How'd I Do... August Goals

This is very late, but I just haven't had the motivation to blog lately.  Kinda sad, especially since I have so much to blog about, but I'd rather snuggle my little man for now (and sleep).  So here is how August went...

August Goals:

Homemaking -

Clean the house in preparation for baby - Done

Wash the infant car seat cover... the last thing to do in preparation for little guy - Done

Get the carpets cleaned - Done

Clean out fridge and freezer - Done

Cooking -

Finish the freezer cooking - Done.  I made 3 loaves of meatloaf, 2 gallon size bags of stuffed shells, 4 trays of baked ziti, 3 trays of beef enchiladas, 2 trays of enchilada bake, 10 quarts of pasta sauce and 4 quart size bags of taco meat.  I also stocked the freezer with veggies, fruit and frozen yogurt scoops for smoothies, chicken, ground beef and various other meats.  It was a very successful few days of cooking the week before baby was born.

Mothering -

Snuggle my new baby - Done

Make time to snuggle my other babies - Done

Creating -

Make big sister shirts for the girls - Fail :(

Financing -

Stay in budget - I think I actually managed to do this

Enriching -

Find a book to pack in hospital bag... maybe another gardening one - Fail... but I ended up taking advantage of the quiet and slept the whole time I was at the hospital anyways.

So August was a pretty darn good month.  I guess that nesting instinct really helps to motivate you.  Okay, onto September...

September Goals:

Homemaking -
Start the fall cleanup
Switch light fixture in laundry room
Add hooks in laundry room

Cooking -
Get back into the habit of planning a weekly menu
Bake something new from Pinterest

Mothering -
Snuggle my baby
Evan's baby blessing
Practice patience with my number two child

Creating -
Paint the house numbers

Financing -
Figure out the new budget

Enriching -
Read a new book
Make it to our Neighborhood Cooking Group

Summer 2012

Since I was very pregnant all summer we didn't do a whole lot.  Fortunately, the kiddos seemed to be okay with that.  We did have some fun though.   

 The kids favorite thing to do this summer was running through the sprinklers.  This was huge considering last summer everyone was terrified to get wet.  They started out running around the sprinklers, but by the end of summer they were sticking their little heads in the water to get their hair wet.  It was kinda cute.

 I love this girl!  She is such a good big sister.

 I was happy to see my little trouble-maker enjoying the water too.

 I did some canning this summer.  We've got nectarines, pears and pear sauce.  Peach season is upon us, so hopefully I can get some peaches canned in the next couple of weeks and then in October we'll can some applesauce.

 We also got to go swimming with Aunt Caitlin and Uncle Brian.

 Most of the summer Cameron would only sit on the top step of the pool.  By the very end of summer though, he had gotten much braver and was playing in the water.

 Ella of course was a little fish every time she got near the water.

 This lil' one loves all things girly.

 We had a couple of rainstorms that the kiddos just had to play in.  This was an especially good one.

 The kids were lucky enough to go to the zoo with their Auntie and Uncle.  Too bad it was so hot, but they loved it anyways and are so sad to see them move.

Welcome Baby

He's here and he's perfect.  Evan Connor was born on Tuesday, August 21st, was 8 lbs 11 oz and 20.5" long.  We're so happy to have him home and have been enjoying every minute with him.

First Day of School

We had some pretty excited kiddos over the last few days.  Ella started her second year of preschool yesterday and Cameron started his first year of preschool today.  It's crazy how suddenly life can seem so much busier.  Within a week we've managed to add a new baby to the family and two of my munchkins are now in school, which means we have school every morning.

 My baby looks so grown up here.

 This little one was so excited to start school.  He's been talking about it all summer and that was all he kept asking me about yesterday.  Hopefully it's all he's hoping it will be and more.

How'd I Do... July Goals

This is way late, but life has been crazy around here.  July went way too fast, but we managed to get a lot of things done and then we were able to spend a week at the beach relaxing... well as relaxing as vacation can be with three munchkins.  We got home late Saturday night to a very hot home (thank you swamp cooler for breaking and leaking all over the hall while we were on vacation).  Fortunately, Andrew got it fixed Tuesday night, but let me tell you it was a very hot three days with no air for this 8 1/2 month preggers mama.  But now I've got to get all the walls cleaned, the pictures cleaned or replaced (water made its way into some of the frames) and the carpets cleaned (I was secretly happy about this part since I've been wanting them cleaned for a while now).  Anyways, as usual life is busy.  I've got a week and a half to prepare for this baby... unless he wants to be really kind and come earlier, I doubt that though.  So lots of cleaning and freezer cooking in my future.  Good thing I finished the nursery and washing all the baby clothes before I left on vacation.
Okay, enough about that, let's move on to July's goals.

