{ currently :: vol 6 }

My favorite picture of Alex...I took it a while ago but have been spending some time finding pictures to print to put in some frames I received for mother's day.  Even though Alex is all gooey-eyed and snot-nosed - this is my Alex.

But this is what I've been up to this week ....

currently ::

reading :: It's not a secret that I love YA books.  So I've been on a YA kick and started One or Two Things I Learned about Love by Dyan Sheldon - however I decided that this one wasn't for me.  But I did finish both Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Scarlet (the Lunar Chronicles #2) by Marissa Meyer this week.  I'm itching to start the 3rd book in the lunar chronicles series Cress.

writing ::  My goals for July...and revisiting the list I wrote for my 30 by 30 list.  There are some good ones...I'm hoping that I can finally commit and just do everything I hope to do!

listening ::  The Sister Wives.  I normally have the tv on in the background.  It drives my husband nuts but while I'm okay with being by myself - I hate silence.  I always seem to need some noise of some kind.

thinking ::  How much I really need to get my spring summer cleaning done this week.  Seriously...it's bad.

smelling ::  boy...our whole apartment smells like boy...I really need to get that cleaning done!

wishing ::  my 3-day weekend would get here sooner.  I've been working since last Monday after getting back from the cabin.  I'm ready for a break.

hoping ::  the boys sleep tonight!  While Evan was gone this weekend to Iowa with both my SIL and MIL, Alex still hasn't been sleeping well and decides that he needs to be up for the day anywhere from 4 am to 5 am.  It gets a little tiring.

wearing ::  my Ellie's Light t-shirt from the Light up the Lanes event last year.  If you live in the MN metro area - please come join us this year (July 29th) to help both celebrate and raise money for all the wonderful things we do in the name of my niece, Ellie.

loving ::  my boys and what neat people they are.  They are still small but it's amazing to watch them grow and learn.  I love seeing them discover new things and trying to figure who they got their personality traits from.

wanting :: a horse...It's been about 2 years since I have last been on a horse and I ache for it.  I'm hoping by the end of the summer or early fall I can find a way to take a lesson or two and get on a horse again.

needing :: to actually complete on everything on my "to do" list this week...here's hoping that I will!

feeling ::  a little less heart-sick this week and just worn out...I'm hoping that by getting my summer cleaning done and getting everything less cluttered...I'll feel a little better.

What have you been up to this week?

{ currently }

{ Evan and his very first fish }

It was a long weekend.  We took off late Thursday night go spend sometime with my sister and brother in law at his family cabin in northern MN.  It was long and fun.  Full of sun and water and quite a few tears from the boys about swimming in the lake - but we did have fun.

but currently ::

reading ::  Cinder by Marissa Meyer - it's  retelling of Cinderella and I'm already half way through the book.  I'm contemplating seeing if the second book is available at one of the libraries in the area.

writing ::  to do lists and reading lists.  I feel like as soon as I finish one book and I've added several to my reading list.

listening :: A Thousand Years cover by the Piano Guys.  I absolutely love them and the covers they do.  It puts the boys to sleep and I enjoy listening to them...win-win.

thinking ::  birthdays...Evan turns 8 on Wednesday and two weeks later I enter the last year of my twenties.  I still haven't figured out what to get Evan nor have I figured out what exactly I want to do for my own birthday - but I'm sure it will come to me.

smelling ::  sunshine and sunscreen.  We spent a great deal of time outside the boys smell of the sun.  It's also worn them out which is awesome!

wishing :: I had another day off to get things back in order...at least I only have to wait two days.

hoping ::  for good things this week...

wearing :: jammies because I'm headed off to bed soon...hopefully

wanting ::  to take a photography class...I have this dslr camera for months and it would be nice to REALLY know how to take pictures with it instead of always leaving it on auto.

needing ::  some good sleep...I haven't slept for days since the bed we had at the cabin should be burned and buried in the woods.

feeling ::  a little heart-sick...hopefully good things will come this week.

what are you currently up to?

{ sunday currently :: 4th edition }

This has to be on of my new favorite pictures of Evan.  My camera is filled with of pictures of Alex since he'll humor me and sit in front of the camera.  Evan normally runs off as soon as he sees me whip it out and only humors me when he feels like it.

Oh well....but here's what I've been up to...

CURRENTLY ::

READING ::  So I've been on a reading kick recently.  I've read more in the past few months that I have in years and it feels wonderful.  I grew up in a household where I read a book a night and my mom would have to come and take books from me so I would go to sleep.  So far I've demolished Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire, Losing It by Cora Carmack, Racing Savannah by Miranda Kenneally, and Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay.  Most them were good and I'll probably read more written by the authors, except Miranda Kenneally.  Maybe I need to give another one of her books a chance - but I just didn't like her writing style.  

WRITING ::  I keep promising myself that I will write more here and in journals.  It's cathartic and it's something that I need to find time to do.  Even if it's only a sentence.

LISTENING ::  To children playing outside.  While both of my kids are tucked into bed since we start our days off super early during the week, but it reminds me of summer days when the street lights coming on was my curfew and if my mom whistled we needed to hurry our butts home.

SMELLING ::  Summer...it's here and I love it.

WISHING ::  For another day off.  I've been off all weekend, but I wish I could have another day off just to relax and get caught up on everything else that I wanted to do this weekend.

HOPING ::  That everything goes well when we head up to the cabin in two weeks.  We're spending a long weekend up at my brother in-law's family cabin before he heads back to Afghanistan for work.  It will be at least another couple of months before he's on leave again and Mike has been missing his friend.  Hopefully the boys will behave on the long car ride there and back and will do well at the lake.

WEARING :: My usual uniform of jeans and a t-shirt.

