A few shots from today's "Week in the Life."

And Mr. Bean has some news too!

Boo. Mr. Bean. Tootoo. Our little guy is little no more.

He's nearly three.

Not to mention a superstar race car driver "Rock and Troll" singing Big Guy.

Just see for yourself: he's in swim class- without Mom, he's on a soccer team- the Hoppers, and he has his own Big Guy work to do. My sweet pea is sure growing into a big three year old!

He says:

"Mom, check out my cool moves!"

"Mom, I put my head under water!"

"Mom, I drew a rocket por Dad." And he did.

Meanwhile, I am sadly wondering just when I turned into plain old Mom. Where or where are the days of Mommy?

The times, they are a changin'.

I'm still spinning from the thought of our girl being a Kindergartener. Carsen was 7 weeks early when she was born, which left her at 3 pounds, 11 ounces when she entered this world. I cannot get that amazing and tiny little image of her out of my mind every day as she helps pack her lunch, does her homework, and walks to school. It is so very special for our family this fall to embrace these big shifts in who we are.

Day one.

Here are a few photos from day one of the Week in the Life challenge.

Ideas brewing.

So after just returning from my scrap weekend, I also just turned 35! See the b-day flowers I received from the two boys in my life- the bright one from my man while he was on a business trip for my big day, and the orange ones from my little man True (thanks Wen!). With both events shaking things up around here, I decided to put my refreshed perspective to work. Here's what I'm working on:

1. Get healthy. I have popped in and out of some seriously blue times in my life and I have also always gone up and down on the scale. The answer to both life-challenges is a healthy lifestyle. I want to be around to kiss grandbabies, but I also want to have a great quality of life while I'm doing it. Fo that matter, I want a great quality of life while I can still kiss my own babies. So my friend Gia turned me on to this site: http://www.stickk.com/. I am posting and monitoring my good-health goals on this site and all my supporters can help me reach them. This site is great, and your goals can be anything- make partner by January, quit smoking, make more family time, skydive... you name it. You can even deduct money from your credit card to benefit the charity of your choice when you succeed! Pretty cool.

2. Get back into the everyday exploration. I'm going to take Ali's challenge and document my life for a week. You can read up and get inspired here: http://www.aliedwards.typepad.com/. Again, pretty cool.

3. Expand my scrapbooking horizons. I met a gal at this crop and boy oh boy this girl had a gift. She made art out of the most surprising things, and it was so inspiring. I've always been a paper-crafts kind of girl, as opposed to sewing (all thumbs) for example. This gal made pop up scrapbooks, made a book out of file folders, a chipboard suitcase, geesh... you name it. It was so cool, and it got me to thinking outside the album. I've been a big fan of the mini-book over the last year, as my family albums are mostly caught up. So I've made travel albums, friends and family books for the kids to leaf through at their liesure, and love stories. This gal got me on the wavelength again of seeing where else I can bring my story.

Surprise!

So, many a month has passed since I've posted, and perhaps it's laziness, perhaps it's busy, fun summer activities, but whatever the reason, I'm back for now! I just returned from a weekend retreat in which my dear friend and I scrapbooked for nearly 2 1/2 days straight with a fabulous group of women at The Mad Scrapper in Issaquah, http://www.madscrapper.com/. It was a fundraising weekend for breast cancer research, and it was a total hit. We already want to sign up for next year!

I can't believe the inspiration that followed me home, creatively speaking, but also as a huge sense of being refreshed, looking at my day-to-day life in a found sense of appreciation and examination. Therefore, I'm back at the blog, and ready to kick off a few new projects. Enjoy!