Kids

  • Intentional Living: Weekly Goals

    It was a challenging week and it didn’t go exactly as I planned.  Early in the week I had to go into the hospital for an epidural steroid shot for the herniated disc in my neck that has been giving me problems.  I happen to be one of those “rare” people who reacted uniquely to the epidural steroid shot with nausea and vomiting.  Thankfully, we got that under control and now just waiting for about two plus weeks to see if this shot worked.  Although, the doctor did mention that it at times takes more than one shot to get the body to repair the disc, but it is better then the more evasive solution of surgery that would remove the disc and fuse the bones together with metal plates.  Needless to say I spent more time recovering this week than I initially planned.  I did get some things accomplished and praying for a much better week coming up even if it means trying to tackle the same items that were on my list last week!

    Last week’s goals

    Family Goals

    1. Read the book Double Fudge by Judy Blume to read to the kids
    2. Plan one special activity with the family
    3. Prepare for Upcoming Fall Events & Trips
    4. Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework
    5. Attend After School Activities
    6. Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before – the girls packed most of their lunches this week (my girls are the best)
    7. Play a Game with the Kids – the week did not go as planned
    8. Start Organizing the Kids Scrapbook Items – this did not get done
    9. ENT and Eye Appointments for Kids

    Personal Goals

    1. Drink 8 glasses of water each day – the nausea did not help with this one as I was having problems keeping water down
    2. Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
    3. Go to my  Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week

    Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day – it took more than one day
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week – dinner was planned but do to Doctors orders we could not eat what I had on the menu, my husband was super sweet and pitched in to make our family meals.  Plus my sister-in-law delivered a meal one night this past week too.  Thankful for family!
    3. Do at least one “Make 1 & Freeze 1″ Meal Prep (make a main dish to eat that day and one to freeze for later)
    4. Clean out & Organize Refrigerator & Freezer – still needs done
    5. Clean House (Focus – Basement Floors) – no progress with this either, ugh!
    6. Organize Chaos (Focus – Storage Room) – storage room continues to wait as well
    7. Put Spring/Summer Clothes in the Attic – my amazing husband did this for me
    8. Yard Cleanup (Focus – Pool taken down and put away) – pools still waiting for take down
    9. Pet Care (Focus – Refill Goat Food Bin) – needs to be done

    Business Goals

    1. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    2. Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails – made a little progress
    3. Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention – fell behind on the day to day items
    4. Work completed for clients – had to put on hold this week

    Ministry Goals

    1. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch – house bound this week
    2. Prep for our Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes – got it started

    Financial Goals

    1. Payoff the Car – working on it
    2. Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, and other debt) – working on it
    3. Pay Bills & File Paperwork
    4. Make an extra payment on Outstanding Debt – working on it
    5. Earn some Creative Cashworking on it
    6. Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget – my husband did the grocery errands this week for me, thanks Babe!

    My goals for the upcoming week

    Family Goals

    1. Read the book Wonder’s Promise by Joanna Campbell to read to the kids
    2. Plan one special activity with the family
    3. Prepare for Upcoming Fall Events & Trips
    4. Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework
    5. Attend After School Activities
    6. Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
    7. Play a Game with the Kids
    8. Start Organizing the Kids Scrapbook Items
    9. Dr. Appointments for Kids

    Personal Goals

    1. Drink 8 glasses of water each day
    2. Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
    3. Go to my  Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week

    Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
    3. Do at least one “Make 1 & Freeze 1″ Meal Prep (make a main dish to eat that day and one to freeze for later)
    4. Clean out & Organize Refrigerator & Freezer
    5. Clean House (Focus – Basement Floors)
    6. Organize Chaos (Focus – Storage Room)
    7. Yard Cleanup (Focus – Pool taken down and put away)
    8. Pet Care (Focus – Refill Goat Food Bin)

    Business Goals

    1. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    2. Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails
    3. Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
    4. Work completed for clients

    Ministry Goals

    1. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
    2. Prep for our Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes

    Financial Goals

    1. Payoff the Car
    2. Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, and other debt)
    3. Pay Bills & File Paperwork
    4. Earn some Creative Cash
    5. Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget

    I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us.  I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true.  When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals.  Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick).  Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.

    Why Share My Goals?

