Our weekly snapshot

 A look back at our week : 

Our weekend started with a great concert!  We got to see Unspoken and they were amazing. 

On Sunday we went to my father-in-laws to celebrate his birthday and the boys cleaned gutters!! 

Then on Monday we had a fun time at my mom’s. 

Tuesday was the first day of school so we did Senior Sunrise with Josh! 

We enjoyed the opening night of football with my brother Kelly 

And the first night of youthgroup! 

I ran into some sweet friends.  I babysat these two for lots of years! 

And the boys are having a camp out ! 

Weekly Song

 We attended a great Unspoken concert on Saturday so, or course, I’m sharing one of their songs! 

Our weekly snapshot

 It’s a holiday weekend so I’m a little off in my posts!  Oops!  Here’s a look back at last week! 

On Sunday, Josh and Nate attended a youth group bonfire with friends.  

After Centershot on Tuesday Nate and some friends went out to Dairy Queen for ice cream. 

Josh has done a lot of mowing and yard work this summer and I finally got a few photos!! 

Weekly Menu

 Just like that summer is unofficially done!  How did that happen? School begins this next week, youth group starts back up along with TKD and our Co-Op.  

Here's the plan for the week: 

Friday - chick-fil-a nuggets and fries 

Saturday - We are heading to a concert in the Lakeshore - a little family fun! 

Sunday - The plan is to go to my father-in-laws to celebrate his birthday (86!) with him. 

Monday - Labor Day!  We will grill!  

Tuesday - Easy Taco Casserole with chips and salsa

Wednesday - It is the first night of youth group!  And my brother and sister-in-law, Kel and Deb, are in town so Darryl and I will eat at my mom's.  

Thursday - I have a Sunday School Dinner so I'm planning a big pan of chicken and rice for the guys (they all love it) and maybe some biscuits or rolls. 

September Goals

 Whew.  It's September.  I'm not sure where the summer went -- oh wait, I know, it went away while I drove my kids to all of their amazing adventures HA!  Before you ask (or think it), I actually really do enjoy the fact that I still get the opportunity and privilege to drive my guys everywhere.  We have some great discussions, lots of laughs, and build some great memories.  

With that said though, that has meant that my lofty summer goals did not get accomplished - or at least I didn't accomplish nearly what I thought I/we would.  September is usually my "reset" month.  Usually Labor Day weekend I enjoy spending time planning and prepping for the next "season" of life but, do you realize that Labor Day weekend is late this year?  Almost a whole week of September will be done before we even celebrate the holiday!  Craziness!  Instead I'm spending the last week of August refocusing, writing, and planning to try and be a little more successful and organized the last 4 months of this year!  I've re-read my 2026 goals, looked back through my monthly goals, and wrote a plan for September with some ideas in my head for the rest of the year too.    

And, don't forget that word of the year - Mindfulness - I still am looking for ways to incorporate that into my life and my home.  :-)  

Here we go! (And you know I'll tell stories along the way too!) 

