2012 Blue Jeans Week 36

Ever since starting my picture-a-day way of documenting our lives in 2009 I have loved the different things I have taken pictures of.  It isn't always people.  Often times it is things--things we love, things we have done, rooms in our house, physical things I want to remember.  As the kids look through our older albums from 2009 and on they love seeing those pictures not just of themselves, but of our 'things.'  I hear comments of, "oh yeah, I remember that toy.  It was my favorite," or  "oh, I loved that book!  I remember when Dad read us that!"  or "I remember when I had that.  I loved it!  What happened to it?"  That last one is a very good question, and the answer is usually who knows?  But at least we have a picture of it to remember.  So this week I have some 'things' pictures that will help my family remember some things they loved.  Enjoy. . .

Sunday:  Ben is usually in charge of bedtime stories.  Lately Mr J has been insisting on having these.  Calvin and Hobbes is something Ben has loved forever, and I really didn't know about until I met him.  Ben has every book of theirs, and they have become Mr. J's favorite bedtime stories lately.  

Monday:  Playing games is something my family really loves.  Tonight we played Clue.  What a classic!  Mr J just has to learn to hold his cards the right way so he doesn't show everyone his hand every few seconds :)

Tuesday:   Typical after school shot from our house.  Miss A doing history homework, and Mr J working on spelling.

Wednesday:  After the kids leave for school is when I exercise.  I walk.  I love to walk.  Lately I have seen these wild sunflowers up everywhere in the country where I walk.  I love sunflowers and captured a picture of them as I walked by today.

Thursday:  Volleyball!  Miss O is playing school volleyball this year.  It is the first year they can play school sports.  Today was a home game, and she did awesome!  It is so fun to watch your kids play.

Friday:  Sometimes I work at my kids' elementary school.  Today I was working in the library where my mom is the librarian, and so my kids came there after school.  Nana always has a fun project for them to do. Today they were writing Japanese pen pals.

Saturday:  All 4 of my kids take piano lessons.  I start them the May they finish kindergarten, so with 4 we have a lot of piano music at our house, and the piano is a big deal.  Lately Miss O has gotten it into her head that she needs to be getting ready to play Christmas music early--like September early, so she went through all our Christmas music and has been practicing it every day.  It is kind of fun to hear 'Jingle Bells' on a hot, sunny September day.  Christmas music is her latest 'thing.'

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a great week!

Blue Jeans Week 39

We had a wonderful week with grandparents, hugging them, loving them, mourning one, and remembering them.  So grateful for family!

Sunday:  We had my dad over for dinner because my mom was out of town, and he was giving Miss O some Lego building advice.  Love that my kids get to grow up with at least one set of grandparents close!

Monday:  Mr. J doing homework after school.  We were practicing his spelling words.  What a difference a chalkboard and chalk or a white board and marker make.  It is much more fun to do spelling words on those than with regular paper and pencil, and popcorn always helps too :)

Tuesday:  I don't have a picture for today because we went to an amazing Flamenco Guitar concert by Ronald Radford, and I put the concert program in for my picture of the day.  The kids were especially impressed with how his fingers just flew all over the guitar.  Amazing!  If you ever get a chance to see a Flamenco Guitarist, go!

Wednesday:  I had lunch at school with Mr. J.  Love that boy, the lunch, not so much :)  but it was fun to be there with him and his classmates.  Cute kids!

Thursday:  Took the kids to the park after school today.  The leaves were beautiful and so fun to play in!

Friday:  We had a super fun surprise this week---my grandparents, my kids great-grandparents, drove 1,150 miles to spend the weekend with us.  It was so nice to have them, but also today we got the sad news that Ben's grandpa passed away.  He was 96 and had lived an amazing life full of service and love for his family.  Now all Ben's grandparents are gone, but we are very blessed to still have both sets of mine with us and healthy, so we were especially glad to have them visit this weekend.  So grateful for the wonderful examples in both Ben's and my family.

Saturday:  It was our town's annual celebration this weekend.  We all went to the parade.  My grandparents enjoy being here for this weekend and the parade.  The kids get so much candy!  They love it!

Hope you all have a great week!