Week in the Life - Day 4 (10/30/14)

Day 4 of my documentation project. Honestly, I'm pretty surprised I made it this far. But once I got used to constantly having the camera close, it just became natural.

You can see that we don't lead very exciting lives, and that's ok.  I think most parents that are raising young children don't do too many things out of a routine.

Here is a classic Boss moment - wanting to "hold me".

I made a trip to the bank this day because it was payday. Since Colin was working, all the kids came with.

Here is Boss throwing a fit. I feel like his twos just bled right into his threes sometimes. I can't even remember exactly what this fit was over.

Boss loves nothing more than Christmas stuff - this ginormous nutcracker was right up his alley in Costco. My mom came to help with the shopping trip and we all perused the holiday aisle, taking our time to look at toys, lights, wrapping paper, etc.,

I had to run to Target to get Samuel some socks. I honestly don't love bringing everyone into that store because it's just an opportunity for kids to see what they don't own and it's always kind of a struggle to get out of there without long explanations that we don't need extra insert the blank. Come to think of it, I have to tell myself that in Target as well.

This is me carrying Boss into the store. This kid will probably be the death of my back.

We made a trip after dinner to New Seasons because I was out of my decaf coffee and the world ceases to spin if I can't have a cup of coffee in the morning.

This is a pretty typical trip to Costco - we spend a lot of money there. Hoards of spinach and eggs just makes more financial sense for a family of our size.

This is what dinner looks like for us when Colin works. There is talking, coloring, intermittent eating. Sometimes it's stressful for me to cook, manage the eating and clean up and then continue to bed time. I only have so much energy...

I did such an easy dinner that night - spiral ham, sweet potatoes and garlic green beans.

I set the camera timer on while I did some of my normal stuff - like dishes.

And dinner prep.

This is me getting Boss out of his seat.

Another van picture.

Mom joined us for lunch. We had organic pepperoni, veggies, apples, fancy cheese. It was pretty good.

My morning makeup application.

Naptime. It lowers my blood pressure just to look at this picture. I always rest in this chair. Since I spent so much time being sick with cancer on the couch (day and night), I just can't bring myself to use it much.

Jude telling me something in New Seasons. I try my best to hear every child. I'm not perfect. But I try to make them feel loved and accepted, even with the little stories they feel compelled to tell.

We spend a lot of time at New Seasons. If I'm not delivering there, I'm hitting up the sales.

Sometimes Samuel peruses Amazon for gifts or books and sometimes he peruses the library website. We don't allow too much internet time yet.

Here I am homeschooling in my pjs. You an tell I have a very attentive audience.

Sissy exiting the bank.

Sissy wrestling Jude.

I couldn't decide what photo I wanted for the cover page.

They are both pretty sweet :)

Week in the Life, Day 3 (10/29/14)

Here is Wednesday for my Week in the Life. By this point, most people either give up or stick with it until the end.

Here I am - I wake at 5:30 every day, grab my cup of coffee and read "Daily Bible". After that I read "The Mission of Motherhood" or just spend time in prayer. The house is quiet at this hour and it's sacred.

Here Boss was helping me make biscuits. This kid loves working with dough.

Boss stole Jude's beloved blanket and cradles it on the floor. What a weirdo. He spends a fair amount of time torturing the other kids.

Boss likes also to horn in on my craft time in the morning. He will come sit on my lap while it's still dark out and "help" me sew and scrapbook.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the entire week. Love it.

Morning email checking.

Colin teaching Jude. Jude is just not sure of the answer.

This is the disaster that is our office right now. I was printing out invoices at this point.

Here's Jude's writing at 2nd grade. He works really hard on it and his hands get tired a lot. Here he is copying couplets of poetry.

We delivered to a store as a family that morning - Jude was telling a story when Samuel and I came out of the store.

This kids don't watch a ton of TV. They will watch in the evenings after about 7 sometimes, when neither Colin or I have energy to break up fights anymore. When Colin is working, they watch after dinner. Here they were watching a rare afternoon show for some reason. They are desperate for screen time, so they pretty much watch anything.

This is Boss helping me sew.

Boss makes a habit of sitting on Colin's lap during breakfast and eating half of it.