1. The Basement - I really thought the summer was going to be when I knocked everything off in the basement but that did not happen at all.  The "Band" (Josh and Nate and some friends) have said they would clean it out and have a garage sale but I think I need to help just a little LOL!  Anyway, Nate and I spent a few hours and totally cleaned the garage with the mindset that once that is done, we can start hauling stuff up from the basement and getting it ready to go.  I'm not sure how much time we will have in September to accomplish this but I hope to get some accomplished.  (As a reminder - one of my 2026 goals is to cut down the number of bins I have from about 60 to about 45)
2. Scrapbooking - Another thing that I was SURE I would spend lots of time doing. Did not happen.  So, the goals is to complete 2011 (the odd, oldest book I need to do) and then work on 2026. I would also really like to plan a scrapbooking weekend where I use Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to scrapbook.  I need to write it on the calendar and stick to it! 
3. It's September - it's time to decorate for fall!  
4. Take first day of school photos!  Try to make a reel/video showing all of Josh's 1st days of school!  (A friend did this - I'll see what I can do!) 
5. Post "Senior Sunday" photos of Josh each Sunday! 
6. Learn how to make Macaroons.  I need to see if I can make them successfully or get rid of the kit I bought 6 years ago! 
7. The windows!!  One of the main family projects for September is the windows and the blinds.  Wash them, fix them, make them look nice! 
8. Set up a meeting with at least one of the colleges Josh is considering so we can see what he needs to do. 
9. Move Solid Rock Documents to a flash drive so that they are not just on my computer. 
10. Josh's room - work with him to get it done.  
11. I need to work on Memorizing verses - memory work is not my strong point. My joyful class always has to memorize scripture so I'm going to challenge myself to memorize those verses as well. 
12. Another family project that I hope to get done in September but it might not happen until October is to paint all of the "white" in the house. 
13. I have a new Bible Study that started August 24th so my goal is to finish strong through September! 
14. Plan and be aware of upcoming events: 1) Sunday Football Kick-off 2) Plan a family day for the end of September or first of October 3) Register everyone (the guys) for upcoming retreats 4) Family Photos 5) Josh's birthday 6) Pumpkin carving!  
15. Plan special events for Josh's senior year (Like Senior Sunrise, Senior Breakfast, etc.) We might homeschool but we will still make some great memories! 
16. Learn a couple of songs to play for offering.  It's just hard finding time to practice!  
17. By the end of September - have my Joyful video started with what we have done so far. 
18. Write the job description for the Secretary position of Solid Rock 
19. Schedule my weekly home blessing hour and do it.  
20. Plan things for Labor Day Weekend (this should be at the start of this list HA!) - We have an outdoor concert we'd like to attend or maybe we can go to the Lakeshore (Tunnel Park?).  We are going to my father-in-law's to celebrate his birthday.  And we are planning a cook out with my mom at our house. 
21. Clean out and organize my file drawer. 
22. Clean up the front deck. 
23. Rent/borrow a power washer and clean the house, decks, and my swing. 
24. Work on planning Josh's open house (List of people to send invites to, Food - testing out things that Josh wants, Décor, QR code ideas etc.) 
25. Read "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning" - I've heard it has great ideas for decluttering.  We shall see! 
26. Christmas - it's just around the corner!  September is when I like to start thinking about gifts and making a plan; pick up some things; spread the spending out a little!
27. Deep cleaning - I've tackled a few things throughout the last few months - not necessarily a whole room but even just a drawer or two along the way.  So the plan is to just keep this moving.  One spot at a time, 15-20 minutes a day ends up accomplishing a lot more than people realize!  Again, as I mentioned last month, after living here over 23 years I am starting to come into what I want my house to look/feel like.  It will be something that happens little by little with tiny changes but that's ok.  :-) 
28. Plan a date with Darryl - we enjoyed our day out for our anniversary so I'm hopeful to plan something for the two of us to do - even just an afternoon.  
29. Another family project is making repairs to our main deck.  Again, not sure if that will happen in September or October but it will be done before the snow flies! (Unless it snows REALLY early in September HA!) 
30. Write Josh's monthly lesson plans (so September, October and November should be written this month) and make sure transcripts are up to date. 
31. Order School ID's for both boys. 
32. Find a new bookshelf for my room - the one I've been using broke (I tried moving it with books still on it - so my own fault).  I want something with a smaller footprint but still holds the books (So taller and skinnier.  I would at least like to find what I want even if I can't order it this month. 
33. Be more mindful of food an exercise.  (If that isn't vague I don't know what is HA! )
34. Be more mindful of money - spending, saving, thinking ahead (Another vague one but I know what needs done). 

I think that's all.  It's kind of a random list - and even as I write it I know that not everything will get done but it gives me a list to focus on and then carry over to the next few months.  I also recognize that some things are hard to measure (I wrote August goals very specific to measure them easier) but I'll still try to make notes of what gets done.  

Weekly Song - Valley of Worship

 

Enjoy! 

Our weekly snapshot

 Here’s a look back at our week: 

(They loaded backwards so start at the bottom!) 

Some stone shots (not mine!) of the festival on Friday.  

Finally there is a huge concert in town with upwards of 50,000 people over two days.  Billy Strjngs is a local boy who has made it huge and brought his festival to his home town.  We managed to snap a few photos with this huge guitar! 

We attended a field trip with our co-op! 

Josh had his very last “well child” check up!  Next year he’s in his own for his yearly physical 🤪

National Dog Day! 

Nate is participating in Centershot again. 

One of Nate’s friends got baptized. 

Sunday included baptisms. 

While Nate and I cleaned out and organized the garage. 

On Saturday we worked in some family projects.  These guys worked on ripping out poison ivy (the hazmat suits are hilarious) 

These are actually from last Friday - Josh and Averie worked on painting their “Senior Jeans”