Make It Monday - September Goals

September means the official end of Summer, time for School to begin, and time to focus on finishing out the year strong with my goals.  It usually means cooler weather so I can get more done even though this coming week is being forcasted as "the hottest week of the summer".  Yikes! 

Anyway - this is what is on my radar for the coming month:

1.  Sell My Stuff.  I mentioned in a previous post that I've given myself until the end of September to get the stuff I sorted out of the basement sold or it goes to Good Will.  I have about 6 bins of stuff plus about 5-8 bigger items to try and sell. 

2. Do the finishing clean-up in the basement.  This will get accomplished by doing #1 above, purchasing the last shelf I need to store bins (which I have the $ for thanks to selling some other stuff), and getting the last of the rubber floor mats for the boys room (again, I've already sold stuff so I have the $ for these as well! Whoo whoo!)

3. Shelf by Shelf - This project I also mentioned previously.  It's so much easier to tackle one/two shelves a day.  I can clean the area (or empty the bin) and make sure everything either gets donated, trashed, or put in its rightful home in a matter of about 15 minutes.  It always amazes me how quickly things get cleaned out. A "shelf" doesn't really mean just a shelf - it's a drawer, cupboard, bin, etc.  I tend to "stash and dash" when I'm doing huge cleaning jobs like I did this summer with the basement so when I have random things, I pile them on a shelf (or shelves) and now, I can go through all of those items.

4. Scrapbooking - It's time to really focus on one thing.  Getting current.  I will be ordering digital pages, working on current photos and making sure that I am 100% current ASAP.  I'm not even setting a specific goal for September at this point - more like I need to plan during the first week on how I'm going to do this and then just do it every day.

5.  Birthday's and Christmas - With two birthdays and Christmas coming so close together I have to plan now.  I need to order the boys birthday shirts this month.  Plan what we will do for their birthdays, make gift lists for both birthday and Christmas and plan ahead for all things.  There are always Christmas activities we would like to do so I want to make sure that i plan then now so our family takes priority over other things!

6 The Outside.  Our yard has been neglected this year.  Right now, the grass is long because we have a huge underground wasp nest we are dealing with.  Darryl got swarmed not long ago while mowing and ended up with a pretty severe infection in both legs from the stings so he isn't too keen on mowing until the wasps are gone.  Planting new flowers wasn't high on my list because there were other things I wanted to spend our money on (like camping) but, it's time to weed and trim stuff back to get ready for fall.  This will happen closer to the end of the month but it still needs done.  Also, the pool will come down this month and we plan to do a small fire "pit" in the pool area since the grass is dead anyway (we did that this past spring too).  I might also try to get some bulbs to plant this fall - we planted some tulips last fall and it was fun watching them come up this spring. 

7.  The windows.  Yep they get their own category HA!  Darryl and I work together on this project since I'm not tall enough to wash the outside windows even wtih a ladder.  He does the outside while I clean the insides and spray down the screens.  It really doesn't take that long, it is just a pain to do.  We'll also pull the A/C units out sometime this month and store those away. 

8.  Family Activities - I'd like to get to a zoo with the kids.  Nate requested this early this year but I like to wait until fall to avoid the heat!  We are also planning to camp one last time near the end of the month. 

9. Planning - I've also started planning about what I want my theme word/focus to be next year.  It seems early, but it isn't.  I have an idea and want to research ways to actually implement the concept not only in my own life but that of our family too.  I have some other planning to do too - just taking time to write down some things/ideas/plans that I would like to accomplish not only for me but for/with the family too. 

10.  Financial goals - I'll be honest, the "no spend" concept in August didn't go as well.  I let it slide a few times and once it starts to slide it keeps sliding.  So, for September, I'm back to planning out our budget and not spending where we don't need to spend.  August was a much better month but we didn't end quite where we wanted to so I'm hopeful that September will put us back in the right spot.  I'm also doing lots of researching on ways to make just a little more income from home as the Munchkin will be in school full time. 