July Goals:

Homemaking -

Swap kids rooms around - Done.  It was a rough transition, but it's slowly getting better.

Decorate big kids room - I love how it turned out.  Maybe I'll have the motivation to clean it and take pictures one of these days.

Paint the nursery - Done.  Unfortunately, the color didn't color match very well so it's not exactly what I was planning on, but I do like the color, so I'll live with it.

Set up the nursery - Done

Finish cleaning and organizing the storage room - Nope and there is no time left for this.

Deliver the donation boxes to the DI - Done

Clean and decorate the laundry room - Fail, Fail, Fail... maybe this will be a good winter project.

Cooking -

Make six freezer meals - Done, although it wasn't technically in July... minor details though.

Sort through and donate cookbooks - Done

Try three new recipes - Done

Mothering -

Patience, patience, patience - Oh my poor, poor children.  Between being prego and this ridiculous heat we've been having, the last thing I've had is patience.

Do at least one art project a week - Yeah right.

Find time to spend alone with each kiddo - I've been working on this.

Creating -

Make art for munchkin room - Done and it's exactly what I wanted.  Thanks honey for your help.

Find some crafts for vacation - Done, but they spent every waking minute at the beach, so we didn't do anything.

Plant potatoes in garden - Um, no... let's just say that sitting in my hot kitchen was not good for them and they had to take a trip to the dump.

Financing -

Figure out budget for July - Done.

Stick to budget for July - Close enough.

Finish buying baby clothes - Little man has what he'll need for now, but I've definitely got to get some 3 month winter clothes for this little guy.

Enriching -

Read a book - Yep.  I read this great book my MIL gave me called "The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency used by the Mormon Pioneers."  I highly recommend it if you're into gardening.  It got me really excited for our garden/yard next summer.

Blog once a week at least - This was obviously a big fat failure.

Start scripture study again - Again, no.

So, now that we're practically half way through August and I'm expecting baby any day now, lets see what I want to do in August.

August Goals:

Homemaking -

Clean the house in preparation for baby

Wash the infant car seat cover... the last thing to do in preparation for little guy

Get the carpets cleaned

Clean out fridge and freezer

Cooking -

Finish the freezer cooking

Mothering -

Snuggle my new baby

Make time to snuggle my other babies

Creating -

Make big sister shirts for the girls

Financing -

Stay in budget

Enriching -

Find a book to pack in hospital bag... maybe another gardening one

Well I think that is enough to cram into a week and a half... wish me luck.  Hopefully I'll get a couple more blog posts up this week.  I've got several things to post, it's really just finding the time and motivation at this point.

How'd I Do... June Goals

My goodness, I can't believe we are halfway through 2012 already.  Crazy.  Time sure does seem to go by so much faster when you have kiddos... to me anyways.  Let's see how June went.

June Goals:

Homemaking -

Finish the kiddos closet - We finally finished this.  

Move Ashlynn into kids room???  Nope, but this month for sure.

Refinish bunk bed - No, I think I decided to keep the wood finish.

Cooking -

Continue meal planning and cooking - Yep.  Definitely a huge improvement from the past couple of months.

Organize recipe box - Sorta, but I'm going to count it as a yes.

Mothering -

Set up chore charts - I started working on this, but I'm not super happy with how it came out, so I want to start over.

Make art project schedule for summer - No, but I've got several fun ideas that we just need to start doing.

Creating -

Plant potatoes in garden - Agh, no...  Obviously this really needs to get done.  I guess we'll have a nice fall crop of potatoes.

Financing -

Plan budget for the month - Yep and I actually managed to stay in budget.

Enriching -

Read a book - I actually did this too.  I'm not really sure why I've had such a hard time reading lately, especially since I love to read, but I just can't find the motivation for it these days.  It must be the pure exhaustion by the time I crawl into bed.

Let's move onto July.  This month is going to be crazy busy with way too much to cram in.  Wish me luck!

