It’s September y’all! We’re getting back into the school year groove and loving it. 🙂 So about August…
Scrap June and July 2022. Didn’t manage to get June, but I did finish July and August of 2022!
Print Pics. Nope.
Interview Books. Yes! 🙂
First Day of School Pics. Yes! 🙂
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.
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.
Caterpillars. Nope.
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!
Ice Cream Soda. I got 2 blocks done I think. 🙂
Snacks. I didn’t do anything themey, but I did manage to bring snacks! So, partial credit? lol.
Shall we set some September goals?
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.
Heart Quilt. I’d love to finish this top.
Passport Stuff. Oh my gosh, I have got to get this taken care of.
September 2022 Project Life in real time.
Buddy Walk. I need to get our team stuff done for the Buddy Walk.
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?
Old Scrapping. Um, August and September 2019?
New Scrapping. March and September 2022.
Caterpillar Quilt. I have to get the sleeve on this.
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 Just realized that 90% of my blog titles include an exclamation point. lol. #SorryNotSorry. But y’all! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Back to school! July was hard, mainly because it’s do dang hot we can barely handle the walk from the house to the car let alone actually being outside. I also had a bit of a funk feeling like a failure because, despite my elaborate plans, we did basically zero academics this summer. I’m trying to remind myself of all that I *did* accomplish- the room swap, teaching Xander to swim, Mia being comfortable in the water, summer camps, getting Mia to wear her hearing aids, vegging with Kate, so many appointments, swimming, swimming, swimming. 🙂 And now we’re down to the last bittersweet week of summer and it’s already jam packed with back to school events and more appointments. I think our laid back summer was just what we all needed to recharge after our first school year back at an actual school, but they are beyond ready to get to see their friends again. 🙂 Let’s see how the July goals went…
Advent Calendar. Yikes. Not only did I not work on this at all (again) but we didn’t even do Christmas in July.
Bee Yourself. I got the hexagons done! But I still need to finish the lyric block and the London flag. Might be time to pack this up for a while and out up something new…
Quilt Show. I got the caterpillars all entered! Now i jut need to attach the sleeve to the back and make the labels.
Hexagons. I got them rebasted! My grandmother and I basted the center section on her kitchen table and got it all marked for quilting. I’m making some progress and I’m loving it!
Project Life. Um, I didn’t even look at this.
Scrap Prep. I not only got July 2019 prepped, I got it scrapped! I didn’t get anything done on August or September, but progress is progress. 🙂
Scrap February 2021. I never did find these pics…
Scrap Current Pages. I didn’t get 10 done, but I did get 2 done. 🙂 Plus all of July 2022 is edited and printed. And I got 30 new background pages done!
Ice Cream Soda. I got the pink, red, orange bottom corner done. 🙂
Labels. Not yet.
Shall we set some August goals?
Scrap June and July 2022. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
Print pics for August and September 2019. I’m making a push to finish 2019 before the end of the year.
Interview books. One of my favorite annual traditions!
First day of school pictures. Maybe I’ll even print some of the backlog this year.
Advent Calendar. omg. I have to start working on this. RaptorDad and I are listening to a book on tape and I’m hoping to get some serious work done on the advent calendar. I think finish the trim and do 2 toys.
Hexagons. I’d like to quilt the center part that’s already basted.
Caterpillars. I need to attach a sleeve for the quilt show!
Bee Yourself Quilt. I’m bored again. I’m going to attempt to finish the lyric block, but then I think I’m going to take it down and put something else back up.
Ice Cream Soda. Hmm… Maybe I’ll try to get round 6 done? It’s already prepped. (I think?)
Snacks. I’m playing DND (don’t judge lol) and we’re going to take turns bringing snacks. I want to make mine themey! 🙂
How is it July already?!? And speaking of, how is my beautiful firstborn a teenager!?! That’s right, the OG Raptor turns 13 today. Unfortunately, birthday plans had to be revamped because she’s been sick these past fews days, but she’s negative for COVID, strep, and flu A/B and she’s fever free as of last night so we’re having a fun, low key, morning with donuts and minecraft. All in all a good day.
But how about some goals! lol. Let’s see how I did in June…
Bee Yourself. I didn’t finish the lyric block because I forgot it at my grandmother’s last week when I took it over to show it off. lol. But it’s very close to done and I’m delighted with it. I didn’t get the London flag done, but I got all of the others done and I got all of the country name embroidery done so I’m quite pleased with that. And I got the Sunshine block designed and finished! All in all, I am delighted with the progress I’ve made and I’m actually finally convinced that I might finish this quilt one day. lol.
