A Week in the Life: Wednesday

The quote of the day goes to Mike, who hasn't quite got the vision of what I am trying to do. After taking my 47th picture today, Mike said to me, "I think this is bordering on obsessive-compulsive, Carla". Love it! (and him, too)

I saw ali's finished album today, and although I am getting a bit tired of taking so many pictures and writing so much down and feeling like I am giving my life over this week to this project, I am so very inspired and have a renewed vision of why I am doing this.

These pictures are life. Where we are at right now. What we are doing right now. What life consists of right now. What is so great about this project is that it makes me so very present oriented - which is exactly what I need. It is so easy for me to get caught up in thinking about what is yet to be, what the future holds, what needs to be done. This has been very grounding for me. And the timing couldn't have been better.

So, here is what our Wednesday looked like. So full of amazing moments that I won't forget because I have it all in photos+words. (what I wouldn't give for this kind of documentation from my own childhoood.) It is all so worth it.

Our little dragon growling at himself first thing in the morning. I woke up to him saying over and over again (in a very meek voice), "I fell in the toilet. I fell in the toilet." And sure enough, he had fallen in the toilet. Luckily it was before he went pee.

Mike shaving in the morning. I love the morning rituals.

The daily 'putting-the-dishes-away-from-the-night-before-because-I-didn't-want-to-do-any-more-housework'. It just seems so much easier to do it in the morning.

And the lunches are made in the morning, too. My mom used to make them all after dinner the night before, but I just can't make myself do it. Lucky for me, Eden loves 'heat-ups', so it makes throwing food in their lunch boxes a little easier.

Ephraim and I getting ready to head outside. I had hoped to get a run in, but after a few unshoveled sidewalks, I just gave up. I guess I am a fair weather jogger. This explains the extra few pounds I gain every winter.

We decided to stop at Second Cup while we waited for MEC to open up this morning. Ephraim passed the time listening to the workout music on my ipod (and drinking a hot chocolate). I have so been loving the time I have to spend alone with Ephraim. I have never had this experience with my kids before, and really love the one-on-one time that Ephraim and I get. These moments are so awesome.

Stopping in at MEC, looking for some new hiking boots (unsuccessful, but informative).

Back home again - Ephraim absolutely loves puzzles, and spends quite a bit of time doing them.

Aaralyn's home!!

Off to run some errands in the van.

Cooking dinner. This is probably one of my favourite smells - garlic fried in olive oil. And the kids will eat all of these up in a split second. Note to self: chop up two bulbs of garlic if there is to be any left for the adults...

After dinner, it was time to catch up on folding laundry in the basement. This is where the 'out of sight, out of mind' often works against me.

Wednesdays are bath days in our house. Ephraim usually begins in the tub, Aaralyn joins in later, and then once Ephraim is out, Eden jumps in. We always hear lots of laughing, lots of bubbles and lots of play. Definitely the 'family bath'.

While Ephraim was in the tub, the girls went outside to build a snow-person appropriately named "Mr. Snow". I love how Eden and Aaralyn are each other's best friend.

After the kids are in bed, I spent a bit of time working on a few other projects in the craft room. If I am not behind the computer, I am usually sitting here...

We went to check on the kids before going to bed ourselves, and saw this. I often will just sit and look at the kids when they are sleeping, knowing that they will grow up way too quickly. Love that these moments are captured on film...

A Week in the Life: Tuesday

Spring has disappeared, and Winter has reared it's ugly head once more in this lovely city. Mike woke me up this morning, and as he opened the curtains he said, "Carla, whatever you do, don't look outside". The wind had been howling all night, so I expected to see a very wet front porch, but instead, this is what I saw...

...and oh! the wailing and gnashing of teeth that followed! Here's to hoping Father Winter gets the hint and takes off!

Another cuddle with Daddy (while Daddy savours the coffee)

The girls waiting for the bus (after a bit of a fight when they both came down in their capris and flipflops...)

Ephraim watching the girls, looking very happy that he was in the warm house and not waiting for the bus with the girls.

My breakfast

This is what happens when all you do is take and upload pictures for three days. I promised Mike that I would get to cleaning the kitchen today. Seems as good a day as any, as I have absolutely no intention of going anywhere. at. all.

So very thankful for dishwashers. There were so many dishes on the counter that after emptying the dishwasher, it was full again. Oops...

Ephraim keeping busy colouring while I try to get a few things done around the house.

