Is this thing on? I mean really?

I have just not been into blogging lately, I mean like for a really long time.  But it's almost a new year, so why not make a bit more of an effort?  Yesterday I gave the blog a remodel and refresh so we are ready to go. It will be a short one tonight, kiddos need to get to bed.

We are having a nice Christmas recovery week off.  I have been off since Friday and it has been great. I was worried at first, when Nicholas came down with pink eye last Thursday and we thought that Jackson was getting it too, but since N won't do eyedrops, the doctor gave them antibiotics and it cleared up before Christmas and J never completely got it.

Mike is sick as is our usual after Christmas tradition.  The upside is we have stayed close to home and relaxed a lot.

Since you can't blog without a picture here is my first collage I created at Picasa today (how did I not know about this).  This would have taken me 30 minutes in Photoshop and it was whipped out in 5 minutes on Picassa after a bit of fixing on the cropping.

Meet Happy the Elf he arrived on Thanksgiving night and kept an eye on N & J for Santa through Christmas. The boys were sad to see Happy go back with Santa on Christmas Eve, but I am making them a little mini book to capture all his adventures while he was here.

Be back soon!

This Man Changed Our World

Steven Jobs

Apple CEO

Brilliant Innovator

1955 - 2011

I am not quite sure I can put my finger on why the passing of this man, that I did not know personally, has moved me so much. I am sure it has a lot to do with him dying of cancer at too young of an age. And it is almost this time last year that the beginning of the end of our time with my mom began. I know my heart aches for his family and friends. That is definitely part of it.

Maybe it was because I saw the news on my iPhone. A device I cannot live without because he knew we wanted it. Maybe it is because when I got home tonight, I saw Nicholas, at almost 5 years old, glued to my iPad playing one of a hundred games he has downloaded from the App Store. Maybe it is because I cannot survive my drive to and from work without the podcasts I listen to on my iPod Touch that come to me straight from iTunes several times each week.

Our world today would not be the same without this man. And I believe we are all very lucky for it.

Rest in peace Steve Jobs.

Week in the Life - Sunday

Sunday, July 31


In Photos:

In Words:

Day:  Sunday, July 31, 2011

Wake:  6:20 a.m.

Sleep:  10:50 p.m.

Weather:  108 degrees

Work:  No thanks, hanging out today

Plan:  Dinner at Garcia’s with the Carr grandparents

Eating:  Pancakes & bacon for breakfast

Drinking:  Lots of water

Exercising:  Oops,I forgot

Listening:  Silence, 4 kids in the house are now asleep

Watching:  I wasn’t watching, but there was baseball

Feeling:  Refreshed after a good night’s sleep

Thinking:  About interior design

Doing:  Measuring rooms; and, swimming before the storm

Wanting:  To redecorate most of my house

Needing:  Money to actually do it, ha!

Loving:  Watching the Carr cousins bond

Week in the Life - Saturday

Saturday, July 30


In Photos:

In Words:

Day:  Saturday, July 30, 2011

Wake:  5:21 a.m. (thanks Marti)

Sleep:  10:35 p.m.

Weather:  106 degrees with a mid-day storm

Work:  House chores most of the day until 3:00 p.m.

Plan:  Jon & girls coming for the week

Eating:  Subway subs for lunch          

Drinking:  Pomegranate lemonade

Exercising:  Day off

Listening:  Mario Kart on the Wii in the background

Watching:  Tori & Dean on the DVR while scrapping

Feeling:  So hot today and sticky today

Thinking:  Nichols is obsessed with the Wii

Doing:  Organizing my scrap room & the coupon binder; hanging a shelf in the laundry room & new posters in the boys room

Wanting:  To create a “Cool in the Pool” mini album

Needing:  A shower every time I come back inside from the heat

Loving:  Nicholas so excited for his cousins to get here

Week in the Life - Friday

Friday, July 29


In Photos:

In Words:

Day:  Friday, July 29, 2011

Wake:  5:28 a.m.

Sleep:  1:05 a.m.

Weather:  108 degrees (or 103, but it is hot!)

Work:  Arrive – 9:05 a.m. Depart 6:05 p.m.

Plan:  To not work late tonight

Eating:  Oregano’s Grandma G’s Rosemary Chicken Potato Pizza– yum!

Drinking:  Ice Sparkling Water

Exercising:  Yoga & Stretching

Listening:  LOAD & Paperclipping Podcasts

Watching:  Did you Hear About the Morgans?; Hawaii 5-0 & Tori & Dean on the DVR

Feeling:  Free from some clutter

Thinking:  About new work assignment – a fun challenge

Doing:  Cleaning & organizing my scrap room

Wanting:  To re-decorate the guest bathroom

Needing:  A good night’s sleep

Loving:  Extra time spent with Nicholas & Jackson this morning

Week in the Life - Thursday

Thursday, July 28

In Photos:

In Words:

Day:  Thursday, July 28, 2011

Wake:  5:35 a.m.

Sleep:  11:25 p.m.

