Month: June 2017

You guys.  I have fallen down the planner rabbit hole.  It started off innocently enough.  I was having a hard time keeping track of all of our appointments and the calendar on my phone wasn’t really working for me.  So on a whim I thought I’d check out the Erin Condren planners.  Um, wow.  I <3 them all!  So after thinking about it for about 2 seconds, I decided that I had to have one.  Especially because the timing was perfect since she had just released her new ones which started today.  🙂  No lie, they’re pricey, but the quality seems very high.  While I was going crazy waiting I started watching youtube planner videos.  If you haven’t seen them, these people use tons of stickers to basically cover every blank space in the planner using kits from Etsy.  My response went something like this:

1.  These people are crazy!  Who has that much time to spend on a planner every week.  Not to mention it must be so expensive!  Plus there’s almost no space to write down your actual appointments.
2. Well, they are awfully cute and I do have a lot of washi tape.  Maybe I’ll just add in a bit of tape across the bottom.  But no need for stickers.
3. Maybe I could use some of my stamps instead of stickers?
4. Must buy all the stickers!  And follow all of these people on instagram!

So…  My stickers should be arriving soon.  lol.  I’m not going to be buying a kit every week (unless some etsy shop wants to sponsor me!  lol.)  but I am going to be adding in a few stickers here and there for fun.  Mainly to help me track my water intake as that’s one of my big goals for July.

You get to pick your cover from a bunch of gorgeous options and then you can personalize it with your name.  I added a picture to the back of mine too!  Maybe next time I’ll remember to take a pic of it so you guys can see.

I was having a little bit of hard time getting a pic as Mia was very interested in it.  lol.

I’ve decided to use the top box for appointments, the middle box for day time stuff that’s not an appointment, and the bottom box for important dates and/or stuff that happens after Michael is home from work.  I’m toying with the idea of making the top box stuff during the school day, the middle box after school stuff, and the bottom box important dates/ post bedtime stuff, but that won’t happen until after school starts back up.  I’m also toying with the idea of making the bottom box a daily to do list.  I’ll jut have to see what makes more sense as I’m using it.

Bottom line, the planner is super fun!  I’m glad I finally bit the bullet and ordered it.  🙂

 

We went to see the cardiologist yesterday for Mia’s annual check up and everything looks great!  She has a bicuspid aortic valve, but we’ve known about that for a long time.  The important thing is that her heart is functioning 100% normally!  Yay!

We also visited the neurosurgeon this week and received more excellent news!  Mia’s brain MRI showed that her ventricles are stable and have been stable since birth.  What does that mean?  Still no need for a shunt!  We were hoping to be dismissed from neurosurgery (not that I don’t love them, but I’d just as soon not have to see them again.  lol.) but it looks like they want us to come back for one more check up in 2 years.  I can handle that.  My iPhone calendar, not so much.  lol.

In other exciting Mia updates, she is starting to take forward steps if she has something to hold on to!  Her favorite handhold being Daddy’s fingers, but she makes do with mine and Kate’s.  In a pinch, she’ll even use a push toy.  🙂  We’re hopeful that she’ll be taking her first steps by the end of the summer!

Um, longest title ever?  Sorry about that.  So, first up, how did week 1 go???  Did anyone play along?  It went amazingly well here.  Kate loves the workbook and it’s been great at giving her something to do when she’s bored/ we’re in the car.  She had a harder time than expected with the word scramble, but an easier time than expected with the math so it all worked out.

For our food, we’re grilling hamburgers and s’mores tonight as long as the weather cooperates.  We’ve also been eating lots of grapes because Dionysus.  For our craft, I got some lanyard lacing stuff and that’s been a big hit.  It’s challenging for her, but she’s still having fun and is able to work on it independently.  I’m hoping she plays with it all summer.

For our field trip, we went to the Zilker Nature and Science Center and completed one of the Texas Nature Challenges.  You guys!  These are so fun.  And loads of them are free!  I highly recommend them if you live in Texas.  This particular one was a scavenger hunt which was nice since it gave some structure to our visit.  When Kate completed it, she turned it in to the front desk and got to pick a little prize.

Next time we come out, I’ll try to bring my real camera and take some decent pics.  Still, if you’re in the area I highly recommend this place.

