April Goals

I tend to lose steam on goals sometime around April.  I'm trying not to let that happen this time around! So, I'm trying to get my goals reasonable and seek out some things that I actually think I can get done.  We hit school hard in April so I have some big goals for that and when we do that, everything else takes a back seat!!

So what is my main focus for April?  I'm struggled with this because I wasn't really sure what I wanted to focus on until it kind of hit me - planning. 

1) Plan our summer - I did this last year and it helped focus on some things.  I make calendars for June-August and try to put ideas on it for each week.  We don't do everything on the plan but it helps me not miss some things we'd like to really do.
2) Make sure my Holiday binder is up to date which includes planning when to buy things like Halloween Costumes, birthday items ect. Summer flies by and then all of a sudden we need stuff - It helps to spread that stuff out.

See - keeping it simple :-)

As is always the case, I have a few other things I'd like to get done this month:

1) Get everything I need for Easter.  (Easter Outfits for the boys, Eggs for hiding in the yard, and the other things for their Easter Baskets) And, plan Easter Dinner. 
2) Put my new Shelves together and organize my scrapbooks on them.
3) Make a list of anything needed to complete those scrapbooks
4) Order March 2019 photos and 1 month of older photos (I can't think of what Month I'm on - but I have it written down)
5) Order 1 month of digital prints (there is a coupon that is good for this week so I'm hoping to get that done!)
6) Paint the dining room.  We figured if we are putting shelves together, we should paint so we don't have to move the shelves!
7) The boys have multiple projects for school that are due by June.  My goal is to get them all done this month!
8) Dare I even list the basement?  Well, I'm going to but it's not high on the list this month.  It's my birthday month so I try to avoid things I don't like HA!
9) Do something fun for my birthday!  Darryl and I have talked about it a little but I haven't formulated a plan yet :-0
10) Clean out and organize the play room. We are going to be doing some furniture rearranging in May thinks to getting some furniture from my mom when she moves.  In order to make that a smooth transition, I need to clean and organize :-)
11) Clean out my truck.  Winter was hard on it because I never cleaned it since it was so cold.  It's time to take it to the car wash and vacuum it out like crazy!
12) Clean the Master Bedroom.  It doesn't take long - just have to get rid of the piles!!

That's all that's on my list this time - yes, only 12.  Not 19.  Maybe I'm just tired HA! 

The History behind April Fool's Day

Here's a little secret - I highly dislike April Fool's Day.  For real.  I think my true dislike started when I was teaching school.  Kids liked to prank the teacher and it just totally annoyed me.  So, my students quickly learned that pranking was not an option!  My kids now enjoy doing a few little things but thankfully they don't get out of control.  The most I do is make Jello in their dinner drinking cups so that when they take a drink nothing comes out HA!  

Back in college (years and years ago!) in one class, we had to all research various holidays and I found that to be super interesting so I wanted to just share the history behind April Fools' Day today.  Enjoy! 

(This information comes from History)

Although April Fools’ Day, also called All Fools’ Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery.

Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563.

People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes.

These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to festivals such as Hilaria, which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March and involved people dressing up in disguises.

There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

April Fools’ Day spread throughout Britain during the 18th century. In Scotland, the tradition became a two-day event, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.

In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools’ Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences.

In 1957, the BBC reported that Swiss farmers were experiencing a record spaghetti crop and showed footage of people harvesting noodles from trees; numerous viewers were fooled. In 1985, Sports Illustrated tricked many of its readers when it ran a made-up article about a rookie pitcher named Sidd Finch who could throw a fastball over 168 miles per hour.

In 1996, Taco Bell, the fast-food restaurant chain, duped people when it announced it had agreed to purchase Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell and intended to rename it the Taco Liberty Bell. In 1998, after Burger King advertised a “Left-Handed Whopper,” scores of clueless customers requested the fake sandwich.

Sunday Worship - Mistakes

I don't think I've shared this song before but if I did, it's ok.  I heard this one just once on the radio and the words were powerful so it has stuck with me very since.

Our Week In Photos - #13

Here's a look back at our week!

