So Many Memories

As you probably can tell by all of the pictures I have posted on the blog, I LOVE taking pictures.  I am not sure if it is because I lost all my baby pictures in a fire when I was young, or if it is the fact that I just cherish every moment that I want to hold onto these moments forever.  Either way, I try to capture as many moments I can.  This is good and bad.  Good because in years to come I will have these captured moments, bad because I have hundreds of photos that I have to go through.  Now, if I was smart I would print off the pictures at the end of every month.  This would make my life easier because there would not be as many photos to go through.  It would also be easier to caption the photos since it would be fresh in my mind.  Luckily Shutterfly time stamps the back of the photos so I do not have to write the date on the photos, provided the date on my camera is correct.   So here it is, this is what I did yesterday.

This huge stack of photos took hours to caption, and sort and put into the albums.  I did not have enough space in the albums on hand to put them all away.  The worst part is, this is only 4 months worth of photos.  I still have 8 months of photos that I have to order, sort, caption, and put into albums.  

These are my shutterfly photobooks and Owen's photo albums from birth minus the albums I worked on yesterday and still need to buy to finish up.  There is about 6 months of pictures in each album.

After I get Owen's pictures all caught up, I have to sort through these photos that have been sitting in this shoe box for years.  They are pictures from high school, Girl Scouts, and other activities from the past 10 years, before my husband and son came along.  One of these days I will get all this sorted and into albums. 

It is nice to have all these memories, and it will be nice when I can get them all sorted and organized.  My hopes are to be all caught up on photo albums before baby #2 is born.  Before more avalanches of photos start rolling in.

Day 3 of 30 days to a better you

Today I said I was going to unplug and spend some uninterrupted time with my son.  Well, we had a great day!  After he woke from his nap we made musical instruments and spent an hour dancing and singing.  After that it was time to prepare dinner.  Owen helped me clean the table to roll out the dough.  He had such a blast playing with the flour.  I usually take tons of pictures but I was so focused on having fun I didn't even think about it.  We loaded the pizza up with tons of sauce and our favorite toppings and stuck it in the Oven. Owen kept looking through the oven window to see if it was done yet.  After dinner we cleaned up a little and pulled the only box of Christmas decorations out of the attic.  I spent what seemed like an eternity trying to get one strand of lights to work.  After I fixed it Owen exclaimed "Woah!  Cool!"  He was so excited.  He helped decorate the tree last year but I definitely think he will be more into it this year.  

After that we started getting ready for bed.  I let him stay in the bath for an extra ten minutes because he was having such a blast splashing and playing with all of his toys.  When he got out his fingers and toes were all wrinkled and he kept asking me to fix them.  I guess next time I wont let him stay in so long.  ;)  

Overall we had a wonderful fun filled day.  While I barely got any cleaning or laundry done, I am ok with that, I can put it off till tomorrow.   Now, I am off to bed.  I have to have blood work done in the morning.  Have a great night y'all.  

30 Days to a Better You

Day 2:  Take a few hours to yourself with no distractions.

Yesterday I took Owen to a babysitter, and had the house to myself for a couple hours.  I took a bath, which I have not done since I got married,  I had a bunch of  candles lit, and I just RELAXED!  It was so nice.  When I was done I painted my toe nails, which I nearly never do.  It was so nice to have some time to myself to just relax and unwind and forget about everything.



Day 3:  Uninterrupted Mom and Son time

Today I am shutting off the laptop, (after I finish blogging and school work and after he wakes from his nap) I am going to shut off the phone.  I planned some great activities for Owen and I tonight so we can really have quality time together.   While I know you are probably thinking I am a stay-at-home-mom, don't I always have quality time with him?  But I must be honest while I am here I am not always here for him.  I might be busy cleaning, cooking, doing school work, or anything.  Besides just before nap and bedtime, we do not really have special time where there is absolutely no interruptions.  I am going to schedule time daily where I am COMPLETELY here for Owen.  Dinner tonight is pizza.  In which Owen will help me mix and roll the dough, spread the sauce and add the toppings.  I am so excited.  He loves to help me cook.

30 Days to a Better You

To help pass the time I am going to start a 30 day challenge.  A challenge to think of myself and do things for me for a change.  While this sounds selfish it is not meant to be.  Just little things to improve my day.

Day 1: Select one spot in your house that is driving you crazy and clear it out.  Notice how the emptier space makes you feel.
   
So, today I decided to tackle the pantry.  I hate not being able to find what I need or having food expire because I forgot I had it.


Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Now  I am excited to cook dinner because I can actually find the ingredients I need.  :)   With cooking dinner less stressful it makes it more enjoyable.