Family
Happy Birthday Brina & Karlie!
Happy 8th Birthday Brina and Karlie! We love you sweet girls more than words can say! Wishing you both many more amazing years packed full of great memories! 🙂 We are thankful for the our beautiful girls and the many rays of sunshine they bring into our lives! We are so blessed to be your parents!
Lots of LOVE & HUGs,
Dad & Mom
XOXO
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
Last week I was finally feeling better so I was able to get caught up on a few items. Thankful for some time together with my family while we were all healthy and back to the normal schedule. We celebrated Valentine’s Day by flying up north to Vermont visit Jake’s Mom and grandparents. The girls were super excited to play in some snow!
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
Read On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls– finished the book with the girls, they are ready to start the next book of the series nowRead Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume to the girls– finished the book, the girls loved it so much they wanted to know if there were any more in this series! 🙂- Read Imagination Station: Voyage with the Vikings by Marianne Hering
Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night beforeDaily School Activities & Homework CompletedAttend After School ActivitiesPlan one special Activity with the FamilyGirls Dentist CheckupPick up Brina’s GlassesCelebrate the Valentine’s Day HolidayPrepare for the Girls BirthdaySpend Extra Time with Extended Family
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week – didn’t get a chance to walk all 5 days, need to get back into the routine
Drink 8 glasses of water each dayStart with my new YouVersion plan(s)– staying up to date with the plan- Finish reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp – working on it
- Finish reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan- going through this book with a group of friends
Home Management Goals
All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one dayWeekly Dinner Menu planned out for the weekPay all upcoming bills
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog postsKeep 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
For my January Grocery Budget I am replacing my typical Groceries $40 for 4 with my Life Simplified: No Grocery Shopping in order to use up some extra items in my fridge, freezer, and pantry.- Payoff the Van – working on it
- Pay medical bills in full – started making payments
- Complete 2012 Taxes – started preparing
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Read On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls
- Read Imagination Station: Voyage with the Vikings by Marianne Hering
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Daily School Activities & Homework Completed
- Attend After School Activities
- Plan one special Activity with the Family
- Prepare for the Girls Birthday
- Spend Extra Time with Extended Family
Personal Goals
- Exercise at least 5 days this week
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Start with my new YouVersion plan(s)
- Finish reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
- Finish reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan- going through this book with a group of friends
Home Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Pay all upcoming bills
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- 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
- Write and Send Out Community Group Email
- Email a meeting reminder for Alms & Legs Ministry Team meeting
Financial Goals
- For my January Grocery Budget I am replacing my typical Groceries $40 for 4 with my Life Simplified: No Grocery Shopping in order to use up some extra items in my fridge, freezer, and pantry.
- Payoff the Van
- Pay medical bills in full
- Complete 2012 Taxes
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.
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
I started reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume to the girls while we were on the cruise. The girls loved hearing about Peter, Fudge, and their adventures so much that they begged me to continue reading it. I finished reading this book to the girls earlier this week. They thought the book was hilarious and wanted to know if there were any more books.
The book is about a fourth grader Peter Hatcher and his little brother Fudge. Fudge was always getting into Peter’s things, messing up his school work, playing with his turtle, and many other things to embarrass Peter. Every chapter contains the daily interactions and adventures of the Hatcher family. The story is fun and silly which captivates the young listeners attention. We have the older version of this book from when I was a kid. The girls love that they are reading books that I read as a kid too.
Travel & Vacation: Always Something Fun to Do
Brina hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma before breakfast
We had a blast on our first full day on the ship. The girls were up early before breakfast even opened so we hung out with Grandpa and Grandma a little bit. We went swimming, ate great food, went to the Freeze Frame Show, had our first formal dinner, relaxed, attended the Once Upon A Time Show, and not long after that the kids crashed. They were sound asleep within minutes of getting back into the room, cleaned up, and into bed. Thankful for a great time with family during our time on the boat.
Where is Karlie?! Oh, there she is up in her bed reading a book! Karlie loves to read. She finished a couple chapter books while we were on the cruise.
Relaxing for a few minutes before taking off to the next activity of the day
Pizza and fruit were always a hit for lunch at Windjammers!
Reading “Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing” to the girls while we wait for the rest of the group to get ready
Travel & Vacation: Once Upon A Time Show
Once Upon a Time Show
The first full day on the boat was packed full of fun activities from swimming, playing, Freeze Frame Ice Show, our formal dinner together, and more! After dinner we went to the Once Upon a Time Show. They re-told a lot of the traditional fairy tales from Cinderella to Snow White to Pinocchio and more. The kids were fascinated by all the action on the stage!
They even had fairies flying around!
