apparently the week for crappy weeks

Disclaimer: Lots of whining and complaining. My blog, my right.

Anyone still reading this have an extra crappy week this week? The kind where day after day, it feels like hot steamy piles of poo are raining down on your head over and over? Seems like I know at least a few people that have had an extra terrible few days.

Just wondered.

Rather than go into a long list with bullet points detailing the variety of craps I dealt with this week, I’ll just say that it’s got to go up from here.  Right after my kids get over Hand, Foot, and Mouth (nice way to end the fantastic week).

This time last year, I was probably crying a million tears into my pillow because this Friday 52 weeks ago was the last day that my boys spent with their beloved babysitter….their original, first, one-in-a-million babysitter who can never be replaced. I love their little Montessori school and I’m excited for Dexter to start attending in August, but things are still…just not the same.

This time last year they probably never would have gotten Hand, Foot, and Mouth.

I miss the closeness and relationship. I miss the details. I miss that I could look at the clock anytime of the day and have a pretty good idea of what my kids were up to. Now I really have no clue what the structure of their day is like.  I don’t know if they spend the whole day in front of the TV or if they get along or fight. Just about every day is a “good” day. Which is good, I guess.  I just miss the way it used to be.  Maybe we were a little too enmeshed with our old babysitter at the time, but it worked for all of us.  The communication was helpful most of the time.

Our relationship with her has grown and transformed – now we are friends instead of business partners. I’m glad she and her family are still very much a part of our lives. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t still miss the way it used to be.

I’ve cried more this week than I’ve cried in a year.  It seems like something is backfiring, getting canceled, changing, or unpleasantly surprising me at every turn. At the end of the week, I’ve had enough. I’m ready for a change in mojo.

I hate feeling this way. I look around and see summer, feel summer, smell summer. The Spring and Summer months make up my favorite time of year. We have had some really great weeks this Spring and Summer. But this week has taken it’s toll and I’m done.

Bleh. Done with this depressing post. I just had to get it out.

catch the moment 365: week twenty-five

Let me start this week with an apology. My pictures are not the most inspired.  I feel like I’ve been rushing around so much that just getting a picture — not getting a picture I love — was the priority. I’ve overbooked us/myself the last couple of weeks with plans every single night so I’m looking forward to (hoping for) some low-key days in our very near future. I love being busy and having fun but eventually, duty calls. So does the couch.

6-18-14
169/365: June 18th. Lunch date with a friend from work at the historic Willard. Great food and great ambiance.
6-19-14170/365: June 19th. Just one of a few photos I shared in a previous post about my grandma’s recent visit.
6-20-14
171/365: June 20th. A hurry up and take the picture kind of day. A friend at work gave me her iPhone 4 to borrow until I can get an upgrade in September. I feel like I’ve gotten a HUGE upgrade since the phone I had before (Ryan’s OLD phone) barely held a charge for 5 minutes.
6-21-14
172/365: June 21st. What better way to welcome the official start of summer than spending a day jumping in a lake with my kids?  My cousin visited with her sweet little cousin (see day 173) and we spent the whole day maxin’ and relaxin’ on the water. Perfection. By far my favorite day of the week!
6-22-14
173/365: June 22nd. Sweet little J playing on the playground before they headed back home on Sunday. I wasn’t much in the mood to take photos that day but I wish I’d gotten more of her sweet face.
6-23-14
174/365: June 23rd. While I was working really hard to relax and entertain the boys, Ryan and his dad were doing ACTUAL work. Monday night they finished installing our new over-the-range microwave.  Now we just have about 2 million other things to do before our kitchen remodel is complete.
6-24-14
175/365: June 24th. Another get-it-over-with kind of picture day but as it turns out, I really love this one. It was raining when I took this so I didn’t even get out of the car.  I’m kind of in love with this barn apparently. It always looks different based on the pretties growing around it. Remember the poppy picture? And the snowy winter scene?

Wow, Theo didn’t even make an appearance this week and there’s one measly shot of Dexter. I have taken pictures of both of them, for sure, but for some reason, these are the photos that stood out to me as the ones I wanted to use for week 25. I hope you enjoyed them — at least a little bit.  I love day 175 – the barn & day 169 – lunch at the Willard.  Which is your favorite?

xo,
~C~

making memories – that’s what matters

I have been taking at least one picture a day since starting the Catch the Moment 365 photo project, but sometimes I will go almost a whole week before looking through the photos on my camera. Tonight I started feeling like I was getting way behind on sorting, deleting, and editing photos so I popped my memory card in the computer and starting scrolling through.

Now, I know that last Thursday was…well, just last Thursday.  But my heart swelled a little and I got a little lump in my throat as I clicked through the pictures below.  My mom drove 6 hours to visit my grandma then drove her another 2 hours in pouring rain and rush hour traffic to my house for dinner. Usually, we are visiting her so it felt like a treat and honor to have her in my home. This sweet lady turned 80 last week.

IMG_0048 IMG_0062
Their mutual joy… I almost can’t take it.
IMG_0065 IMG_0072 IMG_0075 IMG_0078 IMG_0090Our little visit was short and sweet. My grandma became a widow almost two years ago and while she is a healthy lady, it’s impossible to ignore the awareness that every visit with her is precious. I want my boys to remember her presence, be in pictures with her, and have sweet memories of her kind personality. When Ryan and I met, we had all 4 of our parents and 7 out of 8 grandparents.  Now my grandma is ‘our’ only grandparent (and the boys’ only great-grandparent) and my dad is gone.

Life is so short. Celebrate. Say yes. The dishes can wait. Spend time together.  I’m not going to remember the chores that didn’t get done…I bet you won’t either.

xo,
~C~