Heartfelt Month

My dear blogging friend Janette and I have started a new meme called Heartfelt Acts.  We have created a list of two possible service ideas for every month of the year.  We did this a lot for selfish reason-- as we ourselves want to get out and do more, get out and serve more.  But we also hope that others will want to join in this spirit of giving.

For February one of the ideas is to tell someone you love them every single day.  I decided to take it a step further and am creating a little heart that says I love you and then something I love about the person for each of my family members for everyday of the month.

Here were the first days' hearts.

I put each person's heart somewhere in their room but I gave Ryder his right away as he was asking what it is was.

He said "it's a heart!" with a big smile on his face.  Then asked me "what does it say?"

When I read him his- which his is the "love your hugs" one-- the look on his face was just something out of this world.   I could literally see the understanding, the love the happiness just grow in his eyes.  It was a moment I will never forget.

And then when it was time to go to story time- he carried that heart with him, carefully setting it next to him when he needed his hands to do the actions while signing the songs-- and then picked it back up never letting go.

It made it all so worth it and more.

And today's photoaday was #fork.

Some of my favorite foods are the ones where I just use these special "forks"

Through the... maze

Here is what I made last week; took the picture before I erased the board.  Happy to say my menu planning is still going strong! 

And I spy with my little eye-- a little foot

But where is it going?

Well "through" the footrest tunnel of course.  

Which was the photoaday so it worked out nicely.

The tooth

Lucas where is your coat? I asked before we left to school.  He was not sure.  It was missing, probably left at school.  The mornings are in the 50's but the afternoons in the upper 70's, so it is easy to shed leave behind forgotten.  "I will give you 50 for the coats I lost!" he cried.   

I wasn't sure what brought on this outburst but I was glad he was realizing he needed to be responsible. Thankfully he found his sweater at school-- coat is still missing though.  Good thing we live in SoCal.

Alex has her first loose tooth and it really is all she can do to not talk about it or be constantly wiggling it.  She is beyond excited.

And today's photoaday was "electric"

It's electric!! (anyone else think Boogy- woogy-woogy-) right afar I said that?

Irony and the Sun

I began the day showing you me getting "ready" (the photoaday) by actually doing my makeup-- which was kind of ironic considering what I had posted  about not caring how I look on my main blog the day before,

And have you ever given a gogurt to a two year old?  He just couldn't quite figure out the squeezing it to get more part.

But I helped so he was happy.

We spent our extra time before school pickup exploring a newly rebuilt park.

And was a good day.

One of my new favorite pictures now.

And since all pictures were taken on my iPhone-- as most seem to be on my daily photoblog here; I am linking up here.

Reminders

Do you know how I stay organized?  

I set reminders in my phone for everything.  And when I saw yesterday's picture was 1 o'clock I knew I had better set a reminder or I would never successfully get the picture. 

So I set this reminder

You see that little red box next to it?  That means I was late.

Yep, my reminder went off 5 minutes before so I would be ready and somewhere in that five minutes I forgot.

So I took a screen shot of my reminders for my photoaday.  

And everyone loves school pickup right?

It is a good thing, especially when our Thursday is a Friday since there is no school on Friday. 

And since there is no school Friday, I let the kids keep up the fort they made.

Double Over Time

Monday- it can be such a cursed word.  And today, a Monday- the first day back to school after Christmas break was trying to be very Monday-ish.

It began with someone (cough- me) putting dish soap in the dishwasher.

Then I almost forgot to pack Lucas snack, almost forgot the drink in Alex's snack and we left 15 minutes late.

But thankfully the day got better.

Donuts helped make it better

I think he totally enjoyed his donut-- especially the frosting

So did this cute guy asking me to take his picture (more on my main blog tomorrow)

And we ended the day by watching Eric's basketball team advance to the finals in his basketball league with a last second win in double overtime!!  Though the kids-- well they didn't watch much

And today's photo a day was "street"

My View

"Mama! Mama!" the call rouses me from my sleep.   I sleepily walk into Ryder's room.  He is standing in his crib- arms reaching for me.

I pick him up and bring him into bed with me.  There we lay just looking at each other and smiling.  I gently rub his face- his face which everyday seems to lose a little more of the baby look.

