Week in the Life // Monday Words & Photos
I recently finished my 2019 Week in the Life album and while I’m thrilled to have it done, I’m disappointed in the final few days of documenting. I have a bad habit of not finishing my projects in a timely manner, but I do take notes and hang onto them in the hopes of finishing later. For some reason, I lost my notes from last year’s week in the life. So, for Thursday through Sunday, I relied on my recollection, text messages, emails, and photos. There’s a huge difference in the quality of my journalling from the first half of the week and the second. This year I’ve decided to follow Ali’s example and do a blog post as a home for my words and photos. I will most likely be combining days as we move forward and my discipline wanes. For now, here’s Monday:
I’m shooting with my camera and my Canon G7X. That’s kind of a pain when it comes time to organize photos for the project, but it’s worth it to get screenshots, text messages, candid shots, etc.
This is the first year I’m going to attempt to organize and edit the bulk of my photos each night. And I am only doing that with my G7x photos. Importing and editing and organizing my phone photos will be a separate project, mostly because I don’t want to spend an hour each night tackling photos. I don’t plan on starting my album until next week, that way I can just focus on documenting. I think this method will help me be mindful of the whole story, and be more intentional about photos. For instance, I noticed I don’t have any pictures of the two kids together. I also don’t have a family photo. I just forgot to take one and I like to have one for the start of the week. So, I'll make sure to take one tomorrow. It also helps me to see if I’m taking too many of one type of photo. For instance, I like taking close up, tightly framed, detail shots. And I probably took too many Monday. Not enough landscape photos. I also thought of a few stories I want to make sure to include: the constant battle of dealing with Ava’s long curly hair, ben’s aversion to wearing pants, etc. So, those are just some thoughts as I begin the week. Now, for my actual Monday words.
Monday // This week is the last week of second grade for Ava and marks eight weeks of distance learning. The first week or so were a tough adjustment. She’s incredibly bright, but a virtual classroom full of seven and eight years olds is incredibly distracting. In fact, I have to leave the room during her classes because it drives me crazy. But she’s still doing really well and will have all A’s this year, including third grade math, fourth grade spelling, and seventh grade reading. We finally moved her out of my office and moved her desk into her room. It was emotional to move her playhouse out. It felt like the end of her being a little girl (even if I know that’s not the case.) Lots of end of the year activities this week, and lots of evaluations and benchmark exams.
Having ben out of school has been a challenge. He was only going half days, but it was such a positive influence on him. Having a schedule, having to share, listening to rules, as well as the curriculum. I’m sad to think about the lasting effect this may have. We chose not to put him through an aggressive homeschooling curriculum. We’re focusing on play, creativity, and honestly behavior. He is a challenge. He also has a tremendous amount of energy that needs to be burned off on a daily basis. He spends even more time outside than Ava does. And we struggle keeping him away from her during school. Even though they bicker constantly, they are extremely close. In fact, he has incredibly advanced verbal skills and I credit that to hours of conversation with Ava every day. Their conversations are the best (when they aren’t trying to kill each other). The only really regimented learning we do with him is work on his letters and phonics. He’s doing some basic reading and I don’t want him to lose any momentum.
Mom and dad are back from Florida (with Uncle Terry). They came over today and took the kids for a long walk and spent hours outside playing. I got some great photos of them all on the trampoline. They are so young at heart and thankfully healthy (knock on wood). They are ending their lease up here early. More repercussions of the pandemic. It’s just not safe for them to be in an apartment building right now. I’ll be sad to see them go. It’s hard to believe they’ve been up here for a year.
After playtime we ordered Mangia. Cooking for seven is just not my thing. After dinner they headed home. We started the nightly routine of baths every other day (both kids have mild eczema). We may change this soon with Ava. They take baths and showers together now, which also may be ending soon. Ava’s getting older and with all the running and sweating because of the warmer weather…we’ll see. Then it’s stories, snuggles, and bedtime. I do Ava’s stories, and Mike does Ben’s. Mike doesn’t enjoy reading. He prefers the shorter books ben enjoys. Ava and I actually read side-by-side now. She’s been reading the Harry Potter series by herself the last few months and I just sit with her and read my own book. We’ll talk about the day while she brushes her teeth. Then she’ll inevitably have a million observations to share as she reads the books. In the beginning she was always trying to get me to tell her what happens. She’s stopped asking.
After the kids are in bed (the process is done around 8pm), mike and I will chat about the day and spend some time together. I go to bed much earlier than he does and prefer to read rather than watch TV. I’m usually asleep by 10pm, or later if I’m reading a really good book. I’m averaging about three or four books a week. All escapist junk right now because it’s taking my mind off of things.
I played along with WITL Prep Day and love how Ali will be approaching each day through a specific lens. For now, I just want to get general thoughts about the day down, then I’m sure as I put the album together different photos will prompt other stories. I haven’t decided if I’ll do a seperate journaling page and then photos, or if I will mix the two. Hope you all are having fun documenting!
