Project Life: January 1-8

So, needless to say... My Project Life posts were seriously lacking towards the end of 2010.  Ahem.  As were all my posts...  But it's a new year, so what better time to jump back on board?!  I love the idea of Project Life and if I really get my act together, am even thinking about making these pictures into a tangible scrapbook.  I love the convenience of pictures online/on the computer, but there is something nice about being able to hold something in your hands and take it in.


Saturday, January 1 ~ Happy New Year from the boys and me!!  For the last few years we've hosted New Year's Eve at our home and these were some of the leftover party accessories that the boys (and I) were playing with the next morning.

Sunday, January 2 ~ The boys, especially my oldest, are really into Toy Story.  They also are outgrowing all their pajamas, so for Christmas GiGi and G-Man (My mom and stepdad) helped us stock up on none other than Toy Story pajamas (You can also see a pair in the photo above).  My poor Jayden has his "sick eyes" in this picture as he was in the beginning of a cold, but they were pretty ecstatic to have these pajamas!

Monday, January 3 ~ Today the boys and I spent our entire day finishing up Christmas (See 2011 goals, #11) and after-Christmas clearance shopping.  They were such troopers (A new Toy Story book and some cookies helped)!

Tuesday, January 4 ~ Since committing to do Project Life for 2011 wasn't something I had thought through until the last couple of days, you get to see my messy kitchen on January 4.  The original point of this picture was to do a before and after organizing post... but that didn't happen.  Granted the severity of my cluttery mess is intensified due to the holidays, we'll just use this picture to say this is why #3 is on the 2011 goal list.

Wednesday, January 5 ~ There are a couple of things Jackson has started doing lately that I think are very cute, like going off on his own to build towers with his wooden blocks and this other little face he's making in the top right picture.  I also thought it was sweet how the boys like to sit at the bottom of the stairs while their daddy was working from home upstairs in his office.  I can just hear Jackson saying "Cheeeeeeeeeeese!!" for this picture. 

Thursday, January 6 ~ The boys and I left for Tennessee today to go visit with family while the hubs traveled on 2 back-to-back work trips.  This is one of the pictures I sent him on our drive down.  I try to send him a ton of picture updates when we're apart because he misses the boys (and hopefully me) like crazy!  Yes, we miss him too. :)

Friday, January 7 ~ Today was a fun day at GiGi and G-Man's house!  G-Man wanted to take the boys to McDonald's to play and have some lunch, and in true G-Man style he jumped right in and played with them.  Jackson loves pretending he's driving, which is what he was trying to tell G-Man in the picture.  Jayden loved climbing and playing in the playplace.  After lunch the boys came home and opened some Christmas presents from family who had sent them from WV.  Jayden especially loved his sleeping bag equipped with a flashlight. (The kid loves flashlights!)  Speaking of love, Jackson loves the Veggie Tales movie Jonah, which is what he, G-Man, and my sister Emmie are watching in the bottom left picture.  We completed the day with a story read by GiGi (by request of Jackson).

Saturday, January 8 ~ We started out Saturday with pancakes made by G-Man (He spoiled us with these almost every single day we were in Tennessee) and then drove up to visit my grandfather who we call "Pops."  We met my dad, stepmom, brother, and sister there and spent some time playing outside.  I forgot to pack any gloves for the boys, so my Aunt Robyn brought some over that she had of my cousin's - Mork and Mindy circa 1980!

To see more Project Life photos you can go visit The Mom Creative!

Looking forward to continuing the rest of the year with our pictures!!  Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Project Life Tuesday: August 22-28

Whew!  We have had one crazy, crazy week.  I knew it would be a little on the difficult side because my husband had a lot going on with work, which meant I would be doing a lot on my own with the kiddos, but the end of the week truly threw some bittersweet surprises at us.

Sunday, August 22:  Today we left Nashville to return home after celebrating my Pops' 80th birthday.  These are my boys with Pops before we went our separate ways. 

Monday, August 23:  Today I started a new project with Jayden that I learned about at Impress Your Kids.  Every week we talk about one letter, a bible verse that starts with that letter, and a craft that has to with that letter.  Jayden loved it and we had a blast doing it.  I had been feeling like I needed to be doing something educational during the days we're home, but didn't know where to start until I saw this.  It was great mommy and son time!