    • To keep me accountable
    • To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
    • To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
    • Create healthy habits in my life
    • To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn

    How did you do this week on your goals?  Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.

    The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.

  • Fresh & Healthy: Fun Fall Fruit to Add to Your Kids Lunch

    Orange Pumpkin

    Are you are looking for a sweet and healthy Fall or Halloween treat to send in your kids school lunch?  Grab an orange, draw a pumpkin face on it, and stick it in their lunch box.  They will love it!  It is a fun, sweet, and healthy food for them to eat.  They will be excited to eat their fruit at lunch.  Doing something as simple  as adding a face to an orange can motivate the kids to eat more fruit!

    Thankfully, our kids have always enjoyed eating their fruits and vegetables, but adding a little extra surprise (like a pumpkin face) during the various Holiday Seasons gets them even more excited.  What are your favorite healthy Halloween snacks that you like to send in your kids lunches?  Our kids get enough candy sweets around Halloween Holiday so offering more healthier food options is always something we want to encourage.  Another bonus is the orange provides extra vitamin C which is perfect boost for the kids immune systems as we enter the seasons were colds seem to spread like wildfire through school.

  • School Projects: The Eye Ball Donut Creation & Writing Assignment

    School Projects - Cookie Creations and Writing Assignment

    A tray of “The Eye Ball” Donuts ready to take to school

    The girls recently had a writing assignment that they had to do for school.  Brina came up with The Eye Ball Donut creation.  For extra credit they could make their creations and share them with their classmates and teachers at school.  We came up with a cookie creation using all the ingredients she mentioned in her writing assignment and they turned out fairly well.  Instead of using cookies for Brina’s we used a powdered doughnut or in this case a munchkin for Dunkin Donuts.  The donuts were a perfect treat to share with her classmates instead of cupcakes on Halloween.  Karlie also did a cookie creation and writing assignment called Inside Your Feet.

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    The Eye Ball was super easy to put together and a big hit with Brina’s classmates.

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    Her tray of eye balls ready to be wrapped and delivered to school.

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    The Eye Balls did exactly what we wanted them to do – overnight the blue frosting that we used to attach the pupil part of the eye spread a little giving The Eye Balls blue colored eyes!

    The Eye Ball Items:

    • White Powdered Donuts (Dunkin Donut sells white powdered munchkins which are perfect for this treat, but you can make homemade if you want)
    • Blue Frosting (we used the blue writing frosting but you could use brown or green, etc…)
    • Edible Eyes (you can pick these up at Hobby Lobby, Walmart, etc…)
    • Red Sprinkles

    Once you have your white powdered donuts add a small drop of blue frosting and attached the pupil of your eye to your eye ball.  Dip the bottom of the donut into red sprinkles and place on a tray.  Let set overnight so the blue frosting will spread a little bit giving you a blue eye color.

    The donuts turned out well and were a big hit with Brina’s class.  It was a lot of fun putting these together with her and they were super simple.  These would be an easy Fall or Halloween treat to do for a party or for fun.

  • School Projects: Inside Your Feet Cookie Creation & Writing Assignment

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    A tray of “Inside Your Feet” Cookies ready to take to school

    The girls recently had a writing assignment that they had to do for school.  Karlie came up with an Inside Your Feet Cookie creation.  For extra credit they could make their creations and share them with their classmates and teachers at school.  We came up with a cookie creation using all the ingredients she mentioned in her writing assignment and they turned out fairly well.  The cookies were a perfect treat to share with her classmates instead of cupcakes on Halloween.  Brina also did a cookie creation and writing assignment called The Eye Ball.

    School Projects - Inside Your Feet Cookie Creatio and Writing Assisngment

    A few days before the actual assignment due date we did a trial run and experimented to make sure we could make her “skin, blood, bones, and ankle joint” to reflect the Inside Your Feet cookie as accurately as possible.  We tried white sparkle writing gel (bottom right) but is blended too much, we tried straight white sprinkles (bottom middle) it was a lot of work and hard to get straight, we tried round white sprinkles (bottom left) too difficult to get straight, we tried pearl balls (top left) wasn’t too bad and would have been a more do-able option, and the final attempt was our favorite and probably the easiest option too, we used white writing frosting.

