Category: goals

Oh my gosh, it is so cold here. We’re on our second ice day! Unlike 2021, we currently have power ::knock on wood:: so we’re actually really enjoying it. I even let Kate and Xander go outside and play in it! Mia looked at us like we were insane for leaving the warm house. Kind of think she might have the right idea. 😉

But we had fun. 🙂 I switched my lens out for my macro one- so fun!

I’m actually pretty proud of this shot! And now, back to the goals.

January

1. 10k steps a day. Well, I’m averaging 8,463 steps a day which is a step up from the 6,238 I averaged for 2022. I tried to find how many days I actually got over 10K steps, but my phone and I are currently in a stand off. lol.
2. Old Project Life. Done! I got 4 weeks of 2021 done. 🙂
3. New Project Life. Done! I got the first 4 weeks of 2023 done and I am thrilled!
4. Old Scrapbook. I didn’t get August of 2019 done, but I did get February 2021 done so that’s something.
5. New Scrapbook. Done! I am all caught up and January 2023 is finished! Yay!
6. Ice Cream Soda. This quilt is in time out.
7. Africa. Still trying to get our flights booked, but we’re working on it.
8. Doll House. I didn’t get a bookshelf made, but I did make a fish tank and that’s pretty awesome.
9. Girl Scout Cookies. Well, we’re not done yet, but we are getting closer and so far it’s been ok.
10. Valentine’s Day. Behind as per usual, but I did start a new tradition last night that I’m pretty excited about. I cut out hearts and I’m writing down one thing I love about each of them every night between now and Valentine’s Day and taping them to their doors. So cute!

So February Goals.

1. 2023 Project Life. I’d like to get caught up and do February in real time. That’s 4 weeks.
2. Old Project Life. Fingers crossed I can keep the momentum going. I’d like to get 4 weeks done in one of the old Project Life albums.
3. 2023 Scrapbook. Keep current! January went really well and I’m hoping I can get some systems in place to keep this up.
4. Old Scrapbook. I’s like to get 1 old month done. My current (delusional) plan is to keep current while knocking out 1 old month each month so I can (very slowly) catch up.
5. Heart Quilt. I didn’t really get any quilting done last month. This month, I’d like to piece the backing for my heart quilt.
6. Girl Scout Cookies. ::sob::
7. Beach Trip. I’d really love to make a day trip down to the beach. I love the beach so much and it’s a huge recharge for me. Bonus is that in the winter, it’s so cold that my kids don’t want to go out in the water!
8. Spring Break. Make a spring break plan! We’re going to do it as a staycation so I want to make a plan. Initially I was thinking “all the Austin things!” but then I remembered that spring break in also SXSW. Hmm… Will need to ponder this further.
9. Wood Signs. I’ve decided to make some wooden signs to sell on Etsy. Um, I need to figure all of this out.
10. Hexies. My poor neglected hexies. I want to pull these back out and get to quilting!

It’s January 1st! You know what that means, right? It’s the few weeks of the year when I’m motivated to tackle things! So let’s see… Shall we look at the 2022 goals?

1. Monthly Adventures. We didn’t manage to go on an explicit monthly adventure day where RaptorDad took the day off of work EVERY month, but we did manage quite a few! Highlights being the Ice Cream Museum for my birthday and Barton Springs to celebrate back to school. I’m going to give us credit for this anyway because we also tried a ton of new local restaurants for lunch dates!
2. House Reorganization. Well, we didn’t end up getting the new wood floors because we found out that peanut needed hearing aids! But we were super thankful that we had the wood floor money set aside and we could get her the hearing aids when she needed them. Plus they’re pink and blue and *adorable* and her speech has exploded since getting them! Plus, I’m giving us credit for this anyway, because we managed the room swap/ playhouse tear down and it’s been amazing. My new art room is *chef’s kiss.*
3. Road Trip. This got put on hold, but we are tentatively planning to take a 1 month road trip all the way up to Maine this summer. As soon as we find out about RaptorDad’s bonus and our tax return we will finalize plans for this summer or keep planning for summer 2024. 🙂
4. Past Project Life. Um, well, about that. lol. I did finish 2020 so that’s something. And I went from 27 missing layouts in 2021 to 23. Some forward progress at least.
5. Current Project Life. I failed pretty spectacularly at this. I’m missing 39 layouts from 2022.
6. Past Scrapbooks. Well, I didn’t do so hot with this goal either. That said, I went from 10 missing months in 2019 to 5. And I got 1 more month of 2020 and 2 more months of 2021 done. But still. Momma needs to pick up the pace in a big way.
7. Current Scrapbook. I got 4 months done. Leaving 8. So I guess on the upside I did get a total of 12 months of layouts done and I’m not *further* behind? Except that now I’ve added a whole year to the mix… Maybe I should stop typing while I’m ahead.
8. Bucilla Advent Calendar. I didn’t manage to completely finish this, but I got it done *enough* that we were able to use it this year.
9. Smitten Quilt. I actually finished the top! I want to hand quilt it so it’s going to have to wait until I’m done with the hexagons.
10. Butterfly/ Caterpillar Quilts. This still aren’t labeled, but I’m counting them as done anyway. They’re hanging in the twin’s bedroom and they love them. 🙂 I even entered the caterpillars in the Austin Quilt Show!

