A week in the life : Friday

Yesterday, we:

• I had a dentist appointment first thing, so my husband, who had teacher planning but no students or meetings that day, stayed home long enough for me to go. It was great to slip away by myself, and I hoped to fit in 10 glorious minutes of knitting in the waiting room, but they called me right back. Darn!
• took a mid-morning nap (all of us, except Daddy, who headed back to work)
• had a variation of a beet salad that Kyrie shared years ago for lunch (on her old blog, so there's no link, but it's essentially: equal parts lightly boiled or steamed beets cut into matchsticks -- as you can see, mine are sliced, but matchsticks are better -- and green beans, also very lightly steamed. Toss with nuts of your choice -- Kyrie suggested hazelnuts, I think?, but I used walnuts -- dress with your favorite dressing -- I mix up my own -- and crumble some cheese on top [blue cheese, feta, goat cheese, etc.] -- which I omit because Elisabeth doesn't like cheese)
• more laundry and dishes
• picked up my sister and niece (the house above is not theirs, but is up the street from theirs -- they live in a great old city neighborhood)
• spent the afternoon at IKEA with my sister and niece
• saw a double rainbow out the window while eating supper there, which was extremely hard to photgraph through those windows, as they were not that clean ;)
• bought nothing at IKEA 
• spent the evening playing at my sister's house
• came home, kids asleep in the car, to find that my husband had picked up a 6-pack of hard cider for us to enjoy together with fans blowing the cool of the night into our living room
• made yesterday's post before absolutely crashing into bed!

This was maybe my favorite day of the week so far, even though I don't love shopping and so a trip to IKEA isn't really my ideal way to spend a day. But I really, really love hanging out with my sister and we don't get to do it often enough because of our husbands' widely divergent work schedules. (Not that we can't do stuff with the dads along, but we rarely do because of family time.)

I'm having fun with these and I'm looking forward to sharing the last two days with you!

A week in the life : Thursday

I almost didn't squeeze this post in today, but here I am, just minutes before midnight. I was with my sister today. One should never assume that a day spent with one's sister will end at a reasonable hour. Ahem.

So....

Yesterday, we:

• had whole wheat toast with butter and preserves for breakfast, same as the day before
• went to James's swimming lesson. He "dove" off the diving board twice (really a front-leaning jump -- almost belly flop)
• played dress-up. I'm loving Fiona's particular sense of humor these days.
• laundry and dishes, laundry and dishes.
• had some lunchtime shenanigans based on these dogs (the dogs are funny, but my kids imitating them is downright hilarious.)
• James proudly hand-sewed some fabric together, his first sewing project (unassisted by me!)
• did a doll performance in the living room
• played outside for a long time
• it was cool and so pleasant!
• practiced writing cursive (even James had a go with a "J")
• enjoyed some chips with salsa made by one of my best friends!
• had baked chicken, brown rice, and salad (with lettuce from our CSA and mustard greens from a friend) for dinner
• enjoyed animal crackers as before-bed treat
• listened to the crickets as we drifted off in our (cool) beds

A week in the life : Wednesday

I only took a handful of photos yesterday. It was a bit of an off day. I woke up to bad news about a friend, and it clouded the day. It was also another day spent doing doll work and I don't want to give away too much of that. :) 

But here is what I have!

Yesterday, we:

-had fresh-baked whole wheat bread (from our bread machine), butter, and fruit preserves for breakfast

-went to James's swimming lesson. My kids have, for many years, liked to be "wrapped up like burritos" in their towels after swimming, and I don't know that I've ever photographed it or documented it anywhere, but it's something I don't want to forget.

-I knitted a whole row while at the pool. At least that's an improvment over the previous day!

-stayed and visited with a friend at the pool for a while

-the heat we'd been experiencing (a month of temperatures over 90 degrees) broke, which was a relief -- our house has been so hot and muggy!

-had a quick and light lunch (tortillas with shredded beef)

-worked on dolls for most of the afternoon

-had pasta and homemade sauce for supper

-spent the evening (and late into the night) at the home of some friends -- I had my camera with me, but we were having so much fun, I didn't snap a single photo!

Looking at the few photos I have from yesterday, I realize that I slipped a bit back into my usual photo style, and I'm trying again today to step out of that comfort zone a bit more.

A week in the life : Tuesday

Yesterday, we:

-had potato and leftover pulled pork hash, watermelon, and orange juice for breakfast

-went to James's swimming lesson

-I knitted exactly half a row at the pool

-went to our neighborhood health food store (where I used to do most of our grocery shopping, but with a bigger family, more expenses, etc., we now carefully choose the things that are most important to buy there)

-laughed at a funny dog in the car parked next to us

-stopped for a (rare) treat at Dairy Queen

-came home and built little forts in the living room

-read lots of books

-worked and worked on dolls

-simple lunch and supper of leftovers and fresh produce from our CSA were quickly prepared by Elisabeth while I worked the afternoon and evening away

-Daddy got home at 8pm, after his first afternoon marching band practice (he thinks this will be typical for at least the first half of the season)

-I stayed up super late, working, and also reading (I have summer homework that I haven't even looked at yet! Oops!)

Thanks for your kind feedback after the first day! This feels like a much different type of blogging than I'm used to. I'm glad to see that it's receiving a warm reception, because it feels so foreign and strange to me, but also fun and freeing!

A week in the life : Monday

So, I totally got the idea to do a week in the life thing here from Kyrie. I know it really comes from Ali Edwards, it's something of a scrapbooking "prompt", and there is a specific week for it each year, but I'm just doing my own thing. I wanted to post this last night, but honestly, by the end of a long day (I got home at almost 11pm), I was just too tired. And then our mornings are so busy. So here goes!

Yesterday, we

-played horsies under the kitchen table before breakfast.

-had potatoes and migas for breakfast. I talked to Sarah on the phone while making it.

-washed dishes more times than I care to recount.

-barely made a dent in the laundry.

-went to James's swimming lesson. Fiona dangled her feet in the baby pool while he had his lesson. At the very end of the lesson, his class went into the baby pool to play "What time is it, Mr. Shark?"

-admired our swim team's trophies while at the pool (first in our league and second in state!).

-went to the grocery store, where Elisabeth walked and read the whole time.

- played outside in an early afternoon thunderstorm -- ten minutes of downpour followed by a long afternoon of stifling humidity.

-James made a pictorial list of the things he needed to get done (bring the groceries in the house, take out the recycling, get dressed).

-lanolized diaper covers and had a lunch of salad and fruit.

-had an afternoon gymnastics performance.

-I spent the afternoon teaching cello lessons, while my husband (who was home early because he'd had an orientation day) took the kids to Costco for some staples.

-portioned out some of the staples and made a quick and simple supper

-I went out for dinner and drinks with some friends.

In doing this, I wanted to remember to take pictures that were not just "bloggable", but told a story of our day. As I look through the batch, some of which are not the usual "type" of photo I'd share here, I am bemoaning the poor light in our house (this is already generally a problem, but especially on overcast, hazy days like we've been having here lately), and wishing we had a prettier living room. Oh, well, all in good time.

I'm also reminded what a fantastic and lovely little family I have here, and how good it is to have good friends.