Smitten Quilt. Done! At least the top. 🙂 Now I just need to decide how to quilt it.
Scrap. I didn’t get July 2019 done, but I did get October 2021 done! So that’s something. 🙂
Advent Calendar. Not a thing.
Passport. I’m sensing a theme. :/
Purge Art Room. Done! Oh my gosh, I got rid of so much stuff and my new room is amazing!!!
Toy/ Clothes Purge. I still need to get rid of more toys, but this was also a huge success! And the twins love their new room.
Current Scrap. Nada. We still need to finish hooking up the computer/ photo printer.
Semi-Current Scrap. See above. lol.
Project Life. hahahahahaha.
So I didn’t get a ton done with on the scrapping front, but we did manage the room swap which was a Herculean task. Especially since it also included repainting both rooms and assembling new beds for the twins. 🙂 All in all, I’m super happy. 🙂 And check out my progress on Bee Yourself!
July Goals.
Advent Calendar. Yikes. I’m planning to do a little Christmas in July action with the kids so maybe that will motivate me? OK. Gold trim. Must finish gold trim.
Bee Yourself. I decided to do 2 more hexagon flowers for the upper right hand corner and I got them prepped yesterday. I’d like to finish those, finish the lyric block, and finish the London flag. The end is near!
Speaking of quilts, I’ve decided to enter my Caterpillar quilt in the Austin Quilt Show! I’m super nervous, but I’m also really proud of that quilt. 🙂 I wanted to enter both the butterfly and caterpillar quilts as a set, but then I learned that it’s $45 to enter a quilt. ::yikes:: So one it is. lol.
Hexagons. I want to rebaste my hexagons so that I can start hand quilting it again. 🙂
Project Life. Um… How about trying to wrap up 2021. hahahahahaha. Or at least make some progress on it.
Scrap Prep Ancient Stuff. Um… Maybe scrap list/ edit/ print July, August, September of 2019? If I can get organized, maybe I’ll be motivated to work on it.
Scrap February 2021. According to my notes, these pics are already printed. So theoretically, I could scrap them now while I’m waiting for us to put the new computer station together… Possibilities…
Current Scrap Pages. Hmm… Maybe 10 current pages? It would be awesome to get June 2022 knocked out.
Ice Cream Soda. We meet again old friend. lol. I’d like to make some progress on the bottom chunk. Hopefully seeing a bit of it assembled will give me the motivation to keep making progress.
Labels. We got these awesome resealable jars for baking good and I want to make some cute vinyl labels for them. 🙂
I finished my Smitten quilt top!!! I am absolutely delighted with how it turned out. It was originally a Block of the Month offered by PinkDoorFabrics, but they were sold out before I could order it. No worries, I just ordered the pattern and a 1/2 yard bundle of fabric and decided to have a go at it myself. And I am delighted with the results!
Most of the fabric is from the Heather Ross Malibu line, but I threw in some solids and a few other fabrics to round it out. It’s 100% stitched by hand- no sewing machine. Now I just need to figure out how to quilt it! I’m thinking I’ll hand quilt it? Not sure… Any suggestions?
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?
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.
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!
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.
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.
Advent Calendar. Whoops. I didn’t do a darn thing this month.
Passport. Ugh. I never got around to doing this either.
Pool Pass. Done! And like I said earlier, it’s been amazing. 🙂
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!
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!
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…
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. 🙂
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.
Scrap. Hmm… July 2019?
Advent Calendar. I think trying to finish the gold trim would be good.
Passport. OMG. Just get the photos taken already.
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!
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::
Current Scrap. Maybe a goal of 10 current pages? IDK.
Semi- Current Scrap? Um, March 2022?
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!
You guys! It’s almost summer!!! And I am so freaking excited. 🙂 Let’s see how April went…
Butterfly and Caterpillar Quilts. Still no labels (which is ridiculous since they shouldn’t take more than an hour lol) but I did manage to finish the quilts themselves. 🙂 Twinsies were delighted with them.
Party Time. It went swimmingly! RaptorDad truly excels at party planning.
Subbing. I subbed 6 days plus I had some birthday money that I put in there as the equivalent of a 7th day. Not too shabby! I really need 9 (7 for Africa +2 for the car) but such is life. lol. Subbing 6 days in a month was honestly about as much as I can handle so I’m looking for creative ways to make up the difference. Maybe some summer mini-sessions? Something to ponder.
Scrap Gap. ::sigh:: I didn’t scrap a single page this month.
Project Life. Nope. Nothing there either.
Current Scrapbooks. Um… yeah. See above. lol.
Advent Calendar. I didn’t even come close to finishing this, but I did pull it out and work on it one day.