And the December Goals?

1. Sub 15 days. No lie, I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I did!!!
2. Buy all the things. Done.
3. Africa Trip. We got travel insurance! And RaptorDad got me hiking boots for Christmas! We haven’t booked our flights yet just because we’re waiting for the tour people to get back to us to see if they can get better rates than us.
4. Evaluate Goals. hahahahahaha.
5. Sports. Ugh. I dropped the ball on this and we missed the registration deadlines. ::sigh::
6. Teacher Gifts. Target gift cards to the rescue!
7. December Montessori Trays. Done! I pulled out our Santa stuff much to her delight.
8. Advent Calendar. Done enough.
9. Advent Activities. I didn’t do great on this one this year, but I’m trying to give myself some grace and remember that we can do fun things next year too.
10. Hexagons. I made some good progress on this!

So new annual goals? Hmm… I’m honestly not sure for this year.

1. Old Project Life. ::sigh:: Maybe I can focus on 2021? I talked more about this in my scrappy update post, but I am missing 23 layouts in 2021 and 39 in 2022. I once again considered throwing in the towel on this project, but the thought of that made me so sad that I just ordered an album and page protectors for 2023. lol. Maybe instead of an annual goal, I’ll just keep a running total this year and try to be less behind that I currently am by the end of the year.
2. Current Project Life. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’d love to do these in real time.
3. Old Scrapbooks. Um, I’m not even sure where to start. What’s an actual realistic goal… Maybe to finish 12 months of old scrapbooks before the end of the year? That won’t get me anywhere near caught up, but it would be a good start.
4. Current Scrapbooks. Do them in real time!!! Also, only do 1 or 2 layouts a month. More realistically, 5 or 6?
5. Lose 30 pounds. Not sure how feasible this one is. I didn’t manage to lose any more weight this year, in fact I regained about 7 pounds. BUT, I’m still down 45 pounds and keeping that off feels like a major accomplishment! I’d really like to get in better shape before Africa and to shrink my butt a bit before I sit in an airplane that long. lol.
6. Africa. Speaking of Africa, I need to get ready!
7. Hexagons. I want to finish this beast!
8. Try New Things! I am leaving this goal deliberately vague to promote creativity. lol. But I want to push myself to try something completely new once a month. That can be a new craft technique, a new restaurant, a crazy recipe- I just want to push myself to say YES more this year.
9. Crafty Nights. RaptorDad and I are thinking of making a YouTube channel! More because RaptorDad wants to play with videography than a desire for a bunch of followers. hahahahaha. I thought about making a goal of 12 videos in the year, but then I decided to reevaluate given that we don’t actually care if the videos ever get posted. I’m making a goal that we have (at least) 1 video worthy craft night a month. We’re wanting to make a doll house so we have lots of inspiration!
10. Felt. Always felt. lol. I *really* need to finish the advent calendar. And then make 3 new stockings. And no, we’re not having triplets! Or any babies! But I want to make our puppy a new stocking. And I want to make myself a grown up stocking and I found the *cutest* kit! And then RaptorDad needed a new grown up one too! Will I finish this? Outlook not good. lol. But we’ll see.

Which brings us to January goals! And since this is the world’s longest (picture-less!) blog post, I’ll keep them brief.