Tuesday, August 24:  This morning I decided to make homemade waffles for the first time with the waffle maker we got as a wedding gift 3 years ago.  Why we haven't done that yet I don't know, I guess I was intimidated by it, but the waffles were delish.  Jackson helped me stir (while occasionally dipping his hands in the batter).  :)  Sidenote: Yes, those are snowflakes on his pajamas.  They fit and they're comfy, so that's really all that matters.  :)

Wednesday, August 25:  Today was mine and my husband's 3rd wedding anniversary.  It was also a very long day for my husband with work.  He didn't get home until after 9:00 p.m., but when he did he had these roses for me.

Thursday, August 26:  Yep, so this is when the craziness began, or maybe I should say got crazier, because the week was already a little crazy.  Late Wednesday night I noticed Jayden having some trouble breathing.  By Thursday morning it was pretty intense and he obviously wasn't feeling well, so I took him to the doctor's office.  They gave him a breathing treatment, a steroid, a chest xray (the picture below), and another breathing treatment and he still wasn't doing much better.  At one point there was high concern about his xray (which absolutely scared me to death), but after an official reading it was confirmed normal.  After an afternoon nap and some time for the medicine to kick in, Jayden was acting much better, although still having some trouble breathing.  By the end of the day I felt like I had been on some kind of awful roller coaster, but above anything else I was thankful my little man was ok.

Friday, August 27:  After all the craziness on Thursday we scheduled a follow-up appointment with our pediatrician to make sure everything was ok and that we were doing everything we needed to be doing.  He confirmed that we needed to fill a prescription for a nebulizer so we could do breathing treatments from home among other things.  Later, a coworker of my husband offered us second row seats at the Rascal Flatts/Kellie Pickler concert that he no longer was going to be able to go to, so we called up a fantastic couple of friends to see if they minded watching the boys while we went.  It was a much needed break from our crazy week and a way for us to celebrate our anniversary too.  Rascal Flatts put on a great show and Kellie Pickler was adorable (especially her sparkly shoes you can see in the pic below - If I only I had somewhere to wear shoes like that...).

Saturday, August 28:  I used the picture below because today was the first day we did an at-home breathing treatment with the little man and the picture is of the nebulizer we have.  I don't know if you can tell, but the mask is a little fish.  Jayden does a fantastic job of sitting still and cooperating through the treatments.  He has been such a trooper over the last couple of days.  Later on Saturday evening we did have some friends from our church small group over for a cookout and water activities for the kids.  That would have made for a much happier project life picture, but I didn't even think to grab my camera in the midst of it.  It was a great time though.

So, that's it for me this week.  I'll be linking this up over at The Mom Creative along with others who participate in Project Life.

Have a great week!!

Project Life Tuesday: August 15-21

Here's a peek from last week!

Sunday, August 15:  Jayden sang his first solo at church today!  He sang Jesus Loves Me, and he did it beautifully.  I'm tempted to share the video on here, very tempted. :)

Monday, August 16:  One of the cutest things about babies are their little feet.  I love Jayden and Jackson's sweet feet and little toes, so I thought I should capturte a picture of what those little feet look like these days.  One day (all too soon), those feet will turn into big, man feet.  That is such a wild thought.

Tuesday, August 17:  The boys love going to eachother's rooms to play, and although a mess usually ensues, I love that they're making that bond with one another.  (Yes, I have been warned that one day brothers start wrestling instead of rolling cars and tractors beside eachother, but in my little, happy world I'm pretending that's not true.)  One day last week they closed the door behind them, and when I went to check and make sure they were ok this is what I saw - Jackson opening the door and Jayden jumping in Jackson's crib that he crawled himself into.  Silly boys.

Wednesday, August 18:  Jackson pretending to ride the dump truck, and yes, this is what our living room looks like on most mornings.  By noticing the container on the right of the picture you can see I atleast attempt to keep things somewhat organized. 

Thursday, August 19:  We thought Jayden ran to the kitchen to get his milk out of the fridge, but when my husband went to check on him (because it was taking him a while), we found him standing in the fridge finishing off some chocolate pudding.  So much for that last 60 cal pudding snack I was saving...

Friday, August 20:  This was my little brother, Robert's, first day of kindergarden!  Doesn't he look handsome?  Jayden was excited for Robert that he got to start school, but as soon as Robert left Jayden busted into tears, sobbing "I want to go to school."  Jayden, let's not rush things.  Soon enough, little man, soon enough.