Saturday started with the Pinewood Derby Race for AWANA.  As I mentioned last week, the boys ended up using their cars from last year which worked out fine.  They both got 2nd in the first race, then, 3rd and 4th in the 2nd round.  Josh got knocked out in the 3rd round and Nate in the 5th round.

 On Monday, I got the call that my contacts and glasses were ready so we cancelled school and took of for town (I really wanted to see!)  I'm so thankful for them - I can see once again!

 We stopped at Olive Garden for lunch to celebrate!

On Friday we started spring break off with a trip to the movies!  We went to our favorite theater with the reclining seats.  Such a relaxing way to watch a movie :-)

 Then this happened on Friday.  We adopted this little guy - Dash.  Totally 100% unexpected and unplanned.  He showed up on my timeline, we went to the shelter, one person was in front of us filling out an application for HIM!  The boys and I waited and that person changed their mind.  We met him and he instantly attached himself to the boys.  He's super cute and the smallest dog I've ever owned!

Dash has attached himself to Nate!   

Weekly Menu - The Week of Spring Break

Does our menu change during spring break? No.  HA!  Anything that is planned is close to home so really, it's just a normal week.  It just sounds more fun to say it is spring break!

Friday - Breakfast!  English Muffins, Eggs, Hashbrowns, Sausage and bacon.  Yum!

Saturday - If the weather cooperates, we will have Hamburgs on the grill (to celebrate Spring!), and Fries.

Sunday - Today is a banquet at church.  We are supposed to bring a main dish and then either a side dish or dessert.  So, truth be told, I don't like taking food to things - it stresses me out.  So, last year I figured out a way to not stress - I pick up fried chicken from Meijer for my main dish and a couple packages of rolls :-)  And do you know what?  I'm not the only one that does that HA! 

Monday - Ham Steaks and Soup with yeast rolls

Tuesday - Either chicken on the grill or Amish baked chicken, Buttered Noodles, and carrots

Wednesday - If Darryl doesn't have practice I think we will go to Pizza Hut for a mid-week spring break treat; if he does have practice, the boys and I will have Tacos

Thursday - Tonight will be whatever we didn't do on Wednesday!  Either Pizza Hut or Tacos :-)

March Goals Recap

March Goals!  Yes, it's that time of month to write down my goals.  As I've done the last two months, I'll start with my main focus.

My March Focus is:

Strengthen my Scrapbooking

I know, really?  But yes!  The reason I picked this is because I already have some things in place to help this happen.

1. Put together my new shelves (an early birthday present!) to house my scrapbooks.  Two of the shelves arrived; once I get those put together and organized, I will order one more if needed. My shelves are not together.  I'm hoping that whatever day Darryl takes off during spring break we can work together and get them put together. 
2. Sort my albums as I put them on shelves.  I need to see what is missing and what needs to be updated.Since my shelves aren't together, this hasn't been done.  
3. Update any and all albums that I can (some might have to be spread out over the year depending on what needs to be done. Until I do 1 and 2 above, I can't do this one. 
4. Continue to plan to order the current months photo and one other months photos. This is on schedule. 
5. Continue to plan to order one month of digital pages a month This is on schedule

Even though I have a main focus, there are some other things I'm focusing on too.

