kept it, except that it reminds
me that it was difficult going through all of these
stages.

Skipping to June now.

Guess we weren't very good about

taking pictures in the spring.

It was finally starting to look like an actual

hairstyle to me here.

In fact, I would do this one again.

It actually required some kind of maintenance

at this point.  Well, if you call towel-drying your 

hair and finger-styling with a bit of gel maintenance.

It was most definitely the best stage as far as

balance of ease and actual style.

And here we have the crazy face in July.

I kept thinking that in all the other pictures

one of my eyes looked droopy.  So I thought

I would try to keep both of them open really

good to combat that.

Ouch!

The messy look in the hair doesn't help matters.

It was a fun style though.  I was tired of it

being flat on my head and tried to give it

a little oomph (is that a word? I don't know).

Not my favorite but it was okay.

Another July picture - few weeks later.

And a bit tamer!  I liked this stage, too.

Long enough to be a style yet still easy to maintain.

I was still using the gel product, because I didn't

want it to be too poofy.  It was also very wavy/curly

and not quite long enough to use a flat iron.

If I were to cut it like this again, I think I would

blowdry it and then define it using this Rough Paste

that my neighbor told me about that I love and have 

been using for months now.  It would have given

it definition without making it look wet all the time.

I didn't know about it at the time, and I've learned a LOT about

styling products in the past year.

September

It's getting long enough to use some clips

and headbands.

Not really a fan of this look.  I liked having my

bangs pulled back and doing something fun

with it for a change, but that's a LOT of forehead there!

October

This is what the boys call my "Mizzou" hair.

I wanted to get highlights to do something

different, and I would say it is the most

controversial hair move I have made - possibly ever.

Seemed like everyone had an opinion -and each one

was different - and no one was

shy about sharing it :)  Of course I asked everyone

for their opinion, so it was all good.  The people who really

had to live with it everyday liked it, so I kept it

for a while.  But every morning I would look in

the mirror and have to do a double-take.  I just could

not get used to the "gold".  I liked it.  I liked it

on other people.  I guess the problem was that 

I was already trying to get used to short short hair 

everyday,  and changing the color 

just threw me for a loop.  I felt so bad asking

my hairdresser if we could darken it.  I truly did

like her work - it just didn't look like ME anymore.

But she totally understood and got me in right away to 

put some toner on it.  So thankful for her!

So it looked more like this early November.

You can see that the toner made the highlights

look more reddish-brown (satiating my desire

for red hair just a little bit maybe).  I felt like

I was back in my own skin - funny how much effect

a hairstyle or color can have on you :)

This was early November also.

Just without the raised eyebrow, eye-drooping 

avoidance face that was present in the one above.

I like this stage also.  It's a little awkward around

the ears where it's trying to grow past them, but

the rough paste usually helps.

Thanksgiving 2012

I do like this stage and have definitely thought

about keeping it like this for a while.

I had just got it cut the day before Thanksgiving,

and we decided to stack the back layers, keeping

them shorter and tapered toward my neck, and to

let the front layers grow longer.  I'm hoping

this will keep the back from feeling so thick

and heavy while the front grows out (which

for some reason seems like it is 10 times slower

than the back).  

Observations about this stage are that you

definitely need a flat iron, good product for

volume and definition, and hair accessories.

Why, you ask?

Because every morning your hair will look like this:

And no matter how you slice it, that is not how you

want to walk out of the house....not even just to 

drop your kids off at school.  Trust me, 

they will be embarrassed.