Saturday, August 21:  Today we celebrated my Pops' 80th birthday!  He is such a special, special man and I am so blessed to have him as a grandfather.  We had a fun get-together with family celebrating the special way he's touched our lives.  We picked up some Uncle Bud's Catfish for lunch (appropriate since his nickname is "Bud") and Maggie Moo's ice cream dream cake for dessert.  Can I just tell you how great that cake was? Mmmmm. Delicious. Addictingly delicious.  And they make cupcakes... I'm just sayin'.  (I should totally get paid for the amount of endorsement I just gave them. ;) )

I'm really having fun taking and editing the pictures every week!  This week was especially fun as I found some new ways to edit the photos.

I'll be linking this up over at The Mom Creative, where you can find more Project Life posts!

Project Life Tuesday: August 8-14

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I hope you all had a great week last week.  If you're caught up with posts from last week, or know us personally, then you may know that our lives turned a little rough midweek.  Despite that, here are some of the pictures that have brought me smiles, and I hope they do the same for you.  

Sunday, August 8:  Sunday afternoon naps don't happen often enough for us, but when they do, they are sweet.  I decided to spend most the time the boys were napping reading and taking in the quiet (I did take a short nap afterwards though).  After Jackson woke up we went to wake Dipal and Jayden, but Jackson decided he wanted to lay down with them.  I loved the way Jayden was sleeping, like he was concentrating in his sleep.  I wish these pictures were better quality, but the only thing I could grab in time to take the pictures was my phone.

Monday, August 9:  Knowing that our family was planning on being out of town at the end of the week (My husband had a conference in St. Louis we were planning to attend), I spent Monday on a cleaning spree trying to do all the chores I would usually spread throughout the week.  I'm not sure why, but Jackson is just now developing a fear of the vacuum cleaner.  Although the fear in Jackson's face makes me sad, I thought it was so precious how Jayden rushed to his side to comfort him.

Tuesday, August 10:  This afternoon my family made me aware that my Uncle Cordell, who had been battling pancreatic cancer for a few months, was not doing well and had been taken to the hospital.  Later that night he passed away, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is in a much better place now.  However, it is a season of sadness for my family knowing my Aunt Wilma is having to adjust to days without the love of her life by her side.  Considering the circumstances, I didn't feel much like taking pictures on Tuesday, so I thought for today I would post this picture of my Uncle Cordell holding Jayden on the 4th of July back in 2008.

*I plan on posting some additional pictures as soon as I can scan them into our computer.

Wednesday, August 11:  With the news of my uncle's passing, Dipal and I decided that the boys and I would travel to Tennessee to be with our family.  Dipal wasn't able to be with us as he had responsibilities at the conference in St. Louis.  Wednesday evening we parted ways, and these were my traveling partners on our first trip without Daddy to Tennessee.  We got on the road close to bedtime, so they slept most the way while I (loudly) listened to my Hillsong and Needtobreathe radio stations on Pandora (God bless Pandora - one of the best. things. ever.). :)

Thursday, August 12:  We continued our driving through Tennessee today.  Wednesday we drove to Nashville and stayed at my dad's house, which is only about a 3 hour drive from our home.  From there I drove to my mom's, as she was going to be watching the boys while I attended my uncle's services.  On the drive there I got the idea to do something for my brother and sister who just started their new school year.  I called my mom to tell them to be ready to jump in the car with me and the boys as soon as we pulled up to the house so I could take them for a surprise.  After driving (and walking) them in circles around our hometown, we found ourselves at the Great American Cookie Co. where I had ordered a cookie cake for them saying "Happy New School Year."  Creative?  Probably not.  Delicious?  Absolutely.  Below are my brother and sister posing with their cake before we devoured ate it.  I couldn't help but include the picture to the left because it is so them. :)

Friday, August 13:  Today was the receiving of friends and funeral service, or as my Aunt Wilma called it, "Celebration of Life" for my Uncle Cordell.  Honestly, these pictures were both taken on Saturday, but represented Friday to me, so that is why I posted them here.  The picture on the left is of the beautiful view I took so for granted when I lived in Tennessee.  The picture on the right is of the flagpole that sits outside the church where we celebrated my uncle's life.  He made that flagpole complete with the cross that sits on top, which I learned in one of the many stories I heard through the evening of my uncle's love and hard work ethic.  These were truly the themes of his life and the celebration we had in remembrance of him.

