Events & Holidays
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
Last week were were somewhat into the normal routine. This past weekend we went with the kids to Columbia, SC for their State STEM Lego Robotics Competition. We spent Friday night at a hotel near the meet because we had to be up early and ready on Saturday morning for the competition. The kids had a blast and did well. There was a lot of competition and with this only being their 2nd year doing STEM Club it was a real honor to be at the event. Here are my goals for this week:
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
- Finish reading Rascal by Sterling North to the kids – it was a busy week but made a little more progress through the book
Plan one special activity with the familyPlay a Game with the KidsPrepare for Upcoming Spring EventsSpend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework– some extra homework with them being gone last weekAttend After School ActivitiesLunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night beforePrep for upcoming Family Adventure– went to the girls STEM State Comprtition this past weekend and spent the night before in a hotelGet the kids caught back up with Homework from missing school last week while in FloridaPrep for upcoming State STEM CompetitionPrep for upcoming Spring BreakTake kids to Eye Dr and Dentist for regular Cleaning– eyes looking good and no one has any cavities just more lose teeth, the last of their baby teeth are starting to fall out…look out tooth fairy
Personal Goals
Drink 8 glasses of water each dayContinue my YouVersion plan(s)Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day – I did it twice this week because we had a couple items that needed washed before the STEM competition on Saturday.
Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the weekUse up food items in our pantry and freezerClean House (Focus – Extra Laundry Done from Traveling)Organize Chaos (Focus – Unpack All Suitcases and Put Items Away from Florida Trip)Yard / Garage Cleanup (Focus – Clean Out the Van from the Florida Trip)Pet Care (Focus – Pick Up Hay for the Goats)
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog postsRespond to Inquiry – Business Relation EmailsKeep up with the day to day items that need my attentionWork completed for clients
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car – working on it
- Payoff Medical Bills – working on it
- Payoff Other Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, and other debt) – working on it
Pay Bills & File Paperwork- Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget – went about $15 over budget this week
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Finish reading Rascal by Sterling North to the kids
- Plan one special activity with the family
- Play a Game with the Kids
- Prepare for Upcoming Spring Events
- Spend time Monday – Thursday helping the kids with Homework
- Attend After School Activities
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Prep for upcoming Family Adventure
- Figure out the kids Science Fair Projects
- STEM Club Event Presentations for Family Night at School
- Prep for upcoming Spring Break
Personal Goals
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Clean House (Focus – Unpack Suitcase and Items Away from State STEM Robotics Trip this weekend)
- Organize Chaos (Focus – All pictures downloaded & organized from FL and STEM trips)
- Yard / Garage Cleanup (Focus – Sweep out my side of Garage)
- Pet Care (Focus – Pick Up Mineral Bucket for the Goats)
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car
- Payoff Medical Bills
- Payoff Other Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, and other debt)
- Pay Bills & File Paperwork
- 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.
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Welcoming the Beautiful Spring Season!
Bringing in Spring with my two chickies!
Spring is my FAVORITE Season! I love that everything starts looking fresh, bright, and beautiful. The new flower buds and leaves start growing. There are bright green grass blades peeking up out of the soil. Brilliant shades of colors start appearing around us through the flowers. People begin prepping for planting their gardens. You start noticing more fresh produce in the stores and farmers markets. There are noticeably more animals scurrying through the yard and many with new little ones in tow. You start feeling more of the warm sunshine rays hitting you. Everything just seems more cheerful. It’s just a fresh and fun time of year. I absolutely love it!
The start of Spring also signifies that we have made a lot of progress through the school year too. It’s time to really start thinking and planning our summer activities and adventures. I am thankful for my family and always look forward to our extra time together. What are your plans for this Spring Season?
We are planning a lot of fun activities for this Spring!
Karlie and Brina are ready for Spring!
Flashback Friday: Welcome Home Girls
Girls packed up and ready to leave the hospital NICU and go home for the first time!
Today’s Flashback Friday is the girls last day in NICU as they are bundled up and ready to come home. They spent about a month in the hospital NICU. The main reason they were there so long is that they were growing and learning how to suck and swallow. They weren’t as excited about coming home as we were, ha! By the time we got them bundled up in their carseats they were ready for a nap. Thankful for the amazing nurses, doctors, and people who helped us during our stay in NICU.
My parents and two youngest brothers were visiting the week that the girls came home from NICU. It was nice having the extra help around the house and with the girls. Thankful that we were able to get settled into home even if that meant we were on house arrest for the next few months. They were itty-bitty when they were born (Brina 4.9 and Karlie 3.15)!
Welcome Home sign hung up on the front porch with Dargo sitting on the porch waiting for us to come home.
First nap together in their crib – Brina on left and Karlie on the right!
Grandpa Russell and Brina taking a nap!
Uncle Josh rocking Karlie!
Uncle Lee feeding Karlie and Uncle Josh feeding Brina. It use to take them almost an hour to finish one small bottle with only 2 to 4 ounces in it. They have come a long way!
Grandma Penny helping with the girls!
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Beautiful Plants & Basket from My Thoughtful Husband
Love it when he surprises me with something special!
My husband brought home these plants as a surprise for me a couple weeks ago. He is sweet and I love it when he does the random thoughtful gifts. My only regret is that it was such a busy weekend I did not take a picture of the beautiful basket with both plants green and blooming.
At this time only one plant is still alive. Yes, I have already killed the miniature rose bush. I love the mini roses, but have a horrible time keeping them alive for very long. You can see pieces of my sorry looking rose plant beside the one that is pretty and still green.
