Category: Yearly Goals

July has come and gone; August is upon us.   I turn the calendar page with a sigh… I hate seeing that first day of school written in.   There is still so much I want to do!  I have a list of simple pleasures for us to enjoy during our last days of summer and hope to accomplish them all.


I must admit it took me by surprise to realize this is Report #30.  Thirty is a lot of weeks!  My step count this week:  94.  It feels good to type that.  July’s total was 354.  Highlights:

1.  I finished my Chirp Chirp quilt.  Pictures to come in another post.

2.  The gym was closed this week, offering a full week without morning gymnastics.  We loved the time off!

3. It hit me this week that we have a house full of girls, and that they love beauty as much as I do.  They spent the entire week playing together with their American Girl dolls, designing clothes, doing hair, planning meals, going on outings, and turning the toy room into their own little house.  I ignored as much mess as possible and my husband and I kept the boys at bay so it could last as long as possible.  I am grateful that they have each other, that they can submerge themselves in a world of imagination and practice their own version of homemaking and mothering.  It’s just so wholesome , and I felt better about the future as I observed them.  I walked around the corner and had to smile at this sight.  Like mother like daughters?


4.  I paid someone an unexpected visit this week to thank her for something she does all the time.  To her, it’s probably nothing, but to me it meant a lot.  It was a visit I intended to make for weeks, and I’m so glad I finally did it.  I loved the look of surprise and happiness on her face.  It feels good to be thoughtful.  It feels good to show gratitude.

5.  I took my two year old outside in the dark to look at the moon.  She loves the moon and is usually the first one to spot it.  It was large, low in the sky, yellow in color, and was framed by the silhouettes of trees all around.  It was precious to whisper together in the dark, drinking in the beauty of the moment.  She said, “It’s pretty.  It’s mine!”

6.  I did a better job of  remaining calm inside when I was interacting with one of my children who has been a challenge lately.

7.  I did a better job of prepping dinner earlier in the day, which meant both better meals and happier evenings.  I’m slowly working my way through all of the recipes I haven’t made in a while, to see what everyone still likes.  It will take a while, but it’s fun to do.


8.  Have you ever had a moment when you understood something about yourself that needed changing, and perceived exactly what you needed to do, yet when the situation arose in the middle of life you watched yourself react the same old way all over again, in spite of yourself?  I did that this week.  Sometimes I feel frustrated by the distance between understanding and full implementation,  but all I can do is set more early warning signals and do better next time.

9.  I shed some tears this week for the ache of watching my baby develop at lightning speed.  In spite of all my efforts to hold her and play with her, I still feel like the baby in her is slipping through my fingers.  All of you moms who have lived through this and come out on the other side, I marvel at your hearts.  I don’t know if mine is going to make it.

10.  I’m trying to learn a lesson from my grandpa.  For as long as I can remember, he’s taken time to appreciate the sunset.  He always knows when it will take place, and allows a pause in his evening to watch it.  I want to be like that.  I want to savor the sunset each day.

I leave you with a glimpse of tonight’s sky…






Have a great week!

Jennifer

We just wrapped up a beautiful evening.  The sunset was golden as we stood outside and chatted with neighbors while the children played and enjoyed being alive as dusk turned to dark.  We’re so blessed to live in a beautiful place and to be surrounded by fantastic people.

This week’s report:  80 steps.  It was a hard week but a good week.
Highlights:

1.  This week offered some unexpected opportunities to visit with good friends.  On Wednesday night I got together with three other old friends (from back when our oldest children were babies) and we had a great time talking.  It was good to fit it in before one of them moves to New Mexico.  (We’ll miss you, Janelle! And Andrea, we really missed having you there!)

2.  My oldest son spent the week at Scout Camp.  While he was gone I  tore his room apart, organized and cleaned things, did his laundry, and hung a few pictures on the wall.  It was nice to welcome him home to a clean, comfortable room.  Actually it was just nice to welcome him home.  We really missed him.  He came home bigger, stronger, tan, hair sun-bleached, more confident, happy.  And yes, he came home taller than me.  We measured today.

3.  I spent much of the week caring for a daughter with a fever.  On the worst day, she spiked a fever of 106 degrees.  Yes, you read that right.  Scary.  We’ve had some high fevers around here, but none that high.  Gratefully, we rushed her to the bath and were able to lower it fairly quickly.  She had a tough week but seems to be doing well.

4.  My oldest son loves cookie dough.  Yesterday I made a batch of cookie dough minus the eggs (yogurt instead).  I rolled it into balls and froze them.  As he put one in his mouth, he said, “THIS is why I came home.”  Spoken like a true teenager.   It’s been funny to watch him raid the freezer.  He’s nearly finished them off.