I think that's all for the month.  Now to take this list and break it down into some daily tasks that can be accomplished around school :-)

Family Fun - Safety Seminiar

This fall I'm slowly re-introducing the boys into our homeschool group (wow, that sounds deep HA).  Really, I just decided to try and take advantage of some opportunities that fit our schedule instead of trying to make the Co-Op schedule work for us.  The group recently hosted a Safety seminar of sorts where the kids got to see all kinds of safety people from Detectives to a K-9 Unit to Life EMS.  Needless to say, they had a lot of fun!

 These three boys!  They have been buddies for 5 years.  They fight like brothers but would defend each other to any one else.  I'm glad the Munchkin was able to come with us to this event too!

 Nervous habits are hard to break.  The kids were broken into groups by age so Josh was without his buddies.  He ended up in a group with all girls except for one very shy, quiet boy.  Poor kid HA!

 Nate listening to the Detective.  Nate kept trying to tell the guy he was going to be just like him when he grows up but the Detective wasn't that great with 4-5 year olds :-) 

 The K-9 Unit was a big hit.  The dog was awesome - such a beauty!

 The officer let the kids turn on the siren and talk in the walkie talkie too.  He was really awesome.

 The EMS guy was the best guy there.  He had this dry sense of humor that only the adults got but he was so fabulous with the kids.  There was no way Nate was going to get strapped into anything but he loved watching the princess get strapped in (and she loved it too!)

 Josh, on the other hand, loved it all.

They all got to shoot the firehose too.  What boy wouldn't love holding onto that huge hose and soaking everything in sight? 

Weekly Menu - It's the end of Summer

Wow.  Where did the summer go.  I can't complain - it has been an awesome summer.  The weather has been better than average for the cooler weather loving girl.  We've been on four awesome camping trips (and are hoping to get one more in this fall!).  We've done some fun activities as a family . The boys have been to Vacation Bible School, Stayed with grandparents, gone swimming and played. Lots.  I love fall, though.  The smells, tastes, cooler temps, colors - I love it all.  Not to mention Football :-)  Yeah!

**On a funny side note, I originally wrote this post a week ago and did it thinking that this weekend was Labor Day Weekend and School starts on Tuesday.  Guess what - I'm a whole week ahead HA!  This is the "last official week of summer" HA! 

Here's the plan for this coming week:

Saturday: Darryl is working today after having several days off for our camping trip.  So, he's bringing dinner home. 

Sunday: Darryl's working today due to taking extra days off because of being sick so, honestly, I'm pretty sure the boys and I will grab something after church.  Cooking for just the three of us is more work than it is worth ;-)  For dinner, Double Crunch Orange Chicken and Fried Rice sounds good!

Monday: Darryl has PT and I have practice so we are two ships passing in the night.  (well, not really night, just . . .evening HA).  Pancakes and Sausage make everyone happy and it is super easy.

Tuesday: Chick-Fil-Lay Nuggets and Fries.

Wednesday.Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes (in the crock!), Fried Zucchini and Rolls

Thursday: Chicken Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy and Biscuits

Friday - What else?  tacos!

August Goals Update

August has been a good month for goals :-)  I accomplished much of what I  wanted to get done.

1) The garage is organized, cleaned and everything has a home.  I cleaned out enough junk to empty one shelf so that Darryl could use it for things that were piled on the workbench.  We got rid of stuff we've had for 14 years and made sure that all of the kids bikes were easily within reach.

2) The basement is basically done.  I'm at a little bit of stand still as I wait to sell some stuff so I can purchase one more shelving unit and some flooring pieces for the play room but otherwise it's done.

3) Selling of the junk HA!  I've sold a lot of school books/books over the past few weeks which has helped clean some stuff out.  I've given myself until the end of September to get everything else sold or it goes to Good Will.  We had some really hot weather the last week or two so hanging out in the clean garage taking photos of stuff to post was not high on my list.  I'm hoping to hit it hard next week and the first week in September.