Fascinating to watch
They even had Cinderella
Some of the outfits made me laugh!
The girls loved this show!
Once Upon a Time Show – Rapunzel
Be My Valentine: I Will Always “Root” for You Handsome!
Every once in awhile I like to get a special treat for my man! It doesn’t have to be for any specific Holiday but this would be an easy way to say “I Love You” during the Valentine season. For this special treat I picked up a six pack of IBC Rootbeer for Jake and put a sticky note on it that says “I will always “root” for you Handsome!” I stuck the six pack with the note in the refrigerator, when Jake opens the door to get a drink he will find his cool treat. He appreciates the thoughtfulness and the treat reminds him that I love him. I am truly thankful for all he does for our family!
I will always “root” for you Handsome!
Travel & Vacation: Our First Formal Night
Karlie and Brina all dressed up for our first formal night
Earlier that day we went swimming, played, and went to the Freeze Frame Ice Show. Now it was time to get dressed up for our first formal night on the ship. The girls wore their red dresses for the first formal night on the cruise ship. They looked so cute! We took a family picture but I thought you would enjoy some of the snap shots we were able to get while waiting for our family picture. Everyone looked really nice for dinner that night.
Our little ladies
This one cracks me up…..they have obviously spotted someone they know, ha!
Brina taking a picture of Jake and I
A snap shot of Jake and I on the trip
Grandpa and Zach are ready for their picture
Karlie girl all dressed up
Nicko looking sharp
Brina, Nathan and Brandon ready for their pictures
They look thrilled
Uncle Josh looking all snazzy too
Travel & Vacation: Freeze Frame Ice Show
Yay for the Freeze Frame Ice Show!
After some time swimming we all went to the Freeze Frame Ice Show! It was so neat seeing all the people zooming around so gracefully on the ice. The girls thought they made it look really easy. We tried ice skating later that week and it wasn’t as easy as it looked when these guys were flying around!
Karlie super excited to watch the Freeze Frame Ice Show
Brandon, Brina, and Jeremy are ready to watch the ice show. We got really good seats too!
Karlie thought it was cool they had stars on the ice with the skaters
All the kids on the edge of their seats watching the show
One of the couples in the show
I lost count how many times they switch outfits in this program!
Brina’s comment…..they make it look so easy
Now that takes talent
Amazing
The Freeze Frame Ice Show was really neat
Travel & Vacation: Pool Adventures
Fun times at the pool
Our first full day on the cruise we had a full day at sea which was really nice because we got to do a lot of fun activities on the boat. The kids started the day early (at least our kids did), they were up at 6 am and ready to go! After eating breakfast with Grandpa and Grandma the kids thought it would be a good time to go for a swim in their pools. The adults caught up on conversations as the kids went swimming. They were bouncing from splash zone to pool to hot tub. Much to our surprise most of the pools on this boat were chlorine, in the past most were salt water. The kids tended to sit more still when they were in the jacuzzi so I noticed we got more of those pictures, ha!
One of the kids favorite places to swim. It was a circular pool with moving water. The kids loved it. Brandon, Nathan and Karlie are in this picture. If you look at the back of the picture you can see the ocean out the ship’s window (the water’s about the same color too).
Karlie loving the extra time swimming
Brina, Karlie, Brandon and Nathan getting warmed up in the jacuzzi next to the H2O Splash zone
Brina having fun
My nephews Brandon and Nathan. The girls had a blast hanging out with their cousins for the week!
Brina and Nathan in the jacuzzi
And there off to the next great adventure…
Someone’s tired…Zach did a good job keeping up with the group. Thankfully he can sleep almost anywhere!
Nicko playing in the pool!
Travel & Vacation: First Cruise Dinner & a Swim in the Pool
Nathan and Brina ready for their first dinner on the cruise! The girls were excited to have some extra time with their cousins.
After getting on the Independence of the Seas, exploring it, and waving goodbye to Fort Lauderdale, Florida we headed to find our assigned seats in the dining room for our first evening meal on the ship. Everyone was excited about the cruise and thrilled that we were off. The kids had a blast enjoying the amazing food and afterward a group of us decided to try out some of the neat pools on board too.
Karlie so excited to be on her first cruise!
Nicko, Becky, and Amber ready for the first dinner on the boat
Always an adventure….Leo being silly….
Amber, Nathan and Brina at dinner
Brina and Brandon at dinner – all smiles
Jeremiah
Someone’s all tuckered out after a busy day! Jake has always been good at getting little ones to sleep!
Karlie and Brina so excited to be on vacation and cruising!
Best way to end the day….according to Karlie….is to go for a swim at night before bed!
Our sweet Brina Bee relaxing in the jacuzzi!