1. 10k steps a day. I am embarrassingly out of shape so baby steps? 10 thousand of them? A day? hahahahahaha
2. Old Project Life. 4 layouts.
3. New Project Life. 4 layouts.
4. Old Scrapbook. August 2019. If by some miracle I finish that, January 2020.
5. New Scrapbook. January 2023.
6. Ice Cream Soda. Finish round 6. Prep round 7.
7. Africa. Book flights and research travel vaccines.
8. Doll House. Make some books for the bookshelf!
9. Girl Scout Cookies. ::sob:: I’m the cookie mom for Peanut’s troop again this year. Survive.
10. Valentine’s Day. Remember, for once, that Valentine’s Day does not come at the end of the month like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas would have you believe. Give some thought to some fun kid activities!

Oh my gosh. Y’all, I started scrapbooking in 1997. 1997!!! For the last several years, I’ve contemplated giving up, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I’m not a quitter y’all! So I sat down this afternoon to see just how dire the situation is. Um, it’s pretty dire. Let’s start with Project Life since it’s not AS dire.

I started Project Life in 2011, and if we overlook the fact that I never made a book for 2014, I’m caught up through the end of 2020. I need to do 23 more weekly layouts for 2021 and 39 weekly layouts for 2022. Then obviously 52 for 2023. lol.

The scrapbooks… Ugh. I don’t have a layout list, but I need to finish August, September, October, November, and December. Of 2019. TWENTY-NINETEEN! ::shame:: For 2020, I still need to do January, September, October, November, and December. Also, I need to make monthly dividers since I’ve decided that the monthly calendar layouts suck. (September only needed the calendar so it will be done as soon as I figure out the dividers.) For 2021, I need to do February, March, April, May, June, July, September, November, and December. And for 2022, I need to do March, April, May, June, September, October, November, and December.

Oh my. To sum up, I need to do 62 Project Life layouts and 26 months worth of scrapbook layouts. Then the stuff for 2023. I’m not sure how I plan to tackle this yet, but stay tuned!

How on earth is it December?!? And December 3rd, no less! I swear, this semester has been flying by. But, we had a very successful Thanksgiving, my mom and I officially booked our trip to Africa (even paid the deposit!), and I got the initial Girl Scout cookie order sorted out for Mia’s troop. Yay! Let’s see how November went goals wise.

1. Clean all the things. Done! Or at least as done as it was going to get. lol. RaptorDad even organized the pantry!
2. Survive Photo Sessions. Done! I had to reschedule a bunch of them due to weather, but I got all 7 sessions edited and out to the clients. Yay! I’m actually pretty happy with how the images turned out. 🙂
3. Advent Calendar. Ugh. I didn’t work on this at all. :/ But I hung it up anyway and we’re really going to enjoy the 1st 6 days. lol.
4. Thanksgiving Menu Planning. Thanksgiving went so well! Largely because RaptorDad was in charge of most of the food prep. lol.
5. RE Homework. So close. We have 5 of the 6 chapters done.
6. Scrap 5 pages. Nada.
7. 2 Project Life Layouts. Also nada.
8. Finish color wheel top. I got all of the leaves appliqued, but I still need to trim them down and attach them to the center. The progress is looking great though!
9. Ice Cream Soda. I was meant to get this back up the design wall and I didn’t. Oh well.
10. Book Africa Trip. Done!!! Now we just need to get trip insurance and book the flights. 🙂

I decided not to try to do December Daily. It’s just too much. I was worried I would really regret not having done it last year, but honestly all I felt was relief. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some goals.

1. Sub 15 days. Not all in December. lol. The school that I sub at announced an incentive if we manage to sub 15 days in a single quarter. Currently with the jobs I’ve taken and those that I have scheduled, I’ll have 13 days. Surely I can shoehorn in another 2 days? Maybe?
2. Buy all the things. Ugh. I need to order aaaaaaalllllllllllllll of the Christmas gifts.
3. Africa Trip. We need to get trip insurance, book flights, and research the vaccines we’ll need.
4. Evaluate 2022 goals and write 2023 goals.
5. Sports? We’re not a sporty family, but I want to look at putting Xander in soccer, Mia in dance or gymnastics, and Kate in volleyball. Is this insane and way too many activities given the fact that we already feel massively over-scheduled with our current activities? Yes.
6. Teacher Gifts. Oh boy. I need to figure out something for this.
7. December Montessori Trays. I’m trying to do more academics with Mia.
8. Advent Calendar. ::sigh:: I’d like to get as much of this done as I can. I think I’m going to cut out the backings of each ornament and then they can pull out the “shadows” for the days that I haven’t finished?
9. Advent Activities. Yikes. Have I mentioned that I wasn’t ready for December?
10. Hexagons. I’ve been working on quilting the hexagons in the evenings. Honestly, I’m over it, but I also want to finish!

