Here is a glimpse into our day, I look forward to creating an insert for my Project Life album this week. I haven’t yet decided if I am going to use her templates or not…I like them of course, I just have a bit of a shopping problem!!! Here are a few of my favorite images from yesterday:

Snuggles in the morning–whole family edition:

“Nanas”–what the baby asks for every morning the moment she wakes up.

After bananas, it’s eggs. They always taste better on daddy’s lap.

By mid-morning big sister was already in a princess dress and acting silly.

And by early afternoon we all needed a nap. I completely lucked out that the shade flipped up in the nursery and didn’t wake Marie. I was actually able to get a sleeping photo!

The other thing about yesterday? It was cold!!! Don’t I look it?

How was your day yesterday?

This is so tiny, I made sure to copy the journaling down. The journaling reads:

MONDAY MORNING

Our mornings at this point in our lives are filled with activity, chaos, and more chaos! Try as I might, I never seem to be that prepared for finding shoes, packing lunches, making drinks, cooking breakfast, and shuffling everyone out the door in time for preschool and work to start. Lately I have begun to not even attempt to eat breakfast with the family, and instead get things packed and ready to go while Holly enjoys her oatmeal and Daddy enjoys his eggs. It’s easier this way. After Holly is off to school, Marie and I settle into our own routine which consists of nursing and napping by 9, followed by a walk at around 11. While she sleeps I enjoy my oatmeal, read blogs, and pick-up the mess that is the worst on Mondays. Evidence of a fun weekend is left all over the house! This particular Monday was really tough, as I didn’t sleep well on Sunday night. So instead of sleeping I scrapbook!

I don’t know if it will hold true as I work my way through more days, but when I wrote about the day it seemed to come out more like a generalized overview versus what we did exactly at what time. (Honestly, I just couldn’t keep up with that much note taking with the kids being so young and active.) I have decided not to stress about it. It is what it is, and it’s neat that I was able to get it all down. When the girls look at it someday they are not going to care that it doesn’t have time labels, they are just going to enjoy seeing what we did that week.

And that’s all that matters.

The girls and I spent the day at my in-law’s farm at a Wedding Shower pretty much all day today. And although that was a special event, there was still quite a bit that went on that is representative of a typical day at the farm.

Breakfast

Holly LOVES breakfasts at the farm. Typically they involve waffles, but this morning she enjoyed Grandpa’s super moist coffee cake, scrambled eggs, and lil smokies. My daughter LOVES her some meat! Judging by the pile I see here on her plate, I am guessing she is not all that into eggs anymore…..

There was plenty of time before getting dressed and guests arriving to enjoy some playtime on the floor–

followed by some playtime outside with Grandpa. He scored this great basketball hoop for $8 last week at a Thrift Store. Holly made a ton of baskets, and really liked to celebrate when she did!

Holly changed into her dress, but still wasn’t ready to give up any Grandpa time (she is his shadow for sure) so off they went to enjoy the swing in the big old oak tree–

Guests started to really arrive around noon, so we gathered for a wonderful lunch of taco salad and had a great time looking at all of the gifts. I have decided I need to throw myself a “I have been married nearly ten years and need neat new gadgets and household goods” kind of shower here soon.

During the shower Marie got to try out the family high chair. This puppy has been around since the 70′s! Love how she is looking at her reflection!

My sweet baby was the hit of the party–love my little charmer here:

wearing her first nametag!

Holly occupied herself by playing outside with cousins before it was time to go–

When we returned home, both girls were excited to see their daddy again. He had had a nice 24-hr break from the wife and kids. His review of the experience? That our house can be very, very quiet…

What a great week!

We had a lot of things to do today, so the camera didn’t make it out as much as usual. I had a big drive, too, so that ate up a lot of time. Here is a little bit of our day.

Morning-

Morning Cuddles

Costco Runs

Birthday Parties with Face Painting. I wish you could have heard Holly giving the artist instructions on what colors she wanted where. I had to apologize for all of the “art direction!” My girl knows what she wants!!!