Quilt Retreat. This was amazing! I had so much fun and I made so much progress on my smitten quilt. 🙂
Summer Plans. Didn’t book any fun day trips, but I did get their summer camps scheduled and I emailed about swim lessons.
Weekly Schedule. Didn’t do much on this, but I did decide on our weekly themes- each week will be a different country. Japan is up first and I’m so excited! 🙂
So May Goals…
Smitten Quilt. Obviously. lol. I’m within striking distance! I’d love to finish this top this month and I honestly think I can do it!
Teacher Gifts. Need to figure out something cute and budget friendly. lol.
Scrap. I’d like to scrap 10 current layouts. I need to be doing something and clearly old stuff isn’t very motivating. lol.
Finalize Summer Master Schedule. By this, I mean getting a monthly view summer wall calendar and putting everything in it- camps, event, field trips, themes, etc.
Advent Calendar. I’d like to switch this up a bit- I want to spend 4 nights on it this month- roughly 1 a week.
Passport. I need to renew my passport for Africa! I want to get it sent off this month just so I can get it back waaaaay before I need it. 🙂
Pool Pass. We bought a pool pass! I’m so freaking excited. I’m determined that Xander will learn to swim this summer. We need to go get our pictures taken for our pass so we can start swimming. 🙂
Prep round 6 and 7 of my Ice Cream Soda quilt.
Prep Japan week. So many fun ideas! I would like to get everything finalized for our first few weeks.
Prep Week 2. I need to decide on a country and prep week 2. Maybe Greece? I feel like if I have at least the first 2 weeks prepped, it’ll be a good start.
Can it be done? Who knows. lol. But bottom line, I’d like to make some progress on my quilts, get back to scrapbooking, and set us up for summer success. Fingers crossed!
It’s my favorite day of the month: goal setting day! First let’s see how we did in March.
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!
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::
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.
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!
Project Life. I actually got 3 layouts done and finished up January 2022. I still need to do February 2022.
Backyard Clean Up. Done! <3
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.
Spring Break Plan. Success! We took day trips to the beach and the zoo!
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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! 🙂
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.
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.
You guys. I freaking love the beach. And I love road trips with friends. And yesterday I got both! I convinced one of my friends to do a crazy day trip down to Matagorda Bay and it was amazing!
My Moana obsessed Mia was in heaven. She had a blast playing in the sand, and then found a new friend who showed her how fun it was to jump the waves. 🙂
Kate and her friend decided to dig out a giant pool just above the water line. It ended up 3 times this size. lol. Every other kid on the beach thought this was awesome and pitched in to help. 🙂
Xander was delighted to be accepted in with the big kids when it came to pool digging duty. 🙂
I’ve wanted to make a wreath for so long! I love seasonal decorations and I love wreaths, but every time I’ve tried to make one (um, by every time I mean once) it was a disaster. Then last month my grandmother decided that she wanted to make a Valentine’s Day wreath with stuff from the dollar store. I gave it a go with mixed results. But still, it was cute enough that I put it up on our door. (Our first wreath ever!)
I decided that I needed to up my game for St Patrick’s Day so I turned to YouTube. Y’all. I found the *cutest* wreath tutorial!
I ended up getting my ribbon from Amazon and my deco mesh from Hobby Lobby just because the Dollar Tree had already moved on to Easter supplies and because the ribbon from Amazon was freaking adorable.
And here it is! I made it in one evening while RaptorDad was playing with sculpy. (We’re trying to be creative more and watch TV less.) I’m super happy with how it turned out. Now if I could only convince my HOA to let me paint our front door teal. lol.
Anyone else feel like February was 2 years long? Just me? :/ le sigh Let’s take a look at how I did this month.
Staff Development. Whoops. I mean, I did get 6 hours. Yesterday. lol. 10 to go. It’s crunch time!
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!
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::
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.
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!
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.
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!
Ice Cream Soda. I did finish those 2 blocks! I still need to cut more papers though.
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.
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.
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.
Butterfly and Caterpillar Quilt. The twin’s birthday is in April so they have to be finished this month.
Smitten Quilt. I’d like to prep the remaining 5 1/2 blocks and get maybe 5 more blocks done?
Scrapbooking. I’d like to finish February 2020, February 2021, and February 2022.
Project Life. I’d like to finish January and February of 2022.
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.
St. Patricks Day. I want to make a garland, a wreath, decorate cookies with the kids, and swap out the Montessori trays.
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…
Advent Calendar. I want to finish the braid and 4 toys. (hahahahahaha.)
Apron. RaptorDad wants an apron. I’m excited to try my hand at sewing something different!