Like laundry...

Ephraim decided that Eden's bed is a wonderful place to read books. He spent quite a bit of time up on the top bunk today.

While Aaralyn read some books to her imaginary students.

We were waiting for Eden to come home, and read a few books to pass the time.

Playing a game of crazy eights after school with a cup of hot tea.

Eating dinner - we were supposed to have soccer games tonight for all three kids, but for obvious reasons, they were cancelled. Which meant that we could have a leisurely dinner - a welcome change from the normal rushing that happens on weekdays!

Doing a bit of after dinner reading...

And Mike putting the kids to bed. Love this family so much.

A Week in the Life: Monday

Holy smokes, this is alot of work. And I'm finding it really hard to see the extra-ordinary in the ordinary. So, this project has been good for that - I am changing my focus a bit and trying to see that the every day stuff - receipts from the grocery store, my kids hanging from the railing, the fact that our Monday routine is pretty much set in stone - is what makes life, life. Today, this may seem ordinary, but in twenty (or forty or sixty) years, someone will be looking at this album and see the extraordinary in our lives on Monday, May 3, 2010 (or at least that is the hope...).

Here's a few pictures from Monday:

Making coffee - #1 on the list of things to do each and every day

The kids cuddling with Daddy before doing anything else each morning. I think this is probably one of their favourite things to do each day. And it has to be Daddy - Mommy just doesn't cut it.

Mike is home on Monday mornings, and decided that today would be a good day to tear out a few walls in the basement. Time to call the plumber!

Getting ready for my run...

Aaralyn greets me each and every day with that little wave from the bus. I love it!

These games of chase inevitably lead to someone smashing their head or getting frustrating or slipping on one of the toys on the ground. But they must love it, because they play this game ALOT.

We are one of those parents that allow (and even encourage) our kids to climb the banisters. It causes some problems when we go to people's houses where this kind of behaviour isn't looked upon as appropriate. They are old enough now to know that it isn't a good idea to do this at other people's houses...

Off to Superstore for the weekly shopping. We always stop halfway through the shopping trip at the bakery and grab ourselves a croissant to munch on - 'croissant' is apparently their first French word.

And Eden arriving home on the bus...

The weekly scavenger hunt for library books. I'm quite sure our family alone paid for the recent renovation at our library through the fines we accumulate. But, we LOVE our weekly trip to the library.

'Playing' piano - both Eden and Aaralyn have started lessons, but have a great time just playing around on the keys.

Once again at the computer, uploading pics. I find myself in front of this screen quite a bit. Sometimes it is legitimate, other times - not so much.

A Week in the Life: Sunday

A few weeks ago, a whole lot of people joined ali edwards in a project she calls "A Week in the Life". Basically, it is a 'words+photo' project that documents, in excruciating detail, the goings-on of day to day life during one week. Literally thousands of people joined her in making an album that celebrates the 'ordinary' of everyday. Since it didn't really work for our family during that time, I have decided to choose this week to drive my family (and myself) crazy by taking pictures and more pictures.

It was actually more difficult to remember to take pictures today than I thought it would be. I started out with over 100 pictures, and after deleting the really poor ones (Aaralyn got a hold of my camera and took a gazillion pictures of herself in church), I ended up with about 25 that were workable.

Here is the beginning of "A Week in the Life" - Stolte edition...


7:49 - ordering my latte from Starbucks before worship practice (well, actually - a triple, grande, non-fat, no-foam latte...)


7:55 - so happy to be part of this amazing community


8:02 - formatting the slides for the worship service before practice


8:36 - the team arrives and practice begins. As an aside - these are my two most favourite men on Sunday morning. I love these guitar players who are so very, very talented...

10:06 - Mike arrived with the family and Aaralyn and Ephraim took advantage of the ongoing practice and danced with the flags while we finished up.

10:57 - Leading worship at church; one of my very favourite places to be in the whole world.

1:25 - back home again, enjoying some down time by dancing...

...and drawing pictures

2:36 - leaving home to go back to the north end to facilitate a GPOD gathering while Mike brings Eden to a birthday party and Aaralyn to a soccer practice

5:01 - leaving A&K's place to pick Eden up from her birthday party

5:34 - Eden and one of her bbf's from school

5:45 - I was (and often am) greeted by this mess of shoes at the front door.

6:17 - ordered in pizza for dinner

9:04 - doing some research into booking some sites at Shuswap this summer and uploading my first batch of 'A Week in the Life" photos

10:37 - my view of Mike most evenings from the couch...

