ground hog day?

i feel like today, i did exadtly what i did yesterday. gee. wonder why. oh wait. i know. because i did do exactly what i did yesterday.
get up. check.
make breakfast for the boys. check.
take a shower. check.
yell at boys to get ready for school. check.
take E to school. check.
clean microwave. check.
clean oven. check.
sweet kitchen/dining. check.
unload dishwasher. check.
put away 8 billion play doh tools and cans of play doh. check.
wash alexander's laundry. check.
wash some of james' and my laundry. check.
clean front of stainless steel fridge. check.
dust family room and living room. check.
pick up E from school. check.
pass out some of the spiced candied pecans i made for people at E's school. check.
vacuum stairs. check.
vacuum upstairs. check.
make sample ornaments for E's class. check.
cut out and assemble all materials for said ornaments (needed for thursday's party). check.
help E with homework. check.
go outside and bring in 5...yes i sais 5 big boxes from UPS. check. thanks mom. and bob and elizabeth.
make dinner? hmm. need to get on that. no clue what we'll have. better figure it out. it's 5:45.

feels like i had a busy day.

wake up. check. but trust me i so did not want to get out of bed today.
make breakfast for boys. check.
shower. check.
yell at boys so they get dressed, brush their teeth, and finish getting ready for school.
take E to school. check.
talk to his teacher about the christmas party i am planning for his class. check.
go buy couple more gifts. check.
buy everything i need for ornaments at E's party. check.
buy everything i need for making and decorating 15 gingerbread houses. check.
tear apart E's bed and wash everything. check.
put E's bed back together. check.
feed alexander and me some lunchie munchie. check.
tear apart our bed and was everything. check.
put our bed back together. check.
clean boys' bathroom. check. it was so gross. i'm such a bad mom.
wash all the towels in boys' bathroom. check.
pick up E from school. check.
talk to his teacher again. check.
go to REI to buy gift. check. yay. one of the hardest peeps to buy for is now taken care of.
make dinner. check.
start more regular laundry, i.e., not bedding or towels. check.
unload dishwasher and do breakfast dishes. check.
vacuum downstairs. check. note to self. buy new vacuum. our sucks ass. well...it doesn't really suck. that's the problem.
go to target. NO check. waiting for james to get home so i can leave the little angels here. what. why was i gone for five hours???? lol...hmmm....i got lost. yeah. that's it.
wrap remaining items (will do tonight after munchkins are in bed).
now off to finish and serve up dinner. check.

required photo.

a required photo. no. not this one. this one just happened by accident. it was taken by ethan. and i like it. i like how you can see and feel the....the...raw emotion....a surface contentment...something so powerful and unsettled just underneath....in the way i am leaning into james and have my eyes closed. good job E. thanks.






this one is the required photo. E must bring in a current photo of his family to school tomorrow for a little project they have going on. so tonight we did a quick photo shoot. this is the tree in the family room. could have taken the pic in front of the bigger tree which is in the living room but james thought the lighting was better in the family room. so there you have it. this is us. christmas 2007.

a little perspective.

couple of recent layouts. my 'be thankful' layout is a reminder to myself not to sweat the small stuff and to really truly be thankful for what i have and who i have in my life. this life really is fragile and can be changed forever in a single split second. i fully realize that. and i appreciate where i am and what i have. so i leave you with this. a few things i am thankful for (and won't be taking for granted any time soon).

that my children are again sleeping through the night, i.e., not throwing up and sick as dogs.

that my husband loves me.

that what stresses me at christmas is caused by too many people wanting/needing to be too many places at once. it'll all work out.

that james fixed the dishwasher. oh how i love having a dishwasher that works.

that the lump on my neck is going away.

and now i must go wrap presents.

went to see santa.

when i picked E up after school yesterday i told him i heard a rumor that santa was in town. then i asked him if he wanted to go find out. then i called james and he met us down at the mall. thursday evening, no waiting. what could be better? the boys were cute. after meeting santa, we stopped at a couple stores, then went out to dinner. nice way to spend an evening!

alexander's birthday part three.

alexander had one birthday, but in four parts.

part 1: sick, throwing up...miserable.

part 2: small party at beach house over thanksgiving to help make up for party we had to cancel on actual bday because bday boy was so sick.

part 3: birthday party. finally. not when first scheduled, or as planned...but hey. things happen. at least we were able to have the party and alexander had fun.

part 4: pinata at grandma's house.

the pics in this post are all from alexander's bday part 3. and james...if you read this....hope you enjoy the ass shot. you took it, you get to look at it. i think i have enough ass shots to fill an entire album. maybe i should make that a priority. hmmm?

anyway, alexander's party was at jump man jump (the blurry pic of my ass is me and alexander climbing up the steps to the giant slide). all in all i think he had a fun time. just too bad we couldn't have the party on his bday as planned.

oh, one last thing. do you so dig the hair? alexander has me spike his hair up almost every single day. i love his individuality. i really truly 100% so dig his ability....willingness...to just be himself. to be what he wants to be. to be how he wants to be. he is a most amazing and wonderful boy.