4) The boys school area is completely set up - they love their desks and are looking forward to school

5) I'm continuing to work on deep cleaning and cleaning out every nook and cranny :-)  I call it my "shelf" project.  I try to clean off/organize two "shelves" a day.  Sometimes a shelf really is just that - a shelf on a book case or work area but sometimes a shelf is a bin that I threw stuff in because I didn't have a home for it yet.  I'm also slowly working on putting extra trash out each week - all of the odds and ends that get shoved into corners through the years.  I finally get rid of the baby gate that was collecting dust in the basement - I wasn't attached to it . . .I actually even kinda hated it because it was such a pain . . .but I just never took time to carry it upstairs to the trash :-)

When it comes to goal planning, every person is different.  I have learned over and over again that if I am not specific in my goal/list planning, things don't get done.  I'm thankful for my planner where I can make my daily goal lists and I focus off of my monthly goals to make sure I get stuff done.  I am still focusing this year on that goal of "Simplify" and I feel like I've made a lot of progress in this area but am pushing forward to be where I want to be by the end of the year. 

Teaching Tuesdays - I might be ready.

I finished up all of the things I needed to do this past week.  The computer is set up and ready to go but I was a little remiss to learn that it is not wi-fi ready.  So now there is a cord running around a wall like in the "olden" days ;-)  I also read through all of the info of my orientation and will admit that I am more than a little overwhelmed with what I have to do.  Starting out it will be a lot more work then when I did my own thing.  There were areas before that I could combine the boys and teach them together (Science, Bible, Social Studies, Handwriting) but now, they all have their own individual lessons.  All lessons are completed on a computer and they all need my direction to read and help them complete at this point.  So the first few weeks will be trial and error I'm sure.  It's possible I might need to teach each boy at a different time in the day so I can spend time one on one with them but I'm not sure yet. 

A week from now will be our first day . . .crazy, I know.  Ready, set. . .go!

Make It Monday - Creativity

Periodically, when I dump photos from my camera I'm surprised by what my future photographer, Josh, captures through the lens.  He has always loved taking pictures and has gotten impressively better through the years.  Occasionally, with my permission and direction, he is allowed to use my camera.  I thought I would show some things that he and Nate have created and have been caught on camera.

 This little train the boys got several years ago and it is seldom assembled but on this occasion Josh and Nate got it all put together correctly; Josh took a photo so they could remember how to do it next time.

 Towers.  The blocks are well loved but we have so few of them and those towers get knocked down often.  Josh took a photo to remember what was built.

 I must say, their building is very good and they have asked for more blocks. 

Finally, they boys are into this "thing" of cutting their lego boxes into teeny tiny pieces.  I don't get it but they will sit for hours doing this "thing".  Josh took pictures of all of the boxes so they could look at them in the future.  I will say, photos are MUCH easier to store than all of the misc. sizes of boxes! 

On a side note, Josh's photography interest is something we plan to encourage.  He loves taking videos as well and has asked for a small camera for his birthday.  This type of ability is something that makes a great side business in the future and is such a great talent to have and use!

Family Fun - Water Fun

My boys love water and they love playing.  Put those two things together and you get hours of fun and creativity!

 The boys wanted a water slide so they hauled the hose over to the Tree house and finagled it until it was running down the slide.

 Rain boots are very important features on a water slide.

 The water coming out of the hose is very cold HA!

Nate returned to the pool :-)  It was bit chilly too but he still loves it!

That pool is one of the best purchases ever.  This is the second year for it and it will be the last for this particular pool.  I love the fact that with the filter and pool chemicals I can keep it clean and fresh most of the summer (by the end it's a bit sandy but that's ok).  The outer ring has a small air leak that we can't find but we just refill it every few days and it is ok too.  Next year we have the next size up already waiting in storage thanks to my brother and the boys will ove having a deeper pool to swim in!