Notice that there are zero scrappy or Project Life goals? Yeah. I’m debating making some changes going forward. Like, I’m considering being done with scrapbooking. IDK. I’m in a bit of a creative slump. The December to do list is heavy on grown-up tasks and light on creative ones, but that’s ok. I generally get a burst of mental energy in January. Maybe it will come early and I’ll end the month being super productive. lol. And maybe pigs will fly.

It’s September y’all! We’re getting back into the school year groove and loving it. 🙂 So about August…

1. Scrap June and July 2022. Didn’t manage to get June, but I did finish July and August of 2022!
2. Print Pics. Nope.
3. Interview Books. Yes! 🙂
4. First Day of School Pics. Yes! 🙂
5. Advent Calendar. Well, I finally pulled it back out. 🙂 I didn’t finish the trim, but I did work on it. AND I got 2 toys done.
6. Hexagons. I actually made some pretty good progress quilting this. But now the back is wrinkled again and I need to rebaste it. Again. lol.
7. Caterpillars. Nope.
8. Bee Yourself. I finally threw in the towel and took it down which was exactly what I needed to do. I’m now making great progress on my heart applique quilt!
9. Ice Cream Soda. I got 2 blocks done I think. 🙂
10. Snacks. I didn’t do anything themey, but I did manage to bring snacks! So, partial credit? lol.

Shall we set some September goals?

1. Popcorn. Oh boy. It’s popcorn time again. lol. Here’s hoping Xander and I manage to sell all of this popcorn and stay sane in the process. lol.
2. Heart Quilt. I’d love to finish this top.
3. Passport Stuff. Oh my gosh, I have got to get this taken care of.
4. September 2022 Project Life in real time.
5. Buddy Walk. I need to get our team stuff done for the Buddy Walk.
6. Advent Calendar. Um, sounding a bit like a broken record here, but I need to finish the trim. lol. Maybe finish the trim and get 5 more toys done?
7. Old Scrapping. Um, August and September 2019?
8. New Scrapping. March and September 2022.
9. Caterpillar Quilt. I have to get the sleeve on this.
10. Smitten. Make the backing for smitten?

Kind of a brief post today, but maybe I’ll try to do some update posts this month. 🙂

I’m a few days late, but that’s because we’ve been having too much fun this week! It was our first week of summer and we managed to swim 4 out of 7 days. I’m so happy! We’ve really missed being able to swim regularly since COVID/ friends moving away really curtailed our access to pools the last 2 years. I am so freaking happy that we bought our pool pass! I’m determined that Xander will learn to swim this year and he’s already made massive progress. 🙂 I’m hoping to work on it with Mia too and she’s also made some amazing progress! Kate’s part fish and it’s been so great to see her having fun sans iPhone. lol.

How did I do in June?

1. Smitten Quilt. Oh my gosh, I am so stinking close to finishing this quilt top. lol. I have all of the blocks done; I just need to buckle down and spend a few days to finish it. I always have a hard time with this step because it’s no longer portable.
2. Teacher Gifts. We went with cookie delivery for the Special Education Department and a Sephora gift card for their *amazing* 1st grade teacher. I am so sad that they won’t have her again next year!
3. Scrap. Well, I only got 2 current layouts done, but I did finish June of 2019 and that let me finish an entire album! Next up: July 2019. lol.
4. Finalize Summer Master Schedule. Done! I printed off a blank calendar and just wrote everything down and hung it on the wall in my office. I’m just old school. lol.
5. Advent Calendar. Whoops. I didn’t do a darn thing this month.
6. Passport. Ugh. I never got around to doing this either.
7. Pool Pass. Done! And like I said earlier, it’s been amazing. 🙂
8. Prep Round 6 and 7 of Ice Cream Soda. Well, I put this up on the design wall, made a few decisions, stitched a bit together, and then decided that what I really wanted to work on was my Bee Yourself Quilt. I had been stuck on that for a long time while I tried to figure out some design issues, but I made several huge breakthroughs!
9. Prep Japan Week. Well, we’re as prepped as we’re going to get. lol. But we’ve had a lot of fun this first week and I’m excited for more to come!
10. Prep Week 2. Didn’t get much of anything done for this, but I did decide that week 2 will be Columbia (thanks Encanto!)

