Everyday Epiphanies

Back-tracking. Week In Life, Friday.

Friday November 6, 2009.

Ethan is still HOME!. What is wrong with this picture?  It's been far too long!  We just can't seem to kick his asthma to the curb!  Needless to say, my "normal" Friday, was not so normal, my plans were once again, diverted to accomodate my Lil' Man...

I ended up home... talking on the phone with Paula...  *sigh*

 

My oldest came home with his Child Devlopment Project:

I became a "grandma" for the weekend to Lil Baby Lebron.  Yes, Lebron! This has to be one of the best projects in this subject I've come across. I did it using an egg, (that could be one of my excuses for having my oldest at such a young age)... Nonetheless, this project was both realistic and very well thought of. It's a great form of "contracpetion" and quite an experience for any teenager.  "Lebron" cried like a real baby, granted, this does not compare to the real thing.. but it comes close. At first, I thought, oh this is gonna be a breeze for my "problem solving" teenager.. but come midnight, 2 am, 4 am, 6 am, 7 am.. etc... the none stop crying even after changing it's diapers and feeding it... it came down to this baby wanting to be held in the wee hours of the morning as I looked over at my sleep deprived son, for that split moment, I felt bad for him.  Then walked away. :)

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Basketball Game! (again) *sigh*

Caelan brought "Lebron" to the game... and in a matter of minutes, when that baby started crying during the game, he walked out with the baby and complained via texting me, that it sucks that he can't watch the game cause the baby won't stop crying! LOL

No cooking for me today, I was on a mission to finish my December Daily Album.. and I did just that, in a matter of hours...  I ended up using Ali Edward's idea and incorporating into a class for the store.  My idea is to get more people thinking outside of the box.  I know so many people that scrap special events such as birthdays, Christmas, Back To School Photos.. and I just wanted to share this experience, of capturing a photo a day and most importantly journaling them. I know that they are aware of these kinds of projects but always are stuck with the same question, "Where and How do I begin?"  Well, I've made it a few steps easier by providing them all the products they need, displaying the layouts.. and they simply attach their photos and journaling to it.  So they can learn to feel comfortable when stepping out of their "comfort" zone. You can see the rest HERE.
 

The rest of the night was spent finishing up this album and listening to Baby Lebron crying!

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Flash forward...
I'm gonna have to catch up on my week tomorrow (insert yawn). I was at the store for 12 hours today! To work and then my Layout Class. (Thanks Paula for hanging out, you like that December Daily Project, huh?) 

Yea... for snow!

Can't believe I just said that... But I am so EXCITED that it's finally snowed here in Alaska.. I mean come on, it is almost mid November!  At first the peculiar extended Fall Season was nice then it was just too strange. I was ready for the snow, almost anxious for it to happen. So when we saw that snow falling Sunday night, it was almost like a block party in our neighborhood, even though it was 8 pm.  I let my kids out to play in the snow, with everyone else, as we shoveled our driveways at 9pm!  And the kids sledded in what little bit that accumulated.  But by morning.. they were beyond ecstatic to see all the snow that had fallen overnight!  My kids could play outside all night in that white stuff... hey me too!  I can't wait to do more snowmobiling !!!  Yippe!! And not to mention Tubing and amateur snowboarding! 

T'was a busy and "normal" Monday... I went ahead and took photos to extend my project to possibly : "A couple of Weeks In My Life.." or "A Not-So-Normal and Normal" week.. you get the idea.  I enjoyed a day off today with hubby, kids, and girlfriends. Pics to come.. of my "normal +snow" Monday... but it is 1:30 am, I made it to the gym at 9pm tonight, finished packing up my Layout Class.. and now I'm already beat. Another full day ahead tomorrow and MORE snow!  Yea!!! 

From Blog to Paper.

I've actually accomplished something I've set out to do aside from work-related stuff.. this project was simply for me and my family. A little documentation of  my "not-so" average week.  After the kids started getting sick, I debated on wheter to continue, but I'm glad I stuck it through.

I know I have to add photos from Friday & Saturday... And I will... Right now, I'm enjoying some quiet time and finishing up this project by placing these pages in my album:

 

 

 

 

 

*Right now I'm on Wednesday.. so I'm just moving along. 
PLUS, I've just finished putting together my December Daily Album and decided to make a class out of it for the store, that way I know I will do it ;)
PLUS I'm ready for my next Layout Class at the store on Tuesday.

Let's just say, scrapbooking has been keeping my mind busy.. and that is exactly what I need right now.