Getting ready for the long drive to Grandma and Grandpa’s. Don’t I look excited? (I was so exhausted that I promptly fell asleep when I got there. The wake up in a puddle of drool kind of nap…)

Time with Friends

Rounding out the night with a swim in the tub at Grandma’s!

Somebody is teething pretty badly right now, so refused to nap at 9am AGAIN–

So while the baby watched my friend Lisa came over and taught me how to make my own baby food. Easy Peasy.

Yes I still have bed-head in this picture. Don’t judge.

That took up our entire morning. When she left, baby and I crawled into bed–

where we stayed until 4pm. (And yes I need, and use, all of those pillows. One under my head, one at my knees, and two behind me as I nurse the baby lying down. It takes a bit of talent I tell you!)

Daddy surprised me and picked up Holly from school, and then came home where he had a chance to bond with his baby girl–

before she tried homemade rice cereal for the first time.

She opened her mouth right up for it, I would say she is ready! Before we knew it it was time for evening snuggles–

but since a mom’s work is never done I made a batch of steel cut oatmeal

and made a last minute run to Target for the gift we need for tomorrow’s birthday party Holly and I are attending.

What’s not pictured:
-me finding Holly playing in her room a full TWO hours after I put her to bed
-me face timing my sister-in-law in Guam about a possible surprise California trip in two weeks (!)
-me realizing it’s now after 11pm and I have stayed up too late AGAIN

See you tomorrow!

Here was our day today. I am taking a page from Ali’s playbook yesterday where she used a word or two to describe the photo:

Educating

Moments before this picture was taken she pointed out the recycling symbol on the juice bottle.

Showering

Cleaning

More cleaning (Week In The Life does not lend itself to keeping up with everything else!)

Playing (Restaurant, of course.)

Shopping–I make homemade baby food tomorrow! Can’t wait to blog about that:)

Grooming (nice and blurry low-light iphone shot taken by a four year old!)

Lunching

Experimenting (plastic bottled milk vs glass bottle milk–glass wins! YUM!)

Recycling (She wasn’t so keen on this when she realized it actually involved work.)

Imagining (These are the two princesses of our block!)

Eating

Sleeping

See you tomorrow. Good night.

Wednesday morning started with a flurry of activity to get Holly off to preschool. As she was brushing her teeth I remembered it was still Week in The Life, and ran for my camera. I Love this photo of her on the stool. *sigh* I look at this photo and know that in not so many years she won’t even need a stool anymore to reach the sink. (But we will need another bathroom. One bathroom, in a house of three women, is going to get tough.)

Wednesday was a very big day around here. At preschool there is a zipping party! All year the kids have been working on zipping their zippers themselves, and Holly often has mentioned a zipping party–but truthfully I thought it was something she made up. (Holly likes to create new and fun reasons to party.) Turns out there really is a party, and Holly couldn’t be more excited about what’s in store.

Thankfully school isn’t too far down the road, and was looking quite pretty this morning when we arrived. This put me in a better mood…I didn’t realize I would be taking Holly to school this morning so I looked a bit disheveled, and felt a little grumpy. This scene definitely cheered me up.

Yes, that’s exactly what her school looks like–it’s a little hobby farm. Best little preschool in The Cities as far as I am concerned, so sad that it’s her last year there. Can’t wait for Marie to get the chance to go!

When we returned home it was time for Marie’s nap and time for my “busyness.” (If you read my blog this week you know that that’s what Holly calls my housework.) While nursing the baby as we got ready for her nap this morning, Marie did something she never did before–she reached for my face. When I realized what she was doing I brought my face down closer and she touched it with her little hand. Thankfully I was holding my iphone (reading blogs you know) so I snapped this shot moments after it all happened.

You can still see the remnants of a smile on her little face. What you can’t see are the tears on mine.

Remember yesterday when I said that it’s hard when you know something is happening for the last time with your kids? Turns out the first times aren’t that easy either.

