Life

December Goals

Filed Under: Christmas, Goals, white space

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We don’t have any huge goals for this month. Todd, Hudson, and I are in our church’s Singing Christmas Tree this month (you can read more about that here) and Hudson and Hayes will have a school pageant. We have a Sunday school party, a cookie decorating party and just getting ready for Christmas. And I really just want to be able to sit by our tree every night. So what are the goals for the month? Nothing big. Nothing measurable.

I want to watch all the Christmas movies.

I want to sit with my boys every night while they play Ninja Turtles and watch the movies that make us laugh and cry.

I want to eat the yummy Christmas food and drink egg nog lattes.

I want to step away from the garland and bows even when I think of one more thing I can do to decorate. (This one is hard for me. I love to decorate.)

I want Saturday mornings in pajamas with homemade pancakes and hot chocolate.

I want to make cookies with the boys and let them help. I want to ignore the mess until we’re finished and let them enjoy the process.

I want to open our home to friends and neighbors for dinner or for those moments when one of us needs a shoulder to cry on.

There will be fights and messes and real life. There will be moments of rushing and things will fall through the cracks. Recipes will fail. And I want a heart that is peaceful and joyful. And most of all, I will pray that my boys begin to understand how much their Father loves them. I want to prepare Hudson’s and Hayes’s hearts for what Christmas means and help them to begin to grasp the gift that God gave us so long ago.

What are your hopes for December?

Books I've Read Lately

Filed Under: Books

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When I found out I was pregnant, my reading pace slowed down drastically. I read 15 books in the first five months of the year and then pretty much stopped. (My reading lists from the beginning of the year are linked at the bottom of this post.) Napping was preferable to reading for a while there!

Todd and I are flying out of town next week, and I am seriously looking forward to being able to quiet my mind and read on the plane. Or maybe I’ll take a nap there, too!

But I have read a few more books and thought I’d share them with you.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

This was by far my favorite of all the fiction I’ve read recently. I loved the little bit of mystery. I loved that it was about moms of kindergarteners. It was a lot of fun to compare their school situation with my kids’ school situation. Obviously our school situation is nothing like the one in the book. I read What Alice Forgot earlier this year and it was one of my favorites all year. I also enjoyed The Husband’s Secret. I highly recommend Big Little Lies.

In This House, We Will Giggle by Courtney DeFeo

My precious friend Courtney is one of the best moms I know. She is all about having fun with your kids and teaching them about the Lord and about virtues and loving people well. Her new book is one of my favorite parenting books because it’s all about teaching our kids through laughter and not lectures. She’s a super fun mom and I have learned so much from her. This book is fantastic!

Let’s All Be Brave by Annie Downs

The incredible Annie Downs wrote this fantastic book that encourages you to life your bravest life and to live life with everything you have. Gosh, I love that! I don’t want fear to hold me back from anything- especially the things that I know God is nudging me toward. I highly recommend it!

The One & Only by Emily Giffin

Despite lots of mixed reviews, I liked this book. It was a little different and it had a relationship that was a little more non-traditional than we’re probably used to from Emily Giffin. But I think all of her books have a little bit of a non-traditional twist to it. I couldn’t put this book down. I read it in 24 hours at the beach. I recommend it, but I also know that some will love it and some will hate it. But you won’t be able to put it down!

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)

This book was interesting. It was written by JK Rowling under the Robert Galbraith pseudonym. It’s about an investigator who is looking into the case of a model’s suicide when her family members suspect that it was murder. I loved the story and loved the characters. I just have a hard time with the way JK Rowling writes. It’s not easy for me to read. But I did like this book.

Panic by Lauren Oliver

Panic is a young adult novel, and it was fast paced and a really quick read. It’s about high school seniors in a very poor, very small town, who compete in a game called panic where players fight to the death. It’s not my favorite young adult novel, or even in my top 10 favorite books all year, but it was an easy read.

I’d love to know what y’all have been reading! Check out my reading lists from earlier in the year if you want some great suggestions.