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I will have to save an entire post for this project that my son has been doing over the weekend.. but you've got to see the video (if you haven't already, I've plastered that thing all over my Facebook) of his "Baby Lebron".. What ever happened to the "egg" or the "Bag of Flour"...  Let me just say, this thing is so hi-tech that only he can tend to the baby when it cries because he is "branded" with a sesored bracelet that is also water proof, what a coincidence.. that is attached to the baby too.. So when Baby Lebron cries... he's the only one that can calm him down. (I guess you have to click on the word FACEBOOK to link you to my FB)

I'm sure I have tons to say about this project... Especially after seeing him up at 2 am then 4 am.. at the point of exhaustion, getting ready to throw that thing out the window (too bad that thing costs over $500)... I held my breath a lot.. just letting him "be."  :) 

I'm off to finish up this project for a little while.. I'm just enojoying the view of the snow covered Alaska.. I've never been so excited to see snow... There's something that first "snowfall" that conjures up emotions... I'm just gonna take it all in...

Thursday Day 5 of Week In Life

Now that's more like it.. going back to somewhat of a routine here, slowly.  Isabel went back to school finally after being home for nearly 2 weeks. But Ethan was not well enough to go back just yet.. 

Getting breakfast ready for the kids in the wee hours of the morning.. *yawn*

Getting ready for work and getting Izzy ready for school.  She has the straightest hair, just like Ethan.  I on the other hand was born with natural waves and she loves my "curly" hair.. She always wants me to curl her hair, while I on the other hand, love the straighten mines.  So whenever I straighten it with "thee" best straightner ever, she always wants to get curls after. (Yes you can do both!)

I'm one of those moms that drop their kids to the bus stop, (10 steps away from our house) because it is so cold out there to let your kids wait for the bus, even if it's only 5-10 minutes! 

Then off I go to work:

 

I made a quick stop to my new fave brewed coffee, Kaladi's Red Goat!
 

I was quite excited to get out of the house and get back into the swing of things.. The minute I get in there, I head to work.  I've got several projects lined up for the store and super excited. (Love that Accucut Machine)

 

Friends always come to say "Hello"



I worked the full day today, so by the time I left around 6:30, it was just in time for another Basketball Game. (I told you I was there 4-5 times a week).  *A short video, but Caelan is running down with the ball in hand*

It was one those nights, where the kids got some fast food for dinner:


By the time we head home... *sigh* it's already 9 pm!  The kids are over tired, I'm falling asleep in the passenger seat, and we all get home, drop everything on the floor, and flop on the sofa.

The night was spent, watching some TV, The Office and Supernatural and surfing the web (btw, Supernatural, was hilarious tonight!)




I'm still up.. but not for long, I think I will make it to bed before 1 am :)

Wednesday Day 4 of Week In My Life

Wednesday.. is it bad, that I woke up thinking.. man it's only Day 4 of this project? My morning was spent dozing in and out of sleep. There's a lot going on in my head.. I've been having the hardest time sleeping (that happens when hubby is on mids).  So, once again.. I thought, it's okay if I just throw in the towel.  And I went all morning with no photos, just completely at a vegetative state and all around.. blah.

But as I folded the massive amount of laundry... I took some photos and sort of got back into it.

Izzy's been drawing/writing like crazy.. and I have them all, ready to be scrapped.  I think she's ready to go back to school.
 

And we have been lounging watching one of my favorite shows, Phineas and Freb. I seriously can sit there and watch this.. one of my faves, One Hit Wonder, where they are so determined to create a One Hit Wonder song.. and turn out to be a great band.. but refuse to create any more songs, because they have their ONE song.. it's hilarious!
 

That evening, we went to Ethan's Basketball game where he wanted to play just a few minutes here and there and to cheer on his team mates.


 

I've got a few videos.. you have to excuse my oldest getting a bit into it after a traveling call from the ref (not sure where they got that from) :)

Poor Izzy who has to come all these games 4-5 times a week. She finds ways to amuse herself:

After this game, was Caelan's practice.. so we are always racing against time. I dropped him off to practice, to race back home, to get Izzy ready for bed:
 

Then I raced back to the gym where my other son was practicing and decided to hit the gym myself.


I went for a 3 mile run on the track.. it's a small track, so that was running around in a circle 30 times!  Yup, Thirty!  I'm not sure what's worst, the treadmill or the track :) Oh, I can't wait to run outside this weekend.. it hasn't snowed yet.. so I'm gonna keep running outside! 

Then I came home to find this:

I just about fell over lauging.. it's so typical anytime I put Ethan and his sister in the same room, yet alone have him watch her for just an hour! 

I've been enjoying Pumpkin Pies :)
 

I spent the rest of the night, catching up on some photography work:

As I sit here, late at night, hubby is playing video games and I'm on the laptop, hubby is home tonight, but looks like he'll be up till the wee hours of the morning.. I'm headed back to work tomorrow..