Saturday, August 14:  After the interment our family had time to sit and fellowship with each other over some great and homemade southern food.  Since it is not often we all get together, we snapped some pictures.  Below is my Aunt Nina, Grandfather (whom I lovingly refer to as "Pops"), Aunt Wilma, Aunt Lois, and Aunt Mary.  My Aunt Wilma was Uncle Cordell's wife and my other aunts were his sisters.  My grandfather was his brother.

If I could just leave you with one thing that was impressed upon my heart last week through everything that happened.  In seeing the pictures and listening to the stories that were shared about my uncle, there was a resounding theme of love.  It was much more than saying "I love you," as my uncle wasn't known for telling you he loved you.  It was the actions of love.  My uncle showed the people in his life he loved them, and they knew without a doubt he loved them through those actions.  It wasn't something you talked about, it was something you just knew.  So, I would challenge each of us to live our lives in the same way.  Show love to those in your life, never let them doubt it exists.  It's good to tell them too, but our actions speak so much louder than our words.

You can see other Project Life projects here.

Project Life Tuesday: August 1-7

It's one of my favorite posts of the week... Project Life Tuesday!! :)
Here are some of my favorite snapshots from last week, August 1-7, 2010.
Sunday, August 1:  Jayden decided to practice some baseball while wearing his "Uncle Nay Nay's" shirt before my family left to travel back home.  My mom was taking some shots with our camera and I thought these were really cute of Jayden practicing his hitting.  He would throw the ball up in the air himself and then hit it.  I (proud mama) thought that was pretty spiffy for his age. :)  (Who cares that he was hitting a basketball rather than a baseball?)

Monday, August 2:  This child has got to be one of the most photogenic babies I know (proud mama moment #2).  He loves the camera.

Tuesday, August 3:  Happy Birthday to my mom (or GiGi as we call her around here)!!  I took this picture of Jayden with his cheeks full of food because this has been something he has done as long as I can remember.  He'll be eating fine and then all of the sudden will start storing all his food in his cheeks rather than swallowing it.  Thank goodness it's not as consistent as it use to be, but every now and then it still happens.

Wednesday, August 4:  Happy Birthday to G-Man!!  I've noticed this summer that we have a ton of butterflies that flutter around our house as if it's their own little playground.  It's not uncommon for one to land on our door and this is Jackson checking it out.

Thursday, August 5:  I left my empty coffee cup on the coffee table in our living room and when I turned around I noticed a little someone was trying to drink the remaining drops.  This was his reaction to the taste he got.  Warning: Not for those who get grossed out easily.  Don't worry, the very next second he was dancing around proud of himself.

Friday, August 6:  Today was a tough day for me around the house.  It was hard to find the motivation and energy to accomplish a lot and the boys and I just seemed to be on opposite pages.  Seeing Jayden share his last few drops of Gatorade with Jackson after some hot outside play time almost melted away everything that happened that day.

Saturday, August 7:  Today we went to a nearby town that was having a "mud bogg."  I'll explain for those of you like me who are completely unfamiliar with these.  Basically, a mud bogg is when you set up a mud pit to see how far you can drive a 4-wheeler through it before it gets stuck.  The obvious goal would be to make it across the whole pit without getting stuck at all, but that didn't happen for anyone at this event.  Before the mud bogg we watched the town parade complete with a fire truck, antique tractors, and miniature cars who all threw out candy.  The boys and I stayed at the mud bogg as long as we could in the heat, but before the end had to leave to get in some AC.  Unfortunately, we missed my husband getting third place!  Here's his trophy complete with his muddy jeans in the background.  Oh, the things Illinois exposes us to.  :)

Hope you all had a fabulous week!!

If you would like to see more Project Life posts then check out The Mom Creative.

Project Life Tuesday: July 25-31

Oh, my.  I really thought I was going to get this posted on Tuesday.  I can't even tell you how many times I sat down to work on this and then would have to stop for my full time job, being Mommy.  I finally decided I was going to have to wait until the boys were in bed, and within a few minutes of putting everything together, fell asleep sitting straight up with the computer in my lap.  It was just that kind of day.  Like I said last week, my time management skills are in major need of improvement.  It didn't help that our camera is set on the wrong time and I couldn't remember which day our pictures were taken so I kept trying to play everything back in my head... Enough excuses... 