Books I Read in February

Books I Read in March

Books I Read in April

Books I Read in May

November Goals

Filed Under: Goals, Organization

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Decorate For Christmas

Our November schedule is already really full. With my birthday and Thanksgiving and a couple of trips, we’ll be really busy. I want to decorate our tree immediately. I know, I know. Everyone says I’ll wish I hadn’t. But I don’t want to be rushing to get it done, and I want to have time to enjoy it. So, I’d like to do it in the next couple of weeks.

Finish Christmas Shopping

Between Zulily and Rue La La, I’ve nearly finished my Christmas shopping. But I have a couple of small things left I want to get the boys and Todd. I want to get as much done as I can before the rush and the traffic of December hits.

Host One Family For Supper

This has been one of our goals all year. We have a big Sunday School dinner scheduled for this weekend, but I want to have a couple of friends who are new to town to our house. This has been my favorite change all year and I never imagined this would be the “resolution” that would mean the most to me.

Read Two Books

Pregnancy brain continues to make it hard to clear my mind to be able to read. But I have been reading, and I have a couple of other books I want to read in November. (Updated reading list coming up soon!)

Have A One-on-One “Date” With Each Boy

With the busyness of the upcoming season, I want to make sure that we’re not lost in all the motions of the holiday chaos. And I want to make sure that both of my children feel “seen” and heard. So I’m making a goal for Todd and I to each have a one-on-one date with each boy. And I’d love for this to be a resolution for each month for 2015. It could be harder with a new baby, but that’s also why it’s so important to me right now.

Start Working on the Nursery

Speaking of the baby, we’ll be starting getting the room ready for our little fella to take up residence here. I can’t wait to announce his little name. I’m excited about the plans for the nursery!

How about you? What are your goals for the month? When do you decorate for the holidays?

September Goals

Filed Under: Goals

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First things first! Thank you all SO much for your comments, calls, texts, social media comments offering your congratulations on our big news. We are so appreciative and we are so excited!

I am feeling like I’m ready to get back into the swing of things with blogging. Now that our secret is out and the boys are at school, I have a little time to myself in the morning and I can freely talk about what’s going on in our lives.

So reading was always one of my biggest goals every month. I’ve been reading three books a month since January, and love swapping book recommendations with y’all. But since I got pregnant, I cannot quiet my mind. And it’s like I get motion sickness from reading… even when I’m sitting still. (More on my pregnancy symptoms in another post.) And reading has kind of fallen to the wayside in favor of mindless television and late night episodes of Family Feud with Steve Harvey. (I wish I was kidding.)

But I love fall. And even though it’s still 100 degrees here, there is the promise of fall. The grocery stores are selling those yummy spiced cinnamon pine cones and brooms and I. Am. Ready.

Let’s get right to it. My September goals. Again, nothing super big, but all stuff that I either need to get done or want to get done.

1. Work on Brother Room

Our original plan was to move the guest room to the finished room over the garage and put the nursery in the guest room. We didn’t think we wanted the boys to share just yet. But now we’ve decided to put them together in Hudson’s current room and put the nursery in Hayes’s current room. We had just finished up getting all of Hayes’s bedding together, so now we’ll just get the same bedding for Hudson. I’m so excited!

2. Set up my DVR for Fall Television

Goodness, I can’t believe I put that in writing. But all of our favorite shows are coming back. Scandal, Homeland, The Newsroom, The Good Wife, Dancing With the Stars, and all the college football we’ll be watching. Again, I’ll be lucky if I read at all this month, but I’m going to try!

3. Read Two Books This Month

I’m cutting it back to one book for the sake of grace. Let’s see if I can jump back in the reading saddle. (I will update y’all with what I did read this summer! I crossed two books off my list.)

4. Host a Family for Supper

We’ve done this at least once a month since January and it has become my favorite goal. We have plans with friends this coming weekend.

5. Get Back Into Our Wednesday Routine

AWANA and children’s choir starts back this week at our church on Wednesday nights. Todd and I like to go early for supper, eat together as a family, take the kids to their classes and then attend our pastor’s Bible study together. And then I go to choir rehearsal. It’s one of my favorite nights every week and I’m so excited it’s starting back. I’m looking forward to having dinner with so many of our favorite families.

So those are my goals for the month. Nothing crazy to tackle. We’re back on track with meal planning. Our house is getting back in order after the low key summer. I’m excited about this season!

How about you? What’s on your agenda this month?

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