And the tradition continues...

Sittin' at Momma Smith's table, I enjoyed many grilled cheese and tomato soup lunches after church . Today, Hannah Reece (thoroughly) enjoyed her first traditional Smith-Sunday-lunch-combo...I think her favorite part was carefully crumbling crackers into her soup. She didn't quite get into dunkin' her sandwich in the soup..."no, Mama...isss jucky." Mmmm...gotta love some comfort food!

Scrapbook Saturday

Took this one just before I made a big 'ol mess!

Very thankful for the opportunity to use mom and dad's house (while they are out of town) for a spot to get away and work on some memory keepin'! And even more grateful to Dan for spending the day with the kiddos so that I could go! The only problem, is that when I go so long between times of working on these things, I end up spending the first hour just organizing my thoughts and getting set up! The good news (for my neurotic-need-a-plan brain) is I think I've FINALLY got a strategy to set-up/maintain our memory keeping.

For each child:

• "My birth-day" album-detailing the day of birth
• "Baby" album-age 0-1
• "Toddler" album-age 1-2
• from ages 2+ all photos will go into the family album

For the family:

• "Milestones" album (for storage of enlargements, and professional photos)-thanks, Choley, for this idea! I don't really journal in this one-only dates.
• general "Family" album, for this I plan to use a binder-type of album so that I can easily rearrange pages around or remove individual pages to make copies for kiddos if they want their own copy of the album in the future
• web log as a means of recording/sharing stories and thoughts, and help along with journaling in albums
• Special events (vacations, etc.) will go in a mini-book or digital scrapbook
• Christmas album (maybe) could include memories from each Christmas, traditions, cards, photos received from others, etc. -may make a mini-book this year...not totally sure how I'm gonna approach this one, yet....something like this might be cool...

My goal is to keep it simple...let the words & photos be the focus. I'm telling our story as one way of deepening our faith in God as we, and future generations look back and see his activity and faithfulness.

I'm trying to include the some smallest details of life- provisions and even those things that are hard or uncomfortable to write about! For example, I'm still struggling to write in Graham's album about the time we were in a car accident with a drunk driver, but I think it's important for him to know later in life, how God has protected him in this situation, and how He's brought good out of the whole thing.

My friend, Kim, is also a "faithbooker", (I think she may have even coined the phrase!) and she's got some neat perspectives on memory-keeping with the intent to honor God now and in the generations to come....and a good reminder to embrace imperfection in the process!

"Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done." Psalm 22:30-31

A Week in the Life-Sunday, Day 7

10.12.08

-up and at 'em! "momma-can we build a fort?" Graham's the "supply collecter" of blanket's and pillows, Hannah Reece is the "arranger" making the little nest inside...

-Dan's off early to church-today's a long day at work for him

-coffee, put away dishes, work on final prep. for Sunday school this morning

-dress all and get ready to go

-Graham in his favorite hiding spot, while I'm setting up for Sunday School

-as we leave church, Hannah Reece decides shoes are not needed in the grassy parking area...lovin' it

-go home, lunch and naps for everyone-a rare occasion!

-wake up, play and head back to church for youth group (this is Graham's favorite: he loves to play with the "big kids")

-now we're home, it's movie/camp-out night Strawberry Shortcake & Transformers, snacks and ...sleep!

***************************

A little wrap-up and reflection...

just over 200 photos later...SO enjoyed this project, thinking of how fun it will be way down the road to look back. It really was eye-opening to see (somewhat) objectively how we spend our lives as we stack the "activity" up against the "priorities"...also some good practice with my camera. My goal is to create a simple album/notebook out of the photos plus some journaling. Ali Edwards has a great wrap up, plus some cool examples of what a finished product could look like. I might feel a little naked without that camera glued to my face this week!!

A Week in the Life-Saturday, Day 6

8.11.08

-hit the ground runnin' this morning!

-get dressed

-think about how I MUST get back to my excercise routine next week...feeling very stiff today

-Daddy takes kiddos to hardware store for supplies, today's a work day-house projects await

-fix breakfast... whole wheat mini-bagels and cream cheese (graham calls these his doughnuts) & bananas

-time to get to work...Daddy putties, Hannah Reece dries with hair dryer, Graham sands...mama's the clean up crew-putty dust-what a MESS!

-Dan hangs the new verticals...

-and rests after a long morning

-I love the sound of the football game in the background (yea-Cottonbowl!) and watching my hard-workin' man try to relax a little (while the kids climb all over him!)...sweet.

-time for the paperwork sort....uhhh....I've procrastinated this task for SO long...glad it's done!

-now we get our potluck dishes ready for the fellowship dinner at church tonight

-Graham snaps beans for dijon-almond green beans

-Hannah Reece flings, I mean stirs, the batter around :) for cornbread souffle

-ooohh it smells so good....