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    We didn’t have any feet cookie cutters and the stores we checked didn’t carry any so Jake made a set we could use with his 3D printer.  Once again it saves the day!

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    Up close of the Inside Your Feet Cookie

    Inside Your Feet Items:

    • Sugar Cookie Dough or Brownies(we did some of each)
    • Red Frosting (or white frosting with red dye)
    • White Writing Frosting
    • Red and White Mint

    Make your favorite sugar cookie dough or brownies (your can make from scratch or buy a mix).  The sugar cookies seemed to look more like feet with toes, but the brown mix had less steps to put together.  Make your sugar cookie dough, roll it out, cut out your feet, and bake.  OR Make your brownies first and cut out your feet after they are baked and cooled.

    Once the cookies are cooled you can decorate by putting red frosting on the cookie.  We did not go to the edge of the cookie with the frosting because Karlie wanted to show the layers of the Inside Your Feet Cookie (bottom – skin, frosting – blood and muscles, white – bones, and mint – ankle joint).  Next add your red and white mint.  Draw your foot bones with the white writing frosting.

    The cookies turned out well and were a big hit with Karlie’s class.  It was a lot of fun putting together with her.

    What the different parts of the cookies represent:

    • Bottom Sugar Cookie or Brownies- skin
    • Red Frosting – blood and muscles
    • White Writing Frosting – bones
    • Red & White Mint – ankle joint
  • School Projects: Southwest Region Native American Pueblo House

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    Southwestern Region Native American Pueblo House Project

    Karlie recently did a Social Studies project for school.  She was studying about the Native Americans and the different regions.  Karlie picked the Southwest Region and the pueblo house for her project.   She had to make a pueblo house and write a paragraph on how the lodging benefited them.

    Even though the girls are both in the same grade and have similar projects they rarely chose do to the same thing with their projects!  The great part about them being so different is we have more opportunities to learn while doing various school projects.  For this particular Social Studies Project Brina did the Great Plains Region with Tepee housing and Karlie chose the Southwest Region with Pueblo housing.

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    Putting the final touches on the pueblo house!

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    Karlie‘s Southwest Region Pueblo Paragraph:  Southwest Pueblo Native Americans used pueblo houses that were made of harden clay.  They lived in a village and their houses resembled an apartment building on mesas.  The pueblo housing was beneficial to their way of life because the mesas helped cool the houses and protect them from sand storms.  You can fit a lot of families into a pueblo apartment building.  It is easier to help each other out because they were all together during bad weather or other hard times.  In their village they grew corn, beans, squash, and cotton to help feed their families.  All the people in the village worked together hunting, farming, and raising their families.

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    Karlie putting her title and name on her project!

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    Jake and Karlie put together this neat Pueblo House with items we had in the garage!

    Pueblo Construction:

    • Flat Pieces of Scrap Wood
    • Wood Glue
    • Speckled Paint
    • Wooden Dowels
    • Cotton Balls
    • Markers

    They took flat pieces of scrap wood from various wood working projects and glued them together to create this Pueblo house.  The house has three levels.  Once all the pieces are glued together and the glue has dried they attached the house to a flat board with wood glue.  After the structure was put together we sprayed the whole pueblo with speckled paint (you can get this at Home Depot or Lowe’s).  It ended up taking two coats of spray paint in order to get it covered well.  The ladders are made out of small wooden dowels.  The top windows and doors are cut out, but the other ones are drawn on with marker.  The cotton balls represent the cotton the Southwest Region Native Americans grew in their fields.  Inside the house on the top level there is a fire and a mat for sleeping.

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    Pueblo house is finished and ready to go!

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    We didn’t paint the back of the Pueblo with two coats of paint, but this picture gives you a glimpse at the top inside which has the 3D fire and mat for sleeping.  The little storage “cubby”  (as Karlie called it) with the paper in it on the lower left is where Karlie stored her written paragraph and ladders during transport to and from school.

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    Karlie so proud of her project!  It was a handful to carry into school!

  • School Projects: Great Plains Native American Tepee Home

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    Great Plains Tepee Project

    Brina recently did a Social Studies project for school.  She was studying about the Native Americans and the different regions.  Brina picked the Great Plains Region and the tepee for her project.   She had to make a tepee and write a paragraph on how the lodging benefited them.  On this Social Studies project Brina did the Great Plains Region with Tepee housing and Karlie chose the Southwest Region with Pueblo housing.