LOVING :: my husband.  It sounds kind of cheesy but I'm trying to make more of an effort to love my husband in the way that he feels loved best.  

WANTING :: A bigger home.  We outgrew our apartment years ago, but the rent is cheap and I know that we can afford it, especially with Mike in school and with daycare.  But I can still dream, right?

NEEDING :: To go to bed, the start of my day will be here sooner than I expect and since I've been up since 6 - I should probably go to bed sooner rather than later.

FEELING ::  Unsure.  It seems odd but the past few weeks have been stressful and I have felt unsure about everything.  But things are looking up, I'm still just unsure about it all.

What you currently up to?

{ instafriday }

Joining Jeannett and showing off our week instagram style. 

 You can follow me @emilyacarver

Our favorite park recently opened up.  It's just a bunch of fountains and shallow pools to walk through.  The boys love it and since it wears them out I have no problem taking them there most evenings!

We took the boys to the MN Zoo on Memorial day and while I snapped a bunch of pictures of my "real" camera, this is the only one I snapped on my phone.  

We started off this week at the doctor's office after Alex woke up with a fever.  I figured it was his ears - but it wasn't.  Instead there was an outbreak of hand, foot, mouth disease at daycare and Alex was lucky enough to pick it up.  All I can say is ick!

Evan had to miss the last two days of school because he caught the same virus.  Luckily, he didn't get a rash or blisters - but he still was feeling pretty crappy.  We spent his last day of school watching a lecture on Quantum theory.  You can watch it here.  That should count towards learning, right?

We did however stop by his school to clean out his desk and say goodbye to this teachers.  He was a little sad he didn't get to say goodbye to his classmates - but he's already looking forward to next year!

{ sunday currently :: volume 4 }

I found out that our favorite park (Nicollet Commons Park) had finally opened up on Friday.  The boys were more than happy to spend the evening after pizza night splashing in the water until I had to drag them away for bed time.  We will defiantly be spending a good portion of our summer there.

I'm once again joining Lauren to catch up what's currently happening here.

CURRENTLY ::

READING ::  I actually have read quite a bit this week.  I'll probably finish my third book of the week sometime this evening.  I read The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern, and now I'm pretty much going to read everything she's written.  Maybe not right away, but as I go, she'll be an author that I follow.  I also read Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen.  I've been trying to keep some of my choices of the Rory Gilmore Book Challenge as part of my 30 by 30.  And lastly I'm almost finished with The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida.  It's written by an autistic 13 year old and it's pretty fascinating.  I have a nephew who was diagnosed 3 years ago, and I'm hoping that this will help me better understand his perspective on life and what my sister in law deals with everyday.
WRITING ::  I'm not really writing anything right now.  I have plans for keeping up with my journal better and writing here more.
LISTENING ::  Right now the quiet of our apartment.  Both boys are in bed and the dishwasher is running.  It's peaceful and calm.  However I've had "Ain't It Fun" by Paramore and "Birthday" by Katy Perry stuck in my head for days now.
THINKING :: I'm so glad to have another day off!  As long as the weather holds, we're headed to the MN Zoo in the morning and then off to a BBQ with my sisters.
SMELLING :: The Ooey Gooey Butter Cake I made yesterday.  It didn't quite turn out the way that I thought it would, but it was delicious!
WISHING :: The boys would sleep in tomorrow.  While I personally plan to be up early so I can do a couple loads of laundry and pack things for the day, it would be nice if they were asleep for a good portion of that.
HOPING :: That Mike's bid this week goes well at work.  Mike's company has to rebid for their schedules since a new schedule is being put out from the county.  This could be good news if he gets a good bid and his hours go up, but it could also go very badly quickly.  Especially since he was promised 35 hours last time and he barely got 20 if we were lucky.
WEARING :: An emerald dress my sister found for me when we went shopping recently.  She was pretty pleased with herself since both dresses I bought that day, she had found.
LOVING ::  Tazo Passion tea...I'm not quite sure why I haven't been drinking tea recently but it's the best way to end my day!
WANTING ::  To take a photography class.  Early this year my husband bought me my first Nikon dslr camera.  I can remember a few things from when I took photography class in high school, but I'm thinking that I may check out a community class or a class at the local community college.
NEEDING ::  A foot rub - I spent a good portion of the day cleaning our apartment.
FEELING ::  Content.  It was a rough week last week since I felt like Mike and I were on different pages, but we figured it out and it seems like we both are headed in the same direction now.

What are you currently up to?

{ insta-friday }

I'm joining Jeannett for instafriday.  Here's what we've been up to instagram style.

You can follow me @emilyacarver

We went on our first bike ride with the boys last week - Alex gave up on the way home because I asked him to keep his feet up instead of dragging them on the sidewalk.  Lesson learned - put his old shoes on so we don't have to carry both a trike and a screaming tot.

I often forget how tall Mike is compared to our boys - but these two have one of the sweetest father/son relationships

I love Alex's messy curls.

Alex has been obsessed with this picture of Ellie.  He carries it around and give it kisses.  How much we miss her and I think that she would have gotten a kick out of Alex

I found this picture in my camera roll.  I guess the boys were playing with my phone and taking pictures.  It's one of the few I have of Evan since normally tries to hide his face when I take pictures.

This morning we woke up at 4 AM.  All Alex wanted was to walk around with his sunglasses on.  Yep they are from the dollar bin at Target and are meant to be for girls...but hey he wanted them and I never get to buy girly things anyways!

{ happy mothers day }

 

Happy Mothers Day to Everyone!

 

I'm so blessed to be the mom to these two boys and to the one we lost.

They are the reason I get up in the morning and will do everything I can to be a better person.

Even when I want to pull my hair out because they are driving me up a wall.