I love plants and flowers, however, I am not the best person to grow them. Usually I either over or under water them. I like the ones that are easy to maintain and can handle wet or dry soil and withstand lots of sun or no sun. In other words a very strong and durable plant that handles extremes well. Grateful for a thoughtful and caring husband. Love my plants and basket!!!
I love the basket the flowers came in and have already used it a couple of times since he gave it to me!
It has been fun using this basket for surprises and goodies! Thankful for my husband and everything he does for me.
Love It – Magformers Set
Brina loves creating things with the Magformers!
The girls got a Magformers Set for their birthday. Since then they have played with the set for hours. A bunch of time was spent playing with them during their recent snow days when they did not have school. I love it when they get a toy that promotes creativity.
Magformers are bright colorful magnetic toys that you can use to build all kinds of items with. The set we got contained squares, triangles, and pentagons. They are easy to use and the magnets are enclosed so they cannot be swallowed by younger kids. The pieces always attract, never repel, making it easy for anyone to stick two pieces together to build. The magformers stimulate creativity, engineering, spatial awareness, coordination, and mathematics. You can build pretty much anything you can image from balls, houses, pyramids, turtles, towers, and so much more. This toy has sparked our kids imaginations over the past month and they are still pulling it out to play with it regularly.
Big ball out of Magformers
Of course knocking it down is always a fun task to do too
Brina built all the items in the book first than started creating her own inventions. Love watching her read the directions and put things together. She was pretty quick at it!
Magformers creation
She has spent hours putting together different combinations and items with this set.
Proud of her creation
Making some little items
So much fun
House
Karlie loves playing with them too. She split her time between the magformers and reading some chapter books.
Myrtle the Turtle
Time to take this one apart and start on a new project
Having a blast
Neat creation
Fun toy
There are many different Magformers Sets that you can get. Amazon is a great place to look for them and you can read all the great reviews as well.
“Love It” is a series of posts on items that I use regularly in my household that I love! There are some items in our daily lives that make life more enjoyable, efficient, or just plain fun. I will be sharing with you some of the products that have been given to us (or to me) that have made it to the top of my list. It’s my way of giving a huge thumbs up!
Colorful Snow Art
Red and Blue snow hand prints were found!
After finishing their snowman Rainbow Confetti they decided to do colorful snow art with the leftover paints. Some of their snow art creations turned out really well. Love seeing them get creative. Thankful for an opportunity to watch them play and have fun in the snow.
Blue and green store in the planter!
Red snow heart
Smiley faces always bring a smile
Yes, they even spray painted some of their snow balls prior to throwing my direction. It made for a very colorful snowball fight.
Marking trails with their red paint.
Rainbow Confetti Snowman
Introducing the kids snowman for 2015 – Rainbow Confetti! Shortly after this picture I was beamed with a snowball (can you guess from who?!) Look at the person in the picture holding a snowball waiting for me to snap the picture.
The last snow day we had the girls decided it was time to build a snowman. It was perfect packing snow so they got started. The only probably they had is the originally started the snowman ball at the bottom of the yard and rolled it uphill. It wasn’t until they reached the driveway did they realize that they were not going to make it into the front yard so they came inside requesting help. Between the three of us slip and sliding the big ball of snow across the driveway we managed to get it into the front yard.
It isn’t the most beautiful snowman with the leaves, sticks, and dirt sticking out of it, but for the most part it is one that was built primarily by the kids with only a little assistance getting it into the front yard. They did a great job and had a blast. They “painted” their snowman with a mix of water and food coloring in a spray bottle then named him “Rainbow Confetti”. Skipper was there to supervise the construction! I do have to say their snowman lasted for several days and was one of the last ones in our area to completely melt so they did a great job packing in the snow plus they built him under a tree so it was a little more shaded.
They would roll up more big snowballs and break them down next to the bottom of the snowman to build up a strong base. I think the “breaking” and jumping up and down on the balls of snow were the real fun, the snowman just had the benefit of all the extra snow around it.
Rainbow Confetti was a mix of random colors from red, yellow, green, and blue. They decided to use the fox hat. Rainbow Confetti’s face was made completely out of vegetables that the critters running through the yard could eat. Cherry tomato eyes, carrot nose, and an orange pepper mouth!
The kids colorful snowman. They did a great job!
Snow Days In South Carolina
Karlie could spend an entire day outside in the cold she loves it so much!
A couple weeks ago we had several days of snow in South Carolina. The girls loved it. They had a blast playing outside in the snow. It was great having a little extra time with them. Not sure they went a full week of school the last part of February or the first part of March with the snow days here and there. We’ll take the extra days together though and pack in as much fun as we can. Snow does not last long in SC so when it comes you have fun for the brief time you have with it. As you can see from the picture above the snow on the ground behind Karlie has already melted since that morning.
Back deck covered in snow.
She looks so sad now that the kids are back inside…. Skipper loves snow days because the kids come out and play more. This is the face I saw looking at us in the window shortly after the kids had come inside for lunch. Looks like she is giving them her sad puppy eyes in hopes that they will come back outside and play again soon. Don’t worry they were back out within 30 minutes or so.
Oh no she is not going to through that snowball at me….. Yes, I got beamed with snow balls quite a few times. Our storm door got it too a couple times as Karlie waiting for me to come out. Guess those were her practice throws!
Waiting patiently for me to finish getting ready so I can join her outside!
Brina pretending to plant in the snow or at least knock off the remaining snow from the planter.
Magnolia leaves loaded with snow!
You can still see our bulls eye target!
The evergreens branches were heavy with the snow!
