Nothing too exciting has been going on this week around the Newcom house.

Routine is in full force during my work week.

Homework; playtime; dinnertime; (play again-if time allows); baths; bed; get ready for work; work; sleep. Repeat.

I did get some photos of the kids yesterday doing one of their favorite "out-front" activities: riding scooters.

E has gotten quite good at riding his.

X is good at staying on the sidewalk when E's riding with her. Normally she's allowed in the street and cul-de-sac, but E (obviously) only allowed on the sidewalk.

E often stops and looks for spiders (another new favorite activity).

There's the slightest little incline by our driveway that he loves to go down.

His next favorite place to ride is over the sewer. He says, "I want ride bumps".

On a side note, we enrolled X today for piano lessons starting next Tuesday. I'm pretty excited to see how she does. The teacher also does guitar and voice lessons which is what she really wants to do….but I figure we'll see how she does with the piano first. She's excited and ready to start practicing.

In my weeks off I have been trying to catch up on my monthly scrapbooking.

When I say monthly, I mean the fact that I make a double layout for each month in our lives. 

Monthly scrapbooking has been, by far, the best scrapbooking decision I've ever made. It allows me to capture the general feel of the month, document milestones or events, and include my favorite pictures. Most importantly, I can do this without the pressure of making a page for each event. 

You can view my 2006 album here.

I've been working on 2007 with the goal of having it done before June. Then (goal #2) to start and complete 2008 before December.

Last week's scrapbooking marked an important milestone.

I made my last "kid-free" month layout. September 2007.

Which ultimately means scrapbooking just got much more difficult. The number of pictures I was taking increased 10 fold. But alas, it's a challenge I'm excited to take on.

Because September 24, 2007 was such a memorable day, I dedicated a double layout to it between September and October.

I included my blog entry for the day as my journaling. (18 months later, I'd never be able to re-tell and capture the moment exactly as that blog entry does).

Written to the right side of the first page (in the patterned paper half-circle) is a scripture taken from my IMAGINE scrapbook (infertility journey):

Then you will know I am Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.  -Isaiah 49:23

Today, in San Antonio, it got up to 94 degrees.

So we gave in to the kids request and went to the pool.

The water was super chilly though.

Since X was so insistant on going (whether the water was too cold or not ) she put on a pretty good show to act as though it wasn't so cold.

It's so good….once it hits your lips!

The kids towed each other around for at least 30 minutes.

They love that Hummer. The best $50 at a yard sale we've ever spent.

E was a tad bit scared to get too close to Bella. (Standard Edward/Bella relationship)

But was happy to watch her at a distance (sounds familiar yet again).

Hunting for eggs in the backyard.

I could barely get this picture before they started to be devoure the candy.

Gorgeous.

As if I don't have enough pictures of E on the swing….but its not everyday he swings while wearing a tie.

And in case you wondered what I look like as I spend the majority of the day taking pictures, Kara has provided you that oppurtunity:

All my photos were taken with my 28-135 IS f/3.5 lens (versus my usual 50mm f/1.4). Kara took a handful of the pictures I've posted; all of them were edited using Adobe Lightroom (love it!).

Our small group has monthly play-dates. It's one of the best ideas we've ever had because we always have an awesome time.

Saturday, Ginger & Mario hosted. They are currently awaiting an adoption placement through the foster/adopt system. While they don't have kids yet they had plenty of kid stuff to entertain all of ours.

The favorite was the tree swing.

E didn't get to enjoy it as much as the others. He had some balance issues.

Eventually, he was able to sit on it but actually swinging was a different story.

Wasn't X having a super hair day?

After everyone was done swinging we all had major muddy shoes (it had rained all day/night Friday).  Somehow we got Ian to clean them all!

(that's him cleaning Ryan's shoes…what a friend!)

One thing I love about these gatherings is that the kids usually just go about their business playing leaving the adults to talk about things like iPhone Apps.

I especially love how these four gravitate to one another. They call Ryan and I "Uncle Ryan & Aunt Kelly" and our kids have always called them "Aunt Kara & Uncle Ian". I wonder how much of us doing that makes them believe they are actually related somehow? Regardless, I love to see them treat each other as they are.

After all that fun and since he refused to take a nap (and undressed and bounced up and down for an hour in his crib instead)

E crashed hard as soon as he got in his (new) booster seat.

Well, I still have more Easter pictures to share, but I thought I'd give an update as to the happenings lately.

I'm in my off week. Loving it, as usual. Today I have a zillion things to catch up on. (The blog being one of my first priorities).

It seems that Fridays are basically a wash because I'm so tired (getting off at 8am and trying to stay awake all day to adjust back to a normal schedule) and then the weekend I try to make it just for the kids. I'm trying not to accomplish a whole lot on the weekends. X does not like when I sit at my computer for any reason. She makes it clear she'd rather me be doing anything else by standing at my side asking me a million questions and reading over my shoulder because she knows it drives me crazy. I end up closing what I'm doing b/c I'm annoyed-she wins. I don't like losing so I stopped playing that game. I made a conscious decision to allow myself to feel okay about not "getting anything done." The weekends are for them…for relaxing as a family…and having fun.

Now, I could be getting things done at night after they go to bed if I wasn't so deeply engrossed in reading lately. Since Redeeming Love, I've read three books.

The Choice

The Atonement Child (written by the same author who wrote Redeeming Love)

The Lucky One

Generally, I liked all 3. Nicholas Sparks books are so predictable though. There are two themes in all his books: LOVE & DEATH. Someone is on the verge of dieing or dies in every book. Regardelss, they are easy reads and in the end, love wins. (I'm not picky when there's love and it wins.) The Atonement  Child was pretty fantastic. I think I'll be reading more Francine Rivers books.

Have I mentioned how much I'm enjoying the local library?

Okay, I thought I'd write more about the weekend but my TO-DO list is calling. At the top of the list: run.