July Goals:

Homemaking -

Swap kids rooms around

Decorate big kids room

Paint the nursery

Set up the nursery

Finish cleaning and organizing the storage room

Deliver the donation boxes to the DI

Clean and decorate the laundry room

Cooking -

Make six freezer meals

Sort through and donate cookbooks

Try three new recipes

Mothering -

Patience, patience, patience

Do at least one art project a week

Find time to spend alone with each kiddo

Creating -

Make art for munchkin room

Find some crafts for vacation

Plant potatoes in garden

Financing -

Figure out budget for July

Stick to budget for July

Finish buying baby clothes 

Enriching -

Read a book

Blog once a week at least

Start scripture study again

Moab - Day 2

On day two we decided to do the things we really wanted to do just in case we left early. 

 That morning we got up early and decided to do the hike to Delicate Arch.  Now I am not a hiker, so the thought of a three mile hike, in the hot sun, across a big rock, with three kids and being prego... this did not sound fun to me, but this was the one thing Andrew really wanted to do, so yeah.  

 By the time we made it to the arch, Andrew was the only one still happy... Don't let my smile fool you.

All of the kids cried at least once on the hike.  Fortunately, we all survived and as a bribe to the kids to finish the hike we got chicken nuggets, french fries and frosty's for lunch.

 After lunch we went back into the park.  I figured we could drive around while the kids slept.  Ashlynn was out cold for about an hour, so I stayed in the car with her and the air while Andrew and the other kids hiked around some of the closer arches.

Cameron at Balance Rock.

Ella at Balance Rock.

The kids had fun hiking around with Andrew, but we were all ready to go home.  It was way to hot, Ashlynn was still sick and Andrew and I decided it was just too much work.  So we came home Monday morning and enjoyed a week at home.  Lesson learned.  No more week long camping trips in the heat with the kids for a few years.  We also decided that we like camping in the mountains more than the desert.

Moab - Day 1

This year we decided that we were going to go camping in Moab for our summer trip.  Let me preface this by saying that our family loves camping and we've been many times with the kids and never had a problem.  We've even gone when I've been prego before, so I wasn't really worried about that.  Well, let's just say this trip did not go as planned and rather than having a fun filled week of camping, we lasted two days before packing up and heading home for a wonderful staycation.

It all started while we were making the four hour drive and Ashlynn decided to puke not once, but twice.  Of course she'd been fine all morning, so we assumed it was car sickness, which she's never had before, but we really didn't want to cancel out trip when she was probably fine.  Once we arrived we set up camp, had a really late dinner and crashed for the night (I use this term loosely).

 The next morning after the worst night sleep possible because a little boy was having nightmares all night and eventually decided the best place to sleep was with his feet in my face, we decided to go into Arches National Park.  While getting ready to leave Ashlynn decided to throw up her milk all over Andrew, the tent, our sleeping bags and our air mattress.  Lovely.  Needless to say we were a little terrified to get in the car again at this point with her, but the thought of air conditioning (in awful high 90's weather) won out and we loaded up.  

 Lunch in the parking lot.

 While driving around we found Sand Dune Arch, which the kids loved.  It was a very short walk through a lot of really fine sand.

 Doesn't Ashlynn look so happy.

 After playing in the sun and sand, we decided to go back to camp and swim.  Of course, in my craziness to get everything packed, I forgot Andrew's swim trunks.  Kind of essential since someone has to hop in the pool with the kiddos and since I've gained a few pounds, it wasn't going to be me.  After driving around for a while we finally found some basic swimming trunks that weren't uber fancy, do everything but your laundry and cost you your first born child.  So with that we went back to camp so we could all change and swim.  Of course, since nothing could be easy on this trip, that would mean that we couldn't find Ella's swimsuit in the suitcase.  Knowing that I had put her swimsuit with her clothes to pack, we learned that an over excited little girl decided to play with her swimsuit while I was trying to pack and it hadn't gotten put in the suitcase.  So once again we loaded everyone up and headed back to the store to get a new swimsuit for Ella.  Quite frustrating since she had two brand new swimsuits at home.  Oh well.  

 It's a good thing this girl loves the water.  She was quite happy to be splashing in the pool.

 This little girl on the other hand was not happy to be in the water.

 She sure has some nasty scowls.

 Ella even got really brave and went under the water to blow bubbles.

 Andrew got Cameron to go in the water for a short minute, not even long enough to get a pic, that is how much he hated the water.  He was quite content to just play at the edge of the pool though.

After the pool, we played at the "playground".  I don't really think a small slide and three swings counts as a playground, but it worked.

 Fortunately, they all slept pretty good that night. 

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that this little one decided to get the runs as well as the pukes on day one.