...and Mike's view of me from the couch. We spend ALOT of time talking and dreaming and reflecting on this particular piece of furniture. If couches could talk, this little guy would have quite a bit to share...

A glimmer of hope

It has been one of those times in my life where my lens has shifted. And I can't seem to shake it. I know how blessed I am. I know how wonderful it is that it is spring time again. I know how very amazing a husband I have. I know that I have been given so much. I just can't feel it. My head is screaming at my soul to smarten up, to wake up. But it just won't.

It is one of those 'dark night of the soul' moments. Usually they pass without much thought. But other times I have to fight them off. And some times I just don't have the energy - like now. I know that it will pass eventually, but it is hard on everyone. Depression is like that. It is a very unwelcome guest in this house. I have learned that if I feed it and pay attention to it, it stays; but if I can learn to not offer anything, to ignore it, it will leave.

This image is one that I have come back to again and again. Visually, it is a reminder that even amongst all the beauty of life, a person can feel very, very alone. But I have to remind myself that someone has caught this person on film, which means that she isn't alone. There is someone watching and caring and waiting for her to really see when her head lifts out of her arms.

And that little one glimmer of hope is sometimes all it takes.

Playing beach

As I was getting ready to lead worship on Sunday, practicing at the piano, Aaralyn and Ephraim were keeping busy in the backyard playing 'beach'. This involves the sand box, water, umbrellas, sand toys and bathing suits. I hadn't heard from them in a while, so there was a little niggle in the back of my mind warning me that perhaps it might be time to check on what those two little munchkins were doing. Just as that thought crossed my mind, however, they came running around the corner into the living room, and I almost fell off the piano bench when I saw Ephraim in his bathing suit.

Here's the conversation after I got it together enough to actually speak:

Mommy: "Aaralyn, that is actually a girl's bathing suit".

Aaralyn (after looking at me like I was a bit dense): "Ephraim, do you like flowers?"

Ephraim: "Yes, Aaralyn, I like flowers"

Aaralyn (with a very satisfied look on her face): "See Mommy, Ephraim likes flowers - so what is the problem?"

Now this is one picture that I have got to keep on hand for when he is sixteen and I need a trump card.

A few thoughts...

It has been quite a while since I have blogged. For lent this year I decided that I needed to let something go that I had been holding on to too tightly. It could have been any number of things...but it felt like my blog-hopping habit was getting a bit too much. I spent too much time looking at other people's lives. I spent too much time behind the computer period. I spent too much time thinking I didn't measure up. I spent too much time 'getting ideas'. So, I let go of blog-hopping (and necessarily, blogging) for 40 days.

Here are a few things I have learned:

1. I have a weakness to compare myself to others. Call it what you will, but it is what it is. It seems to be exacerbated by seeing what other people are accomplishing. And I have to remember to keep that in check.

2. I missed reading about other people's hopes and dreams and struggles and insecurities and love more than anything else. (Lizzy's eye candy came in close second, though...)

3. I realized that I do spend alot of time in front of this screen. This is something else I need to keep in check.

4. I was surprised at how much scrapbooking I did over lent - all that time I usually spent looking for ideas, I spent working on my own projects. I think I probably came close to 3 or 4 layouts a week, and that has not really happened for a very, very long time.

5. I didn't really miss out on a whole lot (except for the give-aways, which I never win anyways!). It only took me about 2 hours to catch up on all my "regular blogs". It made me understand that it is my life and my kids and my story that I need to focus on.

6. Finally, this experiment has made me realize that it isn't blogging that is the problem. The problem is deep inside my core. These issues of comparison and avoidance have more to do with who I think I am and how worthy I think I am. That's the harsh reality of where I am in this place in time.

So, my work started with letting go of blogging, and ironically enough, came full circle with a quote by my favourite blogger, ali edwards, that I found on Easter Monday (when I was catching up on everything that I had missed) which I wanted to share here. I think I may actually print it out and frame it - so I can read it often and remind myself that there are certain things that I need to let go and other things I need to hold on to very, very tightly.

Have a wonderful Sunday tomorrow. I will be in one of my favourite places in the whole world - in front of a piano, worshipping the most amazing and loving Father a person could ever ask for. His story for me is so much bigger and greater and wonderful than I could ever imagine my story could be and that is what I need to cling to for dear life.