Weather:  108 degrees

Work:  Arrive – 8:53 Depart – 7:08

Plan:   Run errand at lunch

Eating:  In N Out Burger for lunch

Drinking:  Starbucks Italian Roast Coffee

Exercising:  Yoga & Stretching

Listening:  Layout a Day & Motherload Podcasts

Watching:  More Hawaii 5-0 & Tori & Dean on the DVR

Feeling:  Exhausted but happy

Thinking:  That work will never slow down to a livable pace…I guess that’s good

Doing:  Organizing and purging photos

Wanting:  A few more hours each day

Needing:  To clean out the coupon binder

Loving:  Nicholas’s excitement at learning how to play the Wii

Week in the Life - Wednesday

Wednesday, July 27

In Photos:

In Words:

Day:  Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Wake:  5:10 a.m.

Sleep:  10:40 p.m.

Weather:   104 degrees         

Work:  Arrive – 7:47 a.m. – Depart – 4:35 p.m.

Plan:  Physical therapy – trying to heel my foot

Eating:  Spaghetti       

Drinking:   Blackstone Merlot

Exercising:   Yoga & stretching

Listening:  Digi Show Podcast & weekend church service

Watching:  More Hawaii 5-0 on the DVR

Feeling:  Frustrated

Thinking:  That I need to clear my head

Doing:  Physical therapy to heal my foot and ankle

Wanting:  Wood flooring in the family room

Needing:   A more peaceful day tomorrow

Loving:  Catching up on classes at Big Picture

Week in the Life - Monday & Tuesday

I wasn't going to join the Week in the Life project this week. I decided Monday morning to go for it and just approach it differently than last year. It ends up being the same week I documented last year when I took tons of pictures every day and wrote tons of details.

This year, I am taking a cue from Kelly Purkey's class at Big Picture Classes and doing a quick summary of my day, mostly from my perspective with just a few photos.

Monday July 25

Day: Monday, July 25, 2011

Wake: 5:35 a.m.

Sleep: 10:50 p.m.

Weather: 101 degrees

Work: home sick today

Plan: first day of pre-k for Nicholas

Eating: tilapia tacos

Drinking: Landshark beer

Exercising: yoga & stretching – calves very sore

Listening:  quiet house after boys are asleep

Watching:  Tori & Dean re-runs on Oxygen

Feeling:  achy, hot and tired today

Thinking: about losing weight

Doing: setting up school archive boxes from pre-school to 12^th grade for both boys

Wanting:  to purge the excess in the house

Needing:  to get some extra sleep

Loving: the box of memories Dion brought this weekend 

Tuesday July 26

Day: Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Wake: 5:35 a.m. - after being licked by Marti

Sleep: 10:30 p.m. - in the family room chair

Weather: 106 degrees

Work: arrived - 9:45 departed – 7:15 home – 7:45

Plan: first day at new preschool for Jackson

Eating: awful Healthy Choice frozen meal for lunch

Drinking: iced tea

Exercising: yoga and stretching

Listening: Mike’s radio station when going to sleep

Watching: Hawaii 5-0 on the dvr

Feeling: so much better than yesterday – back to normal

Thinking: behind. I am too busy at work right today – too many meetings not enough work time.

Doing: volunteer training at Nicholas’s school

Wanting: to get home earlier at night

Needing: preservation spray from Michael’s

Loving: how excited Jackson was after getting his new outfit on for school & taking his 1^st day photo shoot

July 4th Weekend Roundup

We stayed inside for most of the long weekend.  With temperatures like this….

It was not pleasant outside.  And we had some humidity thrown in for fun too.
Jackson started eating with a fork this weekend, and picked it up like he had been doing it forever.

I definitely have kiddos that do things when they are good and ready and not when I want them to.

Since we stayed inside Jackson spent a lot of time dragging every toy he cold find in his room to every other part of the hosue.

Mike beat Bowser in Super Mario Galaxy with Nicholas cheering him along the way.

Nicholas hi-jacked my iPad and iPhone and played Angry Birds and ended up figuring out how to look for more games. After we paid for 2 or 3 games I told him he could not have any more that cost money. He figured out which ones were free and would bring me the iPad or phone and say “ Can I play this one? this one “don’t” cost money”. Kids.

After a hard afternoon of playing, Jackson crawled in Mike’s lap and fell asleep. He doesn’t look very comfortable to me.

On Sunday we did leave the house to go to the church in the morning.  We also went out to a late lunch at the new Coach and Willie’s in downtown Chandler. The food was good, but expensive. It seemed like we were the only one’s brave enough to leave the air conditioning. The restaurant and the streets were pretty empty.

When Nicholas wasn’t playing the iPad, he took over the Wii.  It is funny that something that he didn’t pay a lot of attention to a couple of months ago is now a complete obsession.

Last night we got a really bad dust storm that knocked the power out. The Wii wouldn't power back on and we thought it was a gonner. Mike was not looking forward to Nicholas's reaction, but thanks to Google we figured out how to reset the power supply.


I don’t even know what this shirt style is all about. LOL!

On the 4th, we stayed inside and Mike grilled slider burgers for dinner.  We headed over to our church for fireworks.

We met up with friends, Michelle and Barry, that we hadn’t seen in forever.  Nicholas and their little girl hit it off immediately.

And we ended the night with a bang!



Have a great week!

Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day!  May your day be filled with....

eating sweet treats 

celebrating freedom

spending time with family and friends

and ending the night with a bang!

This evening we are going to watch Fireworks in the Sky at our church while roasting in the evening heat.  Enjoy your day.