Turn that frown upside down...

Yay!! It's Project Life Tuesday!!  Here's a peek at our lives from July 25-31.

Sunday, July 25:  (Please excuse my long description, but it was that great of a day) We finished up our weekend in Chicago with our first visit to Wrigley Field to watch the Cardinals and Chicago Cubs.  It. Was. Amazing!!  We loved Wrigley and the game was fantastic (Cards won 4-3 in the 11th inning)!!  To top it off, my little man got a foul ball!!  Here's the story recounted as told to our friends and family:  So, there we were, having a great time at the game with the Cards & Cubs tied 3-3.  The Cardinals decided to put in pinch hitter Aaron Miles with 2 outs on the board.  We (as in Dipal and I) were getting a little nervous as his strike count went up to 2.  Then, all of the sudden, just like slow motion in a movie, I see this white ball rocketing towards us.  No, this wasn't one of those soar up in the air and drop balls, this was a rocket.  It flew directly to the seat of Dipal's cousin, Paresh, who dove down to avoid getting hit.  Luckily, Anita's brother Jag was with us and he immediately grabbed the ball from in between the seats and handed it to Jayden.  Oh, the look in Jayden's eyes... Priceless.  Amazing. Precious.  We were all in total shock of what had just happened, but it was fantastic.  We (of course) gave Paresh a hard time about diving to get away from the ball for the remainder of the evening, while he continued to analyze every foul ball from that point on to determine whether it was one he would be willing to try to catch or not (That is, if he had a face mask).  Every time I replayed the event in my mind I literally laughed out loud - It was priceless.  I guess what made it even funnier is that we had talked about the possibility of foul balls heading in our direction and what we would do (I obviously said I would push everyone else out of the way to get a ball for my boys... OK, maybe not).  Even the guys (Cub fans) sitting behind us said to me at the beginning of the game that if they caught a ball they would give it to the boys, but then jokingly changed their minds when they noticed we were Cardinals fans.  I guess it was meant to be, you know, in the "Cards."  (Pun intended.)

Monday, July 26:  No pictures today.  I think I was still on a high from the night before.  Did I mention it was one of my favorite family memories? :)

Tuesday, July 27:  Today I tried to think of something fun and different to do with Jayden and remembered he had received some of those little capsule-looking things that turn into sponges when put in water.  I thought he would enjoy doing a couple of those, so we got a cup of hot water, dropped the capsule in, and waited... and waited... and waited... and went away, played, had lunch, and then remembered to check on it, and thankfully, it was finally complete.  I think the whole process might have taken 1.5 hours.  I thought those things were only suppose to take a few minutes, however, he still enjoyed playing with it until Jackson ripped it into 3 pieces. :)

Wednesday, July 28:  Today I finally got my Illinois driver's license, you know, after living here for 9 months...  I think I'm still secretly hoping in the back of my mind we'll somehow make it back to Tennessee (Please God, pretty please!).

Thursday, July 29:  Baseball isn't just America's favorite passtime, but also my little man's.  I know I'm his mom, but I'm incredibly impressed with his skills considering he's only 2.5.  Lord knows I couldn't teach him a perfect pitch if I tried.  He loves pretending like he's pitching, batting, and running the bases. Sometimes, as he's "running the bases"he'll stop, point, and say "Look Mommy, fireworks!" as if he scored a homerun, to which I stop what I'm doing and clap and cheer.  He's precious.

Friday, July 30:  Today my mom, stepdad, brother, sister, and family puppy dog all came to visit and spend the weekend.  My sister made the bracelet below for me out of my 3 favorite colors - orange, pink, and blue (I specifically like turquoise to be exact, but ya gotta work with what ya got).  I thought she did a great job!

Saturday, July 31:  My mom came in and took some pics of me going through our bedtime routine with Jackson.  I'm all about having routine, and this is one of those things we've done with both boys.  After getting into pajamas, we read a story, pray, sing a song, and then they lay down.  Below is Jackson clasping his hands for prayer time.  Did I mention he's precious?

So, that's it.  This seems sloppy today, but it's time for me to wrap it up and call it quits.

Say a prayer for God to help me with my time management skills?  It goes a lot deeper than just not having time to edit photos and write blog posts.

'Preesh.

Oh, and I'm linking this up over at The Mom Creative.  You should check it out! :)