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    Making her designs on the tepee!

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    She finished the Native American designs on her tepee!  Looks good!

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    Tepee Construction:

    • Cereal Box
    • Old White T-Shirt
    • Elmer’s Glue
    • Wooden Dowels
    • Hot Glue & Hot Glue Gun
    • Markers

    Cut a cereal box into a semi-circle.  Use Elmer’s Glue and attach the T-Shirt to the non-print side of the cardboard from the cereal box.  Once the glue dries use the markers to create your own special Native American designs on your tepee.   Cut out the door to your tepee.  Hot glue the wooden dowels to the inside of the tepee.  Once the glue dries stand the tepee up and hot glue it to the poster board.  To help your tepee maintain its shape you can use rubber bands around it as it dries in place.

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     Brina’s Great Plains Paragraph:  The Great Plains Native Americans used tepees because they were very transportable.  They used the tepees so they could follow the buffalo and other animals while hunting them.  Their main source of food was buffalo meat.  The tepees were light weight, transportable, could be folded up, and carried to the next spot.  they also used the tepee poles to carry buffalo meat.  The tepees were shelter during the nights for the families and transportable when they were trying to find food.  The tepees were a valuable tool used to help feed their families.

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    Brina’s social studies project ready to go!

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    She was so excited to hot glue her horse and a folded up tepee on her poster board!

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    Her tepee turned out well!

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    Brina was super excited about the fire because Jake used his 3D printer to make it for her project!

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    Awesome learning lesson about the Great Plains Native Americans and their transportable home – the tepee!  It was a great project!

  • Family Activities: Fall Pumpkin Carving Fun

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    The girls carved pumpkins glowing on the front porch!  Can you guess who designed which one?

    It has been a tradition for our family to carve pumpkins around Halloween.  A lot of times we carve the pumpkins the weekend before Halloween, but with everything going on this year it was a little later this year.  On Halloween afternoon our family went out to search for the perfect carving pumpkins.  After stopping at three stores we started to wonder if we were even going to find any pumpkins to carve.  Finally, we ended up at Publix and thankfully they still had a lot of pumpkins including some huge ones.  All the pumpkins, not matter what size were $5!  Of course the kids picked the biggest ones they could find.  We came home with one 25 pound and one 26 pound pumpkin!

    This year instead of dressing up and running around doing trick and treating the kids decided they would rather spend the evening as a family celebrating Halloween.  So thankful that the girls wanted to hang out and spend a relaxing evening with us.  We let each kid pick out their favorite bag of candy, a pumpkin to carve, some fun games, and family activities to do Halloween evening.   For Halloween dinner we picked up Chinese take out as a special treat.

    My brother and sister-in-law brought my nephews came by dressed up as the cutest little lion and minion!  It was the first year we had trick or treaters because usually we are never home for Halloween!  It was great getting to see them and spend some time hanging out with them on Halloween!

    Family Pumpkin Carving Fun

    The pumpkin is fresh, washed, and ready to be carved!

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    Cleaning out their pumpkins!  They did the majority of the cleaning, designing, and cutting on their own!

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    Brina saw a cat designed she liked online and used that as an example to draw one on her pumpkin!  We used wet erase marker to draw on the pumpkin before carving it out.

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    Karlie couldn’t find a design she liked online so she drew a rough draft of what she wanted on a piece of paper than drew it again on the pumpkin!  She really wanted a rocket, Saturn, and a star on her pumpkin so this is what she created!

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    Brina carving her cat pumpkin out!

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    Karlie carving her space pumpkin out!

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    We have a space and cat pumpkin glowing on our front porch!

    Family Pumpkin Carving Fun

    The girls chose more non-traditional pumpkin designs.  Brina got her cat idea from another pumpkin she saw.  Karlie designed her rocket, Saturn, star, and space one completely on her own (and fit her personality and interests perfectly)!

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    The pumpkins!  I am pleased with how well the girls pumpkins turned out and they really did most of the work on them!