 

Tuesday: Day 3 of Week In My Life

Alright.. I will admit, I did want to give up this project after yesterday... This is totally not my average Week In My Life.. but I started something, and by golly, I will finish it.. Too many unfinished projects in my bin to toss another one in there.. so I'm sticking to it... and probably calling it "A Week In My Out of The Ordinary Life.." And of course adding another week in there.. possibly the week after when things go back to normal.. I hope.

Let's just say, I had a "sleepless" night, literally. I don't think I slept a wink... too much going on. But I managed to roll out of bed to serve an order of breakfast burritos for my oldest, who is simply struggling with the idea that he's not sick, shucks, so he has to go to school.  That's the look of, "I am so fricken tired, I'm not sure what's going on.." And it's cold enough to sleep with a sweater.. ugh, brrr!

 

I spent most of my morning.. on the phone.. being placed on hold, then transferred, then on hold, then transferred again.. Gotta love the military hospitals! But in between waiting, I was chatting with Ms. Heidi on Facebook.  After an hour of waiting, we got an appointment within the next 30 minutes so we made a mad dash to the clinic.

While at the clinic, we found out that his nurse was his Basketball Coach!  What a sweet surprise.. we knew he worked at the clinic, but not the Ped's clinic.  I just have to say that for his first year in Basketball, he was really blessed with a great coach!  He joked around with Ethan and said: "Oh man, I heard you were sick from your adopted brother, Mason.. You should've told me you had asthma.. yo, dude.. I could've hooked you up, I could bring an oxygen tank to the games.." :)  That just brightened up his day... cause he actually hates missing school, especially Basketball Games!  After that appointment we came home with a drawer full of meds.  Poor guy!
 

For lunch the kids begged for Spam Musubi.. they love this stuff ;)

After feeding them and making sure they were "alive"... I really needed a nap. So I dozed off on the sofa, and when I woke up, I realized I had one child on my chest, and the other by beside her.. they were literally all over me :) But I could not get too comfy, because it was time for my oldest to get to his Basketball game. Love how they play music before the games.. Gets your heart pumping.

I think the kids were excited to just get out of the house.. but not for long:


Just like everything else about this week.. our schedules are thrown off.. here I am eating dinner at almost 10 pm!


One of a household favorite, Kalua Pig in the Slow Cooker.

And I'm up late, once again, starting on my December Daily Project for this year as well!


The kids will be home for one more day tomorrow.. hopefully. And by Thursday, we should be back to normal.. But I wouldn't count on it :)

Monday: Day 2 of Week In My Life

*yawn*

The kids are still not feeling well... and I know they are not going to school today.
Hubby is awake at 5 am, when my oldest begins to wake up to get ready for school.  And me, taking advantage of the situation, asks him, more like yell from the bedroom for him to come over so I can kindly ask (beg) him to make Caelan breakfast so that I can sleep in a little longer. And like the gentlemen he is (or the guy who had a nice and quiet night while his family lay asleep so he can play his new video game, Borderlands).  He got Caelan ready for school, albeit, I know he wished he was sick too so he could stay home.

The weather plummeted over night.. When hubby crawled into bed at 7 am, he said, "You don't want to look outside.." And as I gazed over at our frost covered front yard.. I said "Well, Hello Alaska!  There you are!"  No this is more like it, down to the single digits in the morning, is what we know best.. and here it is a whopping 9 degrees for us today!

The weather forecast called for snow in a few days.. so we knew we should get the snow tires on the Camry as well. (We took care of the truck last week).  So, my sleeping in, never was...

We drove off to drop off his car and "brrr..." baby it's cold outside!

Some things never change... the same ol' breakfast this morning..
 

It's Monday.. my usual day off, my day to work on photography or the house, or to hang with hubby if it's his Monday home, and basically my day to just be... but NOT today!  Got 2 sick kids in tow:



In between taking care of these guys, I was able to get the house cleaned up, laundry started (didn't say done), and steamed cleaned downstairs. 

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Hubby on mids. My view of my man when I'm home for the day.  Hubby nestled in bed sound asleep, while I go about my day. What can I say about this Mid Schedule:  It's a love + hate relationship. Of course, I can think of 100 more reasons why I hate it.. and hate is a strong word that I use sparingly, or when need be.. in this case, need be.  After all these years, I still write down on my calendar when he's home and not and which shift he's on... I still don't get it.  I'd like to say the Night shifts are harder than the Day shifts.. but they both have their pro's and con's.  I do have to say, the one thing that gets under my skin, is the fact that he is totally opposite from our schedule.  When that boy starts his day, ours have have already ended! So we are always like ships passing. And I always feel like a "single-parent" for the time being, until his next set of days off, and we feel like a family once again. But I can't complain about his 3 day off sets.. especially when the kids are in school.  Like I said, it's a "teeter-toter" there are days I love it and days I absolutely hate it!