So June Goals…

1. Bee Yourself. I’d love to finish all of the flags (only 3 to go!), finish the song lyrics block, and design 1 more block. It was so exciting to pull this quilt out again and I’m having a blast working on it. 🙂
2. Smitten Quilt. Ugh. I don’t actually feel like working on this, but I’m so close to being done that I’d like to push through and get the top done.
3. Scrap. Hmm… July 2019?
4. Advent Calendar. I think trying to finish the gold trim would be good.
5. Passport. OMG. Just get the photos taken already.
6. Huge purge of art room. Um, we’re not getting new floors in the little bedrooms right now because we ended up using the money we had earmarked for that to buy Mia’s hearing aids, but we decided to go ahead and switch rooms anyway because finally ordered new beds for the babies and we don’t want to have to assemble the beds, take them apart to switch rooms, and reassemble them later. I am panicking at the amount of work this will be, but I am so freaking excited to have a clean, organized, room!
7. Huge purge of toys/ clothes. Speaking of purging, I need to clear out the twin’s room as well. That’s right, it’s time to toss the old baby clothes and toys. ::sob::
8. Current Scrap. Maybe a goal of 10 current pages? IDK.
9. Semi- Current Scrap? Um, March 2022?
10. Project Life. Zero chance I work on this, but it would be awesome to churn out some layouts. Maybe 4?

This is a rather ambitious list and there’s no chance that I finish it, but if I can get even half of it done that will be awesome. That and loads of swimming!

It’s my favorite day of the month: goal setting day! First let’s see how we did in March.

1. Staff Development. Y’all. This has been on my list for so long, but I finally finished! And actually got all the paperwork done! My certificate is good for another 5 years! Yay!
2. Butterfly and Caterpillar Quilt. ::sigh:: I finished the binding on Xander’s, but I need to finish the binding on Mia’s. And do the labels. I have 8 days so no big deal. ::eye popping emoji::
3. Smitten Quilt. I didn’t make much progress on this. I didn’t get a single additional block prepped and I only finished 1 block. I’m losing motivation, but I really don’t want to take it all off the wall and pack it away since I’m so close. I have my quilt retreat at the end of the month so maybe I’ll make a decision by then.
4. Scrapbooking. I actually made some progress on this one! I got May 2019, February 2020, February 2022, and all I lack for February 2021 is the calendar. Whoo hoo!
5. Project Life. I actually got 3 layouts done and finished up January 2022. I still need to do February 2022.
6. Backyard Clean Up. Done! <3
7. St. Patrick’s Day. Bit of a mixed bag. I did manage to make a wreath, swap out the Montessori trays, and come up with some goodies for the kids. We did not manage cookies or garland. But there’s always next year! lol.
8. Spring Break Plan. Success! We took day trips to the beach and the zoo!
9. Advent Calendar. More ::shame:: But I did get a stocking ordered for Telsa so maybe that will motivate me to work on the advent calendar.
10. Apron. Done! And it turned out so freaking cute. I managed to add a ruffle and everything!

What else got accomplished… I also played with some resin! I’ve wanted some breast milk jewelry since the twins were babies, but I never pulled the trigger. Well, imagine my delight when I found actually kits on Etsy to make your own! It worked out a thousand times better than expected and RaptorDad was thrilled to have the last 6 year old bag of frozen milk out of the freezer.

