Week in the Life 2013: Thursday

Another full day. I'm amazed how much still happens (and I manage to capture) in our lives even when we're apart most of the day with work & preschool.

6:47am Silly, sleepy boy brought his Cars blanket & 2 loveys in the hall and pretended to go back to sleep.

7:09am A rare weekday breakfast with all 3 of us briefly at the table together!

7:30am Soccer day at preschool, but he didn't want to wear his shirt.

12:23pm Lunchtime thrifting. Ended up with 2 frames & a book for $4.80.

5:42pm Heading into Great Clips for haircuts for Trent & Dylan.

5:50pm Holding still while getting a haircut.

6:20pm Dinner at Jason's Deli - deli club, fruit plate and kid's salad bar.

6:44pm Having fun taking selfies after dinner.

7:04pm "For you, Mama!"

7:15pm Visiting with neighbors. Dylan was helping check on their vegetable garden while their 11mo son was crawling around the yard.

8:07pm One of the thrift store frame purchases was a poster frame for this NCSU poster we got at Meet the Pack day. Excited to find the exact size I needed for $2 plus discovered when I got home the plastic still on the plexi. Like new! Now hanging in Dylan's bedroom.

8:15pm He climbed into bed, put his elf Abby in his lap and opened a book to "read" to him. My heart melted when I noticed he put Abby's hand on his. :)

Watching Big Brother (my one reality addiction) and working on our Disney trip photo book. One more page to go. Couldn't quite finish before bedtime.

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Week in the Life 2013: Wednesday

As true with any week, Wednesday had it's normal moments and it's unexpected ...

6:27am Reading. This was after waking us at 5:55 when he climbed into our bed.  I sent Dylan to his room until the "bunny woke up" for quiet play time so I could get ready. 

6:48am Fixing breakfast.

8:21am Powering up the Mac for "me time" while he's in his weekly speech therapy.

9:31am Snack time.

9:41am Stop at BJs for gas.

4:13pm Received photo & text from Trent. Afternoon team building. 

4:32pm Fixed a cup of green tea (iPhone w/ text using Over app)

6:06pm We work & live in the city, but our route home takes us through farmland.

6:39pm Shooting hoops with Uncle Ben. (Failed to get a clear shot.)

7:10pm Cutting up strawberries & cucumber for his dinner.

7:12pm Last minute dinner plans after surprise visit from Trent's brother.

8:28pm Later bedtime due to his uncle visiting. Seahorse is a must at every bedtime.

9:45pm Typical weekday night. Hers & his.

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Week in the Life 2013: Tuesday

A look at our Tuesday ...

6:29am My early morning companion begging for canned food.

6:50am Breakfast chosen & fixed by Dylan. He wanted waffles (out) or pancakes (not making on a school morning). Instead he had a squeeze fruit, strawberries, grapes, apple cinnamon rice cake & cranberry juice.

7:11am Morning artwork. (Don't tell him Trent & I aren't really 20!)

11:50am Weekly lunch date with Trent. Further planning for our trip to England.

2:39pm Working

6:03pm Checking the mail when we arrived home (iPhone w/ text using Over app)

6:18pm Replacing magenta ink cartridge and printing list sheets for Big Idea Festival Me album.

6:39pm Camera timer silliness while I worked on my Big Idea Festival Me album. Wish this had been in focus. Still hilarious.

7:21pm Evening game time for Dylan & me. We each won a round.

7:57pm Bedtime routine for Dylan.

10:30pm Wrapping up the day uploading photos to Flickr, writing this post & watching Under the Dome on the DVR.

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Week in the Life 2013: Monday

Another round of Ali Edwards's Week in the Life has begun. It started yesterday, but if you missed it, you can join in at any point. Truly this is a very flexible, personal memory keeping adventure which is part of the reason I enjoy it.

You don't have to be a scrapbooker to do this. I made a photo book last spring after attempting to participate a couple times in the past (who knows, maybe I'll finish one of those books too someday). Thumbing through the 2012 book and photos from 2010, it's interesting to see how much life has changed and stayed the same.

