The easy way

For some reason everyone is quiet (enough) right now.  Daddy is sleeping (no Packers' game!), Moses is Lego-ing, Colleen and Curly Sue are playing house or something and Dewey is fitfully sleeping too.  I really want to write some awesome post about everyone and updates but I realized there isn't much to say!  Maybe I should just talk about me?  I don't do much of that...do I?  Wait - don't answer that.  I don't really care anyway.  I am enjoying this time...
Lately I have been taking some action steps to see progress on my goals.  For starters, this past week I went to bed on time 4 out of the 7 evenings.  I enjoyed waking up early, I read 3 chapters in my Sally Clarkson book, and I think I drank enough water.  I signed up for a class (I think it's a DVD class).  That should be interesting!  Just when we took the desk downstairs...I have carved out a little 'mama cave' for reading and doing school work.  I am working on getting the kids to set their clothes out the night before. Scratch that - I am working on ME helping to set their clothes out.  They ask me some nights but I don't want to take the 3 minutes to do it when I tuck them in.  Baby steps...we teach other discipline around here...I have a sewing itch that needs to be scratched.  I bought supplies for a small project and hopefully I can get that accomplished this week.  We were blessed w/bunk beds for the girls!  That was a 2 day project...not setting them up, but re-organizing their room.  I think it's better though - it helped me to finally sort out random things that needed homes or needed to get out of our home!  I cleaned the whole upstairs hallway the other day.  (You're probably wondering how a hallway can be messy...or not, if you've met my cluttery self!)  I felt pretty accomplished.  I found some pictures that made me smile and many that I plan to hang near my study corner/mama cave.  I may be 'performing' in a drama for our upcoming women's gathering at church.  Right now it seems like it's kind of unorganized and if it doesn't get off the ground soon, I am going to have to say no.  I don't feel confident 'winging it' or cramming when I have 4 kids in the house!  Well, as interesting as this update is (like paint drying!), I will end it soon...I just had to write something.  These are the moments I get very few of these days - no complaints - but it reminded me of when Moses was a baby and I would type away while he slept.  Now he is creeping up to be as tall as my chin and I take what I can get.  Thank you Lord for blessing me w/this time, thank you for allowing me to watch these children grow.  Thank you for the chance to serve my family yet take care of myself too.  It's been a journey to find the balance and since I am rooted in You Lord, I know I can always come back and re-evaluate that.  AMEN

...and beyond...

Many of you may remember that I wrote some goals for 2011.  I have done the same for 2012, only I admit they look similar to those of last year!  I didn't entirely complete some, while I can improve on others.  At any rate - here are my 2012 goals.  Once again I am focusing on my own health and wellness, choosing to organize my goals into 3+ categories.  Some goals may apply to more than one category, but I attempted to sort them out accordingly.  Also, please know that I am being real here and I am asking for support and not judgement.  Thanks =)

PERSONAL (bear with me, it seems there are a lot!)

-make time to do more scrapbooking/sewing/completing Pinterest pins (I had this on my list last year.  Epic failure!  Prepare for round 2...DING)

-watch less TV during the week/overall (should help w/the first one - we have DVR now so I should be able to record some things to watch on the weekends)

-go to a women's conference/retreat, something of that sort...

-join some sort of a small group, which will hopefully help me maintain and cultivate old/new relationships

-call the Integenerational Center nearby (I have always had this dream of opening one and what do you know?!  There is one less than a half hour a way!  Why re-invent the wheel?  I should investigate volunteering there)

-READ (I have a weak looking book list, but I hope I can read at least one book a month)

-take a grad class to renew my teaching license, but also investigate possible future Spanish classes/maybe even a Master's!

SPIRITUAL (I am excited for these!)

-I will be Maximizing My Mornings, starting tomorrow!

-keep up w/my Bible reading and journaling

-memorize scripture w/my family (there are some good ones here, including in the comments, but we will also use the verses from Sunday school at our church)

-go on a small/big missions trip (again, I really didn't even come close on this one last year - hopefully we can take steps to get closer to this goal this year)

-small group - see above

-women's conference/retreat - see above

PHYSICAL (same as last year, w/a few minor tweaks!)

-get 8 hrs of sleep a night (No seriously.  8.)

-exercise 30 minutes 3 times a week  (I'm not sure this will happen right away, but it's a goal - I will be taking baby steps to get there - it's harder than last year since we have more kids, but do-able)

-thin the thighs (Judgement free zone here people - I don't care if I lose weight, just if I can get these thunder thighs under control!)

-complete a 5K in under 30 minutes (I almost got there last year!)

-complete more than one 5K (Yes!)

-drink more water (Like last year, if I can do more than 3 glasses a day, I am doing good - I just need to be more consistent)

FAMILY/HOUSEHOLD GOALS (new this year...)

-eat more real food (I can help by cooking more breakfasts and being ready so we don't do fast food out of desperation)

-reduce packaging (this has been on my mind lately...even if I do a little, it's better than nothing)

-out West trip (some extended family have moved out to WA and we would love to go back to CA)

-researching/prepping moving out of town (don't freak out - there's is a minute fraction of a chance we will actually pull this off in 2012 which is why I said researching/prepping, but it's been on our minds for the near future, so we have to be honest that it is one of our goals)

-adoption (there!  I said it!  Again, don't freak out, we have no news but this is always a family goal)

There's probably more of these, but I didn't really focus too much on these.  I can help us reach these goals, but it will be a team effort and will take a little more planning.  

Like last year, I hope to post goal updates but I doubt it will be every month.  Being that there are 2 more children in our house than last year at this time, life gets pretty busy!  But I am confident that in writing this post and reflecting on my goals, I will be able to stay on track and take better care of myself.

Things I did well in 2011...

I have a post in my mind, all ready to go, about my 2012 goals.  They look pretty similar to the 2011 goals but first I wanted to comment on what I did well in 2011.  If you forgot, I attempted to do monthly updates on my goals (I accomplished that goal 5 out of 12 times).  This was the original post.  I made 3 categories - physical, personal, and spiritual.  I was really good at drinking more water, running, doing the 5K (not so much once it was over, though) and sort of good at getting 8 hours of sleep.  The physical stuff kind of fell off the track after fall hit...for various reasons!  Dave and I have been super awesome about date night, many thanks to 2 reliable and willing babysitters =)  I was mediocre at my Bible reading, but for me, mediocre was a massive improvement!!  Some things that were not listed on my goals post, but I was good at anyway, were things like making lunches and washing laundry on time.  I was also a rock star when it came to finding things that we needed at thrift/consignment shops, thus avoiding box stores and buying new.  I was really good at changing our eating habits and continuing on our 'green' journey.  I was good about helping to keep the chickens alive!  Didn't think I'd be saying that....I was GREAT at hanging wash!  HA!  You already knew that, didn't you...well, there is lots of room for improvement.  But I think writing out my goals last year really helped me.  I can't wait to share my revised/new goals in the next post!