2pm... that's when my big guy comes home. There are days, I feel like he comes "home to the rescue" or "ugh, home already!"  Today I just wanted to get out of that house, even if it was only for a 30 minutes.  We trekked on over to the Commissary, well he saw it more of an opportunity to go and eat at Subway while I rushed through the grocery store.

 

Craved Salad with Balsamic Vinegar dressing tonight.

Full moon out tonight.. and brrr.. a little frosty out there.

It's Basketball Practice for my big guy.. even though our routine seems to be thrown off track this week, my big guy still has to keep going.. I usually stay and hang out during his practices.. but on this night, I just dropped him off so I could rush home and tend to the my "2-sicklies".

Laundry... awaits... I did a few loads while the kids lounged around , or I like to say "hovered" around me.

After getting the kids to bed, not a decent hour, since they were in and out of sleep all day.. I found some much needed "me" time and did some scrapbooking.

What can I say I'm a Night Owl. I enjoyed that silence a little too much and paying for it now... went to bed way too late that night.

Got A Minute...

...to myself.

I'm still hanging in there for my A Week In The Life project.. I've got the photos.  Let's just say, when the kids finally went to bed tonight, and I finally had a minute to myself... I enjoyed the process and already putting the album together, starting with Day One.

 

So after getting the kids to another Dr Appointment (today) I will add Day 2, which really is not a whole lot going on, unless you count caring for 2 sick kids today an adventurous day! I'd say exhausting but not fun! Will be back to post day 2. :)

Sunday: Day 1 of Week In My Life

Rise and Shine. We got an extra hour as of sleep or an extra hour of staying up too late, as we "Fall Back" an hour thanks to Daylight Savings. This is when I officially say, darkness is just around the corner... 

It was quite fitting to start my "Week In My Life" segment, being it's the first of November and this time, I actually started on a Sunday!  Although, it's not gonna be an average week for me, as I will be home for a few days with some sick kids.  We took Izzy to the ER on Halloween night after a few days of having a fever and coughing like crazy, we found out that she has pneumonia!  Not good!  Then my middle guy, Ethan's asthma is flaring up... all due to this nice drop in temperature.  Waking up to the 20's is more like our norm for this time of year.

My sick girl :( She really wants to go to school tomorrow, she's been out since last Tuesday!

 

My usual breakfast, (even on the weekends)  a slice of English Muffin with Cream Cheese and a cup of coffee!

Headed to Paula's today for a Studio Shoot with a 4 day old infant!  We've officially set up our Studio at her home.

Paula working her magic... it was a long shoot, which is usually the case with infants, I always say about 2-3 hours minimum! 

On my way home, I made a mad dash to the commissary and just grabbed a whole chicken to bake in the oven and a few protein bars, heck I even opened one and ate it while I walked around the commissary! And set out for my run and siked that hubby joined me!  I am officially over-my-head-obsessed with this sport!  It was frigid cold today, 28 degrees... and the crazy part, is I enjoyed every minute of it, frozen cheeks, lips, and all...

Little Izzy just resting on the sofa all day today, writing and drawing.

And to think, I couldn't add enough in one day, yet alone one weekend. I go ahead and decide that tonight will be the night to steam clean the carpets! I really don't know what it is about having sick kids and the constant need to clean.. but this late night decision to steam clean the carpets and keep my neighbors awake and quite possibly annoyed just reminds me of a stunt my mother would do.  As I rolled over the carpets and got down on my hands and knees to scrub those stubborn stains, I thought, "I am so much like my mother!"

As I sit here at 1:30 am.. clearly too late to be waking up at 5 am for my highschooler, I've gone over the deep end of sleep deprivation!  That is day one.. let's see if I can manage to complete Day 2!

On The Go

We are constantly On-The-Go.

During the week, I am on my feet from 5am till, well about 9 pm!  Despite busy times, I want to "embrace" every moment and document what a day or even week is like in our "Ohana".  I did THIS last year.. with every intent of scrapbooking it.. well I recorded my week, but it never made it on paper... I still have all the info, the photos and the journaling from my blog posts last year.. but I'm not motivated enough to scrap those.  So, what do I do? I'm gonna start another one and see how well I can keep up with the upcoming documented week.  (We'll see..)  I just want to remember these moments, as busy as they are, it's a part of us, right now. 

It's photos like this, that make me want to remember it all:

 

Poor Izzy... it's so hard to hang when we are always "On-The-Go"