1. Add exercise to our daily routine - the weather has not been our friend yet this year but maybe, just maybe March will be our month!  The weather is FINALLY nice!  So it is time to start walking!
2. Now that the weather is starting to maybe clear, I might actually try to do my first Shipt SHop.Not yet but it's still on the plan. 
3. Schedule an eye appointment - I think I need new contacts and I DO need new glasses!Done!  I have both new contacts and glasses and I can see again! 
4. Paint the Dining Room - I'll be honest, I'm not sure I can actually fit this in this month but I want it on the radar. Not done, still on the radar though - maybe spring break? 
5. Put up the spring/summer shower curtain (Maybe that is why it is still snowing - I still have my snowflake shower curtain up HA!)Done! 
6. Price out a different Homeschool option for next year and see if it is a doable plan if we decided to not do connections academy next year. Not Done
7. Decide about camp for the boys - they have expressed a real interest in going this summer to a full week of camp - I need to see if we can make this happen financially. Still working on this. 
8. Find one activity to do this month as a family. It seems small, but we did the Pinewood Derby at church, then later that day, we went to Taco Bell for dinner and laughed lots, looked at some new cars for fun, and then got ice cream at McDonald's.  
9. Continue to read - I think I'm doing pretty good on this one.Still doing good. 
10. Make sure I have our St. Patrick's stuff in the plans are in place.Done
11.  Update the holiday journal Not done as of the writing of this - but the 31st of March is still a few days away ;-) 
12. Purchase items for the boys Easter Basket and get their Easter outfits I have picked up two things for their baskets; have one thing to order on Amazon; I know two other things I'll be adding but some of their favorite candy.  I don't have their Easter Outfits as of this writing, but plan to go on the weekend and pick out their stuff. 
13. Finalize my song to sing at church and practice it.I still haven't decided. 
14. Go through all of our summer clothes and make a list of what is needed I did this for the boys - they need almost everything HA! 
15. Deep clean the master bedroom - I did a big clean out last September but it tends to get piles quite often and I need to clean all of that stuff out. This is on my spring break list. 
16. The basement.  That's all HA!
17. Finish one project with Josh for School (he has three) and finish up Nate's big Michigan History Project and his reading journals This is on my spring break list (and every other list too!) 
18. Plan my fall co-op class.  I have the information, I just need to lay out a basic lesson plan.Now that our semester has finally ended, I feel like I can focus on this again. 
19. Plan for summer planting.  I want to plant sunflowers and maybe some other flowers.  I'd also like to plant a few (very few) veggie plants. I have a few ideas but now we wait until May to do anything. 

I don't feel like I accomplished a lot in March on my list yet we were super busy.  School seems to take a front seat during March as I push to be current before we stop for spring break.  That's why I always set specific goals for spring break, which I posted yesterday.  I need to use my time without school to get stuff done!  After spring break, I'll push hard on school during all of April so we can hit May with all of the projects done and most of their school work done.  Once May hits, it is hard to stay focused!  

Spring Break

Yes, Homeschooler's take a Spring Break, well at least we do!  Connections Academy, our online school, does a Spring Break as do our friends that we babysit so, too keep it fair, we don't do school either!

I try to plan a mix of activities over the week of Spring Break - for both the kids and for myself.  After months of schooling and busy life, the house needs attention and we all need a break.  Not to mention that after being stuck in the house for awhile, we are all ready to get out.

Spring Break officially starts on Friday, March 29th and the plan is to take the kids to the free movie - Hotel Transylvania 3.  This works because the movie starts at 10:00 so we need to leave home by 9:00.  This would normally be way to early for us but since our friends  by 7:30 - we are all up! HA!  That's really my only goal for this day.

The weekend is just our weekend.  I think we will hang out around home more than anything else.  Just relax and enjoy a break!  I'm hoping to set up a scrapbooking table so I can scrapbook all weekend

Monday - Monday is my day for the house.  I have some goals.  1) 20-30 minutes in the basement 2) Clean the Master Bedroom.   For the kids, I have a small craft planned.

Tuesday - Kids Day - This is weather dependent.  If the weather is comfortable we will head to the park.  Today is also our Co-Op's "Sponser Day" at Mooville so we will go and get Ice Cream as well.  There is an activity at the library which we may do if the weather isn't nice.

Wednesday - Another "me" day!  Oh, and the boys have dental appointments for cleaning Wednesday morning!   1) 20-30 Minutes in the basement 2) Clean the Kitchen and Stairs.  For the kids, I'll pick out some fun idea off of pinterest to do in the afternoon.

Thursday - Kids Day - We may go see another free movie (Small Foot) or see what activities the Library has locally.

Friday - The last "me" day  1) 20-30 Minutes in the basement 2) Clean the living room and playroom

Depending on the weekend - we might go to the Pet Expo on Saturday just for fun :-)