  • Recipes: Worcestershire Flavored Pumpkin Seeds

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    Our kids love getting their pumpkins every Fall before Halloween so we can carve them and roast the pumpkin seeds.  Due to traveling and other activities that have taken up our time we were a little later getting our pumpkins.  Finally, on Halloween we got the girls pumpkins, after going to three other stores we found pumpkins at Publix!  After cleaning out their pumpkins we had enough seeds to make two big patches of roasted pumpkins seeds, another favorite tradition of our family.

    Every year we used at least one of our favorite pumpkin seed recipes and try to experiment with a new one.  Some years the new pumpkin seed recipes are amazing and they become a new favorite while others are a flop.  This year we made the Cinnamon Apple Cider Pumpkin Seeds and I tried a new pumpkin seed recipe using a touch of worcestershire sauce.  The worcestershire flavored pumpkin seed recipe was a big hit with all my family members.  They agreed it was one we could add to our collection of favorite pumpkin seeds recipes.

     Worcestershire Pumpkin Seed Recipe

    Worcestershire Flavored Pumpkin Seeds

    • 2 cups fresh Pumpkin Seeds
    • 2 tablespoons Butter or Margarine
    • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
    • 1/8 teaspoon liquid Wood Smoke
    • 1/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Salt

    Rinse the fresh pumpkin seeds.  Saute pumpkin seeds in the butter for about 5 minutes (until they start to turn brown).  Add the worcestershire sauce and liquid wood smoke to the mix of pumpkin seeds.  Saute and stir continually for about 2 minutes.  Sprinkle the seasoned and garlic salt onto the pumpkin seeds and mix until evenly coated.  Spread seeds into a shallow baking pan and baked at 250 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until crispy.  Stirring every 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and put in a dish to serve.

    In our house if the pumpkin seed recipe is good about half the pumpkin seeds have disappeared before they have completely cooled and been put into the bowl to serve.  The kids especially like to come by the stove as they are cooling and “taste test” the new recipe and provide their feedback!   Some of the pumpkin seed recipes we have made are sweet while others are salty.  The worchestershire flavored pumpkin seed recipe fits into the salty range.  You can adjust the amount of seasoning based on your specific tastes.  Enjoy!

  • Intentional Living: Weekly Goals

    Last week was busy week full of many extra appointments that were added into the schedule, some of them last minute, like doctor’s appointments.  The hot water heater decided to pick this week to stop working too.  Thankfully, it stopped on an evening when Jake was home, not traveling for work.  Jake and my brother Lee were able to get a new one back up and working in one evening!

    I was finally able to get an MRI and figure out specifically what is going on to cause all the pain and numbness.  It has been over three weeks since I have been able to sleep in my own bed, the recliner has been the only comfortable spot to sleep lately!  The doctors have found out that I have a severely herniated disc in my neck which is also clamping down on nerves causing the shooting pains down my neck, back, arm, and causing numbness in my fingers.  The doctors are going to try and do a steroid shot directly into that specific disc this week and if that does not work than they want to do surgery.  Praying that the shot will work because the surgery is much more evasive and permanent.  Surgery would require a hospital stay not to mention recovery and effects on my future with mobility, movement, and other issues (obviously not my first choice).

    It is getting old not sleeping well, taking medicines that me feel foggy and not myself, the pain is at times very intense and has limited me in a lot of areas, and numbness in my fingers can eventually lead to permanent damage if we don’t get that fixed as well.  It hurts getting older!  I am ready to be back to my normal self soon.  Praying that they can fix it with the simple solution and without surgery.  There are some areas I did okay with this week on my goals and others not so well.  Either way I plan on proceeding forward with all my goals, activities, and tasks as much as possible!