I want to freeze this moment.

Today's photo-a-day was "the view from here"-- and this is a view I will always love.

Pajama Day

"I think today my goal may be to not get dressed" I tweeted early on in the day.  And I made my goal.   But despite the fact that I never got dressed I was actually quite productive; 4 loads of laundry done AND put away, got rid of 21 shirts and returned my hangers backwards for the New Year,

shirts I got rid of

 and cleaned out Lucas pajama drawer- he had a 4T shirt buried in there and he wear as 10!

The photo of the day was "something new"

"My daughter showing off her new rings and shirt"

Tomorrow I think I will actually get dressed.

Shop Till you Drop

I filled out the package, Ryder stood a few feet from me.

"Peek-a-boo" the post office clerk said to Ryder. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye. He just stood staring at the clerk, unsure of who she was. "Are you Superman?" she asked, in reference to his shirt. He took another step towards me. "Hi!" she said. He soon was hiding behind my legs.

Well at least I don't have to worry about him running off I thought to myself. I finished addressing the package, paid for it and then we were on our way for the rest of our morning of errands- taking advantage of both Lucas and Alex being in school.

Ryder was a trooper through it all- he carried my pink pig pajama bottoms for me that I bought at Old Navy and hugged lots of decorative pillows in Home Goods.

(Our new bedding-finally made a decision and bought at home goods)

He even gave up the yellow bus that he was holding through our stop at Toys R Us without too much fuss. I thanked him at the end with some jelly beans from the dollar store and to help him stay awake on the way home.

After lunch Alex asked if I would play with her. I said yes. She said she was glad I was playing with her as a lot of time I am busy doing my work and can't play. Ouch. I am a stay at home mom- talk about reality check.

So we spent the rest of the afternoon, until it was time to get Lucas with theseMaybe tomorrow we will actually stay home.... maybe.

Perfect Bed Time

I sat upstairs in the hallway, waiting for the others to come back up. Ryder hid behind me, pressing his warm body against mine. "Where did Ryder go?" I pretended concern.

He slowly crept from behind my back, his eyes twinkling, the corners of his smile showing from behind his green pacifier. He went back again putting his arms around me. "Oh no..." I said again.

Lucas made it back upstairs first, bringing Ryder his milk. He placed the sippy cup on Ryder's head. "Look it's staying!" Lucas squealed as the cup quickly toppled off Ryder's head.

Ryder picked it up and moved his pacifier to his hand and began drinking his milk. "Now Carmel is staying!" Lucas said balancing his favorite stuffed dog on Ryder's head.

"All right everyone time for prayers." Eric said when everyone made it back up.

"I will sit here, come here Ryder" Lucas said sitting in his truck chair- the same chair he had had since he was younger than Ryder. The chair was now covered with a bright orange fabric with excavators and diggers, the original blue truck cover long worn out with a hole where his legs rubbed against the fabric.

I smiled at the moment, suddenly realizing that before I knew it my two boys would be much to old to sit on a chair together. I need to enjoy this, I said to myself.

We finally got everyone to settle down and said prayers. It was Alex's turn to say the prayer. She began;
"Dear Heavenly Father. Thank thee for this day and help--' are you going anywhere tonight?'" Alex whispered to Eric interpreting her own prayer. "No" Eric whispered back. 'and help that daddy will travel to work safely tomorrow...."

Yes, I do need to enjoy this.My boys relaxing on my bed- and please ignore my ugly quilt- I am trying to find something I love to replace it

The Culd-du-sac

I rolled down the window and turned the radio up, anxiously waiting for my chance to win $1000. I knew it was long shot, but hey, if I didn't try I wouldn't win.

Ryder darted into the garage and retrieved his soccer ball. He stretched, lifting it high above his head and with all his might threw it right to me.

I stopped the ball and kicked it back. This game continued for several minutes. ' Kick it back' I encouraged. I stopped the ball, kicked it to Ryder and he swung his little toddler leg back and kicked it perfectly right to me.

The announcement came on the radio station- I quickly hit dial, already having the number programed in. Busy signal. Darn, I tried again. Nothing. I tried until the announcement came on saying a winner was picked. Maybe next time.