-get cleaned up

-go to potluck dinner, I LOVE potlucks!

-come home, bedtime routine...

-Reece's still been fussy/tired/clingy today...brushing teeth tonight...and she pitches a BIG, HUGE fit....take a peek and....FOUR little molars are peeking through the gums!

-Give baby girl a dose of Tylenol...poor little thing...your momma's a little slow about these things sometimes!

-Talk to Jen about the agenda for Sunday school tomorrow

-blog this, and go to bed...tomorrow's a full day!

A Week in the Life-Friday, Day 5

10.10.08

-sleep in- thanks to sweet hubby for keeping the kiddos occupied in the living room so I could sleep an extra 45 minutes!!

-Hannah Reece climbs up in bed with me and reminds me (repeatedly) that "I need ta be a piggy for dress-ups (aka Halloween)"

-so we surf Ebay together and she shows me which ones she "like dos very much"

-meanwhile, Graham plays with Transformers

-both children inform me that they are very hungry and of course my girl needs her morning cup 'o joe-sippy cup with apple juice

-start the oatmeal....have I mentioned how we can put a hurtin' on some oatmeal in this family??

-add fixins to oatmeal and pack DG's lunch: pb&j, strawberries, cheese

-during all of the above routine, Reece is falling all over my feet and legs-very emotional....sick? tired? moody? not sure...

-everyone notices that Daddy's "painting" (puttying) the wall-PINK! The result of a little mishap from moving furniture around several weeks ago...Daddy's little helpers pitch in...

-then the emotions begin again for Reece, this time she has her blanket and thumb and reveals "mama, I so seepy"....it's only 9:00 but I tuck her back in bed...

-Dan drives Graham to school, goes to work

-I'm cleaning up...kitchen, me, bedroom...in that order...start the coffee pot

-work on some odds and ends projects around the house

-Hannah Reece wakes up (three hours later)...a happy girl this time....did she grow? Man, this girl looks taller to me today!

-Eat lunch with Daddy

-play dress up and little people

-time to pick-up Bubba at school!

-all go together....run some errands, stop to visit with Grandma and Grandpa

-come back home, change clothes and look at books

-Graham and Daddy practice sounding out words from the Transformers book

-off to park/playground for Young Adults fellowship....KFC and fun for all

-Hannah Reece watches Isabel as she practices walking

-Graham is SO thrilled that he can climb to the top of the web, now!!

-come home

-kiddos are excited to try on their new shoes, very thankful to be the recipients of Nana's super sale finds (they fit perfectly!)

-bathe, books, songs, bed! Dan watches Seinfeld and I blog...while I can still remember today's events! :)

"Christmas is coming!!!"

(Scene: Tonight, at the playground)

Graham: Nana, Christmas is coming! It's going to be here in 3 days!

Nana: Christmas is coming, but it will be here in 3 months!

******a few seconds pass******

Hannah Reece: Nana, hold-you-me, I so scary!! (as she runs, panicked, into Nana's arms)

Nana: What are you scared of Hannah Reece?

Hannah Reece: Nana, I scary ba-cause Chris-mas is comin'!!!

A Week in the Life-Thursday, Day 4

10.09.08

-kids jump into bed with us...first thought...this house is a DISASTER...ohhh, waking up to my messy house is never a good start to our day...

-Dan tells me that in my sleep I said "What do you think about Nahum? He is...." get a good laugh out of that one...maybe I should go read about Nahum?

-due to said house condition...my daughter helped herself to and is now snacking on...old goldfish from yesterday!!!! yuck! "And the mother-of-the-year award goes to..."not me!... maybe next year :)

-get ready for the day

-drive to Jill's house and drop off H.R.

-visit elementary school

-can't believe I'll have a Kindergartener next year and that this is all really happening...it's all a little surreal...

-pick Hannah Reece up from Jill's house, she kindly offered to entertain Reece while I visit the school..."shop talk" on school-related stuff....so thankful for the wisdom of dear friends in this process (we have a "school choice" program here-which amounts to a lottery system, though it does give preference to proximity of the school to home)

-pick-up Graham and head home

-*sigh* glad to be home, but now I've gotta tackle this mess

-start "Charlie and Lola" and fix snack for the kiddos...they're happily (for now) snugged on the sofa, it's raining outside

-well, I tried, but it's really hard to make a sink-full of dirty dishes look photogenic! :)
-the kids are playing hide and seek now...hiding under their beds is their favorite spot...until someone gets kicked in the head...and the other someone ends up in time out....and they say mom's don't have eyes in the back of their heads, HA!

-Daddy's home now...yippee!

-Lego time with Daddy

-dinner is served...leftovers tonight...

-quick trip to W*l-M*rt...come home, baths, play transformers and princesses...time for bed!