They have a giant sand pit with “dinosaur bones.”  Mia thought that the sand was delicious.  They also have a few rescue animals that you can check out and a cool little stream you can explore if one of your children isn’t an insane wild child.  ::cough cough::   Xander  ::cough cough::

And we found that the scenic overlook is the perfect place for a picnic!  Super easy to keep them contained, plus shade.

Wow.  These pics are really terrible.  lol.  I need to up my game for sure.  I kind of can’t believe that I’m posting them.

Next week is Vacation Bible School so I was planning to skip Camp Half-Blood.  However, Kate decided she wanted to do a Make Your Own badge for Girl Scouts on Greek Mythology.  The requirements she came up with are basically to create a week of camp for us.  🙂  She’s going to research a god (I think she’s decided on Zeus.)  Plan our cooking lesson.  (She wants to do whipped cream since it looks like clouds.  I might have us make some merengue cookies as well.)  Plan our field trip and plan our craft.  (She’s still working on the field trip, but I think she’s leaning towards some kind of art project with cotton balls.)  And then make a little presentation about the god she’s chosen.  I’m bummed that the Make Your Own badge program is ending!  She’s had a lot of fun coming up with the requirements for the 2 she’s doing.  (The other one she’s doing is about sailing since she’s going to sailing camp this summer.)

Are you attending Camp Half-Blood too?  I’d love to hear about what everyone else is doing.  🙂

I got so much scrapping done this month!  I guess that’s what happens when you get a whooooooole lot of happy mail!

Seriously though, I finished January 2016, February 2016, March 2016, June 2016, and July 2016.  Also made progress on April, May, and August.  Whoo Hoo!  I need to keep this momentum going.  I hate being more than a year behind, but I think it’s possible I can close that gap this month.  Fingers crossed!

That said, lets see how I did on all of my other May goals…

1.  Camp Half Blood Shirts.  Nada.  I’m having fits trying to digitally trace the pegasus I want to use.
2.  Sell Stroller.  I actually had a bite on this one, but it fell through.
3. Camp Half Blood plans.  I’ve got weeks 1 and 2 totally done, and I’m almost done with week 3.  🙂
4. Pro Pics,  These turned out amazing!!!  I love them soooooo much.  🙂
5. Finish January 2016.  Done!
6. Finish February 2016.  Done!
7. Project Life.  Well, I got October done so at least I’m not getting more behind.
8. Plan Girl Scout camp fire day.  This went well and the girls had a great time.  🙂
9. Cut out name vinyl.  Ugh.  I still need to do this.
10. Get 10k steps a day.  I did 21 days out of 31 which is nothing to sneeze at considering how much of a sloth I am.  I’m for sure keeping this goal.

June Goals?

1.  Scrap April 2016.  I only have 4 more layouts to go and the pics are already printed!
2. Scrap May 2016.  I’m not sure offhand how many layouts I need to do, but it’s less than 10.  And the pics are already printed and ready to go.  🙂
3. Project Life.  I’m focusing on traditional scrapping this month, but I don’t want to get more behind with Project Life.  I’d like to get 4 layouts done, either November or something more current.  I need to ponder this.
4. Camp Half-Blood.  I need to finish week 3 and create weeks 4-7.  It’s going really well so far though!  I’m going to try to post an update about how our first week went tomorrow.
5. Camp Half-Blood shirts.  Need to ask RaptorDad for help with the digital trace.  Or just have him draw me a pegasus.
6. Name Vinyl.  Need to figure out how to cut vinyl without the mat and just do it.
7. Order pics.  I need to figure out which of our pro pics I want to order prints of (all of them!!!).
8. School Scrapbook.  I need to catch up on Kate’s school scrapbook.  (Mainly I just need to order the 8×8 prints since I can’t print that size at home.)
9. DAD pics.  I do these every year.  They’re super cheesy and I love them.
10. 10k steps a day.

And because I feel like this post needs another pic…

I have a habit of taking pics of the babies at the grocery store.  I think it’s because they’re contained.  lol.  At any rate, RaptorDad suggested that I take one in the same spot every week this summer.  Love that idea.  Here’s week 1.