This is bedtime. I wish I could say we read every night, but my energy level doesn't really allow that all the time. They look pretty peaceful here, but mostly book time is them fighting over my lap, Sissy asking a million questions and Samuel complaining because we aren't reading his novel.

Samuel wakes every morning and sits in my chair and reads his latest favorite book. It's so exciting to see him get into books like I did at that age.

Samuel offered to help me stock the store - he knows the Concordia store better than I do. He knows where the product is in the freezer and where the date gun is.

Chores. Sissy always puts clean silverware away.

On the way to the New Seasons delivery, Jude helped Sissy do her math. It was really sweet. I heard her say, "You are a really good brother."

Here's Sissy working on her 1st grade reading/writing worksheets. She's young for this grade, so it's a bit of a struggle, but I think she will be ok. It just takes more of my attention.

I had to use this for my cover page. Such a sweet photo. I really love the emotion that b&w photos allow to come through.

I also had this one printed, just in case one picture turned out sharper than the other.

And wrestling - so much wrestling in our house. This a fun way for the kids to burn energy. At least 2 kids end up crying at some point, but it's always fun while it lasts.

Week in the Life, Day 2 (10/28/14)

This would have been Tuesday of my Week in the Life. Most of these days are just so normal and that's exactly what I'm trying to capture. Honestly, the hardest part of this project for me so far has been the amount of time I spend on the computer digitizing/manipulating these photos. I am actually not a big fan of craft time spent on the computer. I like tangible. I want to touch the photos, the fabric, the paper. It will be really fun when I start actually putting these in an album.

So here is Boss at the library. The library is a key player to our weeks during the school year. We get movies, we get interesting books, we talk. We ride our bikes there, we walk, I drive - whatever suits our fancy that day (or whatever the weather permits). It's just a great way to spend time together and raise book nerds like myself.

I love these snuggle pictures - it truly captures who Boss is right now. He's bossy, but clingy.

This is what breakfast looks like around here. Messy table, chaotic kids, lots of stories. Usually there is coloring or toys on the table.

I did a delivery to the new Tualatin New Seasons that day. With all the kids. For awhile there I was struggling to keep up with homeschool because we were doing so many morning deliveries. Things are calmer now and homeschool is getting caught up a bit.

Jude and Samuel do math flashcards together everyday. I really like utalizing all my "students" to help teach the others. They also do books of the Bible together (they have almost the entire list memorized at this point)

Joel came to have lunch with us - he delivers for Nestle and comes sometimes to chat and eat my food :).

This is what the table usually looks like in the morning - remnants of the day before. Is it perfectly organized? No. But it's our reality. I love having a clean house, but it rarely stays that way.

Dinner was lentil soup and gluten free muffins. I was amazed that my kids scarfed both of these down. Gluten free is a tough gig. I'm recipe testing for gluten free cookie dough to sell to New Seasons right now, and it's no easy feat.

The library again. Samuel loves this place more than life itself.

Oh this kid is so snuggly. I journaled right onto the next couple of photos.

Nighttime is just a gem for me - a quiet house. A lot of the time I am alone and I just read in bed. Heaven. I also text from my iPad, but mostly read. I listen to Coast to Coast AM radio (have for years). Drifting off to sleep takes all of 10-20 minutes at this point of my life.

Here are the kids at the Tualatin New Seasons after we delivered. We picked up some elderberry extract for a friend and I delivered it to her in Sherwood because she had a sick kiddo.

Tucking the kiddos in includes praying with the kids. Boss never closes his eyes. I'm contemplating having the kids pray to me. I'm want to foster their own relationship with God.

Samuel doing school.

Samuel takes care of the library returns most of the time.

More school.

This is actually Language Arts that Samuel is doing. I love the curriculum we went with (Total Language Plus). He throws a ball back and forth while he spells out letters. Apparently motion is important for learning at this age. I would agree - especially with boys.

This is about 6:15 a.m. - it's the only time I have to create. I was sewing a nursing cover for a cousin here.

Praying with Sissy before bed. She always squeezes me real hard when I pray with her.

And here's the cover for Tuesday - Sissy in the car. Samuel actually took this.