Be prepared. This will be the first of 7 days of straight blog posting, but I plan to be less wordy in the rest of the posts. :)

Here's a brief look at our Monday with a mix of iPhone and point & shoot photos (yep, I didn't touch the DSLR once - that's just the way it goes sometimes) ...

Morning routine - let the day begin.

Off to work & preschool (iPhone w/ text using Over app)

My desk - midday. (Yes, I need to get some pictures on the walls!)

Noisy fitup construction next door (iPhone w/ Rhonna Designs app)

Self portrait by Dylan in preschool

Photo by Dylan using camera timer (one lesson & he's a pro!)

Bedtime reading - Dear Zoo

Evening tv & computer time (iPhone w/ text using Over app)

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DIY Disney Stroller Tag

When planning for Disney, I frequently saw mentions of stroller tags to identify your stroller. Throughout your visit in the parks, you have to leave your stroller in stroller parking areas. Cast members will shift the strollers as needed to fill the space as much as possible. Meaning your stroller might not be in exactly the same spot you left it. Plus, if you have a popular type/style, it's very possible to see many that look just like yours.

We took our Maclaren Volo. Amazingly, I only spotted one identical stroller during our entire visit. Possibly a perk of having a color scheme that's now a few years old? Regardless, two things helped us spot our stroller quickly - the liner I made a couple years ago and the stroller tag I made for the trip.

If you search online, there are LOTS of ideas and even some free download & print styles especially for the park rentals. I decided to use some supplies I had on hand and put one together in just about 30 minutes.

I wanted something simple that would help identify our stroller for our 4 days at Walt Disney World. Well, it did that and then some. I confess, 4 months later and it's still on our stroller and looking as good as it did the day I attached it. Maybe I'll remove it later. Maybe. I kind of like that bit of Disney on there.

Supplies: white card stock, Waltograph & Tekton Pro fonts; Disney scrapbook papers; QuicKutz Tangerine font, Mickey's shoe eyelet; Scotch Photo Laminating Sheet - wallet size; ziptie.

*Updated March 2014: Find my free template and printable to create your own stroller tag here **

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Preschool 3s Class Photo Book

As Dylan's 4th birthday approached, I realized that our days in his 3s class at preschool were numbered and I decided to create a photo book to highlight some of his activities and art work. I uploaded all of the photos to Shutterfly, started with the 'School Days' style and edited as I went. Here's a sampling of the final product ...

Front cover using 'School Days' style

Seuss Week and St. Patrick's Day Crafts

July 4th art projects and his class birthday celebration

Art Projects from throughout the year

Back cover - photo of name he handwrote in class

Now that I've done this and know I want to do one for the upcoming year, I've already started uploading photos into a "4s Class" folder so I can begin putting it together as the year progresses rather than all at once after. Whether you want to do the same for this school year or catch up on a previous year, here are some tips to keep it easy & get it done ...

1. Organize photos into a single folder with a recognizable name. For example, I have an album on my iPhone titled "Dylan - 4s Class" so I can find any photos I've quickly snapped during visits in his classroom. I have similarly named folder on Shutterfly where I upload the photos too so I can find them all in one easy step.
2. A picture tells a thousand words. Don't worry if you don't have the full story or exact date especially on the artwork. For the 3s Class Book, I created some holiday pages ("Easter Art", "Winter Projects", etc) and at the end had two pages that were simply a collage of artwork throughout the year that didn't have a set page.
3. Consider letting your child help. Have them pick a few favorite photos and/or select the design for a page. 

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Hidden Mickeys

On previous trips to Walt Disney World, Trent & I have had fun hunting for hidden (and not so hidden) Mickeys. Dylan was just old enough during our trip in May to play along himself. Once we showed him a couple, he got the hang of it and had fun pointing out any Mickey likeness he saw. To this day he will make a hidden Mickey any chance he gets (3 M&M's = hidden Mickey, 3 slices of cucumber = hidden Mickey, etc). So cute.

As he also is really into the camera and getting photos of certain things, he often asked me to take photos of the Mickeys he spotted. Thus, we have the page dedicated to Mickey in our trip album:

I created a template with a simple grid outline to arrange all the photos. The larger picture of Dylan with the Mickey Mouse ice cream is straight from Instagram.

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