***the picture is insanely grainy due to the low light and iphone photography but I still love it. Damned if I am not tearing up again now as I write the story***

This time I remembered to get a photo of me doing my daily pick-ups (I call them my checks) while–you guessed it–talking to my mom on the hands-free headset. I LOVE that darn thing. It makes housework so much more tolerable. Sort of like running with an ipod.

While the baby continued to sleep, and I still had the energy to accomplish something and the headset on, I tackled a project from my house list–organizing Holly’s craft drawer in the kitchen. Man do we have a lot of paper, coloring books, pencils, markers, and crayons. I am a firm believer in a craft drawer in the kitchen if you have kids. This little drawer has saved my sanity at least 100 times.

When the baby woke up we played a bit in her exersaucer–

and she had fun from afar with her “Cake.”

So happy that technology has come as far as it has. My mom thinks it’s hard being a long-distance grandparent now? Ha! Could you imagine what this was like before the age of facetime, internet, or blogs?

We decided to get some fresh air and took a little walk–

and then returned home for another nap and lunch.

If you are wondering, yes, I really do weigh my food like that when I am on the WW program. Speaking of Weight Watchers, don’t you love the silver duct tape on my scale? I swear that piece of tape has been on there at least ten years to get it to work right. I don’t know what’s more pathetic–me not getting a new scale, or the fact that over the past ten years I have been trying to lose the same damn pounds.

Marie woke up just in time for my hair appointment, so off we went to make mommy a blonde again.

Marie did wonderful, and just sat there in her stroller the whole 90 minutes it took to get myself all polished up. All of the hairdressers kept telling me I had the best baby in the world, and I couldn’t help but agree!

My appointment ended and gave me about five minutes to pick-up Holly, which I did just in the nick of time. She had a balloon in hand, and stories of cake and celebration to tell. The zipping party was a hit, and she proclaimed, “Today is the best day I have had, EVER.” We decided to celebrate some more, so we headed to Punch Pizza for dinner. (They were having one of their free pizza nights. How’s that for kismet?) Holly LOVES Punch, and can easily eat an entire pizza herself.

We texted Daddy in line only to find out that he was already home, so we got everything to go–

and enjoyed a nice evening on the deck together as a family. (Don’t you just LOVE Marie’s crossed feet in this picture? She totally did that on her own. )

Wednesday is a wrap. I am too tired to take a new picture of my blonder self, so that will have to be on tomorrow’s post. Kids are in bed, and Justin is asleep on the couch. This Mom isn’t going to be that too far behind.

The morning started pretty late for Baby Marie. She didn’t stir when I got up around 7, so I finally woke her up around 7:40am so her day wouldn’t be totally off. Every morning around 5am or so she wakes up…and most mornings can’t seem to get back to sleep on her own. So I scoop her up and bring her into bed with me, where she promptly snuggles against my chest and sleeps for 2-3 more hours. I know I should stop doing this, but I just can’t seem to. She is so sweet and in all honesty my last baby. It’s so hard for things to be “the last time” when your talking about the baby in the family. I now completely understand why the youngest in a family always seems to get away with everything. Would you be able to day no to this face?

Once we were all up and ready for breakfast I heated up our oatmeal. Love our steel cut oat freezer pucks! (Did you try out my make-it ahead trick yet readers? We are positively addicted over here!)

After breakfast I jumped in the shower while the girls watched cartoons and made forts in their bedroom. (Holly made them, of course. Marie just watched her with a look of serious contemplation on her face.)

It was time for the baby’s nap so I gave Holly the camera to capture this moment with Marie. (Who needs the self-timer when you have a budding photographer?)

While the baby slept we created a grocery list–

and Holly played games/watched cartoons

while I worked on the computer.

I seriously feel like to doing a work layout a la Cathy Z. I can think of all sorts of funny captions for this picture–first and foremost look at my screen. (Checking out Airtran flight prices on an email that had just came in…dreaming about being way far away on a beach…NOT looking at the concrete block walls that are my basement office!)