So April…

1. Butterfly and Caterpillar Quilts. The twin’s birthday is on the 9th so we are officially in panic mode. I have to finish binding Mia’s quilt, make both labels, and applique the labels on.
2. Party Time. Speaking of the twin’s birthday, I need to plan their birthday party! Actually, RaptorDad saw the panicked look in my eyes last week and basically took care of everything because RaptorDad is awesome like that. But there are still a few things left to plan.
3. Subbing. Y’all. My mom and I decided to go on a photo safari in AFRICA! OMG I am so freaking excited I almost can’t stand it. We’re planing to go in April of 2024 so I’m in full on savings mode. Basically I need to sub for 70 days, plus 2 days a month which go towards our car payment. I figure this translates into basically 7 days a month. So this month’s goal is to sub 7 days.
4. Scrap Gap. Hmm… I’d really like to get June and July of 2019 done. I’m on a wee bit of a roll so I’d like to keep some momentum going. Being basically 3 years behind is a bit appalling.
5. Project Life. Speaking of being behind… ::le sigh:: I’d like to finish February and March 2022. Originally I was hoping to catch up with the Project Life gap before trying to tackle the scrapbook gap, but I’m just going to go with what’s inspiring me which, at the moment, appears to be scrapbooking. lol.
6. Current Scrapbooks. I’d like to finish March 2022 so that I can stay on track. Maybe I’ll try going backwards? So if I finish with March, I’ll work on December of 2021? IDK.
7. Advent Calendar. ::shame:: OK. I really do need to start making some progress on this. What’s reasonable… Maybe to finish the braid and 4 toys? Sound familiar? lol.
8. Quilt Retreat. I am so excited about this! I need to figure out what I want to work on and make sure that everything is prepped. I’m thinking maybe I’ll try to assemble my heart quilt if I can finish the applique? Or maybe I’ll just bring my smitten blocks and play with them? Or Ice Cream Soda? So many choices! 🙂
9. Summer Plans. I want to take a look at the summer schedule and try to see if we want to try to book a day at Hamilton Pool or Jacob’s Well or the like. I also want to figure out something for swim lessons.
10. Daily/ Weekly Summer Schedule. Last year we were a bit more loosey goosey with the schedule, but the year before that (when we were in strict COVID lockdown) we had a very structured morning schedule. I’d like to find a happy mix between the two. Also, I’ve wanted to have a weekly schedule for years (ie Monday is library, Tuesday is messy sensory play, Wednesday is pool, etc). I’ve never managed to make this work, but I have hopes that this is the year! I also want each kid to have a daily checklist that has to be completed before any screen time.

Anyone else feel like February was 2 years long? Just me? :/ le sigh Let’s take a look at how I did this month.

1. Staff Development. Whoops. I mean, I did get 6 hours. Yesterday. lol. 10 to go. It’s crunch time!
2. Valentine’s Day. Well, I never did find my box of Valentine’s Day decorations, but I’m still calling it a success. I made a wreath (first time!) and I was really pleased with it. I’m going to make another one for St. Patrick’s Day!
3. Smitten. I didn’t get 8 blocks done, but I did get 5 blocks done! And I prepped a bunch more. 🙂 In fact, I only have 11 more blocks to go! And only 5 1/2 more to prep. ::I think I can, I think I can, I think I can::
4. Felting. I strung my first garland! I didn’t make any hearts (I need more practice first) but I got a bunch of felt balls and roving. Originally, I had planned to try to felt some shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day, but instead I’m going to add some color to some white balls. I think it will make more sense when I’m done. lol.
5. Project Life. Well, I didn’t do squat on Project Life. BUT I finished scrapping March 2019, April 2019, and January 2022. I also got halfway through February 2022. Yay progress!
6. Advent Calendar. I didn’t get 4 toys done, but I did make a ton of progress on the main wall hanging. I finished all of the numbers, and got the numbers and the backing appliquéd on. Only (only???) thing left is to attach the braided trim and finish the toys.
7. Spring Break Plan. Well, I still haven’t figured out a spring break plan, but we did decide to take an epic road trip in the next few years! It’s not going to happen this year because 1. planning, 2. need to save up, but we’re going to rent an RV for a month either (hopefully!) summer 2023 or summer 2024 and take a road trip up to Mt. Rushmore, over the top of the US, and then down through the National Parks on the way to the Grand Canyon. Fingers crossed this actually happens!
8. Ice Cream Soda. I did finish those 2 blocks! I still need to cut more papers though.
9. Butterfly and Caterpillar Quilts. Not only did I prep the binding (lies. My grandmother prepped the binding because she’s a saint.) it’s attached to the quilt and I’m working on hand stitching the backside. I do still need to make the labels.
10. Survive Virtual School. Um, we’re all still alive so I’ll count this as a win. No lie, we were all so happy when it was time to go back to school!

I also refreshed my February Montessori trays and basted my hexagon quilt. 🙂

Now for some March goals.

1. Staff Development. My certificate actually expires on the 31st of March, so it is officially crunch time. On the upside, I only have 10 hours to go.
2. Butterfly and Caterpillar Quilt. The twin’s birthday is in April so they have to be finished this month.
3. Smitten Quilt. I’d like to prep the remaining 5 1/2 blocks and get maybe 5 more blocks done?
4. Scrapbooking. I’d like to finish February 2020, February 2021, and February 2022.
5. Project Life. I’d like to finish January and February of 2022.
6. Backyard Clean Up. We decided to rip out a big chunk of our deck as well as the indoor play room thing that RaptorDad built. So we rented a dumpster and it’s coming on Friday. This is phase one of the house reorg we’re doing this year.
7. St. Patricks Day. I want to make a garland, a wreath, decorate cookies with the kids, and swap out the Montessori trays.
8. Spring Break Plan. Even though we’re not going on an epic road trip this spring break, I still want to come up with some things to make it fun for the kids. Currently I’m thinking maybe a day trip to the beach? Not sure what else…
9. Advent Calendar. I want to finish the braid and 4 toys. (hahahahahaha.)
10. Apron. RaptorDad wants an apron. I’m excited to try my hand at sewing something different!