    Last week’s goals

    Family Goals

    1. Pick another book to read to the kidsI picked out Double Fudge by Judy Blume to read to the girls
    2. Jake finish reading Last of the Mohicans to the kids
    3. Plan one special activity with the family
    4. Prepare for Upcoming Fall Events & Trips
    5. Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework
    6. Attend After School Activities
    7. Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
    8. Ride Bikes with the kids – I was not able to ride bikes this week due to my neck, back, and arm issues
    9. Go for a Walk with the Kids – we did not go on walks this week because I was limited in extra moving around on top of my normal activities
    10. Play a Game with the Kidsplayed Halloween Bingo
    11. Attend School Board MeetingJake attended for me because I was not able to go due to health issues
    12. Start Organizing the Kids Scrapbook Items – was not able to get to this one
    13. Plan Family Halloween Dinner & Celebrationenjoyed a relaxing Halloween evening and weekend with my family
    14. Orthodontic Appointment for Kids

    Personal Goals

    1. Drink 8 glasses of water each day
    2. Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
    3. Exercise at least 5 times this week – doctor did not want me doing any additional exercises at this time
    4. Go to my  Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week

    Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day – I got it done, but it took more than one day due to me moving slower and needing help carrying items
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
    3. Do at least one “Make 1 & Freeze 1″ Meal Prep (make a main dish to eat that day and one to freeze for later)
    4. Clean out & Organize Refrigerator & Freezer – didn’t get it done
    5. Clean House (Focus – Basement Floors) – didn’t get the basement floors clean, but I did a more “deep” clean of the laundry room due to hot water heater dying on us this week!
    6. Organize Chaos (Focus – Storage Room) – was not able to get this done
    7. Put Spring/Summer Clothes in the Attic – need help to get these in the attic so was unable to finish it
    8. Yard Cleanup (Focus – Pool taken down and put away) – thanks to my brother letting us borrow his mower Jake was able to get the yard mowed, but we still need to get the pool put away
    9. Pet Care (Focus – Refill Goat Food Bin & Make Homemade Treats with the kids for Skipper) – we made homemade treats for the dog, but still need to refill the goat food bin

    Business Goals

    1. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    2. Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails – still have some that need my attention and a response
    3. Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
    4. Work completed for clients

    Ministry Goals

    1. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
    2. Prep for our Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes – got started on it

    Financial Goals

    1. Payoff the Car – working on it
    2. Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, and other debt) – working on it
    3. Pay Bills & File Paperwork
    4. Make an extra payment on Outstanding Debtwe were able to make an extra payment this week which helps us inch forward in the right direction!
    5. Earn some Creative Cash – I wasn’t able to get any extra creative cash completed this week
    6. Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget – I did go grocery shopping for the first time in THREE weeks, but I did go to more than one store and I went a little over our budget

    My goals for the upcoming week

    Family Goals

    1. Read the book Double Fudge by Judy Blume to read to the kids
    2. Plan one special activity with the family
    3. Prepare for Upcoming Fall Events & Trips
    4. Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework
    5. Attend After School Activities
    6. Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
    7. Play a Game with the Kids
    8. Start Organizing the Kids Scrapbook Items
    9. ENT and Eye Appointments for Kids

    Personal Goals

    1. Drink 8 glasses of water each day
    2. Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
    3. Go to my  Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week

    Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
    3. Do at least one “Make 1 & Freeze 1″ Meal Prep (make a main dish to eat that day and one to freeze for later)
    4. Clean out & Organize Refrigerator & Freezer
    5. Clean House (Focus – Basement Floors)
    6. Organize Chaos (Focus – Storage Room)
    7. Put Spring/Summer Clothes in the Attic
    8. Yard Cleanup (Focus – Pool taken down and put away)
    9. Pet Care (Focus – Refill Goat Food Bin)

    Business Goals

    1. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    2. Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails
    3. Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
    4. Work completed for clients

    Ministry Goals

    1. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
    2. Prep for our Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes

    Financial Goals

    1. Payoff the Car
    2. Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, and other debt)
    3. Pay Bills & File Paperwork
    4. Make an extra payment on Outstanding Debt
    5. Earn some Creative Cash
    6. Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget

    I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us.  I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true.  When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals.  Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick).  Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.

    Why Share My Goals?

    • To keep me accountable
    • To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
    • To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
    • Create healthy habits in my life
    • To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn

    How did you do this week on your goals?  Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.

    The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.

  • Relaxing and Reading

    Reading and Tepee Social Studies Project

    Relaxing and reading!

    One of the best parts of having a relaxing Saturday morning is having extra time to read.   This is what I saw recently when walked into Brina’s room!   Brina was catching up on a pile of Berestain Bears books.  Jake and Karlie were checking something out in the World Book Encyclopedia.  The girls love books.  It makes my heart happy to walk into the room and see the kids reading.

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    Brina enjoying her book!