"Car, car" Ryder said pointing to the Little Tykes car.

I got it down for him and he climbed in. I pushed from the top as his little feet "walked" barely touching the ground. He wouldn't go anywhere on his own the way he was walking but his feet moving kept his feet from acting like natural breaks.I pushed him around our culd-du-sac. "Doggies" he said and pointed at our neighbors dogs who were now greeting us rather loudly. It didn't phase Ryder and he just stayed pointing and grunting occasionally.He then tired of the dogs and climbed back into his car. We cut across the culd-du-sac rolling over the manhole cover. He put his feet down, forcing the car to break, got out and excited pointed at the cover.

"W" he said pointing at the W in "sewer". "Good job,W!" I praised. "R" he then said.

He then climbed back in the car, this time making it across to where our house number was painted on the curb. He climbed out pointing at each number again and again wanting me to repeat the numbers. A bug then crawled in his line of vision. "Bug! Bug" he said through his pacifier filled mouth.He watched the bug for several minutes then was back in his car, little feet quickly dancing along the ground.

I smiled up at the blue sky. This was a good day.

Day 62: March 3rd

6:40 AM- hear Ryder making noise, grateful he slept in

7:00 AM- Go running- run a different route- push it harder- yea a bit too hard

7:30- AM Breakfast, shower, get ready

9:30 AM- Lucas' first soccer game-- they lost but they had fun and played hard and the other team played a little dirty anyway

11:00 AM-Pick up my new furniture I bought last night!

11:45 AM- Lunch

12:45 PM - Alex's parent/soccer meeting

2:30 PM- Vacuum/clean van as it would be embarrassing to take it to get the oil changed in it's current state

4:00 PM- Get the oil changed in the car-- I decide the whole family should go so we can get some dinner afterwards.

hahaha sob sob hahahaha boohooo --what was I thinking??

Though I did get this cute picture of Ryder
5:00 PM Dinner at Chick Fil A

7:00 PM Eric goes to his basketball game, takes Lucas

10:00 PM Kids have long been in bed, it's dark, it's night. Eric is watching a basketball game and I am writing this post.

What a busy day. Makes me tired just reading this post!

Day: 48-59 Finishing February

Well now it has been two weeks... now you all know why I say I am not good about keeping a journal. But luckily I still have been taking pictures everyday, just losing the journal aspect of it by waiting so long. But it's a new month-- so my goal is at least every other day for this month (fingers crossed)

Day 48
Saturday, February 18thAnother beautiful day in February so another fun day at the park with the family.
Then Alex and I went and got haircuts- sadly no pictures
And did some shopping just the two of us. A good day.

Day 49
Sunday, February 19thThe only picture I took today- pretty sure it was for the instragram photo of the day...

Day 50
Monday, February 20thRyder loves drawing, with pencils, crayons, markers-- and even chalk. He doesn't care what he is using as long as he can draw


Day 51
Tuesday, February 21stWhat happens when you give a toddler a graham cracker with chocolate frosting

Day 52
Wednesday, February 22nd
I never claimed to have good handwriting


Day 53
Thursday, February 23rd

The oldest two off at school, just me and toddler shopping so why not a reward of a donutHe completely enjoyed it

Day 54
Friday, February 24th
Today was a good day, Lucas got two awards at school

Day 55
Saturday, February 25th

Today was for me-- shopping all day with my best friend CA Girl
We found the Holy Grail while shopping!And ate a yummy lunch too

Day 56
Sunday, February 26th

Stayed home from church today with Alex since she was sickBut the boys were still feeling good.
I asked Lucas to pose and this is what I got
Day 57
Monday, February 27th

I was cleaning out my dresser and found this noteit was what Eric wrote when we were ordering wedding invitations about 11 years ago- this is what he wanted us to put on our invitations. He didn't win


Day 58
Tuesday, February 28th
See he really does like to write

Day 59
Wednesday, February 29th

This day only happens every four years and I am thinking that is good.
We spent two hours at instant care to leave with a clean bill of health for Alex. Only to have Ryder slowly get worse and worse and end up doing a lot of thisAnd when he was feeling a little better- a soft squishy ball aimed just right knocked it right off the wall, the frame did not survive

March pictures to come tomorrow!