It finally caught us. We lived in a bubble for almost 2 years, but we relaxed our guard just a teeny bit once the twins were able to get vaccinated. Honestly, we don’t feel awful and I give all the credit for that to the fact that 1. we were able to get vaccinated. 2. we are very lucky. This does mean that we’re back to remote school for the next 10 days and I think I have PTSD from last year. On the (huge) upside, we just found Encanto (which is amazing!!!) so we no longer have to quarantine with Frozen on repeat. lol.

But enough with the serious talk; let’s take a look at the goals from January!

1. Staff Development Hours. Well, I didn’t finish, but I did make some progress! I got 9 hours done this month and I have 16 to go.
2. Declutter. Nope. But our floor is much cleaner now thanks to our newest family member (more on that later.)
3. Walk twice a week. Honestly, I didn’t make much progress with this one.
4. Family Dinner. ::sigh:: I didn’t cook any dinners, but RaptorDad really stepped up and we’ve been doing better about eating as a family.
5. Family meeting. We actually made this happen for 2 weeks! lol. It was actually really useful to sit down and look at the upcoming events for the week. I want to try and do this more.
6. Smitten Quilt. Yes! Finally a goal that I made some progress on! I actually have 14 blocks done now. And I put them up on my design wall with some construction paper stand ins so that I can get an idea of the layout. Spoiler alert: it looks amazing!
7. Scrap. I didn’t get any scrapbook pages done, but I did get 15 (!!!) Project Life layouts done. 2020 is officially done. And I made some decent progress on 2021 in addition to getting my 2022 book set up. Also, I know I ::said:: that I was going to do Project Life monthly instead of weekly, but I changed my mind. lol.
8. Cookie Season. My mom’s are amazing! Mia and Kate’s personal cookies are done and the moms split up the remaining troop cookies to sell. I was so worried about having enough money in the bank before the first council withdrawal, but they were absolute rockstars and we have plenty deposited. Yay! I have a few girls in the troop still selling but I’m no longer worried about it. 🙂
9. Clean Scrap Desk. Nope. Although I did make some progress.
10. Draft New Art Room. Didn’t get this one done either. Oh well. lol.

Now about that new family member… Meet Tesla! No, not the car. We named the car Eleanor. lol.

The kids have been begging for a dog and we finally caved. Tesla is about 6 months old and we got him from the same poodle rescue that we got Ninja at. He came with the name and, despite my best efforts, the kids refused to let me rename him. lol. He’s so much bigger than any dog I’ve ever had! He’s meant to be a mini, but RaptorDad said that his paperwork listed one of his parents as a standard. EEEPPP! Oh well. He is seriously the sweetest and we are all already in love.

February Goals? Yes please!

1. I *have* to finish my staff development hours. Like for real for real.
2. Valentine’s Day. My Valentine’s Day decoration box disappeared! Guess I’ll have to make some new stuff. lol.
3. Smitten Quilt. I’d love to finish 8 more blocks.
4. Felting. Oh my gosh. RaptorDad and I have fallen down the felting rabbit hole. I ordered a bunch of wool balls and I want to felt a bunch of hearts to string up with them. Should be so cute!
5. Project Life. I’d like to finish May 2021 (4) and January 2022 (2). Oh, and maybe a few current spreads from February 2022?
6. Advent Calendar. OK. I found the cutest freaking stocking that I want to make for myself. Oh, and of course now I need to make Tesla a stocking. What does that mean? It means I have to finish the advent calendar! So I’d like to finish the numbers and do 4 more toys by the end of the month.
7. Spring Break Plan. I want to go somewhere!!!
8. Ice Cream Soda. Finish current round (2 blocks) and cut more papers for next round.
9. Butterfly and Caterpillar Quilts. Prep Binding and labels! These 2 are actually AT THE QUILTERS!
10. Survive virtual school.