5.  This week we also tore apart the other boys bedroom.  We cleaned, picked up every little Playmobil piece under beds, moved the furniture around, hung a new picture and it looks like a new room.  It was fun to have the children get so excited and help out.

6.  This one is going to be long, but I promise it will make you laugh.  We survived Church.  Some days that is a bigger victory than others.   In sacrament meeting alone we experienced the following:
-baby threw pacifier twice, sending it rolling across the room -baby, who can now walk, wants nothing more than to leave our pew and walk around in the aisle -5 year old asks to wear Mom’s ring, then gives it to the two year old who throws it on the ground, sending it rolling under the bench two rows back.
-5 year old whines, saying “I want to go get it” at least 50 times, but Mom won’t let her go get it because it would be disruptive, so several kids keep climbing down on the floor to check on it, which is just a different version of being disruptive.
-by the end of the meeting the ring has disappeared.  We never found it.  That’s the last time the girls are playing with my jewelry in church!
-4 year old was crying for no reason other than being at church before the meeting even started -2 year old opened the hymnal and started singing to herself.  Borderline activity, but innocent and quiet enough that I just had to remind her to whisper.  Suddenly she climbed off my lap and lay on the floor with the book, and began singing “Tomorrow” from the movie Annie in the middle of someone’s talk.  She wasn’t whispering.
Funny that I thought today would be a great day at church since the children were all rested, had eaten a big meal right before we left, and we’d arrived early.  Oh well.   (I guess we’ll wait and see if the families who sat near us are back next week or not.  Hopefully we didn’t drive them away!)

7.  The real highlight from Church was hearing our 13 year old son speak about his experiences at camp.  He had everyone laughing, but drew some parallels to gospel principles.  He did a good job.  I love that kid.

8.  Combined some recipes to make a new dessert tonight.  We all enjoyed it and had enough to share with the neighbors.  I’ll share the recipe soon.  Here’s a look at it, glistening in the evening sun as we headed next door.  YUM!


9.  Lastly, I experienced a personal disappointment this week that was very discouraging, but I think I’ve made it out on top.  Kind of like the song by Blue October, “Jump Rope”.  UP, down, UP, down… life’s like a jump rope!

It’s hard to believe that this is the last week of July.  Let’s make it count!  Good luck!

Jennifer

We are in the height of summer, the time of year when I most often remind my children of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “Bed in Summer.”  Do you remember it?

In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people’s feet Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like to so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?

-Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child’s Garden of Verses And so, now that darkness has settled over the landscape and quiet has (at last!) settled over the house, I sit to type my weekly report.  This week I recorded 70 steps, and a few of them were big.  I’m very pleased.

Highlights:

1.  Kids Council.  This is something I made up early in the summer, and I’m getting better at using it.  Basically, it’s like a family council but because it’s done during the day while my husband is at work and I’m at home with the children, I’ve called it a Kids Council.  I’ll share more about it soon, but we had an awesome one this week.

2.  I responded really well when my four year old son decided to throw his brother’s glass jar (given to him by his Great-Grandpa, filled with sea shells and sand from the beach) at the wall.  His only explanation was this, “I thought it would just bounce off.”  Well, it did that, but in hundreds of pieces, landing all over his bed.   Gratefully we got it all cleaned up safely and I was incredibly calm and pleasant.  (Something to ponder:  why is it that I’m perfectly calm and understanding about shards of glass all over someone’s bed, but can be trusted to get all bent out of shape over stupid little things like lost shoes or jam on the floor?  I think something’s wrong here.)

3.  I’ve been working a bit each day in the basement, organizing and going through boxes.  This week I reached my goal of  having everything sorted and moved into the storage room (except all the filing cabinets, which is another project).  When I was going through boxes from my childhood, I found one at the bottom of the stack that held the red, white and blue dinner napkins I’ve collected through the years.  It’s nice to have them back in use.


4.  We got our oldest son packed and ready to leave for a week at Scout camp.

5.  I had a learning experience that, gratefully, I had the sense to record in my journal.

6.  Spent some time reading through my childhood journal (another benefit of sorting through boxes).

7.  Had really great conversations with two of my brothers.  Love those guys!

8.  I was reminded that my oldest daughter is growing up to be a very thoughtful, sweet, creative young lady.  You know she loves you when she makes you heart shaped ice cubes for your birthday.


9.  Spent a couple of hours with my oldest son, and for once I had the sense to just listen.  Naturally, I learned a lot.  Man, I’ve got a lot of growing up to do still, especially as a mother!

10.  My birthday gift to myself was to bathe my baby, cover her with my favorite baby lotion, and smell her, tickle her, play with her, hold her all day long.  It made my day.


The coming week promises to be that only-happens-in-the-summer kind of slow but busy, fast but relaxing kind of week.  Is it just me, or is summer flying by WAY too quickly?  I hope you make the most of your week;  I intend to do the same!

Hopeful Homemaker