When the baby woke up, it was time for errands.

Errands=Target

After shopping we dined alfresco–

and then headed inside for naps. Today was a great day, even Holly took a nap! (Of course it was in my bed, which means I couldn’t take a nap, but these days I will take what I can get.)

After nap we headed to the park and enjoyed the swing–

and time with friends. (Friend face blurred for privacy.)

We came home, had a wonderful dinner of sloppy joes and chips (I can’t find time to cook when I am taking this many photos and notes!) We ended the evening with sports outside…soccer, t-ball…you name it. I have lots of great pictures of this, but will only share one here for now.

Because she took a nap, Holly got to stay up late and have time with dad.

It was a great day!

Attractive yes? This was taken at about 5am…I really wasn’t faking the closed-eye pose up there. I was getting really tired.

Baby and I slept in until 8am, and then it was time to get Holly breakfast and dressed for school. Mornings are always such a rush/stress-inducing time around here no matter how hard I try for them not to be. Someone’s always in the way, or something is always lost. This morning wasn’t too bad (it helps to sleep through most of it!) Here’s Holly finishing up her oatmeal and messing with my “overhead” shot.

Soon we were off to school. Holly used to beg for me to carry her bag because it was too heavy. Now she insists on carrying it herself.

Baby Marie and I return home to the living room that looks like it hosted an all-night rave.

I needed energy to deal with this. So I had my oatmeal and read my blogs before I tackled my chores. (I really do read Ali’s blog when I eat my breakfast…that isn’t just mindless product placement!)

Cleaning took up the rest of my morning, it’s how I spend every Monday morning honestly–just ask my mom. I usually call her and talk to her while I am “doing my busyness” (this is what Holly calls my cleaning) on Mondays.  Couldn’t do it today though–too many stops for pictures

I repacked Holly’s Princess chest.

I swear that thing is her nirvana. Inside there are crowns, wands, microphones, dresses, purses, beads, dishes for tea, felt flowers, and high-heeled shoes. Just a few of her favorite things.

Next up was folding a ton of laundry, which I always have to do watching my DVR’d shows just to make it through it all. I really don’t like to fold laundry.

Today’s features were The Good Wife and The Big C. By this time the baby is up from her morning nap–

and we are ready for our daily walk.

When we return it’s time for lunch–

And then time to get dinner prepped. Stuffed chickens I apparently don’t know hot to butterfly too well–

What’s that? The doorbell! Its a package….

I spend the rest of the afternoon playing with the baby–

And teaching Holly how to square up to the T.

We eat dinner. I hustle the girls around for bed. It’s The Spider and the Fly for storytime.

And that, my friends, is the day. I didn’t think I did much, but typing it all out like this–WHEW. Feels like a long one!

This year I have a plan.

I present to you my plan for next week–a collection of 25 photos, taken only with my iphone, and put into this template here each and every day. I didn’t want the pressure of something to complex (read: too many cameras and too many batteries to keep track of) to complete, as I still intend to keep up with my regular Project Life album. How these two work together, I am not so sure, but if everyone else on the internet is going to give it a go–so will I!

I have a few ideas about how the opposite page will look, and quite honestly the page above may be played around with as the week goes along….I am a digi girl after all. But at least I have seven templates done, and an iphone that is always in my pocket, which makes me feel like I have half a chance of keeping up.

This weekend we officially have no plans, which is really nice considering the next six–yes six–weekends have parties, showers, and events. I had no idea we were this popular. Oh wait. 95% of these plans are my daughter’s. She is, by far, in much more social demand than me. Must be my hair…..

For those of you that know me, you know that I am trying to grow out the single most terrible haircut I have ever received in my life. Remember how I talked about looking like Justin Beiber in my Project Life album the day I got it cut? Well…now that it is growing out, and we are getting a real good look at just how hacked and uneven it is, I am beginning to look like a Justin Beiber’s middle aged auntie who got mauled by a rabid animal with really….really big teeth.

Lord help me.